Program Note: First off, my apologies for the brevity of today's offering. But, in exchange, we are promising you instead a column this Thursday, on New Year's Eve itself. And don't forget to tune in Friday, for Part 2 of our Annual "McLaughlin Awards," as well, on New Year's Day.

Thursday's column, with luck, will be another year-end tradition -- the annual "banished words" list from northern Michigan. Last year, I wrote about the list and had such fun doing so that I'm going to end 2009 by doing the same. But this means that today is pretty much the last chance you have to enter phrases you'd like banned from everyday usage by your peers. And 2009 was a rich year for grating phrases, from "death panels" to "teabaggers." In any case, check out the official Lake Superior State University "Banished Words" site, and enter your nominations today!

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Democrats should realize, by this point, that they're going to have to reposition themselves a bit if they stand any chance in next year's midterm congressional elections. Fortunately for them, there are two issues out there just begging for exploitation. The first is the Republican Party, who has reportedly decided they are going to run next year on taking something away from voters which Democrats have given them -- the healthcare reform bill. And the second is a little-noted bill introduced a few weeks ago by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John McCain (R-AZ), and Russ Feingold (D-WI), which would bring back a chunk of the banking regulations passed in the Great Depression known as "Glass-Steagall." Together, these two issues present an opportunity for Democrats to reap some of the populist anger brewing out there in the electorate.

Not that it's going to be easy to do so. The Republicans, after all, are reacting to a movement (the Tea Partiers) which is routinely labelled "populist" itself. But there is populism and then there is populism. After all, both Barack Obama and Sarah Palin -- for very differing reasons -- were called "populist" by the media at one time or another during last year's campaign. Populism is not so much a political stance (as "conservatism" is, for instance) as it is a political tactic. Meaning it can be used equally well by either side of our current American political divide.

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Welcome once again to our year-end wrapup and awards ceremony. Honesty dictates that I immediately genuflect to The McLaughlin Group, from whom I have stolen all these award categories. We will begin this week with Part 1 of these annual awards, and then next Friday on New Year's Day, we will present Part 2, with reduced volume levels (for those who are nursing hangovers... ahem).

Before we begin, though, we have to insert a free plug, for another year-end awards column with a slightly different theme -- awards for idiocy in the mainstream media (a subject near and dear to my own heart, I confess). Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting has their "2009 P.U.-Litzer Awards" up, and I heartily encourage everyone to read it as well, because it is excellent and well worth your time.

And, for comparison, it simply wouldn't be Friday around here if I didn't throw in a few plugs for my own columns, so if you'd like to peruse my McLaughlin Awards from years past, here are the previous three years' worth:

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[Program Note: This column is a repeat of the first Christmas column I wrote, which originally ran on December 20, 2006. Sorry for the re-run, as getting tomorrow's end-of-year awards column is enough of a challenge over the next two days. Here's wishing our faithful readers have a very happy twenty-fifth of December tomorrow, as well, and that you've all managed to be nice enough (and conceal any naughtiness to a sufficient degree) that the day brings you some merriment!]

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Speaking as someone who generally enjoys a good conspiracy theory just for the "creative writing" aspect alone, in all good conscience I simply must report this shocking news: I have uncovered a big, fat conspiracy that is no mere theory. We're either being lied to, or we're joining in the propagation of the lie ourselves, with merriment. In actual fact, it would not be hyperbole to call this the father of all conspiracies.

And almost every single one of us has participated in this gigantic hoax, in one form or another, at least once in our lives. For many, it happens like clockwork on a regular basis. And it seems to prove Hitler's point about the "Big Lie" -- if you repeat it often enough, sooner or later a certain segment of the populace will accept it as being true.

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These days, it takes 60 votes to do just about anything in the United States Senate. That is a fact that galls many, especially since it is a fairly recent development. While the filibuster (or, the more polite modern version, cloture) has been around for a long time, it simply has not been used as such a blunt instrument before in the fashion Republicans are now swinging it around. Which has led to calls to either abolish the filibuster, or scale it back in some way. But proponents of such action should really think long and hard before they do. Because, eventually, the shoe's going to be on the other foot for Democrats in the Senate. This is something which usually gets lost in this debate, or brushed off when mentioned. It really shouldn't, though.

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[Program Note: This column is a repeat of a past Christmas column, which originally ran on Christmas Eve, 2007. Since today is the Winter Solstice, I thought it was an appropriate subject. While I apologize for offering up nothing but a re-run today, it was unavoidable, as I will spend most of today driving back and forth to the airport. The good news is that testing of the site was very successful this weekend, and our upgrade is back on schedule. We will be upgrading our core WordPress software at some point between Christmas and the new year, to improve security and add features. The framework for new features will be added during the upgrade, and then individual improvements will happen soon after. As always, I will keep regular readers informed of the progress through program notes such as this one. For today, happy Solstice everyone, and I hope you'll enjoy this timely column. Regular columns will resume tomorrow, and don't forget to check our Friday columns for the next two weeks, for our year-end awards presentations.]

When is Christmas? And why?

These are questions guaranteed to get you funny looks when you pop them, especially in a gathering of wassail-soaked relatives. But if you're tired of hearing the seemingly-eternal "this is what Uncle Fred did when he was twelve" stories, and you're leery of bringing up politics with your kin from Outer Podunk, then it's at least a conversation-starter that's somewhat neutral. Plus, you can reaffirm your nearest-and-dearests' image of you as a latte-sipping fruitcake who moved away from the glory of the heartland and now lives on (say it with an embarrassed whisper) the coast.

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I am finally ready for some testing of new stuff, so I thought I'd warn everyone that the site may not be 100% stable for the next day or so. By Monday morning, it will be back to normal (actually completing the upgrade will not happen this weekend), but it may get a little quirky in the meantime.

As always, apologies for the inconvenience.

-- Chris Weigant

What a difference a week makes, eh?

But before we get to all that, a quick program note needs to be addressed here up front. Every so often in these columns, I start channeling Howard Beale (from Network) and get "mad as Hell and just can't take it any more," and -- rather than the usual Friday Talking Points we normally offer up on a weekly basis almost without fail (well, on average, about 46 weeks out of the year... what can I say?) -- at times we instead are moved by the muse known by her proper name of "Rant."

That's right, the same Greek (or was it Roman?) goddess who inspired Dennis Miller (back before he became a rabid pro-war right-winger and lost his funny mojo as a result) occasionally blesses us here with the inspiration for such a stream-of-consciousness chestal-unloading that it simply defies attempts to divide it into seven discrete and ordinal soundbites. Or any attempts to edit it for length, for that matter (ahem).

This is one of those weeks. You have been warned.

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[Program Note: This column is a repeat of last year's Christmas column, which originally ran on Christmas Eve, 2008. I apologize for the re-run, but I'm still swamped with upgrade work, to make a better and more secure ChrisWeigant.com for you to enjoy next year, so I hope you'll forgive me. Oh, and (ahem) it ends with a call for last year's donation drive. We're not doing a full-on donation drive this year (although we do have Netroots Nation to attend next year), but if you're full of holiday spirit and are so inclined, the donation button to the right should still work (for both PayPal accounts and major credit cards). Anyway, enjoy this peek into where we all were last year at this time, and regular columns will resume with tomorrow's Friday Talking Points. Thanks for your patience.]

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