Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

White supremacy is terrorism.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

This blog will pay for itself.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

In my day, never was longer.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

People are complicated. Love is not.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

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Unlike many of you, I enjoy Christmas music. Like some of you (perhaps), everything is political with me. Once when Stevie Wonder hosted Saturday Night Live, he made a joke that if he had written the song “Your Booty Makes Me Moody” (popular at the time), it would have been titled “Your Booty Makes Me Think About The Injustice Of Apartheid”. So “Someday At Christmas” is my favorite Christmas album.

Talk about whatever.

Reader Interactions

142Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Mary

    This is one of the few Christmas songs I can listen to over and over again, and is one of the reasons I can forgive Wonder for his All Schmaltz All The Time period.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    In the previous thread, nancy (#77) said she enjoyed reading the “intelligent thoughts” on this site. I hope we can use this thread to restore our reputation.

  3. 3.

    Violet

    I like Christmas music, so long as it doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving. When it starts before Halloween it makes my teeth hurt.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Mock at your leisure.

    Obama’s Bay of Pigs

    This week, when we are remembering John F. Kennedy, I’d like to touch briefly on the greatest fiasco of his presidency: the Bay of Pigs invasion….
    …..
    So far, at least, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act has been President Obama’s Bay of Pigs. ….
    …..
    Eighteen months after the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy was confronted with the Cuban missile crisis. Once again, the generals in the Pentagon wanted him to respond militarily, a route that was likely to lead to war with the Soviet Union. But this time, he trusted his own judgment, took a different path and defused the crisis. He had applied the lessons he had learned from the Bay of Pigs to the Cuban missile crisis.

    As President Obama tries to turn Obamacare around, that is the looming question: Can he learn?

  5. 5.

    Jewish Steel

    Father Christmas, give us some money
    Don’t mess around with those silly toys.
    Well beat you up if you don’t hand it over
    We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed
    Give all the toys to the little rich boys

  6. 6.

    WereBear

    Now I’m too worried about Wendy destroying Texas, per the ad that popped up.

    I have some tolerance for chorale classics that have “become” Christmas music, and a few hymns from childhood. But most of it has worn deep and painful grooves in my brain.

    Around our house, we go Medieval/Renaissance just for the break.

  8. 8.

    MomSense

    My plans for fish fingers and custard have been ruined by a horrible stomach bug.

    Going to curl up and try to sleep.

  9. 9.

    Jewish Steel

    @gbear: I just discovered my old guitar prof once hitchhiked from Aspen to Golden Colorado to see them play at Red Rocks. 400 miles round trip. I knew there was something I liked about that guy.

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:
    As I understand, inability to get healthcare insurance online under Obamacare doesn’t mean inability to get it at all. One can still get it offline, right? And comparing insurance websites that don’t work well, but are being fixed, to a boneheaded invasion of Cuba whose success would only have led the US into a bloody and pointless quagmire — well, the absurdity of it smacks my gob. Joe Nocera usually knows better than to play the concern troll.

  12. 12.

    handsmile

    Yesterday was the centenary of British composer Benjamin Britten. (There is currently a worldwide festival of his music, “Britten 100,” http://www.britten100.org for performance listings.)

    His “Ceremony of Carols” is the Christmas music I cherish most*. Even more so than Handel’s “Messiah” or Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio.” Its opening procession here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5w_aGE63YA

    and yeah, yeah, I know, this probably isn’t the kind of Christmas music our Mullah was referring to. Though I’d consider patronizing stores that would blast such during the holidays.

    * Robert Earl Keen’s “Merry Christmas from the Family” being a close second:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P37xPiRz1sg

    ETA: Baud @#2: oops.

  13. 13.

    Violet

    @MomSense: If you have any probiotics in the house, start taking them. And I mean a lot of them. It really does work to help with stomach bugs. The probiotics go to work to outnumber the bad bacteria that are causing you the problem. A family member tried with the worst stomach bug I’ve ever seen and it really worked.

    Obviously, don’t take them if you’re in the vomiting phase, but if you’re past that, or it isn’t that bad, give it a try. Yogurt and kefir work, but the higher levels of probiotics in pills work better.

    Hope you feel better soon!

  14. 14.

    gbear

    @Violet: Agree that Christmas shouldn’t start until Thanksgiving ends. Does Nordstrom’s still stick to that rule? I know they may have been the only holdout at the Mall of America for a while.

    Just remember that when the final Christmas stuff comes off the shelves, it will instantly be replaced by Valentines stuff, and that stuff will be replaced by Easter stuff.

  15. 15.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    Christmas music makes me physically ill. If Jesus had any idea about the atrocities they were going To Create In His Name, He’d have killed himself.

  18. 18.

    gogol's wife

    Although I’m a Shirley Temple freak, her Christmas song “That’s What I Want for Christmas” is probably my least favorite thing she ever did, although it appears in a brilliant movie, Stowaway.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @Amir Khalid:

    Joe Nocera usually knows better than to play the concern troll.

    There are two types of people. Those who believe their bullshit, and those who don’t.

  20. 20.

    Violet

    @gbear: I have no idea what stores do what. I avoid shopping as much as possible all year long, so usually the only stores I’m in during the holiday season are supermarkets. Sometimes I have to do a little shopping, but mostly I buy throughout the year when I see something and order the rest online.

    I am not a shopper. I don’t begin to understand the allure of camping out a week ahead for Black Friday, or hell Thanksgiving day shopping now.

  23. 23.

    Luthe

    The one and only Christmas song I need: “The Christians and the Pagans” by Dar Williams.

    Runners-up include “I Want an Alien For Christmas” by Fountains of Wayne, Bad Religion’s punk cover of “Silent Night”, and any version of the Carol of the Bells.

  26. 26.

    Violet

    @Steeplejack (tablet): There are so many to choose from. I get one from my gastroenterologist called VSL. It works well for me. I’ve tried others that don’t work as well. Different probiotics have different strains of bacteria, so sometimes you want to mix it up or target a specific issue.

    I generally look for ones that are refrigerated and are gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, etc., but maybe try going to a place like Whole Foods and asking the people in the supplement aisle. Many of them are well educated on their products.

  27. 27.

    Nicole

    I own the Partridge Family Christmas Card, and I play it every Christmas, as my family has done every year since 1971, or whenever it was it came out. And I’m proud of it. I especially like the version of “Frosty the Snowman” which does not hide the inherent tragedy of the song behind a deceptive upbeat tempo. I grew up understanding that at the end, that special, unique, magic snowman was going to die. As will we all. As will we all.

  29. 29.

    Hill Dweller

    @Amir Khalid: Also, too, the Obama admin just announced a pilot program in three states allowing people to enroll in the exchanges directly through insurance companies. If it goes well, I suspect it will be expanded, giving consumers even more ways to enroll.

    The Village is full of idiots.

  31. 31.

    gbear

    @Violet: I won’t order clothes online so I do visit stores on occasion and I stop at Target for household stuff and some groceries (Costco is too far away). I have a black friday ritual that consists of visiting an annual pottery show/sale in south Minneapolis, then stopping at my fave indie record store before coming home to spend the afternoon napping with the cats.

  32. 32.

    debbie

    @Violet:

    My local grocery store, Giant Eagle, had Christmas trees for sale on November 15. How dry and shriveled up would one of those trees be on Christmas morning?

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I can tolerate most Christmas music, if not actively enjoy it, but there is one exception:

    The Little Drummer Boy.

    It grates on me almost as much as that fucking Lee Greenwood song. Almost.

  35. 35.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @debbie:

    You’re supposed to replace the first tree around 15 December with another one.

    Wouldn’t be the bit surprised if that is actually the thinking behind offering trees so early.

  36. 36.

    Ridnik Chrome

    I still love all the old traditional Christmas carols, like “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “Deck the Halls”, but I’d be perfectly fine if I never, ever had to hear “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”, “Sleigh Bells”, “Jingle Bell Rock”, “Frosty the Snowman” or “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” again. And I emphatically second the person who said that Christmas music shouldn’t be on the radio before Thanksgiving.

  39. 39.

    gbear

    My least favorite carol is ‘The First Noel’. The words are just insipid. I can almost hear it being written by some doddering old biddie sitting in her front parlor:

    The first Noel the angel did say
    Was to certain poor shepards in fields as they lay:
    In fields where they lay a keeping their sheep
    On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.

    She can’t even get to the third line without repeating half of the second line. Every single verse is horrid poetry.

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    @Violet:
    My sister is trying to create a counter movement to Black Friday that I convinced her to call Green Friday. The basic idea is that instead of shopping, you spend a day with friends and family maintaining, repairing, and otherwise improving the utility of stuff you already have so that you aren’t tempted to waste money buying even more stuff. We did it last year, and it was genuinely a lot of fun, as well as being a lot more useful than a big shopping spree.

  44. 44.

    Anoniminous

    @Botsplainer:

    Just for you:

    “On top of old Smoooooo-key,
    all covered with sno-ooooooooooooooooow.
    Made me a piss-pot of money,
    Tho’ this song really blows.”

  45. 45.

    Botsplainer

    @gbear:

    My least favorite carol is ‘The First Noel’.

    Mine is “Away In a Manger”. It sums up the ass ignorant American fundamentalist/evangelical experience in one disgustingly insipid tune. In one song, they manage to infantilize and trivialize the deity created in a multiply layered 2000 year old religious doctrine.

    It makes me wish that the Antichrist were real, just so I could join the minions and oppress wholesome white Christians during the Tribulation.

  48. 48.

    Botsplainer

    What the fuck? Of course, we only need remember that this institution has cranked out hundreds of right wing cranks.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/harvard-christian-magazine-essay-jews-killed-jesus

    An essay published Wednesday on the website of the Harvard Ichthus, a campus “journal of Christian thought,” argued “the Jews were marked out for destruction when they killed Jesus.”

    Entitled “Why us?,” the essay was identified as having been written by “aJew” and said all the suffering the Jewish people have faced since the destruction of Jerusalem’s Second Temple in approximately 70 A.D. came from God and was “just.”

    “We, the Jews, rejected God and hung Him up on a cross to die, and thus we richly deserved all of the punishments that were heaped on our heads over the last 2000 years,” the essay said.

    The anonymous writer went on to argue Jews can rid themselves of this “curse” by being baptized as Christians.

    “Although such is the severity of God, the kindness of God is wonderful (Rom 11:22): in that me, a Jew, a children of Jews, and an utter sinner, can repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and the curse on me is forgotten,” said the essay. “Rather than being at war with God (having killed Him), I have peace with God through Jesus Christ.”

  50. 50.

    Sibelius

    @Steeplejack (tablet): My little girl’s pediatrician recommended Florastor for her recovery this week from a stomach bug. They have adult and children’s versions. Hers was a powder to mix into yogurt and applesauce. Mommy got it at Walgreens.

  52. 52.

    cckids

    @Ridnik Chrome: I enjoy lots of Christmas music, in moderation. The problem, for me, is that radio stations seem to have about 15 to 20 songs that they just play over & over & over & over & over. Until we all want to shoot ourselves in the head. There is so much more out there; I don’t even have to like it that much, just FFS change it up a little!!!

    Also, “Christmas Shoes”, and “The Little Drummer Boy” need to be nuked from space.

    Though this always makes me smile. It’s just so weird.

  54. 54.

    catclub

    @Violet: The episcopal church has a season of advent, in which NO Christmas hymns are played. About the closest is O Come O Come, Emanuel. I (and my daughter) are relatively serious Advent police.

    The Christmas Season is twelve days ( 13 given Christmas Eve services). When you finally get to O Come All Ye Faithful
    it is time.

  55. 55.

    Suffern ACE

    Santa’s stuck in the elevator, hope they get him out ok. Santa’s stuck in the elevator. I hope to see that jolly fellow later. Or my stocking will be empty Christmas Day.

  56. 56.

    lamh36

    Was it Betty Cracker or Ann Laurie who wrote a post on Gloria Steiner last week. It talked about her receiving a Prez Medal of Honor and her answer to the question of white feminist ignoring the complaints of women of color particularly Black women. Well I thought of tthat yesterday and today.

    There was an article written in Politico, I think, by Michelle Cottle about how “Michelle Obama is a new feminist worst nightmare” (Google it I’d u want to read it). Well as you can imagine it pissed a lot of people off so much so that today Melissa Harris Perry penned her weekly open letter to Michelle Cottle.

    Read the whole letter at the link below, but this one really struck home to me and mine:

    ..And on a strategic note, Miss Cottle: before we enter the 2016 election cycle and the feminists come asking black women for our support for your candidate, you might want to read up a bit on black women and our feminism.

    Read the whole letter here: Why Michelle Obama is no one’s ‘feminist nightmare’

  58. 58.

    Violet

    @Roger Moore: I love that idea. Maybe someone here at Balloon Juice could front page it next week and get a few more people on board.

    As for Christmas music, I have a soft spot for “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Do not know why, as it’s utter dreck.. All I know is, it isn’t really the Christmas season for me until I hear it on the radio.

  59. 59.

    RLHarringbone

    try some Over The Rhine Christmas music
    very nice and benefits from not being the same 100 tunes we’ve all heard our whole lives.

  60. 60.

    gbear

    @Baud: The only reason to bother clicking to a column that misguided is to read the ‘reader’s picks’ comments. Every one of them will be more thoughtful and intelligently written than the original column.

  61. 61.

    shelly

    Just stumbled over my first ‘All-Christmas music all the time’ on the radio today. As usual mostly the secular stuff, ‘Winter Wonderland,’ ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,’ ‘Sleigh Ride,’ ‘Happy Holidays,’ etc. Every so often they’ll throw in Josh Groban wailling ‘O Holy Night.’

  62. 62.

    shelly

    “but I’d be perfectly fine if I never, ever had to hear “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”, “Sleigh Bells”
    ******

    How about ‘Do You Hear What I Hear” or ‘Little Drummer Boy.”

    Bump-berump-bump!

  63. 63.

    Aji

    @lamh36: Saw that. As a feminist of color, may I just say that Michelle Cottle is a feminist nightmare? After all, she’s lending her name to Politico – which means, of course, that she’s become the ultimate feminist sell-out, a Stepford Villager. That’s my idea of a “feminist nightmare.”

    Also, too, MH-P was remarkably restrained and polite. I had some other words and phrases in mind.

  64. 64.

    KS in MA

    @gbear: …And they are. It’s also interesting that the “NYT Picks” comments are all strongly (and eloquently) critical of the column. I wonder who at the NYT gets to pick those?

  66. 66.

    gogol's wife

    @KS in MA:

    This one was particularly good. This woman should be given Maureen Dowd’s prime real estate on the op-ed page:

    * Angelina Simon
    * NY, NY

    NYT Pick

    Obama’s Katrina, meet Obama’s Bay of Pigs! This begs the question, how will the Affordable Care Act rollout compare with the aftermath of the Tet offensive?

    If we must draw historical comparisons to showcase our juxtapositional prowess, why not try the handling of Hurricane Sandy with that of Katrina, or the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden with the Bay of Pigs? Why not compare the rollout of the ACA with something a little more apt, like, say Medicare Part D?

    The blatant disrespect that is shown to President Obama, with impunity, is breathtaking. If his biggest fiasco is a glitchy website and a few disgruntled people who choose to cling to wholly inadequate insurance, then we should all acknowledge that his presidency is an unmitigated success, as I do.

  68. 68.

    MomSense

    @Violet:

    I started eating some yogurt-from a local farm that says it has probiotics with some local honey and I feel a little better. I can only eat very small amounts.

    BTW–I hate shopping, too.

  69. 69.

    Higgs Boson's Mate (Crystal Set)

    @gogol’s wife:

    This begs the question, how will the Affordable Care Act rollout compare with the aftermath of the Tet offensive?

    It’s the worst disaster since the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!

  70. 70.

    gelfling545

    As far as radio is concerned, I listen only to our local all-classical station (WNED) during the holidays. That way I get to skip the cheesier carols. On Thanksgiving the perennial family favorite CD – John Denver & the Muppets will make its way to the player and, if the Champagne had been poured liberally, a conga line may form for Miss Piggy’s rendition of Christmas Is Coming.

    I love Britten’s Ceremony of Carols but usually tear up when I hear it as I recall my daughter’s time in high school when she was a part of an award-winning group of chamber singers who did a beautiful performance thereof.

    The newer pop music “carols” make me ill.

  72. 72.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Botsplainer:

    The problem with being pissed that the Jews “killed Jesus” is that if Jesus had not died, and rose from the dead three days later, there would be no Christianity. Furthermore, he died, according to Christian dogma, for all of our sins, and paved the way toward everlasting life.

    These people are REALLY confused about the origins of their own religion. Quite aside from rejecting key element’s of Jesus teachings, as Stephen Colbert has brilliantly pointed out, they just don’t understand much about it.

  74. 74.

    Violet

    @MomSense: That sounds like a good plan. I hope you feel better soon. When my family member was sick with the horrible stomach bug, the probiotics pills would work really quickly. Then they’d sort of wear off, and more would have to be taken. That’s not uncommon, from what I’ve read since. If someone can go to the store and get some for you, it might help you get better faster. Either way, I hope you feel better soon!

  75. 75.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @NotMax:

    A heavy metal version of “Silent Night” is the height of contradiction.

    Christopher Lee was obviously having way too much fun with that little project.

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    @Violet: “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” is my most hated Christmas song. “Jingle Bell Rock” is also on my shitlist.

    Love “Still, Still, Still”. And Patti Smith’s “We Three Kings”.

  78. 78.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Suzanne:

    I LOVE “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer”.

    It’s so mocking of the entire modern commercial Christmas spirit.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    @Villago Delenda Est

    With my newly purchased Sony reel-to-reel recorder primed and ready to go.

    Still have all the audiotapes of the first run.

    (Both the tapes and the recorder, in its original shipping carton, were among the items I rescued while on the moving Mom out of her house trip in Sept.)

    /lifetime membership in the Get A Life Society

  86. 86.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Amir Khalid: As I understand, inability to get healthcare insurance online under Obamacare doesn’t mean inability to get it at all. One can still get it offline, right?

    My wife found the policy she wanted on the exchange but when she was unable to finish the transaction on healthcare.gov due to god only knows what backend problem, she called the company directly and signed up.

    Take that, GOP.

    Oh, and it’s cheaper than what she has now.

  90. 90.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Villago Delenda Est: My creator figured that whole story was wrong from the start anyway, and he (in the guise of another of his creations) wrote a new one:

    The visitor from outer space made a serious study of Christianity, to learn, if he could, why Christians found it so easy to be cruel. He concluded that at least part of the trouble was slipshod storytelling in the New Testament. He supposed that the intent of the Gospels was to teach people, among other things, to be merciful, even to the lowest of the low. But the Gospels actually taught this:

    Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn’t well connected. So it goes.

    The flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn’t look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being of the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought, and Rosewater read out loud again:

    Oh, boy — they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time!

    And then that thought had a brother: “There are right people to lynch.” Who? People not well connected. So it goes.
    The visitor from outer space made a gift to Earth of a new Gospel. In it, Jesus really was a nobody, and a pain in the neck to a lot of people with better connections than he had. He still got to say all the lovely and puzzling things he said in the other Gospels.

    So the people amused themselves one day by nailing him to a cross and planting the cross in the ground. There couldn’t possibly be any repercussions, the lynchers thought. The reader would have to think that, too, since the new Gospel hammered home again and again what a nobody Jesus was. And then, just before the nobody died, the heavens opened up, and there was thunder and lightning. The voice of God came crashing down. He told the people that he was adopting the bum as his son, giving him the full powers and privileges of The Son of the Creator of the Universe throughout all eternity. God said this: From this moment on, He will punish horribly anybody who torments a bum who has no connections!

  91. 91.

    Lurking Buffoon

    First, I have to agree with everyone who said it: Christmas music before Thanksgiving is a crime against humanity.

    Secondly, I grew up in a house where parodies of Christmas music were played during the holidays. Thus my taste for holiday music is along the lines of-damnit HTML tags are failing me. This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn6HI5JQBhQ

  93. 93.

    negative 1

    @Baud: OK, I’m having a good time with this. We’re going to play the Obama equivalency game. So far, ACA website = Katrina, ACA website = Bay of Pigs. So, how about Obama took a dump this morning = George W Bush presidency? Obama gets a dog = Cheney lets W get on television?

  94. 94.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    I’d totally forgotten about this one:

    Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer.

  96. 96.

    eemom

    I like Someday at Christmas, and Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, and John Lennon’s Christmas song, and a lot of traditional Christmas tunes like Holy Night and Silent Night.

    AND I like the one about the kid who’s gettin nuthin for Christmas cuz he ain’t been nuthin but bad.

    Eclectic, I iz it.

  97. 97.

    Elizabelle

    @gogol’s wife:

    The WaPost has a much-read headline up now, “Obama’s Unraveling Presidency” [alternatively “How a Presidency Unravels”, which I would not click on if you paid me.

    Breathless blurb on the website: “His misadventures have caused people to doubt both his character and his competence.”

    It is, of course, by George Will.

    Walk on by. FIDO.

  98. 98.

    LauraPDX

    @Botsplainer:

    Oh yes.

    My boyfriend and I were standing in a hotel lobby once waiting to go into a reception. People were whispering excitedly that Burl Ives would be coming through in a moment. When he did come through knocked my boyfriend and one other person to the ground as he shoved his way to the door.

    Holly Jolly Christmas, my ass. He was a jerk.

  100. 100.

    Higgs Boson's Mate (Crystal Set)

    Good news from Texas:

    Despite last-minute efforts by some board members and political activists to derail the adoption of two textbooks, the State Board of Education today voted to adopt all of the proposed instructional materials up for adoption for high school biology and environmental science. Throughout the adoption process, publishers refused to make concessions that would have compromised science instruction on evolution and climate change in their textbooks, said Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller.

  102. 102.

    scav

    Advent should be taken seriously (German roots showing). Tree and decorations up on C-Eve (calendars the only permitted exception) and taken down the 6th. Leaves a lot of energy free to bake earlier and totally occupies that wild last day when the kids can barely wait any longer. Unleash the tinsel and garland monsters! Music might have been let in a little earlier into the month, but came with an off switch.

  108. 108.

    andy

    I’m one of these people who are not getting this Day of the Doctor business. After Tom Baker left, I thought the writing went to shit and I stopped watching.

  109. 109.

    Belafon

    @andy: And there are people who can’t stand Star Wars, Stark Trek, Harry Potter, Shakespeare, The Beatles, Elvis, etc.

    I’ve never really understood the need to broadcast “Get off my lawn.”

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    Brand spanking new.

    Electronics department at Abraham & Straus. Had been saving up for it.

    Just looked at the box to confirm that (the shipping label from Sony to A&S is still there).

  111. 111.

    geg6

    WTF, Doug? It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, FFS.

    This my absolute favorite holiday and I hate seeing it get such short shrift. Food, wine, football and family. Which is fine in my case since there are no wingnuts in the bunch. One of my BILs is Republican, but he’s more of a Chamber of Commerce type and he keeps quiet because he knows he’s seriously outnumbered. He’s a very good husband to my sister, so we don’t torture him much. We sisters all stuff ourselves in the kitchen and yack and cook and put the meal together and the guys bond. The nieces help out more now and John’s daughter and her fiance stop by for dessert. It’s the best ever day for family. None of the high stakes pressure of Christmas. At least, in my family, that’s how it is.

  113. 113.

    Amir Khalid

    @Elizabelle:
    I did click on it. Rest assured, you won’t miss anything if you don’t — it’s just George Will reciting the right-wing litany.

  116. 116.

    Suzanne

    When I want to make fun of Christmas music, there’s always The Vandals. It’s Christmastime for my Penis, indeed.

    The corny Christmas song that I absolutely adore is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”. Yeah, I know. Mock on.

  118. 118.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    I’m pretty sure we just experienced a test fly-by for the President’s visit next week. Three HUGE helicopters flew overhead, and they were not police or news copters. More like Marine One size. And the place PBO is going on Wednesday has its own helipad. Coincidence?

  120. 120.

    Lurking Buffoon

    @Elizabelle: Thanks! It was this or a George Tierny (of Greensville, South Carolina) joke, but that asshole has already faded back into the obscurity from whence he was spawned.

  121. 121.

    FlipYrWhig

    The Paul McCartney Christmas song is one of the worst pieces of dreck ever recorded by someone who definitely knows better.

  130. 130.

    rikyrah

    I have to separate right-wing nuttery of Andy Williams from The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, which is the song that just makes me want to burst out in song everytime I hear it.

    I can be in the most Grinch of moods, and hearing that song puts me back to when I was a child.

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    One of the memorable laughs ever got was during an episode of Kung Fu (watched solely out of courtesy to a guest who liked the program) which guest-starred Feliciano.

    As David Carradine’s stoic character escorted Feliciano’s character somewhere, blurted out that it was “the bland leading the blind.”

  132. 132.

    Bo Alawine

    I know this is probably a stupid question, but whatever happened to “Angry Black Lady”?

    I just tried to visit her site and it’s no longer there.

  133. 133.

    mai naem

    Technically this is not a Christmas song but I’ve always liked the Band Aid song for the music – the charity piece of it is fine and all but I actually like the bells and stuff in that song. Okay, I know there’s a lot of atheists/agnostics here but I find all religious music pretty good. I think partly it’s because most religions have been so dominant in their geographical areas at some point, that they ended up getting the best musicians to create the music. Also too, most of the bad stuff has been weeded out and you pretty much get the best stuff left.

  138. 138.

    PsiFighter37

    Apparently we have a deal with Iran?

    I’ll get ahead of the news and blame Obama anyways. It sounds like Lindsey Graham, following typical GOP protocol, is blaming Obama already without knowing anything about the details at all.

    I hope he loses to a teabagger, mainly because he is so fucking insufferable.

  139. 139.

    kindness

    re the Iran deal. I’m all for it. Perversely I am looking forward to the wailing, knashing of teeth and rending of garments from the usual suspects. This promises to be fun.

  140. 140.

    PsiFighter37

    I’ve been gone a while, but based on the lack of posting today, is it fair to assume the BJ server was down most of the day?

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