Christmas is in the air here at the White House. There is no gaggle today, there is no briefing. All is calm, all is bright. President Bush has an empty public schedule, which would give the outward appearance that there is hardly a soul stirring. But nothing could be further from the truth.

With decisions soon to be made by the President on what direction to take the war in Iraq and whether to expand the Army and Marine Corps, there is very much happening here. But it's all very private as the President attempts to map out a strategy for victory that will play out well with his generals, the Congress and the American public. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will soon be back from Iraq to give the President his candid assessment on what needs to be done to get the job done.

Also in the not so distant future is the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former aide Scooter Libby -- scheduled to start in the middle of January. Libby, you might remember, is charged with perjury and obstruction after allegedly lying to an FBI agent and a grand jury investigating who outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent.

And tomorrow, Friday, before the President and first lady depart for a Christmas holiday at Camp David -- a somber visit by them to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Silver Spring, Md., to visit veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's always an emotional visit for the First Family and a reminder of wars not finished.

The serenity of Camp David, with logs crackling away in its fireplaces and gentle walks in the woods, is a perfect Currier & Ives illustration for the front of a Christmas card. But what to write inside is a little more complicated.   

I spend quite a bit of time driving the streets of New Orleans and its surrounding parishes. It gives me a chance to look for signs and symbols of everyone's state of mind. While I typically note the looks on their faces, how many Saints jerseys I see, and even whether they're keeping their lawns up (whether in front of their gutted home or FEMA trailer), lately I've been paying closer attention to the bumper stickers on their cars. People may intend to use them as reflections of their individuality, but in fact those stickers tell you more about their common beliefs. A lot of them are predictably sports-related: "GO LSU TIGERS," "GO HORNETS," "GEAUX SAINTS."

But others are different. Let's start with "FAITH." What started out as a message years ago to fans to have faith in the once-beleagured Saints, now seems to have a new life as a message about people's belief in their now-beleagured city. There are other stickers that existed before the storm but have been embraced anew.

When I first arrived here, I began to notice these: "NEW ORLEANS, PROUD TO CALL IT HOME." I'm told by folks that the slogan was created a few years back by some group looking to boost New Orleans' self-image. But a lot of those stickers seem to lack the nicks, dents and tears that a few years of driving and a major hurricane would inflict on them. Residents are buying them again, eager to renew their commitment to the city, in writing.

That original sticker has given way to some new variations on the theme. In a city that prides itself on its penchant for partying, someone apparently came up with this version: NEW ORLEANS, PROUD TO CRAWL HOME." You tend to see those on cars driven by young people around the local universities. But New Orleanians are nothing but self-deprecating.

So it was just a matter of time that post-storm, this version starting appearing on cars and trucks" "NEW ORLEANS: PROUD TO SWIM HOME." That grim humor is shared by alot of folks, it seems. Another incarnation I've seen: "PROUD TO REBUILD HOME AND STILL PROUD TO CALL IT HOME." It's a postive sign that folks aren't waiting for the chamber of commerce to sum up their feelings about the city.

Another popular sticker I see says "ERACISM" (Erase Racism). I'm told it too predated the storm by more than a decade. A quick Internet search revealed that Eracism is the slogan of the group ERACE, which was formed in New Orleans in 1993 following a series of articles in The Times-Picayune, "Together Apart/The Myth of Race." There's something to be said for a city that's willing to admit its problems, in black and white, right there on bumper stickers for all the world to see.

Stickers created after the storm tend to be pointedly political. For awhile, vehicles sported these: "HOLD THE CORPS ACCOUNTABLE" or "FEMA HAPPENS" or even this: "FEMA WHERE Y'AT?" But the anger at a particular government agency has morphed into a general feeling of frustration that perceived government neglect is bigger than any one bureaucracy. That's reflected in this play off the old 60s summer of love slogan. The updated New Orleans' version? "MAKE LEVEES, NOT WAR." Thousands more messages dot back windows, bumpers and tailgates around here. Most are simple in their sentiments. "I LOVE NOLA" or a simple Fleur De Lis symbol. One of the most poignant I saw this week. A couple who live in New Orleans East have a specially printed sticker on their vehicle that reads "THANKS AMERICA, MARY AND JOSEPH PEREZ, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA." They attached it to their car when they evacuated following the storm. It was their way of telling folks they were grateful for the help. Mary and Joseph are spending Christmas in a FEMA trailer back in New Orleans (that's another story), but despite the fact they're home, they feel compelled to keep displaying that sticker.

Our day began with President Bush's appearance in a rare venue for a news conference: the Indian Treaty Room of the Old (Eisenhower) Executive Office Building. As a former White House intern who used to regularly conduct tours, I remember only some of the details of that room: its elaborate inlaid floor, and the desk drawer, which bears the signatures of American vice presidents going back many administrations. If memory serves, it was formerly the official office of the vice president, before the modern era when they moved to the West Wing. The end-of-year news conference was an interesting session, regardless of the setting. While the President put off some questions due to his upcoming strategy speech on Iraq, he answered plenty of them, and we have a lot of material to go over tonight. Kelly O'Donnell will have our report from the White House. Jim Miklaszewski will have a follow-up on the story about enlarging the military, and Tim Russert will look at the politics of all that is going on.

The weather is in the news tonight, as we need not tell you if you live in Denver. We will soon look at the videotape from our NBC station there, KUSA. This storm has already caused big problems with the Denver airport (the huge United hub) where any disruption is felt across the national grid. They are expecting 3 1/2 feet of snow just outside Boulder from this storm. It's a huge low pressure system, and so it's moving counter-clockwise over the Rockies -- and it looks strange to see weather moving from East to West across any part of the country.

Another weather-related story took a sad, grim turn this afternoon: the search effort for those two climbers atop Mount Hood has been called off -- we are awaiting the official statement. A lot of Americans have been watching this drama unfold for many days, and feel somehow invested in the search, and our thoughts and prayers go out to those families.

Dawn Fratangelo has what might be the most interesting piece in tonight's broadcast for millions of people. It's about the generation that while raising children is also caring for elderly parents. There was a lot of nodding going on in the editorial meeting this afternoon when Dawn ran through her reporting for us -- this is something a lot of us are living.

THE DEATH OF PRIVACY
This afternoon in a Midtown Manhattan department store, I saw a famous rock star and his wife Christmas shopping. So did a lot of other people. From a distance, I watched as many of their fellow shoppers slowly removed their cell phones from their pockets and purses -- and proceeded to take pictures of the couple, some from six feet away. Some faked phone calls, others were unabashed about it. It struck me while watching it all unfold that privacy, especially for the prominent in our society, is over. The invention of the cell phone camera, coupled with Web sites that solicit real-time celebrity sightings in cities like New York and Los Angeles, make for a terribly claustrophobic atmosphere -- in this case, for a couple trying to buy a Christmas gift. Sorry, no names or locations... I'm trying to give them a little privacy.

TO THE NEWSROOM
Off we go to put this all together for tonight. We hope you will join us for our Wednesday night broadcast.

Brian is resting his voice again today, but will anchor the broadcast tonight. That allows NBC's Dawn Fratangelo to make her vlog debut.

She previews tonight's top story -- President Bush's year-end news conference -- and her report in our "American Boomer" series, about baby boomers caring for their aging parents. She recommends these two Web sites for people who want additional information: eldercare.gov and caremanager.org.

Click here or on the image to watch the vlog.

We have a ton of important and compelling stories -- now it's down to ordering them. No sooner had I returned to my office after the editorial meeting, concerned about time allotments and a crowded broadcast rundown -- when I looked up at my television and saw white smoke coming from the top of Mount St. Helen's in Washington state. Can there please be no more news involving mountains in the Pacific Northwest? 

That brings us to one story we'll be covering tonight: the climbers. I've detected in my TV watching a real up-tick over the past 24 hours in the number of voices questioning such elaborate rescue efforts and the expenditure -- given the fact that three experienced men made a conscious decision to climb a dangerous mountain. It's a very dicey area where life and death is concerned. Tonight we'll touch on the cost, while largely leaving the debate over it to others.

We will also cover the over-the-counter pain reliever story, which is a big one. The products on the list are in 99% of American medicine cabinets, and while they are taken like candy by some, they are decidedly not -- and as we'll hear tonight, the FDA and manufacturers are concerned enough to warn us further that this is serious medicine. We'll update the increasing talk of a "surge" in Iraq (using more U.S. troops initially, the theory goes, in order to decrease the number of U.S. troops eventually), and the crime stats that are just out. We also will have an interesting update from New Orleans (I've been reading your e-mails) on both the everyday picture there, and a new post-Katrina dynamic that is straining the already-strained public health system.

THE FIRST LADY
We will tonight cover the revelation that Laura Bush had a skin cancer removed back in November -- which has been disclosed now, we're told, because she was "tired of wearing pant suits." It raises an interesting issue for discussion and debate: Who among us would like our medical records -- say nothing of each and every procedure, no matter how intimate -- disclosed publicly and dissected with graphics by experts and would-be experts on television and all other media? And yet, having said that: the reason why Betty Ford is among the undisputed great figures of the last several generations is her courage in all but singlehandedly destigmatizing substance abuse and breast cancer. Yes, there are vast differences here, but it underscores the constant conundrum of public life where privacy and medical issues are concerned. The first lady's health is the first lady's business... until it isn't. Meaning: disclosure of a medical condition in the public domain leads to massive media coverage, which leads to public awareness -- which inevitably leads to early detection and perhaps even a cure for some who otherwise wouldn't have been checked. Tony Snow was questioned rather thoroughly about the topic at today's White House briefing. We will briefly cover Mrs. Bush's procedure with Dr. Nancy Snyderman tonight.

IN THE NEWS
Entirely by accident, all of today's print stories that I've chosen to note happen to be from one place, for the second day in a row: The New York Times. It's not as if it's the only paper I read today, but there are several items worth noting. In the Metro section, an article about foster parents in New Jersey. (NYTimes.com login required for links.) Under a new policy, those families who agree to raise foster children will be given an album, or "life book" to fill with photos and memories, so that when the child grows up and finds a permanent home, they will have a better sense of who they are, what they looked like, how they developed... the story of their own childhood. If you'll forgive the personal reference, what made this story so meaningful and sentimental to me was the fact that this is exactly what my late sister did for the children she raised as a foster mother in New Jersey. She used to compile beautiful books filled with photos, stories -- elaborate hand-written accounts of how the children developed (baby's first word, first step, etc.) and when, family stories, outings and favorite outfits. No one told her to do it, she just did it. While she did not invent it, she may well have perfected it. And now it will be state policy for all foster parents... and children will be the better for it.

Now to the Op-Ed page. No one would have blamed readers of this morning's Times for getting back into bed, pulling up the covers and staying there for the next 10 years after reading the piece by nuclear physicist Peter Zimmerman, which featured this upbeat riff on a "The Smoky Bomb Threat:"

"A few breaths might easily be enough to sicken a victim, and in some cases to kill. A smoky bomb exploded in a packed arena or on a crowded street could kill dozens or hundreds. It would set off a radiological emergency of a kind not seen before in the United States, and the number of people requiring life support or palliative care until death would overwhelm the number of beds now available for treating victims of radiation. First responders dashing unprotected into the cloud from a smoky bomb might be among the worst wounded... Some of the steps involved with making a good smoky bomb from polonium would be dangerous for the terrorists involved, and might cost them their lives. That, unfortunately, no longer seems like a very high barrier."

Alrighty then. That nicely brings us to the next item, found in today's business section, under the headline: Finally, a Way to Catch a Flight Without Shedding Your Shoes. It's the work of the always-superb Joe Sharkey and it's about a new paid service... the Registered Traveler Program:

"Under the program, travelers who pay an annual fee and pass a federal background check receive biometrically encoded ID cards to use at special processing lanes at airports. While the traveler still has to pass through security, the special lane has a separate kiosk that verifies identity and, starting in January, will scan shoes, negating the need to take them off at the regular magnetometer."

The takeaway message? We haven't mastered airport security yet, not even close. We're still screening shoes, but this will be a PRIVATE shoe screening. What could be more luxurious than private shoe screening? It does lend credence to the notion, raised often by smart people (who have time to think of such lofty things during the time they spend in security lines), to treat security as a Marshall Plan. Have we made it known that the input from our best and brightest to solve a huge problem... would be welcome?

Finally, and I won't keep you much longer, today's twin obituaries -- Chris Hayward and Joseph Barbera -- both men were giants of the cartoon world. Both started out in jobs they knew they didn't belong in. And for the first time in memory, one obit referred in the text to another.

This is all a function of being unable to talk during the day, to save what little voice I have. Today it's all gone to the keyboard. I left it all on the field, as it were.

We hope you'll join us tonight for our Tuesday night broadcast.

I'm sitting here in Hood River, Ore., a radio scanner picking up occasional conversations, as we wait for news that Brian Hall and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke have been found.

I figured we might get a better idea of who these men were in photos today. They're snapshots of the final days of their lives. The camera, found on Kelly James' body, had a roll of film that has now been developed. Investigators say the photos show the men starting out on their climb, smiling, seemingly upbeat. They also show the gear they had.

From those pictures, the sheriff says he thinks the climbers were supplied for the days they planned to be on the mountain (about six days). It's unlikely that the gear and food they had would sustain them this long (the search began 10 days ago, four days into their climb.)

I'd like to see the photos. I think those who are watching this story unfold want to see the photos.

But the family members of the hikers who have bravely faced this tragedy, often on-camera at news conferences, have said sharing these pictures with the media is too much. They've asked us if someone gives us the photos, not to use them.

They're not going to share them with us. They're going to keep them to themselves, to remember the men they loved, and to look, perhaps in vain, for an explanation in the pictures of why this happened in the first place.

Brian anchors the broadcast tonight, but is resting his voice in New York. So NBC's Tom Costello delivers today's vlog from the Washington bureau.

Among the stories we're watching for you: The search on Mount Hood, a jump in wholesale inflation, and a possible rift between the White House and the Joint Chiefs of staff about troop levels in Iraq.

Click here or on the image to watch.

Having started the day with no voice, I have spent much it in my office avoiding conversation and trying to coax a croak into enough of a noise to get me through a half hour of television. I felt awful when correspondent Janet Shamlian brought her very cute little daughter by my office for a visit earlier today: at that point in the day, I was making sounds audible only to whales -- and I'm afraid she left here wondering who the scary man was. I will make an azithromycin-and-tea-fueled attempt to get through the broadcast this evening, having come down with the same upper-respiratory thing that millions seem to be battling.

How we'll begin the broadcast is still a bit up in the air. We just exited the 2:30 editorial meeting, and the problem is not a shortage of stories. The sad discovery on Mount Hood is among the stories we'll cover. The search effort continues, and conditions today aren't quite what they were yesterday. Many family members spoke to the assembled media today, amid the backdrop of sadness and trepidation with each passing day. Just this past hour, the family of Kelly James has confirmed that it was indeed his body. The Vietnam-era Chinook helicopters we've been watching are still the workhorses of the Army and Army Reserve -- they all have a ton of miles and flying hours on them -- and while they've been retrofitted over the years (with new avionics, regular engine changes, etc.), those airframes are the originals. I flew on several in Iraq with Gen. Wayne Downing, U.S. Army, ret., who was able to point out the patched-up bullet holes in one Chinook's skin dating back to the Vietnam war. One Iraq-based Army Chinook I flew in still had a vintage canvas bag for shell casings from the door-mounted machine gun, bearing a stenciled date from the 1960s. In this case (and as is common in aviation), maintenance and upkeep often matter more than the age of the airframe -- as evidenced by the hard work those helicopters are doing, along with their Black Hawk brethren, in some nasty weather atop Mount Hood over these past few days... and in hostile, unforgiving places elsewhere on the planet.

Also tonight: a new Pentagon report on the Iraq war will (we know from an advance read) contain some "devastating" findings and facts. Jim Miklaszewski will have that report for us. Ron Allen will update us on the "era of good feelings" in the NBA -- the repository of fellowship, sportsmanship and holiday warmth. Oh... and heavy fines and a lot of cursing.

Kevin Corke has a story on what can often be the financial "underside" of this time of year -- when a lot of lower-income folks are forced to pay even more than they should just so they can afford to give gifts to their loved ones. And the aforementioned Janet Shamlian (she of the daughter with permanent emotional scars from her visit to the croaking anchorman's office), will have a piece on the musical tastes of the Baby Boom generation. If you guessed James Taylor and Elton John, you guessed correctly. And then some.

In our journalism watch: two superb page one stories in this morning's New York Times: one on an American prisoner held in Iraq, the other on the "wood boilers" that are fouling the air in New England (and other places) while providing heat cheaply (NYTimes.com login required for links). And my thanks to TIME magazine editor Rick Stengel for inviting me to author a reality check of sorts in this week's edition on their choice of "Person of the Year" and the current media landscape. We're also extremely grateful to the panel put together by the Baltimore Sun for the nice things they had to say about us in a review of various television network blogs. We work hard at it, and it means a lot to all of us who contribute.

We hope you will join us for our Monday night broadcast as we start another week.

Our anchor is somewhat hoarse today, but he's on the job and previews today's top stories -- from the Mount Hood search to Robert Gates' first day on the job at the Pentagon.

Click here or on the image to watch the vlog.

We are continuing to watch this story from Mount Hood in Oregon... where authorities are searching for 3 climbers who have been missing for more than a week.  It's a major operation and rescue teams could soon be approaching the top of the mountain.   NBC's Peter Alexander is following this story again tonight.

Also... from Iraq... new violence today following Saturday's reconciliation conference.  Insurgents pulled off a mass kidnapping today of workers at the Red Crescent office in Baghdad.  NBC's Jim Maceda reports.

In Washington, the ongoing debate over Iraq... and what President Bush's next step should be.  Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said today... that the U.S. Army is at the breaking point in Iraq ... and Americans are now less safe than when the war started.  NBC's Kevin Corke reports from the White House.

From the Middle East... NBC's Mike Boettcher where the situation appears to be going from bad to worse in Gaza as Palestinians continue fighting Palestinians.

NBC's Mike Taibbi reports on another black eye for the NBA.  A major brawl at a basketball game last night.  It comes in a year when the league promised to crackdown on players who engage in just this kind of activity.

NBC's Robert Bazell has a sobering look at global warming and what it could mean for all of us.

And NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports on a group that helps kids who have lost a parent in Iraq.  It's all coming up tonight on NBC Nightly News.

We are watching developments around Mount Hood in Oregon today... where the search continues for 3 missing climbers.  The weather cleared early this morning... allowing the search to resume from the air and the ground.  Their families are holding out hope that the 3 will be found alive.  We'll have a report from NBC's Peter Alexander.

From the Middle East tonight... NBC's Mike Boettcher is covering a Palestinian struggle for power.  There was more violence today between Hamas and Fatah.  There are calls for new Palestinian elections.

In Baghdad... Iraqis held a reconciliation conference trying to bring Sunnis and Shiites together.  Some are calling it the last best hope for reconciliation.  But as NBC's Jane Arraf reports... there are still major obstacles.

President Bush is weighing his options in Iraq... and NBC's Kevin Corke reports... the President is considering the addition of sending 20- thousand more U.S. troops.

From England tonight authorities are trying to solve a murder mystery.  5 women... all prostitutes have been found murdered.  Some are comparing this to the "Jack the Ripper" story.  NBC's Michelle Kosinski has the latest... including new videotape of one of the victims on the day she disappeared.

NBC's Mike Taibbi reports on the huge holiday bonuses going to many on Wall Street ... but what about the rest of America?

And the "one dog" policy in China. How the government wants each family to put a limit on the number of dogs a family can have.  The rule now is one dog per family.  But will the Chinese people comply.  NBC's Mark Mullen reports.

It's all coming up on NBC Nightly News.

Another jumble of important news stories -- many more than we have time for, and it makes the order a tricky equation.  The markets had another good day today as well.

It's been a rough go in the Pacific Northwest. Mission Ridge in Washington State recorded an overnight wind gust of 135 mph -- and SeaTac  airport in Seattle recorded its fourth highest wind gust ever.  The Weather Channel is running dramatic video from yesterday of what appears to be a 757 doing a go-around in an unstable landing attempt in what looks like freakish crosswinds. All of this weather is happening during a huge military search for three climbers.  We'll have reports on each tonight.

This was departure day for Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon -- full honors for the departing civilian chief of the military.  Watching the President-elect name him to the job just now on videotape...President Bush looks 20 years younger.  Producer Andy Franklin is suggesting we show tape of Rumsfeld's first farewell ceremony (after his first stint in the job) tonight for comparison. If there is time, we will.  We also have a wonderful story about this nation's combat veterans tonight.  Speaking of which, wasn't Bob Faw's story about the Christmas wreaths at Arlington just breathtaking on last night's broadcast?

Tonight we will check in on the not-based-in-reality world of Wall Street bonuses, and we will follow up on yesterday's good breast cancer news.  We have a great look at who we are as Americans, thanks to the census figures out today. And its friday, so that means a Making A Difference report...which tonight is about a person doing some very important work.

ABOUT THAT SONG...
I will have a word with my friend Gena Fitzgerald in Washington who has posted something I have written about as a potential longer feature in this space: the Daily Nightly...the song...by the Monkees.  The truth is, I wrote it long ago, and it was to be a featured post the day Hurricane Katrina hit.  Mother nature had other plans, a crisis intervened, and my writing is sitting in some computer file unread.  Gena beat me to it, fair and square.  Short of admitting to being a Monkees fan in the '60s, let me say this: back when we named this blog as a take-off on Nightly News (more of a "Daily News"-type newspaper theme...the Daily Nightly...OK, I'll stop) I knew full well about the song. As Monkees fans may remind us with a posting or two, there is an elaborate back story behind the song...and the irony is that it has to do with the news media.  I was once on a plane with someone who said they knew Michael Nesmith...they quoted him as saying he was aware of our blog and was fine with the title.  Nesmith, by the way, was the Monkee who was always in the knit hat -- who turned out to be arguably the best pure musician in the bunch.  His previous claim to fame in life had involved his mother, who, as a secretary invented what we now call Wite-out to correct typing errors.  Gena's posting now means a piece of journalism will have to die.  But it's OK...those interested in the derivation of "Daily Nightly" the song title can have at it on Google.  He who hesitates is lost...I'll blame it on Katrina, not Gena.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT

Now it can be told: the staff of NBC Nightly News gathered at Chelsea Piers in New York for a night of bowling. The photos tell just part of the story. Today I feel like I've used about half of the products advertised on Nightly News for aches and pains -- usually not associated with a 47-year-old man in otherwise good health. As I find each year in our family Thanksgiving football game (the annual "Passive Aggression Classic") there are sets of muscles we don't use in day-to-day life. Some of them I haven't used since I last suited up for a high school football game. I used them all last night, and they aren't letting me forget it. It was a blast. From Sean the Intern from Ohio who bowls with an open hand (he says the finger holes don't work with his unique ball delivery) to Sima from Graphics who had never bowled before -- to Billy Catalano whose matching monogrammed bag and ball I find so intimidating...it was a great night, shared with and by a great group of people. I felt pretty good about bowling a 129 until Jean Harper, on my own team, clocked a 134. I had concerns early on in the evening that I would bowl my age. It was also a useful reminder of an axiom in our society that we don't repeat nearly often enough: no one looks good in bowling shoes. It's one area in life where George Clooney has no advantage.

ABOUT THAT SECRET SANTA
If you read Barbara Raab's posting yesterday, then you know about our gift exchange.  What she didn't tell you is: a brand new U.S. Supreme Court gold ruler now graces the desk in my office.  It carries the official seal of the Court and, like the work of the Court, is a precise device.  Barbara is a non-practicing attorney and knows my love of all things Court-related, and since I had no idea there were such things as "Court-themed gifts," imagine my surprise. It was kismet and it was very kind.

BACK TO THE BROADCAST
As you can tell, the distractions of the holidays are creeping into our days about now...I'm happy to say that we currently have exactly one dog and two children visiting our third floor offices.  Interns are departing to resume their studies, offices are starting to empty as vacations and even shopping days off start to kick in. We will soldier on, and will gather in the newsroom in a short while to make sense of all of this and put it in narrative form.  We hope you can join us for our Friday broadcast, and we hope you have a happy and safe weekend. We'll see you on Monday.

Photos by M.L. Flynn
Image 1: From left, Lauren Fairbanks, Carol Eggers, Bryan Haynesworth, Bita Nikravesh, Sam Singal and Matthew Ryan.

Image 2: From left, Anne Thompson, Neal Meltzer, Elizabeth Wilner, Tom Dawson, Ginny Harris, Adaora Udoji, John Reiss and Ron Allen.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Internet. Searching for the Daily Nightly blog while traveling, I somehow managed to land at a Web site for The Monkees (people of a certain age will know of whom I speak). Lo and behold, there were the lyrics to, yes, “Daily Nightly” by Michael Nesmith. I have no idea what they mean, but I suspect that wasn’t the point when Nesmith wrote them in 1967.

"The Monkees"

"Daily Nightly" appeared on their album "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd." (Same album as "Pleasant Valley Sunday" which occasionally gets airplay). Let's just say it was intended to be psychedelic and leave it at that. View it on YouTube.com and sing along. 

And now we present: "Daily Nightly." It wasn't written for us, but we'll use it anyway.

Words and Music by Michael Nesmith

Darkened rolling figures move thru' prisms of no color.
Hand in hand, they walk the night,
But never know each other.
Passioned pastel neon lights light up the jeweled trav'ler
Who, lost in scenes of smoke filled dreams,
Find questions, but no answers.

The night has gone and taken its infractions,
While saddened eyes hope there will be a next one.
Sahara signs look down upon a world that glitters glibly.
And mountainsides put arms around
The unsuspecting city.
Second hands that minds have slowed are moving even faster
Toward bringing down someone who's found

Brian Williams talks about some of the ailments being suffered around the Nightly News offices today, and, oh yes, some of the stories we're working on for tonight's broadcast.

Click here or on the image to watch.

On Nightly News Wednesday we reported how rare it was for the President to issue a body count -- the number of enemy killed. He said it at the Pentagon, and it struck me immediately that it may have been the first time I've heard him issue such a tally of enemy killed.

It's been reported that the President has always been keenly interested in learning what the numbers are. Thursday, during the White House briefing, Tony Snow was asked why he gave an enemy body count.

Snow replied, "There is quite often the impression -- and I've talked about it up here, that our people aren't doing anything, they're just targets. And I think there's a certain amount of unease in the American public because they hear about deaths but they don't hear about what's going on... And one of the things they're doing is they're fighting the bad guys. And as Gen. Chirelli said recently, the bad guys haven't won a single battle. For obvious reasons, going back to the Vietnam era, people are loathe to do body counts. But it probably is worth at least giving a general impression of relative battlefield success of what's going on, which is a great many members of al-Qaida in Anbar and also people who are committing acts of violence in Baghdad and elsewhere are dying or being captured as a result of these military activities."

As one of my colleagues pointed out, U.S. officials have never made clear how many enemies there are in Iraq, nor is it clear that in a counter-insurgency campaign the number of kills is the metric that indicates success. What is clear is that the President is eager to demonstrate progress to Americans who are increasingly pessimistic about the war.

When we first broke the news that Sen. Tim Johnson had suffered an apparent stroke, our thoughts and prayers went out to him and his family that he make a healthy and speedy recovery. As journalists, though, part of our responsibility was to explore the political ramifications of a possible vacancy in the U.S. Senate -- especially after Democrats wrestled control away from Republicans in a stunning upset election last month that gave them a one-seat majority. However, I know some people think we're callous to so quickly surmise what this might mean for the balance of power in the Senate.

But, while I spent the better part of Wednesday helping my colleagues cover the story, the news reminded me of a time in my family when our lives read like the breaking news bulletins you're seeing on MSNBC about Sen. Johnson's condition. Just over two years ago, my mother underwent
emergency brain surgery. The road to recovery since then has been like riding a roller coaster in the dark. You expect the ride will be scary but not knowing where the peaks and valleys lay doubles your fear.

About two weeks after having a routine heart surgery, my mother began acting strangely. She was disoriented. She didn't know what day it was. Out of the blue she began dressing for a party that happened weeks earlier. She kept asking my younger sister where I was, apparently not remembering that I had gotten married just weeks before and didn't live at home anymore. Her doctor said this behavior was a side effect of the medications she was taking for her heart surgery.

My father called me a couple of days later to tell me they were taking my mom to the hospital as a "precaution" because of her odd symptoms. He said it was nothing to worry about.  It's the sort of lie your parents tell you so that you won't worry before they think you really need to. But, it's the sort of lie that as a child you pick up on only because the fear in their voice is the kind that is not easily masked no matter how hard they try. 

The strange symptoms were actually a result of a massive brain hemmorhage. The blood was putting pressure on her brain and had to be drained immediately. She'd have to undergo brain surgery. Those few hours as we huddled in the waiting room at Fairfax Hospital waiting for the surgery to end were daunting.  In retrospect, though, those hours were not as difficult as the days, weeks and months that followed. She spent the first few days in the ICU -- covered in a web of tubes, missing half a head of hair (which had to be shaved off for surgery), her face and hands swollen beyond recognition. But, as soon as she showed some signs of improvement, she got worse. Just days later, the brain seizures began.  A day or so later, she stopped talking. After regaining her speech, she spent hours in physical and cognitive rehab during which she had to relearn her alphabet, our home address and telephone numbers she had dialed by heart for years. While her doctors are still recovering new information about the extent of her brain damage, an arsenal of daily medications and frequent visits to an army of doctors keep her in good health.

My experience is not unusual as I'm sure many here have unfortuntately endured the pain of a sick loved one. I struggle to balance my own personal feelings about the issue while realizing that this is a story with the potential not just to affect the people of South Dakota but the country as a whole. All this leads to me believe, though, that we can guess all we want about what might happen in the Senate, but it may be a long while before we actually know.

We here at Nightly News are big into holiday fun. We do, after all, have the famous Rockefeller Christmas tree right outside our door, and it puts us in a festive mood. So, again this year, we played Nightly-wide Secret Santa -- you know, where everybody picks somebody else's name, keeps it a secret, and presents that person -- anonymously -- with a stocking stuffer. We exchange Secret Santa gifts on the day of our office holiday party (which begins very shortly, and this year, we're going bowling).

More than half the fun is trying to guess who one's Secret Santa is -- does the handwriting on the card look like a man's or a woman's? Is my Secret Santa that shy person two cubicles away from me? Oh, wait--it's the person who's giggling whenever I walk by! -- but really, I can never guess. The idea is that Secret Santas reveal themselves to their Secret Santees at the party.

This year, my present, perfectly giftwrapped, was sitting on my desk when I came in this morning. Imagine my delight when I opened it, and it was the entire first season of "That Girl" on DVD! (Now it can be told: I am the unnamed "staff member" Brian referred to in his Monday blog, who had
watched some 20 "That Girl" episodes on TV Land over the weekend.) I have to admit, it did not occur to me for most of this day that Brian could possibly be my Santa. That would have been just too weird -- but more on that in a moment.

All day, I insisted that this colleague or that one was DEFINITELY my Secret Santa, only to be told, "it wasn't me." Then, suddenly, at about 5:45p.m., it hit me clear as day: it WAS Brian! It was Brian! 

As he walked back in the newsroom from the Nightly News set, where he had just talked live on the air to the anchors at our New York station WNBC, I, um, well, shouted: "Brian! You're my Secret Santa! Aren't you! Aren't you?" His head was down, his stride was steady, but there was no mistaking that smile. He was. Brian was my Secret Santa!

Now, as I told him, I'll need at least three days off to watch my 30 new episodes AND all the "bonus features." Oh, and the best part? Brian also had a Secret Santa -- and it was me! What are the odds of that? Weird, huh? I'll let Brian tell you what Secret Santa left under his tree.

At the time of my post at this very same hour yesterday, there was a lot we didn't know -- and as far as we knew, control of the Senate was quite possibly in the balance.  While we now have more information, the latter technically remains true.  I'm happy to report that based on all the available information from official sources and others, Senator Johnson has passed through the darkest hours.  As I said on the air last night -- and this bears repeating -- our thoughts and prayers are with this public servant and his family as they face this challenge and enter into this fight.  While I just looked up at the TV and saw two people manipulating a plastic brain with a hinged top (to illustrate what happened to Senator Johnson) we're all trying to make clear that all of our coverage, at its root, is about a man in big medical trouble who may emerge from this a very lucky man indeed.

We also have an important health story tonight that represents the best possible news in the field of breast cancer in a long, long time.  Robert Bazell will have that for us.  There's a big military story, having to do with the guard and reserves and service in Iraq.  We'll update the search for the climbers in Oregon (now the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division -- Bob Dole's old outfit -- is flying in to lend their expertise) with Correspondent George Lewis (and the weather there is worsening rapidly)...and we may yet commission a thing or two not on this list.  The top of the broadcast -- story order -- is absolutely anyone's guess at this point. We're about to sit down, gather around and prioritize and choose a lead story from among several viable candidates.

FROM THE PODIUM
I note that Tony Snow has publicly apologized to my friend and colleague David Gregory, our Chief White House Correspondent.  As I told David earlier this week, it has been tough (just as I imagine its been tough on him) to sit at home and watch various cable types leveling completely unfair accusations at David, a guy I admire and whose work I trust.  Perhaps Tony's classy act today will go a long way toward silencing that noise, and prompting others -- and by my count there are several others -- to consider doing the same.

TO THE NEWSROOM AND BEYOND
Now we will make sense of the day's budget of stories. We hope you will join us for our Thursday night broadcast. For those viewers in New York: you'd be well advised to stay off the streets of the City tonight.  We're having our annual Nightly News holiday gathering, at an undisclosed location.  We'll have an after-action report in this space tomorrow.  See you tonight.

You have outdone yourselves -- all of you out there in cyberspace who have taken the time to respond to my posting about my beloved uncle, Peter Boyle.  What I didn't realize was just how beloved he was by everyone he ever made laugh, smile, cry, wince, shiver or think. 

From those who recalled his Philly roots (and so many of you remember my grandfather's television show) to those who mentioned some of his lesser-known roles or who simply wanted to share their prayers and good wishes, you have given my family a lasting gift.  Your words will be a comfort to us and a testament to his life that we can savor for years to come.  Thank you.

Read Clare's original posting

FBI officials say they sent an advisory to local law enforcement agencies last week, informing them that the Blind Sheik, Omar Abdel Rahman, could be near death. His death, the notice says, might lead to attempts at reprisal.

But today, officials say his condition improved and that he is now stable. They believe his death is no longer imminent. They also say they have no specific intelligence of any actual plan to attack the U.S. in retaliation.

Moreover, senior intelligence community officials tell NBC News that while there have been repeated threats from al-Qaida and other jihadists regarding the sheik -- some going back to 2000 -- they have never acted on them. Most recently, al-Qaida in Iraq called for the kidnapping of westerners who could be held hostage in return for his release.

Rahman was convicted for his role in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and has been serving a life sentence at the Supermax prison in Colorado. He has complained about his treatment in letters, said to have been smuggled out, that were posted on sympathetic Web sites.

He has been in declining health for some time and has been moved on occasion from his regular prison cell to the federal prison medical center in Springfield, Mo., where he's believed to be now.

Our capital city is literally blanketed in fog this morning. Barely able to see a quarter of a mile ahead, cars slowly inch along. From Virginia, you can't even see Washington across the Potomac. The entire city disappears.

The fog advisory says it's a couple thousand feet thick in the air. There's zero visibility at Dulles airport.

And what timing for a city in a fog of its own making. This morning things are more uncertain than certain.  The political balance of the Senate. The balance of power. The condition of Democratic Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota. What to do in Iraq. The President still seeks advice on his listening tour. As he said yesterday, "our enemy is far from being defeated."

The fog is supposed to lift here around noon today. The political fog? No one knows.

I was sitting down to write today's post when Tim Russert called with a major piece of news out of Washington: Democratic Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota is hospitalized at George Washington University Hospital (which houses a superb trauma center) having suffered a stroke. Sen. Johnson is a young man, not quite yet 60, known to be in good shape. Given his political contacts with the South Dakota delegation, I called Tom Brokaw and shared the news and we all got working on it.  It goes without saying that our thoughts and prayers are with the senator and his family. That is first and foremost at this hour. There are also obvious political ramifications that play a potential role here: should the senator become incapacitated, the Republican Governor would appoint a successor under South Dakota law. That would put the Senate at 50-50 and tilt effective control to the Republicans under Vice President Cheney's role as tie-breaking vote. This is a big breaking story on so many levels, and we are all working it. Chip Reid is on it in Washington, and Tim Russert will be by my side on the air tonight here in New York. Right now on MSNBC, Bill Press is making a very important point: GWU Hospital has a world-class stroke unit and is full of top-flite professionals... that is what we should emphasize right now, until we learn more. We hope to have much more by airtime. (Editor's note: You can read the latest on Sen. Johnson's health here.)

Tim will also be with us tonight to debut our new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll numbers -- which, while embargoed for release, reach new benchmarks in the President's approve/disapprove category and his handling of the war. And while this breaking news above sends the top of our broadcast into some flux, we'll also cover Iraq, Secretary Rumsfeld, President Bush's comments today, the search in Oregon (and the coming, collosally bad weather there), the front in Afghanistan, today's medical news, and our featured story about a shopping trend this holiday season.

So its back to work, back to the phones and we hope you will join us for our Wednesday night broadcast.

He seemed to always play the curmudgeon, though he was anything but. Peter Boyle, who died last night here in New York City at age 71, was not only a marvelous character actor - he was also my uncle. The acting genes run deep in my family - my mother, Peter's sister, is a tremendously talented stage actress who's still juggling roles at 78. Philadelphians of a certain age might recall my grandfather, who hosted a local children's TV show as "Chuckwagon Pete" in the very early days of television and worked with Ernie Kovacs. His eldest daughter, Lucy, is already an accomplished actress and playwright.

But it was Uncle Pete who had the highest profile career, one he came by somewhat by chance after briefly considering a monastic life with the Christian Brothers.  The first movie I remember him in was Joe, a 1970 film in which he played a bigoted, Archie Bunker type without the charm.  I don't really remember the movie, since I was five and it was deemed unsuitable for impressionable eyes.

In the film, Pete's character is filled with virulent hatred for hippies and antiwar protesters and I remember him telling us how unnerved he was by people coming up to him, imagining he was like the character he played, cheering him on.  In fact, Uncle Pete loathed violence and intolerance.  He turned down the Gene Hackman role in The French Connection because he felt it glamorized violence and would typecast him as some kind of thug.  Given what the part did for Hackman, he might have made a different choice if he had it to do over, but he was nothing if not a man of principle.

He seemed to specialize in playing against his type - urbane, kind, cultured - the green-painted, zipper-necked monster in Young Frankenstein, Billy Bob Thornton's repellent father in Monster's Ball, and Ray Romano's cranky father in Everybody Loves Raymond.  It amused our family no end to see how much people associated him with the character he played - Uncle Pete was the last person I could imagine in a BarcaLounger with the top button on his pants undone, declaiming "Holy crap!" to all and sundry.  He was that good an actor.  But he was an even better uncle. 

I remember visits to movie sets as a child, being invited into his world as an honored guest.  But I also remember smaller gestures that in retrospect seem much bigger - like being 7 or 8 years old, and having a meltdown about something at a family gathering.  Uncle Pete left the party and sat with me for an hour, consoling me about whatever it was that was bothering me, making me think I was the only one that mattered.  Which, to your average kid, is huge.  You just want to matter.  And you want people to notice.  Uncle Pete noticed.  And more than anything, that's why I'll miss him. 

Three stories could lead the broadcast tonight, as Brian explains in today's vlog.

Click here or on the image to watch.

The top State Department official for Latin America, Thomas Shannon, told reporters today that Fidel Castro is still alive "as far as we know," but "the fact that he didn't show up for his own birthday celebration is significant."

Shannon said there was no doubt that a transfer of power had taken place from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul as far as day-to-day operations go. The U.S. is still uncertain, however, what role, if any, Fidel has in major state decisions.

The U.S. has observed a tightening of the Cuban regime under Raul with the intent of showing "absolute control of the state" after Fidel fell ill. Within the Bush administration, Shannon says, there is "honest disagreement" about how to best approach the Cuban regime. "We're getting all kinds of advice," Shannon laughed.

Some officials favor more engagement with Cuba's leaders in an effort to push for democratic reform, others say the Cuban leadership has to demonstrate it is moving toward democracy before the U.S. opens up any discussions.

In any event, the U.S. is taking a "wait and see" approach on how to proceed with Cuba policy until after Fidel passes. At that point, they will see how Raul moves and what sort of opposition he might come up against within the Cuban government. "We really don't know how things are going to break in Cuba," Shannon said. So far they have not received any indications that Raul will moderate from the policies of his brother, but Shannon believes given the secrecy of the communist state there is no way to predict a post-Fidel Cuba.