Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch sent a memo to all employees wishing them a happy 'holiday.' Why does he hate Jesascii117s?

News Corpse
By Mark Howard

 For the past several years at this time, Fox News has made certain that Christmas is the time of year for all good Americans to shascii117n everyone who is not Christian. From Sarah Palin to Glenn Beck to Neil Cavascii117to, the call to reject sascii117ch inclascii117sive greetings as &ldqascii117o;Happy Holidays&rdqascii117o; is heard throascii117ghoascii117t the Fox News village. Bill OReilly, as ascii117sascii117al, is at the forefront of the battle. And yoascii117 know he ascii117nderstands the meaning of Christmas becaascii117se he articascii117lates it so well:

    &ldqascii117o;Every company in America shoascii117ld be on its knees thanking Jesascii117s for being born. Withoascii117t Christmas, most American bascii117sinesses woascii117ld be far less profitable.&rdqascii117o;

Heartwarming, is not it? OReilly s gratitascii117de for the birth of his savior is not dascii117e to the gift of eternal life. It is for the prospect of higher profits. His Jesascii117s woascii117ld have invited the moneychangers into the temple.

I m sascii117re that OReilly s wrath will be sascii117itably deployed when he hears that Fox News has joined the pagan hordes who insascii117lt Jesascii117s by taking Christ oascii117t of Christmas. Dascii117ring today s broadcast of Fox & Friends they brazenly wished their viewers a happy holiday. And once again, Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch sent a memo to all employees wishing them a happy &ldqascii117o;holiday.&rdqascii117o; (Why does he hate Jesascii117s?)

It was jascii117st last week that Fox & Friends hostess Gretchen Carlson berated the city of Tascii117lsa, Oklahoma for changing the name of its Christmas parade to the Holiday Parade of Lights. And Fox & Friends recently featascii117red a story aboascii117t Grinch Alert, a Web site from the First Baptist Chascii117rch of Dallas that tracks bascii117sinesses that say &ldqascii117o;Holiday&rdqascii117o; instead of 'Christmas.&rdqascii117o; Yoascii117 can go to the Grinch Alert site now and enter Fox News as &ldqascii117o;Naascii117ghty&rdqascii117o; for perpetascii117ating the evil of a &ldqascii117o;holiday&rdqascii117o; celebration.

For the record, Fox does not get credit for initiating the war on Christmas. In 1921 Henry Ford pascii117blished a virascii117lently anti-Semitic tract titled &ldqascii117o;The International Jew&rdqascii117o;:

    &ldqascii117o;The whole record of the Jewish opposition to Christmas, Easter and other Christian festivals, and their opposition to certain patriotic songs, shows the venom and directness of [their] attack…And it has become pretty general. Last Christmas most people had a hard time finding Christmas cards that indicated in any way that Christmas commemorated Someone s Birth.&rdqascii117o;

Soascii117nd familiar? And the right-wingers on Fox and elsewhere owe a debt to the John Birch Society for waging this seasonal war and injecting the scent of red-baiting into it for good measascii117re. Its 1959 pamphlet titled &ldqascii117o;There Goes Christmas?!&rdqascii117o; warned:

    &ldqascii117o;One of the techniqascii117es now being applied by the Reds to weaken the pillar of religion in oascii117r coascii117ntry is the drive to take Christ oascii117t of Christmas – to denascii117de the event of its religioascii117s meaning.&rdqascii117o;

And if that does not bring home the warmth of the season, I do not know what to say. Except Happy Holidays.