By FNC Reporter Dominic Di-Natale

Baghdad’s been a bit quiet in recent months – as welcoming to Iraqis as it is to those of us in the media corps who’ve seen our fair share of bombs and bullets over the years.

But as soon as we heard Sunday night that election commission had finally agreed on a date to hold a long-delayed national vote, we knew there would be trouble. Extremists and sectarians had been waiting for a stage-setting moment, a invitation almost to show their disapproval at attempts by the Iraqi people to continue down the road of democracy.

And that instance came this morning as I prepared to record a fresh video blog for my Facebook page. It was shortly after 1030am local time when an ominously familiar pneumatic puncture of the air and a resounding boom echoed across the city. I grabbed the camcorder and ran out onto the bedroom terrace to see a fist-like mushroom cloud strain into the sky. Moments later a second, closer explosion had me on the floor – not from the force, just in fear. Unsurprisingly, the footage I was shooting went very wobbly at that point.

In the heat of the news gathering moment, especially when videotaping, you forget how vulnerable you can be. Although on this occasion the bombs were far enough away not to be injured, but I’m always conscious just how exposed the various cameramen I work often with are. They’re a brave bunch.

My shooter on my current assignment here emerged from his room with his flak jacket on, and I scrambled to put on mine as we went up to the roof to observe a sky stained with grey smoke as the series of bombs continued to detonate across the city.

It’s a gut-wrenching feeling when hearing that many explosions and seeing so many plumes of ashen clouds pinpoint the sites of tragedy.

You know the casualties will be high.

We went live as soon as we could. As much as we wish it wouldn’t be, now election season has started (the vote is set for March 6), there no doubt will be more days ahead like this one.

The volunteers who donate their time every holiday season to the Salvation Army require the stamina to stand in the cold, smile and ring a bell.  Now, they gotta take credit.  The famous red kettles are now taking plastic.  So, even if you’ve got no cash, there’s no excuse.

After passers-by repeatedly asked the bell-ringers when they were going to start taking credit cards, The Salvation Army ran a test pilot in three cities last year to see if folks would take the time to pull out the plastic and make a donation.  The findings were very encouraging.  Allison Struck, the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign Coordinator, who met us in Colorado Springs for this story told us, “The dollar amount for a spare change donation would typically be around $2.00 and we found that the average last year for the electronic donations was about $15.00 per donation.”

We shot our story at a Wal-Mart in Colorado Springs, which has a bell ringer at each door.  One is a cash and change only and the other takes credit.  Struck told us that that Wal-Mart is one of their most successful collection areas.  It was about 20 degrees outside that day and I can tell you that people were still stopping to drop money in the kettle. While most of the donations we saw that day were cash, the Salvation Army says it is confidant word will spread.  Especially now that they’ve expanded the electronic kettles to 300 locations nationwide.

We asked about the safety of using a credit card for a donation that’s taken in such an informal setting, and Struck told us that they have thought of that too.  The credit card machines, which take Visa and Mastercard, do not store any information and if you want to use your debit card, that’s an option too. For security purposes, you don’t have to enter your pin.

Making is easier for people to give is a growing trend that non-profits have been adapting to for the last few years.  Pat Greer, a professor who teaches philanthropy at University College in Denver, says embedding is also huge for organizations.  We’ve, likely, all seen this: when you’re checking out at the grocery counter, and just as the clerk is about to hit the total button, asks if you’d like to donate to such and such charity.  Greer says, “Everytime I go to PetSmart to get things for my animals, they ask if I want to donate to the PetSmart Charity.  They give you an amount from a dollar to five dollars and generally I will give something because I will add a dollar onto my bill.”

Ever hold a $200,000 diamond in your hand? I hadn’t either until today. It was a 5.1 carat diamond bought from Blue Nile by a guy in the San Francisco area. Talk about bling! What’s perhaps the most surprising is that the man who bought the diamond has yet to see it in person. Blue Nile has no stores. Everything is done on line. Customers learn about diamonds and then build their own ring. Company officials say they can save people 20 percent to 40 percent on a comparable diamond purchased in a store. They don’t have nearly the overhead and only purchase the diamonds that their customers have already bought.

The business model seems to be working right now. The recession has hammered the jewelry business. More than 1,000 stores have closed. Bankruptcies are up 60-percent in the first nine months of 2009. Projections are for a very bleak Christmas buying season. And yet men are still popping the question with diamond rings. An estimated 500,000 couples will get engaged this December. It’s about 20 percent of the year’s total. Blue Nile is projecting a 26 percent increase over their fourth quarter sales in a dismal 2008. And they recently added 90 workers at their Seattle headquarters. Sixty of those jobs were added to help them handle the holiday rush. Just today they sold that $200k diamond and tomorrow will ship a $76,000 diamond ring to the Chicago area.

While traditional jewelry store owners say experts would never buy a diamond without seeing it first, Blue Nile officials insist their customers have been buying things on line for years and have built up a certain trust for internet companies and their own ability to educate themselves. The average Blue Nile customer spends $6,000. For a ring while the national average is under $3,000. Based on customer surveys at least, they feel they’re getting much more bling for the buck.

When was the last time you checked out a library? More and more job seekers are headed to libraries and with good reason.  Today we’re live at one of the branches in Carrollton, which is in North Texas. Carrollton libraries have seen a steady stream of job seekers and it’s no wonder why.  For starters, the library has a special networking class for professionals who are out of work. Once a week, about thirty to forty people gather to exchange tips on networking and brush up on their interviewing skills.  It’s also a way to commiserate to know that they’re not the only ones out of work. The cross-section in the class we visited was diverse, everything from PR pros to computer programmers.  Each week starts with a success story from someone in the group. Then people practice their “thirty second commercials”.  It’s how to introduce yourself to potential employers in thirty seconds or less.  Anyone who’s looked for a job in the past couple years knows you can’t do it without access to the web.  You’re either looking up job leads or emailing a resume.  That’s also where libraries like Carrollton can help.  They’re offering basic computer skills for people who need them.  The classes proved so popular that the library had to make additional offerings.  Libraries also provide free access to the internet which is crucial if you’re a job seeker who doesn’t have it at home. And there are always books. Carrollton has about 400 titles that are related to job searching.  Librarians have seen a ten percent increase in these books getting checked out so they’re ordering more.

Hannity sat down with former V.P. Dick Cheney for an exclusive interview. Check out some behind the scenes photos!

To see the full interview, tune in Tuesday at 9pm!