Listening to the news earlier this morning I heard how the President was spending his Thanksgiving with the family in Texas - his parents, his daughters, the whole family - and I thought, well, yes, that's pretty much how we think about Thanksgiving, sounds about right. Then later, the news he'd been secretly flown into Baghdad to spend two hours with the troops.

Two thoughts: One, that's a great image, a great morale builder both for our troops on the line in Iraq and for all of us here. I doff my hat in respect to his audacious act and I know it's much appreciated on the ground. Second, we must really be in trouble if they're coming up with stunts like this. I've heard Bush described as a "plunger", someone who is willing to take a great gamble to achieve an end, one example being the war itself. Well, that's what he did here: shot the dice. How would you like to have Cheney suddenly declared President of the United States? Jesus. The thought puts a chill in my heart. So, hat's off to the plunger, um, President; happy to hear you didn't get yourself zapped, happy to hear we didn't have to go through the gut wrenching reality of a missle on target. I don't even want to imagine it.

Phooey. Thanksgiving and I'm talking politics. Shift gears.

It is now 5:00 in the afternoon and I've not touched the firewall. That's OK. There's time remaining in the day and the week and the vacation. No lists (I said) on my vacation, which doesn't quite jibe with the times I've given myself lists to accomplish (here), some of them last week I think. A good Thanksgiving. A good day. One hopes a good evening to follow. For us all.