Christmas is all about the traditions.
The Thin White Duke duetting with the Short White Bing. Prehistoric Matt Taibbi calling out prehistoric Lloyd Blankfein. Cylons. Yuletide hostage-taking.
On a scientific note, the NORAD Santa Tracker.
And, of course, the annual re-telling of the story of
Santa Claus and his old lady.
Merry Christmas, C&L-ers
Nothing quite gives me the chills like hearing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's magnificent "Messiah" on Christmas Eve. For more than 30 years, I've heard it performed at the famous domed church of St. Francis DeSales in Philadelphia, at a urban carol service that features a full choir, brass ensemble and antique French organ.
And Mike Finnigan sent in this great version from Quincy Jones:
Our sister site Newstalgia has an especially guilty pleasure for this evening.
Merry Christmas!
("All the seasons changed and all the reasons changed")
"Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange -- a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, costs, and track records of a variety of plans -- including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest."
- President Obama - Weekly Radio Address - July 17, 2009
So . . . what happened?
But as far as I'm concerned, Mary is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman - sort of nervous and bewildered, but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby. And the Wise Men are always going to be Leroy and his brothers, bearing ham. When we came out of the church that night it was cold and clear, with crunchy snow underfoot and bright, bright stars overhead. And I thought about the Angel of the Lord - Gladys, with her skinny legs and her dirty sneakers sticking out from under her robe, yelling at all of us everywhere: 'Hey! Unto you a child is born!'
"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" - Barbara Robinson
Here is how this book begins: "The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cussed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain and set fire to Fred Shoemaker's old broken-down toolhouse." These truly nasty kids bully their way into the lead roles in a church Christmas pageant to get free hot chocolate and cookies, but by the end of the book, their unexpected Christmas spirit has us in tears.
What can I say? I'm such a sucker for a redemption story. Whether it's Scrooge, the Herdmans, George Bailey, the Grinch, little Susan Walker - or me, I just can't resist the story of someone who once was blind, but now they see.
This is what I wish for all of you this Christmas: To see, to fly above the despair. To understand why Christmas resonates throughout the world, even in places where they don't especially care (or even believe) that Jesus was born in a manger.
Christmas is that Spirit which transforms and you don't have to be a Christian to let it work its magic. It might have been a different day designated by so many of the human race as the time to transcend our pain and fear, to reach out to each other in a way we don't allow ourselves to do the other 364 days of the year, but this seems to be the one. So let's celebrate it.
Some people manage to tap into that Spirit the rest of the year, while the rest of us keep our hearts "safe" behind concrete and razor wire. Silly, really - because a heart not used regularly shrivels up, becomes hard and small. (Like the Grinch.) Even a broken heart is better than one that's never used.
That Spirit is in all of us. Think of the very worst person you know (yes, worse than the Herdmans - or Dick Cheney), and even they have that Spirit inside. It's up to them whether they'll ever let it out, but it's there.
Every other day of the year, I focus on what's wrong with the world. Today, I'm writing about the thing that's so very, very right - the human impulse to shine a light in darkness. To help, to shelter people in need. To love.
We all have lives that are far from perfect. Sometimes we go through hard times that seem to never end, and people we trusted let us down, again and again. And yet.
And yet, there's hope. Every single year, Ebenezer Scrooge opens his heart. Every year, George Bailey gets a glimmer of understanding about what a very large part is played in very small ways, and Clarence gets his wings. A wounded little girl who didn't dare let herself believe in Santa Claus learns faith isn't rational, and Linus helps us see the spiritual yearning at the real heart of Christmas.
We're here. We're alive. Love each other, if you dare. Be brave with your hearts. Merry, merry Christmas.
Hey! Unto you a child is born!
Help me. I'm overdosing on Christmas shows and Christmas music.
It occurred to my snarky self while watching our annual edition of "It's A Wonderful Life" that not all of the stimuli that my children are eagerly taking in gives them the best ideas about the "reason for the season." I mean, George Bailey's financial situation is making him consider suicide--leaving a widow and young children with the same bills and no real opportunity for income (how many women in those days worked?). Why did I just let my kids watch the wild imaginings of a suicidal man? That's some serious Christmas cheer.
Then I happened upon this site, and they articulated so well exactly what I was thinking:
Movie: The Polar Express (2004)
Bad Lesson: If You’re a Minor and a Stranger Offers You a Ride, You Should Probably Say “Yes”
Movie: The Santa Clause (1994)
Bad Lesson: If You Kill Santa Claus, You Will Become Santa Claus
Movie: A Christmas Carol (1951)
Bad Lesson: People Will Like You Instantly If You Give Them Money
Movie: Home Alone (1990)
Bad Lesson: People in the Chicago Suburbs Never Call the Police for Any Reason Whatsoever
Movie: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Bad Lesson: Sometimes Chevy Chase Makes Good Movies
Movie: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Bad Lesson: If People Were Mean to You as a Kid, That Excuses ANY Malicious Criminal Behavior You Might Commit When You’re an Adult
Movie: It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Bad Lesson: If You’re in Need of a Moment of Clarity – Why Not Give Suicide a Try?
Movie: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Bad Lesson: If Enough People Say Something Is True, Eventually, It Becomes True
Movie: A Christmas Story (1983)
Bad Lesson: Toy Safety Warnings are Pointless and Should Be Disregarded Immediately
Can you think of any other bad lessons from the Christmas staples?
John Cleese's version of The Night Before Christmas. Open thread below.
Now the final phase begins, where we see what House liberals can achieve within the confines of a broken system that gives a handful of senators from sparsely populated states a disproportionate power to shape legislation:
Democrats are already outlining a strategy to achieve a final compromise that can satisfy the more liberal House without upsetting the painstakingly assembled coalition of 60 Senate Democrats and independents.
Central to those talks, House leaders said, will be the search for an acceptable substitute for a government-run insurance plan that those without medical coverage could purchase, a provision the House designed to compete with private insurers and force them to rein in costs. While the Senate has decisively rejected the "public option," House leaders say they will demand other concessions to ensure that Americans can afford the insurance they will be required to buy if the bill becomes law.
[...] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has signaled approval for the Senate's solution: the creation of at least two nationwide insurance plans run by private companies but overseen by the Office of Personnel Management, the same federal agency that handles health insurance for members of Congress. In a conference call Wednesday, Pelosi also assured rank-and-file Democrats that they would not be asked to rubber-stamp the Senate bill and began soliciting ideas to improve it.
Among the options under discussion: pressing the Senate to increase the federal subsidies that would be offered to low- and middle-income people who do not have access to affordable coverage through an employer; having a single national marketplace for people buying insurance, rather than 50 state-based exchanges, as the Senate prefers; and moving up the launch date of those marketplaces and subsidies to 2013, one year earlier than under the Senate bill.
Apparently, David Vitter doesn't think the Senate should be able to go home at a reasonable hour to spend Christmas Eve with their families, and Tom Harkin wants everyone to know just whose stocking deserves a lump of coal.
SEN. HARKIN (D-Iowa): So Mr. President, I know one senator whose family is with their in-laws - their husband's from England and their kids are over there - can't make it for Christmas dinner tomorrow night. I know other person who has to get out to the west because - and there's a lot of storms out there - if they can get that early flight, they can make two legs and get home. If they have to go later in the day, they have to do three legs and they may not make it. There's a lot of people around here that are having a lot of problems with that. We're all here. There's no -- really no reason to hold over the vote. So I'm going to ask unanimous consent that the vote on the passage of the bill and the -- and the vote on the debt limit bill -- occur at 6pm this evening.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Is there objection?
SEN. VITTER (R-Lousiana): Mr. President?
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Senator Vitter.
SEN. VITTER (R-Lousiana): That request has not been cleared on this side, so on behalf of my colleagues, I will object. And if the senator would like to talk to all of his colleagues about it, that would be fine. But in the meantime, I would object.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Objection is heard.
SEN. HARKIN (D-Iowa): Mr. President, then I would further ask unanimous consent that the votes that are going to occur at 7am tomorrow occur at 12:15am in the morning.
SEN. VITTER (R-Lousiana): Mr. President?
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Is there objection?
SEN. VITTER (R-Lousiana): Mr. President, my response would be the same and I would object in the same vein.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Objection is heard.
SEN. HARKIN (D-Iowa): Well I just want people to know who's keeping us here.
Gotta love those "Family Values" types, doncha? David Vitter, true to Republican obstructionism form, if not his wife.
Caption: The Ben Nelson statues, depicted in the drawing, honor “small-town life, the Boy Scouts and what you can accomplish,” said McCook City Councilman Jerry Calvin.
McCook's city fathers managed to avoid getting scorched by the political firestorm swirling around the community's favorite son.
It took some explaining to constituents who were upset about the way their hometown hero — Sen. Ben Nelson, a Democrat — voted Monday to cast the crucial 60th vote in the health care debate in the Senate.[..]
Life-size bronzes depicting a teenage Nelson receiving his Boy Scout Eagle rank from his parents will be erected on the grounds of Nelson's vacant boyhood home.[..]
The council faced similar opposition several months ago when it voted to rename the local airport “McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport'' to honor the U.S. senator for his support of federal air service funding and other local initiatives.
That was before Nelson became the deciding vote on moving the health overhaul legislation ahead.
“To a few people, if you have the wrong letter behind your name,” as a Democrat or a Republican, “you're bad,'' Berry said.[..]
The Nelson sculpture will be titled “On my honor.''
A more apt title would be "On the take from lobbyists", n'est ce pas?
We're one step closer to passing this historic healthcare bill. A year ago, I would have put the odds of this passing the Senate right up there with... well, with the odds of the Vatican praising "The Simpsons."
Now it's on to the House, where hopefully the Democratic liberals will try to undo the conservative damage that's been done:
The Senate passed a landmark health-care bill Thursday morning that would provide coverage to more than 30 million people and begin a far-reaching overhaul of Medicare and the private insurance market.
Vice President Biden presided over the 60-39, party line vote, which brings Democrats closer than ever to realizing their 70-year-old goal of universal health coverage.
For the first time, most Americans would be required to obtain health insurance, either through their employer or via new, government-regulated exchanges. Those who can't afford insurance plans would receive federal subsidies. And Medicaid would be vastly expanded to reach millions of low-income children and adults.
Difficult issues must be still resolved in final negotiations with the House, which has passed more liberal health-care reform legislation, and those talks could stretch through January and perhaps into February, Democratic leaders said. But Democrats are increasingly confident that President Obama would sign a bill into law in early 2010.
"Health care reform is not a matter of 'if,' " White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday. "Health care reform now is a matter of 'when.' "
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared after Wednesday's vote that: "We stand on the doorstep of history." But he declined to speculate about negotiations with the House.
"I'm not going to talk about conference. I'm talking about passing this bill," he told reporters late Wednesday. For at least a few days after Christmas, Reid said, he would rest back home in Nevada. "I am going to just sit back and watch my rabbits eat my cactus," he said.
Republicans fought the Senate bill with every parliamentary weapon they could muster, raising a series of motions on that failed along party lines. The rhetoric grew more harsh as time ran short.
The last preliminary vote came Wednesday, when all 60 members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted down the final possibility for a Republican filibuster of the $871 billion package.
Still same as the old boss. A fan of the site sends me this Boston Globe article, which discusses how prominent Democratic politicians pushed to get the second F-35 engine into the final DOD Appropriations bill prior to President Obama's signature. You might remember that F-35 second engine as one of those costly gold-plated things that DOD really didn't ask for and that President Obama said he wouldn't stand for. First it was gone.
The Obama administration has signaled for months that funding for a second F-35 engine in the fiscal 2010 defense bill could become veto bait. Gates spent months, most recently at the beginning of September, making the case that the Pentagon does not need the alternative engine, built by a General Electric-Rolls-Royce team.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said
Wednesday that he decided against funding the engine because he was concerned about the floor vote on the entire defense spending bill.
Senator John F. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that GE officials had told his office that 1,000 jobs in Massachusetts will be saved or maintained once full production begins on the backup engine.
"There will also be some jobs gained, but maintaining jobs right now is very important,’’ he said yesterday, defending his efforts to persuade fellow lawmakers, including the highly influential Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, to overturn Obama’s proposal in a final vote on Saturday.
Inouye chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, while Murtha oversees a House panel with jurisdiction over defense spending.
Kerry also used his influence with the White House to get it to back off a threatened presidential veto. He told the Globe that he ultimately got assurances from Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, that the president would not veto the fiscal year 2010 defense appropriations bill if the money for the engine was included. Obama signed the bill which totals $626 billion, on Monday.
What utter bullshit. This is just unjustified crap, and it doesn't smell any better coming from a Democratic politician than a Republican. In talking about defense acquisition with a colleague, he said that he might believe in Santa Claus, but he didn't believe in acquisition reform. With clowns like this in the Senate and White House, it's no wonder that the Defense Department can't get clear of its huge funding bills and massively overpriced, behind schedule programs.
The VH-71 presidential helicopter program also got $85 million to "wind down" its efforts. Must be a big office. The USMC's Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle is getting $293.5 million, despite its many troubles. I'm severely disappointed.
The top prosecutors in seven states are probing the constitutionality of a political deal that cut a funding break for Nebraska in order to pass a federal health care reform bill, South Carolina's attorney general said Tuesday.
Attorney General Henry McMaster said he and his counterparts in Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, Texas and Washington state - all Republicans - are jointly taking a look at the deal they've dubbed the "Nebraska compromise."
"The Nebraska compromise, which permanently exempts Nebraska from paying Medicaid costs that Texas and all other 49 states must pay, may violate the United States Constitution - as well as other provisions of federal law," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said.
McMaster's move comes at the request of Republican U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint of South Carolina.
In a letter to McMaster, Graham singled out the deal to win Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson's vote on the massive health care bill the Senate is expected to adopt Thursday. Nelson held out as fellow Democrats worked to get 60 votes to foreclose a GOP filibuster and the bill was amended to shield Nebraska from the expected $45 million annual cost tied to expanding Medicaid programs.
"We have serious concerns about the constitutionality of this Nebraska compromise as it results in special treatment for only one state in the nation at the expense of the other 49," Graham and DeMint wrote.
Nebraska wasn't alone in getting Medicaid breaks. Vermont, Louisiana and Massachusetts also got help with their programs.[..]
Also Tuesday, U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said Republicans need to stop complaining about deals their colleagues made.
"Rather than sitting here and carping about what Nelson got for Nebraska, I would say to my friends on the other side of the aisle: Let's get together and see what we can get for South Carolina," Clyburn said.
Boy, this is a tough one. As much as I don't want to validate the petty obstructionist machinations of Republicans, I kinda wouldn't mind Nelson's sweetheart deal struck down. After all, he thinks we women are second class citizens undeserving of full health coverage.
