What in red blazes is this...?!? Santas going on violent rampages... Santas with bad attitudes... Santas arrested by the police... We sure don't have the Santas that we used to have - NOT EVEN THAT anymore!Yup - any further evidence that the world is going down the tubes IS NOT REQUIRED!
Maybe Santa equated Satan (in clever disguise) ALL ALONG after all - eh?
6 comments:
Santas Go on Rampage in New Zealand
The Associated Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A group of 40 people dressed in Santa Claus costumes, many of them drunk, rampaged through New Zealand's largest city, robbing stores and assaulting security guards, police said Sunday.
The rampage, dubbed "Santarchy" by local newspapers, began early Saturday afternoon when the men, wearing ill-fitting Santa costumes, threw beer bottles and urinated on cars from an Auckland overpass, said Auckland Central Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty.
She said the men then rushed through a central city park, overturning garbage containers, throwing bottles at passing cars and spraying graffiti on buildings.
One man climbed the mooring line of a cruise ship before being ordered down by the captain. Other Santas, objecting when the man was arrested, attacked security staff, Hegarty said.
The remaining Santas entered a downtown convenience store and carried off beer and soft drinks.
"They came in, said 'Merry Christmas' and then helped themselves," store owner Changa Manakynda said.
Alex Dyer, a spokesman for the group, said Santarchy was a worldwide movement designed to protest the commercialization of Christmas.
Three people were arrested and charged with drunkenness and disorderly behavior.
December 17, 2005 9:32 PM
Three 'Santas' arrested in Auckland
18 December 2005
The arrest of just three people from a group of 40 who dressed as Santas and caused mayhem in downtown Auckland yesterday has upset the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.
The three were arrested on drunk and disorderly charges.
Chamber chief executive Michael Barnett said today that he was disappointed that a stronger signal wasn't sent out about public disorder.
"It's a bit disappointing that the law is not being enforced that sends a strong signal to the rest of them and to anyone else who thinks this is humorous," he said.
"There's a group of people obviously organised and going into shopping areas and just intimidating shop owners and operators."
Members of the group were alleged to have knocked over rubbish bins, thrown bottles, stolen from shops and vandalised a Christmas tree at the Skycity casino.
They were taking part in what organisers said was "Santanarchy", a phenomenon that started overseas.
One website says the aim of Santanarchy, which began in the United States a decade ago, is to celebrate Christmas in anti-commercial manner by mixing pranks and public drunkenness.
Santa Wars as deposed British world champ fumes
LONDON (AFP) - The British Father Christmas who lost his Santa of the Year world crown has lashed out, citing a suspected campaign to stop him from winning again that has damaged "Santa morale".
Ron Horniblew, 70, has been authorised by the Master Santa in Greenland and is part of the elite international Santa circuit who compete at the Santa Winter Games, where up to 50 Father Christmases compete for the world title.
Estonian accordionist Aare Rebban grabbed the crown "amid dark mutterings of political voting, professional jealousy and backbiting", The Mail on Sunday newspaper said.
At the Games in Gallivare in Swedish Lapland, Santas sled, race reindeer-drawn sleighs, eat porridge -- with a splash on the beard earning instant disqualification -- climb chimneys and deliver presents under the watchful gaze of a panel of judges.
Horniblew said it all came down to the reindeer sled race.
"You go up two at a time, head-to-head," he told The Mail on Sunday.
"I was up against the Estonian and I won the race. He actually fell off his sleigh. But he got awarded extra points for falling in a particularly Santa-like style.
"I was pretty miffed at that, I can tell you."
Horniblew revelled in his world title win the previous year but revealed just how tough it is at the top.
"We are all very serious. It's not a fun thing. These guys are all Santa Claus in their own right in their own countries," he said.
Indeed, Horniblew is deadly serious about Santa. Uniformed Santas must not smoke, drink alcohol, or swear.
To be accepted, a potential Father Christmas has to pass the official Santa Test by proving one's charity work or grotto experience.
"I've had it written into my wedding vows that I'll be out being Santa on Christmas Day," Horniblew said.
"When I die, I want my suit, with my authorised badge and Winter Games medals, to be draped over my coffin and my Santa boots sat on top."
Check out this absurdism at the source - I shall call it...
The Christmas Special!
*LOL*
Aww...
Always an exception to every rule... even the "non-rule" of anarchy...!
This Santa has just the ticket for cheer
Dec 21, 8:33 AM (ET)
LONDON (Reuters) - A "Parking Ticket Santa Claus" has been spreading cash as well as Christmas cheer around the English city of Birmingham, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The mystery Santa has placed Christmas cards containing 30 pounds ($53) on the windscreens of drivers who have received parking tickets, the Daily Telegraph said.
"Don't let this ticket spoil your Christmas," declares a note in each card. "Here's #30 to pay it off. Merry Christmas - Parking Ticket Santa."
Fourteen drivers are believed to have received gifts from the unseen Father Christmas, who has given his profession an image boost after a string of stories about "Bad Santas."
In recent days, men in Santa outfits have been accused of committing armed robbery in Germany, exposing themselves in southern England and going on a drunken rampage in New Zealand.
Don't you just love a happy ending?
*lol*
Blessings, all!
And...
Merry Christmas!
:)
Yep, that sounds about right..
Dec 22, 8:33 AM (ET)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Some Germans would rather spend Christmas with a tree than with their families, a new poll shows.
The survey in Thursday's Focus weekly news magazine found 75 percent of Germans could not contemplate Christmas without their beloved "Tannenbaum," the traditional tree many cover lavishly with candles, lights and decorations.
But only 65 percent said spending time with relatives was also essential for a good Christmas.
Singing carols was the next most vital ingredient, with 57 percent saying they could not do without them, while 42 percent said Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without presents.
The modern tradition of the Christmas tree originated in Germany.
Three percent of the 1,014 people polled about attitudes to Christmas wanted to skip the whole thing.
'Tis the season to swat flies..
Dec 22, 8:25 AM (ET)
By James Regan
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australians would be smart to keep their mouths shut and clothes on this holiday season.
Christmas comes at the height of summer Down Under and summer brings flies -- billions of them.
The silent bush flies travel in swarms this time of year, from the stark outback to beachside towns, seeking refuge from the sizzling sun in places warm and moist: that often means people's mouths, noses, ears and...er, get the picture?
"Australia has about 20,000 species of flies that provide a service to the environment by recycling nutrients, but the bush fly is the one bad apple when it comes to humans," says entomologist David Yeates of the government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.
A three-year drought across much of Australia that finally broke this year gave Australians a reprieve in Christmas's past from the pesky, though harmless bush fly, which is most prolific along the coast after a rainy spring.
"Females can lay lots of eggs, probably hundreds given the right conditions," Yeates says.
In a country that posts "beware of crocodiles" signs on highways and where even city folk are wary of leaving their shoes outside fearing deadly spiders will crawl inside, the bush fly ranks as a featherweight.
Yeates says he has never heard of anyone getting sick from swallowing too many flies, though there have been some cases of eye infections.
"I can't tell you how they taste because I spit them out as soon as I feel one walking on my tongue," said 10-year-old Christine Martin, who had tired of the relentless swatting after a day on Sydney's Manly beach.
How to spend a fly-free yuletide? Some suggest tying a damp cloth around the forehead so the flies take up residence there instead of in darker bodily zones.
Others throw fashion to the wind and don wide-brimmed hats festooned with wine corks, a swatting machine if you will. These can be accessorized with mosquito meshing or clear cellophane wrap.
By the start of autumn, around March, most of the flies are dead or soon will be. As adults, the bush fly only lives for a week at best.
"They don't do so well come the end of summer, being cold-blooded animals relying on environmental heat to keep their energy levels up," says Yeates.
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