Surely you heard about the phony 'War on Christmas' allegations from the desperate right wing bullies such as O'Reilly.
Maybe you heard about the little school in southwestern Wisconsin that was accused by the right wing media smear machine of 'attacking Christmas and Christians' and 'banning Silent Night.'
Short version : as part of a holiday play, a tree - a character in the play - sings a song, 'Cold in the Night' to the tune of 'Silent Night.' ( More explanation here from the school district web site, including responses to thugs like Bill O'Reilly. )
This is what got the religious right into a tizzy and led to their bullying and threats toward a rural Wisconsin school district.
Now the school district is fighting back - hard.
Below the jump . . .
Dodgeville district firing back over Christmas controversy
Wisconsin State Journal
January 26, 2006
The Dodgeville School District, accused in December of launching an "attack on Christmas," has counterattacked the accusers.
In a sharply worded letter from its lawyer, the district this week demanded a widely distributed apology, a retraction of claims the school's policies are "hostile" to the U.S. Constitution, and $23,899.48 in damages from the Liberty Counsel. The Florida-based group grabbed national publicity and solicited donations based on its charge that a Dodgeville elementary school had "decided to eliminate Christmas from the Christmas season."
The district and media debunked the charge and the program went on, holiday-appropriate music and all, but under strict security.
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"Your dissemination of false and misleading information and your threats of specious and frivolous litigation resulted in enormous cost to the district. You have yet to present the facts either through a press release, one of your 'alerts' or through any other means. You used this red herring to attempt to collect money through the form of donations," the district's lawyer, Eileen A. Brownlee, wrote in a letter to Mathew D. Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel.
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"I am surprised that he [ the Liberty Counsel president ] has chosen this approach, since he is representing a Christian organization that certainly would uphold the Ten Commandments. He is not honoring the commandment that thou shalt not bear false witness." { quote from the school superintendent )
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The story was bandied about by national and local columnists and on a national conservative television show. After an initial round of exposure based on the Liberty Counsel release and resultant barrage of e-mails and calls to the school, the media reported the headline-grabbing accusation, that a hallowed Christmas carol had been "secularized" by the Dodgeville School District, was false.
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"I would like to believe that given their Christian basis, that somebody there would realize that right is right. And since they used their actions as part of their fundraising campaign, certainly something should be forthcoming. If nothing more than a token of compensation for what they unfairly subjected us to." [ school superintendent Diane Messer ]
She said that she hopes "next year, if this group continues to wage their 'War on Christmas' publicity campaign, they will research first to understand the facts of whatever the issues are at the next location. This might prevent someone else from becoming a victim of their bullying tactics."
FULL STORY