The Holiday Wars

It’s that time of year again when war is waged against all the major holidays. Here’s a quick recap about who is at war over each holiday.

Bill O’Reilly has revived his rants over the War on Christmas as reported by Think Progress:

On his Fox News show last night, Bill O’Reilly kicked off his annual conniption fit over a perceived “War on Christmas.” O’Reilly’s target last night was a decision by the Fort Collins, Colorado City Council to celebrate the holiday season with “an educational museum display, plain wreaths and garlands on city property, and trees with white lights” rather than traditional Christmas decorations such as trees with “colored lights.”

The War on Christmas wasn’t always over trivial matters such as the color of lights. It also wasn’t always part of the “secular progressive agenda.” Talk to Action takes a look at the history of the War on Christmas. It turns out that “Puritans actually invented the War on Christmas by instituting a ban on the holiday during their short tenure in power in England.”

If Puritans and secular progressives have allegedly waged a war on Christmas, there are many forces on the right who have been waging a War on Halloween both on religious and economic grounds.

Michelle Malkin charges that there is a War on Thanksgiving. The Reaction and Feministe respond.

This time of year the most bitter “wars” might be on the college football fields and in the arguments of fans over who deserves to fight for the national championship. The two teams which play for the championship are determined by the polls and computer rankings as opposed to a play off on the field, leaving room for controversy most years. If there are no further upsets (which might be unlikely considering the number of upsets so far this season) at least three teams will have a strong claim to play in the BCS Championship game. LSU and Oregon, now ranked number one and two, both have strong cases. The Big Twelve Champion will probably be Kansas, now undefeated and ranked number three, Oklahoma (currently #4) or Missouri (currently #5). Kansas still plays Missouri and will meet Oklahoma if neither loses before the Big Twelve Championship game. I bet that Kansas will move into the top two if they remain undefeated, creating quite a question as to whether LSU or Oregon, both with a single loss, is more deserving of playing against them. Fans of some other one-loss teams might also argue that their team deserves consideration. At present I’m most impressed with Oregon and it would be a shame if they wind up number three without a shot at the national championship.

This week’s traditional rivalry game between Michigan and Ohio State lost some of its luster after both lost last week, but still the game will determine the Big Ten Championship and who goes to the Rose Bowl. Whether Michigan stands a chance depends upon whether Henne and Hart (their starting quarterback and tailback) are healthy. After being devastated by injuries this season, along with other setbacks, it is amazing that Michigan remains in a position where they are still playing for the conference championship and the Rose Bowl. Going into the final game of the season there has not been a single game in which Chad Henne and Mike Hart have played a full game together. HBO is airing a special on the history of the Michigan vs. Ohio State rivalry this week.

Planting Questions Appears to Be Standard Operating Procedure for Clinton Campaign

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fr1dm2Qdls]

Hillary Clinton has the slickest, most professional campaign operation going. She certainly has learned from the George Bush play book for staging public appearances. Check out the above video to see just how slick it is. The episode at Grinnell College wasn’t an isolated case of an over zealous staffer planting a question with a student. They have a whole notebook ready with questions to plant, along with advice to avoid questions which might be too difficult for Clinton to answer.

This is hardly the only bad news for Clinton as the polls have been tightening. Captain’s Quarters provides a run down, noting criticism of Clinton from both the left and the right.

Poor Hillary. A minority falls for her line that the other candidates are picking on her. Even the controversy over whether Hillary Clinton left a tip at an Iowa restaurant, as well as the controversy over whether this should be a controversy, continues.