You might recall the character Burgermeister Meisterburger from Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. He was the baddie who hated toys and Christmas. Like, a lot.

He said ridiculous things like, "Toys are hereby declared illegal, immoral, unlawful AND anyone found with a toy in his possession will be placed under arrest and thrown in the dungeon. No kidding!"

That was just a cartoon you might say. Well, in real life nobody talks like that, right?

Michael Weinstein, who has called Christians "monsters" and heads up the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, went just as hyperbolic as good ol' Burgermeister. He did everything he could to prevent members of our armed forces being informed through official channels of a volunteer opportunity to provide gifts and toys to needy children. He called the posting for volunteers "a radioactive wrecking-ball of surpassing hazard, disease and risk to the unit cohesion, good order, morale, discipline, military readiness, mission accomplishment, health and safety of any military or civilian subordinates unfortunate enough to serve under such sectarian command-directed leadership."

Wow. He really hates Christmas, huh? He sounds just like Burgermeister Meisterburger, except with a thesaurus. One of the big problems Weinstein apparently had was that the shoeboxes are being sent by a Christian group and would also contain a note to the children saying awful and horrendous things like God loves them. I know, right? Can you imagine?

Of course, the military buckled in light of Weinstein's withering wordplay. In the tv special, Kris Kringle stood up to Burgermeister Meisterburger. In real life there just aren't enough people willing to do the same.