19 December 2005

  • New York's currently: a nightmare on 34th Street
  • With a possible full-scale strike imminent tomorrow, transit workers at two Queens bus companies walk off the job this morning.
  • In televised address, Bush acknowledges nation's anti-war sentiment, reiterates Iraq victory stance, asks for continued support.
  • The last time President Bush delivered a prime-time address from the Oval Office was the night he launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
  • House cuts out early for holiday, but not before voting to reduce spending on Medicaid, student programs, and open the Alaskan wilderness to drilling.
  • New Bolivian president, an ex-coca farmer, says he'll "torpedo" the U.S. war on drugs.
  • Though Sharon is recovering nicely from his stroke, its effect on his new political party is uncertain.
  • In an era of digital newspapers, there are fewer paper routes, which is just a theory on why 13-year-olds might sit shirtless in front of webcams.
  • Now you see it, now you don't: Eminent domain goes wild in downtown Brooklyn.
  • Crazy: The honey hunters wager everything, including their lives, against pirates and the whims of wild animals, including pythons, king cobras, crocodiles, and the man-eating Bengal tigers.
  • The story of the Christmas truce of December 1914.
  • The war against the war against Christmas: the first shot fired and now a second.
  • With pairs of jeans regularly sporting $400 price tags, is the denim bubble finally set to burst?
  • Russian viewers glued to TVs for new version of The Master and Margarita.
  • Park Slope second-grader launches Home Away From Home doll care service.
  • On giving gifts: a clothing-free Christmas and a puppy-free one too.
  • One of the world's most successful musicians owes it all to Christmas carols.
  • One thing that never changes about Christmas is kids crying on Santa's lap: then and now.
  • E.B. White, 1949: "To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year."
  • The John Lennon action figure.