Letters to the Editor

The real war on Christmas

Editor, the Journal,

Every year we are treated to the war on Christmas silliness of right-wing media. I shrug it off because the whole “Happy Holidays” [not the hit song by Irving Berlin released in 1942] seems not to be worth mentioning. But an incident today made me write about the real war on Christmas.

I was taking a walk when I passed two gentlemen talking. They said hello, and I responded with “Merry Christmas.” The response from one was “that was yesterday.” Even as I write, Christmas trees are being thrown to the curb. So, let’s examine this phenomenon.

Our Christmas, which is no Christmas at all, starts with displays being put out before Halloween. The big push for people spending money they don’t have (please stop telling me regular people don’t borrow like government) on Black Friday. That event is good for a few people being trampled trying to snap up items at stores. Following that is a bacchanal of holiday party. These parties are not infrequently accompanied by alcohol. All during this we are bombarded by advertising. None of this has anything to do with the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior.

Where is the sense of the Advent Season? Does anybody know what that is? Certainly not the new crop of Republicans telling us all they are evangelicals yet never darken the doorway of any church. In the West it is supposed to be a time of reflection and preparation four Sundays prior. The Eastern Church Phillip’s Fast. It’s a 40-day Lenten period where there is no consumption of meat (including fish), dairy, oil or wine. No wimpy giving up candy. And certainly no holiday parties.

And does anybody have any idea of what the Twelve Days of Christmas signifies? There are over 60,000 people in Mason County. I’d be surprised if 1,000 (outside of clergy) of them could give me the right answer. The Nativity season starts with the Feast of Christmas and includes a number of holidays ending on the Eve of Feast of Epiphany in the West and Theophany in the East. Does anyone care to take a stab at the Feast of Steven or of St. Basil without consulting Dr. Google?

The real war on Christmas is that it has been subsumed into an orgy of consumerism, capitalism and debt. This isn’t new. The pious have lamented this for centuries. Right-wing hucksters on Fox News will get your blood pressure up about the left trying to eliminate the holiday. The only people who actually did eliminate it were Christian Puritans. The Puritans forbade any recognition of the holiday and refused to conduct services on that date. Special note: the first Congress of the United States met in session on Christmas Day in 1789 and continued doing so until 1855. If there is a war on Christmas, it isn’t coming from the left. It’s coming from Wall Street, corporations, advertisers and ignorant Christians themselves. They do more to profane Christmas than all the atheists or pagans have ever done. Merry Christmas, Blessed Feast of Sts. Steven and Basil, and Happy New Year.

Andrew Makar, Hoodsport

Election vigilance

Editor, the Journal,

Please use the power of your presses to encourage both houses of Congress to form investigative committees to investigate and report on the allegations of election fraud. There is no need to name a villain or to initiate a prosecution. Exposing the truth must be the primary goal. The committees can be partisan, or bipartisan or tripartisan. They need only to subpoena documents and video records. With those documents in hand, verify the sources and vet the evidence. Gather together every scrap of evidence of election interference and skip the testimony of drunken, sweaty lawyers, loudmouth pillow puffers and televised talking heads.

If a presidential, gubernatorial or representative election was defrauded, there will be verifiable proof.

If a presidential, gubernatorial or representative election was defrauded, this republic is in grave danger.

If this issue is not publicly addressed at the highest possible levels, this republic is in grave danger.

It is surprising — to me — that there are not yet such committees in action. I would also suggest quite assertively that such committees operate with the lights on, the doors open and a welcome mat out for citizens and for the world press.

Arthur Rohlik, Shelton

Expand your sources

Editor, the Journal,

Mr. Ardean Anvik has written, “Mr. Ray, do you still believe “not a single case has been successfully proven in our courts?” I’m not sure what that means, Mr. Anvik. If, as I claimed, not a single case of systemic voter fraud was adjudicated successfully in the challenges for the 2020 presidential election, then yes, my claim is valid.However, you have offered as contrary proof that the political arm of the conservative movement, Judicial Watch, has been successful in many court challenges to national incidents of voter irregularities in several states, none of which had any connection to the 2020 presidential election.  

And, as an offer of legitimized proof, you offered only the outline of the case allegations that were filed in those various states on behalf of Judicial Watch. What you have failed to note is that in the final court adjudications of those cases brought by Judicial Watch, most were dismissed without hearing as frivolous or lacking merit. In fact, your primary outline alleging so many voting irregularities in California (2017), were answered by California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who said Judicial Watch’s claims were “baseless,” and “bad math and dubious methodology.”

Then when the Los Angeles Times requested Judicial Watch furnish information to support its claims, they failed to respond. If that scenario sounds somewhat familiar to identical claims made here in our own Mason County, it is.

In short Mr. Anvik, your claims for Judicial Watch seem to fail the standard of legal or reasoned fact. I would encourage you to expand your base of informational inquiry beyond the mere publicity offered by a bias-related organization. It may not reset your mind but it’ll make you a more enlightened participant in our democracy based on a trust and faith in your fellow citizens no matter their ethnic, religious or political affiliation.  

G. Owen Ray, Allyn