Well here we are, in the pines in the pines. My folks and I are visiting my brother and his family in the wooded foothills of the Northern California. We’ll be here for Christmas. It’s good to be with family.

Checking the news, I see that Rumsfeld has paid a surprise visit to Iraq. His message: Merry Christmas, Endeavor to Persevere. OK, since we can’t seem to broker a cessation of stupidities on the part of the Bushies for the duration of the holiday, I’m going to declare – for the sake only of my sanity – a suspension of cynicism. I can’t keep up with it, and you gotta admit it takes big rum balls to face those guys in the midst of all this sad chaos and abject failure. So Merry Christmas to Rummie and Bushy; Merry Christmas, one and all. Try not to choke on the goose, you turkeys.