Yesterday was Black Friday, and as usual there were incredible deals to be had all over the place.  Rampant consumerism at its best.  And once again people died in the rush to get a great deal.

It might be one thing if it was just one or two isolated events one year…  But similar things happened last year, and the year before.  We are being whipped into a frenzy of consumer lust that defies all reason.  And folks are all-too willing to go along with it.

Personally, I think every single person at that store should be held accountable.  Every single person in that crowd of rabid shoppers who trampled the man, and then his would-be rescuers.  But the store is also to blame.  Maybe not the local sales clerks and managers, but certainly the geniuses in marketing who managed to get everyone so wound up that people died.  Isn’t inciting a riot illegal?

Honestly, it’s crap like this that makes me hate the holiday season.  What was supposed to be a holy day has instead turned into months of gluttonous consumer spending.

I don’t like Christmas.

I’m not just indifferent, I actively dislike it.

All the stores around here have their Christmas stuff out…  All sorts of snowmen and trees and stuff for sale.  Assorted lights and signs and displays to decorate your house.  All sorts of sales and flyers and stuff trying to convince you to buy more crap.  Christmas music on the radio…  All sorts of talk about Christmas planning, shopping, and celebrating on TV…

It all makes me cringe.

Within the confines of our own house I enjoy the holiday.  I like having some time off.  I like the excuse to spend time with my family.  I like the feasting and the way it tricks people into sitting down around the dinner table and talking to eachother.  I like to see my wife and son smile to see what they’ve got under the tree.  That’s all fun.

But outside of the confines of my own house…  Out in the world at large…  Christmas has become downright distasteful to me.

We’re told to give, give, give…  They tell us how much better it is to give than to receive.  The Salvation Army is outside stores, ringing their bells.  There’s specials about how people are going hungry and need your donations.  There’s tales of random acts of charity.  But it all seems like a very thin veneer over rampant greed.

We’re told how great it is to give gifts…and then we’re handed a sales flyer pointing out all the wonderful things we could give, if we bought them.  We’re told how disappointed the children will be if we don’t get them everything they want.  There are “news” stories about how to explain to your children that times are tight and Santa won’t be bringing as many presents this year…  Followed up shortly by an advertisement for American Express, or MasterCard, or some other way to dig yourself deeper into debt.

And then…  In a time when we’re all supposed to be coming together to celebrate this wonderful, holy occasion…  We’ve got the fundamentalists who want to exclude people, rather than include them.  Folks who are upset when you try to include people of every creed by wishing everyone a Happy Holiday, instead of wishing happiness on only the Christians.  We’re told that people who want to include everyone in the joy of the season are, in fact, waging a War on Christmas.

A holiday that is, at least theoretically, supposed to bring people together in celebration…  Is instead used to drive another wedge between people.

And if you don’t like all of this crap…  If all the rampant commercialism and thinly-veiled greed and nicely-dressed hate doesn’t make you bright and cheerful…  Then there’s something wrong with you.

My wife will probably be annoyed at me for sharing this…  But, oh well.

She participates in a couple very active web forums.  As you might expect, not everyone in the U.S. is happy with our new President.  Some of them are complaining.

I am so infuriated by the way those people acted for the past 8 years that I think it’s only fair that their chosen one gets the same treatment. There are others in my party who will take the high road, but I won’t be one of them. I’ll be eagerly awaiting any little thing to pounce on and blame him for…just like how President Bush got blamed for everything. Turn about is fair play. Let’s see how the liberals like it!

Well, I can’t speak for everyone out there…  But this particular liberal thinks that’s just fine.

It is certainly true that some folks jumped all over every single mis-step Bush made.  Folks condemned him left and right for every stumble, every name he got wrong, every stutter.  And I think that’s pretty petty, really.

But, to be completely honest, the Bush administration was given very light treatment by the media.  Nobody dug too deeply into the fact that Bush/Cheney insisted Iraq had WMDs, even though we couldn’t find them.  Nobody dug too deeply into the insistence that we go to war in Iraq, despite the UN’s opposition and the fact that we weren’t done in Afghanistan.  Nobody has dug too deeply into the torture in Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay.  Nobody has dug too deeply into the domestic wiretapping, or the Patriot Act, or all the no-bid contracts.

The fact of the matter is that the Bush administration has behaved very poorly, and largely been allowed to get away with it.

And while I certainly don’t want the Obama administration to behave poorly, I do want him to be held accountable if it does.

I want Keith Olbermann to keep marking the days since “mission accomplished” until we actually leave Iraq.  I want him to point out the fact that Obama promised to end the war in Iraq.  I want him to be held to his promise to go back and finish the job in Afghanistan.

I want a government that is actually going to work for the people, like it is supposed to.  And I want a media that will report the truth - not what sounds good, or gets them the highest ratings.

Again, I think it fairly petty to go after every single mis-step and stuttered word…  But I sure as hell don’t want the Obama administration to have the same kind of free reign that the Bush administration has had.

Tomorrow is election day.

I don’t care what your affiliation is…  I don’t care who you’re planning on voting for…  I don’t care if you agree with me or not…

Go out and vote!

The democratic process only works when people actually vote.  If you don’t go out and vote we don’t have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

You know…  I’m really getting pretty sick of the commercial extravaganza that Christmas has become.  It’s absolutely rediculous.

Last week, when I was shopping for an anniversary card for Terri, Hallmark already had all their Christmas stuff out.  Christmas cards, ornaments, decorations, candy…  All sorts of festive stuff.  In October.  Halloween hadn’t even happened yet…  Nor had Thanksgiving…  But they were already trying to sell you stuff for Christmas.

Target had their Halloween decorations in one aisle, and their Christmas stuff in another.  Again, ready and willing to sell you festive junk for a holiday that is months away.

I’ve heard radio stations playing Christmas music already…  Seen commercials suggesting that you should start shopping immediately…

What ever happened to spending any time with the family?  Just kicking back and enjoying each-other’s company?  All I see any more is buy, buy, buy!