There is an ugly, bullying aspect to this dispute, in which the pro-Christmas forces are not only asking, reasonably, that their religion be treated with equal status and respect but in which they are attacking legitimate efforts at inclusivity. It's this sense of aggrieved victimhood that confuses me: What, exactly, is so threatening about calling the school holiday a winter break rather than Christmas vacation?

Bill O'Reilly is in business to make money. The way he makes money is by getting people riled up about political issues. Last year, Bill O'Reilly, and some of his counterparts such as Rush Limbaugh, came up with a great way to generate revenue during "the holidays:" Get people rilled up about the fact that they are called "the holidays," while mixing in all of the present confusion about how to reconcile the establishment clause with the public celebration of religious cultural traditions. O'Reilly mined the depths of the news media in search of fringe cases that he held up as evidence that "the liberals are attacking Christmas."

The inevitable result of this last year was that "the holidays" were beset by thousands of pissed off conservatives who had a great big chip on their shoulder about the whole thing and got visibly offended whenever anyone wished them a "Happy Holidays," generally infecting the season with misery and strife, instead of, you know, good cheer. God forbid there might be a couple of Jews living in the United States and we might mean to wish them a joyous season as well.

This year, its on again, and it seems to be even bigger then it was last year. To deliberately infect the Holidays with this paranoid political poison is just about the most unChristian thing you can possibly do. But its here, and its not going to go away. The establishment clause questions are anything but simple, and I can assure you that Jews are not going to start referring to Dradles as "Christmas Tops." The only thing that the defenders of Christmas are likely to accomplish with their tirades is to make people so sick of them that they stop caring about the season all together. I almost see this outcome as inevitable, but I'm going to offer a proposal which might resolve the matter.

If you are offended when people wish you a "Happy Holidays" you should wear a yellow patch on your shirt with a picture of a cross on it whenever you are outside during the month of December. A yellow patch sends a clear message to others that you are a Christian and that you insist on being wished a "Merry Christmas" and not a "Happy Holidays." I'm sure you'll find that the liberal "anti-Christmas" forces are, for the most part, perfectly willing to comply with your wishes, upon seeing your patch. Some may wish you a "Happy Holidays" anyway, but those people are jerks, and you should ignore them. This seems to me the most efficient and reasonable way of dealing with the problem.