Happy Holidays, Bill

Here's Bill O'Reilly bitching about the fact that some American companies have realized that not every one in the world (in fact, it's less than 1/5th) are Christian and use "Happy Holidays" instead of Merry Christmas:

Here you have a national public holiday signed into law by Ulysses S. Grant in 1870. Christmas, all right? Federal holiday, everybody gets off, no mail delivered, everybody shuts down. Federal holiday. Why is it there? To honor a philosopher, Jesus. Whose philosophy was part of the foundation of our country. All of this is indisputable. Can't dispute it. OK? A man was born, his name is Jesus, he had a philosophy, the philosophy was incorporated by the Founding Fathers to make up the United States of America, U.S. Grant signs into law the holiday, Christmas.

Notice how he skips 100 years between the founding of the country and Christmas becoming a federal holiday. Hey Bill, if it's "indisputable" that Christianity was "part of the foundation of our country" from the very beginning, why did it take 100 years to make it a national holiday? Was Thomas Jefferson too busy waging a war for opium that he never got around to signing the bill? Was George Washington too busy building Masonic temples that he forget to get John Adams a present?

Oh yeah, its because they were for freedom FROM religion. Besides, Grant was probably all liquored up when he signed the law and did it as a dare.

I love Jesus and I love Christmas, but, as is usually the problem with this issue, the tendency is to ignore the substance and favor the form.

Don't worry, Bill. I still got you that loofah you asked for for Christmas.