The Decorations - what Happened to MERRY CHRISTMAS?

[SalpalSally]

Thank you Mike for your spiffy contribution to this thread....and you too Trim tab. An interesting addition to be sure.

Merry Christmas to All and Happy Holidays to the rest of you heathens..LOL!! Peace on Earth and Good will to All and you too Gene..:o

[RandomThought]

Merry Christmas to All and Happy Holidays to the rest of you heathens

LOL

Thank You Sally...now I have that warm holiday feeling that I've heard so much about !

[SalpalSally]

LOL

Thank You Sally...now I have that warm holiday feeling that I've heard so much about !

LOL back atcha!

[TrimTab]

Mike Weins, I don't think the U.S. government has websites that are forums or blogs . . . Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... for example, does not have Terms of Service and I can't find a way to post a message there, I think it would be like writing on a police car were it somehow an issue of free speech to expect to be able to do so. You posted "If a website is run by the US government then they are forbidden by the 1st amendment to restrict your free speech" . . . but I would suggest "the US government [is] forbidden by the 1st amendement to . . ." is sufficient, it doesn't matter whether its a website or a billboard or some federal employee twisting your arm. You seem to be expressing a publisher's right to editorial powers as a 1st amendment issue but I don't think it is a 1st amendment issue, a publisher has the right to be selective in what it will or will not publish is what I am trying to express to you . . . publishers do not have the right to twist your arm either. As near as I can tell, the genesis of BTC was such that there was a desire to allow members to exercise their free speech rights here as much as is possible . . . but a significant amount of material, even now probably, would tend to be posted that was not really free speech and was abusive of the opportunity the website presented, which is why moderators were brought into 'the picture' . . . not surprisingly . . . editors are a kind of moderation and every major publisher has them. There is no chance at all the first amendment will be changed. Although I think you may have left out some words you intended to express, I am alarmed that a literal interpretation of your expression . . . 'as we see fit' . . . would mean a moderator could put Geneo76's credit card information in agates post and there would be nothing either could do about it, i.e. hints of the idea that rules don't apply to moderators . . . I of course doubt moderators would ever do such a thing but you seem to be saying that would be ok by the rules . . . I know full well moderators can be able to do that . . . but I do think it would be wrong if they did. Yet this thread isn't so much about the free speech element of the first amendment, its about the freedom of religion element . . . NINDS cannot lawfully place a "Merry Christmas" greeting on their website but non-profits can legally do so (as far as I know).

I visited MGH and discovered their holiday posters include:

Chanukah 12/20-12/28
Diwali 11/13
Kwanzaa 12/26
Chinese New Year 1/23 (year of the Dragon)
Nativity 12/25
Eid Mubarak 7/20/12
Winter Solstice 12/21 (Cat Dancer: apparently for most of the U.S. its 12/21 the actual moment is the last hour of the 21 day - first hour of the 22 day East Coast(-5): 5:30am UTC)
Christmas 12/25
Epiphony 1/6/12
Native America Celebration - the gifts of creation Jan-Oct 2012

Ten! I knew there was a lot of them.

[Gabriella7]

Looks to me like "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" would cover the list of ten.

Gabriella

[SalpalSally]

Wayyyyyy TMI!!:o

[Frog42]

What it all boils down to, though, is that Mike Weins runs this board and he has the right to put anything on here anywhere or leave it off if he darn well wants! :)

[agate]

--And he's given an explanation in addition to saying he'll post no more in this thread. Maybe it's time to let this thread to drop down onto another page.

[Moderator #5]

This thread has turned into a battle, and is now closed.