Not only is Rip Hamilton an outstanding basketball player, he is also known for giving back to his community.

Although many seniors are happy with the generous drug coverage they have from their former employers, the number of companies offering that kind of coverage has decreased by one-third since the mid-1980s.

The transfer is a monumental occasion as the Iraqi people take control of their government and their future and forge ahead with creating a society governed by the tenets of life, liberty and freedom.

It is vital that we communicate to seniors their options regarding prescription drug assistance.

Tens of thousands of brave Americans died to break the chains of British tyranny so that the principles of our Declaration of Independence could take fold and flourish in the birth of a new nation.

It is in times of great tragedy when the true spirit of our wonderful country unites as one.

The Hussein regime's support for terrorism, within and outside of its borders, its appetite for the world's most dangerous weapons, and its openly declared hostility to the United States were a combination that was a gathering and growing danger to our country.

Further, not only the United States, but the French, British, Germans and the United Nations all thought Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction before the United States intervened.

After careful deliberation, I voted today to reauthorize the Patriot Act.

Since its enactment in the weeks following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the tools in the Patriot Act have been used by law enforcement to stop more than 400 terrorist threats to our families and communities.

United States and Coalition forces will remain in Iraq and will operate under American command as part of a multinational force authorized by the United Nations.

Our employers today face numerous challenges and stiff competition from businesses all over the world.

In fact, the Iraqi foreign minister admitted in March 2003 that Iraqi funds were sent to families of Palestinian suicide bombers who attacked and killed innocent Israeli citizens, and also 12 Americans in Israel in 2003.

On Jan. 30, millions of Iraqis will cast ballots in the country's first fair and free election in decades, marking continued progress in Iraq's transition toward a country built on the pillars of democracy and freedom for all.

Without true medical liability reform, our doctors will continue to leave, and young doctors coming out of medical school $100,000 to $200,000 in debt will not be able to afford such onerous costs.

I'm confident in our resolve to make the decisions necessary to keep our country and our people safe and prosperous and I look forward to representing the citizens of Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District for the next two years.

Since the events of September 11, we've rightfully changed our military strategy so we're now taking the fight to those individuals who aim to do us harm, rather than waiting for another atrocious attack to happen.

Since the ousting and capture of Saddam Hussein by U.S. forces, civil rights and personal freedoms have been restored in Iraq, as well as equal rights to all, not just to Saddam's entourage of terrorists.

The Delaware Estuary has sustained a human population for thousands of years, but by the end of the 19th Century, increased population and industrialization had transformed much of the upper Estuary watershed.

Low-income seniors who choose to enroll in a drug discount plan will receive $600 of Federal assistance in 2004 and 2005 to further defray the costs of their medications.

In addition, it is very likely that United States action in Iraq caused Iran to open its nuclear facilities for international inspection and suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

Not only is Rip Hamilton an outstanding basketball player, he is also known for giving back to his community.

Seeing the rebirth of the Delaware Estuary as a valuable natural resource is certainly encouraging, and I am encouraged not just by the progress made in the Delaware Estuary but in estuaries throughout the country.

Up to 80 percent of the fish that we catch spend at least part of their lives in estuaries.

Yet the march toward freedom is not without its hazards or its casualties and the threats of violence aimed at Iraqis who participate in the election will be dealt with accordingly.

Long gone are the days when hospital stays and surgeries made up the bulk of seniors' annual medical expenses.

Estuaries are coastal bays, harbors, sounds and lagoons, places where rivers meet the sea.

By ending the Hussein regime, the United States has taken away yet another incubator of terrorism.

Had the United States not acted in Iraq, Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi would likely not have declared his weapons programs, submitted to international inspections and voluntarily dismantled its programs.

Further, by acting decisively in Iraq, the United States has sent very strong signals to other nations that have been or could be terrorist sympathizers.

Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps.

I've done a lot of basketball drills, not a whole lot of competitive stuff. I have basically been in the gym everyday working on my game, working on the time off that I've had from the game, just getting myself prepared mentally and physically for the season.

Basketball is in my blood. It is my obligation to try.

As I've said, basketball has been, I think, a real cooperative venture. There have been a lot of people that have been involved in it: coaches, administrators - not recently - fans and nobody, nobody any more so than students over the years.

It's very warm there, so we were outdoors all the time. The local people had programs for us year-round, where as kids we had the opportunity to play football, basketball, baseball, track and field - we just went from one sport to the next, year-round.

A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play.

I've tried to handle winning well, so that maybe we'll win again, but I've also tried to handle failure well. If those serve as good examples for teachers and kids, then I hope that would be a contribution I have made to sport. Not just basketball, but to sport.

My father was a soccer player. All my friends played basketball though, so I stuck with basketball.

Someday I might have to put down a basketball and have a regular 9-to-5 like everybody else.

I think we have our sports within our own culture that are huge with baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Those are the sports in America that we grow up with and soccer isn't really there yet.

If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.

Both of us played basketball, and I played tennis and my knees are done. Now if you ask us head-to-head who wins at golf, I'm asking for a couple of strokes.

In the original script, my character was a basketball player rather than a boxer. I didn't think I could pull that off. I'm a little short to be a basketball player!

I like basketball, and I've been to three games, which is so much more fun than seeing it on TV, I think.

As all of us with any involvement in sports knows, no two umpires or no two referees have the same strike zone or call the same kind of a basketball game.

I wanted a NBA basketball gym at my house and that's what I worked hard for and I was able to achieve that.

Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up.

I just want to try to ignore the scrutiny and all the distractions and just play hard basketball and let the best come... Improving game by game and trying to improve my game is what I want to do.

A lot of late nights in the gym, a lot of early mornings, especially when your friends are going out, you're going to the gym, those are the sacrifices that you have to make if you want to be an NBA basketball player.