Here we are, preparing to end 2005 without Morning Sedition. How f*cked up is that? I think I’ll break out my vintage December 30, 2004 episode.

Riley was on vacation in England, so Marc was on his own (a much different experience than having it the other way around). The main topic then was the tsunami, of course, (at this point, the estimated death toll was 100,000, and I remember it just kept growing – astoundingly, mind numbingly – every day) , but there were also tornadoes in LA & Sedona, AZ. The Bush administration (at first pledging a paltry $15 million in aid – the same amount as his upcoming re-inauguration parties – and then being shamed into upping it to a still insulting $35 million) was pissed at Bill Clinton for acting like a human being in the face of the deaths in Asia. Bill was in London at the time, and spoke in a way this president will never be able to – from the heart – about the tragedy, upstaging the mostly silent, ever-vacationing dubya.

Back at the end of 2004, there were “only” 1,300 US Deaths in Iraq. We’ve added, what, almost another 900 this year? And we ship them home as cargo on commercial airliners. Let’s hope at the end of 2006 our people are back home, and whole, where they ought to be.