Sen. Byrd's farewell to Chafee; Video: John Lennon; Santa vs. St. Nick; More 'boots'; Burning Man panorama
AP / Kevin Wolf
Sen. Lincoln Chafee (D-R.I.) takes a globe apart before packing it as he vacates his Senate office.
There's a nice story today by John Mulligan of the Journal's Washington bureau about Sen. Lincoln Chafee wrapping up his term in Washington -- packing up his Senate office for the trip back to Rhode Island, casting a vote, saying goodbye to colleagues. (Chafee packs up, moves on).
In it Mulligan mentions a tribute to Chafee by Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, and I went looking for it. The printed text is not what exactly what he said, but here it is, from the Dec. 6, 2006 Congressional Record:
Lincoln Chafee
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, "Profiles in Courage," Senator John F. Kennedy extolled the virtues of political courage. "Surely, in the United States of America, where brother once brother," Senator Kennedy wrote, "we do not judge a man's bravery under fire by examining the banner under which he fought."
For 7 years I have watched and admired the courage of Senator Lincoln Chafee, who sits on the other side of the aisle, and who will be leaving us at the end of the 109th Congress.
I have watched and admired his firm stands against his own political party, the Senate leadership, and the Presidential administration as he followed the dictates of his conscience. "A man does what he must," wrote Senator Kennedy, "in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures--and that is the basis of all human morality." This was the basis of Senator Chafee's tenure in the Senate.
Senator Chafee was appointed to the Senate in 1999 upon the death of his father, the beloved and respected Senator John Chafee. He immediately proved himself to be, to use an old cliche, a "chip off the old block." Senator Lincoln Chafee proved himself to be a Senator of immense integrity, great dignity, and high principle. And, like his father, he proved himself a Senator of incredible courage.
He was the first Senate Republican to oppose the Bush tax cuts in 2001.
He was a Senator who helped preserve the Senate as the institution that was planned and handed down to us by the Framers of our Constitution, and all the great lawmakers who served in this Chamber before us. Senator Chafee was one of the seven Republicans who composed the so-called gang of 14 that was ready to block the majority leader's use of the "nuclear option" that would have destroyed the U.S. Senate as a unique and sacred institution by curtailing the ability of the minority to filibuster.
I, of course, will always remember, admire, and appreciate Senator Chafee as the only Senate Republican to vote against the Iraqi war resolution. He was one of the immortal 23 Members of this Chamber who stood against popular opinion, stood up to the President of the United States, and threw himself against the forces of war in voting against the resolution to launch an unprecedented military assault on Iraq. If only there had been more Senators like him, we would not find ourselves in a bloody quagmire in Iraq.
In voting against the war resolution, Senator Chafee was determined not to hand over to President Bush, or any President, the power to declare war. That power, according to our Constitution, belongs to the Congress. With his firm belief in our constitutional doctrines of the separation of powers and checks and balances, Senator Chafee opposed many of the worst provisions of President Bush's efforts to create an all powerful Department of Homeland Security. He opposed, for example, the administration's plan to reduce the civil service protections and dissolve the collective bargaining rights of federal employees in the newly created agency.
Although he will soon be leaving Congress, there is a bright side. Senator Chafee will now have more time to spend with his wife Stephanie and their three children and to ride his horse Trapper. I wish all of them happiness and success in their future endeavors, and many happy hours in the saddle.
The tributes to departing colleagues -- from Sens. Durbin, Salazar, Obama, Feingold, Kennedy and Akaka -- are more interesting than you might expect.
Working Class Hero
John Lennon
October 9, 1940 - Dec. 8, 1980
Update: At Dallasnews.com, there's a Flash e-card with scenes from Lennon's life that ends with the image above. Send it to someone who remembers.
Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but I couldn't help but feel personally insulted when Oscar denounced the very idea as grotesque and unrealistic. "Elves," he said. "They're just so silly."
The words silly and unrealistic were redefined when I learned that Saint Nicholas travels with what was consistently described as "six to eight black men." I asked several Dutch people to narrow it down, but none of them could give me an exact number. It was always "six to eight," which seems strange, seeing as they've had hundreds of years to get a decent count.
The six to eight black men were characterized as personal slaves until the mid-fifties, when the political climate changed and it was decided that instead of being slaves they were just good friends. I think history has proven that something usually comes between slavery and friendship, a period of time marked not by cookies and quiet times beside the fire but by bloodshed and mutual hostility. They have such violence in Holland, but rather than duking it out among themselves, Santa and his former slaves decided to take it out on the public. In the early years, if a child was naughty, Saint Nicholas and the six to eight black men would beat him with what Oscar described as "the small branch of a tree."
"A switch?"
"Yes," he said. "That's it. They'd kick him and beat him with a switch. Then, if the youngster was really bad, they'd put him in a sack and take him back to Spain."...
Merry Christmas, I Don’t Wanna Fight - Joey Ramone
Early On One Christmas Morn - Bruce Cockburn
Cry of a Tiny Babe - Bruce Cockburn
A Christmas Song - Ian Anderson
Crossing the Sahara years ago was enough desert for me, and I remember how surprised I was when the endless sand abruptly fell into the ocean, in Mauritania.
Burning Man would be lovely with an ocean, too, but there'd condos in a flash and that would end it.
How about a dinghy festival, feeding swans, listening to music and (gently) rocking?
But for those who crave the hot dry, you'll feel it.
Sheila Lennon
is features & interactive producer of projo.com, the Web site of The Providence (R.I.) Journal
Rhode Island
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He was a Senator who helped preserve the Senate as the institution that was planned and handed down to us by the Framers of our Constitution, and all the great lawmakers who served in this Chamber before us. Senator Chafee was one of the seven Republicans who composed the so-called gang of 14 that was ready to block the majority leader's use of the "nuclear option" that would have destroyed the U.S. Senate as a unique and sacred institution by curtailing the ability of the minority to filibuster.
Santa vs. St. Nick, by humorist David Sedaris: 
