The Individualist 12.19.05: Happy Holidays From Joe Rivett

Posted by Joe Rivett on 12.19.2005

Bill O’Reilly gets coal in his stocking and my thoughts on the Bush speech…

On Friday I got married. Despite gay marriage supposedly undermining marriage, I still tied the knot. Additionally, I found enough time to write this column.

Just when I thought that the psycho Christians were going to go to church and leave me alone this Christmas, they are out on another "crusade". NO, not a crusade against sin; not a crusade to spread the message of Jesus; not a crusade to help the poor; instead we have a crusade against the expression "Happy Holidays!"

Apparently, folks like Bill O'Reilly get OFFENDED when they are told to have a happy holiday but can't understand why some Americans get offended when they hear the phrase "Merry Christmas".

Now I am a Christian and defiantly do not have much experience being in a minority group, but I can imagine what it would be like to be wished a happy Ramadan twice a day during the month of September. At first I might think to myself: "I'm not a Moslem but that person must have assumed so I'll just say thank you." But imagine for thirty years you were told to have a Merry Ramadan throughout the entire month of September? It would eventually drive you nuts. Yes I would not be offended but I would be annoyed. Besides, offended is an overused term that should only be saved for hideous things such as the holocaust or companies that dump toxic waste into water that give me cancer.

Companies do not want to annoy a small minority of shoppers so they stick with the generic, "Happy Holidays". That way Christians, Jews, Pagans, and anybody else can approve. Even atheists can identify with Happy Holidays because they probably will be happy not working on December 25th. They also might be buying presents for their Christian family members or friends.

Bill O'Reilly wants to make a big deal about nothing because he would rather divide America to make ratings than report on anything significant. I know I say this often but WE ARE AT WAR. There are a lot more important and relevant issues than what a fucking checkout lady says to me at Target.

This is typical Bill O'Reilly making stupid attacks to make it seem like the majority of the country is on his side. Most hard working Americans do not give a shit about what that lady at Target says. Yes Bill your show gets high ratings but the CBS Evening News still pulls a rating four times higher than your primetime audience. More Americans still watch CBS news instead of you.

By visiting BillOReilly.com I found a couple statements he made that need to be addressed. He writes about the far left of the Democratic Party:

"You may have noticed that the far left has recently stepped up its fascist-like tactics. Last week at the University of Connecticut, invited speaker Ann Coulter was shouted down by students who opposed hearing anything she had to say. This came on the heels of loons in Chicago trying to shout down Senator Hillary Clinton for not condemning the Iraq conflict. And just this week, a far left outfit took out a full page ad in The New York Times urging Americans to disrupt President Bush's State of the Union address next month. What's next for the radicals, blowing up satellite dishes?"

First, shouting down a stupid guest speaker has nothing to do with Fascism. One element of Fascism is a foreign and domestic policy based on nationalism. Opposing a war isn't exactly fascist. A fascist-like tactic is calling a Congressional Bill about intelligence gathering the "Patriot Act". Ann Coulter deserved to get shot down. She flat out lies in her books and has made statements like:

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

But Bill O'Reilly would rather defend this woman who advocates terrorism and the killing of innocent civilians and squarely focus on students that were upset about her appearance.

One person that could use a Happy Holiday is George Bush. Before his speech Sunday night, his newest excuse is to tell the American people that the Congress had the same access to intelligence. According to Knight Ridder newspapers in Washington DC:

"The president, and a small number of presidentially designated Cabinet-level officials, including the vice president have access to a far greater overall volume of intelligence and to more sensitive intelligence information, including information regarding intelligence sources and methods.

The Congressional Research Service report identified nine specific intelligence "products" that the White House usually does not share with members of Congress. For example, the President's Daily Brief, a compilation of analyses that is given every morning to the president and his top aides, is not shared with Congress"

Clearly, President Bush did a horrible job analyzing intelligence. HOWEVER, he is going to be the Commander in Chief for the next three years. Therefore, the nation needs to come together. Not everybody has to support the war but any decent American should hope that it goes well.

President Bush's Oval Office Address Sunday night was probably the best speech he has given since the post 9/11 State of the Union Address. He admitted that he did not think it would be this difficult. He answered his critics and said something new for once. He hinted at troop withdrawals soon. The elections went well and he had the right to gloat. It doesn't matter how we got there because we are already there. Let us demand not the past but a vision for the future. Let us debate what the best strategy is to win because frankly, that is what worries me most about Bush. It is hard to deny the man has vision, but the former governor's success in Iraq will be based squarely on the commanders. Next week I'll be on my honeymoon in Paris. Until then, have a Happy Holiday!