Semantics - Mystery of the Menu tag

I haven't been following the conversation too closely, but there was some mention of Semantic HTML.  Regarding semantics, what ever happened to the menu tag?  Why has it been deprecated?  Do web sites NOT have menu navigation?  How is it that ul/li is more semantic then say menu/li ??? 

This:
<menu>
<li>Item 1</li>
<li>Item 2<menu>
    <li>Sub Item 1</li>
    <li>Sub Item 2</li>
</menu></li>

Or...  
<ul>
<li>Item 1</li>
<li>Item 2<ul>
    <li>Sub Item 1</li>
    <li>Sub Item 2</li>
</ul></li>

I believe that in HTML5 there is something better on the way. IMHO if something going to be deprecated, it shouldn't be UNTIL the replacement exists.  

Any thoughts, or am I out of my mind here??

-- Micah