Christmas is Number One with a Depleted Uranium Shell

The controversy over how Christmas should be recognized is still as fresh and interesting as Calcutta sidewalks, but the United States Postal Service has really taken this issue to a whole new level, Ted Nugent style.

My wife received a Christmas card from a friend today (how sweet). The USPS, a private company, used an interesting cancelation mark:

Celebrating the 230th Army Birthday.

It includes the Army logo to its right, of course.

Now, I don't know about you, but I am of the opinion that Christmas should not be closely linked to the armed forces. The sad part about this is that it is probably the same people who are complaining about Sears' (67% Republican donations) and Wal-Mart's (78% Republican donations) decisions not to greet customers with "Merry Christmas" this season who will be most in favor of putting what may well amount to recruitment advertising on people's Christmas cards.

I will be attending Christmas services at my old church in Kirkland, WA, this year. I attend that service every time I visit my family for the holidays. I also don't need a lecture about the religious roots of Christmas, especially from someone who doesn't understand the Germanic, Druidic, and pre-Christian Roman origins of the holiday's key elements. If ever there were an assimilationist holiday, Christmas is it, and perhaps that is an argument in favor of the Army stamp; however, anyone wishing to take that stand must be prepared to surrender the Christian value of the holiday in the process.

After all, if he were to be stopped by an Army recruiter in the United States in our time, WWJD? Yeah, I agree: the M4 and body armor look good, but the haircut is all wrong.