Mr. Keillor is right, most holiday letters are pretty positive. Maybe even positively self-promoting. Are they actually true? Who knows.

I have an aunt whose Christmas missives are just the opposite. They're long lugubrious litanies of woe: from dream vacations that ended up in the hospital -- oh, and the dog died, too -- to children who "you might not believe it in this day and age" ran off to join the circus. Decaying cabins requiring major architectural renovations in what was supposed to be a vacation, sinking boat docks, children divorcing their spouses and moving in together, you name it.

I was afraid I was the only one who looked forward to these things, when one of the letters started with "I didn't plan on writing one of these letters again, but everyone begged me to."

I get a real feeling of relief that I have some relatives who don't enjoy near-perfect lives. It looks as if several of my other relatives feel the same way.

Maybe we all do.

When I was dating my current husband, his family didn't much care for me. (They never did, but they're all dead now.) Christmas was particularly painful, because his parents weren't interested in going to the trouble anymore, either with holiday decorations or buying presents.

One Christmas when we were visiting between semesters, during the Great Unwrapping, my husband's aunt plopped down a cheap dimestore cactus, saying "There! That's for you!" It was unwrapped, unribboned, and apparently hadn't been watered for a long time. As it happens, I'm a real fiend for cacti, and I didn't have any of this type - an "old man" cactus. I thanked her for it profusely. She replied ungraciously "It's the ugliest thing I ever saw!" and turned away.

I still have it, and it's done well for itself over the years - nearly a foot tall, and covered with fur-like needles. I feel like it's a kind of revenge that it's done so well for me.

Mr. Shapiro, incredibly, reiterates the tired old wingnut claim that the Democrats have done nothing but sit and snipe these many years, while not having a single suggestion of how they would do things better.

In fact, it's just the opposite.

Dems have been bending over backwards to respect the Office of the President, to show deference to their Republican adversaries, to be polite in public discussions. What have so many of us been complaining, even raving, about since 2000? Sniping and griping? We wish!

Meanwhile, Democrats and the Democratic Party have been putting forth ten-step plans, priority lists, innovative initiatives, and the whole nine yards, about everything from the Iraq Invasion to Social Security to health care to the minimum wage. You haven't heard? Well, The Media didn't think you wanted to know. It cuts down on their much-preferred coverage of TeeCruise and Pare-Hil, don'tcha know.

It's just a fact that the Republicans that once controlled Congress limited discussion by Democrats, prevented bills and amendments by Democrats, and utterly disallowed oversight and investigations by Democrats. That should not be taken to imply that the Dems have nothing to discuss, propose, or investigate.

Bring it on.

What to call this "decade?" nerdnam suggests calling it "the Nips" because it's a basically neutral name which ought to piss off exactly the right people."

Like whom? The Japanese? Perhaps Mr. Nerdnam is fortunate to be young enough not to remember that, back in WWII, Japan was often known as "Nippon" and its people derisively termed "Nips." Perhaps Mr. Nerdnam wants to annoy the self-proclaimed "Greatest Generation," on whose watch the Nips were fought?

I'm partial to "the Zombie Zeros." The sad time for America when people hid under their beds and former guvmint-haters gave blanket approval for Big Daddy Government to do anything - anything!! to make them feel safe again. Much as the "Greatest Gen" did back in the Red-hating 1950s. Come to think of it, that was also the last time the Republicans were in charge...

So Rahm Emmanuel holds a press conference to announce the new Democratic agenda, and Cindy Sheehan's demonstration forces him to abandon it. A pretty stupid thing to do to her new best friends in Washington, wouldn't you say?

If Ms. Sheehan had thought it over, she might have had a QUIET yet massive demonstration of people simply holding signs and ACTING SUPPORTIVE of the new Democratic majority.

But NOOOO - she had to seize her moment to humiliate the only people in Washington with the power and stated desire to end the occupation of Iraq. Shout them down, to prevent Congressman Emmanual from saying what she wanted to hear?

Seriously - what is her problem that she can't tell what's counterproductive? That she won't work with others who share the same goals? That she's always got to be the turd in the punchbowl?

Hey! What part of "They don't want anyone knocking the president," do you people not understand?

Same rules as always for the White House correspondents.

Help me! I can't tell if this article is supposed to be satire (and if so, it's pretty funny), or is serious.

The pilot feels that the decor of airlines ought to reflect their nation's culture. If that's the case, then the perfect US look is cheezy ads on every pull-down tray table, mini-billboards on every overhead bin door, and of course the seat-back air-phone, with its price schedule prominently posted. Everything, of course, would be in lurid colors and high-intensity commercial fonts.

And you'd have to pay $8 to rent a blanket, which would be stiff and unpleasant with its screen-printed plastic-bonded paean to commerce.