Dublin is hinting that he wants a dog bed for Christmas.

I had my laundry neatly folded in an IKEA bag waiting to get put in a drawer and Dublin decided that he really liked the bold yet sleek Scandinavian design and made an ad hoc dog bed for himself. Border Collies sure are clever; he actually used his nose to push up the lip once he got in to provide more support.

I guess I’ll have to get him a legit dog bed of his own for Christmas, but sadly it doesn’t look like IKEA makes dog beds and I don’t think anyone who does will sell me one for the 59 cents that the IKEA tote bag cost.

Suicides increase over the holidays? Not true.

[A] pervasive myth is that more people try to commit suicide over the holidays, but numerous studies have failed to find a peak of suicides during the holidays, according to [Doctors] Vreeman and Carroll.

Dr. Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine, said he wasn’t surprised that there was not an increase in suicides during the holidays, because people tend to be surrounded by other people in December. He wondered, however, what happens after the holidays.

“There are such high expectations around the holidays,” he said. “Holiday anxiety and depression are very common, so a better question might be whether or not people are more unhappy during the holidays.”

We lose most of our heat through our heads? Not true.

Your head, like the rest of your body, releases heat, but it’s no more important to shield your head than to protect other parts of your body against the cold.

There’s a cure for hangovers? Not true.

Another common holiday myth surrounds hangover cures. Although most everyone has a favorite that they swear works for them, the only real cure for a hangover is not to drink excessively in the first place. Also, Siegel pointed out that some hangover cures, such as aspirin or acetaminophen, can actually create troubles, such as liver problems or stomach irritation, in people who’ve been drinking.

Sugar makes kids hyper? Not true.

At least 12 double-blind, randomized, controlled trials have looked at the effect of sugar on children, and none found evidence for the sugar-equals-hyperactivity myth. In one study, children weren’t even given sugar, but their parents were told they had been — and parents who thought their children had eaten sugar rated their behavior as more hyperactive.

Eating at night makes you gain weight? Not true.

[E]ating at night won’t make you fat as long as what you’re eating doesn’t put you over your normal daily calorie total. Generally, they said, people who eat at night tend to gain weight, because those calories consumed nocturnally are in addition to three regular meals and snacks.

And in case you think that Christmas is the only time of year when people are duped into believing unfounded myths, then the good Doctors have some more myths for you to reconsider:

• People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
• We use only 10% of our brains
• Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
• Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, or coarser
• Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
• Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
• Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals.

There’s no scientific basis for any of those commonly held beliefs!

Tis the season of delusional traditions. Something about the waning daylight and colder weather means people believe the strangest things, and these lies are really good at staying around for a long time.

(1) There is no Santa Claus, despite the rather detailed mythology surrounding him.
(2) There is no Son of God, despite the rather detailed mythology surrounding him.
(3) There is no problem with Christmas Puppies, despite the rather detailed mythology around them..

…I’ve discussed those all before. So here’s a new one:

(4) There is nothing toxic about Poinsettia plants for humans or pets. So hurry up and get to Costco, they are selling the largest Poinsettia plants I’ve ever seen. Monstrous. But not deadly.

In veterinary school we are taught that Poinsettias are poisonous to animals. In truth the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) does not even include poinsettias on their list of poisonous plants. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals lists poinsettias as “not poisonous to pets”. So where did all the holiday fears come from?

In 1919 a 2 year old girl ingested poinsettias and died later that day of unknown causes. It was believed that plant was the cause of her death, but it was never confirmed. So then poinsettias began to be classified as a toxic plant.

Decades later, the public even petitioned for a label warning of their toxicity be placed on retail plants, but the government denied the request for lack of evidence.

In 1996, Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh participated in a study where ~23,000 children were admitted through out the year for suspected poinsettia poisoning. Of all those children there was “no toxicity of any kind” found.

The Ohio State University finally proved that poinsettias are non-toxic to both humans and pets. All parts of the plant were tested, including the leaves and the sap, and nothing threatening was found.

- Robert Woods, DVM

Do keep your pets away from large quantities of Mistletoe and Holly berries, though. Those can be toxic and deadly if not treated promptly.

PetConnection is all over this.

You have been told that today is the birth day of Christ, that Christ is divine and died for our sins, that he performed feats of magic and is omnipresent. You have also been told that Santa Claus has a workshop staffed with elves on the North Pole and that he flies a magic sleigh powered by reindeer carrying a bag of toys, and is omniscient.

Adults who actually believe in one are thought to be certifiably insane, and people who don’t believe in the other are heathens and infidels. Such cultural declarations come from a cult that has matured into a religion. How sophisticated.

Jesus is not the reason for the season, and as far as most of the world is concerned, his divinity is about as real as Santa Claus. There exists no document that details what day Christ was born on, and certainly nothing that says it was December 25th. The church can’t even pin down the year, despite reorganizing the entire calendar to do so, and no one disputes that the date was placed, not divined from evidence. Then again, it’s supremely difficult to find even one thing about any religion that is divined from evidence.

So why December 25th? Well, it was the day of the Winter Solstice and the most important feast of the year on the Julian Calendar. In the tradition of the orgiastic Saturnalia festival, itself an outgrowth of pagan sun worship, the Roman emperors supported the worship of the Sun god as the official state religion. The Winter Solstice being the shortest day of the year is the day celebrated as the death, and rebirth of the “Undefeated Sun God.”

The followers of the pagan sun god were the most significant official cult in Rome three centuries after Christ’s death, right about the time when the Christian cult was making a play for increased membership. Early Christian depictions of Christ co-opted the pagan imagery for Sol/Apollo/Helios: the halo and the seven rays of sun [think Statue of Liberty]. He was even given the name “Sun of Righteousness.” It is no coincidence that the holy mass occurs on Sunday, the day of the sun, which Constantine decreed as the Roman day of rest in honor of the Sun god.

The image of Christ has been reinvented over the centuries to suit the times and the image-makers, and when the Christian cult wanted to entice the pagans to join, they dare not mess with the most celebrated and joyous feast of the year. So instead of fighting it, they adopted it and assured the pagans that they’d still be given license to get drunk and screw with abandon, just like they had “always” done during the Winter Solstice. Co-opting the festival was an advertising ploy to assuage fears that the new cult in town wouldn’t be as much fun as the old cult. And the complaints of the devout, noting so poignantly that the orgiastic elements of the holiday did in no way complement the reverence that should be paid to worship of the man-god, are as old as the Christian adoption of the holiday itself.

Tertullian, a second-century priest and the “Father of the Latin Church,” was a prolific scholar and author; he gave us the terms “trinity,” “old testament,” and “new testament” and is the first church scholar to declare Christianity as the one true religion. He also spoke of the sinful adoption of pagan rituals carried out by the early Christians:

The majority of Christians have by this time induced the belief in their mind that it is pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do…

By us, the Saturnalia and New-year’s and Midwinter’s festivals and Matronalia are frequented–presents come and go–New-year’s gifts–games join their noise–banquets join their din!

Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself!…We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens!…

But “let your works shine,” saith He; but now all our shops and gates shine! You will now-a-days find more doors of heathens without lamps and laurel-wreaths than of Christians… Idolatry is condemned, not on account of the persons which are set up for worship, but on account of those its observances, which pertain to demons!

- Tertullian, On Idolatry, Chapters XI-XV

So bitching about losing the true meaning of Christmas is nothing new, at the very time the Christian church jumped on the Winter Festival bandwagon, manufacturing a holy meaning, its scholars were complaining that inducing the pagans to join the fun came at the expense of encouraging idolatry. Fifty years ago, rock and roll and television was denounced as idolatry in churches across this nation and the globe, yet today the televangelists and their Mega Churches have rock and roll bands backing them up on stage and professional audio/visual engineers beaming their message out over the airwaves.

Enticing the masses to your services with a little razzle-dazzle is nothing new.

Co-options of pagan imagery and doctrine within the Christian cult were common and fundamental in the doctrine. Jesus as Apollo, Mary as Isis, the stories are as old as time and Jesus and Mary simply a modern name for an ancient concept.

Almost everything we enjoy about Christmas is a commercial, either stolen from an older religion or an actual advertisement selling a product.

The lighting of candles and decorated wreaths are a tradition from Roman times, and the laying of garlands over doorways is particularly pagan.

The Christmas Tree is stolen from ancient pagan traditions in Germany, imported to England by Queen Victoria’s German husband.

The gingerbred men, another manifestation of the ancient Roman tradition of human sacrifice. Man-shaped cookies and breads were popular fare during the Saturnalia.

Mistletoe is a Nordic symbol of the poison that was once used to kill the sacrificial victim of the Solstice festivities, and the tradition of kissing under it is likely a synthesis of the sexual license practiced during the holiday.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the creation of an ad man for Montgomery Ward, used to at
tract more holiday sales.

The gift-giving aspects are older than the associations with St. Nicholas and even the gifts of the Magi, stemming again from the popular Roman custom of tribute paid to the Emperor and by slaves to their Masters. One aspect of Saturnalia turned the household upside down for a day (and later a week) requiring the masters to offer gifts up to their slaves and the slaves to send down mock punishments to their masters.

The red-suited Santa Claus is not the invention of Coca-Cola, although the company’s famous advertisements did much to popularize a singular image of the man. Santa himself is an amalgam of the Turkish St. Nicholas, the Dutch Sinterklaas, the German Christkindlein, and a host of imagery from across Europe and even modern American poets: the sleigh, the reindeer, the bag of presents, the Christmas Eve ride, coming down the chimney, and even the milk and cookies. Some of these elements are made from whole cloth while others are inherited from previous depictions of local gods, such as Woden who was known to have a long white beard and fly around the sky on a magical horse.

So the next time you hear that “Christmas is too commercial” you can laugh at the fool who doesn’t understand that it’s the sanctimonious and devout true believers that are spoiling the party for the rest of us, not the other way around. And don’t put up with their bullshit at Easter either. That’s another perfectly good Pagan ritual and orgy that’s being ruined by prudish church types trying to make us all feel bad about a little chocolate and nookie.

Caveat does a nice recap of several other dog blogs covering the issue with some advice thrown in. Raised By Wolves chimes in with an excellent bit of psychoanalysis of the people who buy dogs from store windows in malls. It’s well worth the long read. SmartDogs notices the trend and repeats the rules (no gift pets, no pet stores). Everyone’s favorite No Kill advocate, Nathan Winograd, exposes a few more myths about Christmas Pets. No Christmas Puppies is such a staple over at Pet Connection that they leave the category link up all year round.

And why not? The advice isn’t any different than the slew of posts last year:

The most popular Christmas meme was “Don’t buy Christmas Puppies!” Pet Connection ran a slew of posts on the topic: Holiday shopping season begins, and the puppy-millers are ready!, A pet is not a toy. A pet is not a toy. Rinse. Repeat., As another storm moves in, remember the puppy-mill dogs …, Christmas puppies: Testing my own advice, How to ‘save’ puppy-mill dogs: Don’t buy them, Christmas adoption bans; followed closely by Lassie Get Help: A dog is not a toy. Also: puppy mills suck.; Champlain Valley Pug Rescue tells us Why puppies should not be given as Christmas presents.; Lexiann at Favorite Pets questioned Puppies as Christmas Presents; The Bark Magazine blog agreed: Santa says: Adopt, Don’t Buy; and Johann the Dog kicked the trend off early: How much is that doggie in the window? And who could forget PeTA and their “Adopt, Never Buy” campaign.

That’s a lot of attention given to Christmas Puppies. Keeping that in mind, take a stab at the following questions:

• There are more {Dogs or Cats} as pets in America
• More households have {Dogs or Cats} as pets
• Pets given as gifts are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter
• Dogs purchased at pet stores are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter
• Dogs born in the owner’s home are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter
• Dogs adopted from a shelter are {More or Less} likely to end up back in a shelter
• Dogs acquired for under $30 are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter
• Dogs acquired for over $100 are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter

Rank the following sources of pets from where you believe most pets come from to the fewest number of pets come from:

Animal Shelter
Breeder
Friend/Family
Gift
Newspaper/Private Party
Pet Store
Puppy/Kitten from Own Pet
Stray
Veterinarian
Other

Now what do you suppose the facts on the ground would be to justify the “No Christmas Puppies,” “Adopt, Don’t Buy,” and “Don’t give an animal as a gift” messages?

It would be logical to assume that (1) Puppies are a larger problem than Kittens (both in numbers and in propensity to buy on a whim), as you don’t hear much at all about “No Christmas Kittens.” It would be logical to assume that (2) Giving a pet as a gift makes that pet more likely to be relinquished to a shelter. It would be logical to assume that (3) Pet store puppies are more likely to end up in shelters. It would be logical to assume that (4) a large percentage of people buy pets at Pet Stores. It would be logical to assume that (5) people who buy pets for money do more harm than good. It would be logical to assume that (6) people who buy pets from breeders or private parties are more likely to relinquish their pets than people who adopted them from shelters.

It would also be logical to assume that Gifts and Pet Stores are popular means of acquiring puppies.

All those assumptions are wrong. Just like you were once duped into thinking that there were flying reindeer–at least one with a radioactive glowing nose, an immortal fat old philanthropist, and the birthday of Jesus, if you believed any one of those assumptions above, you’ve been just as duped.

There are more Cats as pets in America. In 2001 there were an estimated 68.9 million cats and 61.6 million dogs as pets. Cats are also more likely to be acquired on a whim than dogs (more on that later).

Although, more households have Dogs as pets. In the same survey, 36.1% of US households had at least one dog (1.6 average) and 31.6% of housholds had at least one cat (2.1 average); another survey found that in 2000, 39% of homes had dogs and 34% had cats. AVMA Survey, 1997, 2002; APPMA Survey 2002.

Pets given as gifts are Less likely to end up in a shelter.

Dogs purchased at pet stores are Less likely to end up in a shelter.

Dogs born in the owner’s home are More likely to end up in a shelter.

Dogs adopted from a shelter are More likely to end up back in a shelter.

Dogs acquired for under $30 are More likely to end up in a shelter.

Dogs acquired for over $100 are Less likely to end up in a shelter.

Pets given as Gifts account for only 7% of acquired dogs and only 8% of dogs are bought at Pet Stores. The most common source of dogs is from Friends and Family at 34%.

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As Table 10a shows, the data collected by Patronek et al (1996a) refute at least one cherished belief (that dogs received as gifts or from pet stores are more likely to be given up) and confirm a number of others (that age is an important factor in relinquishment of dogs).

The shelter community needs to be concerned that dogs acquired from their facilities are more likely to be relinquished and should emphasize the importance of pet care-givers establishing strong relationships with a veterinarian (their “other family doctor”).

- Acquisition of Pets, The State of the Animals II: 2003

As much as these bloggers mean well and their posts do shed critical light on the abomination that is the puppy mill industry, they’re barking up the wrong tree and smearing breeders right along with puppy mills. The message about puppy mills has obviously gotten through, and there’s only 8% more of the market that needs to be taken away from them before they’ll be a memory. But it’s apparently true that puppy mills do a better job of producing pets people keep than breeders of all merit and shelters when those are lumped together.

It also is pretty damning that equal numbers of people adopt from shelters and take in strays; yet, the dogs adopted at shelters are twice as likely to end up back in the shelter than the dogs taken in as strays. And shelter dogs fare worse than any other source, even free dogs.

The slandering against the puppy mills has splashed on to all breeders. And not one of those bloggers who railed against pet stores and gift puppies acknowledged that both of those factors actually keep pets in homes MORE than any other source. It’s confusing, it’s mind blowing, but it turns out that gift pets and pet store pets are the MOST likely to stay in homes and pets adopted by people who care so much that they “rescue” from shelters end up going back to shelters more than any other source.

And how about this for mind blowing, if you visit a vet with your dog AT LEAST ONCE, you decrease your chance of abandoning your pet by 86%. Take your pet to the vet at least once per year and halve your remaining chance. Twice or more per year, halve that chance again!

The relinquishment rate being so high for newborn puppies speaks again to the need for expanding the spay/neuter message even though 70% of dogs are already desexed. What else than ooops! pregnancies can account for all of those relinquished puppies and kittens and the largest source of dogs being what I can only imagine are ooops! litters from friends and family.

If you are a breeder, the most important benchmark of the ethics of you being one is your ability to sell the puppies you create. If you can’t sell puppies you are not a breeder, or at best a failed one. If you have to give puppies away to free or dump them in shelters, you are a failure.

The above chart is interesting. Very interesting. Most dogs and cats are acquired for little money from friends and family. The acquisition of dogs is also more likely to be planned than on a whim, which is not true for Cats. More cats are acquired on a whim than planned:

Pet care-givers acquire dogs and cats from a variety of sources. These sources are believed to play an integral role in pet population problems. According to the APPMA National Pet Owners Survey, pets in 1998 were acquired as indicated in Table 7 (APPMA 2000, 2002). Use of those sources marked with an asterisk indicates that some forethought and planning usually went into the acquisition of the pet.

The total percentage of dogs acquired from such sources is 74 (or about 48 percent of the identified sources); the total percentage of cats acquired from these sources is 38 (or about 29 percent of the identified sources). This indicates that cats are more likely to be acquired on a whim.

Other surveys have shown similar differences between the sources of dogs and cats. Nassar, Mosier, and Williams (1984) found that in Las Vegas cats (24.5 percent) were much more likely to be acquired from the stray population than dogs (8 percent), but only 9 percent of cats were purchased compared with 26 percent of dogs. In Massachusetts 71 percent of pet care-givers had planned to acquire their dogs, going to such sources as breeders (33 percent), shelters (16 percent), and pet stores (7 percent) (MSPCA 1996).

- Acquisition of Pets, The State of the Animals II: 2003

So there you go. Data found on the HSUS website speaks volumes to myths that people believe: That shelters do a good job at keeping pets in homes with their careful selection programs and temperament tests. Turns out that random loose dogs taken in off the street are twice as likely to stay in that home. That buying dogs is less ethical than adopting them, turns out that buying dogs even at pet stores is more successful than adopting them or getting them free from friends and family. That puppy mill and gift pets are the most likely to be abandoned. Turns out that they’re not.

Go figure.

The most popular Christmas meme was “Don’t buy Christmas Puppies!” Pet Connection ran a slew of posts on the topic: Holiday shopping season begins, and the puppy-millers are ready!, A pet is not a toy. A pet is not a toy. Rinse. Repeat., As another storm moves in, remember the puppy-mill dogs …, Christmas puppies: Testing my own advice, How to ‘save’ puppy-mill dogs: Don’t buy them, Christmas adoption bans; followed closely by Lassie Get Help: A dog is not a toy. Also: puppy mills suck.; Champlain Valley Pug Rescue tells us Why puppies should not be given as Christmas presents.; Lexiann at Favorite Pets questioned Puppies as Christmas Presents; The Bark Magazine blog agreed: Santa says: Adopt, Don’t Buy; and Johann the Dog kicked the trend off early: How much is that doggie in the window? And who could forget PeTA and their “Adopt, Never Buy” campaign.

That’s a lot of attention given to Christmas Puppies. Keeping that in mind, take a stab at the following questions:

• There are more {Dogs or Cats} as pets in America
• More households have {Dogs or Cats} as pets
• Pets given as gifts are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter
• Dogs purchased at pet stores are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter
• Dogs born in the owner’s home are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter
• Dogs adopted from a shelter are {More or Less} likely to end up back in a shelter
• Dogs acquired for under $30 are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter
• Dogs acquired for over $100 are {More or Less} likely to end up in a shelter

Rank the following sources of pets from where you believe most pets come from to the fewest number of pets come from:

Animal Shelter
Breeder
Friend/Family
Gift
Newspaper/Private Party
Pet Store
Puppy/Kitten from Own Pet
Stray
Veterinarian
Other

Now what do you suppose the facts on the ground would be to justify the “No Christmas Puppies,” “Adopt, Don’t Buy,” and “Don’t give an animal as a gift” messages?

It would be logical to assume that (1) Puppies are a larger problem than Kittens (both in numbers and in propensity to buy on a whim), as you don’t hear much at all about “No Christmas Kittens.” It would be logical to assume that (2) Giving a pet as a gift makes that pet more likely to be relinquished to a shelter. It would be logical to assume that (3) Pet store puppies are more likely to end up in shelters. It would be logical to assume that (4) a large percentage of people buy pets at Pet Stores. It would be logical to assume that (5) people who buy pets for money do more harm than good. It would be logical to assume that (6) people who buy pets from breeders or private parties are more likely to relinquish their pets than people who adopted them from shelters.

It would also be logical to assume that Gifts and Pet Stores are popular means of acquiring puppies.

All those assumptions are wrong. Just like you were once duped into thinking that there were flying reindeer–at least one with a radioactive glowing nose, an immortal fat old philanthropist, and the birthday of Jesus, if you believed any one of those assumptions above, you’ve been just as duped.

There are more Cats as pets in America. In 2001 there were an estimated 68.9 million cats and 61.6 million dogs as pets. Cats are also more likely to be acquired on a whim than dogs (more on that later).

Although, more households have Dogs as pets. In the same survey, 36.1% of US households had at least one dog (1.6 average) and 31.6% of housholds had at least one cat (2.1 average); another survey found that in 2000, 39% of homes had dogs and 34% had cats. AVMA Survey, 1997, 2002; APPMA Survey 2002.

Pets given as gifts are Less likely to end up in a shelter.

Dogs purchased at pet stores are Less likely to end up in a shelter.

Dogs born in the owner’s home are More likely to end up in a shelter.

Dogs adopted from a shelter are More likely to end up back in a shelter.

Dogs acquired for under $30 are More likely to end up in a shelter.

Dogs acquired for over $100 are Less likely to end up in a shelter.

Pets given as Gifts account for only 7% of acquired dogs and only 8% of dogs are bought at Pet Stores. The most common source of dogs is from Friends and Family at 34%.

As Table 10a shows, the data collected by Patronek et al (1996a) refute at least one cherished belief (that dogs received as gifts or from pet stores are more likely to be given up) and confirm a number of others (that age is an important factor in relinquishment of dogs).

The shelter community needs to be concerned that dogs acquired from their facilities are more likely to be relinquished and should emphasize the importance of pet care-givers establishing strong relationships with a veterinarian (their “other family doctor”).

- Acquisition of Pets, The State of the Animals II: 2003

As much as these bloggers mean well and their posts do shed critical light on the abomination that is the puppy mill industry, they’re barking up the wrong tree and smearing breeders right along with puppy mills. The message about puppy mills has obviously gotten through, and there’s only 8% more of the market that needs to be taken away from them before they’ll be a memory. But it’s apparently true that puppy mills do a better job of producing pets people keep than breeders of all merit and shelters when those are lumped together.

It also is pretty damning that equal numbers of people adopt from shelters and take in strays; yet, the dogs adopted at shelters are twice as likely to end up back in the shelter than the dogs taken in as strays. And shelter dogs fare worse than any other source, even free dogs.

The slandering against the puppy mills has splashed on to all breeders. And not one of those bloggers who railed against pet stores and gift puppies acknowledged that both of those factors actually keep pets in homes MORE than any other source. It’s confusing, it’s mind blowing, but it turns out that gift pets and pet store pets are the MOST likely to stay in homes and pets adopted by people who care so much that the buy used from shelters end up going back to shelters more than any other source.

And how about this for mind blowing, if you visit a vet with your dog AT LEAST ONCE, you decrease your chance of abandoning your pet by 86%. Take your pet to the vet at least once per year and halve your remaining chance. Twice or more per year, halve that chance again!

The relinquishment rate being so high for newborn puppies speaks again to the need for expanding the spay/neuter message even though 70% of dogs are already desexed. What else than ooops! pregnancies can account for all of those relinquished puppies and kittens and the largest source of dogs being what I can only imagine are ooops! litters from friends and family.

If you are a breeder, the most important benchmark of the ethics of you being one is your ability to sell the puppies you create. If you can’t sell puppies you are not a breeder, or at best a failed one. If you have to give puppies away to free or dump them in shelters, you are a failure.

The above chart is interesting. Very interesting. Most dogs and cats are acquired for little money from friends and family. The acquisition of dogs is also more likely to be planned than on a whim, which is not true for Cats. More cats are acquired on a whim than planned:

Pet care-givers acquire dogs and cats from a variety of sources. These sources are believed to play an integral role in pet population problems. According to the APPMA National Pet Owners Survey, pets in 1998 were acquired as indicated in Table 7 (APPMA 2000, 2002). Use of those sources marked with an asterisk indicates that some forethought and planning usually went into the acquisition of the pet.

The total percentage of dogs acquired from such sources is 74 (or about 48 percent of the identified sources); the total percentage of cats acquired from these sources is 38 (or about 29 percent of the identified sources). This indicates that cats are more likely to be acquired on a whim.

Other surveys have shown similar differences between the sources of dogs and cats. Nassar, Mosier, and Williams (1984) found that in Las Vegas cats (24.5 percent) were much more likely to be acquired from the stray population than dogs (8 percent), but only 9 percent of cats were purchased compared with 26 percent of dogs. In Massachusetts 71 percent of pet care-givers had planned to acquire their dogs, going to such sources as breeders (33 percent), shelters (16 percent), and pet stores (7 percent) (MSPCA 1996).

- Acquisition of Pets, The State of the Animals II: 2003

So there you go. Data found on the HSUS website speaks volumes to myths that people believe: That shelters do a good job at keeping pets in homes with their careful selection programs and temperament tests. Turns out that random loose dogs taken in off the street are twice as likely to stay there. That buying dogs is less ethical than adopting them, turns out that buying dogs even at pet stores is more successful than adopting them or getting them free from friends and family. That puppy mill and gift pets are the most likely to be abandoned. Turns out that they’re not.

Go figure.

You have been told that today is the birth day of Christ, that Christ is divine and died for our sins, that he performed feats of magic and is omnipresent. You have also been told that Santa Claus has a workshop staffed with elves on the North Pole and that he flies a magic sleigh powered by reindeer carrying a bag of toys, and is omniscient.

Adults who actually believe in one are thought to be certifiably insane, and people who don’t believe in the other are heathens and infidels. Such cultural declarations come from a cult that has matured into a religion. How sophisticated.

Jesus is not the reason for the season, and as far as most of the world is concerned, his divinity is about as real as Santa Claus. There exists no document that details what day Christ was born on, and certainly nothing that says it was December 25th. The church can’t even pin down the year, despite reorganizing the entire calendar to do so, and no one disputes that the date was placed, not divined from evidence. Then again, it’s supremely difficult to find even one thing about any religion that is divined from evidence.

So why December 25th? Well, it was the day of the Winter Solstice and the most important feast of the year on the Julian Calendar. In the tradition of the orgiastic Saturnalia festival, itself an outgrowth of pagan sun worship, the Roman emperors supported the worship of the Sun god as the official state religion. The Winter Solstice being the shortest day of the year is the day celebrated as the death, and rebirth of the “Undefeated Sun God.”

The followers of the pagan sun god were the most significant official cult in Rome three centuries after Christ’s death, right about the time when the Christian cult was making a play for increased membership. Early Christian depictions of Christ co-opted the pagan imagery for Sol/Apollo/Helios: the halo and the seven rays of sun [think Statue of Liberty]. He was even given the name “Sun of Righteousness.” It is no coincidence that the holy mass occurs on Sunday, the day of the sun, which Constantine decreed as the Roman day of rest in honor of the Sun god.

The image of Christ has been reinvented over the centuries to suit the times and the image-makers, and when the Christian cult wanted to entice the pagans to join, they dare not mess with the most celebrated and joyous feast of the year. So instead of fighting it, they adopted it and assured the pagans that they’d still be given license to get drunk and screw with abandon, just like they had “always” done during the Winter Solstice. Co-opting the festival was an advertising ploy to assuage fears that the new cult in town wouldn’t be as much fun as the old cult. And the complaints of the devout, noting so poignantly that the orgiastic elements of the holiday did in no way complement the reverence that should be paid to worship of the man-god, are as old as the Christian adoption of the holiday itself.

Tertullian, a second-century priest and the “Father of the Latin Church,” was a prolific scholar and author; he gave us the terms “trinity,” “old testament,” and “new testament” and is the first church scholar to declare Christianity as the one true religion. He also spoke of the sinful adoption of pagan rituals carried out by the early Christians:

The majority of Christians have by this time induced the belief in their mind that it is pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do…

By us, the Saturnalia and New-year’s and Midwinter’s festivals and Matronalia are frequented–presents come and go–New-year’s gifts–games join their noise–banquets join their din!

Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself!…We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens!…

But “let your works shine,” saith He; but now all our shops and gates shine! You will now-a-days find more doors of heathens without lamps and laurel-wreaths than of Christians… Idolatry is condemned, not on account of the persons which are set up for worship, but on account of those its observances, which pertain to demons!

- Tertullian, On Idolatry, Chapters XI-XV

So bitching about losing the true meaning of Christmas is nothing new, at the very time the Christian church jumped on the Winter Festival bandwagon, manufacturing a holy meaning, its scholars were complaining that inducing the pagans to join the fun came at the expense of encouraging idolatry. Fifty years ago, rock and roll and television was denounced as idolatry in churches across this nation and the globe, yet today the televangelists and their Mega Churches have rock and roll bands backing them up on stage and professional audio/visual engineers beaming their message out over the airwaves.

Enticing the masses to your services with a little razzle-dazzle is nothing new.

Co-options of pagan imagery and doctrine within the Christian cult were common and fundamental in the doctrine. Jesus as Apollo, Mary as Isis, the stories are as old as time and Jesus and Mary simply a modern name for an ancient concept.

Almost everything we enjoy about Christmas is a commercial, either stolen from an older religion or an actual advertisement selling a product.

The lighting of candles and decorated wreaths are a tradition from Roman times, and the laying of garlands over doorways is particularly pagan.

The Christmas Tree is stolen from ancient pagan traditions in Germany, imported to England by Queen Victoria’s German husband.

The gingerbred men, another manifestation of the ancient Roman tradition of human sacrifice. Man-shaped cookies and breads were popular fare during the Saturnalia.

Mistletoe is a Nordic symbol of the poison that was once used to kill the sacrificial victim of the Solstice festivities, and the tradition of kissing under it is likely a synthesis of the sexual license practiced during the holiday.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the creation of an ad man for Montgomery Ward, used to attract more holiday sales.

The gift-giving aspects are older than the associations with St. Nicholas and even the gifts of the Magi, stemming again from the popular Roman custom of tribute paid to the Emperor and by slaves to their Masters. One aspect of Saturnalia turned the household upside down for a day (and later a week) requiring the masters to offer gifts up to their slaves and the slaves to send down mock punishments to their masters.

The red-suited Santa Claus is not the invention of Coca-Cola, although the company’s famous advertisements did much to popularize a singular image of the man. Santa himself is an amalgam of the Turkish St. Nicholas, the Dutch Sinterklaas, the German Christkindlein, and a host of imagery from across Europe and even modern American poets: the sleigh, the reindeer, the bag of presents, the Christmas Eve ride, coming down the chimney, and even the milk and cookies. Some of these elements are made from whole cloth while others are inherited from previous depictions of local gods, such as Woden who was known to have a long white beard and fly around the sky on a magical horse.

So the next time you hear that “Christmas is too commercial” you can laugh at the fool who doesn’t understand that it’s the sanctimonious and devout true believers that are spoiling the party for the rest of us, not the other way around. And don’t put up with their bullshit at Easter either. That’s another perfectly good Pagan ritual and orgy that’s being ruined by prudish church types trying to make us all feel bad about a little chocolate and nookie.

You have been told that today is the birth day of Christ, that Christ is divine and died for our sins, that he performed feats of magic and is omnipresent. You have also been told that Santa Claus has a workshop staffed with elves on the North Pole and that he flies a magic sleigh powered by reindeer carrying a bag of toys, and is omniscient.

Adults who actually believe in one are thought to be certifiably insane, and people who don’t believe in the other are heathens and infidels. Such cultural declarations come from a cult that has matured into a religion. How sophisticated.

Jesus is not the reason for the season, and as far as most of the world is concerned, his divinity is about as real as Santa Claus. There exists no document that details what day Christ was born on, and certainly nothing that says it was December 25th. The church can’t even pin down the year, despite reorganizing the entire calendar to do so, and no one disputes that the date was placed, not divined from evidence. Then again, it’s supremely difficult to find even one thing about any religion that is divined from evidence.

So why December 25th? Well, it was the day of the Winter Solstice and the most important feast of the year on the Julian Calendar. In the tradition of the orgiastic Saturnalia festival, itself an outgrowth of pagan sun worship, the Roman emperors supported the worship of the Sun god as the official state religion. The Winter Solstice being the shortest day of the year is the day celebrated as the death, and rebirth of the “Undefeated Sun God.”

The followers of the pagan sun god were the most significant official cult in Rome three centuries after Christ’s death, right about the time when the Christian cult was making a play for increased membership. Early Christian depictions of Christ co-opted the pagan imagery for Sol/Apollo/Helios: the halo and the seven rays of sun [think Statue of Liberty]. He was even given the name “Sun of Righteousness.” It is no coincidence that the holy mass occurs on Sunday, the day of the sun, which Constantine decreed as the Roman day of rest in honor of the Sun god.

The image of Christ has been reinvented over the centuries to suit the times and the image-makers, and when the Christian cult wanted to entice the pagans to join, they dare not mess with the most celebrated and joyous feast of the year. So instead of fighting it, they adopted it and assured the pagans that they’d still be given license to get drunk and screw with abandon, just like they had “always” done during the Winter Solstice. Co-opting the festival was an advertising ploy to assuage fears that the new cult in town wouldn’t be as much fun as the old cult. And the complaints of the devout, noting so poignantly that the orgiastic elements of the holiday did in no way complement the reverence that should be paid to worship of the man-god, are as old as the Christian adoption of the holiday itself.

Tertullian, a second-century priest and the “Father of the Latin Church,” was a prolific scholar and author; he gave us the terms “trinity,” “old testament,” and “new testament” and is the first church scholar to declare Christianity as the one true religion. He also spoke of the sinful adoption of pagan rituals carried out by the early Christians:

The majority of Christians have by this time induced the belief in their mind that it is pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do…

By us, the Saturnalia and New-year’s and Midwinter’s festivals and Matronalia are frequented–presents come and go–New-year’s gifts–games join their noise–banquets join their din!

Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself!…We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens!…

But “let your works shine,” saith He; but now all our shops and gates shine! You will now-a-days find more doors of heathens without lamps and laurel-wreaths than of Christians… Idolatry is condemned, not on account of the persons which are set up for worship, but on account of those its observances, which pertain to demons!

- Tertullian, On Idolatry, Chapters XI-XV

So bitching about losing the true meaning of Christmas is nothing new, at the very time the Christian church jumped on the Winter Festival bandwagon, manufacturing a holy meaning, its scholars were complaining that inducing the pagans to join the fun came at the expense of encouraging idolatry. Fifty years ago, rock and roll and television was denounced as idolatry in churches across this nation and the globe, yet today the televangelists and their Mega Churches have rock and roll bands backing them up on stage and professional audio/visual engineers beaming their message out over the airwaves.

Enticing the masses to your services with a little razzle-dazzle is nothing new.

Co-options of pagan imagery and doctrine within the Christian cult were common and fundamental in the doctrine. Jesus as Apollo, Mary as Isis, the stories are as old as time and Jesus and Mary simply a modern name for an ancient concept.

Almost everything we enjoy about Christmas is a commercial, either stolen from an older religion or an actual advertisement selling a product.

The lighting of candles and decorated wreaths are a tradition from Roman times, and the laying of garlands over doorways is particularly pagan.

The Christmas Tree is stolen from ancient pagan traditions in Germany, imported to England by Queen Victoria’s German husband.

The gingerbred men, another manifestation of the ancient Roman tradition of human sacrifice. Man-shaped cookies and breads were popular fare during the Saturnalia.

Mistletoe is a Nordic symbol of the poison that was once used to kill the sacrificial victim of the Solstice festivities, and the tradition of kissing under it is likely a synthesis of the sexual license practiced during the holiday.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the creation of an ad man for Montgomery Ward, used to attr
act more holiday sales.

The gift-giving aspects are older than the associations with St. Nicholas and even the gifts of the Magi, stemming again from the popular Roman custom of tribute paid to the Emperor and by slaves to their Masters. One aspect of Saturnalia turned the household upside down for a day (and later a week) requiring the masters to offer gifts up to their slaves and the slaves to send down mock punishments to their masters.

The red-suited Santa Claus is not the invention of Coca-Cola, although the company’s famous advertisements did much to popularize a singular image of the man. Santa himself is an amalgam of the Turkish St. Nicholas, the Dutch Sinterklaas, the German Christkindlein, and a host of imagery from across Europe and even modern American poets: the sleigh, the reindeer, the bag of presents, the Christmas Eve ride, coming down the chimney, and even the milk and cookies. Some of these elements are made from whole cloth while others are inherited from previous depictions of local gods, such as Woden who was known to have a long white beard and fly around the sky on a magical horse.

So the next time you hear that “Christmas is too commercial” you can laugh at the fool who doesn’t understand that it’s the sanctimonious and devout true believers that are spoiling the party for the rest of us, not the other way around. And don’t put up with their bullshit at Easter either. That’s another perfectly good Pagan ritual and orgy that’s being ruined by prudish church types trying to make us all feel bad about a little chocolate and nookie.