Happy New Year from National Write Your Congressman

Happy New Year from National Write Your Congressman.  We wish you all the blessings 2012 can bring.

For this year's celebration we would like to give you some famous quotes and toasts given at the stroke of midnight.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow" -Einstein

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man" -Benjamin Franklin

"It is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the future, and impossible to live in the past.  Nothing is as far away as one minute ago" -Jim Bishop

"The object of a New year is not that we should have a new year.  It is that we should have a new soul" -G.K. Chesterton

"One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this-To rise above the little things" -John Burroughs

"We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called "Opportunity" and its first chapter is New Year's Day" -Edith L. Pierce

"To the old, long life and treasure; To the young, all health and pleasure" -Ben Jonson

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year" -Emerson

"The bad news is time flies.  The good news is you're the pilot" -Michael Altshuler

A Different Christmas Poem

A Different Christmas Poem

Author Unknown

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So slumbered I, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing off in the cold and the dark of the night,

A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear

"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!"

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light

Then he signed and he said "its really all right,

I'm out here by choice.  I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No One had to ask or beg or implore me,

I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died in Europe on a day in December,"

Then he sighed,

"That's a Christmas Gram always remembers."

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red, white, and blue...An American flag.

I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,

Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,

Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,

For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled,

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Merry Christmas from everyone at National Write Your Congressman.

Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941

At 7:55 a.m. a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appeared out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious massacre. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States into World War II.

Diplomatic negotiations with Japan had been breaking down. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisers knew that an imminent Japanese attack was probable, but nothing had been done to increase security at the naval base in Pearl Harbor. It was Sunday morning, and many military personnel had been given passes to attend religious services off base. At 7:02 a.m., two radar operators spotted large groups of aircraft in flight toward the island from the north, but with a flight of B-17s expected from the United States at that time they were told to sound no alarm. Thus, the Japanese air assault came as a devastating surprise to the naval base.

Much of the Pacific fleet was rendered useless. Five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,390 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded, many while valiantly attempting to fight back against impossible odds. Japan's losses were some 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men. Fortunately for the United States, all three Pacific fleet carriers were out at sea on training maneuvers. These giant aircraft carriers would have their revenge against Japan six months later at the Battle of Midway.

The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress and spoke his now famous words, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."