Because making 98 percent of the Bush tax cuts permanent was such a betrayal of Republican principles. They whined. They wailed. They gnashed their teeth. Then House Republicans finally put the "fiscal cliff" bill up for a vote, where it passed comfortably. Drama queens.

Yay for Wall Street! Markets are up sharply in the wake of the "fiscal cliff" deal. Bipartisanship capitalism prevails!

Check your paycheck. One thing the "fiscal cliff" deal did not include was an extension of the payroll tax "holiday." That means an additional two percent will be withheld from your paycheck, starting immediately. On the bright side, 850,000 Washington State itemizers like me will continue to save an average $500 each on our federal taxes, thanks to a two-year extension of the state sales tax exemption.

Fuck you, Sandy victims! After finally approving a "fiscal cliff" deal last night, the Republican leadership adjourned the House without considering a Sandy relief package. Assholes.

Time to bring in Joe Biden. The NHL and the players association continue to negotiate an end to the lockout ahead of tonight's deadline for the players to disband their union and file an anti-trust suit.

Those hourly fees add up. Car rental giant Avis Budget has agreed to acquire rent-by-the-hour pioneer Zipcar for $491 million.

I told you so. Liquor prices are up about $2.50 per liter in Washington State since I-1183 took effect: “I don’t know how you would expect prices to go down when you’re adding this new middle man,” said Leonard Daniel, owner of Mountlake Terrace Liquor and Wine. Suckers.

But imagine how much sexier it would be if we put it in a tunnel! The Washington State Department of Transportation estimates that it would cost only $23 million to widen I-5's northbound Seneca Street bottleneck.

There were a bunch of college football games yesterday. Google it yourself.

If only we were all naked and armed with samurai swords, tragedies like this would never happen. Police subdued and arrested a naked man wielding a large samurai sword New Year's Day, after a three-hour standoff. And of course, since this incident happened in San Jose, not Seattle, the police managed to subdue him without shooting him.

Jonah is funny. I know it's true, because it says so in the Seattle Times. So funny, in fact, that now I'm not so scared of the SPD anymore. Hooray for Twitter!