I wonder in China if they call us American Chinese?

From now on I wish to be refered to as an Un-hypersensative American.:rolleyes:

Another thing that disgusts me - giving a present to a sibling on their brother or sister's birthday!

We had a family friend who did this - she'd always take a present for the sibling(s) also, because "they shouldn't feel left out".

Um, people need to learn as kids that you don't get something for someone else's birthday. It's their chance for the spotlight, not yours. I think this causes some people to have the "it's all about me!" mentality.

I go the other way. To teach them that there is nothing special about the fact that they were born (so were the vast majority of everybody else) I don't give them anything for their birthday.

If they whine, I give their parents a commiseration present instead.

I have to point out (wet blanket that I am) that the Rabbi didn't threaten to sue because there were Christmas trees displayed, he threatened to sue to be allowed to display a menorah. The airport over reacted by taking down the trees because they were afraid they'd have to honor every culture's holiday observances. By the way, the trees are back. The Rabbi was as dismayed as anyone that the airport took them down.

I don't blame the airport for taking the trees down. They did what they had to do to mitigate the threat of lawsuit. As I mentioned elsewhere, I think the Rabbi was out of line. If I had my druthers, Christmas displays by publicly funded institutions would go away (but, like Alex's pledge example, I don't find it a big enough deal to take action on, just a "since the question was asked" stance). But the solution is NOT to go the other way and start suing to include menorahs in everything. 1989's County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union decision, which stops just short of calling a menorah a secular symbol right along with the Christmas tree, makes me shudder enough. I don't appreciate rabbis going around trying to finish the job.

I agree with a lot of the sentiments in here. By the same token, remember that kid in the claw machine. Most of my friends said they should have given the boy a toy. I say no. Kids shouldn't get rewarded for behavior that needs to be ceased.

Point taken. It would just be nice if people who put up decorations in public places had a general sense of respect and acknowlegement for cultures other than their own. I think that's why I like Small World Holiday so much.

Oh, Chappy Chanukkah!

(and a Merry Hristmas, too!)

I think diversity is a bunch of crap and we should all focus on fitting our selves into one clearly defined set of the same accepted behaviours, beliefs and appearances. All of our houses should be one of three colors in one of three styles, we should all wear the same styles and colors of clothing and only celebrate events that we all agree upen (the others should be ignored).

God, what a perfict world it would be. Beige and happy.

I think you got the beige part right...

But, we need to keep Thai Food. Thai Food can be throwwn in just to proove that we still like diversity. See! We still have Thai Food!