The alarm sounds at 5:30. The radio goes on first, then coffee and the first newspaper of the day arrive shortly thereafter. A bomb in Baghdad, Obama and Clinton in Selma, skittish markets, the death of Tom Eagleton, Yanks over Phils in the Grapefruit League, and I just don't see how Spiderman is going to work out of the mess he's in with this new "wife."

We set the topics for today's show last week, and everybody understands that the first hour Monday is always subject to change. The markets sounded like a pretty good idea on Friday, but so does the scandal resounding through military hospitals. The Secretary of the Army resigned late Friday, congressional hearings begin today, the Washington Post reporters who broke the story have new stuff today, and the outrage is building. Definitely the talk of the nation, but what happens if the market goes south again?

Welcome to my morning. The day begins officially at 9 a.m. when executive producer Sue Goodwin convenes the morning meeting and, no kidding, begins by asking, "What's the talk of the nation?" Often, we get so wrapped up in incremental developments ... the latest twist in the Iranian nuclear inspections saga ... that we overlook the story that everybody's emailing. Sometimes that's Anna Nicole and, unless we can figure out a useful angle, we let it go, but it's always important to remember the essential nature of the show.

But if there's something lodged in the zeitgeist out there today, it's beyond me.

The second newspaper thunks down outside my apartment door. Time for another cup. I am impossibly old fashioned. I think I need the daily infusion of ink through the skin. I know the web beckons with news from other cities and countries, but I've spent a lifetime learning to read newspapers and somehow, I've trained my memory to record only printed information. And there is tremendous satisfaction turning four neat sections of precisely folded newsprint into litter. Don't ask me why.

NAACP chief quits, raid in Basra uncovers disturbing evidence of torture in a government intelligence agency as the Brits prepare to pull out, and daylight-saving time comes up next weekend. Next weekend? Maybe we can tie that into the story out of Peru last week, where they rang bells and blew sirens to get everybody to set their watches in an effort to modify the national habit of showing up for appointments an hour or so late. Bet it didn't work.

More later. Gotta run.

11:57 - March 5, 2007

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