This morning, we had our final exam for Trial Advocacy: a full civil trial before a jury of high school students at the Daley Center, the downtown government building best known for its lobby, since the Blues Brothers drove through it right before they arrived at the Cook County Assesor's Office across the street. It went well (we won) so I decided to stroll around in the not-absolutely-bitter-cold mid-afternoon. Right outside, in Daley Plaza, thousands of people were mobbing the schnitzel and mulled wine vendors of Christkindlmarket. This German festival is now the central front on the Glorious Vangaurd Worker's Secular Humanist War on Christmas, since the city decided to decline sponsorship from a new movie, The Nativity Story. It didn't seem like the festival itself was scrubbed of Christianity, as there was a large nativity right out in front. I didn't mind either way, so I treated myself to a cup of hot chocolate with a heaping serving of whip cream.
Then, I took my drink and headed for home on the El. Surely, there could be no church-state issues here, but there were. The first train to grace the platform was Santa's Express, a decked-out Green Line train with Santa's sleigh on a flatbed car and not-so-little CTA elves greeting passengers on the other cars.
Where's the Chanu-car? What about the Kwanzaa Local? I suppose the ACLU has better things to worry about.
I will bring this to the attention of the proper folks! Thanks:)