As the title of today's post indicates, that is the mantra here in the Lower Ninth Ward. From where we are set up to broadcast tonight (on the roof of a rental truck), you can see not only the devastation all around, but the exact spot where the levee gave way filling this neighborhood with water. We're surrounded by evidence that the water arrived with great violence and speed. This may be among the saddest places on the planet right now. Tomorrow, three months and two days since Katrina, the folks who lived here will be allowed their first unaccompanied visit back to what is left of their homes.  Some roads are closed by Mississippi River barges, others by homes that sit blocking the pavement. The streets remain littered with water heaters, tires, furniture... the stuff of life. One clean-up worker, who today was handed a new paper grid map allowing him to start work in this area, told me he assumes there are bodies still here. The odor on a nearby side street would certainly indicate the possible presence of some of the souls who lost their lives when the levees broke. In this region, once you know what to look for, you quickly become expert at knowing how the story ended in various structures: where there are holes in the roof, there was probably an air rescue. At least you like to think of the holes in that way. In so many cases, simply owning an axe made the difference between life and death.

Like our broadcast last night, tonight our lead story will take us elsewhere: the President's speech at Annapolis, the debate over the war and the slow adjustment of expectations. We will listen to his remarks, followed by our own reality check from the Pentagon. We'll also check in on the dire situation in Pass Christian, Miss., where they are simply trying to remain as a town. And we will feature two New Orleans fixtures tonight: Harry Connick, Sr. (who was known for three decades as this city's district attorney long before he was known for his son the crooner) and the jazz clubs that are such a famous part of this place. After our reporting on the desolate surroundings here, it will be nice to end on an up note.

We are again enormously proud of the reporting in the broadcast tonight, and we hope you can join us.

Sometimes it is true in journalism that no good deed goes unpunished. And it's always true, in all occupations, that you can't please everyone. I say this in response to the negative e-mails that arrived after a Tuesday Nightly News broadcast (Netcast link) that we were justifiably proud of. For the few posted on this site, I receive scores more on every major topic personally. Specifically, with each of our five post-storm visits to this city, the long-suffering storm victims in other areas of the Gulf region complain that New Orleans is getting too much of our attention. While the reasons for being here are obvious and numerous (including, but not limited to the fact that we were here DURING Katrina and have pledged to follow the progress of this city that saw so much human suffering and death), we have taken the broadcast on similar multi-night trips to devastated portions of Mississippi, and we have covered Florida's ongoing problems as well. It's a big region with a lot of problems. Many factors go into our coverage decisions. Our coverage will never please everyone, but we're in it for the story of a crisis of enormous scope.

One of the revelations of yesterday for our traveling team (two camera crews and three producers -- a flattering number of people -- and a long walk from my first job in television journalism, when I was writer, reporter, cameraman and producer... operating out of a car trunk in the Midwest) was our first exposure to Mayor Ray Nagin. In all my time in this city, covering this one event and the aftermath over the course of six trips, I had never seen or met him personally  That finally happened yesterday but not before hours of planning, cajoling... and I can't rule out begging and polite threats. Nagin has now distilled his answer to the "what did you do wrong here?" question to three categories which he somewhat forthrightly recited to us. The single most striking aspect of meeting the mayor was what had to happen BEFORE we were allowed to meet the mayor. He has apparently hired a P.R. team of loyalists who could easily protect the White House. And by that I mean: the house, its occupants and all 18 acres. In fact, someone in our group remarked (and mind you: this is an interview on the second floor "atrium level" of the downtown Sheraton) that we've conducted interviews with Presidents of the United States with less discussion of camera angles, walking distances, duration, lighting and timing. What's happening here is clear: he's suddenly a national figure under fire (and deflecting complaints that he's in over his head even now that the waters have receded) and limiting and targeting his media exposure is now seen (presumably by the mayor) as crucial.  A journalist friend from our NBC station in Philadelphia said he's been staking out the mayor for three weeks. And Mr. Nagin, I've found, has switched from T-shirts to suits, owing, one would guess, to his almost-weekly lobbying trips to Washington and his upcoming re-election run. I don't know how much coverage he's watched of what has transpired in his own city: after he opened his press conference yesterday with a slap at the national media for negative portrayals of New Orleans, he then seemed genuinely surprised to learn that an NBC News team, including yours truly, rode out Katrina inside the dome. Live and learn. Mr. Nagin was perfectly charming during his time with us (video link), and immediately afterward walked through the lobby of the not-quite-back-to-normal Sheraton Downtown... on his way to a waiting car.

Last night here in New Orleans was fascinating. Our team had dinner in one of the 26 percent of the restaurants that the city says have re-opened. The recovery is spotty. The famous and beautiful gas lamps in the Quarter are back on, but the streets are virtually desolate, considering their natural state is a teeming mass of people who are nowhere near sober. Men eat dinner in pairs or small groups. They're all contractors. The shortage of women has been chronicled by the L.A. Times in vivid fashion. Military police roam the streets in pairs, trying hard to blend in while wearing fatigues. And the sight of feces and heroin needles in a Superdome stairwell yesterday set us all back. The management team there was less than thrilled that the image was televised. But we called it as we saw it, and seeing this city up close these days isn't always pretty. The thanks we received from fellow diners in the restaurant last night for our past coverage here was beyond gratifying -- and a solid reminder of the power this medium can have when it chases a cause that needs urgent attention.

Today we're off to the Lower Ninth Ward. More later.

Here's how Brian closed Tuesday's broadcast from the Superdome. Nightly News will orginate from New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward on Wednesday.
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"Finally tonight, the parts of this city not visible to the rest of the nation. From the air, New Orleans -- and this whole region for that matter -- looks like a sea of blue. The locals call it "FEMA blue," the plastic tarp material that covers the roofs of houses.

And when you fly over at night, you see the reality as well. As much as this city wants to stress the services that have been restored: there are entire areas still living in darkness. No power. No lights. For three months.

The U.S. is at war. The holidays are coming. Americans are busy. And a whole lot of people in this area want people to know: life is still a daily struggle in this part of the world."

We are back in New Orleans tonight, and I think it's safe to say this visit is far more emotional than we had counted on. I just met Albert Bryan, having last seen him in section 121 of the Superdome on the day of Katrina. Albert came here after being unable to evacuate. He was responsible for eight family members, and they were finally bused out of here on Friday of Katrina week, after spending a hellish week in this structure. They were all bused to different cities in Texas. He has a Masters in social work and is still unemployed. I just took him on a very emotional walk back to that section, and on the way we saw a heroin needle in the stairwell, human waste and the remnants of military rations. In many ways, it's as if Katrina happened yesterday. Albert and I were both happy to find that the smell is gone from here (I'm typing this inside an RV which is our temporary workspace in the dome. Our anchor location will be from where the 50-yard line once was. The artificial turf has been torn up and bare cement remains), but you're constantly aware that people died here.

Tonight on the broadcast we'll also air a portion of my interview today with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and with the manager of the Superdome. This city is not yet back. There is still much visible damage, and acute shortages of both food and workers. From the air, all that is visible are the "FEMA blue" tarps on rooftops as far as the eye can see.

Our lead story has changed a few times this afternoon... right now we have the President penciled in as our lead, with plenty of news from here on the recovery.

I will try to file after the broadcast tonight, when we see more of the city. It will be strange to stay in a hotel... our first in six visits. We've put a lot of work into tonight's broadcast. We hope you can join us.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration -- the government's hurricane experts -- held a news conference today to wrap up what was one of the worst hurricane seasons in history. The season officially ends tomorrow, but ironically, it's not over yet. Today, forecasters announced the formation of Tropical Storm Epsilon, which formed way out in the Atlantic and is not expected to come near the U.S. Not surprisingly, the 2005 hurricane season was a record setter. Here are the stats, courtesy of NOAA:

Most Numerous
26 Named Storms (previous record: 21 in 1933)
13 Hurricanes (previous record: 12 in 1969)
4 major hurricanes hitting the U.S. (previous record: 3 in 2004)
3 Category 5 Hurricanes (previous record: 2 in 1960 and 1961)

Deadliest
Hurricane Katrina, at least 1,300 victims (most since "The Great Okochobee Hurricane" in 1928)

Costliest
Hurricane Katrina, at least $80 billion (previous record: Andrew, $26.5 billion in 1992)

Strongest
Hurricane Wilma, 882 millibars (mb) (previous record in the Atlantic basin: Gilbert at 888 mb)

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., has struck a blow against political correctness by convincing the architect of the Capitol that the tree on the Capitol grounds be rechristened the Capitol "Christmas" Tree instead of the more recently employed Capitol "Holiday" Tree.

"A Christmas tree is a Christmas tree," says Hastert mouthpiece Ron Bonjean, by way of explanation.

As first reported in this morning's Washington Times, the tree has in recent years been known as the "Holiday" tree. But in a letter to Architect of the Capitol Alan Hantman, Hastert says he wants it to be henceforth known as the "Christmas" tree. It is unclear just when the first change was instituted, and by whom.

"I fully understand your desire to make all holiday displays as inclusive as possible," Hastert writes. "There are many ways to accomplish this, and the Supreme Court has ruled that such displays in public buildings are fully permissible under the Constitution."

This year's tree is a 65-foot Engelmann Spruce from the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico. It sits on the west front grounds of the Capitol, just outside the Speaker's balcony. (Here in the Capitol it is our sincere opinion that this tree has it all over the White House tree.)

Incidentally, the White House tree, located on the Ellipse, is known as the "National Christmas Tree."

Editor's note: Warning to readers: this post contains graphic content.

Sunday I met the suicide bomber who attacked our bureau nearly two weeks ago.  At least I saw him.  The encounter was macabre, but not unusual in Baghdad these days. I saw the bomber's face, curled up like a piece of leather parchment on the pavement in front of our bureau. It was a flap of skin with eye holes, the nose and half a mouth. It had been blown into a tree during the bombing and then dislodged yesterday by a bird. (We buried it in a bed of flowers near the bureau Monday morning. The local guards didn't want to bury it at night, fearing that would bring bad luck.) 

Then I went inside and began to prepare for the Saddam trial. Oddly, it wasn't the only face I'd seen recently. Last month after another suicide bombing I saw another face -- of the bomber or a victim, I don't know. It was stuck to a shrapnel-pocked wall like a mask. I started to talk about the odd coincidence with another reporter -- seeing two faces, who would have thought? We traded stories for a few minutes, one more grotesque than the next. I think it occurred to us at about the same time: "What happened to our sensitivity? Our humanity?"

NBC Nightly News was there at the beginning -- as a vast human tragedy played out on televisions around the world. Now, three months after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the South, the broadcast returns to where our coverage of the disaster began. Brian Williams anchors tonight live from the New Orleans' Superdome with a look at how the city -- and its residents -- are recovering.

Brian and his producers have fresh batteries in their BlackBerries. Look for posts from them in the storm zone throughout the day.

With 45 minutes to air, the broadcast is making more room for Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's tearful confession today to taking bribes and tax evasion. That means one half of the war debate -- which Brian mentions below and Senior Producer Ed Deitch posted about earlier in the day -- will air later in the week. Tonight, we'll feature correspondent Chip Reid reporting from Rep. John Murtha's district in western Pennsylvania.

Tomorrow morning we fly to New Orleans. It's our sixth trip down there since Katrina, and it's in keeping with our vow to stay on the story that we watched unfold. An article in one of our industry trade journals this morning served, I believe, as a well-intended attempt to hold our feet to the fire on coverage of the other issues that Katrina raised. Point taken, as our coverage in the coming days and weeks will reflect (including, but not limited to a series of reports on poverty that have been commissioned but take time to produce). Our Executive Producer John Reiss will be part of our travel team on this trip, as among other things John wants to thank the folks in our New Orleans bureau for the extraordinary work (and the volume of work) they've been doing, under less than the best circumstances. Frieda Morris, our Bureau Chief, is from Atlanta... and has selflessly put her life on hold to take charge of our day-to-day operation down there. An enormous amount of planning has gone into this week's trip to New Orleans, and if these upcoming Nightly News broadcasts go as we hope, I think they will make for a revealing glimpse of the city, post-Katrina.

THE BUG-GEIST
Here in New York, a new obsession was launched by a page one story in the Sunday New York Times.  Suddenly, everyone is vigilant... on the lookout for bedbugs. It positively horrified Times readers, and it was among the topics of conversation at our morning editorial meeting today. I couldn't help but think: it's a good thing those of us in this business don't stay in a lot of strange hotels in strange places for a living!

And now, at long last, to today's news:

You may remember his father, Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark. Ramsey Clark has been involved in Democratic/liberal politics and law all his life (for example: when I first started collecting and listening to the audio tapes of President Lyndon Johnson's recorded telephone conversations, I was surprised by the familiarity the two men used in talking to one another). He has been in and out of the limelight for decades. But he's never done anything quite as baffling as this: he's arrived in Baghdad to be a part of Saddam Hussein's defense team. Richard Engel will have our report from court tonight.

Also, as Senior Producer Ed Deitch posted earlier, we'll have a tale of two members of Congress and their constituents... and how they reflect both sides in the current war debate. We'll look at the holiday retail season thus far: was "Black Friday" really black? Is this really "Cyber Monday" or are we all victims of the easy categories and simple labels that the media love to repeat? And if you've watched NBC for any length of time over this past holiday weekend, you've seen yours truly promoting a story about the dangers of opening those in-store credit card accounts. That will finally air tonight, relieving a nation of its collective suspense. And we'll have a fitting story from New Orleans to close out the broadcast on the eve of our trip there.

HITTING THE BOOKS
What a great weekend it was for fans of Book TV on C-Span. From Neil Armstrong's biographer James Hansen, to the author of One Bullet Away, former Marine Capt. Nathaniel C. Fick, an Iraq war veteran, to BOTH appearances by the wonderful David McCollough. For those of us who must constantly feed our book addictions, it is great to have a cable channel devoted to the discussion of great books.

GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF THE STORY
Finally, the story identified by Nightly News writer Chris Colvin as the story of the day. In microcosm, it may say awful things about what we're becoming. If you've flown on those small "regional jets" (a great euphemism for "mailing tube") that the airlines have become so fond of, then you've seen this dynamic of human growth in sometimes-painful fashion.

Tonight we look at the debate on the war in Iraq among voters in two quite different corners of the country, politically and geographically, and find key differences as well as some common ground.

It's the first day of deer hunting season in Pennsylvania, and folks were talking about that -- and the war in Iraq -- today in the 12th Congressional District, home of Democratic Rep. John Murtha. We sent correspondent Chip Reid to Johnstown, Pa., to gauge sentiment about the war after Murtha's stark call for a pullout a couple of weeks ago intensified the war debate in a way we hadn't seen previously.  Murtha, a decorated Marine veteran of Vietnam, is highly popular in the district and told us again how he was reflecting the view of voters whom, he said, were well ahead of him on the war issue. But even if that weren't the case, he told us, he would still take this position. We explored the issue as well at the American Legion Hall. Among a group of older vets, some told us that if a guy like John Murtha says it's time to start pulling out of Iraq, maybe it's time for them to rethink their support of the war. And yet others, despite their support of  John Murtha generally, differ with him on pulling out of Iraq. Our story tonight reflects their thinking as well.

Our companion story is from Mark Potter, who went to the 16th Congressional District in south-central Florida. That area is represented by Mark Foley, a moderate Republican who told us there is an "underbelly of unease" about the war in Iraq. While most people in the district still support the way the war is being handled and say the U.S. should not just "cut and run," Foley tells us that, increasingly, his Republican constituents want to hear about how and when the war will end. We follow the congressman as he talks with voters on both sides of the war debate.

I was particularly struck by one man, Ira Delgado, a restaurant owner and a Republican, who believes, on one hand, that the U.S. needs to finish the job in Iraq, but asks: "Is there an end to this? Because it seems there is no end to it right now." 

Whatever your politics, that is a question that many more people seem to be asking after John Murtha spoke his mind.

As the holiday shopping season begins, there's something you need to know before you leave for the mall. It's about those enticing offers available only if you sign up for a store credit account. Before you do it, you'll want to watch our report on how opening several of these retail accounts may very well come back to haunt you.

Your feedback to senior broadcast producer Bob Epstein's first weekend post a week ago made it more evident than ever that the news does not stop on weekends. And we have heard you: you want us to expand our Nightly Netcast, now posted on the Internet at 10 p.m. ET each weekday night, to Saturday and Sunday. Rest assured, we are working on it and hope to have a weekend Nightly News Netcast up and running soon. As for this weekend, Bob is taking a well deserved few days off. So, John Seigenthaler will have to bear with fellow senior producer Pat Burkey and me as we attempt to fill his shoes.

Once again, we are watching news at this early hour out of Iraq and it is not good. Two suicide bombings and more than a dozen Iraqis dead. Jim Maceda has just spent Thanksgiving in Iraq and will have the latest on this, and more from his visit earlier in the week with members of the 3rd Infantry Division, now approaching the end of their second tour of duty. (For those of you who missed last night's broadcast, Jim ably pulled together this chilling video of militants rehearsing for their devastating attack a few weeks ago outside the Palestine and Sheraton hotels. It's worth a look.)

Two years ago, we were just as surprised as the rest of the country following President Bush's super top secret trip to Iraq for a quick Thanksgiving meal with the troops. One year ago this weekend, the President was really on a roll, having just been reelected, promising to spend his "political capital" on Social Security and other domestic initiatives. This year -- as far as we know -- Mr Bush is on his ranch in Crawford, having gone through a tough few months. And --  as far as we know -- our own Rosiland Jordan is in Crawford too, and will take a look at the President's standing a year ago compared to now, and what his administration needs to do to get back on track.

Last weekend, we previewed this holiday shopping season. Tonight, Dawn Fratangelo will give us an update on how it's going so far, and preview what has become known as "Black Monday" or "Cyber Monday." That's the Monday after Thanksgiving, when more and more retailers are noticing a huge spike in online sales, making it one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.

On Wednesday in this space, Brian recounted how we were all sitting in our afternoon editorial meeting, looking at a slate of executive producer John Reiss's brand new, sleek flat panel TVs mounted on his wall, wondering where all the traffic was on what was supposed to be the busiest travel day of the year. It turns out that busiest day is now the Sunday after Thanksgiving, according to some experts. We'll be sure to bring you the latest on the return trip home by air and by car. One added note, we are always eager to jump on gas price stories when they are on the rise. Well, gas prices have come down in the past month -- to under $2 a gallon in some places. We will include that piece of somewhat encouraging news too.

In New Orleans, it'll be an especially "Long Road Back" for that city's historic streetcars because of damage caused by Katrina. As bad as the situation is, Martin Savidge will report how -- for some of the streetcars that date back to the 1920s, at least --it could have been a lot worse.

And you can also look for a profile of Chicago-based photographer Richard Mack. Over the course of two years Mack retraced Lewis and Clark's journey to the Pacific Northwest, taking spectacular pictures for a book along the way. (www.quietlightpublishing.com) As producer Christiana Arvetis told me, Mack battled insects and blizzards as he retraced their steps. He also battled something Lewis and Clark did not need to worry about 200 years ago: industrialization.

We should be seen across the country both Saturday and Sunday. We hope you'll join us.

If you are checking in the The Daily Nightly... then chances are you are also doing a lot of your holiday shopping on-line. However, retailers are reporting that many of you (after recovering from yesterday's Thanksgiving feast) DID set out today for the local mall and the traditional black Friday bonanza. Numbers are up over last year... between three and six percent. One of the reasons, Chief Financial Correspondent Anne Thompson tell us, is that there are serious bargains to be found. Apparently retailers took a beating last year in part because they didn't slash prices. Well, this year look for deals galore. And what does this mean for the economy as a whole? Better than expected? We'll take a look tonight.

Also... a lot of you generously donated to relief and humanitarian organizations to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Tonight, there are new reports of scammers taking advantage of some of that generosity. Pete Williams found one guy who apparently set up a Web site where he sent out appeals for help. He told people he was a pilot flying in relief supplies to victims in New Orleans... and flying out evacuees. People sent him about $40,000 to help. Only problem... prosecutors say much of what this guy was telling people on his Web site just wasn't true. There are also new reports of FEMA sending checks to people who claimed to have lost their homes. Turns out, they never had homes to lose. It is incredibly frustrating given how many people really do need help. Tonight we'll look at some of these cases... and what the government is doing is about it.

Then... talk about a novel approach to problem solving. We are going to tell you about the British government's attempts to crack down on binge drinking. Pubs in Great Britain used to close every night around 11 p.m. And just before closing apparently people were knocking back a few too many. So the government has decided to now keep pubs open 24 hours a day. The theory is that this will discourage people from slamming the beers back fast at the end of the night. But is this a solution??? Keith Miller is going to take us to the 24-hour pub party now underway.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break. We'll see you later tonight.

Those of us here in the Nightly newsroom are wishing our anchorman and his family a happy Thanksgiving today. And we will humbly attempt to hold down the fort in his absence. Like our colleagues in the Washington bureau (see Gena Fitzgerald's post below), the gang here in New York is feasting on catered turkey and green bean casserole. Having subbed this morning on the Today show, this is my second turkey dinner today. And I am having a third this evening at home (not a word!).

On a more serious note... my mind is on friends and family in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. And we begin our broadcast this evening with a look at how the survivors of Hurricane Katrina are finding things to be thankful for this year despite all the hardship. Take for example Waveland, Mississippi, where the St. Clare Catholic School and Church were completely wiped out. Yet today the church parishioners have come together to serve a Thanksgiving dinner to hundreds of the displaced. And in New Orleans we check in with families who are getting by on turkey sandwiches while spending the day cleaning out wrecked homes.  Martin Savidge brings us these stories of resiliency tonight.

Also... you may have heard about this if you were watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. In Times Square an accident with one of the balloons sent two people to the hospital. The whole thing was captured on home video. Apparently a wind gust blew a giant M&M into a light post that then fell on two people watching the parade. Fortunately both people appear to be OK.

And in Iraq... the holiday afforded no break for American soldiers. There were two deadly car bombs today. In one case... American troops appear to have been the target. One car bomb exploded outside a hospital where the soldiers were delivering gifts to children to mark the holiday. Mike Boettcher is in Baghdad for us tonight. Also from Iraq... Jim Maceda spends time with soldiers from the Third Infantry Division. More than half of these soldiers are there on their second tour. They talk to us tonight about their views on the war, how things have changed over the last year and what troop morale is like today.

Hope you all will join us tonight... and to everyone, a very happy Thanksgiving.

Tonight, correspondent Kevin Corke takes a look at a subject near and dear to our hearts... especially to those of us who are working today:  Thanksgiving Dinner.

We know. You'll be sitting around your tables laden with turkey and all those very un-Atkins side dishes, while we toil in our respective newsrooms. Those of us with holiday duty can be very creative when it comes to celebrating.  Some of us bring pies to work, others dash to 8 p.m. dinners with very patient family members, and many will simply defer the celebrating to the weekend. 

The NBC News Washington bureau will have the catered turkey dinner served in our cafeteria. Most of us eat at our desk, and hope for a few uninterrupted minutes to eat. Our hardworking colleagues in New Orleans will also be dining in their newsroom: pineapple ham, mashed potatoes with creole gravy and green bean casserole.   

And in Baghdad, where it's really never a holiday, they once again prove how resourceful they are. Our besieged bureau will gather together at a makeshift smoker and cook their own Thanksgiving dinner, perhaps some chickens. Jim Maceda and his team spent the day with the Third Infantry Division, and shared part of their Thanksgiving meal.

Our White House folks with the President in Crawford plan to enjoy the repast at Cricket's Grill in Waco. Believe me, from experience, I can tell you never get in the way of a hungry White House press corps. But I digress.
 
While we will spend a good part of the day talking about what actually will go into the broadcast tonight, don't be fooled. Most of our conversation will be about food. So it is only fitting that we do a story about food tonight. As we are reminded every year about this time, nowhere is it more evident that we are a nation of immigrants than at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Remember: the only real Americans at that first celebration were the Wampanoag Indians. The rest were immigrants from a smaller country with a bit of an accent. Not much has changed since 1623. 

Having grown up in a family where antipasto preceded the turkey, and the cannoli sat right next to the pumpkin pie, it doesn't seem so strange to hear about tandoori turkey, or potstickers for a side dish, or Pasteles de Piña for dessert. Tonight we'll take a look at what some of us will be putting on the Thanksgiving table... and what that says about who we are as a nation today. Sometimes the best part of knowing who you are, is celebrating where you come from.   

Hey, are we there yet? Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from all of us at Nightly News.

Throughout the working world, and including the warren of offices on our floor here at 30 Rock, this is the afternoon where co-workers exit their offices a little earlier than normal, with coat on and bag in hand, looking both ways for the prying eyes of judgemental co-workers... and then smartly head for the elevators to get an early start on the Thanksgiving holiday.  As much as I'd like to join the exodus out of the City, the network insists on doing Nightly News live at 6:30 Eastern time each night of the year (with subsequent feeds to update in the event of breaking news, of course) and so work we must... for our loyal viewers.

Many of those loyal viewers tune in this night before Thanksgiving expecting to see America tied up in knots: on the roads, rails and in the skies.  Since we value the truth around here...here it goes: the expected gridlock isn't happening.  At least not yet, and at least not in the expected numbers and volume.  And so, as we often say in newsrooms: maybe the fact that it's NOT a story IS the story.  We'll cover what's out there. We'll also check in on our friends in the Gulf storm zone.  I suspect that when many families sit down tomorrow night, those who DO take the time to count their blessings, whether audibly or privately, will have these Americans in mind. We have one story of outrage and red tape (hopefully with a happy ending) and another that will tell the story of giving thanks... among those who lost so much.

Tom Costello will look into holiday air travel... call it the "new normal"... how have safety standards changed if at all? Have you had your nail clipper seized lately and placed, with great ceremony, in the scrap metal drawer at the airport? Has a knitter in your family been made to feel vaguely dangerous for wanting to travel with knitting needles? Does it all seem to depend on your choice of lines, times, screeners and airports? We'll look into it.

Also tonight, we'll look at the Catholic Church policy toward gay men in the ranks, and we'll check in on an old friend whom we first met through Campbell Brown at the height of the depths of human behavior in New Orleans. For those of you who remember our young friend Charles Evans fondly, he's doing OK.

A quick note about last night: as Megan Marcus blogged below, our industry gathered here in New York for the CPJ dinner. The Committee to Protect Journalists does just that. On the battlefield, in court and in prisons around the world. It's important work, and none of us ever know when we may have to call upon them. It's great to know that they'll be there on short notice... thanks to events like last night. The emotional high point of the evening came when Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather went to the podium to pay tribute to the missing member of that triumverate, Peter Jennings. Peter's legacy will always be the reporting we do beyond our shores. Journalists have paid a heavy price this past year for simply doing their jobs.

Other notes: to increase our weekend presence in this space, look for reports from the Senior Broadcast Producer of Weekend Nightly News, Bob Epstein. Bob's a great journalist, a great producer and a veteran of this shop, MSNBC and CBS News. He took his place in the blogging pantheon last weekend and will do so again in weekends to come. We received some excellent posts (48 comments!) in response to the fracas on the House floor last week. Keep the feedback coming. We're also looking into the feasability of a weekend edition of our NBC Nightly News Netcast, in response to popular demand.

Of special note in today's New York Times: the homage to the inventor of Stove Top Stuffing, and in light of the expected rough weather for tomorrow's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the piece on the training (or more to the point, the lack of it) for the handlers of Rocky, Bullwinkle and the other balloons that will grace the streets of this city tomorrow. Then there's today's Washington Post: the can't-we-all-get-along piece by Dana Milbank, and the ultimate inside-the-Beltway column by Al Kamen contains some interesting FEMA nuggets.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving, we hope you'll join us for tonight's broadcast.

As a rule, journalists do not report on themselves. You may have seen a few exceptions last week when our NBC News team in Baghdad reported on the bombings outside their offices. In this case, our correspondent, producers and crew were part of this upsetting story.

While viewers and readers rarely hear about these attacks on the media, the targeting of journalists is developing into a troubling trend.

Last night, a "who's who" of journalism gathered at the Waldorf Astoria in New York to honor journalists who put their lives on the line in order to keep the citizens of the world informed. On this night, the Committee to Protect Journalists put the spotlight on the media.

Although I am an associate producer and certainly not a part of that "who's who" list, I was able to attend this glitzy affair. For the past month, I worked with the Committee to Protect Journalists and produced a video for this event.

For someone who is used to assembling two-minute stories for NBC Nightly News, this was a daunting task, but also a rewarding experience. Through several interviews and some revealing footage, I was able to tell an important story about the murder, repression and imprisonment of journalists. Much of the video focused on the mistreatment of journalists in Iraq. Journalists not only cover the violence, they are targets of it. More than 70 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of the war.

Because of that danger, many western journalists do not venture out of their workspace in Iraq and rely on Iraqis to cover the story. However, these local journalists face their own danger. They are targeted by the insurgency for their work with westerners. The U.S. military has also arrested some Iraqi journalists without charge. Because they are able to get very close to the aftermath of bombings, the military believes certain Iraqi journalists are collaborating with the insurgency.

Another important part of the story was the vital yet under-appreciated role of the "fixer" in foreign news. A "fixer" is a local journalist on the ground in an area like Pakistan or Afghanistan. He or she serves not only as a guide and a translator but also helps the foreign journalist secure interviews.  As Kathy Gannon of the Associated Press told me: "The fixer is the front-line person today." Unfortunately, the fixer can also be targeted for his or her work. I interviewed Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, who helped two French journalists investigating the Taliban in Pakistan. He was arrested and tortured. Thankfully, he was able to seek asylum in the U.S. and tell his story.

I also devoted a section to some of the obstacles journalists face here in the U.S. For example, you may remember Brian blogging about some of the restrictions faced by the media after Hurricane Katrina. In addition, I found some shocking footage of a New Orleans policeman harassing an Associated Press producer.

If you are not familiar with the Committee to Protect Journalists, you should take a look at their Web site. CPJ believes that democracy is not possible without a free exchange of information. Staff members travel around the world, defending the rights of journalists everywhere to report the news without fear of reprisal.

I learned a great deal from my work this past month and it was an honor to share this video with my colleagues and other attendees at last night's function.

By weight, here are the Thanksgiving vittles that will be served up to American military forces in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan tomorrow.

TURKEY BREAST             174,912 pounds
TURKEY THIGH                31,853 pounds
WHOLE TURKEY               27,560 pounds
CORN BREAD STUFFING    28,768 pounds
SEASONED STUFFING        25,758 pounds
BONELESS HAM               311,280 pounds
BEEF RIBS                      306,480 pounds
BEEF ROUND                     33,880 pounds
SHRIMP                         211,128 pounds
CRAB LEGS                      95,920 pounds
PUMPKIN PIES                   32,570
FRUITCAKES                    101,040
EGG NOG                          17,040 gallons

How safe are the skies as the frenetic holiday travel season begins? With Americans taking to the air to reunite with loved ones, we'll report on the status of airport security. What's working? What's not? Can a new technology end long lines and delays?

Let's begin with all things media-related.  On this November 22nd, a date that has deep, lasting and age-specific meaning in this country, we are mourning the loss of a giant in the business of writing about Presidents.  Not long after we got off the air last night I received a blackberry message that Hugh Sidey had died.  Because TIME magazine (along with the other giants of the era, LOOK and LIFE) was always prominent on the living room table in the house I grew up in, I knew of Sidey's work at a very young age.  His "Presidency" dispatches (I was four years old when he wrote his first) always made me feel like a White House insider, even from my vantage point of a ranch house in upstate New York.  Hugh was a marvelous and sparkling guy, always interested and interesting.  While he weathered (with good humor) charges for much of his professional life that he was enamored with one or two of the subjects he wrote about, the truth is he was guilty only of a great love of his country, its system of government and centers of power.  Hugh was a detail guy...who mined each audience with each President he covered for the rich details it offered.  My favorite example is the story of Johnson's brown shoes. Sidey noticed that the usually sartorially-fastidious Lyndon Baines Johnson wore cordovan shoes with a gray suit.  Sidey knew the man and his tastes enough to know that something was up.  Sure enough, the shoes were meant to go with the khaki-colored safari outfit Johnson wore when he knew he was going to be mingling with soldiers.  Johnson was planning a secret trip to Vietnam that day, and Sidey had the story.  That's the short version.  There are other tellings that have taken on much more texture with rich embellishments over the years. Hugh covered every President from Eisenhower to George W. Bush.  He was in Dallas on this day in 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  He famously called Kennedy's Vice President, LBJ, the most fascinating person he ever met. In later years, Hugh put his love of all things Presidential to work as Chairman of the White House Historical Society...a job that would have to have been invented for him if it didn't already exist. I was very fortunate to have come to know Hugh Sidey...who never forgot how fortunate he was to know the small club of men who have occupied the Oval Office in modern times.

In a much different way, we say goodbye tonight to a giant in our profession: tonight's NIGHTLINE will mark Ted Koppel's farewell as anchor, and the start of a new chapter for him.  While I will transmit more personal thoughts privately, allow me to say here that Ted has always done it right, and on his own terms.  I will always remember the sight of him standing over me in the "executive aviation" wing of Saddam International Airport in the early days of the current war. I hadn't been asleep for long (we got in late, and what with the sounds of artillery and all...) and for a time I thought I was having a very vivid dream about Ted Koppel.  Until I realized that WAS Ted Koppel, ribbing me for sleeping on a cement tile floor in my dirty clothes...and for having joined up with his unit of the 3rd Infantry AFTER the initial slog through the desert that Ted weathered so seemingly easily.  I thought Ted's coverage of the war was the essence of clarity, bravery and just solid journalism.  Going back to Vietnam, that pretty much sums up his entire career.

H.R. Haldeman will make a brief appearance in our broadcast tonight...let's leave it at that.  Note my deft use of the "tease" device to lure you into watching this evening.  Tonight we will talk about terrorism, and the strange case of Jose Padilla.  We'll look at the President's travels of late, and how some of his political problems have been present even while on the road. We have a Fleecing of America segment that may enrage some taxpayers...about money intended for small businesses that were victims of 9-11.  Also tonight, our series on pensions continues...and we'll look at a White House tradition that continued today: the annual "pardon" granted to a lucky turkey (the actual kind, with feathers) at the White House each year.

Special thanks to our guest today, Joanne Nesti, veteran news anchor at our NBC Station in Hartford, WVIT-TV.  I've known Joanne for a long time, and she's a pro.  She attended our often raucous afternoon editorial meeting, and thus will now carry our secrets with her for all time.

We hope you'll join us tonight.

Statistics on unemployment, body counts from Iraq, the size of the national debt  - it's all about the numbers. There's no getting around the fact that numbers matter, it's the way we make sense of the news and the world around us. But as Ellen Thompson, an analyst at the U.S Census Bureau told me recently, "Numbers are never that straightforward."

As a researcher at Nightly, it's my job to track down numbers and verify their accuracy. For Monday's story by correspondent Kevin Tibbles about the pension crisis, I started with a statistic, printed in a leading business magazine, regarding the amount that state and local governments contribute to public pension funds. The magazine attributed the statistic to the U.S. Census Bureau, so off I went. It seemed pretty straightforward, except neither I nor the public information officer could confirm it. 

It turned out that it was derived from adding up the total payments column from the census's quarterly report on public pension funds. The catch is, there's a completely different set of statistics that the census issues annually on public pension payouts. Why are the two numbers different? One follows a fiscal year, the other a calendar year; one uses data from the 100 largest pension funds, the other tries to include all of them; one is compiled for the Federal Reserve, the other is just there.

So now it appears as a simple choice between two numbers, right? Not quite. One can make the argument that it's inaccurate to simply report total payments, without providing a breakdown of what employees contribute versus the government. This can either change the picture, or in this case strengthen the argument that governments cannot afford to pay for employee pension plans. But can we report the numbers that way? Not safely.

As one census official warned me, "You you can't reliably "impute" the breakdowns to specific categories. The Federal Reserve just uses these numbers to see if things are going up or down." Does that mean we can't trust the totals? The answer from the census official: "These are strong estimates."

It begs the question, when can we trust the numbers? At Nightly, as we report the good and the bad about lots of things, we confirm, verify and try to give you our strongest estimate. But it's always important, as viewers and journalists, to put it in context and figure out the breakdown, if we can. Sometimes you just have to admit that the number doesn't exist or will never be accurate like I did Monday on another research request. This time the question was how many civilians had been killed by sectarian violence in Iraq. We will probably never know.

As for making the decision on which statistic to use on the pension funds - our decision was made for us. The Census Bureau only started to issue annual statistics on public pensions in 2004. But if it's good enough for the Fed, then I think it's good enough for us.

Your tax dollars, by the billions, were set aside  to help the small businesses hurt by the 9/11 attacks. But what does a West Coast pet grooming salon or a donut shop two states away have to do with the disaster? How much of the money wound up in the wrong hands? We'll tell you, in tonight's "Fleecing of America" report.

As a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, I was asked today to introduce a speech by Senator Joe Biden, D-Del., and later moderate a question-and-answer session.  His remarks yielded some news. I think, in the post-Murtha era, the ranking Democrat on Senate Foreign Relations was anxious to put his position out on the public record.

I arrived back at 30 Rock to find that every television was tuned to the live-action cable drama of the day: the stuck landing gear on a Gulfstream jet carrying the Nike CEO and other senior executives.  While we obviously were hoping for a safe outcome, it did make me think of the posting of John Reiss, our executive producer... on the coverage decisions we make. The Gulfstream (for aviation buffs, it was a G-V) is a fine aircraft and landed safely.

In tonight's broadcast: today's news from GM and its ramifications. We'll have two reports on that single topic.  Chip Reid will update us (Sen. Biden's remarks will be included in his wrap-up) on the debate over the war in Iraq, and Mike Taibbi has an excellent piece out of New Orleans on the end of the credit "grace period" for many people there -- and the looming decision for some -- to come back home or stay in their new homes elsewhere. That decision, by thousands of families, could slowly kill New Orleans. That is the worry. Our popular MAKING A DIFFERENCE series continues with a new twist tonight: Josh Mankiewicz, an NBC News veteran (also a friend and contemporary) whose work is seen mostly on Dateline, will make a rare foray onto America's leading nightly news broadcast with a look at a Los Angeles-based screenwriter who is -- you guessed this next part -- making a difference in a very real way for the kids in that city.

Also tonight, we'll mention the passing of the last living WWI veteran who was a participant in the famous Christmas Truce gift exchange over enemy lines in 1914. As the New York Times reported it back on December 31, 1914:

On Christmas morning, two British soldiers, after signaling truce and good-fellowship from the perilous crown of their trench, walked across to the German line with a plate of mince pies and garniture and seasonable messages. They were most favorably received.

Where has that style of writing gone?

B 4 I go I wud like to wish U all a good Monday. lol.

We hope you'll join us tonight.

You've heard about the looming pension crisis. But it could be worse than you think. It's draining budgets left and right -- from schools to local government. See how it could affect your life, soon.