Apparently it takes very little for some of the race hustlers in America to disconnect the mental speed governor between what they have for brains and their mouths.

One of these individuals, Aisha Harris by name, wrote in Slate:

Earlier this week, I argued that our image of Santa Claus should no longer be a white man, but, instead, a penguin.

Now I will grant that the current, and commonly held, vision of Santa Claus, who is based on myths and legends surrounding the actual Greek Bishop Nicholas of the 4th Century, does not physically resemble the tall, thin image of his namesake. But physical appearance, to Ms. Harris, appears to be all that matters. If you can't have a Santa Claus who is part white, part black and part Asian simultaneously, she apparently wants to replace him with the image of a penguin.

Ms. Harris apparently has access to the original 1823 version of Clement Moore's "The Night Before Christmas", while my copy suffers from obviously racist efforts to redact any part of that charming poem that emphasizes the work of the real mover and shaker behind Santa, which is of course to say, Nitwit the Penguin.

One would think that the activist left (the most polite way I can conjure to describe these individuals) would celebrate that there is finally an old, white, male who comes from the embedded political power structure (check and see just how much real power a 4th Century Christian bishop really had) who sees the need to try to restore balance and achieve redistributive and social justice by giving away his wealth to the needy. Of course, you have to allow them to whine about how he only does it one day a year, but hey, it's at least a step in the right direction (if they look at it without their racially tinged cynicism, of course).

Now I think we can all agree that most of what we tell our children about Santa is in response to their innocent questions about how he can do all that he does.

How does he deliver presents all over the world in one night? Magical flying reindeer of course.

How does he get into houses that are all locked? He slides down the chimney.

But we don't have a chimney, so what does he do then? Isn't it time for you to be in bed?

I can't wait to see how Ms. Harris tackles those questions when some small, innocent child asks how Nitwit the Penguin pulls off the same tricks.

Since I actually do believe in Santa Claus, perhaps he will tuck some understanding under Ms. Harris' Holiday Tree.

Jim Yardley is a retired financial controller, a two-tour Vietnam veteran and writes frequently about political idiocy, business and economic idiocy and American cultural idiocy.  Jim also blogs at http://jimyardley.wordpress.com/, and can be contacted directly at james.v.yardley@gmail.com