Six songs this week in one installment, hand selected by our music writers, including tracks by The Roches, The Who, Explone, Bright Eyes, Azealia Banks, and Murs.

While I suppose the Guy Fieri line of jewelry is a bargain at $69 a piece, it's still jewelry designed by Guy Fieri, the chef whose public image is somewhat similar to a guy passed out on the lawn at a Jimmy Buffett concert. Don't worry, however, it does have this ringing endorsement from its creator: "This stuff is off-da-hook. It's some killer bling."

Pima County Republican Party Chairwoman Carolyn Cox sent out a missive blasting the payroll tax cut yesterday:

The Main Stream Media, now, has shown that they are simply an arm of the Democrat Party. They see nothing wrong with Obama’s plan to remove 2% of wages from a retirement preparation program so people will be less prepared for the cost of non-working years. It is irresponsible. Unlike President bush’s plan, this money will not go to save for retirement. It sets the stage for what Obama wants- namely a European type welfare state.

President Obama is delusional if he thinks that a payroll tax holiday will do anything to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

Bowing under intense pressure from members of their own party to end the politically damaging impasse over a payroll tax holiday, House Republican leaders agreed Thursday to accept a temporary extension of the tax cut, beating a hasty retreat from a showdown that Republicans increasingly saw as a threat to their election opportunities next year.

What's odd about Cox's opposition to the payroll-tax cut (besides her belief that "mainstream media" is three words, her e.e. cummings-esque lower-case "B" in Bush's name and her generous use of commas) is that most Republicans at least pretend to support it, even if they want to try to find a way to extract various bits of ransom from Democrats. Take Sen. John McCain:

Sen. John McCain said Thursday that Congress' failure to reach agreement on legislation extending a payroll tax cut for working Americans "hurts the Republican Party." The GOP's 2008 presidential nominee said his party made a mistake in voting down the Senate-passed version of a bill that would have kept the current payroll tax relief intact for at least two more months.

McCain told CBS's "The Early Show" he feels badly for 160 million Americans, whom he called "innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire." He said the House should pass the same bill that cleared the Senate "but put a year on it" and send it back.

McCain also said, "This is really tragic for the American people, and I would say that next November, no incumbent is safe, nor should they be."

Perhaps the Republican Party, alongside the "Main Stream Media," has also become an arm of the Democratic Party.

Here's a bit of interesting trivia. The famous Santa portrait pictured above was created in Tucson. Read on for more details:

You see his smiling face every holiday season: the jolly, rosy-cheeked, red-suited Coca-Cola Santa. This classic representation of Santa is as much a fixture of Christmas as the famous ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas poem that describes him. Yet not many know this timeless, jolly Santa was not originally thought up in a snowy landscape like his home in the North Pole, but in the warm sunshine of Tucson, Arizona at Westward Look Resort.

In the early 1930s, artist Haddon H. Sundblom was commissioned by The Coca-Cola Company to create a Santa that would be more appealing to children than the tall, thin, somewhat serious Kris Kringle of European legend. The resulting image, still popular today, was a Santa reputed to have brought cheer and a sense of optimism to a country that was struggling through the Great Depression and World War II.

Despite the snow-white beard and fur-lined red suit reminiscent of his North Pole roots, the Coca Cola Santa was first illustrated in the sunny Sonoran Desert at Westward Look Resort in Tucson. Working on his balcony at the resort, Sundblom brought Santa to life in 40 paintings for Coca-Cola.

In the late 1940’s, Lani and Sancy Nason, daughters of the resort’s owners at the time, were often used by Sundblom as models for his paintings. In one memorable illustration, Sundblom transformed Sancy into a young boy to convey the perfect Coca-Cola holiday message to both boys and girls. Though Lani and Sancy no longer live in Arizona, their mother still resides near Westward Look on three acres she and her husband retained after selling the resort in 1968.

Westward Look’s Tinaja Desert Gallery, located upstairs at the resort, still houses Sundblom’s memorabilia and drawings for visitors and locals alike to enjoy.

I really like cookbooks. This passion for recipes in bound, tangible form is somewhat distressing to my wife, since I only end up cooking on some weekends and then I usually end up buying a bunch of extra food to honor the depth of my culinary genius, but yet, I have a giant stack of cookbooks. So, while I might not be an expert on cooking, I do know something about what makes for a good cookbook gift. If you're still out there shopping, here are three new releases that I'd wholeheartedly recommend, whether for an actual cook or just someone who wants to appear to be one.

Dave Maass, the Project White House 2012 campaign coordinator for the great state of California, had a recruitment party for Project White House 2012 this week in San Diego. He found four new candidates, including Tommy Hough, an environmental activist in those parts who has a number of campaign promises we can get behind, including a proposal to have Gov. Jan Brewer declared an illegal immigrant.

Maass has details at his blog:

Lorena Gonzalez, CEO of the local labor umbrella group, decided not to fill out paperwork last night to run for president in Arizona after all—but four other locals did, including CityBeat editor David Rolland.

Here's the back story: To get on the Arizona presidential primary ballot, all a qualified candidate's got to do is send in a notarized, two-page nomination form. CityBeat made it even easier by recruiting notary public Sara Honadle from Coast Law Group to certify the documents for free at El Take It Easy in North Park.

El Take It Easy owner Jay Porter submitted his name for the ballot, telling CityBeat he'll make the gimlet the official White House cocktail. Rolland and CityBeat advertising account executive Jason Noble also filled out the paperwork.

Details on how you can seek the presidency—and be part of Project White House—here.

Well, it's really only one gay person and he's only apologizing for ruining one heterosexual marriage, that of Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, who cheated on her husband with a married (male) lobbyist. Coincidentally, both Koch and her partner in adultery campaigned to amend the state's constitution to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman. Still, the apology seems sincere to me:

An Open Apology to Amy Koch on Behalf of All Gay and Lesbian Minnesotans

Dear Ms. Koch,

On behalf of all gays and lesbians living in Minnesota, I would like to wholeheartedly apologize for our community's successful efforts to threaten your traditional marriage. We are ashamed of ourselves for causing you to have what the media refers to as an "illicit affair" with your staffer, and we also extend our deepest apologies to him and to his wife. These recent events have made it quite clear that our gay and lesbian tactics have gone too far, affecting even the most respectful of our society.

We apologize that our selfish requests to marry those we love has cheapened and degraded traditional marriage so much that we caused you to stray from your own holy union for something more cheap and tawdry. And we are doubly remorseful in knowing that many will see this as a form of sexual harassment of a subordinate.

It is now clear to us that if we were not so self-focused and myopic, we would have been able to see that the time you wasted diligently writing legislation that would forever seal the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman, could have been more usefully spent reshaping the legal definition of "adultery."

Forgive us. As you know, we are not church-going people, so we are unable to fully appreciate that "gay marriage" is incompatible with Christian values, despite the fact that those values carry a biblical tradition of adultery such as yours. We applaud you for keeping that tradition going.

And finally, shame on us for thinking that marriage is a private affair, and that our marriage would have little impact on anyone's family. We now see that marriage is more than that. It is an agreement with society. We should listen to the Minnesota Family Council when it tells us that marriage is about being public, which explains why marriages are public ceremonies. Never did we realize that it is exactly because of this societal agreement that the entire world is looking at you in shame and disappointment instead of minding its own business.

From the bottom of our hearts, we ask that you please accept our apology.

Thank you.
John Medeiros
Minneapolis MN

I suppose if you spent any time actually thinking about it, the idea might occur to you that any sort of change in the fabric of time might change whether there would be an America today, not just the birth of Jesus. Or, if you had any sense of church history, you might consider that Christmas has never been the center of the church calendar, since the birth of Jesus is shadowed by his resurrection as the essential part of the Christian faith, so really maybe we should be arguing about the secular war on Easter, although no such thing actually exists. But, why think, right? Let's just make up some sort of fake persecution, so we can feel like the world is unfair to conservative, white and mainstream Christianity:

If Jesus Christ had never been born, there would be no United States of America. If Jesus Christ had not been born, I would not be writing this column and you would not be reading it. Christmas is the reason we Americans live in the greatest country in the world.

[...]

If Jesus Christ had never been born, there would be no Christmas celebration. The American economy depends on people buying other people Christmas gifts each year. That is why the idea of "holiday" shopping is so ridiculous. No one buys gifts to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. The kids don't run downstairs at 5 a.m. on New Year's morning. Overwhelmingly, Americans exchange gifts with friends and family precisely because it is Christmas. Ask American retailers and they will tell you—it's the most wonderful time of the year. It is hypocrisy of the highest order for retailers to make their living from Christmas sales, and yet be too politically correct to even acknowledge that fact in their advertising, pretending that people are "holiday" shopping. Who are they trying to kid?

Tucson firefighters extinguish a small blaze at a shuttered gas station on First Avenue south of Grant Road on Wednesday, Dec. 21.

It's not so much that Olive Garden sucks by its very nature, since they apparently try to make changes on the menu incorporating actual Italian dishes, but the people who eat there don't want anything other than overcooked pasta with cheese sauce dumped on top:

At Olive Garden, pasta is served soft, not al dente or slightly firm, the traditional Italian method. Meat is often served on top of pasta, and cheese is mixed with seafood, two preparations rare in authentic Italian cuisine. The reason: Adding a protein to a dish makes it seem like a better value. Also, Americans have a strong preference for meat and cheese.

"We don't use the word authentic," to describe the Olive Garden experience, Mr. Caron says. The chain prefers "Italian inspired."

Chefs at Olive Garden headquarters reverse-engineer menu items from real Italian dishes. A current seasonal dish, baked pasta romana—a mix of lasagna pasta, rich cheese sauce, spinach and either a beef or chicken topping—started as a fresh-torn pasta dish with olive oil, garlic and herbs eaten by company chefs on a trip to Northern Italy.

Chefs found the dish "really rustic, but still kind of normal," the magic formula Olive Garden chefs often look for, says Marie Grimm, director of culinary development for Olive Garden. In restaurant tests, the company tried a chicken version with roasted tomato sauce, but diners didn't find it "cravable," says Ms. Grimm. The restaurant switched to a cheese sauce.