What’s that? Metalocalypse is a rerun tonight? They couldn’t pay you to watch Mighty Boosh, even if you knew what the hell it was about?

You don’t have to settle for retreads or infomercials — not when the United States Senate is providing live programming at this ungodly hour on C-SPAN. So if insomnia is what ails ya, stick around for our Open Thread/Holiday Cloture Singalong for the cure. The Big Vote is scheduled for 1 a.m., and we’ll be here with a glass of warm milk to keep you company.

If you prefer sleep, no problem! There’s another cloture vote scheduled for 7 a.m. Tuesday. And still another set for 1 p.m. Wednesday. After which follows the real vote on the healthcare bill. If anyone’s still standing.

Senate On Deadline: The Timeline To Pass Health Care By Christmas [Newsweek]

So I worked all weekend, the Jets lost (and ended their season), and I will probably watch the Vikings-Carolina matchup at 8:20 and get pissed off all over again because Brett Favre couldn’t bother to throw a few completions and get the Jets into the playoffs last year.  So this is all I have:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUfS8LyeUyM

A message to all members of Team Sarah: If you have not yet had a chance to sign the Team Sarah Christmas Card and post your Christmas message to the Palin family, please do so as soon as possible. The blog must close tonight at 9 p.m. EST so that it can be sent to Sarah Palin.

Thank you for caring and being a constant voice of reason. (Lollie Edwards)

We are so very thankful to have YOU and your wholesome communication skills on our side. (Bunny Keene)

If God intends for you to to be CIC, nothing can stop it. (No Obama)

Read more »

Esteemed climate scientist Dr. Sarah Palin released the findings today from a dangerous expedition she recently led to gather ice core data from the polar caps of Greenland. Aided by her husband, the renowned adventurer and explorer Todd Palin, who led the dog sled team that carried the Palins, their equipment, and a contingent of Tea Party Activists to the edge of the arctic caps, Palin spent three weeks gathering spectroscopic readings, drilling and analyzing ice cores for trapped C02 and taking precise temperature measurements and ice thickness readings. The results, which will no doubt shock the scientific world and will be published shortly in the esteemed scientific journal Twitter, blame charged particles, or ions, for the recent rise in global temperatures. Palin’s upcoming scientific paper is reproduced, in its entirety, below:

Earth saw clmate chnge4 ions;will cont 2 c chnges.R duty2responsbly devlop resorces4humankind/not pollute&destroy;but cant alter naturl chng

A world conference of climate experts is expected to be called to discuss the explosive new findings sometime in the coming weeks.

Title: “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies: A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols ”

Author: Michael P. Spradlin

Rank: 1,693

Blurb: “Christmas is on its way — and all the little boys and ghouls are dreaming of stockings filled with candied eyes and bleeding body parts.”

Review: “What really seals the deal is the zombie using his own intestines to decorate the Christmas tree.”

Customers Also Bought: “Glow In The Dark Zombies Playset”

Footnote: Searching for “zombies” at Amazon yields 50,390 results.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon kickback link]

It’s been through the meat grinder a few times, been used as a vehicle for the promoting of anti-choice legislation, has been held hostage by shameless scoundrels, but The New York Times is reporting that Democrats have finally come up with a health insurance reform proposal that all 60 Senate Democrats can support.

Yes, it’s a neutered proposal that does not go nearly far enough. It may lead to a terrible electoral outcome for Democrats in 2010, unless a massive all-out PR effort is mounted to defend the program. But let’s face it: this is likely the only opportunity the American people will have to effect some measure of health insurance reform for a generation, and failure to enact even these modest reforms would be utterly disastrous for the nation as a whole.

It’s not what we’d hoped for, but at this point, it’s this or nothing. And before we start crapping all over the graves of Democratic politicians who had it in their collective power to have given us oh, so much more, let us not forget that every single GOP Senator and all but one GOP congressman did everything in his power to oppose even these modest efforts. We must not lose sight of that fact.

And Hell, the Congressional bill still includes a Public Option. We may yet be pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the compromise unity bill (OK, I’m not holding my breath, but…).

We can only hope they roast Lieberman first.

No Room For Error If Senate To Pass Health Care Before Christmas [TPM]