Repudiation: Right Wing Panic Over Loss of Holiday Franking

The American Family Association is upset that Representatives are no longer allowed to send Christmas greetings to their constituents at taxpayer expense.

According to a Dec. 12 memo from the House Franking Commission, members of the House are not allowed to wish voters a "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" in mail and e-mails. Taxpayer dollars fund the postage when congressmen use their franking privileges to send mail to voters throughout the year. However, the six-member bipartisan group, officially known as the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, has told legislators that "Merry Christmas" is strictly prohibited.

The Washington Examiner published the text of the memo which said in part

Member’s Congressional Handbook: GREETINGS-

Expenses related to the purchase or distribution of greetings, including holiday celebrations, condolences, and congratulations for personal distinctions (wedding anniversaries, birthdays, etc.), are not reimbursable.”

Franking Manual:

4(a). Example of Nonfrankable Items

-Birthday, anniversary, wedding, birth, retirement or condolence messages and holiday greetings are prohibited.”

You may make reference to the season as a whole using language along the lines of 'Have a safe and happy holiday season.' It may only be incidental to the piece rather than the primary purpose of the communication."

Clearly Christmas has been singled out and is under attack ... or not.  The Hill notes that this rule has been in effect since 1974.  But that won't slow down the ire of the folks at the Free Republic, Bill O'Reilly on Fox, the Republican Party of Milwaukee WI, the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon), and many more out on the blogosphere.

The House of Representatives Franking Manual is seventy-two pages long and was last updated thirteen years ago.  The conservatives want to spend tax money on frivolous mail.  Better would be to encourage electronic communications which costs far less to the taxpayers.  Here is a simple example of how that might work.

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Merry Christmas!

Apology: Christmas in the United States

An apology is in order.  When I use material on Pedantic Political Ponderings that was written or drawn by someone else, I always endeavor to credit the author or artist.  In writing my post on Christmas, I used material that was altered and not properly credited.  For doing so, I am deeply sorry.

The cartoon above is the original, which is from a 22 December 2010 post on Calamities of Nature.  I had not seen the original until I read the News and Stuff today.  First his complaint and then a bit more from me.

I have a quick issue I want to discuss, which I hope you'll take the time to read. About a year ago, this comic of mine was first posted. It's probably one of the best received things I've ever drawn. But its success has also resulted in many people altering it for their own purposes, erasing my URL and replacing it with their own, and ruining what I think was originally a positive statement.

My use of the Peanuts characters, in a comic that I drew and wrote myself, is allowed as a parody. But when people grab my art, change a few words, and label it as their own, it amounts to theft. Of course people are free to make their own parodies, but they should use their own art and writing. I could attempt to police these copies, but ultimately this is impossible to do on the internet, especially once images start spreading on social sites like Facebook. But I believe there is one factor strongly in my favor in this matter: my amazing group of readers. So even if I cannot eliminate these other copies, together we can drown them out by spreading a superior message.

Please help me by sharing this comic anyway you can. Post it to your blog, on Twitter, on Facebook page, or even email it to friends and family. In keeping with the spirit of the season, for every 500 page views the comic gets between now and the end of the year, I will donate $1 to Doctors Without Borders. Thank you for your continued support!

First, I enjoy reading Calamities of Nature and do so regularly.  The art is good and the humor is clever, both big positives for me.

Second, while I endeavor to credit original work (just look at the links on any post I have ever put up), I am not always knowledgeable of the full history of a work.  I am not saying this to weaken my apology.  I failed to uncover the original artist which I posted and I remain deeply sorry for that failure.

Third, I do hope that my use of the altered comic was not seen as berating Christmas.  That was certainly not my intent.

Fourth, I strongly agree with the middle paragraph.  Copyright, including fair use, is an important notion.  If you are not familiar with the concept of Fair Use, the link is to a ten minute video that is well worth your time.

Finally, please do visit the original.  Not because of the money for charity, but because it is the right thing to do.

7 December 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.