A Chance to Wish Senator Buttars a Happy Holiday

Sharing the love is what the holidays are all about
Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere, you're aware of Utah state senator Chris Buttars' (R-West Jordan) latest important legislative effort, a proposed 2009 bill urging retailers to battle back against a purported "war on Christmas" For those readers who've been "out of the information loop," here's the gist of it from Wednesday's Deseret News story:

Forget "Happy holidays." What Sen. Chris Buttars wants to hear from Utah retailers is "Merry Christmas."
The West Jordan Republican is having a resolution drafted for the 2009 Legislature that he said asks retailers not to "exclude Christmas from your holiday greetings." Resolutions, of course, cannot be enforced.
Buttars said he is seeking the resolution because he was contacted by several employees of a retailer he declined to name that had been told they couldn't say "Merry Christmas" to customers.
"We have a war on Christmas," Buttars said, invoking the battle fought this time of year by conservatives nationwide, including, since 2005, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, who has said the issue is at the center of the nation's culture war.

In this connection, we'd like to direct our readers' attention to an amusing editorial retort in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune. Well... we think it's pretty danged funny:

• A carol for Chris Buttars: 'We Wish You a Happy Holiday'

And we do concede the Tribune editorial board makes a good point with this:

The folks who find Buttars offensive should be happy that he's wasting his time attacking advertising executives and business owners instead of gays, minorities, immigrants and environmentalists. And they should be thrilled that he's seeking a nonbinding resolution instead of some crackpot law.

But there just has to more to it, we think. Important legislation like this has inevitably drawn the attention of the national blogging community, of course. The Daily Kos blog presents a citizen action plan, for those readers who'd like to share the holiday spirit:

• Utah Senator Chris Buttars needs some holiday Cheer. Let's help him out!

We urge our readers to join thousands of citizens across the nation in wishing Senator Buttars a very happy holiday.

Sharing the love is what the holiday is all about, innit, gentle readers?