2011 Proclamation (www.whitehouse.gov/ )
Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2011
For over two centuries, brave men and women have laid down their lives in defense of our great Nation. These heroes have made the ultimate sacrifice so we may uphold the ideals we all cherish. On this Memorial Day, we honor the generations of Americans who have fought and died to defend our freedom.
Today, all who wear the uniform of the United States carry with them the proud legacies of those who have made our Nation great, from the patriots who fought at Lexington and Concord to the troops who stormed the beaches at Normandy. Ordinary men and women of extraordinary courage have, since our earliest days, answered the call of duty with valor and unwavering devotion. From Gettysburg to Kandahar, America's sons and daughters have served with honor and distinction, securing our liberties and laying a foundation for lasting peace.
On this solemn day in which Americans unite in remembrance of our country's fallen, we also pray for our military personnel and their families, our veterans, and all who have lost loved ones. As a grateful Nation, we forever carry the selfless sacrifice of our fallen heroes in our hearts, and we share the task of caring for those they left behind.
In his second Inaugural Address, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln called on our embattled Nation "to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." On this Memorial Day, and every day, we bear a heavy burden of responsibility to uphold the founding principles so many died defending. I call on all Americans to come together to honor the men and women who gave their lives so that we may live free, and to strive for a just and lasting peace in our world.
In honor of our fallen service members, the Congress, by a joint resolution approved May 11, 1950, as amended (36 U.S.C. 116), has requested the President issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a period on that day when the people of the United States might unite in prayer. The Congress, by Public Law 106 579, has also designated 3:00 p.m. local time on that day as a time for all Americans to observe, in their own way, the National Moment of Remembrance.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 30, 2011, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite in prayer. I also ask all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Eulogy for Christopher Lucas (part of 5:41 prayer service led by Pres. Obama)
from JOPLIN Globe online edition story (May 29, 5:41 p.m. service)
It was with mixed emotions that Pamela Jean Praytor got to hear the president of the United States eulogize her son Sunday afternoon. “As a mama, I’m proud of him,” she said of her son. “I’m proud of what he did and thankful he saved the lives he did. But I would rather have my son back. That sounds selfish. But I miss him.”
Her son was Christopher Lucas, a 27-year-old father who is credited with saving the lives of several employees and customers at the Pizza Hut on Range Line Road when the brutal EF-5 tornado on May 22 bore down on the restaurant. He was one of several heroes “who said, ‘I’m willing to die so someone else can live,’” President Barack Obama said during a memorial service at Missouri Southern State University one week after the tornado struck. Obama, Gov. Jay Nixon and several Joplin church leaders offered their support and encouragement to a crowd of tornado survivors who applauded each mention of Joplin’s resilience.
Lucas, who served his country in the Navy until 2009, was working at Pizza Hut when the tornado hit. He ushered more than a dozen people into a freezer in the restaurant, but the door wouldn’t stay closed, Obama said as he related Lucas’ story to the thousands who filled Taylor Performing Arts Center to capacity.
Lucas left the safety of the freezer to find a bungee cord or rope — it’s not clear exactly where or how — and returned to the freezer just as the tornado cut its path across Range Line Road. He secured the cord or rope to the door handle, wrapped the other end around his arm and held on as long as he could.
“He saved more than a dozen people in that freezer,” Obama said. “There are heroes all around us, all the time.”
http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1326416046/Residents-Ceremony-wonderful-tribute-to-Joplin
It was with mixed emotions that Pamela Jean Praytor got to hear the president of the United States eulogize her son Sunday afternoon. “As a mama, I’m proud of him,” she said of her son. “I’m proud of what he did and thankful he saved the lives he did. But I would rather have my son back. That sounds selfish. But I miss him.”
Her son was Christopher Lucas, a 27-year-old father who is credited with saving the lives of several employees and customers at the Pizza Hut on Range Line Road when the brutal EF-5 tornado on May 22 bore down on the restaurant. He was one of several heroes “who said, ‘I’m willing to die so someone else can live,’” President Barack Obama said during a memorial service at Missouri Southern State University one week after the tornado struck. Obama, Gov. Jay Nixon and several Joplin church leaders offered their support and encouragement to a crowd of tornado survivors who applauded each mention of Joplin’s resilience.
Lucas, who served his country in the Navy until 2009, was working at Pizza Hut when the tornado hit. He ushered more than a dozen people into a freezer in the restaurant, but the door wouldn’t stay closed, Obama said as he related Lucas’ story to the thousands who filled Taylor Performing Arts Center to capacity.
Lucas left the safety of the freezer to find a bungee cord or rope — it’s not clear exactly where or how — and returned to the freezer just as the tornado cut its path across Range Line Road. He secured the cord or rope to the door handle, wrapped the other end around his arm and held on as long as he could.
“He saved more than a dozen people in that freezer,” Obama said. “There are heroes all around us, all the time.”
http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1326416046/Residents-Ceremony-wonderful-tribute-to-Joplin
Origin of Memorial Day -- other kinds of commemoration & epitaphs (G. Keillor)
from "Writer's Almanac" (Garrison Keillor list serv on this American Holiday)
May 30, 2011 is Memorial Day. It became a holiday after the Civil War, to honor the Union and Confederate soldiers who had died in battle, and after World War I it was extended to honor all United States soldiers who died in any war. It happens to fall this year on May 30, which was the original date for the holiday; Union general John Logan chose the 30th specifically because it was not the anniversary of any battle. But in 1968, Congress's Uniform Holidays Act severed the link between Memorial Day and the original date, changing it instead to "the last Monday in May" to allow for a three-day weekend. Some are opposed to the switch, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye; they believe people have lost sight of the original meaning of the holiday, a day for reconciliation and honor. It has lately become a holiday for families to remember anyone they have lost (veteran or otherwise), to lay flowers at gravesites, and, in later years, barbecue, shop, and watch the Indianapolis 500. For those unable to travel to the graves of their loved ones, there are websites like FindAGrave.com, where one can create a cyber-monument and leave a "virtual" note or bouquet.
Some choose to visit the grave of a favorite author. Ernest Hemingway served in the Red Cross during World War I and his grave, in the Municipal Cemetery, is one of the main tourist attractions of Ketchum, Idaho, where he was living at the time of his suicide in 1961. Fans leave bottles of liquor, and pennies, as though Papa could grant their wishes.
Scott Fitzgerald once wrote: "I wouldn't mind a bit if in a few years Zelda and I could snuggle up together under a stone in some graveyard. That is really a happy thought, and not melancholy at all." He's buried in Rockville, Maryland, at St. Mary's Cemetery. As a nonpracticing Catholic, he was originally denied burial in the church graveyard, but his daughter, Scottie, appealed the diocese's decision, and his -- and Zelda's -- remains were moved from Rockville Union Cemetery in 1975. Their graves are occasionally adorned with packs of cigarettes, martini glasses, and gin bottles alongside the flowers.
John Keats was buried in Rome, and he wrote his own epitaph as he lay dying of tuberculosis. It reads, "Here lies One Whose Name was Writ on Water," and he wanted that line to be the only engraving on his nameless stone. He was disheartened by harsh criticism of his "Endymion," or so his friends Joseph Severn and Charles Brown believed, and so they added the following to his monument: "This Grave contains all that was mortal of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET who on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his heart, at the Malicious Power of his enemies, desired these words to be Engraven on his Tomb Stone." Oscar Wilde was so taken with Keats and his final resting place that he wrote an essay -- "The Tomb of Keats" -- and a sonnet -- "The Grave of Keats" -- about it. "Thy name was writ in water -- it shall stand: And tears like mine will keep thy memory green," wrote Wilde.
If you want to place flowers at Edgar Allan Poe's grave this Memorial Day, you have two choices, both in the same Baltimore cemetery. He's buried at Westminster Presbyterian Church, and at the back of the cemetery you will find a relatively modest raven-bedecked headstone with the inscription "Quoth the Raven, Nevermore." He's not buried there, though. In 1875, a local schoolteacher started a campaign called "Pennies for Poe" to build a more suitable monument, and so you'll find a handsome marble pillar right inside the cemetery gate. It's customary to leave a penny along with your flowers when you call on his monument.
Dylan Thomas is buried under a simple white cross in the seaside town of Laugharne, in Wales. He died in New York City in 1953, after a night of heavy drinking at the White Horse Pub in Greenwich Village, and that's where many of his fans go on pilgrimage; one of the pub's dining rooms has since been christened the "Dylan Thomas" room, and a large portrait of the poet casts a gimlet eye on the tipplers below. The White Horse has been a writers' hangout for years, serving Anaïs Nin, Norman Mailer, Jack Kerouac, and Frank McCourt.
Tolstoy is buried in a small clearing in the woods of Yasnaya Polyana, his family estate. There's no grave marker, only a burial mound. For a while, there was a wooden fence around the grave, to keep visitors from getting too close, but it's disappeared, possibly because visitors kept writing messages on it. The Orthodox Church was concerned that Tolstoy would get the kind of veneration usually reserved for saints, and they discouraged any would-be pilgrims from visiting his burial place, but people came anyway, in droves. During World War II, the Nazis occupied the Tolstoy House -- now a museum -- for 45 days. They turned it into a hospital, and any German soldiers who died there were buried around Tolstoy's grave. Tolstoy asked to be buried here in these woods, where he played as a child; the clearing is known as "the place of the green wand" because his older brother Nikolai once told him a green stick, on which was written the secret to happiness and long life, was buried there.
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts, boasts not one, but four, famous American authors' graves. Emerson (books by this author), Thoreau (books by this author), Hawthorne (books by this author), and Louisa May Alcott all rest on its "Authors' Ridge." Emerson delivered the opening address at the cemetery's consecration in 1855, saying, "When these acorns, that are falling at our feet, are oaks overshadowing our children in a remote century, this mute green bank will be full of history: the good, the wise, and the great will have left their names and virtues on the trees." Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the statue of Lincoln inside his Washington, D.C., monument, is also buried in Sleepy Hollow.
May 30, 2011 is Memorial Day. It became a holiday after the Civil War, to honor the Union and Confederate soldiers who had died in battle, and after World War I it was extended to honor all United States soldiers who died in any war. It happens to fall this year on May 30, which was the original date for the holiday; Union general John Logan chose the 30th specifically because it was not the anniversary of any battle. But in 1968, Congress's Uniform Holidays Act severed the link between Memorial Day and the original date, changing it instead to "the last Monday in May" to allow for a three-day weekend. Some are opposed to the switch, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye; they believe people have lost sight of the original meaning of the holiday, a day for reconciliation and honor. It has lately become a holiday for families to remember anyone they have lost (veteran or otherwise), to lay flowers at gravesites, and, in later years, barbecue, shop, and watch the Indianapolis 500. For those unable to travel to the graves of their loved ones, there are websites like FindAGrave.com, where one can create a cyber-monument and leave a "virtual" note or bouquet.
Some choose to visit the grave of a favorite author. Ernest Hemingway served in the Red Cross during World War I and his grave, in the Municipal Cemetery, is one of the main tourist attractions of Ketchum, Idaho, where he was living at the time of his suicide in 1961. Fans leave bottles of liquor, and pennies, as though Papa could grant their wishes.
Scott Fitzgerald once wrote: "I wouldn't mind a bit if in a few years Zelda and I could snuggle up together under a stone in some graveyard. That is really a happy thought, and not melancholy at all." He's buried in Rockville, Maryland, at St. Mary's Cemetery. As a nonpracticing Catholic, he was originally denied burial in the church graveyard, but his daughter, Scottie, appealed the diocese's decision, and his -- and Zelda's -- remains were moved from Rockville Union Cemetery in 1975. Their graves are occasionally adorned with packs of cigarettes, martini glasses, and gin bottles alongside the flowers.
John Keats was buried in Rome, and he wrote his own epitaph as he lay dying of tuberculosis. It reads, "Here lies One Whose Name was Writ on Water," and he wanted that line to be the only engraving on his nameless stone. He was disheartened by harsh criticism of his "Endymion," or so his friends Joseph Severn and Charles Brown believed, and so they added the following to his monument: "This Grave contains all that was mortal of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET who on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his heart, at the Malicious Power of his enemies, desired these words to be Engraven on his Tomb Stone." Oscar Wilde was so taken with Keats and his final resting place that he wrote an essay -- "The Tomb of Keats" -- and a sonnet -- "The Grave of Keats" -- about it. "Thy name was writ in water -- it shall stand: And tears like mine will keep thy memory green," wrote Wilde.
If you want to place flowers at Edgar Allan Poe's grave this Memorial Day, you have two choices, both in the same Baltimore cemetery. He's buried at Westminster Presbyterian Church, and at the back of the cemetery you will find a relatively modest raven-bedecked headstone with the inscription "Quoth the Raven, Nevermore." He's not buried there, though. In 1875, a local schoolteacher started a campaign called "Pennies for Poe" to build a more suitable monument, and so you'll find a handsome marble pillar right inside the cemetery gate. It's customary to leave a penny along with your flowers when you call on his monument.
Dylan Thomas is buried under a simple white cross in the seaside town of Laugharne, in Wales. He died in New York City in 1953, after a night of heavy drinking at the White Horse Pub in Greenwich Village, and that's where many of his fans go on pilgrimage; one of the pub's dining rooms has since been christened the "Dylan Thomas" room, and a large portrait of the poet casts a gimlet eye on the tipplers below. The White Horse has been a writers' hangout for years, serving Anaïs Nin, Norman Mailer, Jack Kerouac, and Frank McCourt.
Tolstoy is buried in a small clearing in the woods of Yasnaya Polyana, his family estate. There's no grave marker, only a burial mound. For a while, there was a wooden fence around the grave, to keep visitors from getting too close, but it's disappeared, possibly because visitors kept writing messages on it. The Orthodox Church was concerned that Tolstoy would get the kind of veneration usually reserved for saints, and they discouraged any would-be pilgrims from visiting his burial place, but people came anyway, in droves. During World War II, the Nazis occupied the Tolstoy House -- now a museum -- for 45 days. They turned it into a hospital, and any German soldiers who died there were buried around Tolstoy's grave. Tolstoy asked to be buried here in these woods, where he played as a child; the clearing is known as "the place of the green wand" because his older brother Nikolai once told him a green stick, on which was written the secret to happiness and long life, was buried there.
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts, boasts not one, but four, famous American authors' graves. Emerson (books by this author), Thoreau (books by this author), Hawthorne (books by this author), and Louisa May Alcott all rest on its "Authors' Ridge." Emerson delivered the opening address at the cemetery's consecration in 1855, saying, "When these acorns, that are falling at our feet, are oaks overshadowing our children in a remote century, this mute green bank will be full of history: the good, the wise, and the great will have left their names and virtues on the trees." Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the statue of Lincoln inside his Washington, D.C., monument, is also buried in Sleepy Hollow.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
5:41 p.m. (Joplin, MO moment of Silence) One Week Later - Tornado
from Story posted at Wash. Post. dot-com to cover the Interfaith - Interdenominational service
Face to face with the legions of homeless and the bereaved, President Barack Obama on Sunday toured the apocalyptic landscape left by Missouri’s killer tornado, consoled the community and committed the government to helping rebuild shattered lives.
“We’re not going to stop ‘til Joplin’s back on its feet,” Obama vowed. A memorial service where Obama spoke punctuated a day of remembrance one week after the disaster, as authorities pressed on with the task of identifying the victims and volunteers combed through wreckage of neighborhoods where nothing was left whole.
The service erupted in cheers when Obama said, “I promise you your country will be there with you every single step of the way,” a pledge he extended to all parts of the nation raked by violent storms this season.
The Joplin tornado was the worst to hit the United States in decades, leaving more than 120 dead and hundreds more injured. At least 40 people remain unaccounted for.
Air Force One flew over a massive swath of brown — a land of flattened houses and stripped trees — on its approach to Joplin. On the ground, the destruction was even more stark and complete. Obama confronted painful sights at every turn and said nothing in his life measured up to what he saw this day.
Yet he spoke, too, of redemptive moments, the stoicism of the community and tales of plain luck. He told a story of a man he talked to who apparently put a pot pie in the oven, heard the storm was coming, hid in a closet and “came out without a scratch.” Obama celebrated the spirit of volunteers who have flocked to Joplin to help, the pickup truck owners who ferried people to the hospital and the citizens who lined up for hours to donate blood to people they don’t know.
“You’ve demonstrated a simple truth,” he told the service, “that amid heartbreak and tragedy no one is a stranger. Everybody is a brother. Everybody is a sister. We can all love one another.”
The crowd of hundreds at the service reflected a community in the midst of rebuilding: people in shorts and baseball caps, and plenty of babies who occasionally burst out crying. The president talked over the screeching until a baby was hurried out by the mother.
Obama got a notably warm reception in this conservative part of Missouri. His remarks were tailored for a religious service, with quotes from scripture, references to the love that binds people to each other, and comments on the essential goodness of humanity. The stories of the storm lead us to “put aside our petty grievances,” the president said. “There are heroes all around us, all the time. So, in the wake of this tragedy, let us live up to their example: to make each day count.”
Known for his cool, even-tempered demeanor, Obama offered his own brand of comforting: eloquent words, plentiful handshakes, some hugs, pats on the heads of children, offers of “God bless you.” Not for him the raw emotion Americans saw in his predecessors George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.
Before the service, Obama’s motorcade pulled into a neighborhood where downed trees cleaved open houses, roofs were stripped or blown off, cars were cratered and splintered wood was everywhere. He saw nothing intact, but rather small domestic sights — a view into a room with a TV still in place, a recliner sitting amid rubble, a washer-dryer standing next to a decimated house. American flags were planted here and there in the mess.
“Sorry for your loss,” Obama told an anguished woman, hugging her twice as they talked. Another woman told him that her uncle lives up the road — he survived but his house did not. “Tell your uncle we’re praying for him,” the president said.
To those working at the scene, the president said: “We appreciate everything you guys are doing. God bless you.” One volunteer told him that people were coming in from other states to help in any way they could.
“This is not just your tragedy,” Obama said. “This is a national tragedy, and that means there will be a national response.” He said: “We are going to be here long after the cameras leave.”
Face to face with the legions of homeless and the bereaved, President Barack Obama on Sunday toured the apocalyptic landscape left by Missouri’s killer tornado, consoled the community and committed the government to helping rebuild shattered lives.
“We’re not going to stop ‘til Joplin’s back on its feet,” Obama vowed. A memorial service where Obama spoke punctuated a day of remembrance one week after the disaster, as authorities pressed on with the task of identifying the victims and volunteers combed through wreckage of neighborhoods where nothing was left whole.
The service erupted in cheers when Obama said, “I promise you your country will be there with you every single step of the way,” a pledge he extended to all parts of the nation raked by violent storms this season.
The Joplin tornado was the worst to hit the United States in decades, leaving more than 120 dead and hundreds more injured. At least 40 people remain unaccounted for.
Air Force One flew over a massive swath of brown — a land of flattened houses and stripped trees — on its approach to Joplin. On the ground, the destruction was even more stark and complete. Obama confronted painful sights at every turn and said nothing in his life measured up to what he saw this day.
Yet he spoke, too, of redemptive moments, the stoicism of the community and tales of plain luck. He told a story of a man he talked to who apparently put a pot pie in the oven, heard the storm was coming, hid in a closet and “came out without a scratch.” Obama celebrated the spirit of volunteers who have flocked to Joplin to help, the pickup truck owners who ferried people to the hospital and the citizens who lined up for hours to donate blood to people they don’t know.
“You’ve demonstrated a simple truth,” he told the service, “that amid heartbreak and tragedy no one is a stranger. Everybody is a brother. Everybody is a sister. We can all love one another.”
The crowd of hundreds at the service reflected a community in the midst of rebuilding: people in shorts and baseball caps, and plenty of babies who occasionally burst out crying. The president talked over the screeching until a baby was hurried out by the mother.
Obama got a notably warm reception in this conservative part of Missouri. His remarks were tailored for a religious service, with quotes from scripture, references to the love that binds people to each other, and comments on the essential goodness of humanity. The stories of the storm lead us to “put aside our petty grievances,” the president said. “There are heroes all around us, all the time. So, in the wake of this tragedy, let us live up to their example: to make each day count.”
Known for his cool, even-tempered demeanor, Obama offered his own brand of comforting: eloquent words, plentiful handshakes, some hugs, pats on the heads of children, offers of “God bless you.” Not for him the raw emotion Americans saw in his predecessors George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.
Before the service, Obama’s motorcade pulled into a neighborhood where downed trees cleaved open houses, roofs were stripped or blown off, cars were cratered and splintered wood was everywhere. He saw nothing intact, but rather small domestic sights — a view into a room with a TV still in place, a recliner sitting amid rubble, a washer-dryer standing next to a decimated house. American flags were planted here and there in the mess.
“Sorry for your loss,” Obama told an anguished woman, hugging her twice as they talked. Another woman told him that her uncle lives up the road — he survived but his house did not. “Tell your uncle we’re praying for him,” the president said.
To those working at the scene, the president said: “We appreciate everything you guys are doing. God bless you.” One volunteer told him that people were coming in from other states to help in any way they could.
“This is not just your tragedy,” Obama said. “This is a national tragedy, and that means there will be a national response.” He said: “We are going to be here long after the cameras leave.”
Memorial Sunday sermon - remarks // Rev. Brenda Clark, UCC
10:30 a.m. -- May 29 (5th Sunday) -- Rev. Brenda and her husband of Galesburg, Michigan --
Children's message on "Instructions" -- left by parents with babysitters (those supervising young during evenings/special events.
John 14:15 - 21 Part of the "Great Discourse" Night before Jesus' Crucifixion
What did the disciples remaining in that Upper Room need? A paraclete / thoughts / preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit / context of Roman law-courts -- who would advise you as to what to say to the judge but NOT to take your place under judgment
One who coaches and stands with us -- we need to follow the Great Commandment (Love God - Deuteronomy 6 and Love our Neighbor as we love ourselves - Leviticus 19) as well as fulfill what the Lord Requires of us -- "To Act Justly, To Love Mercy, To Walk Humbly with your God" (Micah 6).
Prayers of intercession sought for Victims at Joplin, Missouri tornado impact zone -- 5:14 p.m. Central Daylight Time service to be a time of prayer at the strike zone and with Pres. Obama and local religious leaders (interdenominational) // for Shuttle Endeavour astronauts
Children's message on "Instructions" -- left by parents with babysitters (those supervising young during evenings/special events.
John 14:15 - 21 Part of the "Great Discourse" Night before Jesus' Crucifixion
What did the disciples remaining in that Upper Room need? A paraclete / thoughts / preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit / context of Roman law-courts -- who would advise you as to what to say to the judge but NOT to take your place under judgment
One who coaches and stands with us -- we need to follow the Great Commandment (Love God - Deuteronomy 6 and Love our Neighbor as we love ourselves - Leviticus 19) as well as fulfill what the Lord Requires of us -- "To Act Justly, To Love Mercy, To Walk Humbly with your God" (Micah 6).
Prayers of intercession sought for Victims at Joplin, Missouri tornado impact zone -- 5:14 p.m. Central Daylight Time service to be a time of prayer at the strike zone and with Pres. Obama and local religious leaders (interdenominational) // for Shuttle Endeavour astronauts
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Skin Cancer Institute Director: Don't fry
from USA TODAY coverage (Friday May 27, 2011):
The Friday before Memorial Day is Don't Fry Day, and for much of the country, the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention's awareness day serves as a timely reminder: Don't forget to pack your sunscreen along with the swimsuits, fishing poles and other accoutrements of outdoor summer fun.
Experts advise applying sunscreen often throughout the day if you spend time outdoors.
According to Dr. Lee Cranmer, an oncologist with the Arizona Cancer Center's Skin Cancer Institute at the University of Arizona, the disease accounts for almost half of all cancers in the United States, the American Cancer Society says. Most, at an estimated 2 million-plus new cases each year, are basal-cell and squamous-cell skin cancers.
These non-melanomas, as they're called, are so common and treatable that most cancer registries don't record the numbers, instead relegating them to the footnote "excluding skin cancer" on their lists of the top 10 cancers.
Melanoma gets closer scrutiny. The most dangerous type of skin cancer, it is diagnosed in more than 68,000 people a year, the Cancer Society says, earning a nod of its own on lists.
Melanoma is No. 8 of the 10 most common cancers, according to a U.S. Cancer Statistics report released in 2010 with data from 2007, the most recent available. Data came from federal cancer registries.
Nationwide, incidence of melanoma is up, from 15.1 cases per 100,000 people in 1999 to 18.7 in 2007, the report says.
Sue Royden, 52, a Phoenix native was diagnosed with it in March — a "freckle" on the bottom of her foot — and she now wonders if afternoons reading at the beach stretched out on her stomach are to blame. Who would think to put sunscreen on your soles?
"I've become much more aware," she said, "and it's my mission now to tell people to check the palms of their hands and the bottoms of their feet."
Melanoma is the most common cancer in adults 25 to 29 years old.
"One big misconception is that if you're young, you won't get skin cancer," Pehoushek said Dr. James Pehoushek, the dermatologist who diagnosed Royden. "But no one is immune."
Skin cancers often can be prevented or treated successfully more than 99% of the time if caught early. Even for potentially deadly melanoma, 85% to 90% of cases can be cured, helped by early identification and surgery.
Most skin cancers are caused by ultraviolet exposure from the sun or tanning beds, which are relatively simple to limit. Genetics can play a role, too.
In public talks, Cranmer, director of the Skin Cancer Institute's melanoma/sarcoma program, likes to share two photos that illustrate a primary culprit behind the disease's rise.
The first, taken in the 1930s, shows people at the beach in long dresses, long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Very little skin is exposed. In the other, from the 1980s, beachgoers dressed in skimpy swimsuits soak up the rays.
"There has been a change in our relationship with the sun," Cranmer said. But, luckily for lovers of the outdoors, "we have identified the fountain of youth, and we are bottling it and selling it at a very reasonable price. It's called sunscreen."
www.usatoday.com/
The Friday before Memorial Day is Don't Fry Day, and for much of the country, the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention's awareness day serves as a timely reminder: Don't forget to pack your sunscreen along with the swimsuits, fishing poles and other accoutrements of outdoor summer fun.
Experts advise applying sunscreen often throughout the day if you spend time outdoors.
According to Dr. Lee Cranmer, an oncologist with the Arizona Cancer Center's Skin Cancer Institute at the University of Arizona, the disease accounts for almost half of all cancers in the United States, the American Cancer Society says. Most, at an estimated 2 million-plus new cases each year, are basal-cell and squamous-cell skin cancers.
These non-melanomas, as they're called, are so common and treatable that most cancer registries don't record the numbers, instead relegating them to the footnote "excluding skin cancer" on their lists of the top 10 cancers.
Melanoma gets closer scrutiny. The most dangerous type of skin cancer, it is diagnosed in more than 68,000 people a year, the Cancer Society says, earning a nod of its own on lists.
Melanoma is No. 8 of the 10 most common cancers, according to a U.S. Cancer Statistics report released in 2010 with data from 2007, the most recent available. Data came from federal cancer registries.
Nationwide, incidence of melanoma is up, from 15.1 cases per 100,000 people in 1999 to 18.7 in 2007, the report says.
Sue Royden, 52, a Phoenix native was diagnosed with it in March — a "freckle" on the bottom of her foot — and she now wonders if afternoons reading at the beach stretched out on her stomach are to blame. Who would think to put sunscreen on your soles?
"I've become much more aware," she said, "and it's my mission now to tell people to check the palms of their hands and the bottoms of their feet."
Melanoma is the most common cancer in adults 25 to 29 years old.
"One big misconception is that if you're young, you won't get skin cancer," Pehoushek said Dr. James Pehoushek, the dermatologist who diagnosed Royden. "But no one is immune."
Skin cancers often can be prevented or treated successfully more than 99% of the time if caught early. Even for potentially deadly melanoma, 85% to 90% of cases can be cured, helped by early identification and surgery.
Most skin cancers are caused by ultraviolet exposure from the sun or tanning beds, which are relatively simple to limit. Genetics can play a role, too.
In public talks, Cranmer, director of the Skin Cancer Institute's melanoma/sarcoma program, likes to share two photos that illustrate a primary culprit behind the disease's rise.
The first, taken in the 1930s, shows people at the beach in long dresses, long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Very little skin is exposed. In the other, from the 1980s, beachgoers dressed in skimpy swimsuits soak up the rays.
"There has been a change in our relationship with the sun," Cranmer said. But, luckily for lovers of the outdoors, "we have identified the fountain of youth, and we are bottling it and selling it at a very reasonable price. It's called sunscreen."
www.usatoday.com/
Obama visit to Poland (Friday May 27) - Holocaust and Unknown Soldier
from M-Live dot-com article (5/27/2011)
President Barack Obama on Friday honored the memories of those slain in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against Nazis, telling one elderly man that the memorial was a "reminder of the nightmare" of the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were killed.
The president also helped placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, dedicated to all unidentified soldiers who have given their lives to Poland in past wars. By paying homage to Poles who fell in World War II at two symbolically potent sites, Obama's gestures were sure to carry great weight in a country whose identity is still profoundly shaped by the death and destruction inflicted on it by Nazi Germany.
In the final phase of his European trip, the president greeted Holocaust survivors and leaders of Poland's Jewish community at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. He smiled, shook hands and hugged those gathered under a light rain, including some who shared memories of having met Obama at earlier times.
"What a wonderful visit. I'll have to bring my daughters," Obama said as he exited the memorial. The monument in the former Jewish ghetto commemorates the tens of thousands of Jews killed in a 1943 uprising against the Nazis during Germany's brutal occupation of Poland during World War II.
Most of the insurgents in that uprising were killed, but the event bears great importance in Jewish history as an example of Jews bravely taking up arms to defend themselves against the Nazis. It's also a key memorial in a country that before the Holocaust was home to Europe's largest Jewish community.
Among those Obama met was Halina Szpilman, the widow of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the Holocaust survivor featured in Roman Polanski's Oscar-winning film "The Pianist." Obama kissed Szpilman, a retired doctor who lost her husband in 2000, on both cheeks. A leading member of the Jewish community, Monika Krawczyk, was heard urging Obama to do all he can to support Israel, saying, "It's the only Jewish state we have." Obama assured her that the United States would be there for Israel.
Obama arrived in Warsaw on a cool and cloudy Friday evening, hoping to inject some vigor into a relationship with an ally that has sometimes felt slighted by Washington.
At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Obama chatted warmly with elderly veterans in uniform who had fought Nazi Germany during World War II, including at least one woman. Several saluted him. He also greeted younger soldiers and veterans who served in NATO's mission in Afghanistan.
The president's primary business of the night was a dinner with 17 Central and Eastern European Union leaders. The president intended to emphasize how their experiences with democracy could offer real-life lessons to those seeking freedoms across North Africa and the Middle East.
"We have taken great inspiration from the blossoming of freedom and economic growth in this region and we're confident that will continue," Obama said at the presidential palace, seated at a large round table with the other leaders. "We want to be a part of that process of strengthening your democracies, strengthening your economies and be a full partner, because we think that will be beneficial to the United States as well."
Obama was capping his four-country, six-day trip on Saturday with meetings and a news conference before returning to Washington.
Obama did not come bearing the news Polish officials wanted: access to a visa waiver program for those traveling to the United States. Obama aides said he would provide officials a status update on the effort but was not in position yet to offer more.
President Barack Obama on Friday honored the memories of those slain in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against Nazis, telling one elderly man that the memorial was a "reminder of the nightmare" of the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were killed.
The president also helped placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, dedicated to all unidentified soldiers who have given their lives to Poland in past wars. By paying homage to Poles who fell in World War II at two symbolically potent sites, Obama's gestures were sure to carry great weight in a country whose identity is still profoundly shaped by the death and destruction inflicted on it by Nazi Germany.
In the final phase of his European trip, the president greeted Holocaust survivors and leaders of Poland's Jewish community at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. He smiled, shook hands and hugged those gathered under a light rain, including some who shared memories of having met Obama at earlier times.
"What a wonderful visit. I'll have to bring my daughters," Obama said as he exited the memorial. The monument in the former Jewish ghetto commemorates the tens of thousands of Jews killed in a 1943 uprising against the Nazis during Germany's brutal occupation of Poland during World War II.
Most of the insurgents in that uprising were killed, but the event bears great importance in Jewish history as an example of Jews bravely taking up arms to defend themselves against the Nazis. It's also a key memorial in a country that before the Holocaust was home to Europe's largest Jewish community.
Among those Obama met was Halina Szpilman, the widow of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the Holocaust survivor featured in Roman Polanski's Oscar-winning film "The Pianist." Obama kissed Szpilman, a retired doctor who lost her husband in 2000, on both cheeks. A leading member of the Jewish community, Monika Krawczyk, was heard urging Obama to do all he can to support Israel, saying, "It's the only Jewish state we have." Obama assured her that the United States would be there for Israel.
Obama arrived in Warsaw on a cool and cloudy Friday evening, hoping to inject some vigor into a relationship with an ally that has sometimes felt slighted by Washington.
At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Obama chatted warmly with elderly veterans in uniform who had fought Nazi Germany during World War II, including at least one woman. Several saluted him. He also greeted younger soldiers and veterans who served in NATO's mission in Afghanistan.
The president's primary business of the night was a dinner with 17 Central and Eastern European Union leaders. The president intended to emphasize how their experiences with democracy could offer real-life lessons to those seeking freedoms across North Africa and the Middle East.
"We have taken great inspiration from the blossoming of freedom and economic growth in this region and we're confident that will continue," Obama said at the presidential palace, seated at a large round table with the other leaders. "We want to be a part of that process of strengthening your democracies, strengthening your economies and be a full partner, because we think that will be beneficial to the United States as well."
Obama was capping his four-country, six-day trip on Saturday with meetings and a news conference before returning to Washington.
Obama did not come bearing the news Polish officials wanted: access to a visa waiver program for those traveling to the United States. Obama aides said he would provide officials a status update on the effort but was not in position yet to offer more.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Today in history (born in 1907): Rachel Carson, environmental writer - marine biologist
from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor: Minnesota Public Radio):
May 27 is the birthday of zoologist and writer Rachel Carson, born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, in 1907. As a girl, she loved birds and nature, and wanted to be a writer, and she was first published at the age of 10 in a literary magazine for children. She majored in English at Pennsylvania College for women, and continued to write poetry, but in her junior year she took a biology course, which inspired her to change her major to zoology.
She first combined her two loves -- marine zoology and writing -- in a job with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in 1936, where she wrote and edited the department's publications. An article she published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1937 ended up being the basis for her first book, Under the Sea-Wind (1941). In it, she combined lyrical prose with a great deal of scientific information. Her second book, The Sea Around Us, was published 10 years later and was critically and commercially successful. It won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and in her acceptance speech, she said: "The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth. And that, I take it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history or fiction. It seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science. ... The winds, the sea, and the moving tides are what they are. If there is wonder and beauty and majesty in them, science will discover these qualities. If they are not there, science cannot create them. If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry."
"The feeding stations in the backyards were deserted," she wrote, early in the 1960s. "The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh." Her 1962 book Silent Spring, first serialized in The New Yorker, brought her a lot of attention, both positive and negative. Its subject was environmental pollution and its effects on plants and animals, and she particularly spoke out against indiscriminate pesticide abuse. She got the expected support from environmental and conservation groups, but the chemical companies, supported by the Agriculture Department, threatened her with lawsuits before the book was even published. They tried smear tactics, calling her a "hysterical woman" who was unqualified to write about the subject. Eventually, though, the book led to the banning of DDT, the beginning of a grassroots environmental movement, and the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. She still has her critics, though; the conservative magazine Human Events gave Silent Spring an honorable mention on their list of "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries" and she has been blamed for millions of malaria deaths worldwide, even though she herself never advocated a wholesale ban on DDT. She died of breast and liver cancer in the spring of 1964.
May 27 is the birthday of zoologist and writer Rachel Carson, born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, in 1907. As a girl, she loved birds and nature, and wanted to be a writer, and she was first published at the age of 10 in a literary magazine for children. She majored in English at Pennsylvania College for women, and continued to write poetry, but in her junior year she took a biology course, which inspired her to change her major to zoology.
She first combined her two loves -- marine zoology and writing -- in a job with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in 1936, where she wrote and edited the department's publications. An article she published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1937 ended up being the basis for her first book, Under the Sea-Wind (1941). In it, she combined lyrical prose with a great deal of scientific information. Her second book, The Sea Around Us, was published 10 years later and was critically and commercially successful. It won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and in her acceptance speech, she said: "The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth. And that, I take it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history or fiction. It seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science. ... The winds, the sea, and the moving tides are what they are. If there is wonder and beauty and majesty in them, science will discover these qualities. If they are not there, science cannot create them. If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry."
"The feeding stations in the backyards were deserted," she wrote, early in the 1960s. "The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh." Her 1962 book Silent Spring, first serialized in The New Yorker, brought her a lot of attention, both positive and negative. Its subject was environmental pollution and its effects on plants and animals, and she particularly spoke out against indiscriminate pesticide abuse. She got the expected support from environmental and conservation groups, but the chemical companies, supported by the Agriculture Department, threatened her with lawsuits before the book was even published. They tried smear tactics, calling her a "hysterical woman" who was unqualified to write about the subject. Eventually, though, the book led to the banning of DDT, the beginning of a grassroots environmental movement, and the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. She still has her critics, though; the conservative magazine Human Events gave Silent Spring an honorable mention on their list of "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries" and she has been blamed for millions of malaria deaths worldwide, even though she herself never advocated a wholesale ban on DDT. She died of breast and liver cancer in the spring of 1964.
Endeavour astronauts on spacewalk install Extension Pole (Space Station)
from MSNBC story (posted Friday May 27, 2011)
Two astronauts made history Friday as the final spacewalkers of NASA's 30-year shuttle program, completing construction of the International Space Station with the smooth addition of an extension pole.
"Space station assembly is complete," the space shuttle Endeavour's commander, Mark Kelly, announced once the 50-foot (15-meter) boom was securely latched.
Spacewalkers Mike Fincke and Gregory Chamitoff teamed up with robot arm operator Gregory Johnson to accomplish the job.
"Assembly complete. Amazing," Chamitoff said. "Boy, this is a big space station," he marveled several minutes later.
Fincke and Chamitoff became the last shuttle crew members to perform a spacewalk. All future spacewalks — including one scheduled during the final shuttle voyage this summer — will be performed by full-time space station residents.
Another milestone was achieved: 1,000 hours of spacewalking at the orbiting outpost.
Before Friday morning, astronauts had logged 995 hours outside for space station assembly and maintenance. Fincke and Chamitoff hit the 1,000-hour mark five hours into their spacewalk, the 159th to build the station and keep it humming since 1998. The spacewalk ended at the seven-hour, 24-minute mark. The space station's newly attached boom was used by Endeavour's astronauts Thursday to survey their ship for micrometeorite damage. NASA expects to finish reviewing the 3-D images Friday. If everything looks good, managers will clear Endeavour for next week's trip home.
The boom, which launched aboard Endeavour, will remain permanently at the space station and assist with future repairs, especially in hard-to-reach areas. Fincke and Chamitoff put an attachment on one end of the boom to fit the space station's robot arm, and disconnected the no-longer-needed laser sensors at its tip.
Besides the boom, the shuttle delivered a $2 billion particle physics detector that was placed on the station last week.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43190007/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Two astronauts made history Friday as the final spacewalkers of NASA's 30-year shuttle program, completing construction of the International Space Station with the smooth addition of an extension pole.
"Space station assembly is complete," the space shuttle Endeavour's commander, Mark Kelly, announced once the 50-foot (15-meter) boom was securely latched.
Spacewalkers Mike Fincke and Gregory Chamitoff teamed up with robot arm operator Gregory Johnson to accomplish the job.
"Assembly complete. Amazing," Chamitoff said. "Boy, this is a big space station," he marveled several minutes later.
Fincke and Chamitoff became the last shuttle crew members to perform a spacewalk. All future spacewalks — including one scheduled during the final shuttle voyage this summer — will be performed by full-time space station residents.
Another milestone was achieved: 1,000 hours of spacewalking at the orbiting outpost.
Before Friday morning, astronauts had logged 995 hours outside for space station assembly and maintenance. Fincke and Chamitoff hit the 1,000-hour mark five hours into their spacewalk, the 159th to build the station and keep it humming since 1998. The spacewalk ended at the seven-hour, 24-minute mark. The space station's newly attached boom was used by Endeavour's astronauts Thursday to survey their ship for micrometeorite damage. NASA expects to finish reviewing the 3-D images Friday. If everything looks good, managers will clear Endeavour for next week's trip home.
The boom, which launched aboard Endeavour, will remain permanently at the space station and assist with future repairs, especially in hard-to-reach areas. Fincke and Chamitoff put an attachment on one end of the boom to fit the space station's robot arm, and disconnected the no-longer-needed laser sensors at its tip.
Besides the boom, the shuttle delivered a $2 billion particle physics detector that was placed on the station last week.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43190007/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Moneygall report: The President goes to the pub with Cousin Henry (Henry VIII)
"What a thrill," President says of the visit to his ancestral village... (Photos at Obama Food-O-Rama)
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2011/05/moneygall-magic-president-obama-shares.html
It was the moment everyone in the village of Moneygall was waiting for on Monday afternoon: After greeting a crowd of thousands, visiting the home of his great-great-great-grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, and stopping in to a small shop on Main Street, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama entered Ollie Hayes pub at 3:45 PM local time, to huge cheers. They sipped Guinness with a crowd of about three dozen villagers, including many of Mr. Obama's distant relations--and his most locally famous Irish relative, 26-year-old Henry Healy, his eighth cousin, know in the village as King Henry VIII. (Above: The President and First Lady toast at the bar)
The pub, one of just two in the block-long village in County Offaly, is decorated with Obama memorabilia, including a faux bronze bust of the President that sits on the bar. 2008 campaign posters adorn the walls, as does a t-shirt encased in a picture frame with Mr. Obama's likeness, and the words "O'Bama's Irish Pub." A banner hung over the bar: "Welcome to Ireland!"
The President and First Lady were met with shouts of "welcome home" as they walked along Main Street and shook hands, but the minutes in Hayes' pub were the real homecoming, as they got to spend private time with their newly met relations. The President is related to three different families in the village: The Healys, the Donovans, and the Kearneys.
"You look a little like my grandfather," President Obama said to one man. "We got a family tree here and everything."
Mrs. Obama put her arm around cousin Henry, as they stood at the bar, and whispered to him. Healy is an accountant for a local plumbing firm, and his relationship to President Obama dates to 1761, when there was a marriage between Sarah Healy and Joseph Kearney, the great-great-grandfather of Falmouth Kearney. (Above: Healy at the bar with the President; Mrs. Obama is just out of the frame)
The President and First Lady posed for dozens of "family photos," both separately and together.
"Michelle, squeeze in here," President Obama said as he stood with one villager, before making brief formal remarks.
"What a thrill it is to be here," President Obama said. "There are millions of Irish Americans who trace their ancestry back to this beautiful island. Part of why this makes it so special is because the Irish influence on American culture is so powerful in the arts, in politics, in commerce."
At the conclusion, he said: "And with that let me have a pint."
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2011/05/moneygall-magic-president-obama-shares.html
It was the moment everyone in the village of Moneygall was waiting for on Monday afternoon: After greeting a crowd of thousands, visiting the home of his great-great-great-grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, and stopping in to a small shop on Main Street, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama entered Ollie Hayes pub at 3:45 PM local time, to huge cheers. They sipped Guinness with a crowd of about three dozen villagers, including many of Mr. Obama's distant relations--and his most locally famous Irish relative, 26-year-old Henry Healy, his eighth cousin, know in the village as King Henry VIII. (Above: The President and First Lady toast at the bar)
The pub, one of just two in the block-long village in County Offaly, is decorated with Obama memorabilia, including a faux bronze bust of the President that sits on the bar. 2008 campaign posters adorn the walls, as does a t-shirt encased in a picture frame with Mr. Obama's likeness, and the words "O'Bama's Irish Pub." A banner hung over the bar: "Welcome to Ireland!"
The President and First Lady were met with shouts of "welcome home" as they walked along Main Street and shook hands, but the minutes in Hayes' pub were the real homecoming, as they got to spend private time with their newly met relations. The President is related to three different families in the village: The Healys, the Donovans, and the Kearneys.
"You look a little like my grandfather," President Obama said to one man. "We got a family tree here and everything."
Mrs. Obama put her arm around cousin Henry, as they stood at the bar, and whispered to him. Healy is an accountant for a local plumbing firm, and his relationship to President Obama dates to 1761, when there was a marriage between Sarah Healy and Joseph Kearney, the great-great-grandfather of Falmouth Kearney. (Above: Healy at the bar with the President; Mrs. Obama is just out of the frame)
The President and First Lady posed for dozens of "family photos," both separately and together.
"Michelle, squeeze in here," President Obama said as he stood with one villager, before making brief formal remarks.
"What a thrill it is to be here," President Obama said. "There are millions of Irish Americans who trace their ancestry back to this beautiful island. Part of why this makes it so special is because the Irish influence on American culture is so powerful in the arts, in politics, in commerce."
At the conclusion, he said: "And with that let me have a pint."
Monday, May 23, 2011
President visits ancestral home in Ireland -- Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/obama-to-visit-irish-town-where-ancestors-lived/2011/05/23/AF92od9G_blog.html
May 23 posted story at Washington POST Politics story
The president will spend an hour in the Irish town of Moneygall, where it is believed his great-great-great grandfather grew up. The town has excitedly anticipated his arrival, with people waiting hours in line for tickets to Obama’s speech there. The local newspaper, the Ofally Independent, put out a special edition Friday in which the paper dubbed itself “The Obama Independent.” (Moneygall is in a county called Ofally.)
“This is a homecoming of sorts for President Obama. He’s very excited to see this small town in Ireland from which he has roots, and we’re very much looking forward to seeing some of the people of Moneygall and making a stop there,” said Ben Rhodes, one of Obama’s top national security aides.
Obama, who arrived in Ireland Monday at 9:29 a.m. local time (4:29 a.m. in Washington) will also give a public speech in Dublin, highlighting relations between Ireland and the United States.
Ireland is the first stop in a six-day trip for Obama, who will also visit Great Britain, France and Poland. But much of the rest, from a speech to the British Parliament in London to a dinner with a group of heads of states from several Central and Eastern European countries in Poland, is expected to be more sober than his day in Ireland.
May 23 posted story at Washington POST Politics story
The president will spend an hour in the Irish town of Moneygall, where it is believed his great-great-great grandfather grew up. The town has excitedly anticipated his arrival, with people waiting hours in line for tickets to Obama’s speech there. The local newspaper, the Ofally Independent, put out a special edition Friday in which the paper dubbed itself “The Obama Independent.” (Moneygall is in a county called Ofally.)
“This is a homecoming of sorts for President Obama. He’s very excited to see this small town in Ireland from which he has roots, and we’re very much looking forward to seeing some of the people of Moneygall and making a stop there,” said Ben Rhodes, one of Obama’s top national security aides.
Obama, who arrived in Ireland Monday at 9:29 a.m. local time (4:29 a.m. in Washington) will also give a public speech in Dublin, highlighting relations between Ireland and the United States.
Ireland is the first stop in a six-day trip for Obama, who will also visit Great Britain, France and Poland. But much of the rest, from a speech to the British Parliament in London to a dinner with a group of heads of states from several Central and Eastern European countries in Poland, is expected to be more sober than his day in Ireland.
Profiles in Courage AWARD -- May 23 -- 2011 winners are. . .
from JFKLibrary dot-org publicity
Elizabeth Redenbaugh, a New Hanover County, North Carolina School Board member who stood up against what she perceived as racial segregation in school redistricting plans, and Wael Ghonim and the people of Egypt, whose courageous demand for democratic reform inspired similar movements across the Middle East, have been named this year’s recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award™.
The prestigious award for political courage, announced today by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, will be presented by Caroline Kennedy at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday, May 23 at 11 a.m. -- webcast offered here =
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Webcast.aspx
“From a small county school district in North Carolina to Tahrir Square in Cairo, this year’s Profile in Courage honorees show us the importance of individual acts of conscience,” said Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. “Elizabeth Redenbaugh boldly challenged the citizens of her community to preserve quality public education for all of New Hanover County’s children regardless of race. By coming together in pursuit of democratic freedom, Wael Ghonim and his fellow Egyptians have empowered a new generation of citizen activists all over the world. Win or lose, Wael Ghonim and Elizabeth Redenbaugh stood up when it counted.”
The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions of conscience without regard for the personal or professional consequences. The award is named for President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers, incurring the wrath of constituents or powerful interest groups, by taking principled stands for unpopular positions. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation created the Profile in Courage Award™ in 1989 to honor President Kennedy’s commitment and contribution to public service.
Elizabeth Redenbaugh, a New Hanover County, North Carolina School Board member who stood up against what she perceived as racial segregation in school redistricting plans, and Wael Ghonim and the people of Egypt, whose courageous demand for democratic reform inspired similar movements across the Middle East, have been named this year’s recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award™.
The prestigious award for political courage, announced today by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, will be presented by Caroline Kennedy at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday, May 23 at 11 a.m. -- webcast offered here =
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Webcast.aspx
“From a small county school district in North Carolina to Tahrir Square in Cairo, this year’s Profile in Courage honorees show us the importance of individual acts of conscience,” said Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. “Elizabeth Redenbaugh boldly challenged the citizens of her community to preserve quality public education for all of New Hanover County’s children regardless of race. By coming together in pursuit of democratic freedom, Wael Ghonim and his fellow Egyptians have empowered a new generation of citizen activists all over the world. Win or lose, Wael Ghonim and Elizabeth Redenbaugh stood up when it counted.”
The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions of conscience without regard for the personal or professional consequences. The award is named for President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers, incurring the wrath of constituents or powerful interest groups, by taking principled stands for unpopular positions. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation created the Profile in Courage Award™ in 1989 to honor President Kennedy’s commitment and contribution to public service.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Today is the birthday of Arthur Conan Doyle (b. 1859)
supplied information from "Writer's Almanac" (Garrison Keillor list serv from Minnesota Public Radio)
It is the birthday of the man who created Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland (1859). He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, served as a ship's doctor, and later started his own medical practice. He wrote in his spare time and based the character of Sherlock on a doctor he met in medical school, who took copious notes on his patients' backgrounds. The first Holmes story appeared in 1887. He went on to write 56 more Sherlock Holmes stories and four novels.
It is the birthday of the man who created Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland (1859). He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, served as a ship's doctor, and later started his own medical practice. He wrote in his spare time and based the character of Sherlock on a doctor he met in medical school, who took copious notes on his patients' backgrounds. The first Holmes story appeared in 1887. He went on to write 56 more Sherlock Holmes stories and four novels.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Is the Libyan Armed Action a Constitutionally "legal" war?
from Discussion of the 60-day absence of Congressional authorization of Obama's acts in March 2011:
www.nytimes.com/
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 says that a president must terminate military operations 60 days after notifying Congress that he had introduced armed forces into actual or imminent hostilities. The Libyan operation reached that deadline on Friday.
But Pentagon and military officials said the United States’ participation in the Libyan mission was going forward unchanged. That includes the intermittent use of armed Predator drones to fire missiles at Libyan government forces, as happened on Thursday and Friday, they said.
“We will not halt our current operations, which are limited and in support of this critical, NATO-led humanitarian operation,” said Tommy Vietor, a National Security Council spokesman.
While the legal debate was playing out, NATO commanders seemed to go beyond their typically cautious statements on the conflict, saying that allied airstrikes had prevented Colonel Qaddafi’s forces from making sustained attacks on rebel fighters and had driven the Libyan leader into hiding.
“NATO nations and partners agree we have taken the initiative; we have the momentum,” the alliance spokeswoman, Carmen Romero, said at a Friday news briefing, summarizing the view of NATO ambassadors who met earlier in the week.
A NATO military spokesman, Wing Commander Mike Bracken, said of Colonel Qaddafi: “Effectively he has gone into hiding.”
The briefing on Friday echoed the generally upbeat conclusions contained in a confidential assessment of the operation’s first 60 days that Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard of Canada, the allied operational commander in Naples, Italy, sent to NATO political and military leaders in Brussels this week, a NATO diplomat said.
While noting the alliance’s steady progress in eroding the combat effectiveness of Colonel Qaddafi’s forces, General Bouchard also outlined three options for how NATO could continue the mission beyond the three months that allied leaders approved in March, said the diplomat, who had been briefed on the report.
One would maintain current NATO force levels. Another option, assuming Colonel Qaddafi was ousted from power, calls for much lower force levels during what could be a transition to a new government. A third plan would increase pressure on Colonel Qaddafi’s government, but does not go into details.
General Bouchard made no recommendations, the diplomat said, leaving that decision to NATO ambassadors.
Late on Friday, the White House released a letter from President Obama to Congressional leaders defending the Libya operation. While he did not directly ask for a resolution authorizing the action or concede that it was necessary, he expressed support for the idea of a legislative endorsement.
“Congressional action in support of the mission would underline the U.S. commitment to this remarkable international effort,” he wrote. “Such a resolution is also important in the context of our constitutional framework, as it would demonstrate a unity of purpose among the political branches on this important national security matter.”
While Congressional leaders have signaled little institutional interest in enforcing the resolution, there are signs that a political controversy is starting to pick up.
On Wednesday, six Republican senators sent a letter to Mr. Obama noting the imminent deadline “for you to terminate the use of the United States armed forces in Libya.” They asked “whether you intend to comply with the requirements of the War Powers Resolution.”
On Thursday, Representative Howard P. McKeon of California, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a similar letter to Mr. Obama stressing that the country was about to reach the War Powers Resolution deadline, which he portrayed as a “critical juncture.”
And on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union also wrote to Mr. Obama expressing its “profound concern” that he was about to violate the War Powers Resolution, and arguing that he had no legal authority to use military force in Libya.
Administration officials offered no theory for why continuing the air war in Libya in the absence of Congressional authorization and beyond the deadline would be lawful.
www.nytimes.com/
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 says that a president must terminate military operations 60 days after notifying Congress that he had introduced armed forces into actual or imminent hostilities. The Libyan operation reached that deadline on Friday.
But Pentagon and military officials said the United States’ participation in the Libyan mission was going forward unchanged. That includes the intermittent use of armed Predator drones to fire missiles at Libyan government forces, as happened on Thursday and Friday, they said.
“We will not halt our current operations, which are limited and in support of this critical, NATO-led humanitarian operation,” said Tommy Vietor, a National Security Council spokesman.
While the legal debate was playing out, NATO commanders seemed to go beyond their typically cautious statements on the conflict, saying that allied airstrikes had prevented Colonel Qaddafi’s forces from making sustained attacks on rebel fighters and had driven the Libyan leader into hiding.
“NATO nations and partners agree we have taken the initiative; we have the momentum,” the alliance spokeswoman, Carmen Romero, said at a Friday news briefing, summarizing the view of NATO ambassadors who met earlier in the week.
A NATO military spokesman, Wing Commander Mike Bracken, said of Colonel Qaddafi: “Effectively he has gone into hiding.”
The briefing on Friday echoed the generally upbeat conclusions contained in a confidential assessment of the operation’s first 60 days that Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard of Canada, the allied operational commander in Naples, Italy, sent to NATO political and military leaders in Brussels this week, a NATO diplomat said.
While noting the alliance’s steady progress in eroding the combat effectiveness of Colonel Qaddafi’s forces, General Bouchard also outlined three options for how NATO could continue the mission beyond the three months that allied leaders approved in March, said the diplomat, who had been briefed on the report.
One would maintain current NATO force levels. Another option, assuming Colonel Qaddafi was ousted from power, calls for much lower force levels during what could be a transition to a new government. A third plan would increase pressure on Colonel Qaddafi’s government, but does not go into details.
General Bouchard made no recommendations, the diplomat said, leaving that decision to NATO ambassadors.
Late on Friday, the White House released a letter from President Obama to Congressional leaders defending the Libya operation. While he did not directly ask for a resolution authorizing the action or concede that it was necessary, he expressed support for the idea of a legislative endorsement.
“Congressional action in support of the mission would underline the U.S. commitment to this remarkable international effort,” he wrote. “Such a resolution is also important in the context of our constitutional framework, as it would demonstrate a unity of purpose among the political branches on this important national security matter.”
While Congressional leaders have signaled little institutional interest in enforcing the resolution, there are signs that a political controversy is starting to pick up.
On Wednesday, six Republican senators sent a letter to Mr. Obama noting the imminent deadline “for you to terminate the use of the United States armed forces in Libya.” They asked “whether you intend to comply with the requirements of the War Powers Resolution.”
On Thursday, Representative Howard P. McKeon of California, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a similar letter to Mr. Obama stressing that the country was about to reach the War Powers Resolution deadline, which he portrayed as a “critical juncture.”
And on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union also wrote to Mr. Obama expressing its “profound concern” that he was about to violate the War Powers Resolution, and arguing that he had no legal authority to use military force in Libya.
Administration officials offered no theory for why continuing the air war in Libya in the absence of Congressional authorization and beyond the deadline would be lawful.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Will there be a 2012 "Farm Bill" -- yes, if Michigan Senator - Ag committee chairman has her way (Summer 2012)
according to Obama Food-O-Rama blog posted information about the U.S. Senate and Stabenow (D):
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), will hold hearing for the 2012 Farm Bill next week in Washington. It will focus on the role of American agriculture in meeting world food demands. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is scheduled to testify.
The hearing, titled “Food for Thought: The Role, Risks and Challenges for American Agriculture and the Next Farm Bill in Meeting the Demands of a Growing World,” will be held Thursday, May 26 at 10 AM in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.
On May 31, Stabenow will hold a locals-only 2012 Farm Bill field hearing in Michigan, which will cover Michigan issues and feature a witness list of homestaters.
Former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman will also testify on May 26th; he is now co-chair of the Chicago Council’s Global Agricultural Development Initiative and senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.
Other panelists are Barry Mumby, Senior Member, Wakeshma Farms LLC, Colon, MI; Dr. Andrew Rosenberg, Senior Vice President for Science and Knowledge, Conservation International, Alexandria, VA; Douglas DeVries, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing Services, Agriculture and Turf Division, Deere and Company, Moline, IL; and Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, the J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Applied Economics, Cornell University.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), will hold hearing for the 2012 Farm Bill next week in Washington. It will focus on the role of American agriculture in meeting world food demands. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is scheduled to testify.
The hearing, titled “Food for Thought: The Role, Risks and Challenges for American Agriculture and the Next Farm Bill in Meeting the Demands of a Growing World,” will be held Thursday, May 26 at 10 AM in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.
On May 31, Stabenow will hold a locals-only 2012 Farm Bill field hearing in Michigan, which will cover Michigan issues and feature a witness list of homestaters.
Former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman will also testify on May 26th; he is now co-chair of the Chicago Council’s Global Agricultural Development Initiative and senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.
Other panelists are Barry Mumby, Senior Member, Wakeshma Farms LLC, Colon, MI; Dr. Andrew Rosenberg, Senior Vice President for Science and Knowledge, Conservation International, Alexandria, VA; Douglas DeVries, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing Services, Agriculture and Turf Division, Deere and Company, Moline, IL; and Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, the J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Applied Economics, Cornell University.
Endeavour astronauts achieve link between Space Station sections (Friday 6 a.m.)
from www.nasa.gov/ publicity story link
Spacewalkers Complete Installation of Ammonia Jumper Cable
Fri, 20 May 2011 06:45:51 AM EDT
Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff are more than three hours in to today's spacewalk. They have completed the installation of the ammonia jumper cable that will connect the cooling loops of the station's port-3 and 4 segments. This task was necessary for activities scheduled for the second spacewalk in which Feustel and Mike Fincke will top off the ammonia in the station’s port-6 photovoltaic thermal control system cooling loop, which has a slow ammonia leak.
They started by installing the cable, then they vented nitrogen from the loops between the port-1 and port-5 segments and from the jumper that connects the ammonia reservoir that will be used for the refill on the second spacewalk.
Next, they will move on to the Destiny laboratory for their final major task for today, where they will be installing antennas for the External Wireless Communication (EWC) system. That task is expected to take about two and a half hours.
Feustel will work on routing the cables to which it will connect while Chamitoff sets up the antenna. Chamitoff will first remove two handrails on Destiny and replace them with EWC handrails, which have the antennas integrated. Each handrail is held in place by two bolts. Once the antenna handrails are installed, Chamitoff will connect two power cables, and Feustel will connect three more and store two additional cables for future use.
Feustel will wrap up the first spacewalk of the mission by preparing tools and equipment that will be used in the second and third spacewalks.
Spacewalkers Complete Installation of Ammonia Jumper Cable
Fri, 20 May 2011 06:45:51 AM EDT
Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff are more than three hours in to today's spacewalk. They have completed the installation of the ammonia jumper cable that will connect the cooling loops of the station's port-3 and 4 segments. This task was necessary for activities scheduled for the second spacewalk in which Feustel and Mike Fincke will top off the ammonia in the station’s port-6 photovoltaic thermal control system cooling loop, which has a slow ammonia leak.
They started by installing the cable, then they vented nitrogen from the loops between the port-1 and port-5 segments and from the jumper that connects the ammonia reservoir that will be used for the refill on the second spacewalk.
Next, they will move on to the Destiny laboratory for their final major task for today, where they will be installing antennas for the External Wireless Communication (EWC) system. That task is expected to take about two and a half hours.
Feustel will work on routing the cables to which it will connect while Chamitoff sets up the antenna. Chamitoff will first remove two handrails on Destiny and replace them with EWC handrails, which have the antennas integrated. Each handrail is held in place by two bolts. Once the antenna handrails are installed, Chamitoff will connect two power cables, and Feustel will connect three more and store two additional cables for future use.
Feustel will wrap up the first spacewalk of the mission by preparing tools and equipment that will be used in the second and third spacewalks.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Space Station -- Endeavour crew of six arrive 6:14 a.m. May 18
from online story posted at MSNBC dot-com
The space shuttle Endeavour arrived for one last visit to the International Space Station on Wednesday after a two-day orbital chase.
Endeavour and its six astronauts docked at the orbiting laboratory at 6:14 a.m. ET. It will take the crews on both the station and shuttle about two hours to check the seal between their spacecraft for any leaks, and then open the hatch to meet up with each other.
Endeavour made its last liftoff Monday morning, beginning a 16-day mission to orbit. The shuttle will stay at the space station until May 29, when it will undock to begin the trek back to Earth for good.
Commander Mark Kelly is leading Endeavour's veteran six-man crew. His crewmates include pilot Greg Johnson as well as Michael Fincke, Andrew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori. Their addition to the space station will double the outpost's population. Currently living aboard the station as part of the Expedition 27 mission are commander Dmitry Kondratyev of Russia and flight engineers Ron Garan and Catherine Coleman of NASA, Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko.The station residents were apparently excited to have visitors.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43073844/ns/technology_and_science-space/
The space shuttle Endeavour arrived for one last visit to the International Space Station on Wednesday after a two-day orbital chase.
Endeavour and its six astronauts docked at the orbiting laboratory at 6:14 a.m. ET. It will take the crews on both the station and shuttle about two hours to check the seal between their spacecraft for any leaks, and then open the hatch to meet up with each other.
Endeavour made its last liftoff Monday morning, beginning a 16-day mission to orbit. The shuttle will stay at the space station until May 29, when it will undock to begin the trek back to Earth for good.
Commander Mark Kelly is leading Endeavour's veteran six-man crew. His crewmates include pilot Greg Johnson as well as Michael Fincke, Andrew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori. Their addition to the space station will double the outpost's population. Currently living aboard the station as part of the Expedition 27 mission are commander Dmitry Kondratyev of Russia and flight engineers Ron Garan and Catherine Coleman of NASA, Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko.The station residents were apparently excited to have visitors.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43073844/ns/technology_and_science-space/
One of the Fast Food "noted" consumers -- Super Size Me documentary
posted at NPR "Morning Edition" story (www.npr.org/ )
Don Gorske recently attended a ceremony at a McDonald's restaurant in Fond du Lac, Wis. The retired prison guard was going to eat his 25,000th Big Mac on Tuesday May 17 at 3:30 p.m. CST. He's been tracking how many he's eaten since he bit into his first one in 1972. A cheering crowd and eight TV cameras were on hand for the dining moment that had begun for him decades earlier, according to his own recordkeeping.
Don Gorske recently attended a ceremony at a McDonald's restaurant in Fond du Lac, Wis. The retired prison guard was going to eat his 25,000th Big Mac on Tuesday May 17 at 3:30 p.m. CST. He's been tracking how many he's eaten since he bit into his first one in 1972. A cheering crowd and eight TV cameras were on hand for the dining moment that had begun for him decades earlier, according to his own recordkeeping.
On this date in 1980 -- Mt. Saint Helen's exploded
from Writer's Almanac (G. Keillor list serv from Minnesota Public Radio):
At 8:32 a.m. this day -- a Sunday -- in 1980, an earthquake struck Mount St. Helens, causing a massive eruption of molten lava that killed 57 people and countless animals.
The region had experienced earthquakes for two months prior to the eruption, and the volcano had been venting steam. Concerned scientists pressured authorities to close Mount St. Helens to the public, a move that likely saved thousands of lives. The force of the earthquake caused the entire north face of the volcano to slide away, and that caused an explosion of rock and lava so powerful that it overtook the avalanche that was simultaneously occurring on the north face.
The erupting lava rose to 80,000 feet and ash drifted into 11 U.S. states. The heat caused nearby glaciers to melt, which formed large mudslides that spread as far as 50 miles from the volcano.
At 8:32 a.m. this day -- a Sunday -- in 1980, an earthquake struck Mount St. Helens, causing a massive eruption of molten lava that killed 57 people and countless animals.
The region had experienced earthquakes for two months prior to the eruption, and the volcano had been venting steam. Concerned scientists pressured authorities to close Mount St. Helens to the public, a move that likely saved thousands of lives. The force of the earthquake caused the entire north face of the volcano to slide away, and that caused an explosion of rock and lava so powerful that it overtook the avalanche that was simultaneously occurring on the north face.
The erupting lava rose to 80,000 feet and ash drifted into 11 U.S. states. The heat caused nearby glaciers to melt, which formed large mudslides that spread as far as 50 miles from the volcano.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Not since 1911 has a U.K. monarch visited Ireland -- on Tuesday May 17 -- historic visit
as posted at Embassy of Ireland dot-co dot-UK website
Queen Elizabeth II accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh will pay a State visit to Ireland at the invitation of President Mary McAleese.
The visit will take place from Tuesday 17th to Friday 20th May 2011.
The programme will include a formal welcome by President McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin; a ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance; a courtesy call on the Taoiseach at Government Buildings; and a State dinner in Dublin Castle, at which both the Queen and the President will deliver speeches.
The programme will also include events at Trinity College Dublin, at the National War Memorial Gardens in Island bridge, at the Guinness Storehouse and at Croke Park.
http://www.embassyofireland.co.uk/home/index.aspx?id=86668
Queen Elizabeth II accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh will pay a State visit to Ireland at the invitation of President Mary McAleese.
The visit will take place from Tuesday 17th to Friday 20th May 2011.
The programme will include a formal welcome by President McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin; a ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance; a courtesy call on the Taoiseach at Government Buildings; and a State dinner in Dublin Castle, at which both the Queen and the President will deliver speeches.
The programme will also include events at Trinity College Dublin, at the National War Memorial Gardens in Island bridge, at the Guinness Storehouse and at Croke Park.
http://www.embassyofireland.co.uk/home/index.aspx?id=86668
May 16 Launch will go // THEN what?
NASA has re-figured its schedule of the last launch (Shuttle Atlantis) -- here's the expected details as of Monday 6 a.m.
Date: Early July +
Mission: STS-135
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Atlantis will carry the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver supplies, logistics and spare parts to the International Space Station. Atlantis also will fly a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing spacecraft and return a failed ammonia pump module.
Date: Early July +
Mission: STS-135
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Atlantis will carry the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver supplies, logistics and spare parts to the International Space Station. Atlantis also will fly a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing spacecraft and return a failed ammonia pump module.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Space Shuttle launch tomorrow morning -- will it happen from Florida Space Center?
Information posted at MSNBC dot-com article (posted Sunday 5/15)
Endeavour is NASA's youngest orbiter, built as a replacement for the shuttle Challenger, which was destroyed along with its crew in 1986.
The orbiter is scheduled to launch six astronauts into space on Monday (May 16) at 8:56 a.m. EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. This final launch will deliver a particle detector called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station, along with a set of backup supplies to outfit the station.
Endeavour is NASA's youngest orbiter, built as a replacement for the shuttle Challenger, which was destroyed along with its crew in 1986.
The orbiter is scheduled to launch six astronauts into space on Monday (May 16) at 8:56 a.m. EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. This final launch will deliver a particle detector called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station, along with a set of backup supplies to outfit the station.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Flags at half-mast (May 12) for Michigan soldier killed in Iraq April 29
from M Live dot-com
Pfc. Robert M. Friese, 21, of Harrison, died April 29 in Al Qadisiyah province after enemy forces attacked his unit with a rocket-propelled grenade, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Friese was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Hood, Texas.
According to the Fort Hood Public Affairs Office, Friese joined the military in May 2009 as an M1 armor crewman. He deployed in support of Operation New Dawn in September 2010.
He had earned the Army Achievement, National Defense Service, Iraq Campaign (with campaign star) and Global War on Terrorism Service medals, plus the Army Service and Overseas Service ribbons.
Friese was a 2007 graduate of Harrison High School.
Pfc. Robert M. Friese, 21, of Harrison, died April 29 in Al Qadisiyah province after enemy forces attacked his unit with a rocket-propelled grenade, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Friese was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Hood, Texas.
According to the Fort Hood Public Affairs Office, Friese joined the military in May 2009 as an M1 armor crewman. He deployed in support of Operation New Dawn in September 2010.
He had earned the Army Achievement, National Defense Service, Iraq Campaign (with campaign star) and Global War on Terrorism Service medals, plus the Army Service and Overseas Service ribbons.
Friese was a 2007 graduate of Harrison High School.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Congresswoman G. Giffords -- will observe Shuttle launch on Monday 16th
Details posted at POLITICO website: www.politico.com/
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords plans to return to Florida next week to watch the rescheduled launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, which is being commanded by her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. The Arizona Democrat, who suffered brain damage in a January assassination attempt, traveled from her rehab hospital in Houston to Cape Canaveral in late April for a launch that was scrapped just hours before scheduled liftoff because of problems with the shuttle’s power units.
After considering several possible dates for the launch, NASA announced Tuesday that the launch has been set for 8:56 a.m. eastern time on May 16.
“She is planning to attend,” Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin told The Arizona Republic. “She wouldn’t miss it.” Getting Giffords to see the launch from the Kennedy Space Center has been a major goal of her rehabilitation.
Several of Giffords’s congressional colleagues — as well as President Barack Obama and his family — were at Cape Canaveral last month for the scheduled launch. Obama shook hands with Kelly after the launch was scrubbed and spent a few private minutes with Giffords. No word yet on whether the president will return to Florida on Monday for the rescheduled launch.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54727.html#ixzz1M4jN8Ihq
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords plans to return to Florida next week to watch the rescheduled launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, which is being commanded by her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. The Arizona Democrat, who suffered brain damage in a January assassination attempt, traveled from her rehab hospital in Houston to Cape Canaveral in late April for a launch that was scrapped just hours before scheduled liftoff because of problems with the shuttle’s power units.
After considering several possible dates for the launch, NASA announced Tuesday that the launch has been set for 8:56 a.m. eastern time on May 16.
“She is planning to attend,” Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin told The Arizona Republic. “She wouldn’t miss it.” Getting Giffords to see the launch from the Kennedy Space Center has been a major goal of her rehabilitation.
Several of Giffords’s congressional colleagues — as well as President Barack Obama and his family — were at Cape Canaveral last month for the scheduled launch. Obama shook hands with Kelly after the launch was scrubbed and spent a few private minutes with Giffords. No word yet on whether the president will return to Florida on Monday for the rescheduled launch.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54727.html#ixzz1M4jN8Ihq
Stamp Out Hunger 2011 (annual food drive Postal Carriers Union)
Plenty of information about the Saturday May 14, 2011 event at http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
1. Place non-perishable food products in a bag.
2. Leave at your mailbox on Saturday.
3. Your letter carrier will pick up and deliver to local food banks or pantries.
New this year -- You can "like" the campaign on FACEBOOK and "Tweet Your Support" on Twitter.
As of Wednesday 8:45 a.m. there were 53, 935 people who "liked" STAMP OUT HUNGER.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
1. Place non-perishable food products in a bag.
2. Leave at your mailbox on Saturday.
3. Your letter carrier will pick up and deliver to local food banks or pantries.
New this year -- You can "like" the campaign on FACEBOOK and "Tweet Your Support" on Twitter.
As of Wednesday 8:45 a.m. there were 53, 935 people who "liked" STAMP OUT HUNGER.
Tim Allen and Michigan StateTourism promotion ("Pure Michigan")
information found at M Live dot-com (www.mlive.com/ )
With the release of Pure Michigan's radio ad for Kalamazoo narrated by Tim Allen, it should be noted that it's not the first time the actor/comedian has mentioned Kalamazoo.
On a 1995 episode of Home Improvement, Allen's character "Tim 'the Tool Man' Taylor" was awarded an honorary degree from Western Michigan University.
Allen received an actual honorary degree from WMU in 1998. He graduated from the school in 1976. Two years later he was arrested in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport for selling cocaine to an undercover cop.
After spending time in jail, Allen got into comedy. He has acted in many movies, including The Santa Clause and three Toy Story films. Home Improvement ran from 1991 to 1999.
Allen has been the voice of the Pure Michigan campaign since it was started in 2006. His voice can be heard on television and radio spots, as well as the on-hold message for some State of Michigan agencies.
With the release of Pure Michigan's radio ad for Kalamazoo narrated by Tim Allen, it should be noted that it's not the first time the actor/comedian has mentioned Kalamazoo.
On a 1995 episode of Home Improvement, Allen's character "Tim 'the Tool Man' Taylor" was awarded an honorary degree from Western Michigan University.
Allen received an actual honorary degree from WMU in 1998. He graduated from the school in 1976. Two years later he was arrested in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport for selling cocaine to an undercover cop.
After spending time in jail, Allen got into comedy. He has acted in many movies, including The Santa Clause and three Toy Story films. Home Improvement ran from 1991 to 1999.
Allen has been the voice of the Pure Michigan campaign since it was started in 2006. His voice can be heard on television and radio spots, as well as the on-hold message for some State of Michigan agencies.
Community Conversation with President Harrison
Dr. Robert Harrison, President of Lake Michigan College, will present updated news and forecasts at a series of Community Conversation event -- here's one upcoming in two weeks:
Thursday, May 26, 6:30 p.m.
Niles District Library
620 East Main Street, Niles
More details at http://www.lakemichigancollege.edu/ (School's main web page)
Thursday, May 26, 6:30 p.m.
Niles District Library
620 East Main Street, Niles
More details at http://www.lakemichigancollege.edu/ (School's main web page)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Fundraiser after Earthquake and Tsunami -- tonight, May 10
sponsored by Students and high school faculty (Art teacher Erin Ledyard & Chemistry teacher Laura Hughes):
Fundraiser Benefit Dinner for the People of Japan -=- EMPTY BOWLS (worldwide charity)
$10/ticket. Purchase tickets in advance at the high school or at the door. A simple meal of soup and bread will be served, and a keepsake bowl will be given to symbolize the people in the world who are hungry. Musical entertainment provided.
May 10th, 5p.m. -7 p.m.
Mars Community Center, Berrien Springs, Michigan
Event by: BSHS Ceramics and Chemistry students. (269) 471-1748
Fundraiser Benefit Dinner for the People of Japan -=- EMPTY BOWLS (worldwide charity)
$10/ticket. Purchase tickets in advance at the high school or at the door. A simple meal of soup and bread will be served, and a keepsake bowl will be given to symbolize the people in the world who are hungry. Musical entertainment provided.
May 10th, 5p.m. -7 p.m.
Mars Community Center, Berrien Springs, Michigan
Event by: BSHS Ceramics and Chemistry students. (269) 471-1748
Monday, May 9, 2011
NASA announces likely launch date for Shuttle Endeavour (next Monday 5/16/2011)
from www. nasa . gov website
Launch and Landing Mission: STS-134
Space Shuttle: Endeavour
Primary Payload: Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and ELC-3
Launch Date: May 16
Launch Time: 8:56 a.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39A
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Mission Duration: 16 days
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Launch and Landing Mission: STS-134
Space Shuttle: Endeavour
Primary Payload: Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and ELC-3
Launch Date: May 16
Launch Time: 8:56 a.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39A
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Mission Duration: 16 days
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Blossomtime Parade (Berrien County spotlight) -- political overtones in 2011
from HeraldPalladium dot-com story posted May 7, 2011
A bevy of Blossom queens, 18 bands, 28 floats, police officers performing precision drill routines on motorcycles, and a distinct whiff of politics.
Who could ask for anything more in the annual Grand Floral Parade?
The 2011 edition of the big parade steps off at 1 p.m. Saturday at the corner of Pearl and Main streets in St. Joseph. The 118-unit parade, an annual salute to area agriculture, goes north on Main Street, turns east on Ship Street, goes over the Bicentennial Bridge, and then proceeds along Main Street in Benton Harbor.
Follow-up story tomorrow -- May 8
A bevy of Blossom queens, 18 bands, 28 floats, police officers performing precision drill routines on motorcycles, and a distinct whiff of politics.
Who could ask for anything more in the annual Grand Floral Parade?
The 2011 edition of the big parade steps off at 1 p.m. Saturday at the corner of Pearl and Main streets in St. Joseph. The 118-unit parade, an annual salute to area agriculture, goes north on Main Street, turns east on Ship Street, goes over the Bicentennial Bridge, and then proceeds along Main Street in Benton Harbor.
Follow-up story tomorrow -- May 8
Follow-up story to Nov. 2010 disappearance of three brothers (Andrew, Alexander, Tanner, ) of Morenci, Michigan
posted in Michigan Live dot-com -- www.mlive.com/
A southern Michigan man whose three young sons have been missing since Thanksgiving is insisting that the boys are alive.
John Skelton told television station WXYZ in a telephone interview from the Lenawee County Jail aired Friday (May 6, 2011) that he didn't hurt his boys. He also responded to questions about items reportedly found by authorities in his home, saying they have nothing to do with the disappearance.
The interview comes after relatives appealed to the public this week to look for signs on the boys from Morenci (mor-EN'-see), located near the Ohio border.
Skelton has said he doesn't know the whereabouts of 9-year-old Andrew, 7-year-old Alexander and 5-year-old Tanner, who were last seen with him. The 39-year-old is charged with kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment, and is jailed on $90 million bond.
A southern Michigan man whose three young sons have been missing since Thanksgiving is insisting that the boys are alive.
John Skelton told television station WXYZ in a telephone interview from the Lenawee County Jail aired Friday (May 6, 2011) that he didn't hurt his boys. He also responded to questions about items reportedly found by authorities in his home, saying they have nothing to do with the disappearance.
The interview comes after relatives appealed to the public this week to look for signs on the boys from Morenci (mor-EN'-see), located near the Ohio border.
Skelton has said he doesn't know the whereabouts of 9-year-old Andrew, 7-year-old Alexander and 5-year-old Tanner, who were last seen with him. The 39-year-old is charged with kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment, and is jailed on $90 million bond.
On May 5, 1985 -- momentous visits in Europe by then-President Ronald W. Reagan
(as posted at Politico dot-com: This Date in History):
On this day (5/5/85) in 1985, President Ronald Reagan visited the German war cemetery in Bitburg. Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor, had suggested the trip to the cemetery, where some 2,000 German soldiers lie buried, to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Most Jewish leaders urged Reagan to forgo the visit, especially after it became known that the cemetery also housed the graves of 49 Nazi storm troopers. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, pleaded with Reagan to drop Bitburg from his schedule during a ceremony in the White House East Room marking Jewish Heritage Week. Political leaders in Britain, Belgium, Holland and even West Germany criticized the Bitburg decision.
To soften this criticism, Reagan made an unscheduled visit that morning to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp where some 50,000 victims of Nazi persecution, mostly Jews, wereburied in mass graves. In his remarks there, Reagan declared that we must not forget what happened and we must pledge “never again,” adding: “Here they lie. Never to hope. Never to pray. Never to love. Never to heal. Never to laugh. Never to cry.”
At the cemetery, the president spoke briefly and laid a wreath. He was accompanied by Gen. Matthew Ridgway — at 91, the last surviving top military leader from World War II.
First lady Nancy Reagan had counseled her husband against the visit, arguing that it “would be offensive to Jews” and would make him look “insensitive to those who had died in the Holocaust.” But Reagan subsequently wrote: “I have never regretted not canceling the trip to Bitburg. In the end, I believe my visit to the cemetery … helped strengthen our European alliance and heal once and for all many of the lingering wounds of war.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54287.html#ixzz1LfzJeBrH
On this day (5/5/85) in 1985, President Ronald Reagan visited the German war cemetery in Bitburg. Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor, had suggested the trip to the cemetery, where some 2,000 German soldiers lie buried, to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Most Jewish leaders urged Reagan to forgo the visit, especially after it became known that the cemetery also housed the graves of 49 Nazi storm troopers. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, pleaded with Reagan to drop Bitburg from his schedule during a ceremony in the White House East Room marking Jewish Heritage Week. Political leaders in Britain, Belgium, Holland and even West Germany criticized the Bitburg decision.
To soften this criticism, Reagan made an unscheduled visit that morning to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp where some 50,000 victims of Nazi persecution, mostly Jews, wereburied in mass graves. In his remarks there, Reagan declared that we must not forget what happened and we must pledge “never again,” adding: “Here they lie. Never to hope. Never to pray. Never to love. Never to heal. Never to laugh. Never to cry.”
At the cemetery, the president spoke briefly and laid a wreath. He was accompanied by Gen. Matthew Ridgway — at 91, the last surviving top military leader from World War II.
First lady Nancy Reagan had counseled her husband against the visit, arguing that it “would be offensive to Jews” and would make him look “insensitive to those who had died in the Holocaust.” But Reagan subsequently wrote: “I have never regretted not canceling the trip to Bitburg. In the end, I believe my visit to the cemetery … helped strengthen our European alliance and heal once and for all many of the lingering wounds of war.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54287.html#ixzz1LfzJeBrH
Thursday, May 5, 2011
1:30 p.m. Ceremony of wreath-laying -- no speeches just meeting with survivors & 9//11 families
(coverage details from Perry Bacon online story: WashingtonPost dot-com)
President Obama will continue one of the most memorable weeks of his presidency on Thursday afternoon when he heads to New York for what will likely be an emotional event in which he will mark the death of Osama bin Laden at the National September 11 Memorial.
The president is not expected to give a formal speech, but instead lay a wreath at the memorial site. Following the ceremony, he will meet with relatives of people who died in the Sept. 11 attacks.
“He wants to lay a wreath to honor the victims, to honor the first responders who so courageously rushed to the scene and, in many cases, gave their own lives to try to save others; to honor the spirit of unity in America that we all felt in the wake of that terrible attack,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. “I think the power of that requires no words.”
The president is expected to spend about four hours total in New York on Thursday. The ceremony will start around 1:30 p.m.
President Obama will continue one of the most memorable weeks of his presidency on Thursday afternoon when he heads to New York for what will likely be an emotional event in which he will mark the death of Osama bin Laden at the National September 11 Memorial.
The president is not expected to give a formal speech, but instead lay a wreath at the memorial site. Following the ceremony, he will meet with relatives of people who died in the Sept. 11 attacks.
“He wants to lay a wreath to honor the victims, to honor the first responders who so courageously rushed to the scene and, in many cases, gave their own lives to try to save others; to honor the spirit of unity in America that we all felt in the wake of that terrible attack,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. “I think the power of that requires no words.”
The president is expected to spend about four hours total in New York on Thursday. The ceremony will start around 1:30 p.m.
May 5 - National Day of Prayer (Niles, Michigan area events)
from NILES STAR coverage (daily newspaper article)
The theme for 2011 is “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” and is based on the verse from Psalm 91:2, which states: “I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Millions of Americans have participated in this annual observance to petition God on behalf of their families, communities, nation and leaders. A “Prayer for Our Nation” has been written by 2011 Honorary Co-Chairman Joni Eareckson Tada for use at each prayer gathering around the country.
The Niles Area Ministerial Association is spearheading three local noontime observances of this year’s event at the following locations:
• Niles City Hall, led by Pastor Dan Miller of First Missionary Church
• Niles Township Hall, led by Pastor Greg Rensberry of Mapleview Free Methodist Church
• Howard Township Hall, led by Pastor Jim Wing of Niles First Baptist Church.
The general public is cordially invited to join these area prayer gatherings beginning at noon and concluding approximately 12:45 p.m.
In addition to the noontime prayer events, once again this year there will be a combined Niles/Buchanan Area Prayer Rally on Thursday, May 5 starting at 7 p.m. at the Buchanan Commons in downtown Buchanan, led by the members of the Niles and Buchanan area ministerial associations. In case of rain, this event will be held at First United Methodist Church.
The theme for 2011 is “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” and is based on the verse from Psalm 91:2, which states: “I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Millions of Americans have participated in this annual observance to petition God on behalf of their families, communities, nation and leaders. A “Prayer for Our Nation” has been written by 2011 Honorary Co-Chairman Joni Eareckson Tada for use at each prayer gathering around the country.
The Niles Area Ministerial Association is spearheading three local noontime observances of this year’s event at the following locations:
• Niles City Hall, led by Pastor Dan Miller of First Missionary Church
• Niles Township Hall, led by Pastor Greg Rensberry of Mapleview Free Methodist Church
• Howard Township Hall, led by Pastor Jim Wing of Niles First Baptist Church.
The general public is cordially invited to join these area prayer gatherings beginning at noon and concluding approximately 12:45 p.m.
In addition to the noontime prayer events, once again this year there will be a combined Niles/Buchanan Area Prayer Rally on Thursday, May 5 starting at 7 p.m. at the Buchanan Commons in downtown Buchanan, led by the members of the Niles and Buchanan area ministerial associations. In case of rain, this event will be held at First United Methodist Church.
Today is Cinco de Mayo -- what does it mean? (Writer's Almanac synopsis)
from Listserv sent by Minnesota Public Radio (Garrison Keillor):
Today is Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, but is, in a more general way, a celebration of Mexican heritage and culture in the United States.
After a series of wars in the mid-19th-century, Mexico was reeling. President Benito Juarez announced that payment of foreign debts would be temporarily suspended in 1861, and the French navy showed up to demand repayment. As long as they were there anyway, Napoleon III thought it would be a good idea to replace the current government with one more favorable to French interests -- and France could also establish a base of operations to aid the Confederacy in the American Civil War. In a David-and-Goliath battle, the 8,000-strong, well-armed French army was routed by 4,000 ill-equipped Mexican soldiers, and though it wasn’t a decisive battle in the course of the war, it became a symbol of Mexican pride. It also kept Napoleon from aiding the cause of the Confederacy.
Cinco de Mayo isn’t widely celebrated in Mexico outside the state of Puebla, but it has been adopted by many Americans regardless of their heritage, much like St. Patrick’s Day and Oktoberfest. It’s been celebrated in California since 1863, and grew in prominence in the rest of the country along with the Chicano movement of the 1940s. It wasn’t until beer advertisers decided to promote the holiday heavily in the 1980s that American celebration of Cinco de Mayo became widespread.
Today is Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, but is, in a more general way, a celebration of Mexican heritage and culture in the United States.
After a series of wars in the mid-19th-century, Mexico was reeling. President Benito Juarez announced that payment of foreign debts would be temporarily suspended in 1861, and the French navy showed up to demand repayment. As long as they were there anyway, Napoleon III thought it would be a good idea to replace the current government with one more favorable to French interests -- and France could also establish a base of operations to aid the Confederacy in the American Civil War. In a David-and-Goliath battle, the 8,000-strong, well-armed French army was routed by 4,000 ill-equipped Mexican soldiers, and though it wasn’t a decisive battle in the course of the war, it became a symbol of Mexican pride. It also kept Napoleon from aiding the cause of the Confederacy.
Cinco de Mayo isn’t widely celebrated in Mexico outside the state of Puebla, but it has been adopted by many Americans regardless of their heritage, much like St. Patrick’s Day and Oktoberfest. It’s been celebrated in California since 1863, and grew in prominence in the rest of the country along with the Chicano movement of the 1940s. It wasn’t until beer advertisers decided to promote the holiday heavily in the 1980s that American celebration of Cinco de Mayo became widespread.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
May 1 at 11:30 p.m. audience for President's announcement re: Pakistan mission
Posted at NY Times dot-com online article --
President Obama’s announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death was watched by 56.5 million people in the United States on Sunday night, the Nielsen Company said Tuesday (May 3).
The nine-minute address appeared to be the most watched presidential speech in nearly a decade. Even though the announcement came at 11:35 p.m., well after many people might go to bed, it drew more viewers than every other address Mr. Obama has given as president.
Many Americans were alerted to the president’s impending speech by the major television networks, which reported Bin Laden’s death around 10:45 p.m., and by social networking Web sites. Nielsen said the 56.5 million viewer figure was the sum of nine networks’ audiences.
President Obama’s announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death was watched by 56.5 million people in the United States on Sunday night, the Nielsen Company said Tuesday (May 3).
The nine-minute address appeared to be the most watched presidential speech in nearly a decade. Even though the announcement came at 11:35 p.m., well after many people might go to bed, it drew more viewers than every other address Mr. Obama has given as president.
Many Americans were alerted to the president’s impending speech by the major television networks, which reported Bin Laden’s death around 10:45 p.m., and by social networking Web sites. Nielsen said the 56.5 million viewer figure was the sum of nine networks’ audiences.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Benefit for Japan Quake Tsuanami victims (Benton Harbor LMC Campus - Mendel Center)
published in the employee "Chronicle" online newsletter (May 3, 2011)
The LMC Sociology Club is holding a Hope for Japan fundraiser on Sunday, May 15, from 4-10 p.m. in the Mendel Center's Grand Upton Hall. The event will include a silent auction, international food, dancers, and live bands, with proceeds going to help the victims of the 3-11-11 tsunami and earthquake in Japan. A donation amount of $7 per person is being asked for admission passes, which will be available at the door on May 15, or in advance at the Mendel Center Box Office or at Kartar Food on Pipestone in Benton Harbor.
The LMC Sociology Club is holding a Hope for Japan fundraiser on Sunday, May 15, from 4-10 p.m. in the Mendel Center's Grand Upton Hall. The event will include a silent auction, international food, dancers, and live bands, with proceeds going to help the victims of the 3-11-11 tsunami and earthquake in Japan. A donation amount of $7 per person is being asked for admission passes, which will be available at the door on May 15, or in advance at the Mendel Center Box Office or at Kartar Food on Pipestone in Benton Harbor.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Online Question-Answer I offered to Dan Zak, WASHINGTONPOST reporter at WHCD (Sat. 4/30)
from Onliine chat-discussion (5/2/2011) -- posted at Reliable Source -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Venue: the Washington DC Hilton
I didn't understand the joke made by Seth Myers about the location of the dinner being the "Hilton"; is this a tacky joint or some other kicked-around place or just a kind of "we love it and so we complain about it"?
– May 02, 2011 11:50 AM from trs5678 @ att.net, Niles, MICHIGAN, USA
A.Dan Zak :
I think "the Hilton" conjures images of the comfortable-but-not-glamorous. It's not the White House. The dinner was in a multi-purpose "ballroom." And it was very crowded
http://live.washingtonpost.com/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2011-recap.html
Venue: the Washington DC Hilton
I didn't understand the joke made by Seth Myers about the location of the dinner being the "Hilton"; is this a tacky joint or some other kicked-around place or just a kind of "we love it and so we complain about it"?
– May 02, 2011 11:50 AM from trs5678 @ att.net, Niles, MICHIGAN, USA
A.Dan Zak :
I think "the Hilton" conjures images of the comfortable-but-not-glamorous. It's not the White House. The dinner was in a multi-purpose "ballroom." And it was very crowded
http://live.washingtonpost.com/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2011-recap.html
from May 1 (11:30 p.m. address to the nation and world): Obama's remarks in summary
During a historic live address that was carried across the globe, President Obama told the world late Sunday May 1, 2011 that Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader of al Queda who spearheaded the deaths of almost 3,000 Americans during a terror attack on September 11, 2001, had been killed during a US military operation.
"A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties," President Obama said. "After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."
"And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done."
"A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties," President Obama said. "After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."
"And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done."
Today (May 2) is the 400th Birthday of the King James Version of the Holy Bible
as posted at "Writer's Almanac" for this date (Garrison Keillor at Minnesota Public Radio dot-org)
Today is the 400th birthday of the King James Bible. It was the third complete English translation of the Old and New Testaments commissioned by the Church of England; the first, called the Great Bible, was produced during the reign of Henry VIII, and the second version, the Bishop’s Bible, was completed in 1568. Partial translations had been made as early as the 14th century.
But the Puritans were unhappy with these versions, so King James I called a meeting, the Hampton Court Conference, in 1604. He instructed the translators to make sure the new translation more closely supported the structure and beliefs of the Church of England, which had the side benefit of limiting the Puritans’ influence.
The Old Testament was translated from the Hebrew, and the New Testament was translated from the Greek, by 47 unpaid scholars, using the Bishop’s Bible as a model. The finished product could be purchased loose-leaf for 10 shillings, or bound for 12. There were two different versions, although this was unintentional; there was a typo in Ruth 3:15, so the first edition read, “he went into the city,” while the second read “she went into the city.” The different editions are known as the “He” and “She” Bibles.
The original King James Version also included 15 books known as the Apocrypha, in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments. The Apocrypha were read as popular literature, and not part of the canon; they eventually fell out of favor with the Church of England and were dropped from the King James Bible in 1666.
Today is the 400th birthday of the King James Bible. It was the third complete English translation of the Old and New Testaments commissioned by the Church of England; the first, called the Great Bible, was produced during the reign of Henry VIII, and the second version, the Bishop’s Bible, was completed in 1568. Partial translations had been made as early as the 14th century.
But the Puritans were unhappy with these versions, so King James I called a meeting, the Hampton Court Conference, in 1604. He instructed the translators to make sure the new translation more closely supported the structure and beliefs of the Church of England, which had the side benefit of limiting the Puritans’ influence.
The Old Testament was translated from the Hebrew, and the New Testament was translated from the Greek, by 47 unpaid scholars, using the Bishop’s Bible as a model. The finished product could be purchased loose-leaf for 10 shillings, or bound for 12. There were two different versions, although this was unintentional; there was a typo in Ruth 3:15, so the first edition read, “he went into the city,” while the second read “she went into the city.” The different editions are known as the “He” and “She” Bibles.
The original King James Version also included 15 books known as the Apocrypha, in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments. The Apocrypha were read as popular literature, and not part of the canon; they eventually fell out of favor with the Church of England and were dropped from the King James Bible in 1666.
11:30 p.m. May 1 -- President Obama from White House: "Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan compound near Islamabad"
Details of the Navy Seals / CIA operation to assassinate the al Qaeda leader will continue to emerge -- no U.S. military died in the shoot-out -- some of the crew infiltrating the compound recognized the infamous terrorist mastermind and did a "double-shot" killing him with bullets to the brain/head . . .
His body was confirmed via DNA analysis - - others captured there included two wives plus and adult son . . . upon departure (they did not allow for Pakistan prior notification of authorities let alone the Military Academy staff/security that was nearby) they buried his body at sea [more as details become available]
His body was confirmed via DNA analysis - - others captured there included two wives plus and adult son . . . upon departure (they did not allow for Pakistan prior notification of authorities let alone the Military Academy staff/security that was nearby) they buried his body at sea [more as details become available]
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Week of May 1 - Shuttle launch (ENDEAVOUR) is scrubbed: -not-Monday as announced
www.cbsnews.com/ breaking news update excerpt
. . .Barring a delay for the Air Force Atlas 5 Rocket carrying a missile (Friday, May 6), Endeavour's launch could move to May 8 or, if the Air Force launch slips a day, to May 10. A May 9 launch date is not available for the shuttle because undocking from the International Space Station would come on the same day a Russian Soyuz is scheduled to depart.
Endeavour was grounded Friday during the final hours of the countdown because of telemetry indicating multiple fuel line heaters used by one of the shuttle's three hydraulic power units were not activating normally. The heaters are needed to keep the lines from freezing and possibly rupturing in flight.
The shuttle is equipped with three auxiliary power units, providing the hydraulic muscle to move the ship's engine nozzles, wing elevons, rudder, tail fin speed brake, body flap, landing gear brakes and nose wheel steering system. The shuttle can safely fly with a single APU, but flight rules require full redundancy for a countdown to proceed.
Likewise, each of the shuttle's three APUs is equipped with redundant heater "strings" and only one channel is required for normal operation. But again, the flight rules require redundancy to protect against a subsequent failure that could knock the system out of action.
Early Saturday, engineers ruled out a problem with the fuse panel in the shuttle's cockpit that routes power to the APU circuitry. That left two possible culprits: one or more faulty heater control thermostats or the aft load controller assembly, or ALCA-2, avionics box the heater circuitry runs through.
. . .Barring a delay for the Air Force Atlas 5 Rocket carrying a missile (Friday, May 6), Endeavour's launch could move to May 8 or, if the Air Force launch slips a day, to May 10. A May 9 launch date is not available for the shuttle because undocking from the International Space Station would come on the same day a Russian Soyuz is scheduled to depart.
Endeavour was grounded Friday during the final hours of the countdown because of telemetry indicating multiple fuel line heaters used by one of the shuttle's three hydraulic power units were not activating normally. The heaters are needed to keep the lines from freezing and possibly rupturing in flight.
The shuttle is equipped with three auxiliary power units, providing the hydraulic muscle to move the ship's engine nozzles, wing elevons, rudder, tail fin speed brake, body flap, landing gear brakes and nose wheel steering system. The shuttle can safely fly with a single APU, but flight rules require full redundancy for a countdown to proceed.
Likewise, each of the shuttle's three APUs is equipped with redundant heater "strings" and only one channel is required for normal operation. But again, the flight rules require redundancy to protect against a subsequent failure that could knock the system out of action.
Early Saturday, engineers ruled out a problem with the fuse panel in the shuttle's cockpit that routes power to the APU circuitry. That left two possible culprits: one or more faulty heater control thermostats or the aft load controller assembly, or ALCA-2, avionics box the heater circuitry runs through.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)