DEAR SANTA --

I didn't put up a stocking, and I'm using last year's Christmas decorations.

All I want for Christmas is a couple of things that aren't major major -- just things that might get swept under the rug because there are more urgent wishes coming up and at you from all over the world.

1. No more ugly statements from important people, like the Senator who compared the President's efforts to overhaul health care, to the battle that dethroned Napoleon Bonaparte -- Republican Jim Demint said, "It will be his Waterloo. It will break him." Santa, drop a blanket over him.

2. No more horrible remarks from Palin about Obama's "death panel," and "junk science" not proving global warming -- no more stupid questioning about Obama's citizenship. Drop a blanket on her, Santa!

3. For Will Phillips, that ten-year-old Arkansas school boy who won't recite the Pledge of Allegiance because his gay friends don't have equal rights -- Santa, give him a reward, a laptop, maybe!

4. Those African American and Latino kids in California who are going to schools that are sub par "drop out factories," (according to UCLA's Civil Rights Project), where students of color make up 90% of the student body -- Santa, please -- get them re-zoned, and enrolled in one of the "mostly 'white"' schools.

5. Those 17 million American households currently struggling to put food on the table – please help them get some sort of subsidy right away, Santa -- please -- something like double food stamps!

And if you have any time -- those 700 Sudanese women in prison for wearing pants, who can't get out without paying a $200 fine -- with a little nudging from you Santa, maybe some jackpot winner might shell out $140,000.

And thanks, for being what you are every year, Santa -- a merry, cheery, Christmas spirit I can talk to in my mind -- mention what I'm wishing for, say "please help" in case God is too busy with ... oh my ... so many things, much more this year than last year.