Richard Cohen on Iraq:

[T]he ending is inevitable. We will get out, and the only question that remains is whether we get out with 3,000 dead or 4,000 or 5,000. At some point the American people will not countenance, and Congress will not support, a war that cannot be won. Just how many lives will be wasted in what we all know is a wasted effort is about the only question still left on the table.

The threat of a lawsuit has been removed and the Christmas trees have been restored to the Sea-Tac airport.

At Chabad-Lubavitch in Seattle, the Jewish Orthodox educational group that had asked the airport to add the menorah, hate messages soon flooded e-mail inboxes. The group, which had never asked for the trees to be removed, was accused by some of trying to steal Christmas. It quickly dropped its talk of a lawsuit and joined those asking the airport to bring back the trees. That, the airport said, freed it to put them back up.

“By no means did we want to take away any religious symbols or trees from any other culture,” said Elazar Bogomilsky, the Chabad rabbi who is listed as the lead plaintiff on a draft lawsuit that has not been filed....Mr. Reis said, “The rabbi never said, ‘We want to take the trees down.’ That was purely our reaction when we felt we’d been put in an untenable position.”

Don't blame the rabbi. Blame the Port of Seattle for the fiasco.

Can it really take 1,000 federal agents to arrest undocumented workers at one meat-packing plant? According to the Washington Post, the answer is yes:

About 1,000 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with search warrants entered plants owned by Swift & Co., of Greeley, Colo., charging that "large numbers" of workers illegally assumed the identities of U.S. citizens or legal residents by using their Social Security numbers to get work, ICE officials said.

Company and union officials said agents, some dressed in riot gear, locked down six beef and pork processing plants early in the morning, segregating workers into groups of citizens and non-citizens after questioning. Some illegal workers were bused to detention facilities hours away, labor officials said.

This was big news in Colorado today. 9News (KUSA) set up a hotline for families of those seized so they could find out if their loved one was among those herded up like cattle and whisked off to detention facilities.

Go directly to jail, do not pass Go, and forget about collecting $200. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals took one day after yesterday's stay order to deliver that message to Enron's Jeffrey Skilling today.

Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in his two-page order that "Skilling raises no substantial question that is likely to result in the reversal of his convictions on all of the charged counts."

As a result, Higginbotham denied Skilling's request for bail pending his appeal and vacated an earlier order staying his prison report date.

Skilling must now report to the low security level federal prison at Waseca, MN to begin serving his 24 year sentence. Ouch. But the Judge gave Skilling a glimmer of hope for his appeal:

Buy The Ticket, Take the Ride....tonight at 10pm ET on the Starz channel.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." These are the immortal words from Hunter Stockton Thompson, a.k.a. Doctor Gonzo and Raoul Duke. Principal photography is nearing completion on Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film, Starz Entertainment’s insightful look at the man whose last wish was to have his ashes blown out of a giant cannon. The special is set to air on Starz, December 12 at 10:00 p.m. (et/pt).

Interviewees Include Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Bill Murray, John Cusack, Benicio Del Toro, Tom Wolfe, George McGovern, Ed Bradley, William F. Buckley and Many Others

Narrated By Nick Nolte
December 12 at 10:00 p.m. on STARZ

You Tube video clips here.

Dennis Kucinich, whom I think has just about the best stand on criminal justice issues of any of the presidential contenders, has announced he will run for President again in 2008.

A long shot? Very. But his voice is an important one and I'm glad it's going to be heard again...provided the national press decides to include him in their coverage.

If President Bush intends to announce a new strategy for Iraq (stay the course a little less?), he won't do so until after he recovers from the White House Christmas and New Years Eve parties.

Mr. Bush had been expected to speak to the American people about Iraq before Christmas. But a spokesman for the National Security Council said today that the talk will now take place after the New Year.

With daily news like this, there may not be much left of Iraq by the time he makes his decision.

Seventy people, most of them Shiite laborers looking for work, were killed Tuesday when a pickup truck packed with explosives was detonated in a crowded square in the city’s center this morning, Iraqi officials and witnesses said. More than 230 people were wounded.

The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances has not, so far, saved Cindy Sheehan from a prosecution for "trying to deliver a petition against the war in Iraq to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations." She was convicted yesterday. Her punishment, assuming she isn't arrested again during the next six months: pay court costs of $95.

Sheehan and her co-defendants were acquitted of more serious charges: resisting arrest and obstructing government administration. She was also acquitted of disorderly conduct.

The verdict will not silence Sheehan:

"We should never have been on trial in the first place," Sheehan said in a statement. "It's George Bush and his cronies who should be on trial, not peaceful women trying to stop this devastating war. This verdict, however, will not stop us from continuing to work tirelessly to bring our troops home."

I'm at the airport about to return to Denver. Telluride is a winter wonderland, but I'm ready to head home. Here's an open thread for you.

If you haven't voted yet today in the 2006 Weblog Awards, here's the link. All votes are very much appreciated.

You can vote once a day until December 15.

Enron's Jeff Skilling caught a last minute break from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Monday. He won't have to report to his designated prison at Waseca, MN today.

Skilling has a motion for bail pending appeal under consideration and the Court ruled he can stay out until it is decided.

Skilling has been sentenced to 24 years.

While campaigning for an Oscar for "An Inconvenient Truth" Al Gore answered presidential aspiration questions on the Today Show this morning.

"I am not planning to run for president again," Gore said last week, arguing that his focus is raising public awareness about global warming and its dire effects. Then, he added: "I haven't completely ruled it out."

Does he mean it? Is a Gore-Obama ticket in the wings? What would a Gore run mean for Hillary? I continue to believe Obama is going to be a vice-presidential candidate, not the Democrats' nominee for President.

Last month Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo said Miami is like a third world country. Even Jeb Bush took him to task.

But Tancredo will visit Key Biscayne Thursday to give a talk. His topic: the need for immigrants to assimilate.

Why is he going? How about attention:

Tancredo spokesman Carlos Espinosa...said Tancredo wasn't worried about whatever reception he will get in the Miami area.....ny protests or controversy will only draw more attention to the event, he said.

"It's always entertaining. It'll add to the flair of Miami," Espinosa said. "I really do hope we get some protesters. Otherwise, what else are we going for?"