And Joe Biden couldn't have picked a better day than yesterday for a telephone news conference with reporters working the Christmas week shift.

NPR: Biden Has His Own Plan for Iraq Troop Levels

"Without them we would have been closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day if they hadn't been up and working, so they save us an awful lot of cleaning up, a lot of messing around, " he said.

BBC: Worcestershire flood barriers put up as river levels rise