HO HO HO - AT 10:03 A.M. ET:  Merry Christmas to all.  (Will I be arrested for saying that?)  Several Christmas gifts have already arrived:

1. The US Senate has done its pale Santa Claus imitation and brought gifts aplenty in the guise of health-care "reform."  Oh, wait.  To be on this santa's list you must be a resident of certain states represented by senators whose last-minute votes were needed to pass the "reform" measure.  Okay, okay.  It isn't exactly the spirit of Christmas, but it's the best the Senate can do.

2.  Senator John Kerry has gifted us all by announcing that, contrary to an earlier report, he is not going to Tehran.  In an ecumenical spirit, this is also a gift to Tehran as well.

3.  The Copenhagen hot-air, or, er, climate-change conference, has given us a major Christmas gift by failing.  This gang of leftists, who reserved their greatest cheers for Hugo Chavez, use climate change as a cover for their socialist agenda.  Like most socialists, they couldn't get anything serious done, a gift to us all.

4.  The president has given us a temporary gift by jetting off to Hawaii and getting himself out of microphone range for a few days.  For at least a brief period we won't have to hear the word "unprecedented" used by the orator-in-chief.

5.  And, finally, the Pentagon has given a huge Christmas gift to those wanting to destroy military morale.  As CNN reports:

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military has dropped a controversial rule that called for punishing soldiers in northern Iraq for becoming pregnant or impregnating another soldier.

The updated policy "does not include a pregnancy provision," said Maj. Joe Scrocca, spokesman for U.S. Forces-Iraq.

The rule was entirely sensible, and not very controversial, except for a few radical feminists on the down-with-America fringe left, and their allies in the Senate.  And that's all that was needed.  The officer who wrote the rule, Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commander of our forces in northern Iraq, might as well retire.  His career is over.  Mature adult Mona Charen comments on the respected military ethos that guided Gen. Cucolo's order:

That ethos -- and forgetful senators can look it up -- includes the following creed: "I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values. I will always place the mission first."

Our enemies must be laughing their heads off.  A general treats women and men under his command as responsible adults, and the P.C. crowd demands they be treated like children...and wins.  Merry Christmas, kids.

And so there were gifts this Christmas.  The political class always provides them.  But that class always provides us another great gift...the gift of laughter.  Enjoy it while we can.

I'm sure the gifts in your homes were a lot more thoughtful.

December 25,  2009