So the Republicons have 55 votes in the Senate, and barring the discovery of naked 8-year-old blonde slave boys in his closet there's no way the Dems are going to be able to scuttle the Alito nomination. Let's swallow our medicine and accept the inevitable - Alito is going to the Supreme Court in January. No way out.

But maybe there is! Here's the scenario: The Dems win back the House in 2006. The Senate is out of reach, so the Dems just pick up a couple of seats there, reaching 49 or 50 (leaving the Cons in the majority with their vote from Cheney). Without the Senate, the Dems can't be held accountable for the legislation that is so badly needed to raise revenues somewhere to pay for the Bush binge - the Cons will have to raise taxes, and Dubya will have to sign the hike. Meanwhile, the Dems in the House use their subpoena power to investigate all the horrid scandals of the past 6 years. Half of the administration and all the Cons who have sold their souls to Jack Abramoff et al end up in the slammer. 2008 is a rout. The Dems get a huge majority in the House and the Senate, and of course the White House.

See where this dream is headed? Alito is impeached. Scalia is impeached. Thomas is sent packing. We clean house with the lower courts, getting rid of the most egregious 20% of Bush appointees. President H. Clinton, or Gore, or Kerry, or Biden, or Obama (my fantasy is a little hazy here, and will be content with whoever wins the nomination) appoints a whole boatload of qualified jurists in the Breyer mold. The courts are saved. The republic is saved. We all live happily ever after.

Hey, a man can dream, can't he?

I could swear I saw Scott McClellan's resume trolling around monster.com

Heck, he's been the mouthpiece for monster.gov for long enough, he should have no problems getting a new job anywhere lies are sold. I hear there's a vacancy at the Iraqi Information Ministry...

I write dictionaries for a living (www.yale.edu/swahili), so the meaning of the word "holiday" always jumps out at me. Holiday comes from "holy day," plain and simple, so if you are a real Christian, "Happy Holidays" is a short way of saying "I wish you happiness on each of the 12 holy days of Christmas, and a joyous New Year as well."

It is also, of course, a polite way of including your non-Christian friends in your best wishes, which is surely in keeping with Christ's example of love toward all.

If you want to get uber-geeky, go to Answers.com and look up "holiday" (http://www.answers.com/holiday) - they show this derivation (which may have some of the characters messed up via the comment submission form): [Middle English holidai, holy day, from Old English hālig d�g : hālig, holy; see holy + d�g, day; see day.]

In closing, can I propose this revised Fox News Christmas Carol?:

Silent night, Christy night, all is calm, all is bright...

What's so good about this video is that the dancing cadet genuinely has no idea he is being taped. He doesn't look to the camera or in any way indicate that he is in the least self conscious, except that he keeps checking the door to make sure his roommate isn't walking in on him.

And the lad can move!

Not long ago the younger Wallace interviewed his father for Faux, and closed it by telling his dad, "I love you."

The transcript, for what is a surprisingly contentious interview up until the sappy closing moment, is here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174703,00.html

Some people have the funniest ways of showing their love...