The Christmas decorations are customary. Christians may take them as Christian; the rest of us take them as a cheery sign that an agreeable public holiday is coming up, trailing all sorts of happy connotations, childhood memories, permitted gluttony and tipsiness, auld acquaintance, etc., etc. Whatever, they are customary. I don’t like fooling around with customary stuff. I don’t much care for menorahs being included, for the same reason. I suppose the menorahs are half-way to being customary, too, by now; but if I could have nipped that in the bud, I would have. Not every decorative feature of a public place is there for someone to make a point about it. Some things are there because we’ve always put them there, and we like the continuity and stability of seeing them there year after year.

More on Christmas.

This is, of course, a reaction to the pounding the Right got in the elections last month.

Another reaction from P.J. O'Rourke . One of the best bits, but read it all:

In how many ways did we fail conservatism? And who can count that high? Take just one example of our unconserved tendency to poke our noses into other people's business: abortion. Democracy--be it howsoever conservative--is a manifestation of the will of the people. We may argue with the people as a man may argue with his wife, but in the end we must submit to the fact of being married. Get a pro-life friend drunk to the truth-telling stage and ask him what happens if his 14-year-old gets knocked up. What if it's rape? Some people truly have the courage of their convictions. I don't know if I'm one of them. I might kill the baby. I will kill the boy.