Rainy Saturday Linkdump

Another rainy-when-it-should-be-snowy Saturday, another linkdump for you.

More on the phony war: No, it's not Iraq, it's that appearingly perennial 'War On Christmas' that the right wing doughy pantloads are so fond of whining about:
A little background from Dan Radmacher at the Roanoke Times:

As Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus wrote last year during a similar outbreak of Yuletide battle fever, "There is an ugly, bullying aspect to this dispute, in which the pro-Christmas forces are not only asking, reasonably, that their religion be treated with equal status and respect but in which they are attacking legitimate efforts at inclusivity."

[Bill] O'Reilly is not the first to allege a war on Christmas. An article last year on the anti-Fox News Web site News Hounds recalled that Henry Ford made the same allegation in his anti-Semitic tract, "The International Jew."

It was also a favorite refrain of the John Birch Society in the late 1950s.

And of course, like their brethren in the Bush administration, the LA Times tells us that people are making a lot of money on their war:

The American Family Assn., a conservative activist group, has rung up more than $550,000 in sales of buttons and magnets stamped with the slogan "Merry Christmas: It's Worth Saying."

Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit law firm affiliated with the religious right, has taken in more than $300,000 with its Help Save Christmas Action Packs. The kits include two buttons, two bumper stickers and "The Memo that Saved Christmas," a guide to defending overt religious expression, such as a Nativity scene in a public school classroom.

And of course, the incomparable Rude Pundit has his unique take on it here.

Some good Saturday editorial cartoons compiled by Bob Geiger here.

And finally, nothing to me shows the love of Jesus more than blowing off the head of a non-believer with a high-powered rifle. Yes, the creators of the Wal-Mart bestselling 'Left Behind' series now have a video game, where you join the 'Tribulation Force' after the Rapture and kill all nonbeliever, including Muslims and United Nations troops. The only redeeming quality to the game is you can also play the antiChrist and dish out the same to the GodIdiots. Matt Taibbi has that as well as his take on the War on Christmas, here.

If you're celebrating something this season, or not, have fun.