"Now is the winter of our discontent…"

This month kicks off a six-month citywide celebration honoring William Shakespeare. Venues in and around Washington, D.C., will be filled with plays, ballet, readings, exhibits -- all honoring the Bard of Avon.

So how curious it was to see that Richard III begins on Monday here in Washington. This 16th century play is considered by many to be his masterpiece. In it, he created a political character of evil incarnate in the form of Richard III. The Shakespeare Theater Company is serendipitously located in the Lansburgh Theater, just off Pennsylvania Avenue, almost halfway between the White House and Capitol Hill.

Richard III is the master of deception, who lets nothing stop him in his quest for power. He's evil, ruthless and completely immoral. His society is one of ambition and revenge. His ends absolutely justify his means.

What better setting for this than Washington, D.C.? What better month? We've recently witnessed the execution of a dictator, the burial of a President known for healing the nation after Watergate, and now the "surge," "escalation," "increase" of troops to Iraq.

This city today is consumed by Iraq: Reaction to Bush's speech last night, and the administration trying to sell the plan on the Hill, and to the American people. Capitol Hill, too, has an agenda: Those who support the plan, those who don't, and those who see the plan as something that perhaps benefits their own personal agenda.

If you're in Washington, Richard III will be performed from January 16-March 18. There are no discounts for politicians, but tickets are still available.

While we all focus on the 110th Congress and the new Speaker of the House, there was one perfect moment in the House chamber that would escape anyone but a parent. The new Speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is a grandmother of six. In fact, there had even been a question around the time of the election whether she would choose to stay in Washington to watch the returns, or head to New York if her daughter went into labor.

Just yesterday, her 8-year-old granddaughter revealed at a fancy tea that her grandma eats chocolate ice cream for breakfast. So when grandma becomes Speaker of the House, it's a huge day. You wear your best suit, mom makes you put on a tie, you gotta comb that hair, and behave. But as any parent knows, no matter how hard we try, kids just end up being, um, kids.

Click here or on the image to watch video from the House floor. There’s a little messing with grandma’s mic, a little shoving, a little grabbing of what looks to be grandma’s BlackBerry.

If Madame Speaker can control the House as well as she quiets down the kids, we foresee time-outs for misbehaving lawmakers in the near future.

There are different ways of experiencing history when you work in the news business. Usually, things happen in a rush, or a blur, so that there's little chance to process what's going on while it's happening. It's more like triage than anything else: suddenly rounding up crews, producers, correspondents, and satellite trucks. 

When news first broke of President Ford's death last week, first you get it on the air and then in the next moment, dozens of people are scrambling coverage plans. We get busy trying to figure out who goes where, who does what. Dozens of NBC people canceled family holiday plans over the weekend to cover the events surrounding the President's funeral.

It was probably only today that any of us really had a chance to reflect on President Ford. Seeing the Ford "children" who are now middle-aged with children, and grandchildren, of their own. Laughing as President George H.W. Bush (aka 41) imitated Dana Carvey imitating him. Hearing Tom Brokaw, who covered the President, referring to him as Citizen Ford.  Watching the current living presidents during the service, and wondering if they mentally take notes on the service, music, and details for when their own time comes.   

Ford did. After Reagan's funeral in 2004, Ford and his family were quite clear that his own funeral would be low-key. That did not change. No horse drawn caisson. No grand military parade along the streets of Washington. No riderless horse. It was no less moving, no less meaningful than a funeral on a much grander scale. It was much like Ford himself, offering us a glimpse of the man, not someone who symbolized the office of the President.

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

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.

The Iraq Study Group's book is a slim volume: 142 pages, only 96 if you ignore the appendices. The paperback version could easily slip into a Christmas stocking. We were all surprised to see how small it was. 

Photo caption: Four recent commission reports from the NBC News Washington library. Photo by Daily Nightly editor Rob Merrill.

Sales of the Iraq Study Group report on Amazon.com seem to be doing well... yes, sales. Although it's available free on the Internet, you too can own this volume for less than a bucket of chicken. It was holding steady on the Amazon list at No. 26, jumped up to No. 18, and has dropped a bit to No. 22 at this writing.

Now, one of the good things about forking over your money for a book that's available for free, is that the publisher says that a portion of the proceeds will go to the National Military Family Association, a nonprofit group that helps military families. 

Author's note: None of the  measurements of the aforementioned books is meant to cast any aspersions on the various committees' investigative work or their editing skills.

I don't know what other parents do in the morning, but my daughter is used to listening to all-news radio on the way to school. I keep half an ear on what's happening while we talk. (Full disclosure: the amount of conversation depends on how wide-awake we are on a Monday morning.)

Today's news included the item that President Bush would meet with the Iraq Study Group this morning at the White House. If you are not familiar with the term "study group," any student can probably tell you. It's used in schools as an informal learning strategy in a group setting.

Her question was, "Mom, shouldn't they have studied Iraq before the war?"

Good point, although we know that they did. This bipartisan study group's mission is to now figure out a new approach to ending the turmoil in that country. The one thing everyone appears to agree on is that the current plan is not working. The Iraq Study Group plans to issue their recommendations before the end of the year, and everyone knows the stakes are daunting.

David Gregory will be reporting on their meeting with President Bush earlier this morning, as well as his national security team.

Right now we're all watching a very moving ceremony as the famous and the not-so-famous celebrate the life of Martin Luther King; there's a groundbreaking today on the National Mall to dedicate a new memorial to King. Bob Faw will tell us about this gathering and the new memorial site. It's not far from the the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.

Photo caption: Brian speaks to Army Spec. Crystal Davis and her father Jimmy. Crystal lost her right leg in Iraq in Jan. 2006.

Two days and counting since Election Day... If you were the carpool parent or driving to work today, you probably noticed as many election signs today as there were two days ago.

Virtually every town has an ordinance requiring all political signs have to be removed within 10 days of an election. (And yes, that means even if you don't have a winner yet in your district.)

So, America, get out there and grab a sign. Put it in the trashcan, save it for your memorabilia collection. Take down one if you voted for a candidate. If it makes you feel better, take one down that touted the other guy. Burn 'em. Mulch 'em. Get rid of them. This election's over. It's time to think about 2008.

2008?! Bob Faw will tell you tonight that for some candidates... it's never, ever too early to get started.

It used to be that the scariest night of the year was Christmas Eve, as parents hustled to assemble toys and find batteries before dawn.

But now, it's Halloween Eve. You can't just carve a pumpkin with two triangles for eyes and a gaping mouth. Oh, no: Your kids will convince you that they need the Pumpkin Masters carving kit at $9.99 to create a detailed drawing of the ghoul of their dreams. It seems to only take about three hours to follow one of the "easy" designs.

The National Retail Federation estimates we will spend nearly $5 billion in stores this Halloween. That's up more than $1 billion from last year.

Any parent worth their candy corn may be persuaded to add the following: decorative Halloween lights ($8.99) and a furry spider that scurries up and down a rope when you clap ($3.99). (Damage caused by freaked out dog trying to get the spider: priceless.) You can add a Halloween garland ($2.99), fake neon spider webs for the bushes (2 for $1.29 on sale!), a Happy Halloween sign for the yard ($11.99), fake rubber bats and spiders ($1.99 apiece), a pumpkin (about the same per pound as you now pay for premium gas), a special orange light bulb for the porch ($1.99), and then a second pumpkin to replace the one eaten by the squirrels two days before Halloween. Oh, and that dog? Maybe he needs a costume as well. Throw in your candy, then the kids' costumes, and you can easily spend $100 without blinking.  Folks with bigger yards can invest in giant inflatable decorations that rival the balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. 

Tonight, correspondent Mike Taibbi brings us a story that will chill you to the bottom of your wallet... the "Tale of How Halloween became a Monster."

Note to budget-conscious parents: Halloween decorations and candy will go on sale tomorrow. You'll find them in the same aisle as the Christmas decorations.

Yesterday the Department of Education announced the biggest change in public education in more than 30 years, the first time in an entire generation that public schools will have the right to teach boys and girls separately. This new rule under Title IX gives school districts unprecedented latitude to create all-girl or all-boy educational settings.   

Under the new rules, which go into effect on Nov. 24, public schools can now separate boys and girls by grade, by subject, or even entire schools. Your child's participation would be voluntary.   

Tonight, correspondent Martin Savidge will report from Ascension Parish in Louisiana, just north of New Orleans. They decided to try the single-sex model last year. Martin will tell you how it's worked out so far.

There have been single-sex classes in limited settings over the years in almost all school districts, for example, sex education classes or some types of gym classes. According to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, there are now 241 public schools designed for single-sex education. Keep in mind: that's a minuscule fraction of the 93,000 public schools across the country.

Of course, some parents have always been able to send their kids to private single sex schools for years. Some now say this levels the playing field for everyone. You don't have to be wealthy to offer your daughter or son the opportunity for that type of education.    

But critics are concerned that gender separated classes and schools start us down the slippery slope of gender stereotyping.  Research on the issue has been mixed. Some studies do show that students learn better when they are in single-sex classrooms.   

But if you look at the Department of Education's own Web site, even they cite a study that shows "...any positive effects of SS schooling on longer-term indicators of academic achievement are not readily apparent. No differences were found for postsecondary test scores, college graduation rates, or graduate school attendance rates." Is single sex education the way to go? Can separate BE equal? Or perhaps better?

All morning here in Washington, we've been watching the Senate Armed Services hearing on Iraq. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is there. So is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace. So is Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East.

As we watch, we're trying to figure out what's new. Are there fireworks? Are they arguing? What's the body language? What is said, what is NOT said? We hope to put this all in context for you on the broadcast tonight.

Both Pace and Abizaid seem to have conceded that Iraq is moving towards civil war. Abizaid said the sectarian violence is as bad as he's ever seen it. Rumsfeld has refused all along to say there's civil war, although yesterday he too acknowledged it's heading in that direction.

The one statement that struck me the most was from Gen. Pace, so here it is in its entirety:

"Sir, I believe that we do have the possibility of that devolving to a civil war, but that does not have to be a fact. I believe that U.S. armed forces can continue to do what we're doing, which is to help provide enough security inside of Iraq for the Iraqi government to provide governance and economic opportunity for their citizens. The weight of that opportunity rests with the Iraqi people. We can provide support, we can help provide security, but they must now decide about their sectarian violence. Shi'a and Sunni are going to have to love their children more than they hate each other. If they do that and seize the opportunity that the international community has provided to them, then this will be what we want it to be, which is a success for ourselves and the Iraqi people. But the weight of that shift must be on the Iraqi people and Iraqi government."

Think you're hot? Believe it or not, there are places MUCH hotter than what we're experiencing this week. First, there's Iraq... where the average temperature in July and August is 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Today's forecast for Iraq is 114 degrees. That should hold for the next two days, with 116 predicted for Saturday and then 118 for Sunday. Talk to any soldier wearing about 20 pounds of  battle gear, and our situation pales in comparison.

Let's turn now to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. According to the BBC's five-day weather forecast, today should be a balmy 102 degrees, with temperatures going up to about 111 on Friday.

How about a little closer to home? Death Valley in California is one of the hottest places on earth. It's forecast to hold steady at 113 over the next five days. And sunny! In fact, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was in Death Valley. In 1922, they hit an all time high of 134.
So why is Death Valley so, pardon the pun, deadly? According to NASA, "at 267 feet (86 meters) below sea level, air compresses as it moves down the lee slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, substantially warming and drying it by the time it reaches the valley floor. At the bottom of this valley, daytime temperatures are routinely above 100 degrees F between about mid May through early October, and it's not unusual for temperatures during some summer days to crack 125 degrees. In July of 1913, when the official temperature was 134 F, a point somewhere in the valley may have surpassed 135 F."

In case you are wondering, the high today in Vostok, Antarctica, will be -52F. And in case you would like to look at something a little cooler, colder, and downright freezing: Here's a link to four live Web cams in Antarctica.   

Tonight, Lisa Daniels and Tom Costello will report the latest on how we're all coping, or not coping, with the soaring temperatures.

And yes, I wrote this in an air-conditioned newsroom.