Atheists in Florida to Hang Banner Replacing Jesus with Bill of Rights

Christmas, ,

According to the Associated Press, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is hanging a banner in the Florida State Capitol depicting Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Statue of Liberty gathered around a manger containing the Bill of Rights. The banner will read, “Let us also honor the birth of our Bill of Rights, which reminds us there can be no freedom OF religion without having freedom FROM religion in government.”

The banner is part of an effort by the Freedom From Religion Foundation to “counter” nativity scenes on public property. The group has placed signs at state capitols in Illinois and Wisconsin stating there are no gods, no Heaven, and no Hell.

Of course, atheists in Arkansas have set up what many have dubbed a shrine to paganism next to the Nativity scene on the Capitol lawn the past few years.

Atheist groups claim these displays are part of the “public forums” state capitols are establishing, and a public forum means all forms of speech are welcome. Legally, however, there are different kinds of public forums — unlimited public forums and limited public forums.

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Report: Lottery Still Pays 20-Cents on the Dollar for Scholarships

Arkansas Lottery

The Arkansas Lottery Commission released a report this week showing the Lottery still only allocates, at best, about 20-cents in scholarship revenue for every dollar it makes selling lottery tickets.

According to Lottery Commission reports for the month of October, the Arkansas Lottery took in $33,271,398.30 in revenue, but only paid out $6,773,936.78 in college scholarships.

Moreover, lottery officials indicated to reporters from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the net proceeds may have actually been bolstered by unclaimed prize money the lottery has on hand (that is, prize money people have won but never picked up) and by the timing of recent lottery payouts. In other words, the $6.8 million may have actually been more than you might expect simply because of when the lottery happened to pay some of its bills and because a lot of people haven’t stopped by to pick up their winnings.

So let’s do the math: $6,773,936.78 / $33,271,398.30 = .2036 or 20.4%.

So for every $1 the Arkansas lottery commission made in October, about 20 cents went to college scholarships. The other 80 cents were spent elsewhere.

At this rate, the Arkansas Lottery won’t meet its scholarship goals for 2014.  (more…)

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Wishing You a “Burl Ives” Holly, Jolly Christmas

Christmas

We are celebrating Christmas each day for the next week with short stories and memories about the Christmas season. Yesterday I talked about Snoopy and the Christmas Truce of 1914. Today I want to wish you a “holly, jolly Christmas.”

When you hear someone wish a “holly, jolly Christmas,” your mind probably jumps straight to Burl Ives. After all, he made the song famous, singing it on his own hit record and in the TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Many people assume Ives wrote the song himself. The truth is, the song was written by a little-known artist named Johnny Marks.

You’ve probably never heard of Johnny Marks, but you have heard his music. Marks wrote “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas,” but he wrote several other popular Christmas songs, including, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Run, Run Rudolph,” and, yes, the old standby “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (written along with his brother-in-law Robert L. May who created the character of Rudolph for Montgomery Ward).

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