Christmas is over. Pejoratively, I write, thank God. For many reasons this is a bleak time of year for me.

One reason is that, like many Kossacks, I am an atheist. Some people might call me a lapsed or a recovering Catholic. My parents, though, don't believe such designations exist. I have been baptized, taken communion and been confirmed. To them, I am Catholic for life based on the completion of these rites of passage.

It doesn't matter that I haven't gone to Mass on a regular basis in 13 years. It doesn't matter that I don't believe in the divinity of Jesus, or the existence of Heaven, or the immortality of the soul. I am Catholic forever.

And at some point, they figure, the blasphemy will stop: an awakening, an epiphany will occur and the sinning will cease. I'll be back on my knees, begging the heavenly father for forgiveness and reciting the Lord's Prayer with remorseful tears in my eyes.

It's never going to happen.

Well, should I? Below the fold I'm frame my ambivalence as a Frosted Mini-Wheats argument.

A brief preface: there won't be anything particularly new or groundbreaking in this diary. I want to talk about Faith Days in MLB, and how Christianity in general affects presidential candidacies, specifically.

Please join me below the fold.

You may recall that MissLaura made a front page entry on July 20 on the Washington Post's bizarre story about Hillary Clinton's cleavage.

Well, the good folks at RedState have added their two cents.

I'm sorry for such a dramatic title, and this topic was already addressed ably in this diary...

http://www.dailykos.com/...

...but I don't think this new executive order can receive too much attention, because it effectively destroys the First Amendment and renders the U.S. every bit the police state the USSR was. American citizens seem to be, sadly, only spared by the "benevolence" of Bush and his successors in the presidency. To the delight of Samuel Alito and many others, the true power of the Unitary Executive might have finally been achieved.

If you speak out against the Iraq War, your freedom and your property are now at risk: no trial, no recourse. At least that's what I think it means. Take a look below the fold.

John McCain inspired me today. It completely caught me off-guard in two ways:

1. Nothing McCain says is remotely surprising any more, and

2. The venue in which the Senator chose to engage me, a cynical 30-something liberal.

How did the erstwhile maverick and straight-talker inspire me? He did something he hasn't done in quite a while: John McCain spoke the truth.

In an uncharacteristic bit of common sense, the College Republicans at the University of Iowa have canceled an "illegal immigrant" game that was to be held Thursday.

More below the fold.

According to Mary Ann Akers at the Washington Post blog **The Sleuth**, Ohio representative Dennis Kucinch is going to file Articles of Impeachment against VP Dick Cheney. Articles were to filed Monday but supposedly held back b/c of the Virginia Tech shootings.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/...

More below the fold.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday to all, but especially to all the Bears and Colts fans out there. Call me crazy, and you wouldn't be the first, but I think the Chicago Bears are going to win. Why? Barack Obama. If you haven't called me crazy yet, you probably just did now.

If I'm seeing things correctly, now that Claire McCaskill has defeated Jim Talent, and if Webb's 11,744-vote lead on George Felix Allen holds up, a Jon Tester victory is all that stands between us and Majority Leader Harry Reid.

As of 11:21 PST, according to CNN, Tester is up 51%-47% on Burns with 67% of the votes counted. Hold on, Jon!

UPDATE: At 69%, the gap has closed to just 8,219 votes.
UPDATE: At 70%, Tester leads by 7,267 votes.
UPDATE: At 71%, Tester leads by 6,845 votes.
UPDATE: At 72%, Tester leads by 6,895 votes. Hopefully the lead has stabilized or will be growing. Go, Gallatin County! Just 2% of the vote is in there, and Tester leads narrowly in that county. Looks like Tester dominates in Cascade.

Here's the link:
CNN - Montana Senate Race

While surfing through Rightblogistan, I noticed that RedState.com seems to be having database issues:

http://redstate.com/

Did they forget to pay their bills, or is something else awry? It seems unlikely that they would be flooded with enough traffic on a Friday afternoon to cause a crash. Any IT people in the house who can shed some light? Is it too much to hope that Erick, Academic Elephant et. al. have gone to spread their pseudointellectualism elsewhere?

Detroit, Michigan - Feb. 5, 2006 - Immediately following the 40th annual Super Bowl at Detroit's Ford Field, ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman's shtick was rushed to Detroit Receiving Hospital for exhaustion.

Berman anchored television coverage for the pre-game, halftime and post-game shows of the Pittsburgh Steelers' 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

"After the long NFL season, Mr. Berman's collection of catchphrases and obscure pop culture references broke down and collapsed," said hospital spokesperson Mattie Majors. "I'm happy to report that his shtick is in stable condition, though perhaps one more `He-Could-Go-All-The-Way' would've meant disaster."

Good afternoon! Once again, it's PhotoSnark Friday. Please vote on one of the captions in the poll below and add your own in the comments section.

Let's say you just wrapped up your shift working at a Safeway grocery store. Suddenly a shoplifter makes a dash for the front door, absconding with a bottle of wine he didn't pay for. Your boss yells at you to chase after him. Dutifully you follow his command and chase after the shoplifter. You succeed, but in the process you injure the anterior cruciate ligament in your left knee.

Does Safeway step up and pay your $23,000 in medical expenses or does it fight you in court for almost five years? Safeway chose to fight.

Washington, D.C. - Jan. 28, 2006 - Thomas Wilburn just scored the biggest payday of his life. The unemployed 28-year-old telemarketer from Scarborough, Maine, sold Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) the Brooklyn Bridge for $150,000, according to several eyewitnesses.

"I didn't think he would go for it," said Wilburn. "I mean, the deed was handwritten on notebook paper, for Christ's sake.

"But after I read that Senator Byrd actually believed that (Supreme Court nominee) Sam Alito was a man of his word and trusted him not to support a power-hungry president, I had a feeling the Senator might be interested in a prime piece of real estate like the Brooklyn Bridge."

Good afternoon! It's PhotoSnark Friday. Please vote on one of the captions in the poll below and add your own in the comments section.

(Since my phones are about to be tapped, let me clarify that this is satire, courtesy of The American Factotum)

Washington, D.C. - Jan. 25, 2006 - Angered by their defiance during his speech defending warrantless surveillance at Georgetown University Law School yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales detained a group of student protestors and proceeded to water board them, according to several terrified eyewitnesses.

Gonzales became visibly enraged when fifteen law students stood up, turned their backs on him and hoisted a banner that read, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither."

In response to the protest, Gonzales clapped his hands three times, summoning an unidentified, mask-wearing security squad to round up the students and prepare them for water boarding. Gonzales reached beneath the podium and, with a noticeable twinkle of delight in his eye, withdrew a large laundry bag full of wet washcloths.

"It's not cellophane, but it will have to do," said the Attorney General.

Good afternoon! It's PhotoSnark Friday. Please vote on one of the captions in the poll below and add your own in the comments section.