Let the annual lying festival begin!

[quade 4]

Yes, it's never too early to learn that your government lies to you (along with your parents).

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/041217/photos_od_afp/041217212601_8o7gj6bx_photo0&e=2&ncid=1600

Does anybody know how this silliness started?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Trent 0]

Being in Houston, I remember seeing Johnson Space Center making announcements about Santa's progress. What's the big deal? It's fun for kids.

Besides, I bet a weatherman or 2 in your area will do the same. Are they in on this vast conspiracy of gov't lies?

Oh, hello again!

[dorbie 0]

Violates the separation of church & state if you ask me.

[miked10270 0]

Quote

Violates the separation of church & state if you ask me.

No. It's just extending a courtesy to a visiting dignitary. Plus, you never know, Dubya & Co. Might get to take a quick look at some of the addresses on his "Naughty" list?

Mike.

Meanwhile, ANYONE with kids has to log onto http://www.noradsanta.org/ on Christmas Eve

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

[bodypilot90 0]

now I know why you are a greenie....your ARE the grinch

[PhillyKev 0]

Hell, as far as gov't programs go, this is one of the most productive and least damaging to the people that exists.

And besides....that fat man could have his sled loaded down with biological weapons that he's slipping down everyone's chimney. Best to keep an eye on him.

[Jimbo 0]

Quote

Does anyone know how this sillyness started?

NORAD, jointly operated by the United States and Canada, has been tracking Santa for 50 years, ever since a newspaper in Colorado mistakenly printed a number for a "Santa Hotline."


The number turned out to be the "Operations Hotline" for NORAD headquarters in the state where tense radar operators were hunched over their radar screens on a cold night at the beginning of the Cold War.


"Needless to say, the military personnel on duty were very surprised to hear small children's voices on the Operations Hotline asking to speak to Santa," the release said.


The senior officer told kids he could see Santa heading south from the North Pole, starting a tradition that has now endured for half a century.

-
Jim

"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

[freeryde13 0]

i don't think santa should be allowed to fly now, we ust can't risk it as a country....things just aren't the same since 911. besides i'm a muslim/ jew and am offended by anything to do with christmas. and further more what does advertising a fat guy do to help fight obeesity....

and if that missle defense system really is worth all the billions of dollars they spent on it ,then how the fuck did a fat bastard, 8 reindeers, and a sliegh get through our airspace?

_________________________________________

people see me as a challenge to their balance

[Zenister 0]

Both Eglin AFB and Weisbaden AAF used to actually 'scramble' fighters to intercept the 'boogie', they then had (sometimes live sometimes not) radio chatter between the pilots as they IDed and then escorted Santa into safe airspace...

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[quade 4]

Quote

now I know why you are a greenie....your ARE the grinch

Not actually.

I remember this from when I was a small child and at the time thought it was pretty cool. As soon as the news would play the NORAD clip we knew he was coming our way.

As I grew older and figured Santa out it hit me as very odd that the entire adult world actually was in a sort of loose consirpacy to control kids with certain myths; Santa, Easter Bunny, Boogieman.

If Santa, who the entire adult world was telling be was real, was in fact a lie, then what about other things? What about the things that even the adults believed in?

Call it the beginnings of skepticism.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Jib 0]

Control?

I've always seen it more as parents enjoying the wonder years and the joy of opening presents, etc.

--------------------------------------------------
the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[quade 4]

Are you telling me that you never heard the "Naughty & Nice" part of the Santa story?

Are you telling me that from Thanksgiving to Christmas you weren't on your "best" behaviour and that if you stepped out of line your parents never threatened to "call" Santa to let him know about it?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Jib 0]

Sure, they did. I was also sent to my room, not allowed to have desert, spanked, told to wait until my father gets home... It wasn't always successful but it's not a government conspiracy.

At the same time, my parents put up the tree on Xmas eve after I'd gone to bed and took pictures as my brother and I came down the stairs to see the room decorated and presents.

--------------------------------------------------
the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[quade 4]

I think you're missing my point.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Jib 0]

No, you think Santa is a silly waste of money and time. Just think of all the postage spent of letters to the North Pole! Everyone knows you can talk to him or at least one of his helpers at the Mall!! It could be used to buy rice for Ethopians. (My parents told me people were starving over there in an effort to get me to eat brussel sprouts, another part of the massive parental conspiracy.)

I think Santa makes people happy in a variety of ways.

--------------------------------------------------
the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[ahegeman 0]

I'm sure the Freemason's are somehow involved in this conspiracy. And have you taken a close look at the Zapruder film? I think that's one of Santa's elves behind the fence on the grassy knoll. I mean, look, Santa is an anagram for Satan. Coincidence? I think not.

---------------------------------------------------------------
There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'.
--Dave Barry

[miked10270 0]

Quote

I think you're missing my point.

With all due respect, I believe that YOU'RE missing the point.

Yes... I remember when I believed that Santa-Claus climbed down the chimney & left me presents. I remember that I was so good that a total stranger deemed me worthy (not just my Mum), a guy who lived in North Lapland who took an interest in me - cared enough to make me toys and bring them to me in the depths of winter.

Now I'm a parent. My kids KNOW that I love them unconditionally. My 4 year old also knows that some guy in Lapland (Is that where the dancers come from, Daddy?) cares enpough about him that he'll bring him presents at an otherwise bleak time of year. My 2 year old knows that something (good) is afoot. My 10 year old knows better... but'll still hit the Santa-Tracking website and'll be half amused AND HALF CREDIBLE. My recent foster daughter (14 years old and still getting used to living with people who don't get pissed, in both the English & American senses of the word, and hit her if she hasn't done the housework - expect "Cinder-Sinead" to be a new member here after her first jump on her 16th birthday) is understandably somewhat cynical and is still trying to get her head around the idea that The BBC, Reuters, the DOD, NORAD etc... are ALL treating this as serious news, doing things like questioning the cost of the airforce escort / should Santa be allowed to low-overfly Buckingham Palace or The White House, Etc... Sinead is "puzzled" but likes the idea.
So... (and here comes the personal attack)... LEAVE SANTA THE FUCK ALONE!!!!![/B][/I]

He IS going to take off from "the North"! He is going to circumnavigate the worldin 24 hours! He WILL deliver presents! He IS going to be tracked and photographed and escorted by NORAD!

(it is a lie, but it is good)

Mike.

Edited to explain that "pissed" means BOTH the British and American senses of the word at the same time.

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

[quade 4]

Quote

So... (and here comes the personal attack)... LEAVE SANTA THE FUCK ALONE!!!!!

That's not a personal attack. It's a command to do something that, well, is impossible since I can't do anything to Santa to begin with -- he's not real.

I think you guys are hung up on the Santa myth so . . . I guess I can't take this any further. Too bad because it could have been interesting.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Jib 0]

I think your better conspiracy would be the merchants who benefit from Santa.

--------------------------------------------------
the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[miked10270 0]

I appreciate that Santa's not real. I know that even as he allegedly existed, he has been changed by myth and advertising so much that he has ceased to resemble St. Nicholas (a devout early Turkish Bishop), or the man who dropped gold coins down the chimney of ancient Scandanavian spinsters so they would have a dowry and could marry. I even know that Santa used to wear green & brown furs until a certain cola manufacturer got in on the act in the 1930's.

So it's not a case of being "hung-up on the Santa Myth"... It's a case of appreciating the value of the myth over the value of the truth.

Who said "Is there in truth no beauty"? (before Dr. McCoy said it in Star-Trek).

Mike.

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

[christelsabine 1]

Even my big boy loves it so much, if I call him:
He, now you may open there door and come in:
Santa was here: Come and look for your gifts!

Thats a ceremony he enjoys since he's born. If it's a new type of handy, or something like that, Santa has no idea on it:

But my son just loves to be called....

So, I'd vote for SANTA, too! May he live for another hundreds of years.......For our children.

Happy X-Mas.

dudeist skydiver # 3105

[slug 1]

The big fat man in the red suit and white beard is real.

I know I seen him with my own eyes kssing Momma.
I told dad when he got home from work and he believed me.

Damn that sure was a Merry Xmas. Ho Ho HO.

BTW scrambleing the jets and giving santa a escort "is training so no harm done" except for a grinch who don't like it.

R.I.P.

[Jib 0]

Quade must be upset because Santa called his s/o a ho three times.

--------------------------------------------------
the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[Guest]

Quote

Yes, it's never too early to learn that your government lies to you (along with your parents).

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/041217/photos_od_afp/041217212601_8o7gj6bx_photo0&e=2&ncid=1600

Does anybody know how this silliness started?

And I thought I was a cynic.

mh

.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[happythoughts 0]

Quote

Violates the separation of church & state if you ask me.

There is an insidious conspiracy at work here. It is totally about church and state.

Satan - wears red suit, in charge of evil.
Santa - wears red suit, in charge of a vertically-challenged-slave toy production facility.

Same red suit. They use the same letters to spell their names. And...you never see them together. Coincidence? I think not.

Perhaps Santa is trying to subvert Christmas to move the focus away from the church?
And now the govt is supporting his program...

It all makes sense now...