DISQUS

cheesesauce · 11 months ago

This doesn't bother me. I'm glad. Now, maybe I can have a birthday party for myself and my friends who also were born in December. None of us have birthday parties because people can't attend because of prior commitments to some xmas bull shit or they are burned out on festivating. It's my turn Baby Jesus. You've had yours ........(pout, sniff......)

SouthernYankee · 11 months ago

Know what you mean. My grandchild was born christmas day. Poor thing. We still are trying to figure out what day to have a birthday party for her. This year we are going to have a very small party. We decided to have it on Dec 15. She will be 3. I don't know what we'll do as she gets older and really understands.

Ben Dover · 11 months ago

Crap.

Can I at least keep the presents? There's one that makes an interesting noise when tipped side to side...

Indigo · 11 months ago

Bah! Humbug!

monopole · 11 months ago

Can we please cancel my company Xmas party so I can do something more pleasant. Like get a root canal using a rusty nail at gitmo.

SouthernYankee · 11 months ago

Ouch

Jim Olson · 11 months ago

You can always make a polite appearance at the company Christmas party, and then go home.

Nick_the_Dog · 11 months ago

Every northern culture has traditions going back thousands of years to celebrate the solstice. If we hadn't had those, the dark days would have scared everyone. The shamans and their aged cohorts invented many novel ways to keep the children entertained, Christmas is just the newest version. I say celebrate! Enjoy a little cheer, but no one should ever forget a birthday! Cheesesauce is being a little curmudgeonly.

SouthernYankee · 11 months ago

Come to think of it I never like our office parties either. I did finally get to a point and told them I wasn't going anymore. They wouldn't miss me anyway. Some of the get sloppy drunk. I don't drink.

judybrowni · 11 months ago

But I think the point of this piece was that it was lobbyists hosting these shindigs: ya know, the big money shelled out so they can influence legislatures and government figures to send 'em back even more big bucks of our taxpayer money.

Planned Parenthood may not have the moola to throw a big party for legislators -- hey, is that maybe why a non-profit that serves millions of women is the red-headed stepchild, and the nuclear industry that blows people up and produces radiated waste, are just hunky dory with the Villagers.

Just sayin' I'd love any excuse to cut out some of the chumminess between the big evils and the people we voted into power.

John Aravosis · 11 months ago

Yeah, but the implication is that lobbyists xmas parties are okay when the economy is good, but not okay when it's bad. Just seems a bit odd to me, and a bit gratuitous. It's a Christmas party, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. And I'm not a big fan of having an official 24 months mourning period until the economy recovers.

judybrowni · 11 months ago

Let them eat cake on their own time, and their own dollar.

judybrowni · 11 months ago

yeah, and I agree with monopole -- since when has an office Christmas party EVER been fun?

Bush_Bites · 11 months ago

No kidding.

I'm already thinking up excuses to get out of mine.

munjoyfan · 11 months ago

I respectfully disagree. The money to pay for these extravaganzas has been skimmed off consulting contracts which mostly come from the US taxpayer. People inside the beltway have shown once again that they are totally out of touch with the rest of the country. Unemployment is grim out here in the hustings. The soup kitchen lines are visibly longer at lunch time. The food pantries are desperate for supplies in the face of growing clientele. Gleaning is back in the fields. The box stores are empty. State govt is in big trouble and schools are already losing millions in expected state subsidies for this year. Hospitals will be hit next as medicaid payments come late from the state. Meaning your health insurance and mine will go through the roof next spring.Students at the private college where I work are leaving right and left for next semester because they or their families can't afford tuition. Really having no money means you don't have money for professional hair cuts so you can go to a party; you cut each other's hair. Really having no money means dry cleaning is out of the question. And really having no money certainly doesn't mean you can pay for a drink or a meal at a restaurant or cash bar. Really having no money means you are glad it's cold now because the utilities can't shut you off till April. Really having no money means really having no money. And that's where a lot of Americans find themselves right now.

And they are eating cake in Washington? Tasteless, tasteless. And really scary for what it says about the quality of problem solving they are going to be doing about the country's economy. They would be far better turning that energy and cash towards fuel oil funds or food pantries or even hiring a few extra employees for the winter.

Older_Wiser · 11 months ago

I like your thinking. Money for parties should go to the poor. The rich have celebrated enough. What's usually spent on each person at a party would make a needy family a nice xmas meal, too.

Bush_Bites · 11 months ago

Have to say, though, I've worked at companies that had layoffs late in the year and still had their Christmas Parties afterward, apparently so the big shots could feel like the underlings actually liked them.

Fireblazes(CheetohsandCatfood) · 11 months ago

Oh no more snark...

Obamalover · 11 months ago

The government shouldn't be having any religious related get together.

AlBenson · 11 months ago

I saw today, two items. One was an anti-Gay attack ad in the NY Times decrying the "violent Gays" and then I saw the following:

Attack on man outside gym-lounge may be hate crime
SLC Victim cut with bottle is in critical condition.
By Steve Gehrke

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 12/03/2008 05:12:18 PM MST


Police say a 50-year-old man was critically injured in an attack with a bottle outside a Salt Lake City lounge and gym that reputedly caters to the gay community -- and that may make it a hate crime case.

The victim told police that he left the 14th Street Gym, near 1400 West and 200 South, after midnight early Wednesday.

As he was waiting for a cab ride, the man said someone walked up behind him, swore at him, used a derogatory sexual-orientation slur and hit him over the top of the head with a bottle, police said.

The attacker ran off. Police said the victim showed signs of intoxication and was not able to give officers an accurate description of his attacker.

He suffered cuts to his forehead and was bleeding profusely when he was transported to a hospital in critical condition, police said. Police are investigating the attack as a potential hate crime.

Pope Buck I · 11 months ago

One of my least-favorite memories of the Carter administration was the year that the Iranian hostages were taken, and in response, Carter - didn't light up the White House Christmas tree. Instead, the big one stayed dark and a circle of smaller trees around it were lit up in its place.

I still love Jimmy Carter and I think he was a better president than we deserved, but GOD - he didn't understand symbolism at ALL. That was the most depressing thing he possibly could have done. (Meanwhile, Reagan's people were busy tying yellow ribbons - symbols of hope and optimism - on everything in sight. Say what you like about Reagan, at least someone understood the power of symbolism.)

Obamalover · 11 months ago

The government shouldn't be displaying any religious symbolism.

beaker · 11 months ago

Actually, it causes more economic problems when the parties are canceled. Caters may keep a deposit, but that isn't much compared to the full fee they would receive. It also means they wont be hiring and paying staff for the service. Rental places also get affected. Taxi cabs get less fares. The downward spiral continues....

EdNSted · 11 months ago

I think you're needlessly worried. Congress is getting ready to throw one hell of a Christmas party for the auto industry tomorrow. Funny how in just two weeks the cost of the party rose from $25 billion to $34 billion. But I suppose you'll get what you pay for. Or maybe not.. Turns out that $34 billion will not amount to much more than the cost of the lipstick to pretty up the pig. Like the way many Americans pay for Christmas, the real cost of the auto industry's Christmas party will show up in the mail around March or April.

Older_Wiser · 11 months ago

Haven't the rich partied enough over the last 8 years?

Besides, I was never invited...nor was anyone I know.

Naked Bunny with a Whip · 11 months ago

Indeed. Corporations need to bribe congresspeople more than ever now.

BraydenWicker · 11 months ago

The "War on Christmas" is real.

DJ · 11 months ago

Christmas should be canceled everywhere and forever!!! It is the most disgusting and fraudulent hoax perpetrated on the planet since humans discovered fire. It's nothing but greed, materialism and capitalism at its very worst. Of course if you cloak it in religion, it must be ok, right? Even if the "word of god" that it is supposedly based on is nothing but Lies and Fairy Tales. Bah Humbug. Let Christmas go. The world would be a much better place.

QG · 11 months ago

Maybe congress should cancel their vacation, seeing how the country is in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

winona · 11 months ago

Remember the scene from "Mame" when all the furniture is repossessed during the Depression? They break out the decorations and sing about how we need a little Christmas right this very minute

Happy_Housewife · 11 months ago

All canceling the Xmas parties would do is take money away from the cooks, waiters and bartenders.

Big Time Patriot · 11 months ago

Well, ACTUALLY, the money wouldn't dissapear, it would still be available to pay for other things, for example, salaries and health insurance, or at least a better severance package for those laid off.

Scratching my head · 11 months ago

my company is laying several people off and are throwing their usual Christmas party. We are downsizing for financial reasons, yet they still spend the thousands on this party. They can go to hell. None of us that are being laid off are going. I'd rather stay home and play with my Corgis anyway.

The Tim Channel · 11 months ago

If poverty were an excuse to cancel Christmas, I don't think Charles Dickens would have had the same set of characters for A Christmas Carol.

Enjoy