By Steve Clemons

(“The Sea Venture in a Heavy Sea in 1609”,

I didn’t have the opportunity to know “Chess”, or William Chessley Butler, who died this past week at the age of 23 from cystic fibrosis. Chess was the son of one of my closest high school friends, Nikki LeMaster Butler, and I just received word of his passing.

On January 4th, former US Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) will formally announce his candidacy for the governorship of Rhode Island — as an Independent. In September 2007, Chafee resigned from the Republican Party. He authored his farewell memoir to the party, Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President.

Abubakr Al-Qirbi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Yemen, addresses the general debate of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly. (official United Nations photo) Below the break follows the official statement from Yemen’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

— Steve Clemons

I have been pretty busy today and unable to post much — but after many emails after the holiday pup pics, I thought I’d share one other. Oakley, Annie and Buddy send their greetings. Very glad that there wasn’t a disaster in Detroit. I hope to address the issue of terror threats tomorrow.

Two years ago on Christmas Eve, I wrote a piece for Huffington Post and the Washington Note titled “When the Intolerant Kill Christmas.” According to my friends at Huffington Post, more than half a million people read that piece.

Merry Christmas to all from Oakley, Annie, Buddy, and the team that brings you The Washington Note! — Steve Clemons

Had Ted Kennedy been alive today, either Ben Nelson would not have been able to undermine women’s health care equities and move his anti-abortion beliefs into national consequence or Joe Lieberman would not have been able to get included in the health care bill nearly whatever the big insurers wanted — no matter how much…

President Obama did a very good job, in my view, outlining in this NPR interview the positives in the health care package that has not been completely ironed out in Congress, but in his terms, is 95% there.