Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends out there. Better late than never I say! To celebrate, let's talk a little about what happens when idiots get over-zealous.

If you haven't heard, an Israeli environmentalist group is recommending that Jews around the world light one less candle during Hanukkah in an effort to reduce global warming. They found that each candle creates 15 grams of carbon dioxide. Multiply that by eight, multiply that by all the people celebrating Hanukkah, etc, etc and we can see that obviously Hanukkah is a huge contributor to the ice caps melting.

And of course, the group is shocked and dismayed that people are making it a religious issue. Shocked? Um, HELLO, they didn't say people should refrain from lighting candles. They specifically targeted Jewish people at Hanukkah. Christians light candles, too, especially this time of year. Should we nix those or are they ok? How about Kwanzaa? Silly me, what am I thinking...I'm sure they are just fine, too. And roaring open fires for all those roasted chestnuts. Bring it on! Unity candles? Please, those are small time. How about birthday candles? Goodness, no...Birthdays only come once a year for one day. Hanukkah is eight whole days! It must be the culprit.

Of course, maybe they are saying they want Jews to be the leader in reducing global warming, in spite of all the other things that hurt our dear Mother Earth. Yes, burning so much fossil fuels is not good either, but hey, it's all about principle, right? So what if the hope of the Festival of Lights loses one night. Hope is over rated. Heck, the Maccabees were simply lucky they got eight.

My favorite response was when they argued that some people only do it for the tradition any way, so it should be no be deal. Bah, silly tradition. What do we need that for in this day and age?

My friends, I am so annoyed by this, I am tempted to go out and buy a menorah and light the candles myself. That might not go over as well with my church, though. Oh wait! I forgot...we can do Advent candles! HA!

Keep burning your lights, everyone. Obviously there is still more darkness out there.