>A Christmas Moment

>

This is a true story that happened just a couple of hours ago at my local coffee shop.

As usual, I stopped in for a cup of coffee. A lot of the customers know each other, we are regulars. It’s a nice coffee shop. It roasts its own beans, has a fireplace, nice sitting areas, really nice employees, and just a cozy place.

I’m sitting there listening to the pipped in Christmas music, when Bing Crosby comes on singing “Silent Night.” Cool. Then this little old lady sitting in the corner by the fire, starts singing along with Bing Crosby. That was nice, and even kinda of touching.

Then two more customers started singing Silent Night. Well, I thought that was kind of strange, and funny. A few seconds later, more customers started singing. I thought, wow just like a Christmas movie musical. Before the song was over, EVERYONE was singing Silent Night, including me.

It was great! At the end of the song, some clapped, some laughed, and then everyone said Merry Christmas to everyone else. I was not used to such niceties in public. Weird.

Nothing like that has ever happened to me in a public business. Sure, in private homes, my home, or even in a bar (but those bar songs were not like this). I walked out feeling good, kind of strange, and with a smile on my face. Thank you, my fellow coffee shop buddies for a nice Christmas treat between humans.

I have to admit, it blew me away. It surprised me.

>Christmas Memories

>My favorite Christmas memories are from my younger years. That’s natural I guess. When awe and mystery were still part of the experience and I had no idea what hard work and sacrifice my parents withstood to make Christmas a special day.

I remember visiting my Grandmother’s house on Christmas day. The house was full of big people (adults) and smelled of good food. I walked in the kitchen to find four women (all relatives) cooking. I was given a cookie and told to get out of the kitchen.

I walked into the living room and was amazed by the big Christmas tree with bubble lights. I thought that was so cool. I would stand there and watch the colored water boil.

My Grandfather would break out the Salt Water Taffy, and brag about how far away this treat had come to get to his house. One of his Christmas traditions. He would put to many logs on the fire and watch it roar, while he asked me if I had been a good boy.

Grandmother would come out of the kitchen with hand dipped chocolate covered cherries. A distraction for the kids, while the grown ups went to the den for some alcoholic cheer.
My grandmother believed in making everything from scratch. She even killed and plucked her own main course.

Of course these little treats stick in my mind, because it was a memory of my Grandparents.

I remember one Christmas my father got my Mom a new electric can opener. That was a big deal back then. I was fascinated. My Mom walked into the kitchen to find me sitting with 20 opened cans of food trying out the new electric can opener. I never understood what all the fuss was about, I was just checking out the new electric can opener. My mom got so mad, she started to laugh.

I guess the best Christmas present I ever got was my Radio Bike. It was a true (Ralphy got a BB gun) moment. Check out that bike. How cool is that? I have been driving with tunes since I was seven.

>Christmas Week

>

There is a certain solitude during snowfall, that I like. An alone quality, quiet and reflective, that brings on an appreciation of mother nature.
The country has been hit by a couple of good snowstorms, and many will have snow for Christmas. That enhances the traditions of the Holiday. Maybe that’s because I grew up in a Winter State.
I’m not a religious person, but I enjoy the social atmosphere created by the Holiday. People do seem nicer during the Christmas season.
My week is going to be very quiet, not loud. No people. No parties. No exchanging of gifts, thus no shopping. Little driving. It will be a nice change from the usual loud, people filled Holidays.
I hope your Christmas week, is what you want it to be.

>Holiday Cheer

>To get away from the typical drink of the season (Tom and Jerry batter or Eggnog) , here are a few old standards. Good for warmth and soar throats due to the cold air and snowstorms.

Hot Buttered Rum

6 oz. glass
1 slice of butter-1/3 of tablespoon
1-1/2 oz – good Rum
4 oz. hot water
spritz or twist of lemon
Variation: add stick of cinnamon

Warm Drambuie

Pour Drambuie into a flat bottom glass (Old Fashioned glass) – set glass over the pilot light on top of the metal stove surface. There are many ways to warm the Drambuie, like in a microwave.
DO NOT BOIL the Drambuie, just warm it.
You can just set the glass by a fire in a fireplace.

Variation: Twist of orange peel is great in warm Drambuie, or just add to good coffee.

Irish coffee

8 oz. mug

2 oz Old Bushmills Irish Whiskey-any good Irish whiskey

1 tablespoon sugar

5 oz. of good coffee-gourmet coffee

Top with 1/2 inch of whip cream-hand whip the cream-it’s ten times better

For myself-I just add the whiskey to a good black coffee

DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE

>Perverts Ruin Christmas for Children

>Seems both the Grinch and Scrooge teamed up for this Christmas bummer.

Your child cannot receive a letter from Santa Claus !
There is no guarantee that your child’s letter to Santa Clause, will get to Santa Clause !

What the HELL !

Santa Claus has had his mail service discontinued ! ?

How will Santa Clause know what your kid wants for Christmas?
How will Santa Clause know whose been naughty, or nice?
Will Santa Clause have to move out of North Pole?

Alaska (AP) – Thousands of starry-eyed children all over the world are writing letters to the jolly man at the North Pole this holiday season, but they’ll not likely to get a response from Santa Claus or his helpers.

The U.S. Postal Service is dropping a popular effort begun in 1954 in the small Alaska town of North Pole, where volunteers open and respond to thousands of letters addressed to Santa each year. Replies come with North Pole postmarks.

Postal Service officials said they are tightening rules in such programs nationwide after a postal worker in Maryland recognized a volunteer in the agency’s Operation Santa program as a registered sex offender. The postal worker interceded before the individual could answer a child’s letter, but the Postal Service viewed the episode as a big enough scare to make changes to the program.

People in North Pole are incensed by the change, likening the Postal Service to the Grinch trying to steal Christmas. The letter program is a revered holiday tradition in North Pole, where light posts are curved and striped like candy canes and streets have names such as Kris Kringle Drive and Santa Claus Lane. Volunteers in the letter program even sign the response letters as Santa’s elves and helpers.

North Pole Mayor Doug Isaacson agreed that caution is necessary to protect children. But he’s outraged North Pole program should be affected by a sex offender’s actions on the East Coast – and he thinks it’s wrong that locals just found out about the change in recent days.

“It’s Grinch Like that the Postal Service never informed all the little elves before the fact,” he said. “They’ve been working on this for how long?”

The Postal Service began restricting its policies in such programs in 2006, including requiring volunteers to show identification.

But the Maryland incident involving the sex offender prompted additional changes, even forcing the agency to briefly suspend the Operation Santa program last year in New York and Chicago.

The agency now prohibits volunteers from having access to children’s family names and addresses, said spokeswoman Sue Brennan. The Postal Service instead redacts the last name and addresses on each letter and replaces the addresses with codes that match computerized addresses known only to the post office – and leaves it up to individual post offices if they want to go through the time-consuming effort to shield the information.

Anchorage-based agency spokeswoman Pamela Moody said dealing with the tighter restrictions is not feasible in Alaska.

“It’s always been a good program, but we’re in different times and concerned for the privacy of the information,” she said.

Moody stressed that kids around the world can still send letters to Santa Claus. The Postal Service still runs the giant Operation Santa Program in which children around the world can have their letters to Santa answered, and the restrictions do not affect private organizations running their own letter efforts.

But what will change are the generically addressed letters to “Santa Claus, North Pole” that for years have been forwarded to volunteers in the Alaska town. That program will stop, unless changes are made before Christmas.

Losing the Santa-letter cache is a blow to the community of 2,100 people, who pride themselves on their Christmas ties. Huge tourist attractions here include an everything-Christmas store, Santa Claus House, and the post office, where visitors can get a hand-stamped postmark on their postcards and packages if they ask for it.

Another issue raising the hackles on some locals is separate recent change. Anchorage – 260 miles to the south – is now processing the thousands of requests for North Pole postal cancellation marks on Christmas cards and packages from outside the state. It’s a job long handled by nearby Fairbanks, about 15 miles away.

Moody said with as many as 800,000 items processed last year, Fairbanks is not equipped to handle the overload. Anchorage is the only city in Alaska with the high-speed equipment necessary to do the job without delay. Moody disagreed with the mayor’s belief that the process creates a false postmark.

Santa Claus House, built like a Swiss chalet and chock full of all items Christmas, sells more than 100,000 letters from Santa and one of the lures is the postmark.

Operations manager Paul Brown believes his business will be affected under changes to the volunteer Santa letter program because tens of thousands of letters are addressed to Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska.

Those letters will still be forwarded to volunteers but it’s unclear yet if anything will be done with them. Those intercepted by the postal service will probably eventually be shredded.

Brown worries about misinterpretations of the changes, such as people believing it’s no longer possible to get individual pieces of mail graced with the North Pole postmark.

Maybe Republicans want to force us to use a private company instead of public, available to all, socialist Santa Claus.

Here’s a new pay for Santa letter writing company:

Well, at least a few more people have a job for Christmas this year.

Did Republicans plant these perverts to force parents to use pay for Santa letters?

Santa still delivers for free, but who knows how long that will last.

There are bound to be disappointments in Santa’s toy selection. Santa satisfies best when he knows what the kids want.

>Twas The Night Before Christmas

>

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

Yes,

A Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!

>Temple of Poseidon

>December Sunrise, Cape Sounion

Credit & Copyright: Anthony Ayiomamitis (TWAN)

Explanation: The Sun is a moving target. Its annual motion through planet Earth’s sky tracks north and south, from solstice to solstice, as the seasons change. On December 21st, the solstice marking the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the south, the Sun rose at its southernmost point along the eastern horizon. Earlier this month, looking toward the Aegean Sea from a well-chosen vantage point at Cape Sounion, Greece, it also rose in this dramatic scene. In the foreground lies the twenty-four hundred year old Temple of Poseidon.

>Class in Session

>

Class, today’s questions regards this quote:

“Every once in a while Socialism has to step in to save Capitalism.”

Has this ever happened in America?

Give examples.

Extra points for the best details.

Bonus points if you know who this quote comes from.

>Night Lights

>

Aurora Shimmer, Meteor Flash
Credit & Copyright: Bjørnar G. Hansen,

Explanation: Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, haunted skies over the island of Kvaløya, near Tromsø Norway on December 13. This 30 second long exposure records their shimmering glow gently lighting the wintery coastal scene. A study in contrasts, it also captures the sudden flash of a fireball meteor from December’s excellent Geminid meteor shower. Streaking past familiar stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, the trail points back toward the constellation Gemini, off the top of the view. Both aurora and meteors occur in Earth’s upper atmosphere at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, but aurora are caused by energetic charged particles from the magnetosphere, while meteors are trails of cosmic dust.

>A Party In Washington Today

>

A rare snowstorm dumping 10″ of snow on the Capital today.
But there is a much greater storm going on inside. A storm of the biggest bunch of power hungry, money grubbing, egotist on the face of the Earth. They have been rewriting the health care bill all night. I feel a Congressional pay raise coming.
Who knows what the Republicans will do all day. Listen to the Democrats read to them. Say no once in a while. Go to the “family” house a few blocks away and have a little sex. Do republicans vote for people and expect them to do nothing but top the insanity of the Democrats? Well they voted for the right do nothings. They prove themselves worthless by telling Americans that they are the adult, responsible leaders.
The president was snubbed at the climate meetings. Now he comes home to a snowstorm, praying for a health care bill, any kind of health care bill. This is just the Senate. We haven’t even got to conference yet. Grab an alcoholic beverage and hold on. This is going to be the worst Christmas present any of us have ever gotten, except of course, for the insurance companies.
Did you take my advice and buy health insurance company stock. They were all up this week.

>The Christmas Star

>Mojave Desert Fireball

Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (AstroPics.com, TWAN)

Explanation: Monstrously bright, this fireball meteor lit up the Mojave Desert sky Monday morning, part of this year’s impressive Geminid meteor shower. Seen toward the southwest over rock formations near Victorville, California, a more familiar celestial background was momentarily washed out by the meteor’s flash. The background includes bright star Sirius at the left, and Aldebaran and the Pleaides star cluster at the right side of the image. The meteor itself blazes through the constellation Orion. Its greenish trail begins just left of a yellow-tinted Betelgeuse and points back to the shower’s radiant in Gemini, just off the top of the frame. A rewarding catch for photographer Wally Pacholka, the spectacular image is one of over 1500 frames that he reports captured 48, mostly faint, Geminid meteors.

>Robert Frost

>

My favorite poet.

First a little biography, then three poems by Frost, that I enjoy.

Robert Lee Frost ( named after General Robert E. Lee) was born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874 to Isabelle Moodie, a Scottish schoolteacher, and William Prescott Frost, Jr., a journalist, local politician and ancestor of Devonshire Frost who had sailed to New Hampshire in 1634.

Frost’s family lived in California until his father had died when he was just eleven. He moved with his mother and sister to Lawrence, Massachusetts to live with his paternal grandfather.

In 1892, Frost graduated from high school and attended Dartmouth College and was a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. While attending college, Frost’s first poem, “My Butterfly: An Elegy”, was published in the New York Independent, which earned him $15, and had five poems published privately in 1894.

In 1895, Frost married a former schoolmate, Elinor White; they had six children. Frost then became a teacher and continued publishing his poems in magazines to support his family. From 1897 to 1899, Frost attended Harvard, but failed to receive a degree. The couple moved to Derry, New Hampshire, where Frost worked as a cobbler, farmer and teacher at Pinkerton Academy and a state normal school in Plymouth.

As the couple grew tired of farm life, they needed a change. Robert wanted to move to Vancouver and Elinor England, so England it was. In 1912 the couple sold their farm and moved to the Gloucestershire village of Dymock, where Robert became a full-time poet. The next year, A Boy’s Will was published. The book received international fame and contains many of Frost’s best-known poems: Mending Wall, The Death of the Hired Man, Home Burial, After Apple-Picking and The Wood-Pile. While in England, Frost made notable contacts with fellow poets as Ezra Pound (who gave Frost his first favorable review by an American), T.E. Hulme and Edward Thomas.

Frost returned to America in 1915 and bought a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire to farther his career in writing, teaching and lecturing. From 1916 to 1938, Frost worked as an English professor at Amherst College. He encouraged his students to bring the sound of man to their writings. Also in 1916, Frost was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and published his third collection of verse, Moutain Interval.

In 1920, Frost purchased a farm in South Shaftsbur, Vermont. Robert’s wife died in 1938, followed by four of his children. He suffered from long boughts of depression and continual self-doubt. After the death of his wife, he employed Kay Morrison, who he became strongly attracted to. One of his finest love poems, A Witness Tree, was composed for her.

During the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, Frost recited one of his poems, The Gift Outright. Robert also represented the United States on several other official missions. He became known for his poems that interplay voices, such as The Death of the Hired Man, and received numerous literary and academic honors.

Robert Lee Frost died on January 29, 1963 and is buried in the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Gathering Leaves

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?



The Gift Outright


The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people.  She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia.
But we were England's, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak.
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.

>President Obama Speaks

>I just got a chance to see President Obama’s Oslo (Peace Prize) speech. It is a great speech. The man does have a gift of oratory. I understand President Obama writes many of his own speeches. I understand he wrote this speech. I am going to highlight some of the passages from the speech. You can read the whole speech here

“We are the heirs of the fortitude and foresight of generations past, and it is a legacy for which my own country is rightfully proud.”

“So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace. And yet this truth must coexist with another – that no matter how justified, war promises human tragedy.”

“There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.”

“I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence.”

“For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism – it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.”

“I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war.”

“And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe that the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength.”

“For peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based upon the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.”

President Obama defines his points well. I can understand some disagreeing with him. I do not understand if people say he said nothing, did not comprehend what he said, or his statements somehow make us weak in the eyes of our enemies. I believe future Americans will recall his statements, and define America by them. If war is necessary, this is how to define Americas reason for and conduct of waging war.

>Give The Man A Chance

>After reading comments on some blogs, you would think President Obama has destroyed America. That is what they want you to think. I don’t know why people who say they love America wants our President and our country to fail, but it’s perfectly clear that they do.

In less than a year: The stock market is up and steady. The banks are paying back our tax dollars and posting profits. Unemployment filings are half of what they were when President Obama took office. Retail sales figures from last months Black Friday sales were up 1.5% from last year. Showing that consumers are more confident.

We just killed #3 in Al Qaeda. The President has announced a surge in Afghanistan (which includes 45 ally nations – a coalition I wish Bush had) that our Generals promise will have the desired effect. Seems the President will get his health care bill. The President has been given the Nobel Peace Prize, and he gave a great speech defining America as his acceptance speech. He bestowed a Medal of Honor. He actually went to Dover to watch our dead heroes come home.

Sure, people disagree with his choices to reach these results. I disagree with some of his decisions, but I also think he has done quite a bit for only 11 months.

So give the man a chance! He is not destroying America. He is not Hitler. His wife does not deserve to be blasted as ugly, unrefined, a bad dresser, or any other nasty comments. In fact I think she is a beautiful woman who has raised great kids, and represented America well.

Everything is not Hunky Dory, but fixing problems that took us years to build, will take time to correct. He is trying. He is getting results. Not fast enough to please some, but Americans are people with a small attention span and little patience. That is our problem, not his failure. If we all supported him more, we might get quicker results.

That does not mean you have to agree with everything he does. It does mean he deserves the respect of the office and the good will of the American people, not our nastiest oratory. You know the Secret Service has said he gets 40% more threats on his life, than any previous President. We should care about that, not help fan the flames of hate towards him.

Do you care about America? Do you want to see America succeed? Do you care about your fellow Americans? We have millions in distress during this Holiday season. Go out and help them. Instead of being pessimistic about the President, or our country. Show those in need your optimistic side. Help America and its citizens recover.

>BLIZZARD !!

>The thing about a blizzard, is the wind. Add in over a foot of snow, the wind can cause snow drifts that bury roads and highways, make cars disappear into a white mound of snow, and seal you inside your home. More than once I have had to dig myself OUT of my house. I forgot to mention the cold temps and sub zero wind chills.

In my area today we are expecting 10″ of snow, winds between 40-50 miles an hour, and 30-40 below zero wind chills. Yes, that’s the stereotype of a blizzard description. It’s much worse in other places.

My little trip yesterday was uneventful. We got on the road well before the storm, and we got back home before the worst hit. The drive back was a little hairy, but nothing like it is right now, and the rest of today.

If your in this blizzard, be careful. Driving is dangerous. So is walking. The Highway Patrol is telling people not to travel, and have shut down many roads and highways. It may look kind of neat from the security of looking out your window, but this is deadly serious weather.

>Snow Storm

>

Seasons first big time snow storm/blizzard, and I HAVE to be on the road. Might not be posting for a day, or two. I will report my adventure.

Normally a drive of 1-1/2 hours, I have no idea how long it will take. It’s a press conference announcing a lawsuit on the steps of a courthouse. I have to be there. I wonder if the media will show up?

>The Many Faces of Santa Claus

>

>Health Care Insurance

>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Most Americans would like to see a “public option” in health insurance reform but doubt anything Congress does will lower costs or improve care in the short term, according to a poll released on Thursday.

The survey of 2,999 households by Thomson Reuters Corp shows a public skeptical about the cost, quality and accessibility of medical care.

Just under 60 percent of those surveyed said they would like a public option as part of any final health care reform legislation, which Republicans and a few Democrats oppose.

Here are some of the results of the telephone survey of 2,999 households called from November 9-17 as part of the Thomson Reuters PULSE Health care Survey:

* Believe in public option: 59.9 percent yes, 40.1 percent no.

* 86 percent of Democrats support the public option versus 57 percent of Independents and 33 percent of Republicans.

* Quality of health care will be better 12 months from now: 35 percent strongly disagree. 11.6 percent strongly agree. 29.9 percent put themselves in the middle.

* Believe the amount of money spent on health care will be less 12 months from now: 52 percent strongly disagree, 13 percent strongly agree.

* 23 percent believe it will be easier for people to receive the care they need a year from now.

The nationally representative survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percent.

The House of Representatives passed a health care overhaul bill last month.

The Senate is debating a plan and will vote on Thursday on competing measures to ensure women have access to mammograms and other preventive screenings and amendments on proposed spending cuts in the Medicare government health program for the elderly.

If the Senate passes a bill, the two versions will have to be reconciled and passed again by each chamber before being sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The Senate plan is designed to slow the rate of growth in health care, expand coverage to about 30 million uninsured Americans and halt industry practices such as denying coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions.

It would require everyone to have insurance, provide federal subsidies to help them pay for it and establish a new government-run insurance option to compete with private industry.

That’s a 15% dip since the election last fall. The Summer full of hate filled oratary and physical attacks on people at health care town hall meetings seems to have the intended effect of fear and intimidation, and stunting the original popularity of public health care.

>The President’s Speech

>

Here is a partial excerpt. For a full transcript, there is a link at the end of this post.

“We must make it clear to every man, woman and child around the world who lives under the dark cloud of tyranny that America will speak out on behalf of their human rights, and tend to the light of freedom, and justice, and opportunity, and respect for the dignity of all peoples. That is who we are. That is the moral source of America’s authority.

Since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, and the service and sacrifice of our grandparents, our country has borne a special burden in global affairs. We have spilled American blood in many countries on multiple continents. We have spent our revenue to help others rebuild from rubble and develop their own economies. We have joined with others to develop an architecture of institutions – from the United Nations to NATO to the World Bank – that provide for the common security and prosperity of human beings.

We have not always been thanked for these efforts, and we have at times made mistakes. But more than any other nation, the United States of America has underwritten global security for over six decades – a time that, for all its problems, has seen walls come down, markets open, billions lifted from poverty, unparalleled scientific progress, and advancing frontiers of human liberty.

For unlike the great powers of old, we have not sought world domination. Our union was founded in resistance to oppression. We do not seek to occupy other nations. We will not claim another nation’s resources or target other peoples because their faith or ethnicity is different from ours. What we have fought for – and what we continue to fight for – is a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if other peoples’ children and grandchildren can live in freedom and access opportunity.

As a country, we are not as young – and perhaps not as innocent – as we were when Roosevelt was President. Yet we are still heirs to a noble struggle for freedom. Now we must summon all of our might and moral suasion to meet the challenges of a new age.

In the end, our security and leadership does not come solely from the strength of our arms. It derives from our people – from the workers and businesses who will rebuild our economy; from the entrepreneurs and researchers who will pioneer new industries; from the teachers that will educate our children, and the service of those who work in our communities at home; from the diplomats and Peace Corps volunteers who spread hope abroad; and from the men and women in uniform who are part of an unbroken line of sacrifice that has made government of the people, by the people, and for the people a reality on this Earth.

This vast and diverse citizenry will not always agree on every issue – nor should we. But I also know that we, as a country, cannot sustain our leadership nor navigate the momentous challenges of our time if we allow ourselves to be split asunder by the same rancor and cynicism and partisanship that has in recent times poisoned our national discourse.

It is easy to forget that when this war began, we were united – bound together by the fresh memory of a horrific attack, and by the determination to defend our homeland and the values we hold dear. I refuse to accept the notion that we cannot summon that unity again. I believe with every fiber of my being that we – as Americans – can still come together behind a common purpose. For our values are not simply words written into parchment – they are a creed that calls us together, and that has carried us through the darkest of storms as one nation, one people.

America – we are passing through a time of great trial. And the message that we send in the midst of these storms must be clear: that our cause is just, our resolve unwavering. We will go forward with the confidence that right makes might, and with the commitment to forge an America that is safer, a world that is more secure, and a future that represents not the deepest of fears but the highest of hopes. Thank you, God Bless you, God Bless our troops, and may God Bless the United States of America.”

President Barack Obama December 1, 2009

I have set in bold type, those sentences I particularly agree with.

The President mentioned the importance of Pakistan in reaching our goals in Afghanistan. I agree. We cannot achieve our goals without the alliance of Pakistan, especially its military. I am doubtful about Pakistan’s full support, therefore doubtful about our success.

You can read the full speech here:

>Sending More Troops

>President Obama is sending more young Americans to fight in Afghanistan. To clean out the area of terrorists. A job President Bush should have finished. Yes I am blaming President Bush for not finishing what he started in Afghanistan, and declaring the job was finished in Afghanistan. The complaints from the right (Cheney) are as hypocritical as it gets on the issue of war, and the death of our young people.

Marco Polo conquered many peoples, but he was unsuccessful in this area of the World. The great Russian Bear tried and were unsuccessful. Churchill and England could not defeat the warlords of this area. History would tell us, this is an impossible task. But President Obama does not want to conquer and rule, he wants to eliminate terrorists from the area, and deprive them a stage from which to attack America.

Yet, the terrorists are like nomads. They are not restricted to one part of the World, to attack their perceived enemies. If this is a World wide war on terror (President Bush’s description) then why are we only fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? Where are the troops of the rest of the World? We send tens of thousands, they send a few thousand. Does the World truly want to see the end of terrorism? Can terrorism really be wiped off the face of the Earth?

We hear the familiar cry; we will leave when the Afghanistan’s can defend themselves. We will train their forces to secure their own country. A little hard to do when their forces are half made up of the terrorists we seek to eliminate. How long does it take to train a security force (Army)? Seven years in Iraq and have we trained a force that can keep Iraq secure as a free democracy?

This is a fools errand. We should learn the lessons from our own Revolutionary War. A well armed, disciplined, organized Army enters a foreign land, to fight native rebels. We want Ben Laden swinging from a tree. The King of England wanted Jefferson, Washington and the rest of the rebels hanging from a tree. The moral right of conviction is not comparable, but the military obstacles are the same. Are comparisons to Vietnam fair?

So far, Ben Laden is winning. He wanted the financial decline of America. He wanted internal disputes among Americans. He wanted to recruit new fighters to his cause. He wanted multiple fronts around the World to pursue his violent strategy. He wanted to attack America in a big way, and kill as many Americans as possible.

President Obama’s decision to go after and kill terrorists, is the correct on. His decision should surprise no one, he told us many times during the election, this is what he would do.

That does not mean this strategy will succeed. The decision has been made. We MUST support our President and our troops. Be smart. Be devious. Be safe. Stop asking God for help, start giving aid to the troops and wounded worriers.