Friday digest

- Here's a look at how some American soldiers are dealing with Christmas in Iraq.

- The Prime Minister of Canada is a member of Leafs Nation.

Boo.

- Yet another reason to not take the NDP seriously: Alexa McDonough has characterized Stephen Harper's "rigid ideology" as "destructive" following his comments about Hamas and Hezbollah being "genocidal" this week.

Perhaps McDonough and friends should take a break from singing John Lennon's "Imagine" for a second and maybe they'll realize that the rigid and destructive ideology in this case is the one called suicide bombing.

- A shout-out goes to the Hot Rod as he fights the good fight against lymphoma.

- Be sure to take a few minutes of downtime over the next few days to remember what the season is really all about - not dogma or rules, but rather, the richness of spirituality.

I'd like to wish everyone who stops by here peace and goodwill at this special time of year, and I look forward to continue bringing you my daily commentaries as well as book, music, film and live concert reviews into 2007.

At the risk of sounding exclusionary ... Merry Christmas!