'Tis the Season...

So this is the time of year wherein people experience a sense of good cheer, of the joy of giving, where people are nicer, friendlier, have a spring in their step, say "How do!" on the street, and generally just drip warmth and kindness from their every pore. According to a USA TODAY poll, to this list we must apparently add seasonal-onset rabies.

I don't know which is more alarming: the fact that my immediate thought was "if people were more honest and had less shame, this percentage would be higher," or the fact that they chose to print their terrifying pie-graph on such a cute little stuffed animal. But I must admit, when I saw this (courtesy of the Colbert Report; I don't read USA Today), I got an image of Messrs Locke and Smith in a WalMart bludgeoning each other with whatever is handy for this teddy bear while Marx wept and Rousseau laughed his ass off. (Thoreau was on his way to Lawn & Garden, looking for a rubber hose to beat the both of them.)

-W.