Church of No, Thanks Celebrating Personal Liberty since 2008

Conservative Christendom in the US switched into full whack-a-loon mode this year by declaring that everyone else had declared a war on Christmas.

Our sister-site, UrsusPacificus.net has an interesting analysis of the supposed oppression faced by this majority group.

This blog post on our sister site, UrsusPacificus, Tells of a troubling aspect of the debate between rationalists and believers in "more traditional" religions.

Shop the UrsusPacificus KitschKave for brand new NoThanksGiving 2009 (or NTG2K9) shirts, aprons and other groovy kitsch.

There's a cool new design, with an unflattering picture of your friendly Pastor at the BBQ grill! No sneak-peeks here, though... you need to go to the store to check it out!

Get yours before they go away forever!

Hey, guess what! It's Easter... the day when Catholics and Protestant Christians commemorate the resurrection of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, following his crucifixion 2 days before.

How do they celebrate such an awe inspiring event (assuming it actually happened)?! Easter Egg Hunts, baskets filled with candy, fancy clothes, big dinners, and, in some communities, parades. Consumption and showing off, basically.

There's an old mental exercise that gets floated around in times of boredom or desperation. It begins with the question: "What would you do with a million Dollars?"

An individual's response to the question is supposed to provide insight into that person's values and priorities.

While I can't tell you what YOU should do with a million Dollars, I can tell you what I'd do with it.

Well, as is customary, I am planning to host a NoThanksGiving barbecue on the last day of NoThanksGiving (Saturday, May 30, this year). Last summer I was so preoccupied with making my house livable, then moving into it, that I never did some basic things that people normally do in the summer if they haven't already take care of such things... like get a grill and patio set. I barely got a mower.

Well, now i have a grill, and took it for a test drive this weekend, viz:

It's easy, especially in a society where consumption is the common cause, to give in to the trappings of materialism.

It's not uncommon for someone to walk in the ever-tightening spiral, which, at first appears to be a circle, wherein one grows ever closer to the drain of financial ruin. We work harder and earn more to push ourselves away from the middle; to temporarily widen the sweep. Inevitably, the need to "keep up with the Joneses" draws us back in... the bigger house, the fancier car, the privater schools and the groovier togs.

Our part of the Ursus Pacificus Kitsch Kave has gotten a major re-model, and we'v got lots more stuff available, including the long awaited CoNT Bumper Sticker

Wow!

Stop on by and get your CoNT on in style....

Or, just say, "No, Thanks."

The Christians have Easter (who knows when that's happening, year to year?!), the Jews have Channuka (or however you prefer to transliterate it)... and no one's really sure when that's supposed to happen... Well, we have No-Thanks Giving.

No-Thanks Giving usually happens around Memorial Day (May 25 in the US), and its start and end dates are anchored on Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November, US), filling the space between 180 days after the last Turkey Day, and 180 days before the next one.

This year, No-Thanks Giving begins on Tuesday, May 26.

Welcome, one and all.

Most of us enjoy music, and will listen to it passively on the radio or on a portable music player. Many of us enjoy it more, when we can attend a live performance. Some of us learn to play an instrument or sing well enough to entertain at family barbecues, become "bedroom musicians" or do karaoke. A few of us take it seriously enough to make it a vocation.