Happy Holidays and Let's Sue Santa

The main complaint against Edwards around here is the knee-jerk "He's a lawyer." Yeah, I guess being trained to build and evaluate sound arguments is a horrible quality for a politician, what with its ability to prevent hoodwinking everybody into perpetual war and all. Interesting, though, is how being "litigious" is often superimposed on being "liberal" (whatever the hell that means).

Maybe this vacuous yet effective rhetorical trick has something to do with the ACLU, though I do recall them supporting the medical privacy rights of a certain uber-conservative two-minute-hate proponent awhile back. So, in all fairness and in the name of equal time, let's look at how our dear Christian Soldier Rev. Falwell is kicking off the holiday season.

He's launched a "Friend or Foe" campaign to "file suit against anyone who spreads what it sees as misinformation about how Christmas can be celebrated in schools and public spaces." I guess we need to revise the Ten Commandments, adding "Thou shalt sue with frivolity" between the equally relevant "Thou shalt fundraise without ceasing" and "Thou shalt tell thy daughter she can't do math or have good sex." Keep up the Lord's good work, fella. The widows and orphans laud your commitment to social justice!

I've a precious affirmation for you, Falwell, which I'm thinking of printing onto some Christmas cards. May the modern world piss in your stocking. From a fella who looked a lot like Santa:

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

-Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right by you-know-who.