THIS MODERN WORLD

A reader in the UK informs me that Murdoch media there are also flogging the notion that Christmas itself is in peril.

READERS have thrown their support behind The Sun’s campaign to save Christmas by turning back the tide of politically correct meddling that threatens to destroy it.

You are fed-up with barmy bureaucrats wrongly banning our festive traditions in the belief they are offensive to followers of religions other than Christianity.

One other thought: in the States, Murdoch moralizes on one network while pandering to prurient interests on another. In the UK he combines both in one newspaper. (Don’t click on that link if you’re at work.)

The call-and-response between Hannity and callers to his radio show goes something like this these days:

Hannity: Wilbur in North Dakota, welcome to the show!

Caller: Thanks for taking my call, Sean — you’re a great American!

Hannity: You’re a great American, my friend.

The first couple of times I heard it, it confused me — were these callers regulars to the show? Had they previously told him enough about themselves that he could pass judgment on their great Americanness? But no — apparently all it takes to be labeled a “great American” by Sean Hannity is to declare Sean Hannity a great American.

Which sets the bar pretty low, doesn’t it?

Missouri State Representative Cynthia Davis:

“It’s like when the hijackers took over those four planes on Sept. 11 and took people to a place where they didn’t want to go,” she added. “I think a lot of people feel that liberals have taken our country somewhere we don’t want to go. I think a lot more people realize this is our country and we’re going to take it back.”

More.

Just noticed that Bob has little digital snowflakes drifting down across his blog.

Bob, of course, lives in Los Angeles, where he is unlikely to deal with actual snow, let alone ice or cold or sleet or slush or any of the other manifestations of the season. I think out there, a warm, gentle rain might occasionally fall during the very darkest depths of winter.

Just sayin’.

More importantly, he’s reposted his round-the-world saga, which originally ran on this site. If you didn’t see it then, go read it now.

This week’s cartoon is about the current dichotomy of the Right — the inability to reconcile the fact that they are currently firmly in charge of everything with their incessant desire to whine about their victimization. The solution: whine about the oppression they face in lesser arenas, such as the academy. In other words, go after the college professors. Heard Hannity this afternoon, urging his younger listeners to tape their professors, and expose their liberal malfeasance for all to see, yadda yadda. They want us to become a nation of informers, or maybe more accurately, tattletales.

And if you’ve been watching O’Reilly lately, you know that the falafel man is “watching out for Christmas!” Because nobody else is, apparently. This is big on Fox and talk radio in general this year — this backlash against the perceived secularization of the holiday season. Christmas is in jeopardy! As if. As if religious faith is in any danger whatsoever in this nation. As if a politician could get elected dog catcher without professing his deep and abiding faith in a Supreme Being.

People think that the re-election of Bush makes my job easier for another four years, but honestly, I’m really sick of these sixth-grade-level debates.