Congress reminds us that Christians are awesome.

[Ebowed]

Congress passed a resolution "Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith."

       "Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

            (1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;

            (2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;

            (3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;

            (4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;

            (5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and

            (6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world."

Passed a few days ago with 372 ayes, 9 nays, 10 present, and 40 not voting.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr110-847

Nays:
Gary Ackerman (D-NY)
Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Diana DeGette (D-CO)
Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
James McDermott (D-WA)
Robert Scott (D-VA)
Pete Stark (D-CA)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

Present:
John Conyers (D-MI)
Barney Frank (D-MA)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Donald Payne (D-NJ)
Mike Pence (R-IN)
Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)
Allyson Schwartz (D-PA)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
Peter Welch (D-VT)
John Yarmuth (D-KY)

Kucinich voted Aye, Ron Paul didn't vote.

[Boris]

I the United States Government

[Joe Biden 2020]

Congress passed a resolution "Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith."

       "Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

            (1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;

            (2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;

            (3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;

            (4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;

            (5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and

            (6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world."

Passed a few days ago with 372 ayes, 9 nays, 10 present, and 40 not voting.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr110-847

Nays:
Gary Ackerman (D-NY)
Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Diana DeGette (D-CO)
Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
James McDermott (D-WA)
Robert Scott (D-VA)
Pete Stark (D-CA)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

Present:
John Conyers (D-MI)
Barney Frank (D-MA)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Donald Payne (D-NJ)
Mike Pence (R-IN)
Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)
Allyson Schwartz (D-PA)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
Peter Welch (D-VT)
John Yarmuth (D-KY)

Kucinich voted Aye, Ron Paul didn't vote.

Hallelujah, AMEN!!  I LOVE THIS RESOLUTION.  Finally!!!  Something good that I can say about this Congress!!

[Ebowed]

Congress also just passed a bill to ban waterboarding.  Which was already illegal.

[Verily]

There are only 9 Freedom Fighters in the entire House? Even fewer than I feared.

[Ebowed]

Hallelujah, AMEN!!  I LOVE THIS RESOLUTION.  Finally!!!  Something good that I can say about this Congress!!

Typical American voter.

Peter King (R-IA), who introduced the resolution, said:
"I recognized that we're a Christian nation founded on Christian principles, and we're coming up to Christmastime. ... It's time we stood up and said so, and said to the rest of America, Be who you are and be confident. And let's worship Christ and let's celebrate Christmas for the right reasons."

Alcee Hastings (D-FL), who voted against:
    "America is not a Christian nation," Hastings said. "It is a nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and everyone in between. Our diversity is our strength and those who seek to use religion as a litmus test are doing a disservice to all of us."

    As for the "assault on Christianity," Hastings said, "all someone has to do is visit a shopping mall, turn on the radio or TV or look at the Christmas trees sitting on the front lawns of the White House and the United States Capitol to realize that no such assault is underway."

[DownWithTheLeft]

WTF with Mike Pence

And I bet Alcee Hastings is still complaining about the song "White Christmas" like he did last year

[Ebowed]

WTF with Mike Pence

Maybe he thinks that, despite his own beliefs, America doesn't need to be told how important his religion is.

[Speed of Sound]

Awww....poor mass majority. Youre so sad and weak.....tsk tsk tsk....well, it happens to all religions at one point  or another, and will happen to this one as well...."NO PLEASE WE R AWESOME CUZ WE SAY SO EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE 90% OF THE DAMN COUNTRY LOL CURSE EVERYONE ELSE PLZ K THX!!!!!!111111111111111111111111"

[MODU]

It's funny sad how the other resolutions for the various religions in the nation received a higher yea vote. 

[Colin]

There are only 9 Freedom Fighters in the entire House? Even fewer than I feared.

Yes this is pretty pathetic and very sad. A pat on the back to those who actually didn't vote for this piece of crap.

[Ebowed]

It's funny sad how the other resolutions for the various religions in the nation received a higher yea vote. 

Watch what happens if a resolution was introduced affirming the contributions of the non-religious.

[Gabu]

Wow, this is quite possible the boldest move I've ever seen Congress take.  Those Christians are so persecuted and downtrodden.  I mean it's not as if the United States is 75% Christian or anything.  Perhaps next Congress will pass a resolution celebrating kittens.

[John Dibble]

I applaud this bold and risky move on the part of those brave Congressmen. Now, when will they get to making a resolution applauding us secular folk? That would be a much less dangerous thing to do.

[Hash]

There are only 9 Freedom Fighters in the entire House? Even fewer than I feared.

The United States is in urgent need of an alternative to the sole major party, the Republicrats.

[CPT MikeyMike]

It's funny sad how the other resolutions for the various religions in the nation received a higher yea vote. 

Correct, if this was resolution on the Importance of Hanukkah and the Jewish faith and a congressman voted NO, they would be called anti semitic.

[Ebowed]

Correct, if this was resolution on the Importance of Hanukkah and the Jewish faith and a congressman voted NO, they would be called anti semitic.

Do you really think either resolution is necessary??

[John Dibble]

Correct, if this was resolution on the Importance of Hanukkah and the Jewish faith and a congressman voted NO, they would be called anti semitic.

Do you really think either resolution is necessary??

I don't know about him, but I find every last one of the damn non-binding resolutions to be wastes of time and tax-dollars. On the other hand, they aren't making actual laws to f**k things up when they are busy with them, so it might be a good thing.

[CPT MikeyMike]

Do you really think someone like Hastings would vote NO on a Jewish resolution?

As for the issue itself, I really don't care. This whole thing (resolution and thread) is a waste of time. I'd rather have the issue be the economy or the war on terror.

[DownWithTheLeft]

It's funny sad how the other resolutions for the various religions in the nation received a higher yea vote. 

Correct, if this was resolution on the Importance of Hanukkah and the Jewish faith and a congressman voted NO, they would be called anti semitic.

Or God forbid Muslim, gay, lesbian, black, Asian, illegal immigrant, executions would be called for

[Ebowed]

This whole thing (resolution and thread) is a waste of time.

Whose time am I wasting with this thread?  Congress passed a resolution to ass-kiss the religion that 75%+ of America subscribes to.  I'm just notifying the forum about it.

[Gustaf]

Generally speaking it is better to have politicians passing non-binding resolutions than binding ones. But ideally they would only pass good, efficient legislation, of course.

[Alcon]

It's funny sad how the other resolutions for the various religions in the nation received a higher yea vote. 

McDermott's explanation on that was particularly amusing - he voted no because King "voted against children seven times this year, and...isn't Christmas about children?"

Not only did it not make any sense, but it imagined to reference "the children" without irony.  Go McDermott!

Seriously, though, I applaud everyone who voted "no" because this is a waste of time.  Where was Paul on this?  Or is he only OK with stupid, meaningless crap like this when it agrees with his religion of choice?

[MODU]

Correct, if this was resolution on the Importance of Hanukkah and the Jewish faith and a congressman voted NO, they would be called anti semitic.

Do you really think either resolution is necessary??

None of these resolutions are "necessary," but Congress does this all the time to highlight the contributions by groups to society.  They do resolutions for sports teams, schools, unions, etc.  It's all ceremonial.

[Ebowed]

9 Dems Say No to Christmas Resolution

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 13, 2007

Filed at 2:51 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Jim McDermott says he is no Grinch, even though he voted against Christmas.

The Democrat from Washington state says he was protesting an expected veto of a children's health insurance bill when he voted against a resolution recognizing the importance of Christmas.

''While the Republicans are passing a resolution celebrating Christmas, the president was vetoing health care for children. There's a little bit of irony going on around here,'' McDermott said Thursday.

The Christmas measure was approved 372-9 on Tuesday night. Democrats cast all the no votes. Beside McDermott, the other dissenting votes came from Reps. Gary Ackerman and Yvette Clarke of New York; Barbara Lee, Pete Stark and Lynn Woolsey of California; Diana DeGette of Colorado; Alcee Hastings of Florida; and Bobby Scott of Virginia.

Ten lawmakers, including Republican Mike Pence of Indiana, voted ''present.'' Forty lawmakers were absent for the vote.

McDermott said President Bush's veto Wednesday meant that ''10,000 kids in my state'' would be left without health coverage. The veto was the second time Bush rejected a bipartisan effort in Congress to dramatically increase spending for the popular program.

''I guess I'm the only guy left in Congress who still gets angry, but there are some things that are just not right,'' McDermott said.

On that last point, at least, Republicans agreed.

''I think there's an anti-Christian bias,'' said Rep. Steve King, who sponsored the resolution. ''I would not have thought that five or 10 years ago that we'd need to make a statement'' affirming the importance of Christmas and Christianity.

King's resolution stated that Christianity was the predominant faith in the United States and contributed greatly to the development of the country and Western civilization.

''I've watched Christ be eradicated by ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) lawsuits and people be afraid of confrontations. They wish (people) 'happy holidays' but not 'Merry Christmas' because they might be offended,'' King, R-Iowa, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

McDermott, in his 10th term, is revered by many of his liberal constituents in Seattle for his anti-war stance and other votes. But he is loathed by many conservatives, who call him ''Baghdad Jim'' in honor of his prewar trip to Iraq, where he said he believed Saddam Hussein but not Bush.

McDermott said Thursday that he expected to take political heat for his actions, but if it forces a discussion of Bush's veto, ''then it was a good protest vote.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Congress-Grinch-Democrats.html?_r=1&oref=slogin