Steelers are 6-7 and lost to the Browns. I now can not watch Sportscenter for the fifth week in a row.

At least we have the Pirates.

I think I am going to bed until August.

And you know- good on the Browns and good for their fans. They played like an NFL team, unlike the Steelers. But as much as the Steelers sucked, the Browns d was great and their offense did not turn over the ball.

Thank you, Bad Horse’s Filly:

A little bit of comfort food (at least Ravioli is in my house) for what has been a very cold and busy week. I make fresh pasta for special occasions – my spinach lasagna being one of them. I have only made fresh ravioli once, and once was enough. Much like making my own steamed dumplings, effort vs. reward is definitely unbalanced. Especially when with a little bit of experimentation, you can find really good fresh or frozen ravioli at a reasonable price.

On the board tonight:

1) Ravioli w/ Rosemary Basil Cream Sauce
2) Tomato-Zucchini Confetti
3) Tossed Salad
4) Sorbet or Gelato

Click on the highlight for recipes and shopping list.

Five sacks, stupid penalties, no offense, we can’t stop the run, and are being outgained by a wide margin in total yardage by the worst team in the NFL (although now that we are poised to lose to the Browns, have lost to the Raiders and the Chiefs, we might own that title now).

This about sums up the mood in the Cole household:

It isn’t just that we are losing, but that we are just really, really bad. I mean, bad as in Pirates bad, where it isn’t even fun to watch the game.

You probably all already saw this on Washington Monthly, but since we pride ourselves here on making fun of Randers, we would be remiss if we didn’t pass this along:

Lloyd Grove: Tell me a little bit about what the show is going to be.

John Stossel: It will be one subject. The first subject will be maybe Atlas Shrugged or global warming—Atlas Shrugged because I think 50 years ago, Ayn Rand predicted today. It sort of sums up what I’m going to be reporting about.

Lloyd Grove: Ayn Rand predicted what?

John Stossel: Big government, nice-sounding legislation like “The Preservation of Livelihood Law,” which mandated that Hank Rearden’s production must not be bigger than any other steel mill, to make it a level playing field. It’s silly.

Lloyd Grove: Is that a new law passed by this Congress?

John Stossel: No, but it’s what Wesley Mouch, the evil bureaucrat in the book, passed. And what Tim Geithner and what Barney Frank might like to pass.

Not that I like Ayn Rand’s work, but even it deserves better than this.

The Salahis came in and trashed the place and it wasn’t their place (via Digby and Atrios):

When Ms. Salahi sidled up to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., she was faking a friendship she didn’t have. She was also cutting ahead of thousands of people who spend years trying to win entry into gatherings of Washington’s elite.

“At most parties in New York or Los Angeles, a bouncer will make a snap decision about whether to let you in depending on your looks or some shtick that that sets you apart,” says Juleanna Glover, a Washington hostess and a founder of the Ashcroft Group, a legal and consulting firm. “In Washington, there are no snap decisions. It’s a lifetime of wise decisions that make it so that you receive a state dinner invitation.”

[.....]

When the Salahis put their collection of digital snaps of the state dinner on Facebook, they flouted all the unwritten rules of power-wall etiquette. (Including a new one that nobody had thought to mention: Don’t put your power wall on Facebook.) As an enhancer of prestige, these photographic menageries always target a certain audience — constituents in the case of politicians, potential clients in the case of lobbyists. It tells those audiences, “I know how to get things done.”

For letting this happen, Desiree Williams deserves to be waterboarded, I’m sure.

Terrible towel- check.
Heath Miller jersey- check.
Beverages- check.
Cat fed- check.
Lily fed and walked and rocking her Steelers collar- check.

I’m ready. The only thing missing is the Steelers 4th quarter defense, which hopefully will show up tonight.

*** Update ***

Also, out of respect to TNC, I’m going to be rocking my ghetto name tonight- Jahn Coale.

I’m begging:

INGRAHAM: Would you agree to a debate with Al Gore on this issue?

PALIN: Oh my goodness. You know, it depends on what the venue would be, what the forum. Because Laura, as you know, if it would be some kind of conventional, traditional debate with his friends setting it up or being the commentators I’ll get clobbered because, you know, they don’t want to listen to the facts.

So help me ALLAH, if Gore sighs once in this debate I will punch him in the neck and kick him in the junk. But wouldn’t you love to see that moron up there just winking and blushing and making shit up?

Tommy: Did you hear I finally graduated?
Richard Hayden: Yeah, and just a shade under a decade too, all right.
Tommy: You know a lot of people go to college for seven years.
Richard Hayden: I know, they’re called doctors.

Make it stop.

*** Update ***

And as I am post this, MSNBC is reading Sarah Palin’s twitter feed. Shoot me.

No wonder they support Palin so much. Much like their goddess, they don’t know what the Bush doctrine is, either:

The Bush doctrine isn’t about the President unilaterally defending the country. The problem with the Bush doctrine is that it upended years of practice and established a policy of preventive war, which means that it is just kosher to invade anyone you perceive as a threat, so long as you can get five Weekly Standard interns together in the Office of Special Plans to agree a country was a threat and needed to be invaded because they might do something to us one day. Or Saddam looked at us funny.

No wonder these guys love Palin. It’s the blind leading the stupid.

And while we are at it, let me remind you all that Bill Kristol is still on the Washington Post payroll but they didn’t have the funds for Dan Froomkin.

I’m really not sure what it says about our current state of affairs that I’m moderately pleased and a little surprised that Tom Coburn and Rick Warren have now both spoken out against a law authorizing the execution of homosexuals in Uganda, but that is where we are, I suppose. I guess I should just be happy it was a twofer with Warren, as he denounced the law and invoked Burke.

I realize these aren’t the most important questions in the world, but I’m stuck in an airport listening to Christmas carols and I have to ask: what is the reason for the strange changes to the lyrics of Christmas carols? Why does Frank Sinatra sing “hang a shining star upon the highest bough” when earlier versions (e.g. Ella) sang “until then we’ll have to muddle through some how”? Was this one of those important cultural changes, like putting all the God stuff on the money, that brought the Commies to their knees?

And why is “and pretend that he is Parson Brown” sometimes changed to “and pretend that he’s a circus clown”?

Update. Okay, I see that the answer to the second question is that “Winter Wonderland” has two verses.

They’re just as nucking futs as the others:

Last night I read a post over at Volokh about how climate data was being faked. I sighed and moved on. Then, about an hour ago, I got an email from a conservative reader asking if the Volokh post undermined my faith in global warming. I told him it didn’t. Then, a few minutes later, I noticed Megan McArdle linking to the same post. Obviously this thing wasn’t going to go away quietly.

John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell, with their lifetime ratings with the ACU of 92 and 90, respectively, are about to get purged from the big tent party/ party of ideas:

DeMint, in an interview with the Christian Broadcast Network, also said that he is trying to recruit a new crop of GOP lawmakers to challenge the party establishment.

“The problem in the Republican Party is that the leadership has gone to the left,” he said. “I need some new Republicans.”

DeMint’s comments come as party leaders such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas), and RNC chairman Michael Steele have come under fire from several conservative bloggers and conservative grassroots activists.

The teabaggers have their marching orders from Rush, so heads must roll. Rush is apparently pissy that McConnell has not completely blown up the Senate to stop any Democratic bills.

Related, you have to watch this Colbert Report segment with Phyllis Schlafley’s insane son, the founder of our beloved “conservapedia.”

Editor and Publisher, around since 1884, is closing:

Yes, it’s true, my magazine, E&P, axed today, out of job. At office until end of year—and here, of course.

You would think that would be a brand that one of the new media sites would want to snap up ala Froomkin.

Meanwhile, the Politico is still on the Pulitzer board.

Photos are back! Apologies for the long delay. I was busy as hell, then sick, then sick and busy as hell, and yesterday I don’t even want to talk about.

fallsroad, The Machinery of Joy.

LT in Oregon, Lwater.

Email me a link to your one or two favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put up favorites in open threads. Send a short caption if you want one.

Click on the photos for a link to the photographer’s website. To see all photo threads, click on ‘photo blogging’ at the bottom of the post.

If your computer cannot read our email links at top right, my email is (remove the zeroes): portus0jackson0ii at yahoo dot com.