based on the magical three instant sample set, governor rick perry is consistently an it's hard out there for a speaker. >> it was time for the senate to produce something. we disagreed with what the senate produced. >> the republican house is giving the president is gift. >> when we left on friday, there seemed to be a is payroll tax cut in the works. >> opposition he had on saturday. >> trying to negotiate with speaker boehner is like trying to nail jell-o to the wall. >> house speaker john boehner stunned everyone. >> he reversed his position.

>> a change of heart to say the least. >> we shook hands. we made a deal. >> the moment tea party republicans start squealing, he just runs away from the deal. >> are we finally seeing the republican split into tea party and non-tea party factions. >> they do not want obama to succeed in anything. >> have you given up on this president? say i can't get anything done with him? >> i'm not that smart. i never give up. >> that's ridiculous. i can't handle it. >> down goes newt. >> there's a new cnn poll which has a tie between newt gingrich and mitt romney. >> i'm delighted. >> ron paul at 23%. mitt romney at 20%, newt at 14%. >> newt gingrich is taking heavy fire from republican rivals. >> he has been unreliable in those settings and zany. >> i don't think you'd call mirrors in space to light highways at night practical. >> gingrich remains undeterred

saying he would round up judges if he didn't like their rulings. >> that he would send federal marshals to round up judges. >> this is the executive branch power grab that would make kim jong-il proud. >> it is baffling. everything he does is like hit me again, crazy. breaking news. the republican party has a problem, and it's called the house of representatives. the republican presidential nominee will discover soon enough what republican members of the senate and the house who are not in totally safe seats already know. that the republican house of representatives can do more harm to the party than any of the attack ads the democrats come up with in the next year. one endangered republican massachusetts senator scott brown is scared. today he called the latest move by house republicans his words, irresponsible and wrong.

on this one, there is absolutely no distance between scott brown and harry reid. scott brown is now desperate to show massachusetts voters that he's not one of those crazy house republicans. scott brown's panic comes after the senate reached a striking bipartisan compromise with 89 senators voting in favor of a temporary extension of the current payroll tax cut for the first two months of 2012. 39 republican senators voted in favor of it including obviously scott brown. after the senate vote, house speaker john boehner said the senate compromise isn't perfect, but keystone is a victory. that was a reference to a provision requiring the president to make a decision on the keystone oil pipeline from canada to the gulf of mexico. but that was then. and this is today. >> the senate did its -- they

did their job. they produced a bill. the house disagrees with it. >> that's right. the bill boehner could live with this weekend, he can't live with now because the crazies in his caucus simply will not go for it. that provoked senator scott brown to issue this statement. the house republicans' plan to scuttle the deal to help middle-class families is irresponsible and wrong. we cannot allow rigid partisan ideology and unwillingness to compromise stand in the way of working for the good of the american people. harry reid issued this warning to boehner. senator mcconnell and i negotiated a compromise at speaker boehner's request. he should not walk away from it putting middle class families at risk of a thousand dollar tax hike just because a few angry tea partiers raised their voices

to the speaker. press secretary jay carney noted today that all it would take is a few dozen house republicans to vote for a compromised bill that was supported by 39 republican senators. >> they measured past the senate with nearly 90% support. all it would take in the house if all democrats or virtually all democrats vote for it is about 25 or 30 republicans. 12% of republicans support in the house for this thing to become law. >> joining me now is congresswoman debbie washerman. thanks for joining me tonight. >> thanks. >> what is the state of play in the house of representatives right now? >> well, unbelievably what we are hearing now out of a house rules committee, we adjourned for the evening. the house republicans didn't

bring the vote up -- didn't bring the senate bill up for a vote tonight. pushed it to tomorrow and now we're hearing that the rules committee is going to basically punt the legislation. we're not going to have a vote on the bill at all and we're going to just have a vote on the motion to go to conference with the senate. what you eluded to a moment ago is exactly the problem the republicans face. they probably have a couple dozen of their members that want to vote for the bill that are in districts that they are very vulnerable to a loss next year. and if they vote against a middle class tax cut and extending that tax cut right at the holidays and they know that that is going to cause the economy some harm, they don't want to be in that situation. so the republican leadership, i think, can't defeat this bill tomorrow if they bring it up for a vote. so they're not going to bring it up. that's just shocking. it's outrageous. it's not letting the democratic process work its will.

it shows us they really don't want to be supportive of the needs of the middle class. it's 160 million americans that would face a thousand dollars more out of their paychecks if we don't pass this bill. >> it's a very interesting parliamentary maneuver. it allows them to in effect allow the bill to proceed without having their fingerprints on it and a vote count on it because what you're suggesting is we could easily -- if this bill came up in the house, you could see a vote count that was basically, say, 40 republicans maybe or less. >> well, we probably don't need that many. >> but voting for something then would be overwhelmingly passed by democratic votes which would in terms of appearance look like a democratic hijacking of a republican-controlled house. that seems to be what the speaker fears. >> well, sadly the republicans since i've been in congress have

have adopted the philosophy they have to pass with only a majority of the majority. democracy would tell you if you have a majority of the house then that's the will of the people and we should move forward. to raise taxes right before the holidays on 160 million americans, to refuse the extension of the unemployment at the holidays, to possibly cause the medicare reimbursement rates cut and leave seniors in a difficult situation if they lose doctors they now have access to, this is what republicans are subjecting average middle class americans and working families to. it's just shocking and outrageous. >> nancy pelosi has just replied. we have information that she has replied to the what is the expected boehner move here by saying that she will not appoint democratic conferees to the

conference that he would like to see take place. does that mean according to house rules you couldn't have a conference without democratic conferees being named? >> i think it's been made pretty clear that there's not going to be a conference. because they have passed a two-month extension. 89 to 10. i mean, between moderates and conservatives. you've had a number of republican senators come out and urge the house republicans to take up this bill and pass it so that we can negotiate a longer term extension. thank god now there's some universal agreement apparently that we should move forward with a one-year payroll tax cut extension. we need some more time. now is not the time to be raising taxes on the middle class and working families right before the holidays. republicans are the ones that most of them have signed a

pledge to not raise taxes on anyone ever, they seem to be willing make an exception for the middle class. it's sad. >> debbie wasserman shultz, thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >> joining me now is analyst steve schmidt. a senior strategist in the bush/cheney '04 presidential campaign. it seems that the republicans in the house now are endangering the brand of tax cutting in the republican party if they have met a tax cut. that gets 89 votes in senate but is not good enough for the house of representatives. >> the politics of this isn't great for house republicans because the democrats are clearly on the high ground of reasonableness here. and the proof point is all of the republican senators that voted for it. so when the criticism is coming

from scott brown and it's coming from other republicans, it makes the work of chairwoman shultz pretty easy. it's not a great fight for republicans in the christmas season. >> and the congressional elections and senate elections are all about the marginal seats, the unsafe seats. most are in safe seats. the idaho senators have nothing to worry about. it's always going to be republican. but a massachusetts republican is not an easy place for a senator to hold on to a seat. especially with this strong challenge from elizabeth warren in massachusetts. i take brown's position to be speaking for all of the endangered republicans both in the house and the senate who are looking at this action. how do you get in an election year like this, how do you get a cohesive response out of a republican house of representatives and how do you get them to keep an eye on the election while taking these positions? >> look, i think they are keeping an eye on the election.

i think part of the parliamentary tactics you were talking about a moment ago are born out of the necessity that 31 members of the freshman class are in districts that president obama carried in 2008. so when you look at a 2012 electoral map, all of those freshman republicans have to be a little bit nervous when you look at the turnout that's going to occur in those democratic districts in november. you know, the bottom line, though, for this is the republican party wants to have an argument, to have a discussion about how to grow the economy. jeb bush in a brilliant editorial in "the wall street journal" talked about conservatives and the right to rise. about the validity of the system. that's the space where republicans can do well. where republicans should be arguing. this just as a tactical issue isn't a great fight for republicans. american people will not be on the side in this fight.

and i think it's important to put this in the rearview mirror and to get on with business heading into the election year. >> steve, let's listen to what jon huntsman had to say about this. >> i think it ought to be extended. i think there's a good deal on the table. i think the republicans put a good deal on the table. it extends for awhile, it moves the keystone pipeline along. i think it's a fair package. >> i have the feeling if you were managing a republican presidential campaign at this point, that's what you'd like your candidate to say. >> no doubt. look, sometimes in this process you have to know when it's okay to declare victory. the fact that the keystone pipeline which i think rather outrageously the administration postponed making a decision on has been included, it's moved forward. it's an important issue. so republicans had a lot in this that they could have claimed victory on. instead we have a political muddle. when you're in a rock-throwing fight, you want to be on the side that throwing the rocks

uphill, not down hill. >> steve schmidt, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. republican chaos obviously includes the presidential campaign. the gingrich surge may become the gingrich collapse. that's next. and newt gingrich versus the judges. he wants to put judges he doesn't like in handcuffs. he really does. he said it. no wonder the gingrich campaign is collapsing. e field on him and be invisible! [ child 2 ] i call first player. no. i already called it. [ dad ] nobody's playing anything until after we get our homework done. thank you. hello? test drive's not over yet. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. [ louder ] hello? but we still need your signature. right now during sign then drive, it's never been easier to get the all-new passat,

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donald trump on tuesday announced he is dropping out as moderator for the republican presidential debate. he decided to cancel when he learned that the candidates would also be allowed to talk. insiders are speculating that he

dropped out of the debate because he found a younger, sexier debate.

number four. i just used all my campaign money to buy a zoo with matt damon. >> nothing wrong with that. number three. >> i can do a lot. but even i can't fix the indianapolis colts.

>> hey, hey, hey. we won yesterday. number two. >> newt gingrich? really? >> that was a preview of mitt romney reading the top ten things mitt romney would like to say to the american people tonight on tonight's late night with david letterman. he also stopped by fox news. >> do you consider yourself a conservative thinker? >> i am conservative. >> romney care is not a conservative thing. the thought behind it is. the government should get involved with people's health care. that's not a conservative position. >> actually, the idea as you know came from conservatives at the heritage foundation. >> with 15 days until the iowa caucus, new polls show they're increasingly flirty with ron paul. according to a gallup poll, the

tie has gone to a tie. ron paul a third with 11%. in iowa, attack ads directed at gingrich and gingrich's pledge to a positive campaign has resulted to his support being cut in half in some polls. a robopoll of likely iowa caucus goers shows in two weeks gingrich's support has dropped from 27% to 14%. that puts him nine points behind ron paul and six points behind romney. today in iowa, gingrich laid out his plans to avoid becoming the next republican candidate to fade from contention. >> candidly very disappointing to see some of my friends who are running put out so much negative junk. so i wanted to start by saying that i will be coming back again and again. we all have a jobs on prosperity

tour and have 44 stops before the caucuses. but i will be back on a positive basis. i will do two things. i'll tell you what i stand and and want to accomplish. and i will answer any questions that come up based on the false and inaccurate advertising of some of my friends. >> yesterday romney picked up an endorsement from bob dole. the winner of the 1996 iowa caucuses and the loser of the 1996 presidential campaign. four years ago, romney told fox news that bob dole is the very last person he would want to get a letter of support. >> what do you make of the letter that bob dole wrote to rush limbaugh to say lay off of john mccain, he's conservative enough. do you buy that from bob? >> it's probably the last person i would have wanted to write a

letter for me. i think there are a lot of folks that tend to think that maybe john mccain's race is like bob dole's race. that it's the guy who's the next in line. he's the inevitable choice and we'll give it to him and then it won't work. >> today the editor of the conservative website red state wrote that any republican who backs romney or gingrich has gone insane. the republican party has gone insane. for the better part of the last three years, the republican party has exercised itself into a frenzy over the need to repeal obama care. the individual mandate and t.a.r.p. draw the ire of scores of primary voters. and our two front runners for president? they both support an individual mandate and they both supported t.a.r.p. i want everyone to make sure they understand everyone -- even rick santorum are still to the race.

and sarah palin isn't ready to endorse anyone. >> at what point will you endorse someone if you do plan to? >> you know, my endorsement is going to be with sincerity and enthusiasm. and i am just not there yet with the field as it stands. and there's no need to endorse until that enthusiasm really is within me. in my gut. >> joining me now, washington post editorial writer and msnbc analyst jonathan kaport. thanks for joining me. it's not in sarah palin's gut because the polls are not clear enough to tell her who the front runner is so she can get on that train and endorse the ultimate nominee and claim she had something to do with it. >> apparently so. but ultimately, what does it matter anymore? clearly before she decided she wasn't going to run for

president before we knew she wasn't going to run anyway, her support within the republican party was waning away by the month. so i'm not sure what her endorsement does good for anyone. >> leah: julia, the first photo that i saw of you, you had... it didn' say. >> the problem is that the republican primary voter does not want a moderate. they don't want somebody they perceive as a republican. the republicans saying no mitt's a stroong conservative. they don't believe that when they're told that. so they're divvying up votes elsewhere and that is allowing creep on the part of ron paul.

the republican party's insistent governing against the will of its own voters. that's how it appears to me. >> rush has a few good points there, doesn't he? >> a few, but let's keep in mind he's blanketing the entire republican party saying that they don't want a moderate. and yes, there are tea party republicans and there are other republicans who are crowding out those moderates. but, you know, iowa and new hampshire, south carolina, and even florida do not represent other big states that are to whose contests later in the primary calendar. to broad brush the republican party like that i think is a mistake on rush's part. he's going to attack me for that, i'm sure. but then again, as the far left is the life blood and energy of the democratic party, the far right in conservatives are the life blood of the republican party. and they're rising up.

we'll find out in less than three weeks who's going to take that iowa caucus. >> well, what rush's frustration is showing us is the republican party really is in chaos. jonathan capehart thanks for joining us tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, gingrich wants to go all kim jong-il on judges he doesn't like. and the death of a dictator overshadows the death of a play wright turned president. a plan who was a hero to freedom fighters everywhere. dad, you are not meeting him looking like that.

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nooutd newt gingrich setz he's not zany but hez judges need to be kept in check and need to be forced to explain their opinions. is that the way to win republican primaries? and later if you need a last-second hanukkah or christmas gift, i'll tell you what to get for someone who is really tough to get the right gift for. somebody who maybe has everything. i'd race down that hill without a helmet.

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[ applause ] >> that was newt gingrich in iowa today going after his latest target, so-called activist judges. on saturday he ramped up his rhetoric saying as president he would abolish whole courts in order to get rid of judges whose decisions he feels are out of step with the country. he took it one step further during an appearance on cbs "face the nation" sunday. >> one of the things you say is if you don't like what a court has done that congress should subpoena the judge and bring him before congress and hold a congressional hearing. some people say that's unconstitutional but i'll let that go for a minute. i want to ask from a practical standpoint, how would you enforce that? would you send the capitol police to arrest him? >> if you had to. or instruct the u.s. department to send the marshal. >> mitt romney said this about newt's zany idea on fox news

tonight. >> his comments about the justices and the congress sending the capitol police to bring in judges, that's not exactly a practical idea or a constitutional idea. >> gingrich's extreme ideas may be losing ground with some of them in the establishment but he remains popular with his base. gingrich was the winner in sunday night's tea party patriots straw poll with 31% of the vote. michele bachmann took second with 28%. romney took 20%. and then santorum with 16%. joining me now is ron kerry, former member of minnesota. this is when i need you to take me into the mind of the republican primary voter.

how many want to hear that congress at the president's urging can run out and arrest judges and drag them into congressional hearings to answer for opinions they have issued? >> newt is certainly pandering to the conservative base. i mean, there's a lot of conservatives out there especially religious conservatives that are frustrated that the courts have really taken god out of our society and they're frustrated to the nth degree. newt knows that segment of the base is critical for him if he's going to be able to keep of momentum. at this point in time he's giving true red meat to those who might follow that. as people might look at his economists more closely, it's going to be an albatross around his neck. but also in the primary. because as we look at that, we say that's just a policy or an idea that makes no sense. i mean, newt is proving to be a

walking hand grenade at this point in time saying things that are just going to make him explode. if he were to run up against president obama as a conservative, i am very concerned as to how obama and his machine would take these comments apart and make him look like a fringe candidate and could be the death of the republican party if he became the nominee. >> well, that is why some of us have been cheering for newt to hang in there and get that nomination. >> i'm sure you have been. >> but, ron, what strikes me about it on newt is the thing he's suggesting is completely impossible. you know, here he is, he's running for president and he's saying this is what i think congress can do. the presidency has no subpoena power whatsoever. congress does have subpoena power. it doesn't have any subpoena power in the instance he's talking about. but that's what to me is so nutty about it. he's talking about a power that doesn't exist anywhere within the presidency. >> well, absolutely. i think he would be pushing the

limits of the constitution. he refers to 1802 case where jefferson along with friends in congress were able to eliminate some judges. but that was over 200 years ago. to try to do that today in political terms it can't be done. that's where newt is a great thinker. he has a lot of good ideas. but he has clunkers out there. and right now he's having one of the clunkers wrapped around his nick. i'm surprised he continues to go after this except he thinks it's going to help him in iowa in the short-term. but it's -- what i'm concerned about as a conservative is that we don't go for the short-term feel good and end up in march next year with a candidate who can't prevail in november. it's a glorious campaign for eight or nine months but we lose. >> we'll know how good it is in the short-term. ron carey thanks for joining us tonight. >> thanks, lawrence.

coming up, why the north koreans are pretending to mourn for kim jong-il. and why they should be crying over the loss of a true leader halfway around the world. that's in tonight's rewrite. and later, an update on your amazing generosity and kindness to students in africa. what viewers of this program are saying and doing for the k.i.n.d. fund. kids in need of desks. probioticy helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health.

have you seen this announcement? watch this. >> dick cheney says the united states should have bombed iran to prevent them from gathering intelligence from the captured surveillance drone. if a loved one with a history of a heart condition exhibits strange behavior like recommending going to war over the downing of an unmanned spy plane, it may be the result of a lack of oxygen to the brain.

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...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. time for tonight's rewrite. the world lost another vicious dictator this weekend to no one's disappointment surely those including those who were forced to pretend that the death of north korea's kim jong-il was somehow tragic.

the dead dictator's television network broadcast these images of north koreans supposedly racking to the death of their dictator. all of the actors caught on camera mourning the death of the man who has made their lives miserable were following the dictates that appear in one of the dictator's many books about what he called the art of cinema. since kim jong-il never made the slightest attempt to improve the lives of people of his country he had plenty of time to expound on his theories of making movies. in this 1987 masterpiece, the cinema and directing. he wrote emotions in a film should be defined so that they capture the hearts of the audience from the very first scene. the news director at dictator tv

surely followed that rule in delivering the images of sobbing over the loss of the madman. kim jong-il was actually probably more sane about film making than anything else he ever talked about. because he actually did get a couple of things right about film making. the director should not merely consider a few well-known actors, but should consider many others. i could not agree more. and in another insight that seemed aimed directly at tyler perry, the dictator wrote it is true that actors should be prepared to portray any character at any time, but since every one of them has different creative individuality, he may be well-suited to one character but not to another. the passing of the mad dictator who fancied himself in authority on the performing arts has overshadowed the e passing of a former head of state with real

authority in the arts. the authority of an author, a playwright. whose decent landed him in jail as a threat to the dictatorship that controlled czechoslovakia died sunday at his country house. the brilliant and courageous theater maker brought him to new york in 1968 for the theater production of his second play. that was the last time that havel was allowed out of czechoslovakia's rule. he became the most famous and jailed repeatedly included in january 1989. joe papp then put in an urgent call to his new york senator moynahan and got me on the phone instead.

i relaid papp's message to moynahan on the senate floor. havel arrested again. we've got to do something. by then history was moving faster than anyone would have thought. we were only ten months a i way from the collapse of the berlin wall. something then that felt a hundred years away. dictatorship was losing grip on eastern. havel's release in may of 1989, he resumed his work of undermining the dictatorship. he continued in prague theater where he strategized the overthrow of the government. something few in his country or the world thought possible just months before. and by year's end, havel had gone from the prisoner playwright to the president of czechoslovakia. the transfer of power occurred

without firing a shot. it became known as the velvet revolution. after hearing of havel's death, president obama said this. his peaceful resistance shook the foundations of an empire, exposed the emptiness of a repressive ideology and proved that moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon. in his memoir to the castle and back, havel recalled the rise to the presidency an accident of history. tonight the world should be hoping for a similar accident of history in north korea. vaclav havel was 75. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. reddi-wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi-wip.

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now, shouldn't there be at least six degrees of separation between me and glenn beck? well there's only one because

penn jillette has been a friend of mine and he's a friend of glenn beck's. we delivered blurbs for his book. i thought that was as close as glenn beck and i were going to get. but we now have another connection. after my last show last week, i got an e-mail from a glenn beck fan. he had just contributed to the k.i.n.d. fund. kids in need of desks. the partnership that i created with unicef for building desks in africa and delivering them to classrooms there where students and teachers sometimes have never seen a desk. the e-mail from james ray came through the unicef website which allows you to have a gift notice sent to someone on whose behalf you can buy a desk for an african school as a christmas present. the subject line of the e-mail

is a desk from a glenn beck fan. dear lawrence, happy holidays from the other side. faith without works is dead, so thank you for the opportunity to help. jim. that e-mail is full of the spirit of this season of giving. jim begins by dropping our political differences. he refers to the religious basis of christmas echoing christ's message that faith without good works is meaningless. and then jim does what so many of you have done. he thanks me for the opportunity to help. many of you have used that phrase in tweets and e-mails. the opportunity to help. and this is all i ever wanted to do with the k.i.n.d. fund. give people the opportunity to help if they are as moved as i was when i first heard about the conditions in malawi classrooms. the k.i.n.d. fund is not about politics.

and i'm not surprised that a glenn beck fan like jim who is serious about combining faith with good works would see that. that students should have desks, that they should not be forced to sit on cold dirt and cement floors for hours a day is something we can agree on. some of you might have different targets. i certainly have no argument for that and make no attempt to redirect your charitable giving. i simply want to offer you the opportunity to participate in something simple and kind of magical at the same time. something that changes children's lives in an instant. a desk. you can go to our website last word desks.msnbc.com and link to the k.i.n.d. fund. for $48 you can buy a desk which is made in malawi by workers who are now able to feed their families because the k.i.n.d. fund has provided jobs in the

two factories in malawi that make these desks. the desks are designed for two children, but frequently i see three children, i've seen four children squeeze into these desks. after updating you on the k.i.n.d. fund on thursday night, jim ray and others contributed over $130,000 overnight so that when i appeared on martin bashir's show we had raised $2,658,827. i told martin i would credit him with whatever money the k.i.n.d. fund raised other the weekend since that would be the last time i would discuss it last week. the totals are in. and the bashir effect over the weekend was $223,890. so i began reminding you of this program on wednesday of last week. and since then, you have

contributed close to half a million dollars. $460,763 bringing our one year total from one we started this a year ago to $2,874,762. that means that the workers making these desks will continue to have jobs. that means that their families will not go hungry. that means that this truck will continue to roll into schoolyards in malawi and children will continue to rush the truck and unload it themselves and transform their classrooms themselves. all thanks to you. patricia henry sent this e-mail. my husband an i just donated a hundred dollars after your segment thursday night. i am a public school librarian in houston, texas, and my husband is a part-time lecturer at a local high school. we know about schools and students and we don't have a lot

of money, but we have a lot of gratitude and are glad to donate. you're making a positive difference in the world. thank you for allowing your viewers to be part of it. linda and earl heff linger in colorado wrote we were so moved by your story that we decided to donate ten desks to honor our ten grandchildren. thank you for providing such a meaningful way to affirm a positive future tr other kids of their generation. and we were told she had no room left taking up a collection among her friends which led to a $402 contribution to the k.i.n.d. fund. we got this comment on facebook from christine ziama. when my husband who came to this country and earned his degree in electrical engineering saw your presentation on k.i.n.d., he was brought back to his early days

of schooling when he was a child without a desk. many young africans have the same experience. he sat on the floor in his bare feet where he diligently wrote his lessons in a notebook. it does my heart good to see those children express such joy upon receipt of those desks. and on twitter, i got this. just bought a half a dozen desks in the name of my coworkers for christmas. this is a gift for any time of year. that is absolutely true. and the k.i.n.d. fund gets donations any time of the year but we count on a surge in this time of giving. eileen yoffee posted this on facebook. i just donated two desks in the name of my daughter lily who is nine months old. she is now making a difference in the world. happy hanukkah, lily. and finally from mark abrams.

i make this donation in honor of my daughter heather who is a two-time survivor of hodgkin's. i was particularly struck with the involvement of your daughter in this project. unless we teach our children to have the complete understanding of helping others, we will be left with those who are only motivated by their self-interests. i am proud to be a liberal and your fan, sincerely, mark abrams. and now, there isn't even one degree of separation between if proud liberal o'donnell fan mark abrams and the glenn beck fan jim ray who contributed to the fund last week and who next year might have kids sitting in the same classroom in malawi at the desks that they contributed. i for one prefer to think of that not as a christmas miracle but as the way we all really can work together for the greater good every day.