Bruce Kluger & David Slavin

Since last month's shocking news that a giant private equity firm had seized control of Santa's Workshop in a historic leveraged buyout -- and now that the formerly jolly St. Nick, like so many Americans, has been left jobless -- media organizations worldwide have...

The smell of roasting chestnuts from street-corner vendors. The sounds of joyful caroling. The sweet sight of children in mittens, building their first snowmen.

Ah, the Christmas season is here.

And, of course, that means: Get ready for another war on Christmas from our friends at Fox News.

NORTH POLE -- Yes, Virginia, the economy has gotten that bad.

Early this morning, Santa Claus, the jolly icon of the holidays and legendary symbol of Christmas for more than 970 years, was asked to step down from his position as chief manufacturer and distributor of holiday toys and merriment....

"Hi, I'm Santa Claus. No, not some smelly saucehead ringing a bell for the Salvation Army: I'm the Real McKringle. You know, red suit, white beard, massive butt. Guess what? I got FIRED by the mega-corporation that bought my Workshop. So for the first time in 970...

NORTH POLE -- In a move that shocked analysts, delighted tinsel manufacturers and brought trading at global exchanges to a brief if stunned silence, GigantiCorp, the world's largest private equity firm, announced today that it was acquiring Santa's Workshop, the family-owned North American toy plant that has been the leading...

Just when Barack Obama thought his toughest decisions were behind him--his Afghanistan strategy, tackling unemployment, what to say to Tiger Woods if he calls--now he has to draw up a Christmas gift list. What will the current "decider" decide to give this holiday season...to...

As scientists, environmental experts and all manner of government officials descend on Denmark for the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference, the question remains: do the conscientious congregants have an actual plan of action--or are they just a windy gaggle of greenhouse gasbags?

Click on the...

He's baaaa-aaack!

Up from the primordial ooze from whence he sprang--and fresh from an extended vacay at Club Med Hades (wake- and water-boarding included!)--comes Dick Cheney, aka Dick the Impaler, our grumbling, bumbling, behated former Presi...er...Vice President.

Did you honestly think His Dickness would...

Tuesday's election brought down the final curtain not only on a grueling, two-year presidential campaign, but also on a noisy season of political advertising--one that included radio and television spots, internet banners, robocalls, a half-hour primetime infomercial, and an endless torrent of attack ads....

Sometimes those notorious 15 minutes of fame turn into a lifetime--or, at the very least, an hour-long chunk of primetime television. Click the arrow below to hear a promo for America's most promising new candidate for TV stardom.

This sketch...

As America faces her most calamitous economic crisis since the Great Depression, she seeks salvation not from some geeky bean-counter, but from a real macho money maven. Enter Henry Paulson: The 700-Billion-Dollar Man!

For our exclusive forecast of how Henry will save the day, click the image below...

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With the release of his new book, Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman has lifted a dark veil from Bush presidency, confirming what we already knew, yet were probably too depressed to admit: that over the course of...

By now, we've all read about the latest environmental wedgie that Vice President Dick Cheney has given to the world's climate. If you somehow missed the story, here's the bad news:

Cheney wanted cuts in climate change testimony
By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer

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South Carolina passed a law this month allowing it to become the first state in the nation to offer its citizens specialty license plates that carry a Christian message. Adorned with a stained-glass window, a cross and the words "I Believe," the plates are...

Glowing words from this past weekend's Firedoglake Book Salon:

So here's a puzzler: How do you write a book about a vicious, evil man like Dick Cheney without turning it into an off-putting, angry rant? Well, I have read the answer, and...

With the final Democratic primaries upon us -- Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota -- the question is no longer who will emerge the victor, but, rather, who will have the nerve to tell you-know-who that the game is over?

Click PLAY below to...

Salman Rushdie knows Dick -- at least according to this item that ran in the Rush & Molloy column in today's New York Daily News:

Young Dick Cheney must be riveting. Salman Rushdie was reading...

What do Arianna Huffington, Keith Olbermann, Lewis Black, Phil Donahue and Mel Brooks have in common?

They all love Young Dick Cheney. Not the grumpy old Prince of Darkness, socked away in his secured, undisclosed location somewhere near Washington--but the adorable and...

Seems all morning the internet has been swamped with links to the White House Web site photo of Vice President Dick Cheney fly-fishing on the Snake River in Idaho. Speculation has run amok over what, precisely, is reflecting in the smiling Veep's...

For all the media chatter about the unprecedented power of the nation's elite army of superdelegates, we have to wonder: Who are these people? Considering that this select group of political operatives allegedly holds the key to the 2008 Democratic race for the presidency, you'd figure we should at least...