ceo howard schultz writing in open letter, "my hope is the simple message will serve as holiday reminder from starbuck of the spirit that bridgeed differences and we have the power to come together and make a difference in every season of the year." the president and speaker john boehner have not spoken in nearly a week. when the house republicans convene conference call today, all they were told is lawmakers will get 48 hours' notice if and when they need to come back to session. the talks first stall over the preferred option of plan "a." moving from the income level of $250,000 to $400,000. the focus shifted to plan "b," boehner fallback and would have raised tax on those making $1 million but failed when could not get republican votes.