There is no warmth of the Christmas season in some corners of the Daily Kos blog, since the "War on Christmas" stories on Fox News have ruined their Obama-loving spirit. The diarist "Hunter" was very upset on Thursday that Fox would report dislike for the Obama White House's "Bo by the fireplace" Christmas card (without the word "Christmas" in it).
"The premise here is that, after first being too Christmas-loving, now this card is not Christmas-laden enough," he harrumphed. "To you or I it may look like Thomas Kinkade ate a box of candy canes and pooped out a tranquil interior scene, but to the forces of Christmas Outrage it is deeply suspicious because there is a dog in the scene when there should have been a Jesus, and there is a poinsettia instead of a Christmas tree, and there's just something off about it, in their minds."
Hunter added: "A suspicious number of books, perhaps, or maybe one of the chairs is facing towards Mecca. I don't know, because I am not f---ing insane." (Dashes are mine.)
Borrowing photos from the Tumblr account of New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter (who surely received a few cards from networks), Hunter made a decent point that Fox News Channel's own cards are not very Christmasy, the rant concluded with an allegation that Fox is deeply insincere on behalf of the "kooks" that watch their channel:
Here is what I would like the takeaway lesson to be, from this and every other War on Christmas story ever devised and presented to us as the outrage-against-Jesus-and-families-and-patriotism-of-the-week. They do not mean it themselves. They are transparently, flagrantly lying their asses off about their "concern" for all of these things. They know full well what they are saying; they know full well how ridiculous it is; they do not actually believe a word of it. The story was written because Some Guy at Fox News had to come up with some small bit of silly, stupid propaganda to make their viewers feel warm and grumpy inside...
None of it is real; none of it is earnest. It is simply another spot of charming Orwell-poking propaganda, a fib for the sake of entertainment. It is as choreographed as a ballet, and as skillfully executed as a sixth grade reenactment of a Charlie Brown Christmas Special presented in the school gymnasium.
But it makes crabby, paranoid kooks around America feel better about themselves at night, so fine, whatever. Yes, Virginia, there is a War on Christmas. Now go to sleep already.
The Kosmonaut calling himself Bill in Portland, Maine, the gay activist who has some unique Christmas Eve habits traveling the "nasal passages of freedom," took a holiday shot on Thursday at (allegedly dying) Pope Benedict:
JEERS to the scandal that just keeps on scandaling. Just when you think the church-abuse allegations have finally been wrung through the wringer, Surprise! Now it's Holland's turn:
As many as 20,000 children endured sexual abuse at Dutch Catholic institutions over the past 65 years, and church officials failed to adequately address it or help the victims, according to a long-awaited investigative report released Friday. The findings detailed some of the most widespread abuse yet linked to the Roman Catholic Church, which has been under fire for years over abuse allegations in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.
Meanwhile there are rumblings that the Pope may be dying. One cause we can safely rule out ahead of time: shame.
[Hat tip: At the Hop with Stan]
