The Coalition of the Swilling

There's always an increase in violence during Christmas, especially in toy stores and suburban mothers get into fist fights over the season's hot new toy.

Not to mention that ammo is usually on my wish list. One of the "you might be a redneck if.." criteria that I qualify for is that my mother has bought me ammunition for Christmas.

Oh, how right you are, Bill. Arnold made a movie chronicling that very breakdown in societal norms. How many people still shudder in terror when someone whispers "Cabbage Patch dollsssss..."

Underwear...ammunition...underwear...ammunition...BVD's....303's...a delicate balancing act. I wouldn't want to choose unwisely.

.303? Not .308? Who woulda thunkit?

("8" doesn't rhyme with "D", pffft!!)

Well, there was that one time on St Valentine's Day...

Rob - hahaha - I went to a machine gun shoot in PA on Valentine's Day once. I was dating the wife at the time. Yes, she's a very understanding gal.

Those were rowdy immigrants too, were the not...???

Having spent several Ramadans in Algeria during much of the worst of the violence there, I can tell you that the number of brutal killings always goes way up during this "holy" period. The fools starve themselves during the day, gorge all night long on everything they can stuff into their mouths, refuse to half way do their jobs during the day, and yet still find time to murder each other at a staggering pace. I always dreaded being there during that period, especially when it coincided with the Christmas season.

All that "holiness"

Al was born in Brooklyn, Dutch in the Bronx. Rowdy, yes, immigrants, no. Unless you think all New Yawkers are from another planet... :)

Ms. Sister - you don't remember the great Lenten Massacre of '38?

(....Fruit of the Loom......BOOM!....)

During the first Gulf War they were all fretting about upsetting the locals during their holy time of Ramadan as if they would respect us at Christmas or Easter. Let them kill each other.

A warm Swill Welcome, Sam! Algeria?!! Now, that's not exactly my first choice for a holiday, but...I AM hugely glad to have someone onboard with your experience. So our perceptions of their holiday celebration aren't mistaken, eh?

That's a shame.

They're still worried about upsetting the locals, major dad. Whilst in Kuwait, we were briefed about what not to do during Ramadan, like eating or drinking while driving during the day, and so on.

The troops were more worried about getting hit by a Kuwaiti driver than disrepecting Islam, which implies some sort of an inverse relationshiop between rank and common sense.

"sort of an inverse relationshiop between rank and common sense."

That's the Peter Pinciple in Action, JeffS.

No, your perceptions of the Ramadan celebrations are not off at all. I worked in Algeria, both in Algiers and deep in the Sahara Desert, for several years and Ramadan was always something that I dreaded. Firstly, the danger factor went up by at least a multiple of 10 because of all the craziness that went on in the mosques during that time, and secondly, I had a difficult time getting my Algerian employees to do any work...for a whole month this went on.

They didn't take any food or liquid during daylight hours...but many of them still managed to sneak away to smoke which is also forbidden during Ramadan daylight hours...so they gorged on food most of the night while partying with their friends and family. They got so little sleep that they could barely hold their eyes open during the daytime, and they whined about how tough it was to fast all day long.

The funniest part is that some of them actually gained weight during Ramadan...they must have been on the Cindy Sheehan fasting plan.