While the eyes of the world are focused on rumors of war in Iran, it should not go un-noticed that the US is also coming into the fourth year of what chickenhawk extraordinaire Bill O'Reilly has dubbed the "War on Xmas (Ed. Note: slightly edited to drain some of the propaganda content). Fear-monger Bill O, which media watchers have found to issue insults every 9 seconds or so, is moving to the season where his grazing pattern for topics of insult since Xmas 2004 has been the artifically created "War on Xmas."
The casual diarist would be forgiven for falling into a high dudgeon expression of snarkery. (Follow Father Xmas down the chimney, s.v.p.)
My first temptation was just to do a straw poll, placing virtual bets on the date that Bill O renews the fall offensive. His opening shot, as far as I can tell, began Nov 9, 2004. John Gibson's The War Against Christmas added fuel to the "artifically burning Yule fire" in the war of words on the air for subsequent seasons. And of course, who could forget the verbal cudgels of "writer" Michelle Malkin against the US Post Office for trying to drop the Madonna and Child stamps in favor of Christmas Cookie stamps, which were set to go on sale Oct 20. Will the fall offensive begin Oct 20, or will it hold off until the Nov 9th anniversary date? Can't say for sure, but somebody in the office should be designing sheets for betting in the snark's office pool. (See also Media Matters for America, 11-21-2005on this topic.
But upon closer inspection, there seems to be more poison in the proverbial pen this year, focused more precisely on fighting the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). So, however much fun people wish to poke at the Joe McCarthy-like contortions of an on-air O'Reilly, to avoid the danger of underestimating the opponent, it's worth, IMO, a bit of time to take a look as some of the people that have allied themselves with the O'Bloviator.
The phrase you want to type into your search engine (Google-ize?) is Alliance Defense Fund(ADF) Poke around on the site, and you'll see that the big legal cheese is Edwin Alan Sears, but the more familiar names on the masthead are Dr. James Dobson, of the religious right Focus on the Family, which claims its aim in supporting the ADF is defending against the loss of religious freedom, and "driving back the homosexual agenda." The list ADF says are its supporters include none other than former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, whose widely-touted war against pornography ended up being a total waste of taxpayer money. Not surprisingly, there is the Federalist Society, part of whose object is to stack the courts with "strict constructionists," who so far have allowed habeus corpus to pass into oblivion, so we know how the neo-con theory explodes on contact with reality like an aluminum can in a microwave oven.
Not to be ignored among supporters are groups that back "Intelligent Design" (an oxymoron that collapses the theory completely when put side by side with the double oxymorons "Fox News" and "No Spin Zone") and Regent University, producers of squads of nominal "attornies" who need to be house-cleaned as a result of the scandal involving stacking of federal attornies for the purpose of suppressing the vote, particularly of minorites, in an effort to stack the deck in favor a Republicans in elections--in blatant and illegal defiance of the Voting Rights Act.
The ADF has already published diatribes against the ACLU, and funds efforts for constitutional amendments to protect marriage in the male-female only model (Or Ozzie and Harriet, if you prefer). ADF claims alliance with 270 ministries, and ADF has funded court cases in about six right-leaning states, mostly in the south, but they have efforts in California also.
Like a three-card monte dealer, Bill O's chief concern seems to be finding a source of ready cash, playing Sideshow Bob to Rush Limbaugh's Crusty the Clown, in a shameless competition for cold cash and maybe a side bet on who has more listeners among Blackwater "executive bodyguards." But, thanks to the deus ex machina role of Sandra Day O'Connor in aborting the 2000 election that delivered the incubus of another Bush occupation of the White House, the power of the religious right to exert their Taliban-light religious and homophobic agenda against the wishes of the body politic should not be underestimated.
This year it looks like the wingnut playbook is taking aim against the ACLU, who of course have the "Secular-Progressive" agenda, including habeus corpus. My humble suggestion is not to take Bill O too lightly, because the object seems to be to take out the ACLU as an institution. And, as anyone who's been exposed to the court system knows, the party of the fat bankbook part often bests the party of the public interest part, expecially in districts of the judge needs votes to get elected part. Xmas cookie stamps, anyone?