Ahh the holidays, my favorite time of the year. And while I had hoped to wait until next week to start blegging for holiday reader contributions, circumstances have forced me to hang out that shingle starting today. I’ll have the gruesome details later, but it’s bad: let’s just say my employer doesn’t particularly want someone who suffered a heart attack and a bunch of related and precursor complications on their pristine rolls. Which means no more disability, and in a few weeks I’ll either be on Cobra or in big, big trouble, smack dab in the middle of treating a potentially fatal condition. The Cobra premiums are ghastly, about 700 bucks a month, but with your help I might be able to pull it off. Thank FSM for Obamacare, which I will enroll in this month for coverage to begin next year and they can’t deny or fuck me over on cost because the ACA won’t let them. ::Evil liberal cackle::

Speaking of the holidays, Madam Half-Governor Queen of Rightwing Spectacle, who no doubt never has to worry about health insurance or employment even though she can’t differentiate e^x with or without search engine help, has a ghostly-written book to sell, a war against the imaginary war on Christmas to wage, and an ax to grind. This week she takes aim at that socialist Pope, because he’s been showing too much concern for the have-nots:

Raw Story — Sarah Palin says she’s dismayed by the apparent liberal agenda of Pope Francis, although she suspects her perception may have been shaped by misleading media reports. “He’s had some statements that to me sound kind of liberal, has taken me aback, has kind of surprised me,” Palin said Tuesday in an interview on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” The former half-term governor of Alaska and failed 2008 vice presidential candidate said she’s suspicious of the way the media have portrayed the new pope and his message.

“There again, unless I really dig deep into what his messaging is, and do my own homework, I’m not going to just trust what I hear in the media,” said Palin, who described herself as a “born again” Christian. Pope Francis has won many admirers for his open-minded comments on social issues, including homosexuality, abortion and contraception, and he’s criticized capitalism for promoting greed

We can’t have the voice of Christ on Earth actually promoting the words of Christ! What next? Pleas for mercy to prisoners or milk for starving babies who had the bad judgement to be born in Red States to poor families? Egad! Maybe there’s a holiday song for Palin and her acolytes too …