I say Happy Holidays. Deal with it.

It's that time of year again, for frenzied shopping and finding that perfect gift. Tinsel and trees, lights and colors declaring that this is the time of the holiday season.

And, sure enough, people are already getting offended if you happen to say the word "holiday" instead of "Christmas." Once again you have groups like the AFA saying that they're going to boycott Dick's sporting good store because they dared to say Holiday instead of Christmas. "Jesus is the reason for the season!" people declare.

It seems that every time this year, I wish Happy Holidays to someone, and I get a very angry "It's Merry Christmas!" back. And no, I'm not kidding. I've had people tell me very angrily that "Well, I say Merry Christmas, and if they don't like it, then they can just deal with it!"

You know - nobody really minds if you want to say Merry Christmas. Really. I don't give a shit.

I'm still saying Happy Holidays.

I say it because sorry, Christians, you don't have a monopoly on the month of December. Jesus was *not* the reason for the season (considering he was more likely born in the spring than the winter). Christmas itself is an older pagan holiday called Saturnalia that Christians took over from the Romans. That's right - the reason for the season is Zeus's daddy.

I say "happy holidays" because I don't know if the person I'm talking to is Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, atheist or otherwise. I don't care - I want whatever holiday they celebrate to be a good one, and if they (like the Puritans - you know, those Christians who fled Europe to help found the United States) decide not to celebrate any holidays, then I still wish them well.

I say "Happy Holidays", and anyone who takes offense to that is a selfish dick. Because for them, it's not about wishing "Peace on earth, good will to men", or heeding the words of the man they claim to follow when he said "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." For them, it's about dominance. It's about "I'm better than you, my god is better than yours and you'd better acknowledge that." The people who protest a company for wishing "Happy Holidays" upon its customers don't care about "Happiness" - they care to remind people that in this season of togetherness, that they don't *want* to be together with *you*.

So Happy Holidays, everyone. And for those who want to take offense because I'm not specifying your particular holiday - you can just suck my yule log.

Glenn Beck: Leave churches that teach social justice

I want to congratulate Mr. Beck, who produced information that demonstrates that any church that preaches the concept of "social justice" is really preaching both communism and naziism.

Granted, this would mean that people would have to leave the Catholic church and others. It would mean that the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, of Ghandi should be rejected.

But most importantly of all, I believe that Mr. Beck's comments highlight something important:

They reveal that, according to Mr. Beck, the Latter Day Saint (aka LDS aka Mormon) church has nothing to do with social justice.

It has to do with money.

The LDS church recently announced the City Creek project, which would be a combination mall and apartment complex that will be built in Salt Lake City. It will costs hundreds of millions of dollars, and, according to church leaders, will not be exclusively for Mormon use.

So why do this? According to H. David Burton, Presiding Bishop for the church:

Church leaders said the desire to head off economic decline in downtown was their prime directive at City Creek.

“Along with economic malaise comes an element that we were concerned about in proximity to the temple,” said Mr. Burton, the presiding bishop. That the temple area might one day start to feel dangerous was simply intolerable, he said. “With decay, sometimes comes crime,” he said. Source: New York Times

It's not about the "threefold mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" which is "Proclaim the Gospel, Perfect the Saints, Redeem the Dead."

It's about all those poor people who might be hanging around downtown, and we can't have that. So instead, we'll build up a private business that we own, and then we can kick the ruffians out.

It's not about feeding the hungry, or tending to the sick, or clothing the naked. You know - the things Jesus said to do to get into Heaven when he said:

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

So, thank you, Mr. Beck, for at least being honest with us in this issue. That your faith - the Mormon church - doesn't care about "social justice". About doing what Jesus actually preached to do. No, thanks to you, we can all see now that it's about money.

Sure, the LDS church could have built a giant hospital downtown, and used the tithing of their members to create a center for healing that would the admiration of the world and demonstrate Christian values. How I long for such a thing - that instead of giant megachurches and buildings, that Christians would actually tend to the sick the way their God calls them to.

Or maybe the LDS church could have created a shelter for homeless women and children, with full jobs programs and schools, so not a single child in the country would go without food and an education. What a testament to their faith that would be.

But, no. Thank you, Mr. Beck, for exposing what you believe religion, Christianity, and the Mormon church are all about. Not about doing the things that Jesus actually said to do to enter heaven.

Instead, Mr. Beck tells us what he believes Mormonism and Christianity stands for: greed, and money, and power. I'm sure Jesus himself who hung about with the prostitutes, the leapers, the destitute would so agree.