A bit of a lark, riffing on the perennial holiday favorite. Here’s a Republican night before Christmas that may give them nightmares. Note the last stanza. GOP Christmas image by Elisabeth Parker for Addicting Info.

Twas The (Republican) Night Before Christmas.


‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the House
Not a bill was debated, thanks to an orange souse;

The interns were stuffed in the offices with care,
In hopes that no journalists would make them share;

The lobbyists were counting their dough in their beds;
While visions of special bills danced in their heads;

And Michele with her corn dog, and King with his hate,
Had just muddled our brains, and sealed our fate,

When out on the steps there arose such a clatter,
John sprang from his bed to see what was the matter.

Away through the hallways he flew like a flash,
Threw open the doors and dropped some spare cash.

When what to John’s booze-reddened eyes did appear,
But a beat-up old Chevy and a man with a tear,

And a little old lady who shivered with cold,
John wished to ignore her, and anyone old.

More vapid than Bill-O John’s colleagues they came,
And he mumbled, and cried, and called them by name:

“Now, Denham! now, Duncan! now Perry and Olson!
On, Cantor! on, Chaffetz! on, Duffy and Hudson!

To the floor of the House! to the gallery, too!
Don’t let the poor and ill try to sway you!”

So up to the top of the Capitol they rose
While avoiding the poor folk who slowly froze.

“We Don’t want to know,” they cried as they went
“If poor folk are starving or can’t make rent.”

As they drew in their heads, ignoring the sounds,
More needy surrounded the Capitol grounds.

They were dressed all in rags, from their head to their foot,
And their clothes were all coated with ashes and soot;

A bundle of sticks one slung on his back
For fire, as money for heating they lack.

Their eyes—they were sunken! their hair very dirty
Their homes had been taken, it was not very pretty.

Their lips were drawn closed tight like a bow,
As they tried to shake off the cold and snow;

The sick folk had suffered and lost their good cheer,
That they needed insurance was really quite clear.

The hungry had barely any food in their bellies;
Not even some smelly old government cheese.

Yet John Boehner’s colleagues were very well-fed,
And had warm homes and comfortable beds;

The closing of eyes and votes for no help,
Soon gave us to know they were all for themselves;

They spoke no good word, but went straight to their work,
And slashed all the programs; making each one a jerk,

And doing the bidding of Walton and Koch,
Put the whole Middle Class in a horrible yoke;

They vote for the money and care for the rich,
And call unemployed folks “you sonuvabitch.”

But we vote next year to replace those on the right—
So, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

In a significant reversal, a federal appeals panel Thursday restored Saudi Arabia as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging that the desert kingdom financed and provided logistical support to members of al-Qaeda in the years before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, facilitating the terrorist group's emergence as a global threat.

The lawsuit, filed by Center City's Cozen O'Connor, has been wending its way through courts since it was filed in 2003. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan ruled in 2008 that Saudi Arabia could not be sued under U.S. law. But in a highly unusual move, the court effectively acknowledged Thursday that its earlier decision was mistaken.

It restored not only Saudi Arabia, but also a government charity called the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which plaintiffs attorneys charge provided cash and logistical support to al-Qaeda units in the Balkans during the armed conflicts there in the 1990s.

"I think it is an eminently correct decision," Stephen Cozen of Cozen O'Connor said of the Second Circuit's opinion restoring Saudi Arabia as a defendant. "The kingdom and the Saudi High Commission deserved to be back in the case as defendants, and we are prepared to meet any of their legal and factual arguments with substantial legal and factual arguments of our own."

The decision marked the second advance in the last week for lawyers representing 9/11 victims, their families, and insurers that lost billions covering businesses and properties damaged or destroyed when two hijacked commercial airliners slammed into the World Trade Center in New York City. Scores of people from the Philadelphia region lost their lives in the attacks.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court asked the Obama administration to weigh in on an appeal by Cozen, asking for the reinstatement of another group of defendants - dozens of individuals and financial institutions accused of funneling money to al-Qaeda before the attacks. The request suggests that the court views the matter as having some importance and increases the odds that it may agree to hear the appeal.

Cozen O'Connor and several other law firms sued the government of Saudi Arabia, various Islamist charities, and alleged terrorism financiers in 2003, charging that they provided financial support to al-Qaeda over 10 years before the 9/11 attacks. The firms alleged that Saudi Arabia provided tens of millions of dollars to charities that in turn bankrolled al-Qaeda units in the Balkans, the Philippines, and elsewhere. Senior U.S. government officials warned Saudis before the 9/11 attacks that government-funded charities were bankrolling terrorist units, but, they said, the Saudis failed to react.



http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20131220_Appeals-court_panel_reverses_itself__restores_Saudi_Arabia_as_defendant_in_9_11_lawsuit.html

"I find that really, that Clapper lying to Congress is probably more injurious to our intelligence capabilities than anything Snowden did because Clapper has damaged the credibility of the entire intelligence apparatus, and I'm not sure what to believe anymore when it comes to Congress," Paul said on CNN's "The Situation Room."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/18/rand-paul-intelligence-director-should-resign/