MORE CHRISTIAN HYPOCRISY

The evangelical Christian right is apparently pulling out all the stops to bring out the Grinch this Christmas.

Jerry Falwell and his cronies have stepped up their efforts to smear retail stores across the country that choose to drop the term "Christmas" in their greetings, advertising and/or store displays. In addition to employing their usual tactic of boycotts, the Christian nut jobs have gone a step further this year by offering free legal assistance to anyone who feels that they have been persecuted for celebrating Christmas.

Of course, one can never expect a ceiling when it comes to the hypocrisy of the Christian right. It conveniently chose to shut up when George & Laura Bush sent out holiday cards omitting the word "Christmas" in them. Except for a few individuals complaining about it, the more prominent Christian leaders like Robertson, Falwell and Dobson have shrewdly decided it is more advantageous to go up against the likes of Target and Walmart than it is to pick a fight with the White House.

Fox News, the self-appointed defender of conservative values, has gleefuly offered itself as the lapdog of the radical right wing. Its relentless coverage of the so-called war on Christmas is nothing but a cheap ass tactic to boost ratings among its core audience, i.e. the uneducated, bible-waving, gun-carrying crowd.

The icing on the cake has to be Victoria Osteen, wife of the pastor of the nation's largest church Joel Osteen, causing such a huge commotion on the plane that she was asked to leave. Reports in the media today have it that she was unhappy that the flight attendant did not do a good job of cleaning the stain on her seat and proceeded to whine about it.

Of course, it did not take her too long to refute an FBI agent's statement that she "failed to comply with the flight attendant's instructions" and was "asked to leave the flight." In a statement posted on the church's website she states that "regardless of how some have portrayed the situation, please know that it was truly a minor misunderstanding and did not escalate into what you saw or read in the news. Contrary to those reports, it was my choice to remove myself from the situation. Nonetheless, it was a most unfortunate event and I truly regret that it happened."

Her statement stinks of nothing but yet another lame ass ploy to dis-credit the media, something that conservatives regularly do to fire up their base when the media reports something negative about them.

Seriously, what kind of hypocrite would preach biblical values on a weekly basis in front of 30,000 people but then turn around and throw a fit a part of your airplane seat is not cleaned as well as you would like it to be?

Even if I give her the benefit of the doubt, the fact remains that she single handedly delayed the flight for 2 hours. For those of us who have experienced traveling during a busy season, you can imagine what a bitch it must have been for the passengers on the flight.

In a season of sharing and giving, one that celebrates the birth of the greatest individual to ever walk the surface of this planet, the man who was sent by God to redeem our sins, it is pathetic and disgusting that some would wipe the good name of Jesus in their pool of hypocritical filth in order to pursue a hideous political agenda of bigotry and intolerance. However, I constantly remind myself that there are many more true Christians out there than there are of these ass clowns. No one should have any doubt that the birth of Christ is much more than just haggling over whether Bloomingdale's should call its tree a holiday or Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.