In the perpetual race to the bottom of a bottomless pit that is the right wing blogosphere, a new outrageous outrage has arisen, more outrageous than all the other fake outrages of wingnut history.

My friends, can your hearts stand the awful truth of the Barack Hussein Obama Christmas Tree Tax?!

You can trace this idiocy from its not-very-humble origin at the Heritage Foundation’s blog, then to Drudge Report and the wingnut blogs, ending up, as all fake outrages must, with a feature story in Fox News’s continuing series of “War on Christmas” canards: Merry Christmas? Agriculture Department Imposes Christmas Tree Tax | Fox News.

The truth is that a $0.15 fee was requested by the National Christmas Tree Association, to help fund an initiative to promote fresh-grown American Christmas trees. In other words, the industry itself wants to charge Christmas tree sellers a fee that will be used to help their business grow, and compete against increasingly popular artificial trees.

DERPThe amount of toxic rage this pro-business initiative inspired on the right is very impressive — perhaps best expressed by the inimitably dim Jim Hoft (aka Gateway Pundit), who got right to the bold-faced and capitalized point: Bah Humbug… Obama Imposes 15¢ Tax on Christmas Trees | The Gateway Pundit.

Barack Obama Hates Christians.

Hoft’s commenters are a truly special bunch, as well; they react to this intolerable tale of oppression by spewing anti-Muslim hate speech and conspiracy theories:

One thing we know is that this Kenyan muzzie will never impose a tax on anything related to Islam.

[…]

They should put a tax on MAO ornaments.

[…]

Would never have been a tax if it was a Ramadan Tree.

[…]

Maybe a prayer tax is coming next or a crucifix tax.

[…]

No, next will be a tax on all CHRISTMAS GIFTS and CHRISTMAS CARDS.

[…]

Lets all REBELL about the Christmas Tree Tax!

Lets start a Christmas Tree Party!

We can all dress up like Muslim Terrorists, I mean Freedom Fighters, and Chop the National Christmas Tree into little toothpicks to float down the Potomac River, along with the ornaments of Chairman Mao and Joseph Stalin.

[…]

Yeah, what about to “promote” Christmas presents? oops, I suppose that would translate into support for IED sales in celebration of Sharia’s Ramadan. And maybe even into support for Iran’s nuc. toys.

[…]

Lets see.
So far , the 1/2 white moozie has :
1. Taxed tanning
2. Taxed Christmas trees
3. Tax exempted zakat ( jihad ” charities “)
4. Used taxpayer money for G-0 mosk
Anyone else see a trend here ?

[…]

Shall we be seeing a similar tax on sheep for the Muslim holidays?

[…]

It is an attack on Christians, just like the tax on tanning beds is an attack on white people.

[…]

Jizya.

[…]

this is a tax on christians. is he going to impose a tax on muslims for fasting during ramadan?

[…]

Let’s not limit him to hating Christians. He hates Jews, too.

[…]

It’s a veiled attack on our holiest day of the year. You have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to know it. Why are they allowing a man who’s lying about his true identity to do this to us? His father isn’t Barack Obama, it’s Malcolm X. He also doesn’t like FDR’s prayer at the WWII War Memorial. His true father was a Muslim and so is he. He’s lied about his faith also, along with everything else.

Poor Bari Shabazz, A Fugitive At Large. Of Course He’s Got To Hide Out As Barack Obama!
by Martha Trowbridge
http://terribletruth.wordpress.com/

Barack Hussein Obama and Malcolm X Like Father Like Son?
http://octaman.com/comments/MalcolmO.html

[…]

What is your faith? Do you have any faith. Who in the heck do you think you are to come here, and call people stupid and dangerous for being hurt that in a country that was founded by Christian men, our faith is being attacked on a daily basis. We’re always told we’re intolerant, NO! It’s those attacking us who are intolerant. OBAMA IS A MUSLIM. HE’S ALWAYS BEEN A MUSLIM. HIS FATHER IS MALCOLM LITTLE AKA X!

[…]

Someone needs to bury a pig in the Whitehouse lawn, maybe he will leave.

Notice that these troglodytes are repeating previous fake outrage memes, like the inane “White House Tree Festooned with Evil” idiocy.

And there’s a new one, repeated twice by Hoft’s commenters, that I haven’t seen before — the “tanning bed tax” that’s supposed to be an “attack on white people.” Wow.