This strikes me as a problem:

This year I have been hearing more references to the “true meaning” of Christmas. Every year, we seem to get the Bill O’Reilly type War on the War on Christmas silliness, but this year I have heard more “true meaning” stuff, by which the person discussing it tends to mean celebrating their Lord, Jesus Christ.

By itself, I certainly have no problem with this, especially since it is in this context, I hear Christians at their most concerned about Jesus’ messages of peace, love, and understanding divorced of the more pernicious political stuff about gays and abortions (neither of which Jesus had much to say about, as I understand it.) With some speakers, however, there seems to be an additional subtext to the effect that Christians should get more aggressive and “take back” their holiday.

But, the “true meaning” of Christmas is ambiguous. For starters, in many respects, the holiday seems to predate Jesus. Any number of cultures have had holidays celebrating the winter solstice. And why not? What day could be more powerful to pre-scientific cultures. The days keep getting shorter and shorter and shorter, until one day, that stops; and the sun and light begin returning. A second issue is that nobody really knows when Jesus was born. Early Christians assigned the date of his birth in the 4th century; and Christmas sort of glommed on to existing Roman holidays such as Saturnalia and, more prominently at the time, Sol Invictus where the Romans celebrated “the birthday of the unconquered sun.”

In the English speaking world, Christmas seems to have been largely ignored until about the mid-1800s; though the Germans regarded it as a significant celebration. Among other things, the division between Catholic and Protestant helped suppress Christmas in England. Oliver Cromwell had denounced Christmas as papist idolatry.

Among the most prominent elements of the resurgence of Christmas was Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol.” And, it’s because of the source of the resurgence that we have the particular trappings of Christmas which originated in Victorian England and was heavily influenced by the German heritage of Prince Albert: the sending of cards, the Christmas carols, the exchanging of gifts, and the set-piece Christmas dinner.

What I take from this as someone who is not religious is that Christmas has a meaning that does not depend on the divinity of Christ, though it is reflected in the teachings of Jesus and others. That meaning is that love of family and a desire for peace and understanding among humans are things to be valued and toward which we should strive. So, even as a non-Christian, I have no problem at all sharing gifts with my children under the Christmas tree or celebrating the holiday with my family; because these are (or should be) human values, not solely Christian values. And, what better time to celebrate these universal human values than when the sun finally conquers the darkness once again?

Brian Corbin of the Evansville Courier Press reports that Tim Rushenberg of Elkhart, Indiana will be the new commissioner of the Department of Local Government Finance. He will replace Cheryl Musgrave who stepped down after 18 months in charge of the office which oversees Indiana’s property tax system. 

 

Rushenberg has been the department’s general counsel since August 2007, and he assisted in drafting the legislation that was part of the governor’s property-tax relief package, passed earlier this year.

Rushenberg was a member of the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps from 2003 to 2007 and previously served as assistant city attorney in Elkhart. A graduate of Indiana University-South Bend and Indiana University School of Law, Rushenberg is also certified as a Level 2 assessor.

The Evansville Courier Press referred to the position as the “property-tax czar.” Really? A czar? I suggest just sticking with commissioner.

This is a repost of an entry I did last week, reminding folks in the Lafayette area of the Arni’s percentage event for the benefit of the Legal Aid Corporation of Tippecanoe County. Remember to mention “Legal Aid” to your server if you go.  Reposted material:

The fine folks at Arni’s are really solid members of the Lafayette community. The latest example of this is a “percentage night” they are holding for the benefit of Legal Aid of Tippecanoe County. On December 16, 2008 from 5:00 to 8:00, Arni’s has indicated that it will donate a percentage of its profits at its Market Square store (map) for the evening to Legal Aid.

It is the mission of Legal Aid to provide legal services for people who cannot afford it themselves in civil, non-fee generating cases — for example, CHINS cases (children in need of services; could involve termination of parental rights). The theory is that our legal system only works if people believe, by and large, that they are getting a fair shake. That belief erodes when they do not have a lawyer and simply get steam-rolled by the system or perceive that is what is happening to them. Ultimately we all benefit from a stable legal system; and organizations such as legal aid contribute to that stability. So, I would encourage anyone in the area to come out to Arni’s at Market Square on the evening 12/16/08 (<strike>next</strike> this Tuesday), enjoy some good food, and help out Legal Aid.

Dan Stockman with the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette provides us with the quadrennial reminder that the President is not elected democratically.

Of course, we are really voting for electors who, in turn, are presumed to be dependable in voting for one candidate or another.

If you’re like most Americans, you probably think there was a presidential election on Nov. 4 and that Sen. Barack Obama was the winner.

In fact, the presidential election is Monday, and the results won’t be known until votes are counted Jan. 6.

Technically true, I suppose, but until a faithless elector affects the outcome of the election, not very important.

Joy Leiker, writing for the Muncie Star Press, does what seems to be an excellent piece of reporting on the Prosecutor/Drug Task Force/Asset Forfeiture brouhaha that has been embroiling Delaware County politics for the past year or so. I add the qualifier “seems to be” only because I’m not familiar enough with the local politics there to know if there are any gaps or problems.

It starts with discussing the drug task force asset forfeiture program but then goes on to describe the tangled web of personal relationships between the parties involved, including most prominently the prosecutor and the Muncie mayor.

I’ll go ahead and add, that philosophically, I have serious reservations about asset forfeiture laws passed in support of the War on (Some) Drugs. As to Indiana’s laws, specifically, I don’t have anything like comprehensive knowledge, but only know of the process in the country generally. So, don’t take this as a specific critique of the situation in our state. Generally, the potential for abuse is always there when you have law enforcement taking property from a citizen for the benefit of the law enforcement agency with potentially relaxed standards of proof as to whether the property was used in aid of a crime. There should be some fairly significant levels of process when government takes property from a citizen, and, probably more importantly, there should be some serious filters between those who make decisions about seizing property and those who make decisions about how that seized property is allocated. “I can take your stuff and it will make my life and the life of my co-workers better; and besides, you’re a drug dealing scumbag” is a pretty powerful incentive, I would think.

As a proud Hoosier with a tendency toward Lincoln hero-worship (I named my boy after him), I am very happy about the recent news that Lincoln items formerly displayed at the closed Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne will remain in Indiana.

A coalition led by the Indiana State Museum and the Allen County Public library were successful in convincing the Lincoln Financial Foundation to keep the $20 million collection in Indiana.

The collection will be split between the Allen County Public Library and the State Museum, with the library in general receiving the collection’s books, documents and manuscripts. The state museum will get the three-dimensional artifacts.

The Indiana coalition edged out, among others, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Ford’s Theatre and President Lincoln’s Cottage. Congratulations to everyone involved on their hard work.

The bad economic situation is rippling through our lives in a lot of different ways. Yet another one of those is the decline of the state’s investments from its sale of the toll road.

Since the inception of the Major Moves program, [sale of the toll road] investments from much of the $3.8 billion Toll Road lease have missed projections set in June 2006 by Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration, according to a review by The Indianapolis Star.

In fiscal 2007, the administration estimated the Major Moves construction fund would generate $202 million in income, but figures from the state treasurer’s annual report show the fund produced $127.4 million. In fiscal 2008, which ended June 30, that projection was $170.7 million, but the investments produced $106.7 million in income.

The combined shortfall over those two years: $138.6 million.

(The “Major Moves” moniker annoys me. It smells like propaganda every time I see it in print or hear it on the news. A panoply of the senses!)

The official word at the moment, however, is that no projects are expected to be delayed, at least between now and 2011.