Christopher Hitchens, apparently, is an ironman. He's survived a long sojourn with the hard Left, has imbibed countless gallons of Scotch and has smoked enough ciggies to supply a small country. But he keeps going on. Even when I disagreed with his formerly hard Left politics I enjoyed reading and listening to him. Red-eyed with a hangover he is able to speak or write better than 99.9% of politicians.
Hitch weighs in on the Saddam Hussein trial and Ramey Clark's place in it:FrontPage magazine.com :: Saddam's Chief Apologist by Christopher Hitchens .
We here at Bloody Nib Manor are not Christmas freaks. We long ago abandoned draping the manse with fairy lights, wearing holiday sweaters in 80 degree Southern California winters or expecting everyone to smile and say Merry Christmas as they hand over a Big Mac. Nowadays we use a dandelion sprinkled with glitter as a Christmas tree, hide under the blankets until Jan. 2 and growl and anyone saying anything to us as we force ourselves out if the local Wal-Mart.
That being said, the leveling of Christmas is amazing to behold. By leveling your faithful correspondent means that a minor Jewish holiday (Hanukkah, Chanaka, or whatever) that used to be celebrated by spinning a top and handing our gold foil chocolates for the kiddies has been elevated to an excuse to go out and shop, the Muslim holiday, Eid, has it's own postage stamp, the fraudulent Kwannza is now honored by greeting card manufacturers and we're forced, while listening to or watching the news, to listen to neo-pagans whine about how Christmas was ripped off from them when, in fact, if Christ had never been born said neo-pagans would probably be sacrificing their first born on December 21 to make the sun return. Never mind the village atheists whining about the "establishment of religion" in the Great Republic while happily accepting Christmas (opps! I meant "holiday") bonuses from their employers. It's all Happy Holidays and Holiday Trees and Holiday Shopping and the Midnight Holiday Mass from the Vatican. And if you don't like it you are the Scrooge for reminding the great unchurched that the reason all this goes on is because of the birth of Jesus. The "holiday" season is supposed to be a bacchanal of buying, partying, groping and regretting the morning after.
Meanwhile, some Jewish thinkers are coming to the defense of Christmas as Christmas and as a celebration of the birth of Christ:FrontPage magazine.com :: Jews for Christmas by Sharon Hughes. And while you read it I'll be singing "Unthinking Physics of the Universe Bless Ye Merry Gentlepersons."
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