Appearing at The Jaundiced Eye, the Independent Bloggers' Alliance, and My Left Wing.

The holidays are breathing down our necks and we all know what that means: fighting with relatives. I am blessed to be from a primarily liberal family, as is my husband, so political discussions rarely turn Thanksgiving Dinner into a blood sport. Many are not so lucky. Daniel Kurtzman offers a few helpful tips on political family squabbles in How to Win a Fight with a Conservative. (A companion volume, How to Win a Fight with a Liberal is available to balance out the playing field. I skimmed the latter.)

On a cold winter's night, storms outside, wrapped in a blanket by a crackling fire, whiling away the hours reading a good book.

Well, there are an increasing number of great books that suggest that blanket and fire will be required fewer and
fewer evenings in the coming years.

The genre of Global Warming literature has moved from the dusty reaches of little read science shelves to the best seller lists.

This discussion will briefly touch on some of the Global Warming books on my Energy Bookshelf -- with an urging to all of you to jump in with comments as to these and others worth reading.

NOTE: There is a key question at the end of the diary. If nothing else, please jump to the question related to the next President of the United States.

What to do with Bob Woodward?

That must be the question running through the minds of administration members as they recall their well-documented praise of Woodward not so long ago. As NBC Nightly News reported, It's "a delicate balance for a White House that trumpeted the accuracy of Woodward's reporting, notably his 2004 bestseller, 'Plan of Attack.'

But, 'accuracy' apparently exists only when the text is fawning.

Bob Woodward's latest, "State of Denial" -- the 'not-so-fawning' installment to Woodward's 'Bush at War' series -- continues to shake the foundation at 1600 PA Ave. This time around, however, White House aides are seeking to undercut the book's central claims. Of course this episode will necessarily take... uhhhh... modified tactical maneuvering. The Bush Administration's usual bout of character assassination and messenger annihilation will not work. They've simply invested themselves too deeply in Woodward's character and integrity.