I'll be home for [the war on] Christmas

Why haven't I been my usual blogging self these days? Because I'm back in rural Missouri on the homestead, and stuck with 20th century technology, like a dial-up connection. It's a nightmare.

When I'm able, I'll be savoring the use of a better connection, and I'll continue posting the news over the course of the holidays.

I'll also point out that we say "Happy Holidays" not so much out of sensitivity to another person's possible religious affiliation, but because there are several holidays going on, from Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's Day. It's a lot easier to combine them into one catch-all greeting. Take that, Bill O'Reilly. Oh, and yes, I'm already hearing some talk about the imaginary 'war on Christmas' now that I'm back in GOP country. On the other hand, when I was in the St. Louis airport I was stunned to see how many people stopped what they were doing and started watching the TVs when a story about Bush and the NSA wiretaps came on. the conventional wisdom from the mainstream media seemed to be that the story wouldn't register with Americans. I disagree. I think this is just the type of story that will really piss off all Americans, including so-called "red-staters." If there's one thing that both sides can agree on, it's that government shouldn't be spying on us.