Holidy Newsletter from Sen. Specter

I'm just going to cut and paste it.

Dear Friend,

From the cloture vote, it is now apparent that 60 Democratic Senators are in favor of comprehensive health care reform. This legislation is an important step in seeing to it that adequate health care becomes a right in America and not just a privilege.


Click below to watch my video message on healthcare

It is not the bill that I would have preferred and there is an oppuntunity [sic] to improve it in conference. I would like to see a strong, robust public option. I would like to see more clear-cut language on a woman’s right to choose. But it has many important features. It covers 31 million more Americans. It has important insurance reforms. No longer can an insurance company reject a claim because of a pre-existing condition. No longer can there be a lifetime limit on insurance coverage.

I consider the legislation similar to the Civil Rights Act of 1965. It was a very good law, but it took a preliminary legislative enactment in 1957 and another in 1964 - each an incremental step - to set the stage for what was satisfactory and adequate civil rights legislation.

It is regrettable that there is such divisive partisanship in the Senate today. When we took the cloture vote, every one of the 60 Democrats said ‘Aye,’ and every one of the 40 Republicans said ‘Nay.’ It is the same attitude that pervaded the Senate during the stimulus package which I think was indispensible to avoid a 1929 Depression. I believe that when you have thousands of people dying each year because they don’t have insurance or adequate medical care, this bill is a very significant step forward.

Have a happy and healthy holiday season.

My best,

Arlen Specter

Basically, he's saying that although this isn't the bill he would've preferred he's going to support it.  Gotta love the Senator's strong moral convictions... Hell I don't agree with it, and I don't know what's in all of the bill, but I'm going to support it since doing something is better than doing nothing.

Senate Plans to Fill America's Stockings with Coal

The senate has thought long and hard about what to get the American public for Christmas and they've settled on just filling our stockings with coal.

Meanwhile, they've bought themselves shiny new bikes.

Customs "Legally" Seize Bongs?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/christmas-bongs.html

Okay, this is something that irks me. Now, I know I'm not a lawyer but my understanding of "Drug Paraphernalia" has always been that paraphernalia are items which are "primarily intended" to be used for the consumption; sale; or distribution of illegal drugs.

My understanding was that if I wanted to smoke tobacco or legal herbs out of a glass pipe (such as the one pictured below) I would be in the clear since the pipe only becomes "drug paraphernalia" when there is a reasonable assumption that it will be/has been used for illegal purposes.

However, since the items which were seized weren't seized in close proximity to illegal drugs and there was no reasonable assumption that they would be used for illegal purposes why were they illegally seized?

Was it because the sender marked the contents wrongly as "Christmas ornaments"? Maybe, but does that mean that if you purchased a high end diet or culinary scale from overseas and the sender marked it the package wrong it'd be "drug paraphernalia"?

It seems to me like US Customs overstepped their bounds to get some positive media coverage. "Hey look at us, we busted a huge shipment of evil glassware..." Too bad they can't stop all the cocaine and heroin from coming into the country....

It just irks me. Good one US Customs, you just ruined a lot of stoner's Christmases.

You just made Santa's Naughty List.

Last minute add-on: Wow. Normally the Feds are really bad at estimating actual value, but wow are they off on this one. They estimate the value at 2.6 million, but some of those 'bongs' would retail for more than $100 easily. According to the math. 2.6million/316,000 = $6 and some change per glass piece. Unless the shipment consisted of mostly cheap crack pipes the value is much higher. I'd say the value could be much closer to 5-10 million dollars

A Christmas Miracle: Happy Birthday

For all of you that know me...

I wasn't born on this day, but I attribute this day to the most significant event in my life.

I'm not sure why I always think of the date as December 20th, but it's probably just fried neurons that keep me from remembering when the actual date was (I had to check and it was December 12th, 2000).

So what happened on this date or around it some eight years ago?

I was reborn.

Bear with me and finish reading before you rush to judgement.

You could call it an epiphany if you'd like, but it was much more than that. Truly, such a divine experience cannot be fully expressed if you've never experienced it.

I'll paint the picture a bit for you to set the framework.

I always want to say that it happened on a Friday or something, even though evidence tells me it was a Tuesday in December. Perhaps, it was the lifestyle I was living. Every day was like a weekend to me. I had just dropped off a friend. I use the term loosely because, at that time in my life, I had many friends that were more like partners in crime than what one would call a friend.

Anyhow, I had just dropped of my friend and made that right turn to head back home. Little did I know, that the car that turned left behind me was one of our local police officers. He did his job, pulling me over for my broken turn signal, and I suspect would've let me off with a minor citation or warning if things had been different. I remember vividly the song playing on the radio, Limp Bizkit's Nookie--which I still abhor to this day, as I turned it down and silently cursed my circumstances as I pulled my car over to the shoulder .

That lingering fear of the law catching up with me became a self-fulfilling prophecy that day.

In fact, I had a prior arrest only 6 months ago. As my stash was taken as evidence and I was placed in the back of the cruiser (in handcuffs of course), I remember the officer saying something that while not very profound had a lasting impact. "You don't need this..."

He was right. That day my arresting officer was the voice of reason and to a smaller extent the voice of God.

Some of that whole day fades away into a foggy mess, even though I was what I'd call sober when I was pulled over, but a few things I remember clearly.

One thing I cannot forget was the look of utter dismay and disappointment on my mother's face when the officer dropped me off at home after being processed and released. In fact, I don't think a word was even exchanged between my mother and I that night.

One of the other things I remember lucidly was the brokenness in my spirit. I can't really describe it except that it's like your innermost being had just been shattered. I saw my life and what a mess I had made of it, and knew in my spirit that I was powerless to fix it.

I did the only thing I could think of... I cried out to God for a help, for direction, and then opened up my bible seemingly at random. When I opened up to Romans 13 and started reading, the words cut deep into my soul.

It's an amazing thing to know that the Almighty Creator of the Universe listens intently to prayers such as mine in my time of need.

God, I'm sorry. I've been such a dick. I've disobeyed you, please forgive me. Lord, help...

And almost as soon those words escaped my lips in barely recognizable sobs and mutterings, it felt like a great weight had been lifted from me. At that point, I knew that things were going to be alright.

Now, I should preface all of this by adding that after that revelation everything was NOT fine and dandy. In fact, I still had a trial; court mandated drug rehab counseling; traffic safety classes; probation; and then I still had a whole slew of friends that would think that I'd gone mad when I recounted my story. After that prayer, God didn't fix all of my problems, but He did forgive me.

In fact, some things were completely different immediately after I said that prayer, but others took some time.

To my shame, I remember thinking how cool it would be to celebrate Jesus' birth with a bowl of the finest ganja as a new Christian...as if the aroma of that piney sweet bud and my intoxication would waft up into heaven as a sweet aroma. In time, God changed my attitude about that as well.

I began to understand how much I was missing out on. I had sheltered myself from reality every time I lit a joint. Every time I took a hit from the bong, I drove a wedge between God and I, and soon enough God changed my heart and I didn't want it anymore.

My story's not over, in fact, it's just the beginning of my story. It's the story of my Christmas Miracle. It was the year, God turned this Sinner into a Saint.

Sorry. I know this was a bit long, but I couldn't tell the story as fully as I have without using as many words.

I hope you believe in Christmas Miracles.

Leave a comment, if you would.