and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow. 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 'er he drove out of sight, happy christmas to all and to all a good night. e he drove out of sight, happy christmas to all and to all a good night. ccccccccccc >> larry: there is nothing better at christmastime than the beauty of many voices raised in song. here's the great harlem alumni ensemble to celebrate the season. ♪ ♪ o holy night ♪ the stars are brightly shining ♪ ♪ it is the night of our dear savior's birth ♪ ♪ long lay the world in sin and error pining ♪ ♪ till he appeared and the soul felt its worth ♪ ♪ a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices ♪ ♪ for yonder breaks a new

we were the first people, 5:00 in the morning, to disturb the s snow. i loved the snow.ove. and just remembering what christmas is really about. for me, the birth of my savior. and that's a big deal. >> well, i have many memories because when -- because christmas is for children and when i was a children, when i was a child, my family, christmas was truly the most beautiful holiday of the year. i remember particular -- beautiful train that my father built for us. for me, for my brother. beautiful, really beautiful. i remember also a big disappointment because one year, my parents -- like big present for christmas gave me encyclopedia. this encyclopedia in italian means "to know." but for me, it was a terrible, terrible present. ♪ - kids: cup-cakes! cup-cakes! cup-cakes! cup-cakes! - come on. cup-cakes! cup-- re-do! re-do! ( stove dings ) cup-cakes! cup-cakes! cup-cakes! ( cheering ) announcer: relax. pam helps you pull it off. >> larry: sting's performance earlier in the show was so great we asked him for an encore. fortunately he obliged and talked to us about his refle

on new year's day, snow and rain showers. here it is, seven-day forecast is up. in to the weekend, after we hurdle this event. the first weekend of the new year will be a windy weather weekend and a cold one with highs just above the freezing mark. that is my weather scoop. patranya bhoolsuwan, what's the latest on our drive? >> it is cold out there so watch out for the ramps, bridges and overpasses. they will be slick. another thing to watch for in arlington, wood beams are blocking route 110. crews will trying to get it off the roadway. watch for that if you are heading in that direction. check out 66 eastbound. no problems to report out of centreville past 123. 123 to the beltway no incidents or accidents there. as we jump on the inner loop, 95 to 66, seeing clean and green cars and everyone is at speed. fantastic ride for people out here. more traffic is picking up 95 to georgia but no big problems all the way to 270. head out to 95 and the bw parkway. all clear as well but watch for those roads and watch your speed and o

and in the northeast, snow began falling last night and continued into the morning. commuters in new jersey were among many thousands who faced a treacherous trip. >> i probably did about 30 miles per hour the entire time, i have automatic four wheel drive, but other cars in front of me kept spinning out. >> reporter: the storm system was expected to cross maine tonight and begin making its way into the atlantic by tomorrow. >> sreenivasan: the u.s. general who executed the troop surge in iraq warned today afghanistan will be tougher in some ways. general david petraeus now leads the u.s. central command. he told a senate hearing he expects to see progress, albeit slowly, as 30,000 additional u.s. troops deploy. >> afghanistan is no more hopeless than iraq was when i took command there in february 2007. indeed, the level of violence and number of violent civilian deaths in iraq were vastly higher than we have seen in afghanistan. but achieving progress in afghanistan will be hard, and the progress there likely will be slower in developing than was the progress achiev

region was buried under nearly two feet of snow, fcing federal agencies to cle today. and everywhere commuters had to brave icy roads a slick sidewalks this morng. those who opted for blic transportati ran into delays in bus, commuter rail and subway service in several majocities. eay holiday travelers were left struggling to salvage flight plans after thousands of flights werdelayed or canced. >> on a flight from boston yesterday at:00 and got here at 5:00 p.m. and have been here sincerying to get to pittsburgh. rit over there behind the christmas tree. >> we called up e airline last nht. evything was totally fine. we arrived this morning. the flight was canceled. a lot of people confused not knowing what's goi on. >> reporter: as the day we on, runways began to rpen and flightchedules slowly began returning to normal. brown: the blizzard also left shoppinmalls snow bound th merchants scrambling to recoup a critical weekd of lost biness. airline passengers in the u. will not have to sit on e tarmac f more than three urs. the transportation deptment ordered today thata

snowe became a liberal target for proposed obstructionism. chairman max baucus pushed unfinished work to the senate floor where mr. reid is pressing to pass a bill in a race against rising unpopularity and president obama's falling approval ratings. mr. reid made this case with his usual intellectual nuance this week -- quote -- "instead of joining us on the right side of history, all republicans can come up with is 'slow down, stop everything, let's start over.' if you think you've heard these excuses before, you're right. when the country recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said slow down, it's too early, things aren't bad enough. equating opposition to medicare cuts, he related that to women's suffrage, social security and medicare. he would have done better if he listened to mrs. snowe's comments about durable social reform needing to be bipartisan, because while social security passed when the democrats controlled both congress and the white house, she pointed out that 64% of the senate republica

i have watched the heavy bands of snow showers move in.e watched a person carrying a cart and some children trying to walk across the street. a person trying to clean off their car. just wasn't happening. the snow has come down rather fantastically in the last couple of hours. this is a map of virginia and power outages. richmond, williamsberg, more towards fairfax and frederi fredericksburg. more outages. the airport is not closed but the runways at washington's national and dulles are not running because the snowfall has been coming down all day long. drew, back to you. >> plenty of this and more tonight at 10:00. we have the live coverage of current conditions on the bottom of your screen. but now stay tuned for more "larry king live." okay i'll hold. she's holding. wha? (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. it's not always easy living with copd, but i try not to let it hold me back... whether i'm at the batting cages... down by the lake or... fishing at the shore. i'm breathing better... with spiriva. announcer: spiriva is

senator collins and senator snowe are not on board. a devastating program that will create long- term financial problems. senator nelson may have helped on medicaid, but has not helped nebraska with medicare cuts. at the end of the day, i hope the people realize it is not over. this is a long way from being done. if you want to change, speak up. let people know. the cuts are going to affect people in nebraska, and tax increases will affect people in nebraska, and this abortion language, the conference of bishops understands the difference between stupac language and this language, and they have decided to oppose the bill. that's as all i need to know about the pro-life issue, when the conference of catholic bishops say they oppose the language and opposed the bill because of language. that is all you need to know from my point of view. i do not always agree with the catholic church, particularly on the death penalty, but i agree with them on right-to-life issue. they have just got to pass the bill, because the democratic party features

you can see the bears huddled in the snow there. whenever you see bears, pictures of bears with brush in the background, they are taking in churchill because george was fairly far south for polar bears. these are all, again, churchill photographs. now these are it turns out all males. what happens in churchill is this. they wait. the bears weight or hudson bay to freeze, and when it gets strong enough, the ice is strong enough for them to walk on, they leave churchill and they go out on the ice and they go hunting and begin wandering around, until the ice starts to melt and then they returned to the land on churchill. and they wait for the ice to freeze again. the bears in churchill are in trouble. because the ice is freezing, hudson bay is freezing later and later. that means it takes them longer to find enough food, if they can't find enough food that females can't stand up and feed their cups. so the melting ice has a direct affect, in fact, on all polar bears as we have seen. but mostly, directly on the bears in churchill becaus

it was olympia snow. then it was ben nelson for a long time. blanch lincoln has been in that spotlight. she sort of takes herself out of it. she's not as high profile as some of the others. what we're looking for is blanch lincoln from arkansas, ben nelson from nebraska still two of the big names that everybody is waiting to see. the one who has popped up recently has been jim web from virginia simply because he's been vote ing with the republicans on a lot of these amendments. there's some concern that maybe he's not as strong as we thought he could be. he could be the 60th vote. >> lehrer: when the president said, as we had in a clip after the meeting with the democrats, he said there are still differences. what's he talking about? >> well, the biggest difference i think by far has to do with abortion language and how tough the restrictions should be on abortion. senator ben nelson of nebraska who we've been talking about, that is a very big issue for him. with the removal of this public option, it may be the big iruwe for him. it's unclear h

snowe voted for the plan that came out of the finance committee a few months ago, and snowe said she would not be on board for the program that said harry reed unfailed last month. so it is interesting that now it seems senator snowe and perhaps even senator collins, a couple moderates might be back at the table. host: there is a 2:00 p.m. democratic caucus that the president will be planning to attend. at that time he's going to try to bring unity to the democratic caucus. there are 60 senators that do caucus with the senators, and the operating mentality, at least for the last several weeks is that if democrats are going to pass a bill out of the senate, that it is likely going to be with the support of all members of their caucus, potentially not any republicans. the problem with that is that the democratic caucus is deeply divided over a plan that harry reed has proposed. things like the public option rvings things like the abortion language. senator ben nelson said he wouldn't support the bill unless there was language that mimics the health passed abortion limits, which is very

the massive storm system dropped more than a foot of snow on a dozen states this week. northern arizona, it left some 30 elk hunters still stranded today. and nationwide, there were more school closures, airport delays, power outages, and traffic accidents some deadly. >> when it comes right down to it, people gotta understand that on a day like today, if you don't need to go out, stay home. >> holman: as the bulk of the storm pushed into canada, parts of northern new york braced for a total of three feet of snow by week's end. and southwest michigan was under a blizzard warning of its own. regions spared snowfall had their own struggles with wind and rain. in ohio, a trampoline was blown onto this man's roof. >> how did it even get through there? >> holman: and drivers in parts of the mid-atlantic and southeast faced flooded streets again. the storm also left a long trail of debris from downed trees to blown-down buildings to be cleaned up. >> sreenivasan: the u.s. house has approved a huge spending bill to fund 10 cabinet departments on a party-line vote. the bill ran

. >> craig: you will get snowed in here. they are supposed to have two feet of snow here. >> joe: excellent, appreciate that. >> craig: now you will be thinking of that all night. >> joe: no, it won't bother me one bit are. you kidding me? this one leaves the rink. >> craig: a puck left the rink tonight? >> joe: yes. another sellout here in western canada, sells out every game. great fan base here in edmonton with a great tradition that they have built up here from top brass we looked at with the tampa native, and all the guys involved here, a great following here. >> joe: we are just off gretzky drive, appropriately enough. mike green stepping to it. we had some fun tinkering around with potential olympic team invitees, and final roster invitees, mike green so desperately wants to be a part of team canada in your heart, does he makes the list? >> craig: i think it's a port short leadershipst one of three to make it. breaking down the percentages. >> joe: deslauriers showing his lateral mobility to make the save and cover. l

look at the snow coming down.ing is not just global warming it's chaotic climate change. the atlantic diver is climbing beneath the fresh cold water in the ice melt in the green land and poll. host: thanks for the science lesson. stick with the discussion this morning about what's accomplished by moving detainees to guantanamo to illinois. next call from pennsylvania. steve for republicans, welcome. caller: good morning. yeah i think that my opinion, the only thing that's accomplish supply and demand president barack obama will be able to go before a joint house of congress and say look i closed guantanamo bay like i said. politics here and simple the man is nothing but a campaigner and chief. i don't have a lot of faith in the president barack obama administration and i hope they close it. host: steve, before you go, if the president of the administration didn't move them from guantanamo to some place here in the united states, is it your opinion that they should stay in guantanpsz indefinitely? caller: yeah, so

senator snowe did have substantive issues -- senator snowe had -- did have substantive issues resolved sufficiently at the finance committee markup so that she could support the bill. i might note today that i heard senator snowe caution the democrats as she gave them the boost from her vote in the finance committee. and that was right after the bill passed. she made it clear that her vote for later stages would depend in part, on data, on the question whether the product makes health care more affordable. her letter to c.b.o. dated december 3, lays out the decision. the bill merge stage all of the senate republicans' worst fears were confirmed, but it was especially telling to senator enzi and me. my sense is that senator snowe appreciated it more than any other member of our conference. the bottom line was that the majority leader's merged bill was constructed in such a partisan way that senator snowe's input was cast aside. so let's be clear, the senate republicans did not set deadlines. the senate republicans did not threaten to go their own way if the deadlines weren't met. even t

caller: is it snowing there yet? it is snowing a whole lot. claims three exemptions, me, my daughter, and my wife. my attorney wants to get a divorce done in december and i want to do that because the bills by the hour. i do not know how that will reflect in my filing. i don't know if i will lose those exemptions. guest: you have a whole bunch of issues in there. number one, if you complete the divorce process and it becomes final by december 31, if your marital status on december 31 and that depends on the filing status you pick on the return. if you're divorced goes through effectively at the end of december, you are a single individual. you have lost the advantage of the cheaper rates, married filing jointly. or even married filing separately because you will not be considered married anymore. your status as of december 31 determines that. if you could have your kids live with you for a good portion of the year, you might qualify for what is qualified for head of household status. that is and in between rate. if you lose the dependency exem

laakers will now try to work out differences beeen the senate msure and a house versio and huge snow and ice storm spad across more othe midwest on one of the most heavily traveled ds of the year. the newshours always online. hari sreenivan, in our newsro, previews what's there. hari. >> sreenivasan: onur web site tonight,ou can compare the house and nate health care reform bil that democrats will try to reconcile after the hoday break. that'sn our "rx for reform" page. also, check out our educatn site, "nshour extra." there are daily clsroom activities, in-dep lesson plans, and opportuniti for students to y their hand at writing and reportg. and finally, some go news from elkhart, iiana, the heart of unemployment coury. paul solman went there elier th year to report about manufacturing towns hardit in this recession. he's posted a foow-up blog th shows things are looking up people are buying recreaonal vehicles again, and factories are ring. all that and moris on our web te, newshour.pbs.org. woodruff: and again to our honor ll of american service personnel killed in the aq and afan

and that ice is melting that snow is melting. in some of those areas, the flows in friezes temporary, but when it is gone then the flows are shut off. and as the ice melts in those large chunks of ice, masses of ice in greenland and west antarctica, which is the most moldable part of antarctica, each one of those areas of ice is equivalent to an increase in sea level of six to 7 meters, or 20 feet or so. we have already seen the beginnings of sea level rise, slowly at first, but it is now accelerating you can't get those large masses of ice become destabilized, and there is evidence that process may be beginning now, then we could see catastrophic sea level rise. and each 1 meter of sea level rise generates approximately 100 million climate refugees, in places like bangladesh. that process has already begun. people who used to rebuild their lives every 20 years when the storm surges game are now having to rebuild their lives every four or five years. and they can't do that, so they are moving to the cities and the concertino barb

our next two would be the snowe amendment and the hutchison-thune amendment. mr. durbin: i -- let me suggest this. i will formally object to the original unanimous consent request, and i will then take what i consider to be a good-faith offer from your side as to the next two amendments to the majority leader, we will review the amendments, and i hope even today that we will be back to you and suggest whether or not that is a path out of this -- mr. mccain: could i be clear with the senator from illinois that what this means is we will move forward with the side-by-side, dorgan and lautenberg, we would agree to, and then we would also expect agreement on following amendments so that we could lock those in for debate and votes? mr. durbin: may i asked the two amendments that you voted, thune and hutchison and the other amendment, snowe, we would allowed to have side-by-sides to those? mr. mcconnell: of course. if you chose to, of course. mr. durbin: if you would be kind enough to review that proposal, i promise you i will get back to you. mr. mcconnell: i appreciat

. >> sreenivasan: a huge snow and ice storm spread across more of the midwest today on one of the most heavily traveled days of the year. the slow-moving system left some people hanging on this christmas eve. they faced a deluge of rain, sleet, and forecast of up to two feet of snow in some parts of the country by christmas day. the national weather service issued blizzard warnings from texas up to minnesota. state police warned of dangerous conditions, and urged drivers to carry water and flashlights. >> if you're on a road and you see red lights, treat it like a school zone-- put the cell phone down, put your coffee down, both hands on the wheel, focus. >> sreenivasan: in kansas, winds gusted to nearly 40 miles an hour and visibility was nearly zero. one interstate was completely covered by ice. but it wasn't just roads that were frozen-- in nebraska, icicles clung onto power lines, and weighed down trees which dropped branches in some unlikely places. >> all of a sudden, i heard this big bang. and this is what happened. >> sreenivasan: there were also air delays all across the midwe

senator snowe is entirely correct.the only justification to rush the bill is the overwhelming opposition of the american people. democrats know the longer americans see this bill, the less that they like it. here is the latest. it came out just yesterday. a majority 58 percent of those who have heard a lot about the bill while only 32% favor it. other is the node justification for the blind rush except for the political. that is that good enough for the venice nudges for forcing the senate to vote on a bill that none of us have seen. ask to -- unanimous consent that the senator from tennessee lead in a colloquy, including the senator from oklahoma, the senator from wyoming, and myself and the senator

the national weather service is predicting thunder snow.thunder snow is apparently a real thing. >>> if the ravens are going to make the playoffs, they have to roll through december. it's a three-game season. that's just fine with the team knowing they are playing with the post season on the line. >> december is when you got to win. i just think it creates something it creates a certain buzz. you watched the steelers last year. you get hot. if you get hot, it's hard to stop the team once they get hot. it's what i said earlier in the year, whether you're hot sooner or later. for us, it's always been later in the season when we played our best football. for us, that's what we have to do. we have to get the december rolling and let the playoffs take care of itself. >> december football is really -- the way ray puts it, it's championship football. and when you're at a playoff place, especial where we're at, that's the place you cherish forever. these are one-game seasons, and when you get them accomplished, something like ray said especially, y

well, senator snowe is entirely correct. the only conceivable justification for rushing this bill is the overwhelming, overwhelming opposition of the american people. democrats know the longer americans see this bill, the less they like it. here's the latest from pew. it came out just yesterday. a majority -- 58% -- of those who have heard a lot about the bill oppose it while only 32% favor it. there is no justification for this blind rush except a political one. and that's not good enough for the american people. and that's not justification for forcing the senate to vote on a bill that none of us have seen. americans already oppose the bill, the process is just as bad. it's completely reckless and completely irresponsible. madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the house message with respect to h.r. 3326, which the clerk will report. the clerk: house message to accompany 3326 an a

. >> host: a republican, olympia snowe of maine, how significant was that? >> guest: well, that's an interesting development because olympia snowe is the only republican so far that's voted for any aspect of these health care overhauls that have been proposed by democrats in congress. and coming out of the finance committee which is where snowe voted for the plan that came out of the finance committee a few months ago, senator snowe said that she would not be onboard with the bill that harry reid unveiled earlier, or i guess last month. so it's interesting that it seems now senator snowe and perhaps even senator collins or a couple of other moderates might be back at the table. >> host: will that meeting continue today? will president obama meet with at least one of the two main senate republicans? >> guest: well, president obama is heading to the hill. there's a 2 p.m. democratic caucus that the president is hoping to attend, is planning to attend. and at that meeting he's going to be trying to bring unity to the democratic caucus, trying to rally the troop

the nhl on comcast sportsnet on snow-covered edmonton, greetings back to snow-covered dc. hopefully you are all safe and sound. the washington capitals will try to finish this road swing in style. >> the capitals going to nickels noyver. the career record of 230. coming up, a sub par game. they need a big game out of michael tonight. jeff getting the start for the edmonton oilers. he's a big goal tender that covers a lot of the net. >> joe: edmonton has been having troubles here. we will detail it as the game progresses. the opening faceoff presented by papa john's. for years this place has had a reputation for being one of the game's best. the capitals should enjoy skating on a fast track. >> craig: controlled break out to the oilers. they have lost their last two in the building. >> joe: deslauriers got it out on the break. >> craig: actually returning into a tun on one. one defender back. good catching gloves by the goal tender, deslauriers. >> you just saw judge and jury on the line. the caps win the draw, and ovechkin fires that one was muffled. john is hopping around

senator snowe, olympia snowe from maine, on the finance committee, the one republican to vote for the finance committee bill, said she won't vote for cloture on this bill at 1:00 this morning because this is simply an arbitrary deadline. oh, and guess what? most of the provisions don't kick in for four years. so why are we doing this literally in the dead of night on a phony timetable? well, we know that according to experts like the dean of the harvard medical school, who said in discussions with dozens of health care leaders and economists, i find near unanimity of opinion that whatever its shape, the final legislation that will emerge from congress will markedly accelerate national health care spending rather than restrain it. well, you don't have to go to harvard to figure that out. just go to houston, texas, when a small business owner in houston wrote to me and said, "the proposed health care bill is going to have a negative impact on my business because the cost of employee health insurance will go up." quote -- "i don't believe what some are saying that costs will go down. thi

snow on the ground means it's time to go inside and play hoops. not so much from where i'm from. john wall walking up the floor. you see the stat tracker. kentucky leading in the rebounds. no big surprise there. they usually do. wall, two-man game here to patterson. [ whistle ] a foul is going to be called on roberson. patterson is going to the line. >> kyle: patrick patterson does an excellent job of the footwork in the low post. excellent balance. good hands, catching the ball. instead of going to the middle like before. fake middle and reversed back to the baseline. not a lot a lot of line but en to draw the foul. >> matt: austin peay is taking on kentucky. wildcats are 10-0. i'm matt stewart joined by legend from kentucky kyle macy. kentucky in the road white and austin peay the road red. wildcats with a nine-point lead, matches the largest lead of the ballgame. the scenario is not unusual for austin peay. they have a habit of falling behind in the first half. they've won five of those games. it's 11-point run for the wildcats. roberson over patterson. the wildcats can push t

caller: it is it snowing blizzard in ahman. host: how much snow you have this morning?: i think about 11 or 12 inches on my driveway. host: still snowing? caller: oh, yes. i am a true democrat but i am very disappointed -- i know kay bailey hutcheson and the other gop have challenged the constitutional right of this health along -- of this health bill. the what i'm ashamed of with my party is that they have discriminated against other groups. discrimination in its definition as favoring one group over another. senator nelson and the center of floor have -- and on and on have taken things for their own people and left others. that is just discrimination. host: thanks for calling in, julie. about 15 minutes left, your favorite political health -- political story. it does not have to be health care. later this morning, we want to give you a heads up about a special hour about what you read in 2009, in particular, your top non-fiction book of 2009. that will be at 9:00 a.m. eastern this morning. we will spend an hour talking about your favorite nonfiction books of 2009. mic

and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.ed his head like a wreath. he had a broad face and a little round belly. that shook when he laughed like a bowl full 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 auld 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 thus l. but i heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight, happy christmas to all and to all a good night. national car rental knows i'm picky. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> good evening from new york. we're cutting i

that is the snow job and then my personal favorite, a year without a. kathleen sibelius will be appearing in this christmas special as the house miser. but i am an optimist. i am a glass half-full person and i believe in the miracle on main street. [cheers and applause] because when we set our mind to something, we can do it. we can do anything and everything. we have been through much worse. after all, we survived jimmy carter. [cheers and applause] it doesn't matter how many slick press conference as the left has and their cronies in the democratic arty. it doesn't matter how much they vilify us. when it comes to standing up for our freedom and our basic rights, we will not be denied. we will not be silenced. [cheers and applause] and let me just tell you. i don't know about all of you over there but i think about christmas and hanukkah and i think of the season as the christmas and hanukkah season of giving, right? all these people know how to do is take, take, and take. and let me tell you something, does anyone should get a lump of coal in their st

thousands of flights affected by snow and ice.rivers being told to pack emergency kits. he's going to disney world. sean goldman and his dad arriving in orlando from brazil ending a five-year international custody fight. more headlines shortly. now back to "larry king." >> larry: we're in the rain forest with jack hanna on "larry king live." and a hungry ocelot. >> larry, you may have heard about the ocelot. >> larry: it smells a little weird. >> it's a urine smell that they have to mark their territory. the ocelots were sold in the '60s and 70s as a lot of pets. they're endangered now where it was in the '60s and '70s where it wasn't in the '80s. larry, look at that coat. absolutely gorgeous. you can see why people hunted the animal. now, they can now make the fake furs which is much, much better on everybody. ocelots, larry, you smell that odor. that's how they mark their territory. the ocelot is nocturnal, and notorious for finding birds. and stuff at night. this cat can walk by you 6 inches from where you're sleeping in the ju

probably senator collins or snowe. the republican congress are acting like the democrat congress in 1985. with the ulysses funeral, that was the greatest funeral. >> host: you're on. >> caller: i want to thank because here's a politician, lieberman. when you think you have to figured out, with he fools you. he's not holding the whole country hostage because they only dropped the options to ensure they get his vote. you want to go with a guy like joe lieberman. >> host: all right. caller is referring to the headline this morning that democrats may drop a medicare provision that had been to expand medicare to 55 and it seems that this morning the news is they will not include that in any sort of final package. st. paul, good morning. >> caller: hi, barack obama definitely. because he's taken on a big mess that was left behind by the bush and cheney administration. the republicans want to sit back and pretend like they have nothing to do with it -- >> we're going to leave the recorded program to go to the capitol for sena

snowe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. snowe: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to speak up to 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. snowe: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, today the senate is addressing the future of health care in our nation, both americanamericans's aamericans'. the imperative to clear that we must address rising cost costs r affordable access cannot be achieved and sustained. that is why i am joining senator dorgan, who has been a relentless champion on the issue of drug importation in proceeds this legislation so that -- the amendment to this legislation so that americans can safely and affordably access the medications they rely upon to improve health in which the industry has reminded us time and again are critical to reducing severe illnesses and hospitalization and, of course, extending life. senator dorgan has long been the senate's tireless leader. in fact, it's been more than a decade, as i recall, when he began to pursue this endeavor and this journey. in seeking to end t

senator collins and senator snowe are not on board.elped nebraska with medicare cuts. at the end of the day, i hope the people realize it is not over. this is a long way from being done. if you want to change, speak up. let people know. the cuts are going to affect people in nebraska, and tax increases will affect people in nebraska, and this abortion language, the conference of bishops understands the difference between stupac language and this language, and they have decided to oppose the bill. that's as all i need to know about the pro-life issue, when the conference of catholic bishops say they oppose the language and opposed the bill because of language. that is all you need to know from my point of view. i do not always agree with the catholic church, particularly on the death penalty, but i agree with them on right-to-life issue. they have just got to pass the bill, because the democratic party features, that is the with a look at this thing. they go from reforming health care to worry about the future of the democratic party. w

the haitians poured out into the snow storm in their fought in -- my clothes. monroe felt wounded by the cannons. he and his men fought them off until washington and his troops could fight their way up king street and forced the haitians to surrender. it was sheeran look that surgeon happened to wander by, tide of an artery, stopped the bleeding in monroe's arm and saved his life. thanks to monroe command washington gave him offical, asian and promotion to captain. thanks to monroe washington won the battle of trenton. the victory revived the morale of the troops and the american public and saved the revolution for the first time our citizen soldiers with little or no training defeated a professional army from europe. congress returned to philadelphia abandoned thoughts of surrendering. and when monroe was well enough he rejoined washington's army, fought heroically at brandy where lafayette was wounded and monroe helped save the french man's life. monroe went on to survive the bitter winter at valley forge and then served heroically at the battle of monmouth.

well, senator snowe is entirely correct. the only conceivable justification for rushing this bill is the overwhelming, overwhelming opposition of the american people. democrats know that bill longer americans see this bill the less they like. here's the latest from que research. it came out just yesterday. a majority, 58% of those who have heard a lot about the bill oppose it will only 32% favor it. there is no justification for this blind rush accept a political one and that's not good enough for the american people. and that's not justification for forcing the senate to vote on a bill that none of us have seen. americans already oppose the bill. the process is just as bad. it's completely reckless and completely irresponsible. madam president, i yield the floor. >> i asked unanimous consent that the senator from tennessee lead in a colloquy including the center from oklahoma, the senator from wyoming and myself and the senator from kentucky. >> without objection. >> i thank the senator from arizona. i was thinking as i lis

the latest on the storm that brought snow to the midwest including the latest on last night's attack on pope benedict xvi at the vatican. >> brown: one of chine's leading dissidents was sentenced to jail. >> warner: the controversy over the future of pensions for retired state workers in california. spencer michels will have a report. >> people -- beneficiaries would not be at risk because we're on the hook for those payments regardless how well and how poorly pension funds do. >> mark shields and david brooks look forward on health care and back on the decade. >> warner: efforts to reform washington, d.c.'s public schools. then tells us what's ahead. >> we have been totally disrespected. we have been treated like we don't matter. >> reporter: that's all coming on tonight's "pbs newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: monsanto. producing more. conserving more. improving farmers' lives. that's sustainable agriculture. more at producemoreconservemore.com. >> chevron. this is the power of human energy. and by toyota. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, wo

and there were only three republicans, senator snowe, senator collins, and myself who would even talk to the democrats. and there was a determination to look ahead to the 2012 elections of the presidency, even before the ink was dry on the oath of office taken by a president obama on january 20. this was the second week of february, the week of february 6th as i recall, just a couple of weeks. and already the plans were for the next election. and as i reviewed the matter, it seemed to me that we were on the brink of going into a 1929 depression. the 1929 depression was very hard on the specter family. living in wichita kansas at the time, both of my parents were immigrants in the mid-30's the family moved from wichita to philadelphia to live with my father's sister. that's what happened in a depression. you moved in with relatives because there were no jobs. and i cited with the supporting the stimulus package and played a key role in having not enacted. and the political consequences on the personal level are not something to be discussed in this forum at this time. but the conduct p

heavy snow coming down. and it's not going to get better until at least morning.nd for the most part, i wouldn't say travel would be at least until the noon hour tomorrow as at least you'll be able to see something. the sun may come out a little bit for you and you may get roadways clearing out there. >> chad, thanks very much for that. we've been talking about how it's going to be tougher to travel at airports because of increased security. after the break, we've been talking a lot about who the suspect is, where he got his incendiaries and who he's working with. but what is it like to be aboard northwest flight 253 when this alleged terror attempt unfold and what happened right after it? we'll take you aboard the flight through the eyes of one of the passengers. a man with quite a story to tell. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills. just 2 aleve can last all day. perfect. choose aleve and you can be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol. just 2 aleve hav

. >> steve: snowing on and off all day in minneapolis.d 15 inches on the ground when they arrived last night. the wizards have outscored the wizards after the wizards led by seven. >> phil: there were a couple place that went up and jeff everwas looking towards the room. that was our physical play. >> steve: caron has 4 points. >> phil: washington is perfect from the free-throw line. they had 15 rebounds. >> steve: minnesota starts the second quarter with possession. tipped out-of-bounds by washington. they will give it to the wizards. it looked like haywood may have got a hand on it. sasha pavlovic starts the period. here is blatche, he scores. it's good to see him score earl because >> steve: blatche to hollins who misses and haywood clears the glass. seven rebounds for brendan haywood already. nick young. they have to reset with eight seconds to shoot. boykins with 5. around the haywood screen. underneath to brendan but couldn't do it. >> phil: it was a hard fast because it was so long. you heard it. >> steve: it was a couple years ago

caller: it is it snowing blizzard in ahman. host: how much snow you have this morning? caller: i think about 11 or 12 inches on my driveway. host: still snowing? caller: oh, yes. i am a true democrat but i am very disappointed -- i know kay bailey hutcheson and the other gop have challenged the constitutional right of this health along -- of this health bill. the what i'm ashamed of with my party is that they have discriminated against other groups. discrimination in its definition as favoring one group over another. senator nelson and the center of floor have -- and on and on have taken things for their own people and left others. that is just discrimination. host: thanks for calling in, julie. about 15 minutes left, your favorite political health -- political story. it does not have to be health care. later this morning, we want to give you a heads up about a special hour about what you read in 2009, in particular, your top non-fiction book of 2009. that will be at 9:00 a.m. eastern this morning. we will spend an hour talking about your favorite nonfiction books of 20

the snowe amendment would have solved the question of what health mandates would be required. the desire for mandate clarification was the objection that had the disease groups working against the bill. the insurance companies worked against the bill and successfully defeated other versions called associated health plans for over a decade. i was able to neutralize much of the insurance lobby by creating small business health plans, we can put small business owners in the driver's seat instead of the federal government or insurance companies. through their association, small business owners will have the kind of clout in the marketplace needed to negotiate high-value and high-quality health insurance for their members on a regional or even national basis. additionally, throughout the health care debate, we've heard democrats say we need a public option in order to keep insurers honest and to have more choices for americans. however, the only place where we don't currently have competition is for the millions of americans who are currently trapped in the medicaid program. democr

>> it's the dorgan-snow amendment. probably be in order a lautenberg amendment which is essentially a nullification amendment but the reason it's offered on the behalf of the pharmaceutical industry is to nullify the ability for the american people to import the drugs that are fda approved at a fraction of the price. host: the papers this morning talk about not just the pharmaceutical companies but hospitals, insurers as this bill is being debated, what are you seeing in the hallways in the senate office buildings and behind closed doors as far as the lobbying bps? >> well, the lobbying is furious. the earth on prescription drugs by the pharmaceutical company to derail this. you don't see that sort of thing out in the open too much but it's contacts to make sure they range their support to nullify my ability to get this passed. look, there's a lot at stake here. this issue is $100 billion over the next ten years. the pharmaceutical industry this year sold about $290 billion worth of goods. brand name, about 80% of that

or maybe even delivers olympia snowe, a republican. there's a trigger. there's no public option at first but if states don't meet affordibility standards, if insurance isn't affordable in your state, a public option or a co-op or something like that would be triggered. that's what they're talking about now. >> majority leader reid's timeline, when is he expecting to finish the bill? >> they had said they want to get healthcare done this year and they still say they want to get it done this year which presumably means before new year's or realistically before christmas eve. that's up to reid if he wants to try to cut off debate on this bill before republicans and his moderate democrats think they're ready. he hadn't said that he thinks it will go into next year but a lot of rank-and-file senators certainly think it's going to into next year for the senate to get done. there's really no way the president will have a bill to sign before 2010 at some point. >> todd zwillich is with the takeaway. thank you. >> my pleasure. >> american icons, three original do