If you don’t listen to NPR you probably didn’t know that, but here’s the Main Page with links to listen to the event sponsored by NPR and Iowa Public Radio, and here’s the transcript.

There were three on-air topics, Iran, trade, and immigrations, and the economy was addressed after the broadcast portion finished. No “gotcha” or “boxer or briefs / diamonds or pearls” questions, just the candidates talking about the topics.

Governor Bill Richardson was not there; he was attending a funeral.

The Analysts who say NIE [warning: video] have gotten a little tired of being blamed for every screw up of the Hedgemony.

The Hedgemony doesn’t like releasing the entire reports, because then people would see all of the dissent and qualifications that the intel community attached to every claim made by the Shrubbery, Darth Cheney, and the neonitwits.

Dafna Linzer, Washington Post Staff Writer wrote this August 2, 2005 piece, 2005 NIE on Iran

A major U.S. intelligence review has projected that Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years, according to government sources with firsthand knowledge of the new analysis.

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Yes, it’s the time of year when the Sun dies and must be re-born through an elaborate ceremony that involves some form or type of sacrifice, such as finding gifts for people you can’t stand and smiling brightly as you receive yet another gift based on an urban legend that you actually like truly stomach-wrenching color combinations.

Of course there was a time when the Solstice sacrifices were more visceral and the evergreen was covered in things that pleased only ravens and such, but we have put all that behind us by opting for the possibility of electrocuting one another and causing chaos on the power grid.

What a brilliant idea: moving a large supply of pre-kindling soaked with highly flammable resins into your house, loading it down with petrochemical-based ornaments, lacing it with heat-producing electrical devices, and surrounding the base with cardboard boxes and tissue paper. You just can’t have a traditional celebration without a proto-bonfire in your living room.

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Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends. I miss the latkes and jelly doughnuts my roommates received for the holiday at college. [Their grandmothers were afraid they wouldn’t celebrate or couldn’t get “real” food at that terrible Baptist university.] It was a great break.

One of the nice things about Hanukkah is that there are established “gifts”, so you don’t have to rack your brains about what to get: a card and gelt covers just about everyone.

General background at Wikipedia’s entry for Hanukkah and even more at Chabad’s Chanukah page.

[Note: on the Jewish calendar the day changes at sundown, not midnight, so it’s now the 5^th.]