In addition to, you know, all the other deaths in Iraq, our merry little jaunt abroad has taken the lives of Atlantic editor Mike Kelly and NBC correspondent David Bloom, as well as the hand of Time reporter Mike Weiskopf. But now that it's threatened the life of ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff, this shit is serious. If you fuck with our square-jawed anchors, it means war.

Also: The pope is Catholic, according to the general.

Because even the most hardened insurgent is tamed by cashmere twinsets and freshwater pearls.

Maybe we misunderstand our colonial history, but — what with a government far away attempting to manage its colonial outpost, an insurrection by the locals against those foreign rulers, a king named George who may well be crazy — doesn't that analogy make us the bad guys?

• This year's Conde Christmas lunch welcomed Fairchild and Golf Digest editors and publishers, too. "It's gotten too big," one vet sniffed to Keith Kelly, reminding us all why we love to hate the Nasties. [NYP]
• Did Martha Stewart's gang steal the idea for Blueprint from Time Inc. Well, no. It just seems like they did. [WWD]
• Rightwing loons from WSJ editorial page move their TV show from PBS to the far more hospitable Fox News. [LAT]
• Tina Brown believes Bob Woodward. And she would know, being something of an expert at becoming intoxicated by proximity to powerful sources. [WP]
• Oh good. It looks like there might be buyers for Knight Ridder newspapers, which is being forced to sell itself by the soulless private-equity group that owns a big chunk of the company. The likely new buyers? Private-equity groups! [WSJ]
• How do you know the Bushies have really gone too far in their payola gimmicks? When Richard Edelman — as in Edelman PR — blasts them for giving the flackery business a bad name. [Edelman.com]

Actually, we've been under the impression that was more a daily tradition. Would that it were only on Thanksgiving.

• Teen People kills story on Nazi bubblegum popsters after learning that a staffer promised not to use the words "Nazi," "supremacist," or "hate" in discussing the hateful white supremacists, and after Holocaust survivors picket Time Warner HQ. Keith Kelly calls incident a test for new Time Inc. EIC John Huey, but we gotta wonder about what this means for new Teen People m.e. Lori Majewski. [NYP]
• Per the latest Plamegate wrinkle, Mr. Wonkette notes that Bob Woodward isn't "the preeminent investigative reporter of his generation;" he's just a highly placed transcriptionist. [NYO]
• From just after the invasion until last week's withdrawal excitement, U.S. media did a shitty job of covering the Iraq war, [NYO]
• Ruth Reichl will be making miso-rubbed turkey with gravy, persimmon cranberry sauce, and rustic porcini onion stuffing for Thanksgiving. [WWD]
• Did Anna Wintour bring down the Variety spinoff V Life? She certainly thinks so. [Radar]
• Two Bloomberg L.P. employees charge the mayor's media company with disability discrimination. [NYP]
• 2005 was a crummy year, says Jon Friedman. [MW]

You remember Ahmad Chalabi, of course. He's the Iraqi expatriate who, from his London-based Iraqi National Congress, fed the administration — and his pal Judy Miller — bullshit intelligence from within Iraq that the White House (and Judy) used to trick the American people into supporting the war. He's the guy who for a while was the Americans' best friend in Iraq until he wasn't anymore — it seems he was passing U.S. intelligence onto Iran, which caused an American ransacking of his home and headquarters. But now, they tell us, he's a good guy again. And so all the neocons love him.

"So a priest, a rabbi, and an ayatollah walk into a bar..."

• Despite Pentagon plea, newspapers realize that 2,000th Iraq death really is new. [NYT]
• Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports, is still the new president of CBS News. He's Jim McKay's son, and one day last week he thought that Harriet Miers was a bigger news story than the White Sox. [NYT]
• Meanwhile, in a CBS men's room, Mike Wallace and Dan Rather engage in a pissing match. [Radar]
• Tim Russert is a pivotal witness in Libby case while also being, well, Tim Russert. [NYT]
• New Teen People is already Majewski-fied, although the former Us Weekly resdesign doesn't technically hit till February.
• Biz magazines are in trou-ble. [Mediabweek]
• Martha Stewart wants a job at Martha Stewart. [NYP]
• Newsweek's Tom Masland obituary: "Then Tom stepped off that curb, and was hit by the offside mirror on a passing SUV; a freak collision on a rainy night that propelled him to the ground and caused massive brain damage. ... Thomas Wootton Masland died in intensive care at St. Luke's Hospital three days later, on Oct. 27, with his sons, Richard, Robert and James, his mother, brother and two sisters by his side, as Gina [his wife, a jazz singer] sang 'When the Saints Go Marching In.'" [Newsweek]

Nicknames? Shit. Who knew people with nicknames were getting killed? Now the tide will definitely turn against the war.

• Iraqi reporter working for NYT murdered in Iraq. Apparently not everyone got the things-are-getting-better memo. [NYT]
• Emmy gets its biggest audience in years. Oscar is jealous, not that he'd ever admit it. [USAT]
• Paul Carlucci named NYP publisher, replacing Rupert Murdoch, who seems to think he has other, more important responsibilities. [NYT]
• What makes a news office a bureau? This is clearly a question for CBS's Public Eye — mostly because we can't imagine anyone else would care. [Phil. Enquirer]
• Oprah finally talks about the Hermes incident — and you thought there was nothing left to say about it, silly — and recommends that we all wear Birkin bags. Perhaps if she buys us one. [WWD]

• Martha Stewart ankles bracelet, finally. [Newsday]
• Newsday to cut jobs, benefit, and maybe the NYC edition. Again. [NYDN]
• Howell Raines lives! Though it's still not like he's getting published on this coast. [LAT]
• As if a reality show about life at the Daily News didn't sound exciting enough, know this: Word is long-fingered vulgarian Hud Morgan's the breakout star. This is particularly great news, because Hud's ego really needs a boost. [WWD]
• FX becomes the first TV network to show Iraqi insurgents beheading a journalist — on fictional show, Over There. [E&P]
• Now Google sells print ads, too. Somehow, this must be bad for newspapers and magazines. [NYT]