Angel Tree passes muster with Christmas hawks

Fairchild Air Force Base had an event Tuesday to mark a major donation of toys from the University of Phoenix to a base program for military families who are struggling financially. It’s an annual program, and a laudable one.

But one wonders what the forces of holiday righteousness will say about the program’s flora, which is called an “Angel Tree.” Nope, not a “Christmas Tree.”

At least state Rep. John Ahern of Spokane, who’s after Gov. Christine Gregoire to rename the Association of Washington Business-sponsored “Holiday Tree” in the state Capitol, said he’s OK with Angel Tree.

“We’re acknowledging kind of a religious thing,” he said of the base tannenbaum.

Maybe. Angels are part of Christmas from day one – literally as well as figuratively, according to Luke 2:19 – but they’re pretty interdenominational.

Jewish and Muslim religious traditions also include angels. And Norse mythology has Valkyries, which are sort of like angels who have their clothes designed by a welder instead of Victoria’s Secret.

Meanwhile, on another front in the yule wars, a group of decidedly non-Christian filmmakers threatens to mount the war on Christmas that conservative talking heads have been complaining about. Beyond Belief Media has a documentary it’s trying to get noticed, called “The God Who Wasn’t There,” which postulates that Jesus Christ never really existed.

The production company is threatening an “information barrage” at any Christmas pageant or Nativity display, although there are no reports yet of sit-ins at crèches or caroling parties. It’s possible the company has no such plans and is merely launching a public relations barrage to get some free ink for a struggling movie.

Imagine creating a Christmas controversy for financial gain.

Coming to terms

Colleague Jim Kershner raises an interesting, if somewhat pedantic, question based on the Dec. 6 recall election and Spokane County’s decision that same day to switch to all-mail balloting.

What will we call the percentage of people who cast their ballots? Technically it is no longer “turnout” because voters don’t turn out at the polls to get their ballots and cast them. They just mail them back.

So, “mailback” would be one option, but it’s not much of a word. “Gone-postal” might be a possibility, if not for the negative connotation.

Any suggestions?

Ballot counts

Spokane’s first brush with all-mail balloting was good for turnout. Ballots from 56.57 percent of the city’s voters were counted, which is about 4 percent, or 4,300 voters, more than the Nov. 8 general election. The drop-off sites, where voters could either save a stamp or have some semblance of the trip to the traditional poll site, weren’t very popular. Only 400 ballots were dropped off at the four sites over the 13-hour stretch. Elections Manager Paul Brandt wasn’t sure if the packed ice and snow had any effect on that.

Election recycle

This actually may be more of a repurpose than a recycle, but the close proximity of the recall election to Spokane’s first big snowfall showed that campaign signs are actually good for something.

Something other than allowing a candidate’s supporters to exercise their First Amendment Political Free Speech rights to uglify lawns and rights-of-way with signs, of course.

The plastic ones make nifty sleds, a recent visit to Manito Park’s sledding hill revealed. Recall West signs were serving as budget snowboards.

One tip, though. The signs have corrugated middles. Those spaces fill up with snow and ice, so if you bring one home from a day of sledding, it will leave an impressive puddle.

On the map

To understand how decisively Spokane voters turned on Jim West, one needs only to compare election maps from the 2003 mayoral election and the recall. In the former, West won many of the precincts in his legislative district by substantial margins, while losing precincts in the Democratic leaning 3rd District to Tom Grant. In the recall, he lost all precincts but one, and some of his biggest losses were his strong precincts from 2003.

The maps can be viewed in color on this column’s online site.