The US is on a very special wavelength, one which I like to call "full blown batshit crazy." It is a nation where a movie can be PG-13 if it depicts the murder of a human being, but must be rated R if it shows a nude female body in any context. It is a country where parents campaign to have educational material removed from their children's schools because their kids might learn something. It is where you can choose to get married up to 7 years before you can legally drink champagne at your wedding reception, and where you can choose a President before you can choose a beer at the pub. America is where the word "intellectual" is an insult, "elite" is a smear, and a word that used to mean "happy" now refers to the most miserable and abused minority in the developed world.

Now the US is a place where a majority of 77% claims it is being oppressed. I guess having a nationally-recognized holiday that is promoted by every major corporation isn't enough for the Christians, because they feel seriously Grinched by the perceived bigotry of the hellbound non-Jesusites of America. Shockingly, it turns out the Christian alarmists are full of crap.

Twenty seven major newspapers have covered the apparent anti-Christmas rule (allegedly forbidding the use of "Merry Christmas" in ads for holiday sales) instituted by Macy's Department Stores, despite the fact that Macy's doesn't actually have such a rule. Some 25 papers covered the City of Denver's refusal to allow a Christian float in the city's holiday parade, but the fact that religious floats have been excluded from that parade for a decade was somehow lost in the shuffle.

The Bible can easily explain to us why Christians need to feel martyred, and history can explain why organized religion would encourage a feeling of "us versus them" to increase its power over believers, so this seasonal spike in the Christian persecution complex is not really that surprising. What is surprising, and embarassing, is that this disgustingly selfish whining is given actual press time because our predominantly-Christian public audience is (aparently) comfortable with their own hypocricy. Wouldn't it be more Christian to devote a little attention to the 1.1 million American children who don't have homes this holiday season? Wouldn't Jesus be more devoted to feeding the 36 million Americans who live in households unable to purchase sufficient food, rather than feeding the egos of millionaires like Jerry Falwell?

Or would thinking about actual problems, and perhaps even giving a moment of thought to those who are in need, interfere with the "gimme, gimme, gimme!" spirit of this O-so-holy holiday?