Naming Rights!

You know - Atrios says Bill O'Reilly is "effing bonkers" for this screed: - but me, I think he might be on to something.

O'REILLY: They don't have to say "Merry Christmas" in China, OK? They can say whatever they say in China, "Happy Winter." All right? "We like pandas." Say whatever you want. This is America. This is the big commercial holiday.

He's got something, I say. Why not sell the naming rights? If Enron field can become Minutemaid Park, if the Fleet Center can become the TD Bank North Garden (hey! it's got "Garden" in the title!), then why shouldn't December 25th be Happy Yule, if the Swedish Pagan community writes a big enough check? Should store greeters say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays"? whatever gets paid for, right? and why not work in the name of the company? "Have a dunkin' donuts holiday!" "Merry Tropicana Premium Orange Juice Christmas!" "O Holy Night, the DirectTV stars are brightly shining...."

Anyway - old Bill does go a tad off the rails, but it is refreshing at the beginning to get some hint of the true meaning of Christmas - buy buy buy, boys and girls. I'm not sure where these Bill O'Reilly types get the idea that Christmas is in any way a Christian holiday - oh, sure, there's a "christ" in the name, but before the pagan elements were downplayed, the hardcore christians (puritans and the like) hated it, and it only really got popular when the retailers took it over. Bill seems perfectly at ease with that, of course....

Idiots.