from Web Announcement at CARES (Community AIDS and Resource Education Services):
In commemoration of World AIDS Day, a community-wide free HIV testing event will be held on Wednesday, December 1st at The OutCenter, located at 132 Water Street, downtown Benton Harbor from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. This event is co-sponsored by CARES, the Berrien County Health Department and The OutCenter. It’s an opportunity to “GET TESTED and KNOW YOUR STATUS.”
Everyone is encouraged to join us to get tested, or to affirm their support for the prevention of HIV in our communities, and for those already affected.
December 1st is recognized globally as World AIDS Day. HIV/AIDS continue to wreak havoc on lives in epidemic proportions not only universally, but also within the community of Berrien County. According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, there are approximately 290 people in Berrien County who are infected with HIV/AIDS, and Berrien has the 3rd highest prevalence rate of HIV in the State of Michigan.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Today is the Birthday of Samuel Clemens ("Mark Twain") -- born near Hannibal, MO 1835
from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor, American Public Media):
Today is the birthday of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain (1835), born in Florida, Missouri. He worked as a riverboat pilot, a miner, and a journalist before becoming an author.
In his unfinished novel, The Mysterious Stranger, he wrote, "Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. No sane man can be happy, for to him life is real, and he sees what a fearful thing it is. Only the mad can be happy, and not many of those."
One of the most quotable of authors, Mark Twain said:
"It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races."
And "Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing the matter with this, except that it ain't so."
And "Familiarity breeds contempt -- and children."
And "The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven."
Today is the birthday of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain (1835), born in Florida, Missouri. He worked as a riverboat pilot, a miner, and a journalist before becoming an author.
In his unfinished novel, The Mysterious Stranger, he wrote, "Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. No sane man can be happy, for to him life is real, and he sees what a fearful thing it is. Only the mad can be happy, and not many of those."
One of the most quotable of authors, Mark Twain said:
"It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races."
And "Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing the matter with this, except that it ain't so."
And "Familiarity breeds contempt -- and children."
And "The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven."
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
5:30 p.m. Speech at Hillsdale (Michigan) College -
Herman Cain comments shared with National Review editors - reporters (Tuesday Nov. 29) --
“Over the next several days, we are going to continue with the schedule as usual,” he said. “I’ve got a major speech tonight at Hillsdale College on national security and foreign policy, and I will deliver it with vim, vigor, and enthusiasm. And then tomorrow we’ve got some media appearances scheduled. So we’re going to continue until we complete our assessment over the next several days.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/284321/breaking-cain-reassessing-candidacy-robert-costa
EDIT: Nov. 30, 7:05 a.m. -- more of the substance in Juana Summer (POLITICO) article posted online:
“Over the next several days, we are going to continue with the schedule as usual,” he said. “I’ve got a major speech tonight at Hillsdale College on national security and foreign policy, and I will deliver it with vim, vigor, and enthusiasm. And then tomorrow we’ve got some media appearances scheduled. So we’re going to continue until we complete our assessment over the next several days.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/284321/breaking-cain-reassessing-candidacy-robert-costa
EDIT: Nov. 30, 7:05 a.m. -- more of the substance in Juana Summer (POLITICO) article posted online:
Students in Free Enterprise (Hillsdale College, Michigan) "Security" lecture by Herman Cain
as posted online at M Live dot-com (Michigan Live press service):
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain will cover policy issues in a speech Tuesday at Hillsdale College, according to the leader of a student group organizing the event.
Elliot Gaiser, president of Students in Free Enterprise at Hillsdale College, said the group has been in touch with Cain’s campaign since the beginning of the semester to try to arrange a visit. Campaign staff last week confirmed the date that Cain would speak at the campus, he said.
“We’re just so excited to have him come speak,” said Gaiser, 22, who interviewed Cain in 2010 as part of a podcast he produces at Conservativeprivateradio.com. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to hear from someone who has been in the free enterprise system his whole life and is now running for the highest office in the country.
“This is a great opportunity when it comes down to it for a school like Hillsdale College to allow students to become acquainted with a man like Herman Cain.”
Gaiser said the title of Cain’s speech is “Security Begins at Home,” and it was his understanding that the talk would be policy-oriented.
Between 800 and 1,200 people are expected to attend the speech, Gaiser said.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2011/11/herman_cains_speech_tuesday_at.html
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain will cover policy issues in a speech Tuesday at Hillsdale College, according to the leader of a student group organizing the event.
Elliot Gaiser, president of Students in Free Enterprise at Hillsdale College, said the group has been in touch with Cain’s campaign since the beginning of the semester to try to arrange a visit. Campaign staff last week confirmed the date that Cain would speak at the campus, he said.
“We’re just so excited to have him come speak,” said Gaiser, 22, who interviewed Cain in 2010 as part of a podcast he produces at Conservativeprivateradio.com. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to hear from someone who has been in the free enterprise system his whole life and is now running for the highest office in the country.
“This is a great opportunity when it comes down to it for a school like Hillsdale College to allow students to become acquainted with a man like Herman Cain.”
Gaiser said the title of Cain’s speech is “Security Begins at Home,” and it was his understanding that the talk would be policy-oriented.
Between 800 and 1,200 people are expected to attend the speech, Gaiser said.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2011/11/herman_cains_speech_tuesday_at.html
Today is the 113th birthday of C.S. ("Jack") Lewis - author and apologist
from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor: American Public Media):
Today (Nov. 29) is the birthday of Irish author C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis, born in Belfast in 1898. When he was four, his dog Jacksie was hit by a car and killed; the boy declared he was changing his name to "Jacksie," and for a while he wouldn't answer to anything else. For the rest of his life, he was known as "Jack" to his family and close friends.
Raised in the Church of Ireland, he became an atheist in his teens and eventually returned to the church after a series of long theological arguments with his friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien. "I gave up Christianity at about 14," he said. "Came back to it when getting on for 30. Not an emotional conversion; almost purely philosophical. I didn't want to. I'm not in the least a religious type. I want to be let alone, to feel I'm my own master; but since the facts seemed to be just the opposite, I had to give in." He wrote Mere Christianity (1952), a classic of Christian apologetics; and The Screwtape Letters (1942), an epistolary novel that consists of letters from a demon to his apprentice nephew, giving him pointers on leading a man astray. He's also the author of the seven-book allegorical fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, which he wrote for children. He thought it would be a good way to introduce Christian themes to children without beating them over the head, something that had turned him off as a young man. "An obligation to feel can freeze feelings," he once said.
One of his books, Miracles (1947), had a profound effect on a writer from New York. Joy Davidman Gresham had been raised Jewish, but, like Lewis, had become an atheist. She was separated from her husband, who was an alcoholic, and she was raising their two sons by herself when she came upon Lewis's book. After she read it, she began praying, and started attending services at a Presbyterian church. She also began a correspondence with Lewis that eventually led to their marriage in 1957. Joy was diagnosed with bone cancer, and she married Lewis from her hospital bed; the doctors sent her home to die, but she went into remission instead, and they had almost four wonderful years together. After her death in 1960, Lewis was devastated. He wrote a book, A Grief Observed (1961), which contained his thoughts, questions, and observations. It was so raw and personal that he published it under a pseudonym. Friends actually recommended the book to him, to help with his grief, unaware that he'd written it. His authorship wasn't made known until after his death in 1963. In the book, he writes that he doesn't believe people are reunited with their loved ones in the next life. "Talk to me about the truth of religion and I'll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I'll listen submissively. But don't come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don't understand."
Today (Nov. 29) is the birthday of Irish author C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis, born in Belfast in 1898. When he was four, his dog Jacksie was hit by a car and killed; the boy declared he was changing his name to "Jacksie," and for a while he wouldn't answer to anything else. For the rest of his life, he was known as "Jack" to his family and close friends.
Raised in the Church of Ireland, he became an atheist in his teens and eventually returned to the church after a series of long theological arguments with his friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien. "I gave up Christianity at about 14," he said. "Came back to it when getting on for 30. Not an emotional conversion; almost purely philosophical. I didn't want to. I'm not in the least a religious type. I want to be let alone, to feel I'm my own master; but since the facts seemed to be just the opposite, I had to give in." He wrote Mere Christianity (1952), a classic of Christian apologetics; and The Screwtape Letters (1942), an epistolary novel that consists of letters from a demon to his apprentice nephew, giving him pointers on leading a man astray. He's also the author of the seven-book allegorical fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, which he wrote for children. He thought it would be a good way to introduce Christian themes to children without beating them over the head, something that had turned him off as a young man. "An obligation to feel can freeze feelings," he once said.
One of his books, Miracles (1947), had a profound effect on a writer from New York. Joy Davidman Gresham had been raised Jewish, but, like Lewis, had become an atheist. She was separated from her husband, who was an alcoholic, and she was raising their two sons by herself when she came upon Lewis's book. After she read it, she began praying, and started attending services at a Presbyterian church. She also began a correspondence with Lewis that eventually led to their marriage in 1957. Joy was diagnosed with bone cancer, and she married Lewis from her hospital bed; the doctors sent her home to die, but she went into remission instead, and they had almost four wonderful years together. After her death in 1960, Lewis was devastated. He wrote a book, A Grief Observed (1961), which contained his thoughts, questions, and observations. It was so raw and personal that he published it under a pseudonym. Friends actually recommended the book to him, to help with his grief, unaware that he'd written it. His authorship wasn't made known until after his death in 1963. In the book, he writes that he doesn't believe people are reunited with their loved ones in the next life. "Talk to me about the truth of religion and I'll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I'll listen submissively. But don't come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don't understand."
Monday, November 28, 2011
Happy Birthday, Jonathan Stuart Leibovitz! (Jon Stewart of Comedy Central nightly news show)
noted in Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor, American Public Media):
Today is the birthday of the man who said, "I have complete faith in the continued absurdity of whatever's going on": Jon Stewart, born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on November 28, 1962. Because of his job hosting the news parody program The Daily Show since 1999, British newspaper The Independent has called him America's "Satirist-in-chief."
He said: "If you don't stick to your values when they're being tested, they're not values -- they're hobbies. You know, one of the genius moves of The Founders was not writing The Bill of Rights on the back window of a dusty van."
Today is the birthday of the man who said, "I have complete faith in the continued absurdity of whatever's going on": Jon Stewart, born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on November 28, 1962. Because of his job hosting the news parody program The Daily Show since 1999, British newspaper The Independent has called him America's "Satirist-in-chief."
He said: "If you don't stick to your values when they're being tested, they're not values -- they're hobbies. You know, one of the genius moves of The Founders was not writing The Bill of Rights on the back window of a dusty van."
Birthday of William Blake (artist - poet) in 1757
from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor, American Public Media):
Today (November 28) is the birthday of the British poet and artist William Blake (1757), born in London. He wanted to be an artist, which was an unusual aspiration for the child of a haberdasher; his father sent him to a drawing school, but after five years, he could no longer afford the tuition. He took young William instead to train with an engraver, William Wynne Ryland. The boy, who was then 14, objected, saying, "Father, I do not like the man's face. It looks like he will live to be hanged!" Ryland was indeed hanged for forgery 11 years later, on the Tyburn gallows.
Blake began seeing visions in childhood. When he was four, he began screaming when he saw God "put his head to the window." Four or five years later, he saw "a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars." His parents punished him for telling lies, but they also seemed to realize he wasn't like other children. Throughout his life, he claimed to converse freely with dead loved ones, including his younger brother, who taught him a new engraving process from beyond the grave. He also related a conversation with the archangel Gabriel, who told him Michelangelo painted a better angelic portrait than Raphael. Blake was suspicious that he was speaking to an evil spirit masquerading as an angel. According to Blake, Gabriel retorted, "'Can an evil spirit do this?' I looked whence the voice came, and was then aware of a shining shape, with bright wings, who diffused much light. As I looked, the shape dilated more and more: he waved his hands; the roof of my study opened; he ascended into heaven; he stood in the sun, and beckoning to me, moved the universe. An angel of evil could not have done that -- it was the arch-angel Gabriel."
Blake was scarcely noticed in his lifetime, unless it was to be labeled a lunatic. Reviews of his art were mixed, and his poetry was not widely known. Wordsworth said of him, "There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott." He sold watercolors and illustrations to various patrons, but they tended to buy them out of friendship, rather than a sense that they had artistic merit; if a potential patron should try to make him conform to conventional styles of the day, or make his work less oblique, Blake often responded in anger. "That which can be made Explicit to the idiot is not worth my care," he told one patron.
The 20th century brought a new appreciation for Blake's art and verse. One of his poems, "And did those feet," which appeared in the introduction to his poem Milton, was set to music during World War I; it has become a second, unofficial national anthem in Britain, where it's known as "Jerusalem":
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among those dark Satanic mills?
Bring me my Bow of burning gold,
Bring me my Arrows of desire,
Bring me my Spear; O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have build Jerusalem
In England's green & pleasant Land.
Today (November 28) is the birthday of the British poet and artist William Blake (1757), born in London. He wanted to be an artist, which was an unusual aspiration for the child of a haberdasher; his father sent him to a drawing school, but after five years, he could no longer afford the tuition. He took young William instead to train with an engraver, William Wynne Ryland. The boy, who was then 14, objected, saying, "Father, I do not like the man's face. It looks like he will live to be hanged!" Ryland was indeed hanged for forgery 11 years later, on the Tyburn gallows.
Blake began seeing visions in childhood. When he was four, he began screaming when he saw God "put his head to the window." Four or five years later, he saw "a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars." His parents punished him for telling lies, but they also seemed to realize he wasn't like other children. Throughout his life, he claimed to converse freely with dead loved ones, including his younger brother, who taught him a new engraving process from beyond the grave. He also related a conversation with the archangel Gabriel, who told him Michelangelo painted a better angelic portrait than Raphael. Blake was suspicious that he was speaking to an evil spirit masquerading as an angel. According to Blake, Gabriel retorted, "'Can an evil spirit do this?' I looked whence the voice came, and was then aware of a shining shape, with bright wings, who diffused much light. As I looked, the shape dilated more and more: he waved his hands; the roof of my study opened; he ascended into heaven; he stood in the sun, and beckoning to me, moved the universe. An angel of evil could not have done that -- it was the arch-angel Gabriel."
Blake was scarcely noticed in his lifetime, unless it was to be labeled a lunatic. Reviews of his art were mixed, and his poetry was not widely known. Wordsworth said of him, "There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott." He sold watercolors and illustrations to various patrons, but they tended to buy them out of friendship, rather than a sense that they had artistic merit; if a potential patron should try to make him conform to conventional styles of the day, or make his work less oblique, Blake often responded in anger. "That which can be made Explicit to the idiot is not worth my care," he told one patron.
The 20th century brought a new appreciation for Blake's art and verse. One of his poems, "And did those feet," which appeared in the introduction to his poem Milton, was set to music during World War I; it has become a second, unofficial national anthem in Britain, where it's known as "Jerusalem":
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among those dark Satanic mills?
Bring me my Bow of burning gold,
Bring me my Arrows of desire,
Bring me my Spear; O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have build Jerusalem
In England's green & pleasant Land.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
World AIDS Day (observed across 16 Indiana cities and towns) - Planned Parenthood Free HIV Testing
ASSOCIATED PRESS (online article -- MSNBC dot-com news):
Planned Parenthood of Indiana says it will recognize World AIDS Day by offering free HIV tests at 19 of its health centers Dec. 1-8, 2011.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana says it will recognize World AIDS Day by offering free HIV tests at 19 of its health centers Dec. 1-8, 2011.
The free tests will be offered at the Planned Parenthood health centers in Avon, Bloomington, Columbus, Evansville, Fort Wayne, four Indianapolis locations, Hammond, Lafayette, Madison, Merrillville, Mishawaka, Muncie, Richmond, Terre Haute, Valparaiso, and Warsaw. It says the free tests were made possible by the nonprofit's Women's Health Fund.
After Dec. 8, Planned Parenthood says half-price tests will be available at the Avon, Bloomington, Lafayette and Muncie health centers and the four Indianapolis centers while supplies last. Patients will pay $12.50 for those tests.
World AIDS Day falls on December 1 every year.
Today is the birthday of James Agee (screenwriter - essayist)
from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor, American Public Media):
Today is the birthday of writer James Agee, born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1909. Today, he is best remembered for his two books, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), the classic profile of three sharecropper families, photographed by Walker Evans, and A Death in the Family (1958), his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel based on his own father's tragic passing. The former was practically unread when it was published; the latter was published posthumously. What Agee was at least modestly known for during his lifetime was his film criticism, which he wrote for Time magazine and The Nation.
"You must be in tune with the times and prepared to break with tradition," Agee wrote, and his reviews followed his own advice. As he promised at the outset of his weekly column in The Nation in 1942, "As an amateur, then, I must as well as I can simultaneously recognize my own ignorance and feel no apology for what my eyes tell me as I watch any given screen, where the proof is caught irrelevant to excuse, and available in proportion to the eye which sees it and the mind which uses it." He did so, calling it as he saw it week in and week out, with little attention to popular sentiment or previous critical success -- or failure. An article he wrote for Life magazine proclaimed silent film was "Comedy's Greatest Era," then a somewhat revolutionary idea, especially to an entire generation who'd never seen a silent movie and assumed them to be old-fashioned and schmaltzy. The article received one of the largest responses of any in the magazine's history; it was also single-handedly responsible for reviving and redeeming the career of silent film auteur Buster Keaton, who by then had been largely consigned to writing gags for studio scripts. "Perhaps because 'dry' comedy is so much more rare and odd than 'dry' wit, there are people who never much cared for Keaton," Agee wrote. "Those who do cannot care mildly."
In 1944, two years after Agee began writing his column there, The Nation published a letter to the editor from W.H. Auden, in which the poet said: "... I do not care for movies very much and I rarely see them; further, I am suspicious of criticism as the literary genre which, more than any other, recruits epigones, pedants without insight, intellectuals without love. I am all the more surprised, therefore, to find myself not only reading Mr. Agee before I read anyone else in The Nation but also consciously looking forward all week to reading him again. In my opinion, his column is the most remarkable regular event in American journalism today. What he says is of such profound interest, expressed with such extraordinary wit and felicity, and so transcends its ostensible -- to me, rather unimportant -- subject, that his articles belong in that very select class ... of newspaper work which is of permanent literary value. One foresees the sad day, indeed, when Agee on Films will be the subject of a Ph.D. thesis."
It was only 14 years later, three years after Agee's early death in 1955, that the book Agee on Film collected much of his criticism; in the year 2000 it was reissued with introductions by filmmaker Martin Scorsese and film critic David Denby.
Today is the birthday of writer James Agee, born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1909. Today, he is best remembered for his two books, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), the classic profile of three sharecropper families, photographed by Walker Evans, and A Death in the Family (1958), his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel based on his own father's tragic passing. The former was practically unread when it was published; the latter was published posthumously. What Agee was at least modestly known for during his lifetime was his film criticism, which he wrote for Time magazine and The Nation.
"You must be in tune with the times and prepared to break with tradition," Agee wrote, and his reviews followed his own advice. As he promised at the outset of his weekly column in The Nation in 1942, "As an amateur, then, I must as well as I can simultaneously recognize my own ignorance and feel no apology for what my eyes tell me as I watch any given screen, where the proof is caught irrelevant to excuse, and available in proportion to the eye which sees it and the mind which uses it." He did so, calling it as he saw it week in and week out, with little attention to popular sentiment or previous critical success -- or failure. An article he wrote for Life magazine proclaimed silent film was "Comedy's Greatest Era," then a somewhat revolutionary idea, especially to an entire generation who'd never seen a silent movie and assumed them to be old-fashioned and schmaltzy. The article received one of the largest responses of any in the magazine's history; it was also single-handedly responsible for reviving and redeeming the career of silent film auteur Buster Keaton, who by then had been largely consigned to writing gags for studio scripts. "Perhaps because 'dry' comedy is so much more rare and odd than 'dry' wit, there are people who never much cared for Keaton," Agee wrote. "Those who do cannot care mildly."
In 1944, two years after Agee began writing his column there, The Nation published a letter to the editor from W.H. Auden, in which the poet said: "... I do not care for movies very much and I rarely see them; further, I am suspicious of criticism as the literary genre which, more than any other, recruits epigones, pedants without insight, intellectuals without love. I am all the more surprised, therefore, to find myself not only reading Mr. Agee before I read anyone else in The Nation but also consciously looking forward all week to reading him again. In my opinion, his column is the most remarkable regular event in American journalism today. What he says is of such profound interest, expressed with such extraordinary wit and felicity, and so transcends its ostensible -- to me, rather unimportant -- subject, that his articles belong in that very select class ... of newspaper work which is of permanent literary value. One foresees the sad day, indeed, when Agee on Films will be the subject of a Ph.D. thesis."
It was only 14 years later, three years after Agee's early death in 1955, that the book Agee on Film collected much of his criticism; in the year 2000 it was reissued with introductions by filmmaker Martin Scorsese and film critic David Denby.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Christmas Trees for Blue Star and Gold Star Families (2011 plans at White House)
from November 25 pre-announced publicity :
The First Lady’s office said Friday that military families would be the first to see this year's holiday decorations. She will host a special gathering for them November 30 where she will speak, and the White House chefs and florist will talk about holiday decorations and food. The theme of this year’s Blue Room Christmas tree will be honoring Blue star families, the White House said. Blue Star families are those who have a member serving in the military during a time of war.
Mrs. Obama’s office also said Gold Star families will take part in decorating a special Gold Star tree that will be placed at the visitors’ entrance to the East Wing. Guests at White House holiday events enter through the East Wing entrance near where Mrs. Obama's office is located. Gold Star families are those who have a relative killed while serving in the Armed Forces in wartime.
The growers of this year’s official tree won the honor in a Christmas tree contest held in August by the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA).
This is the seventh time a Wisconsin grower has provided the White House tree, according to NCTA records which go back to 1966. North Carolina growers hold the record for providing the official White House tree, having done so 11 times. Wisconsin and Washington State are tied for second place with 7 wins each. This year is the first since 1998 when a balsam fir was the winning species. While the Blue Room tree is the most highly decorated and has a place of honor, it is usually just one of many trees placed around the White House. Last year there were 19 trees in all.
White House holiday receptions include events for members of Congress and the administration, diplomats, and members of the media.
The early history of the White House Christmas tree is in dispute. The Christmas Tree Association website says that New Hampshire native Franklin Pierce brought the first Christmas tree to the executive mansion in 1853. The White House Historical Association gives that distinction to President Benjamin Harrison in 1889.
The practice of having an “official” Christmas tree decorated under the auspices of the First Lady began with Lou Henry Hoover in 1929. In 1961, Jacqueline Kennedy began the tradition of having a theme surrounding the decorations. Mrs. Kennedy’s first theme was “Nutcracker Suite” based on Tchaikovsky’s ballet.
Christian Science Monitor story (by David Cook) -- csmonitor.com/
The First Lady’s office said Friday that military families would be the first to see this year's holiday decorations. She will host a special gathering for them November 30 where she will speak, and the White House chefs and florist will talk about holiday decorations and food. The theme of this year’s Blue Room Christmas tree will be honoring Blue star families, the White House said. Blue Star families are those who have a member serving in the military during a time of war.
Mrs. Obama’s office also said Gold Star families will take part in decorating a special Gold Star tree that will be placed at the visitors’ entrance to the East Wing. Guests at White House holiday events enter through the East Wing entrance near where Mrs. Obama's office is located. Gold Star families are those who have a relative killed while serving in the Armed Forces in wartime.
The growers of this year’s official tree won the honor in a Christmas tree contest held in August by the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA).
This is the seventh time a Wisconsin grower has provided the White House tree, according to NCTA records which go back to 1966. North Carolina growers hold the record for providing the official White House tree, having done so 11 times. Wisconsin and Washington State are tied for second place with 7 wins each. This year is the first since 1998 when a balsam fir was the winning species. While the Blue Room tree is the most highly decorated and has a place of honor, it is usually just one of many trees placed around the White House. Last year there were 19 trees in all.
White House holiday receptions include events for members of Congress and the administration, diplomats, and members of the media.
The early history of the White House Christmas tree is in dispute. The Christmas Tree Association website says that New Hampshire native Franklin Pierce brought the first Christmas tree to the executive mansion in 1853. The White House Historical Association gives that distinction to President Benjamin Harrison in 1889.
The practice of having an “official” Christmas tree decorated under the auspices of the First Lady began with Lou Henry Hoover in 1929. In 1961, Jacqueline Kennedy began the tradition of having a theme surrounding the decorations. Mrs. Kennedy’s first theme was “Nutcracker Suite” based on Tchaikovsky’s ballet.
Christian Science Monitor story (by David Cook) -- csmonitor.com/
MSL - Mars Mission "Curiosity" launched 10:02 a.m. Nov. 26, 2011
Successful launch -- transmitted via NASA TV (in HD):
NASA Television Now in HD NASA TV now has a full-time HD Channel available at no cost to cable and satellite service providers. Live coverage of International Space Station missions, on-orbit video of Earth captured by station astronauts, and rocket launches of advanced scientific spacecraft are among the programming offered on NASA HD. Also available are imagery from NASA’s vast array of space satellites, as well as media briefings, presentations by expert lecturers, astronaut interviews and other special events, all in the improved detail and clarity of high-definition.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
NASA Television Now in HD NASA TV now has a full-time HD Channel available at no cost to cable and satellite service providers. Live coverage of International Space Station missions, on-orbit video of Earth captured by station astronauts, and rocket launches of advanced scientific spacecraft are among the programming offered on NASA HD. Also available are imagery from NASA’s vast array of space satellites, as well as media briefings, presentations by expert lecturers, astronaut interviews and other special events, all in the improved detail and clarity of high-definition.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
Gates, Sweeney, Porter depart Egypt in separate planes to U.S. cities (CBS NEWS breaking alert): Nov. 26
from www.cbsnews.com/
Three American students arrested during a protest in Cairo caught flights out of Egypt early Saturday, according to an airport official and an attorney for one of the trio.
The three Americans were arrested on the roof of a university building near Cairo's Tahrir Square last Sunday. Officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.
Luke Gates, 21, and Derrik Sweeney, 19, left the Egyptian capital Saturday on separate flights to Frankfurt, Germany, an airport official in Cairo said. Gregory Porter, 19, also left the country, his attorney said.
The students were technically freed on Thursday when an Egyptian court ordered their release, but they had to stay in custody an extra 24 hours as lawyers and police dealt with the bureaucracy of their release, reports CBS News correspondent Liz Palmer.
Once they were allowed to walk free last night, things happened very fast. They were taken to the airport by police, where they each boarded separate flights to different destinations in the States. All three planes took off, reports Palmer, so in just a matter of hours, they will all be back in the arms of their families.
All were studying at the American University in Cairo.
CBS / Associated Press filed this online Bulletin (8:07 a.m. Eastern Time)
Three American students arrested during a protest in Cairo caught flights out of Egypt early Saturday, according to an airport official and an attorney for one of the trio.
The three Americans were arrested on the roof of a university building near Cairo's Tahrir Square last Sunday. Officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.
Luke Gates, 21, and Derrik Sweeney, 19, left the Egyptian capital Saturday on separate flights to Frankfurt, Germany, an airport official in Cairo said. Gregory Porter, 19, also left the country, his attorney said.
The students were technically freed on Thursday when an Egyptian court ordered their release, but they had to stay in custody an extra 24 hours as lawyers and police dealt with the bureaucracy of their release, reports CBS News correspondent Liz Palmer.
Once they were allowed to walk free last night, things happened very fast. They were taken to the airport by police, where they each boarded separate flights to different destinations in the States. All three planes took off, reports Palmer, so in just a matter of hours, they will all be back in the arms of their families.
All were studying at the American University in Cairo.
CBS / Associated Press filed this online Bulletin (8:07 a.m. Eastern Time)
Money can't buy happiness - Money is only a tool -- W. Michigan benefactor & billionaire died Nov. 25, 2011
from Michigan Live website (Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011):
"Fred Meijer, Chairman Emeritus of Meijer Corp., passed away Friday evening, November 25, 2011 at the Spectrum Health System in Grand Rapids, Michigan after suffering a stroke in his home in the early morning hours. More information on arrangements will be forthcoming. In the meantime, the Meijer family thanks everyone for their thoughts and prayers and requests their privacy be respected at this difficult time."
Mr. Meijer — Fred to most who knew him — will be remembered for his philanthrophy. He invested millions into the West Michigan, including creating the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, which quickly became one of the state’s top destinations. Meijer’s family became one of the richest in the country, yet the patriarch of the Walker-based retail chain once remarked: “Money is only a tool. And money doesn’t buy happiness.“
If that’s true, Mr. Meijer found pleasure in giving much of his away, and the people of West Michigan were the beneficiaries.
Mr. Meijer’s rise in the world of business began simply enough in Greenville during the depths of the Great Depression. When his father, Hendrik, a Dutch immigrant, couldn’t find a tenant for the space above his barber shop, he opened a small grocery there in 1934.
Frederik Gerhard Hendrik Meijer was born Dec. 7, 1919, in the family’s farmhouse on the north edge of Greenville. His surname might have been Meyer or Myer but for a Greenville attorney, who used several variations on the name while filling out legal papers. Fred’s father decided to go with the spelling on his naturalization papers: Meijer.
As a boy, Mr. Meijer worked on the farm and delivered milk door-to-door by horse-drawn wagon, while dreaming of attending college, perhaps studying history. He gave up that dream to help run the store.
In 1942, he and his father opened a second store in Cedar Springs, and a few years later, Mr. Meijer married Lena Rader, a cashier in the Greenville store. In 1949, they opened a third store on Fuller Avenue in Grand Rapids. The chain continued to grow, and, in 1962, father and son considered a venture unprecedented in the retail business: combining a grocery store with a general merchandise discount store.
On the verge of going ahead with it, Mr. Meijer asked his father, “What should we do?“
Hendrik Meijer mulled the question a moment, then said, “Well, I don’t think I’d do it.“
Mr. Meijer was surprised, knowing his father had favored the venture. Why would he back out now?
“If we go broke and I die, I don’t want you to blame me,“ the elder Meijer explained. “I want it to be your decision.“
It was the father’s way of passing command to the son. Mr. Meijer went ahead with the plan, expanding the grocery store on 28th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue into the chain’s first hypermarket — or supercenter — called Meijer’s Thrifty Acres. More stores followed in Lansing, the Detroit area, then into adjacent states. As the chain grew, it caught the attention of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton who tried to meet with Mr. Meijer in the 1970s to talk about buying the Meijer business. Not wanting to offend Walton by saying no, Mr. Meijer said he was too busy.
Had Walton succeeded in buying the Meijer chain, it would have dramatically altered the course of Grand Rapids’ economy, which grew over the following decades with Meijer and other major local companies.
"Fred Meijer, Chairman Emeritus of Meijer Corp., passed away Friday evening, November 25, 2011 at the Spectrum Health System in Grand Rapids, Michigan after suffering a stroke in his home in the early morning hours. More information on arrangements will be forthcoming. In the meantime, the Meijer family thanks everyone for their thoughts and prayers and requests their privacy be respected at this difficult time."
Mr. Meijer — Fred to most who knew him — will be remembered for his philanthrophy. He invested millions into the West Michigan, including creating the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, which quickly became one of the state’s top destinations. Meijer’s family became one of the richest in the country, yet the patriarch of the Walker-based retail chain once remarked: “Money is only a tool. And money doesn’t buy happiness.“
If that’s true, Mr. Meijer found pleasure in giving much of his away, and the people of West Michigan were the beneficiaries.
Mr. Meijer’s rise in the world of business began simply enough in Greenville during the depths of the Great Depression. When his father, Hendrik, a Dutch immigrant, couldn’t find a tenant for the space above his barber shop, he opened a small grocery there in 1934.
Frederik Gerhard Hendrik Meijer was born Dec. 7, 1919, in the family’s farmhouse on the north edge of Greenville. His surname might have been Meyer or Myer but for a Greenville attorney, who used several variations on the name while filling out legal papers. Fred’s father decided to go with the spelling on his naturalization papers: Meijer.
As a boy, Mr. Meijer worked on the farm and delivered milk door-to-door by horse-drawn wagon, while dreaming of attending college, perhaps studying history. He gave up that dream to help run the store.
In 1942, he and his father opened a second store in Cedar Springs, and a few years later, Mr. Meijer married Lena Rader, a cashier in the Greenville store. In 1949, they opened a third store on Fuller Avenue in Grand Rapids. The chain continued to grow, and, in 1962, father and son considered a venture unprecedented in the retail business: combining a grocery store with a general merchandise discount store.
On the verge of going ahead with it, Mr. Meijer asked his father, “What should we do?“
Hendrik Meijer mulled the question a moment, then said, “Well, I don’t think I’d do it.“
Mr. Meijer was surprised, knowing his father had favored the venture. Why would he back out now?
“If we go broke and I die, I don’t want you to blame me,“ the elder Meijer explained. “I want it to be your decision.“
It was the father’s way of passing command to the son. Mr. Meijer went ahead with the plan, expanding the grocery store on 28th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue into the chain’s first hypermarket — or supercenter — called Meijer’s Thrifty Acres. More stores followed in Lansing, the Detroit area, then into adjacent states. As the chain grew, it caught the attention of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton who tried to meet with Mr. Meijer in the 1970s to talk about buying the Meijer business. Not wanting to offend Walton by saying no, Mr. Meijer said he was too busy.
Had Walton succeeded in buying the Meijer chain, it would have dramatically altered the course of Grand Rapids’ economy, which grew over the following decades with Meijer and other major local companies.
Happy Birthday, Marilynn Robinson (novelist-essayist)!
from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor, American Public Media):
Saturday, November 26 is the 68th birthday of writer Marilynne Robinson, born in Sandpoint, Idaho (1943). Although she is often known as the novelist who took a 23-year break between her award-winning, critically acclaimed novels, Housekeeping and Gilead -- and then only four more before her third, Home, a companion to Gilead -- she has published as many books of nonfiction as novels. Her essays are polemical, in sharp contrast to her fiction, upbraiding the British government for environmental degradation in her first nonfiction book, lamenting the "empty" state of contemporary discourse in her second, and, in 2010, waxing philosophical on the science versus religion debate in Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self.She said: "I grew up with the confidence that the greatest privilege was to be alone and have all the time you wanted. That was the cream of existence. I owe everything that I have done to the fact that I am very much at ease being alone. It's a good predisposition in a writer. And books are good company. Nothing is more human than a book."
Saturday, November 26 is the 68th birthday of writer Marilynne Robinson, born in Sandpoint, Idaho (1943). Although she is often known as the novelist who took a 23-year break between her award-winning, critically acclaimed novels, Housekeeping and Gilead -- and then only four more before her third, Home, a companion to Gilead -- she has published as many books of nonfiction as novels. Her essays are polemical, in sharp contrast to her fiction, upbraiding the British government for environmental degradation in her first nonfiction book, lamenting the "empty" state of contemporary discourse in her second, and, in 2010, waxing philosophical on the science versus religion debate in Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self.She said: "I grew up with the confidence that the greatest privilege was to be alone and have all the time you wanted. That was the cream of existence. I owe everything that I have done to the fact that I am very much at ease being alone. It's a good predisposition in a writer. And books are good company. Nothing is more human than a book."
Friday, November 25, 2011
Derrik Sweeney, Luke Gates, Gregory Porter -- three U.S. students detained/arrested by Cairo Riot Control Squad (Nov. 20, 2011)
POLITICO dot-com has this update (Friday, Nov. 25 morning):
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Michigan's Governor (Rick Snyder) -- Thanksgiving with National Reserve Troops (2011)
Snyder's Thanksgiving includes time with spent with National Guard soldiers
Posted at M-Live (Michigan News website) :
Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011 : 11:28 a.m.
Michigan’s Gov. Rick Snyder and Maj. Gen. Gregory Vadnais traveled Wednesday to Mississippi to join soldiers from the Michigan Army National Guard’s 126th Cavalry unit at Camp Shelby to celebrate Thanksgiving and thank them for their service before they deploy to Afghanistan.
The governor today plans to spend Thanksgiving with his family
Snyder, a University of Michigan graduate and Superior Township resident, also pit a
(article by Julie Baker, News Producer, at the Detroit Lions game. He'll still be cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal — but that won't be until Friday. Michigan cherry pie against Ohio Gov. John Kasich's Buckeye pie in preparation of the Michigan-Ohio State game on Saturday.www.annarbor.com/ )
Posted at M-Live (Michigan News website) :
Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011 : 11:28 a.m.
Michigan’s Gov. Rick Snyder and Maj. Gen. Gregory Vadnais traveled Wednesday to Mississippi to join soldiers from the Michigan Army National Guard’s 126th Cavalry unit at Camp Shelby to celebrate Thanksgiving and thank them for their service before they deploy to Afghanistan.
The governor today plans to spend Thanksgiving with his family
Snyder, a University of Michigan graduate and Superior Township resident, also pit a
(article by Julie Baker, News Producer, at the Detroit Lions game. He'll still be cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal — but that won't be until Friday. Michigan cherry pie against Ohio Gov. John Kasich's Buckeye pie in preparation of the Michigan-Ohio State game on Saturday.www.annarbor.com/ )
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Thanksgiving Turkey Tradition (White House Pardon) -- David Nakamura article for WASH. POST online
www.washingtonpost.com/ (Nov. 23, 2011 edition):
President Obama will use his executive authority Wednesday to pardon two 19-week-old, 45-pound turkeys a day before America’s annual feast. Liberty, chosen from among more than 100 candidates as the National Thanksgiving Turkey, and its alternate Peace, will be driven to Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, where they will be on display through Jan. 6, the White House announced.
The tradition of pardoning a turkey, and sparing it from being slaughtered, has murky origins, but it was formalized under President George H.W. Bush in 1989.
Obama will make the announcement in the Rose Garden, on the 64th anniversary of the national Thanksgiving presentation. After the holidays, the turkeys, which were raised in Willmar, Minn., will be moved to a custom enclosure at Mount Vernon’s livestock facility.
Two other turkeys are not so lucky. They were dressed and sent to the White House from Jaindl’s Turkey Farm in Orefield, Pa., and will be donated to a local food bank.
President Obama will use his executive authority Wednesday to pardon two 19-week-old, 45-pound turkeys a day before America’s annual feast. Liberty, chosen from among more than 100 candidates as the National Thanksgiving Turkey, and its alternate Peace, will be driven to Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, where they will be on display through Jan. 6, the White House announced.
The tradition of pardoning a turkey, and sparing it from being slaughtered, has murky origins, but it was formalized under President George H.W. Bush in 1989.
Obama will make the announcement in the Rose Garden, on the 64th anniversary of the national Thanksgiving presentation. After the holidays, the turkeys, which were raised in Willmar, Minn., will be moved to a custom enclosure at Mount Vernon’s livestock facility.
Two other turkeys are not so lucky. They were dressed and sent to the White House from Jaindl’s Turkey Farm in Orefield, Pa., and will be donated to a local food bank.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Trio of astronauts return from Space Station -- Landing at Kazakhstan (Nov. 21, 2011)
from NASA dot-gov news article (online):
Three International Space Station crew members safely returned to Earth on Monday, wrapping up nearly six months in space during which NASA and its international partners celebrated the 11th anniversary of continuous residence and work aboard the station.
Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum, Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Sergei Volkov of the Russian Federal Space Agency landed their Soyuz spacecraft in frigid conditions on the central steppe of Kazakhstan at 8:26 p.m. CST Nov. 21 (8:26 a.m. Kazakhstan time, Nov. 22). The trio arrived at the station on June 9. They spent 167 days in space and 165 days on the complex. Volkov, a two-time station crew member, now has accumulated 366 days in space.
Before leaving the station, Fossum handed over command to NASA's Dan Burbank, who leads Expedition 30. Burbank and Flight Engineers Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov of Russia will continue research and maintenance aboard the station.
The remaining Expedition 30 crew members, NASA astronaut Don Pettit, European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, and cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, are scheduled to launch Dec. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and dock with the station on Dec. 23.
Three International Space Station crew members safely returned to Earth on Monday, wrapping up nearly six months in space during which NASA and its international partners celebrated the 11th anniversary of continuous residence and work aboard the station.
Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum, Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Sergei Volkov of the Russian Federal Space Agency landed their Soyuz spacecraft in frigid conditions on the central steppe of Kazakhstan at 8:26 p.m. CST Nov. 21 (8:26 a.m. Kazakhstan time, Nov. 22). The trio arrived at the station on June 9. They spent 167 days in space and 165 days on the complex. Volkov, a two-time station crew member, now has accumulated 366 days in space.
Before leaving the station, Fossum handed over command to NASA's Dan Burbank, who leads Expedition 30. Burbank and Flight Engineers Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov of Russia will continue research and maintenance aboard the station.
The remaining Expedition 30 crew members, NASA astronaut Don Pettit, European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, and cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, are scheduled to launch Dec. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and dock with the station on Dec. 23.
On this date in history - Nov. 22, 1963 - JFK Library historical posting
www.jfklibrary.org/
Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza.
Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The governor was also hit in the chest.
The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital just a few minutes away. But little could be done for the President. A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites, and at 1:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. Though seriously wounded, Governor Connally would recover.
The president's body was brought to Love Field and placed on Air Force One. Before the plane took off, a grim-faced Lyndon B. Johnson stood in the tight, crowded compartment and took the oath of office, administered by U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Hughes. The brief ceremony took place at 2:38 p.m.
The Assassination
Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza.
Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The governor was also hit in the chest.
The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital just a few minutes away. But little could be done for the President. A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites, and at 1:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. Though seriously wounded, Governor Connally would recover.
The president's body was brought to Love Field and placed on Air Force One. Before the plane took off, a grim-faced Lyndon B. Johnson stood in the tight, crowded compartment and took the oath of office, administered by U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Hughes. The brief ceremony took place at 2:38 p.m.
Eugenia Jennings - a free woman after Obama's Commutation of her drug charges (effective 12/21/2011): Politico dot-com
COMMUTATION announced 11/20/2011 -- www.politico.com/ article:
Almost three years after taking office, President Barack Obama has issued his first commutation to a convict serving time in a federal prison.
The White House announced Monday that Obama commuted the nearly 22-year prison sentence of Eugenia Jennings, 34, a mother of three from Alton, Ill. who pled guilty in 2000 to selling 13.9 grams of crack cocaine to a police informant. She received the two-decades-plus prison term because she had two prior state drug sale convictions.
In testimony before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in 2009, Jennings's brother Cedric Parker said her sister was a drug addict, alcohol abuser and victim of sexual assault, who was trying to provide for her children. Parker also said Jennings, who is black, would have gotten half as much prison time if she was convicted of dealing in powdered cocaine rather than the crack form.
"Eugenia Jennings’s 22-year sentence for her nonviolent offense was overkill," Julie Stewart of Families Against Mandatory Minimums said in a statement Monday night. "Today, President Obama rights that wrong and we are grateful to him. We urge the President to continue exercising his clemency power and grant more commutations to the many deserving federal prisoners, like Eugenia, who have paid a hefty price for their mistakes and deserve a second chance.”
Obama ordered that Jennings be released Dec. 21.
Another advocate for greater presidential use of the clemency power, former Justice Department pardon Attorney Margaret Love, also welcomed the news of Obama's first commutation.
"I'm very pleased," Love said. "I hope that it is a sign he intends to look at the many other people in federal prisons serving very long crack sentences which his own administration has called unjust."
FAMM's statement said that the commutation for Jennings was backed by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and that Jennings is receiving treatment for cancer. She is currently at a federal prison medical facility in Fort Worth, Texas, according to the Bureau of Prisons web site.
It is unclear how, if at all, Jennings's illness affected Obama's decision to grant the commutation. White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said he could not comment on specific cases.
Love said the president's grant of a single commutation after 34 months in office was hard to interpret. "His exercise really does appear to be a bit random, like a lightning strike," she said.
Prior to the commutation, Jennings was due to be released in June 2019, the BOP site indicates. Long-term prisoners normally receive a reduction of about ten percent of their sentence for so-called "good time." Congress voted in 1984 to eliminate parole in the federal system.
Jennings had asked a federal judge to reduce her sentence after the federal sentencing commission changed the guidelines for cocaine offenses, but the judge ruled in 2009 that he had no authority to do so because she was sentenced as a "career offender" and there had been no reduction for that category.
Obama also issued five pardons on Monday, bringing to 22 the number he has issued since taking office. All have been to prisoners who had long since completed their sentences or who never served prison time to begin with.
"The President concluded that clemency was warranted for these individuals because they demonstrated genuine remorse for their crimes and remarkable rehabilitation into law-abiding, productive citizens and active members of their communities," Lehrich said of the five pardons and one commutation announced Monday.
Almost three years after taking office, President Barack Obama has issued his first commutation to a convict serving time in a federal prison.
The White House announced Monday that Obama commuted the nearly 22-year prison sentence of Eugenia Jennings, 34, a mother of three from Alton, Ill. who pled guilty in 2000 to selling 13.9 grams of crack cocaine to a police informant. She received the two-decades-plus prison term because she had two prior state drug sale convictions.
In testimony before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in 2009, Jennings's brother Cedric Parker said her sister was a drug addict, alcohol abuser and victim of sexual assault, who was trying to provide for her children. Parker also said Jennings, who is black, would have gotten half as much prison time if she was convicted of dealing in powdered cocaine rather than the crack form.
"Eugenia Jennings’s 22-year sentence for her nonviolent offense was overkill," Julie Stewart of Families Against Mandatory Minimums said in a statement Monday night. "Today, President Obama rights that wrong and we are grateful to him. We urge the President to continue exercising his clemency power and grant more commutations to the many deserving federal prisoners, like Eugenia, who have paid a hefty price for their mistakes and deserve a second chance.”
Obama ordered that Jennings be released Dec. 21.
Another advocate for greater presidential use of the clemency power, former Justice Department pardon Attorney Margaret Love, also welcomed the news of Obama's first commutation.
"I'm very pleased," Love said. "I hope that it is a sign he intends to look at the many other people in federal prisons serving very long crack sentences which his own administration has called unjust."
FAMM's statement said that the commutation for Jennings was backed by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and that Jennings is receiving treatment for cancer. She is currently at a federal prison medical facility in Fort Worth, Texas, according to the Bureau of Prisons web site.
It is unclear how, if at all, Jennings's illness affected Obama's decision to grant the commutation. White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said he could not comment on specific cases.
Love said the president's grant of a single commutation after 34 months in office was hard to interpret. "His exercise really does appear to be a bit random, like a lightning strike," she said.
Prior to the commutation, Jennings was due to be released in June 2019, the BOP site indicates. Long-term prisoners normally receive a reduction of about ten percent of their sentence for so-called "good time." Congress voted in 1984 to eliminate parole in the federal system.
Jennings had asked a federal judge to reduce her sentence after the federal sentencing commission changed the guidelines for cocaine offenses, but the judge ruled in 2009 that he had no authority to do so because she was sentenced as a "career offender" and there had been no reduction for that category.
Obama also issued five pardons on Monday, bringing to 22 the number he has issued since taking office. All have been to prisoners who had long since completed their sentences or who never served prison time to begin with.
"The President concluded that clemency was warranted for these individuals because they demonstrated genuine remorse for their crimes and remarkable rehabilitation into law-abiding, productive citizens and active members of their communities," Lehrich said of the five pardons and one commutation announced Monday.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Three months of SUPER COMMITTEE deliberations end in impasse -- no results (Cong. Roll Call article) - Nov. 21, 2011 - 6 p.m.
www.rollcall.com/issues/
Today was marked by an air of inevitability, as a handful of lawmakers of both parties appeared ready to deliver the super committee’s death knell on multiple Sunday morning talk shows. But as the clock wound down, other members of the super committee seemed compelled to live out the promise that they would work “until the stroke of midnight” to try to find a deal. The efforts were one part hope, two parts damage control for an impasse already being spun as the latest sign of Congressional dysfunction.
Late this morning, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) gathered a handful of Democrats and Republicans in his Senate office for an hours-long discussion of a last-ditch proposal. With dozens of reporters and camera crews outside, the panel’s three Senate Democrats, along with Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.) as well as Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), mulled over the Kerry “Hail Mary” plan.
A GOP aide briefed by lawmakers in the meeting said Republicans believed Kerry’s offer to be little more than a “reiteration” of previous Democratic proposals that used “weird gimmick[s]” to meet the target for cuts. The aide also noted that Kerry did not appear to have Democratic consensus behind the plan.
But a Democratic aide familiar with the talks rejected that characterization, arguing that Kerry had the support of his colleagues. Another Democratic source said that “Republicans are simply not budging” on the major issue of taxes.
The squabbles over how to characterize the final bipartisan meeting of a panel already on life support highlighted the fatal flaw in the group’s design: Democrats and Republicans never had a strong incentive to move off their respective positions on taxes and entitlements. With no imminent threat of shutdown or default, Democrats refused another bargain to extend Bush-era tax cuts, and Republicans were free to continue pushing for structural reform in entitlement programs while offering only modest concessions on taxes. The super committee, it seems, was destined to deadlock like every other deficit panel before it, from the Biden group to President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to the Senate “gang of six.”
Meanwhile, at the White House, Press Secretary Jay Carney defended Obama’s participation — or lack thereof — in the talks, while also blaming failure on Republican intransigence on taxes. Carney danced around numerous questions today about whether the president should have been more engaged, alternately denying Obama was detached and explaining that, by design, the committee didn’t have a seat at the table for the administration.
Carney also noted that the White House had proposed its own plan in September and that Obama called Hensarling and Murray before beginning his trip to Asia late last week to encourage them to reach agreement.
Moreover, the fallback position of the $1.2 trillion trigger was agreed upon among the president, Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in August. So regardless of whether the president was intimately involved in talks throughout the fall, he had a significant hand in the deficit reduction outcome, should it stand.
On that note, Carney emphasized that Congress still has 13 months to reach a balanced deficit reduction deal to replace the sequester, but he warned again that the White House does not support nixing the $1.2 trillion in spending cuts without an alternative that forces the wealthy to pay more.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_63/Super_Committee_Deadlock_Deficit_Reduction-210506-1.html?pos=hftxt
online version of article by Meredith Shiner and John Stanton
Roll Call Staff
Today was marked by an air of inevitability, as a handful of lawmakers of both parties appeared ready to deliver the super committee’s death knell on multiple Sunday morning talk shows. But as the clock wound down, other members of the super committee seemed compelled to live out the promise that they would work “until the stroke of midnight” to try to find a deal. The efforts were one part hope, two parts damage control for an impasse already being spun as the latest sign of Congressional dysfunction.
Late this morning, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) gathered a handful of Democrats and Republicans in his Senate office for an hours-long discussion of a last-ditch proposal. With dozens of reporters and camera crews outside, the panel’s three Senate Democrats, along with Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.) as well as Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), mulled over the Kerry “Hail Mary” plan.
A GOP aide briefed by lawmakers in the meeting said Republicans believed Kerry’s offer to be little more than a “reiteration” of previous Democratic proposals that used “weird gimmick[s]” to meet the target for cuts. The aide also noted that Kerry did not appear to have Democratic consensus behind the plan.
But a Democratic aide familiar with the talks rejected that characterization, arguing that Kerry had the support of his colleagues. Another Democratic source said that “Republicans are simply not budging” on the major issue of taxes.
The squabbles over how to characterize the final bipartisan meeting of a panel already on life support highlighted the fatal flaw in the group’s design: Democrats and Republicans never had a strong incentive to move off their respective positions on taxes and entitlements. With no imminent threat of shutdown or default, Democrats refused another bargain to extend Bush-era tax cuts, and Republicans were free to continue pushing for structural reform in entitlement programs while offering only modest concessions on taxes. The super committee, it seems, was destined to deadlock like every other deficit panel before it, from the Biden group to President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to the Senate “gang of six.”
Meanwhile, at the White House, Press Secretary Jay Carney defended Obama’s participation — or lack thereof — in the talks, while also blaming failure on Republican intransigence on taxes. Carney danced around numerous questions today about whether the president should have been more engaged, alternately denying Obama was detached and explaining that, by design, the committee didn’t have a seat at the table for the administration.
Carney also noted that the White House had proposed its own plan in September and that Obama called Hensarling and Murray before beginning his trip to Asia late last week to encourage them to reach agreement.
Moreover, the fallback position of the $1.2 trillion trigger was agreed upon among the president, Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in August. So regardless of whether the president was intimately involved in talks throughout the fall, he had a significant hand in the deficit reduction outcome, should it stand.
On that note, Carney emphasized that Congress still has 13 months to reach a balanced deficit reduction deal to replace the sequester, but he warned again that the White House does not support nixing the $1.2 trillion in spending cuts without an alternative that forces the wealthy to pay more.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_63/Super_Committee_Deadlock_Deficit_Reduction-210506-1.html?pos=hftxt
online version of article by Meredith Shiner and John Stanton
Thanksgiving Proclamation - White House website - President Obama for 2011
A PROCLAMATION
One of our Nation's oldest and most cherished traditions, Thanksgiving Day brings us closer to our loved ones and invites us to reflect on the blessings that enrich our lives. The observance recalls the celebration of an autumn harvest centuries ago, when the Wampanoag tribe joined the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony to share in the fruits of a bountiful season. The feast honored the Wampanoag for generously extending their knowledge of local game and agriculture to the Pilgrims, and today we renew our gratitude to all American Indians and Alaska Natives. We take this time to remember the ways that the First Americans have enriched our Nation's heritage, from their generosity centuries ago to the everyday contributions they make to all facets of American life. As we come together with friends, family, and neighbors to celebrate, let us set aside our daily concerns and give thanks for the providence bestowed upon us.Though our traditions have evolved, the spirit of grace and humility at the heart of Thanksgiving has persisted through every chapter of our story. When President George Washington proclaimed our country's first Thanksgiving, he praised a generous and knowing God for shepherding our young Republic through its uncertain beginnings. Decades later, President Abraham Lincoln looked to the divine to protect those who had known the worst of civil war, and to restore the Nation "to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union."
In times of adversity and times of plenty, we have lifted our hearts by giving humble thanks for the blessings we have received and for those who bring meaning to our lives. Today, let us offer gratitude to our men and women in uniform for their many sacrifices, and keep in our thoughts the families who save an empty seat at the table for a loved one stationed in harm's way. And as members of our American family make do with less, let us rededicate ourselves to our friends and fellow citizens in need of a helping hand.
As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives. Let us pause to recount the simple gifts that sustain us, and resolve to pay them forward in the year to come.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 24, 2011, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage the people of the United States to come together whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors to give thanks for all we have received in the past year, to express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and to share our bounty with others.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
"Buy American" -- radio message from President Obama -- Nov. 19, 2011
Bali, Indonesia
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Today, I’m speaking to you from Indonesia as I finish up my trip to the Asia Pacific – the region where we do most of our trade and sell most of our exports. And over the past week, the progress we’ve made in opening markets and boosting exports here will help create more jobs and more growth in the United States.
Here in Indonesia, I was proud to join leaders from some of our nation’s top companies as they announced trade deals that will support nearly 130,000 American jobs and potentially increase U.S. exports by up to $39 billion. Boeing, for example, will sell more than 200 planes to Indonesia that are built with parts from suppliers in more than 40 states. And a deal to export GE engines will support jobs at plants in Ohio and North Carolina.
These agreements will help us reach my goal of doubling American exports by 2014 – a goal we’re on pace to meet. And they’re powerful examples of how we can rebuild an economy that’s focused on what our country has always done best – making and selling products all over the world that are stamped with three proud words: “Made In America.”
This is important, because over the last decade, we became a country that relied too much on what we bought and consumed. We racked up a lot of debt, but we didn’t create many jobs at all.
If we want an economy that’s built to last and built to compete, we have to change that. We have to restore America’s manufacturing might, which is what helped us build the largest middle-class in history. That’s why we chose to pull the auto industry back from the brink, saving hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. And that’s why we’re investing in the next generation of high-tech, American manufacturing.
But building an economy that lasts isn’t just about making things – it’s about opening new markets for people to buy them. After all, 95% of the world’s consumers live outside our borders. And as the fastest-growing region in the world, no market is more important to our economic future than the Asia Pacific – a region where our exports already support five million American jobs.
This is why we recently signed a landmark trade agreement with South Korea that will support tens of thousands of American jobs. And it’s why I traveled here this week. In Hawaii, I hosted leaders from across the Asia Pacific, and we agreed to make it easier for American companies to do business overseas. I also worked with President Medvedev of Russia to pursue trade that would increase exports and jobs for American manufacturers and farmers. And working with other leaders, we made progress toward our most ambitious trade agreement yet – a partnership with Pacific nations that holds the potential for more exports and more jobs in a region of nearly three billion consumers.
We may be going through tough times, but as I’ve said time and time again, the United States still has the world’s most dynamic economy, the finest universities, the most innovative companies, and the hardest-working people on Earth. We can compete against anybody – and we can win. As President, I intend to make sure that happens by doing everything I can to give American workers and businesses the chance to succeed.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Today, I’m speaking to you from Indonesia as I finish up my trip to the Asia Pacific – the region where we do most of our trade and sell most of our exports. And over the past week, the progress we’ve made in opening markets and boosting exports here will help create more jobs and more growth in the United States.
Here in Indonesia, I was proud to join leaders from some of our nation’s top companies as they announced trade deals that will support nearly 130,000 American jobs and potentially increase U.S. exports by up to $39 billion. Boeing, for example, will sell more than 200 planes to Indonesia that are built with parts from suppliers in more than 40 states. And a deal to export GE engines will support jobs at plants in Ohio and North Carolina.
These agreements will help us reach my goal of doubling American exports by 2014 – a goal we’re on pace to meet. And they’re powerful examples of how we can rebuild an economy that’s focused on what our country has always done best – making and selling products all over the world that are stamped with three proud words: “Made In America.”
This is important, because over the last decade, we became a country that relied too much on what we bought and consumed. We racked up a lot of debt, but we didn’t create many jobs at all.
If we want an economy that’s built to last and built to compete, we have to change that. We have to restore America’s manufacturing might, which is what helped us build the largest middle-class in history. That’s why we chose to pull the auto industry back from the brink, saving hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. And that’s why we’re investing in the next generation of high-tech, American manufacturing.
But building an economy that lasts isn’t just about making things – it’s about opening new markets for people to buy them. After all, 95% of the world’s consumers live outside our borders. And as the fastest-growing region in the world, no market is more important to our economic future than the Asia Pacific – a region where our exports already support five million American jobs.
This is why we recently signed a landmark trade agreement with South Korea that will support tens of thousands of American jobs. And it’s why I traveled here this week. In Hawaii, I hosted leaders from across the Asia Pacific, and we agreed to make it easier for American companies to do business overseas. I also worked with President Medvedev of Russia to pursue trade that would increase exports and jobs for American manufacturers and farmers. And working with other leaders, we made progress toward our most ambitious trade agreement yet – a partnership with Pacific nations that holds the potential for more exports and more jobs in a region of nearly three billion consumers.
We may be going through tough times, but as I’ve said time and time again, the United States still has the world’s most dynamic economy, the finest universities, the most innovative companies, and the hardest-working people on Earth. We can compete against anybody – and we can win. As President, I intend to make sure that happens by doing everything I can to give American workers and businesses the chance to succeed.
Nov. 19, 1863: Address given on this date at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor, National Public Media - Minnesota Public Radio):
On November 19 in 1863, Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was four and a half months after the devastating battle, and it was a foggy, cold morning. Lincoln arrived about 10 a.m. Around noon, the sun came out as the crowds gathered on a hill overlooking the battlefield. A military band played, a local preacher offered a long prayer, and the headlining orator, Edward Everett, spoke for more than two hours. Everett described the Battle of Gettysburg in great detail, and he brought the audience to tears more than once. When Everett finished, Lincoln spoke.
Now considered one of the greatest speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address ran for just over two minutes, fewer than 300 words, and only 10 sentences. It was so brief, in fact, that many of the 15,000 people that attended the ceremony didn't even realize that the president had spoken, because a photographer setting up his camera had momentarily distracted them. The next day, Everett told Lincoln, "I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."
There are several versions of the speech, and five different manuscript copies; they're all slightly different, so there's some argument about which is the "authentic" version. Lincoln gave copies to both of his private secretaries, and the other three versions were re-written by the president some time after he made the speech. The Bliss Copy, named for Colonel Alexander Bliss, is the only copy that was signed and dated by Lincoln, and it's generally accepted as the official version for that reason. The Bliss text, below, is inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial:
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
On November 19 in 1863, Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was four and a half months after the devastating battle, and it was a foggy, cold morning. Lincoln arrived about 10 a.m. Around noon, the sun came out as the crowds gathered on a hill overlooking the battlefield. A military band played, a local preacher offered a long prayer, and the headlining orator, Edward Everett, spoke for more than two hours. Everett described the Battle of Gettysburg in great detail, and he brought the audience to tears more than once. When Everett finished, Lincoln spoke.
Now considered one of the greatest speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address ran for just over two minutes, fewer than 300 words, and only 10 sentences. It was so brief, in fact, that many of the 15,000 people that attended the ceremony didn't even realize that the president had spoken, because a photographer setting up his camera had momentarily distracted them. The next day, Everett told Lincoln, "I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."
There are several versions of the speech, and five different manuscript copies; they're all slightly different, so there's some argument about which is the "authentic" version. Lincoln gave copies to both of his private secretaries, and the other three versions were re-written by the president some time after he made the speech. The Bliss Copy, named for Colonel Alexander Bliss, is the only copy that was signed and dated by Lincoln, and it's generally accepted as the official version for that reason. The Bliss text, below, is inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial:
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Friday, November 18, 2011
Happy 72nd Birthday -- novelist & poet Margaret Atwood
from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor, National Public Media - Minnesota Public Radio):
Today (November 18) is the birthday of Canadian novelist and poet Margaret Atwood (1939), born in Ottawa, Ontario. Her father was an entomologist, and she spent a good deal of her childhood out in the woods with him as he did field work. The family moved frequently, from Ottawa to northern Quebec to Toronto, and Atwood was 11 before she attended a full year of school. She read a lot as a child, but didn't dream of becoming a writer at first; her earliest career aspirations were to the visual arts. "All writers, I suspect -- and probably all people -- have parallel lives, what they would have been if they hadn't turned into what they are," she told The Paris Review in 1990. "I have several of these, and one is certainly a life as a painter. When I was 10, I thought I would be one; by the time I was 12, I had changed that to dress designer, and then reality took over and I confined myself to doodles in the margins of my textbooks." She began writing poetry in high school, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe; by the time she was 16, she knew she wanted to be a writer.
Her novels, like The Handmaid's Tale (1983) and Cat's Eye (1988), frequently question or criticize social institutions. "I grew up in the woods outside of any social structures apart from those of my family. So I didn't absorb social structures through my skin the way many children do. If you grow up in a small town you instinctively know who is who and what is what and whom you can safely be contemptuous of."
Today (November 18) is the birthday of Canadian novelist and poet Margaret Atwood (1939), born in Ottawa, Ontario. Her father was an entomologist, and she spent a good deal of her childhood out in the woods with him as he did field work. The family moved frequently, from Ottawa to northern Quebec to Toronto, and Atwood was 11 before she attended a full year of school. She read a lot as a child, but didn't dream of becoming a writer at first; her earliest career aspirations were to the visual arts. "All writers, I suspect -- and probably all people -- have parallel lives, what they would have been if they hadn't turned into what they are," she told The Paris Review in 1990. "I have several of these, and one is certainly a life as a painter. When I was 10, I thought I would be one; by the time I was 12, I had changed that to dress designer, and then reality took over and I confined myself to doodles in the margins of my textbooks." She began writing poetry in high school, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe; by the time she was 16, she knew she wanted to be a writer.
Her novels, like The Handmaid's Tale (1983) and Cat's Eye (1988), frequently question or criticize social institutions. "I grew up in the woods outside of any social structures apart from those of my family. So I didn't absorb social structures through my skin the way many children do. If you grow up in a small town you instinctively know who is who and what is what and whom you can safely be contemptuous of."
Turkey Run (Nov. 24, 2011) sponsored by NILES-BUCHANAN YMCA
Benefits the YMCA Financial Assistance Fund (local budget):
Are you one of those people that likes to put off training until the last minute? If so you better get moving because our Thanksgiving Day Run is less than one week away! Every Thanksgiving, hundreds of runners have gathered in Niles to run in our annual Thanksgiving Day Run in support of the Y's financial assistance fund.
Now's the time to set that personal goal by registering. Read more to download our race registration form.
You, your family and friends are invited to participate in one of our four great races. Our 10K/5K races, 5K Walk and 1 mile fun run/walk are open to you and the entire family. Add a whole infield of entertainment and you have a Thanksgiving tradition that appeals to every generation while raising money for a critical social service in our community.
The races will be held on Thursday, November 24, 2011 9:00 a.m.
Niles, Michigan 49120
www.n-bymca.org/
Are you one of those people that likes to put off training until the last minute? If so you better get moving because our Thanksgiving Day Run is less than one week away! Every Thanksgiving, hundreds of runners have gathered in Niles to run in our annual Thanksgiving Day Run in support of the Y's financial assistance fund.
Now's the time to set that personal goal by registering. Read more to download our race registration form.
You, your family and friends are invited to participate in one of our four great races. Our 10K/5K races, 5K Walk and 1 mile fun run/walk are open to you and the entire family. Add a whole infield of entertainment and you have a Thanksgiving tradition that appeals to every generation while raising money for a critical social service in our community.
The races will be held on Thursday, November 24, 2011 9:00 a.m.
Niles-Buchanan YMCA
905 North Front StreetNiles, Michigan 49120
www.n-bymca.org/
Brad Cooper (Joining Forces) - Holiday Mail for Heroes (service personnel in Iraq & Afghanistan) 2011
from White House blog -- supporting the troops and families (Joining Forces):
On November 3, I attended a moving kickoff event for the Holiday Mail for Heroes program run by the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes. This program now in its fifth year encourages all of us to send a holiday card to a service member this season. Making a card is a simple act of kindness that means the world to our soldiers and their families.
In the Hall of the historic American Red Cross headquarters, I heard from several current and former members of the military who spoke poignantly about what it meant to receive a touch of home during the holiday season. I was inspired to sign my own card and now want to make sure to let the American people know how they can participate in the program, too.
If you'd like to make a hero feel special this holiday season, please consider sending a card to
Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
All cards must be postmarked no later than Friday, December 9.
If you'd like to help us spread the word about this program, or to find tips for getting your friends, church members, scout troops, and family together to make and send cards together, the American Red Cross encourages you to visit their blog. Over the last four years, millions of cards have been sent to support our services members. By joining forces, our military will continue to get the support we all want them to feel this holiday season and throughout the year.
Brad Cooper is the Executive Director of Joining Forces
On November 3, I attended a moving kickoff event for the Holiday Mail for Heroes program run by the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes. This program now in its fifth year encourages all of us to send a holiday card to a service member this season. Making a card is a simple act of kindness that means the world to our soldiers and their families.
In the Hall of the historic American Red Cross headquarters, I heard from several current and former members of the military who spoke poignantly about what it meant to receive a touch of home during the holiday season. I was inspired to sign my own card and now want to make sure to let the American people know how they can participate in the program, too.
If you'd like to make a hero feel special this holiday season, please consider sending a card to
Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
All cards must be postmarked no later than Friday, December 9.
If you'd like to help us spread the word about this program, or to find tips for getting your friends, church members, scout troops, and family together to make and send cards together, the American Red Cross encourages you to visit their blog. Over the last four years, millions of cards have been sent to support our services members. By joining forces, our military will continue to get the support we all want them to feel this holiday season and throughout the year.
Brad Cooper is the Executive Director of Joining Forces
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Former U.S. Speaker of the House mocks Presidential wannabe Rick Perry (D - Gov. of Texas) -- she has three reasons not to debate him during his Washington, DC appearance
Nancy Pelosi rebuffed Rick Perry's debate challenge this morning (Thursday Nov. 17, 2011), POLITICO's Jake Sherman reports, giving three reasons for her decision:
"He did ask if I could debate here in Washington on Monday. It is my understanding that such a letter has come in," Pelosi said in the Capitol Thursday. "Monday I'm going to be in Portland in the morning, I'm going to be visiting some of our labs. I'm in California in the afternoon, that's two. I can't remember what the third is."www.politico.com/
National Historic Site (20th President) to sponsor annual Hike -- near Cleveland, Ohio
from http:// thehiramcollege dot-net NEWS:
- Saturday, Nov. 19: The James A. Garfield National Historic Site is sponsoring its annual Garfield Hike from the former president’s birth place to his resting place. Participants have two options: The 12.5 mile hike begins at 8 a.m. at the Garfield birthplace in Moreland Hills (2350 SOM Center Road), continues to the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes (2600 South Park Blvd., Shaker Heights), and ends at the Garfield Monument at Lake View Cemetery (12316 Euclid Ave., Cleveland). The 2.5 mile hike begins at Shaker Lakes at 12:15. The Wreath Laying Ceremony will take place at the Garfield tomb at 1:30 p.m. at the end of the hike. Hike registration is $5.
- http://thehiramcollege.net/news/?p=11609
Destiny of the Republic: Author memorializes James Garfield -- Nov. 16 at Hiram College, Ohio
from College news -- Hiram dot-edu:
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President shines a spotlight on former U.S. and Hiram College President James A. Garfield.
The book’s author Candice Millard will speak at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16, in Dix Dining Hall of the Kennedy Center. The event is sponsored by the Center for Engaged Ethics, and part of the College’s recognition of the 180th anniversary of Garfield’s birth (Nov. 19).
This fall, Destiny of the Republic has garnered national attention, being named a New York Times Best Seller and one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2011. In it, Millard chronicles Garfield’s emergence from poverty into a scholar, Civil War hero, congressman, and eventually, President of the United States, begging the question what kind of president he could have been, had his life not been cut short.
Garfield was shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau just months into his presidency, but the shot wasn’t what killed him. Destiny of the Republic brings to light the story of what happened between the day he was shot – July 2, 1881 – to the day he died 80 days later on Sept. 19 of that year.
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President shines a spotlight on former U.S. and Hiram College President James A. Garfield.
The book’s author Candice Millard will speak at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16, in Dix Dining Hall of the Kennedy Center. The event is sponsored by the Center for Engaged Ethics, and part of the College’s recognition of the 180th anniversary of Garfield’s birth (Nov. 19).
This fall, Destiny of the Republic has garnered national attention, being named a New York Times Best Seller and one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2011. In it, Millard chronicles Garfield’s emergence from poverty into a scholar, Civil War hero, congressman, and eventually, President of the United States, begging the question what kind of president he could have been, had his life not been cut short.
Garfield was shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau just months into his presidency, but the shot wasn’t what killed him. Destiny of the Republic brings to light the story of what happened between the day he was shot – July 2, 1881 – to the day he died 80 days later on Sept. 19 of that year.
Eleventh instance of U.S. Speaker of the House weeping profusely in public appearances
from POLITICO dot-com / Blogs /
House Speaker John Boehner couldn’t keep it together when presenting a Congressional Gold Medal to astronaut Neil Armstrong on Wednesday November 16, 2011. C-SPAN video shows Boehner getting choked up after he handed Armstrong the award.
It’s one of many times that Boehner has gotten emotional in public. Here’s our ongoing list of what has made him cry:
When: Sept. 2011. What caused it: Introducing two newly elected GOP congressmen
When: June 2011. What caused it: Giving a commencement speech.
When: April 2011. What caused it: Thanking Republicans for their support through budget negotiations.
When: Jan. 2011. What caused it: Taking the speaker’s gavel.
When: Dec. 2010. What caused it: Talking about schools and his wife on “60 Minutes.”
When: Nov. 2010. What caused it: Election night.
When: May 2010. What caused it: Talking about his 11 brothers and sisters.
When: June 2009. What caused it: The singing of "America the Beautiful."
When: Sept. 2008. What caused it: Talking about Americans suffering economically.
When: Feb. 2007. What caused it: Talking about the security of the American people.
House Speaker John Boehner couldn’t keep it together when presenting a Congressional Gold Medal to astronaut Neil Armstrong on Wednesday November 16, 2011. C-SPAN video shows Boehner getting choked up after he handed Armstrong the award.
It’s one of many times that Boehner has gotten emotional in public. Here’s our ongoing list of what has made him cry:
When: Sept. 2011. What caused it: Introducing two newly elected GOP congressmen
When: June 2011. What caused it: Giving a commencement speech.
When: April 2011. What caused it: Thanking Republicans for their support through budget negotiations.
When: Jan. 2011. What caused it: Taking the speaker’s gavel.
When: Dec. 2010. What caused it: Talking about schools and his wife on “60 Minutes.”
When: Nov. 2010. What caused it: Election night.
When: May 2010. What caused it: Talking about his 11 brothers and sisters.
When: June 2009. What caused it: The singing of "America the Beautiful."
When: Sept. 2008. What caused it: Talking about Americans suffering economically.
When: Feb. 2007. What caused it: Talking about the security of the American people.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
NASA Apollo 11 crew & Astronaut John Glenn honored by Congressional Leaders in D.C.
www.space.com/ article excerpt (Nov. 16, 2011):
The first American astronaut to orbit the Earth and the crew of the first moon landing were bestowed by Congress with its highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, during a ceremony held in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday (Nov. 16).
Mercury astronaut John Glenn and Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins accepted the medals from Speaker of the House John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
Good Examples of THANKSGIVING -- elements of Native American contributions (USA TODAY food article)
from YOUR LIFE . USA TODAY dot-com (Nov. 16, 2011):
. . .In honor of the Native American tribes that live nearby, chef and culinary anthropologist Lois Ellen Frank will incorporate turkey feathers into her Thanksgiving feast. "We're trying to complete the circle and use every part of the bird, instead of just the meat," says Frank, who also runs Red Mesa Cuisine, a catering company that specializes in Native American-sourced foods of the Southwest.
. . .In honor of the Native American tribes that live nearby, chef and culinary anthropologist Lois Ellen Frank will incorporate turkey feathers into her Thanksgiving feast. "We're trying to complete the circle and use every part of the bird, instead of just the meat," says Frank, who also runs Red Mesa Cuisine, a catering company that specializes in Native American-sourced foods of the Southwest.
The local foods and cooking traditions will permeate Frank's entire meal. There's the corn pumpkin soup, a yet-to-be-determined wild-rice dish — a crop that's indigenous to the region — and a bread made with locally adored blue-corn flour.
Frank's clay pots also have significance in the area, because they are traditional Native American cooking vessels. And they make the food taste (and smell) great. "Between the earthiness from the clay and my freshly baked blue-corn bread," she says, "it's sensory overload."
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Astronaut Dan Burbank & Cosmonauts to dock Nov. 15, 11:30 p.m. at I.S.S.
from details of story posted at NASA dot-gov website:
NASA astronaut Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin launched to the International Space Station at 11:14 p.m. EST Sunday (10:14 a.m. Kazakhstan time, Monday) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin are scheduled to dock their Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft with their new home at 11:33 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, and join Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum of NASA and Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov. Fossum will hand over command of the station to the new crew within four days.
On Tuesday, coverage of the Soyuz docking will begin on NASA Television at 11 p.m. NASA TV coverage of the hatches opening and the welcoming ceremony aboard the orbiting laboratory will begin at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov launched in June and are scheduled to return to Earth in their Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft at 8:24 p.m. Nov. 21 (8:24 a.m. Kazakhstan time on Nov. 22). Expedition 30 begins when the current crew undocks, leaving Burbank in command. A formal change of command ceremony is planned for Nov. 20 and will be aired on NASA TV during a video file Nov. 21 at 8 a.m.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/nov/HQ_11-381_Expedition_29_launch.html
NASA astronaut Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin launched to the International Space Station at 11:14 p.m. EST Sunday (10:14 a.m. Kazakhstan time, Monday) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin are scheduled to dock their Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft with their new home at 11:33 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, and join Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum of NASA and Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov. Fossum will hand over command of the station to the new crew within four days.
On Tuesday, coverage of the Soyuz docking will begin on NASA Television at 11 p.m. NASA TV coverage of the hatches opening and the welcoming ceremony aboard the orbiting laboratory will begin at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov launched in June and are scheduled to return to Earth in their Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft at 8:24 p.m. Nov. 21 (8:24 a.m. Kazakhstan time on Nov. 22). Expedition 30 begins when the current crew undocks, leaving Burbank in command. A formal change of command ceremony is planned for Nov. 20 and will be aired on NASA TV during a video file Nov. 21 at 8 a.m.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/nov/HQ_11-381_Expedition_29_launch.html
Monday, November 14, 2011
Gov. Snyder calls for "Michigan Version 3.0" (Michigan Emerging Conference 2012)
Gov. Rick Snyder wants to upgrade Michigan to its 3.0 version.
“We were the entrepreneurial and innovation capital of the world,” he said in a keynote address at the 2012 Michigan Emerging business conference at Cobo Hall in Detroit. “It goes beyond anything Silicon Valley is today.
“The challenge became we were too successful in many respects. We built these huge companies and we somewhat became complacent about it.
“We’ve gone downhill probably for the last 40 or 50 years because of the great success we had.”
The former Gateway executive said Michigan’s two previous editions -- primarily led by natural resources such as fur, mining and timber in the 1800s, then the automotive, cereal and chemical industries in the 1900s or so -- were founded on the belief of entrepreneurship.
Snyder laid out five important things that will upgrade Detroit to its newest version: Technology, talent, capital, infrastructure and culture.
“My call to action to you, in addition to succeeding at your entrepreneurial efforts, is to help change our culture,” he said. “Get to a culture that is positive, that’s forward looking, that’s inclusive.
“It’s about Michiganders winning together,” he continued. That’s the spirit that made Michigan 1.0 and Michigan 2.0.”
The https://twitter.com/#!/onetoughnerdalso added that legal immigration is a good thing to drive business innovation, and tax incentives are not the way to build business.
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/11/snyder_time_to_create_michigan.html
“We were the entrepreneurial and innovation capital of the world,” he said in a keynote address at the 2012 Michigan Emerging business conference at Cobo Hall in Detroit. “It goes beyond anything Silicon Valley is today.
“The challenge became we were too successful in many respects. We built these huge companies and we somewhat became complacent about it.
“We’ve gone downhill probably for the last 40 or 50 years because of the great success we had.”
The former Gateway executive said Michigan’s two previous editions -- primarily led by natural resources such as fur, mining and timber in the 1800s, then the automotive, cereal and chemical industries in the 1900s or so -- were founded on the belief of entrepreneurship.
Snyder laid out five important things that will upgrade Detroit to its newest version: Technology, talent, capital, infrastructure and culture.
“My call to action to you, in addition to succeeding at your entrepreneurial efforts, is to help change our culture,” he said. “Get to a culture that is positive, that’s forward looking, that’s inclusive.
“It’s about Michiganders winning together,” he continued. That’s the spirit that made Michigan 1.0 and Michigan 2.0.”
The https://twitter.com/#!/onetoughnerdalso added that legal immigration is a good thing to drive business innovation, and tax incentives are not the way to build business.
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/11/snyder_time_to_create_michigan.html
Free $1 Presidential Coins (James Garfield) to be given away at Mentor, OH (birthplace of President G.)
from http:// the hiramcollege.net - NEWS:
- Thursday, Nov. 17: The James A. Garfield Presidential $1 coin will be unveiled at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site at 8095 Mentor Ave. in Mentor, Ohio. The ceremony runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will feature a keynote speech by Allan Peskin, professor of history (emeritus) at Cleveland State University and the author of Garfield, the definitive biography of the man. The first 500 children in attendance will receive a free $1 Garfield coin and the Cardinal Community Credit Union of Mentor will be on hand to exchange cash for the coins. The Garfield coin unveiling is part of the U.S. Mint’s gradual release of a $1 coin for each of the nation’s presidents.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Born on this date in A.D. 354 (St. Augustine of Hippo) - birth and upbringing (U. Michigan Great Books Chronology)
354 — Born November 13 in Thagaste in the province of Numidia in North Africa (today Souk Ahras in Algeria), Aurelius Augustinus was the son of a pagan father, Patricius, and a Berber Christian mother, Monica. The family, which included two brothers and a sister, was respectable but somewhat impoverished.
354-365 — The infancy and early schooling of Augustine. Determined to secure a future for his intelligent son, Patricius made great financial sacrifices to see that Augustine received a classical Latin education in the local school. Augustine delighted in Latin literature, but he detested the brutally enforced rote learning of arithmetic and Greek.
GREAT BOOKS 202
354-365 — The infancy and early schooling of Augustine. Determined to secure a future for his intelligent son, Patricius made great financial sacrifices to see that Augustine received a classical Latin education in the local school. Augustine delighted in Latin literature, but he detested the brutally enforced rote learning of arithmetic and Greek.
GREAT BOOKS 202
Chronology of the Life of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (A.D. 354-430)
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rdwallin/syl/GreatBooks/202.W99/Augustine/AugustineChron.htmlCandidates for nomination (2012) spar over "Torture definition" and "Waterboarding" of detained suspects
from the Nov. 12 CBS News & National Journal sponsored TV broadcast debate from Wofford College, South Carolina (8 - 9 p.m. Eastern )
Cain, along with Michele Bachmann, said he supports the use of waterboarding, which Cain said isn't torture but an "enhanced interrogation technique." Paul disagreed, saying "waterboarding is torture" and "torture is illegal" under both U.S. and international law as well as "immoral." Jon Huntsman sided with Paul, saying waterboarding is torture and the U.S. abdicates its values by engaging in it.
from longer story -- http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57323686-503544/romney-gingrich-at-gop-debate-wed-go-to-war-to-keep-iran-from-getting-nuclear-weapons/?tag=pop;stories
Cain, along with Michele Bachmann, said he supports the use of waterboarding, which Cain said isn't torture but an "enhanced interrogation technique." Paul disagreed, saying "waterboarding is torture" and "torture is illegal" under both U.S. and international law as well as "immoral." Jon Huntsman sided with Paul, saying waterboarding is torture and the U.S. abdicates its values by engaging in it.
from longer story -- http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57323686-503544/romney-gingrich-at-gop-debate-wed-go-to-war-to-keep-iran-from-getting-nuclear-weapons/?tag=pop;stories
Sunday Nov. 13 (11:14 a.m.) - New Astronaut crew - engineers to launch aboard Soyuz spacecraft
A new trio of International Space Station residents, Expedition 29 Flight Engineers Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, are set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:14 p.m. EST Sunday (11:14 a.m. Baikonur time Monday) aboard the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft.
In preparation for Sunday’s launch, the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft is scheduled to roll out to the launch pad Friday morning. The rollout will not be seen live on NASA TV. Video of the rollout will be played on NASA TV at 12 p.m. Friday. Photos of the rollout will be posted on http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/ when they become available.
Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin will join Expedition 29 crewmates Commander Mike Fossum and Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov when their spacecraft docks to the Poisk mini-research module at 12:33 a.m. Wednesday.
Five days later Expedition 29 will end when Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov return home inside the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft. The trio is scheduled to undock from the Rassvet mini-research module Nov. 21 and land in Kazakhstan at 9:25 p.m. Expedition 30 will officially begin when the Soyuz TMA-02M undocks. Burbank will take over station command in a ceremony scheduled to take place on Nov. 20.
Aboard the orbiting International Space Station Thursday, Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov continued preparations for their upcoming departure, gathering and packing gear for return to Earth inside the departing Soyuz spacecraft. They also performed a series of leak checks on their Sokol launch and entry suits.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/living/index.html
In preparation for Sunday’s launch, the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft is scheduled to roll out to the launch pad Friday morning. The rollout will not be seen live on NASA TV. Video of the rollout will be played on NASA TV at 12 p.m. Friday. Photos of the rollout will be posted on http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/ when they become available.
Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin will join Expedition 29 crewmates Commander Mike Fossum and Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov when their spacecraft docks to the Poisk mini-research module at 12:33 a.m. Wednesday.
Five days later Expedition 29 will end when Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov return home inside the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft. The trio is scheduled to undock from the Rassvet mini-research module Nov. 21 and land in Kazakhstan at 9:25 p.m. Expedition 30 will officially begin when the Soyuz TMA-02M undocks. Burbank will take over station command in a ceremony scheduled to take place on Nov. 20.
Aboard the orbiting International Space Station Thursday, Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov continued preparations for their upcoming departure, gathering and packing gear for return to Earth inside the departing Soyuz spacecraft. They also performed a series of leak checks on their Sokol launch and entry suits.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/living/index.html
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Pizza and Potatoes in the School Lunch Program (how will Congress "count" the vegetables?) - Politico Posted article (11/12)
HOW Will POTATOES & PIZZA be counted ? Does it matter that Schwan's and ConAgra are lobbying for their "count" as far as Vegetables in Nutrition minimums? (Nov. 12 online details: Politico dot-com)
The white potato loophole in new dietary rules for school lunches just got bigger – about the size of a slice of pizza.
That’s the latest from the green vegetable front as the Food and Nutrition Service tries to stay on track with its proposal, while also coping with major corporations piling on behind the House and Senate Appropriations committees that govern the Agriculture Department’s budget.
The potato and French-fry industry scored the first breakthrough last month when the Senate adopted an amendment that voided the proposed FNS limits on starchy vegetables. Now negotiations with the House have expanded to help pizza makers preserve their claim that tomato paste packs a much outsized wallop as a vegetable.
The precise legislation isn’t expected to be made public until late Monday, but the outlines were confirmed to POLITICO by two persons familiar with the draft conference report, which reflects the strong influence of ConAgra Foods and the Schwan Food Company, both of which sell pizza served in the school lunch program.
Barring a major reversal, the provision will become law as part of a compromise spending bill that Congress hopes to send to the White House within a week and which includes an estimated $19.6 billion for the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration.
House Republicans have agreed to restore billions previously cut from President Barack Obama’s budget request, including funds for child nutrition programs and food aid overseas. But as part of the horse trading, the Senate’s potato amendment opened the door for lobbyists seeking additional changes in the nutrition rules.
The added provisions touch broadly on new whole grain and reduced sodium content standards in the rules – all relevant to pizza. But the most immediate issue is how much credit should be given to the tomato paste on a typical pizza slice.
Currently, pizza enjoys a one-to-four multiplier, allowing one slice – with two tablespoons of tomato paste – to be counted as eight tablespoons or half a cup of vegetables, the equivalent of one serving on school menus.
The new proposal seeks to apply a stricter volume standard and thereby take away a valuable marketing tool for companies like Schwan, which boasts of its improved pizza products for school meals.
“Basically Congress is fighting to keep pizza and French fries on the school menus when we have an obesity problem nationally,” said Margo Wootan, director for Nutrition Policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “It’s shameful.”
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68206.html#ixzz1dXAdelVS
The white potato loophole in new dietary rules for school lunches just got bigger – about the size of a slice of pizza.
That’s the latest from the green vegetable front as the Food and Nutrition Service tries to stay on track with its proposal, while also coping with major corporations piling on behind the House and Senate Appropriations committees that govern the Agriculture Department’s budget.
The potato and French-fry industry scored the first breakthrough last month when the Senate adopted an amendment that voided the proposed FNS limits on starchy vegetables. Now negotiations with the House have expanded to help pizza makers preserve their claim that tomato paste packs a much outsized wallop as a vegetable.
The precise legislation isn’t expected to be made public until late Monday, but the outlines were confirmed to POLITICO by two persons familiar with the draft conference report, which reflects the strong influence of ConAgra Foods and the Schwan Food Company, both of which sell pizza served in the school lunch program.
Barring a major reversal, the provision will become law as part of a compromise spending bill that Congress hopes to send to the White House within a week and which includes an estimated $19.6 billion for the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration.
House Republicans have agreed to restore billions previously cut from President Barack Obama’s budget request, including funds for child nutrition programs and food aid overseas. But as part of the horse trading, the Senate’s potato amendment opened the door for lobbyists seeking additional changes in the nutrition rules.
The added provisions touch broadly on new whole grain and reduced sodium content standards in the rules – all relevant to pizza. But the most immediate issue is how much credit should be given to the tomato paste on a typical pizza slice.
Currently, pizza enjoys a one-to-four multiplier, allowing one slice – with two tablespoons of tomato paste – to be counted as eight tablespoons or half a cup of vegetables, the equivalent of one serving on school menus.
The new proposal seeks to apply a stricter volume standard and thereby take away a valuable marketing tool for companies like Schwan, which boasts of its improved pizza products for school meals.
“Basically Congress is fighting to keep pizza and French fries on the school menus when we have an obesity problem nationally,” said Margo Wootan, director for Nutrition Policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “It’s shameful.”
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68206.html#ixzz1dXAdelVS
On this date in History (Nov. 12, 1815) - Birthday of Elizabeth Cady Stanton
from Library of Congress website article for November 12 --
On November 12, 1815, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, spokesperson for the rights of women, was born in Johnstown, New York. Stanton formulated the philosophical basis of the woman suffrage movement, blazing a trail many feared to follow.
In advocating suffrage for women as a central point in her manifesto of woman's rights, the "Declaration of Sentiments," Stanton forged ahead of Quaker minister, Lucretia Mott and other organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention of July 19 and July 20, 1848. As the suffragists gathered adherents to the cause, however, Stanton refused to limit her demands solely to the vote. She remained in the movement's vanguard, arguing vigorously for a woman's right to higher education, to a professional life, and to a legal identity that included the right to own property and to obtain a divorce.
Stanton's verbal brilliance combined with the organizational ability and mental focus of her lifelong collaborator Susan B. Anthony made the two women a formidable resource to the early cause.
Stanton's belief that organized religion subjugated women alienated some supporters. In The Woman's Bible, she brought considerable notoriety upon herself by criticizing the treatment of women in the Old Testament.
Elizabeth Cady was educated at Johnstown Academy, where she was the only girl in the higher classes studying Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Barred from obtaining a college degree because of her gender, she continued her studies at Emma Willard's academy, where she discovered natural rights philosophy. She read law with her father, Judge Daniel Cady, but was not admitted to the New York Bar because women were excluded. Her legal and philosophical studies and her own experiences convinced her of the discriminatory nature of the laws regarding women, and she resolved to work for the reform of those laws.
In 1840, Cady married anti-slavery activist Henry Stanton, refusing to use the word "obey" in the ceremony. The mother of seven children, she lectured on the subjects of family life and child rearing, abolition, temperance, and women's rights until her death at the age of eighty-seven. Her daughter Harriot Stanton Blatch followed in her footsteps to continue the fight for women's rights.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton died October 26, 1902, before the Woman's Suffrage Amendment was passed by Congress in 1919 . Her papers were donated to the Library of Congress' Manuscript Division.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/
On November 12, 1815, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, spokesperson for the rights of women, was born in Johnstown, New York. Stanton formulated the philosophical basis of the woman suffrage movement, blazing a trail many feared to follow.
In advocating suffrage for women as a central point in her manifesto of woman's rights, the "Declaration of Sentiments," Stanton forged ahead of Quaker minister, Lucretia Mott and other organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention of July 19 and July 20, 1848. As the suffragists gathered adherents to the cause, however, Stanton refused to limit her demands solely to the vote. She remained in the movement's vanguard, arguing vigorously for a woman's right to higher education, to a professional life, and to a legal identity that included the right to own property and to obtain a divorce.
Stanton's verbal brilliance combined with the organizational ability and mental focus of her lifelong collaborator Susan B. Anthony made the two women a formidable resource to the early cause.
Miss Anthony…invariably gave Mrs. Stanton credit for all that was accomplished. She often said that Mrs. Stanton was the brains of the new association, while she herself was merely its hands and feet; but in truth the two women worked marvelously together, for Mrs. Stanton was a master of words and could write and speak to perfection of the things Susan B. Anthony saw and felt but could not herself express. Anna Howard Shaw, The Story of a Pioneer, page 240.Although Stanton served as president of the "radical" National Woman Suffrage Association and its successor the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), she found it increasingly difficult to maintain her leadership role. Interestingly, her agenda was far more radical than that of many younger, more conservative feminists.
Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910
Stanton's belief that organized religion subjugated women alienated some supporters. In The Woman's Bible, she brought considerable notoriety upon herself by criticizing the treatment of women in the Old Testament.
Elizabeth Cady was educated at Johnstown Academy, where she was the only girl in the higher classes studying Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Barred from obtaining a college degree because of her gender, she continued her studies at Emma Willard's academy, where she discovered natural rights philosophy. She read law with her father, Judge Daniel Cady, but was not admitted to the New York Bar because women were excluded. Her legal and philosophical studies and her own experiences convinced her of the discriminatory nature of the laws regarding women, and she resolved to work for the reform of those laws.
In 1840, Cady married anti-slavery activist Henry Stanton, refusing to use the word "obey" in the ceremony. The mother of seven children, she lectured on the subjects of family life and child rearing, abolition, temperance, and women's rights until her death at the age of eighty-seven. Her daughter Harriot Stanton Blatch followed in her footsteps to continue the fight for women's rights.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton died October 26, 1902, before the Woman's Suffrage Amendment was passed by Congress in 1919 . Her papers were donated to the Library of Congress' Manuscript Division.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/
American Airlines Flight 587 (crashed 11/12/01) -- Lessons learned (CBS News discussion)
from CBS NEWS dot-com posted article on Aeronautics lessons and observations --
For a few anguished hours on Nov. 12, 2001, Americans still in shock over the Sept. 11 attacks watched television footage of the blazing wreckage of a jetliner bound for the Dominican Republic that had just crashed in a Queens neighborhood, and wondered: Is it happening again?
It wasn't. By late afternoon, authorities were saying the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 looked like an accident, not terrorism. The country breathed a sigh of relief. The horror and grief lingered longer for the loved ones of the 265 dead, most of them Dominican.
Even after a decade, sadness lives on for people like William Valentine, whose partner and lover of 20 years, Joe Lopes, a flight attendant who died in the crash.
"I don't think an hour goes by," he said, suppressing a sob, "when I'm not thinking of Joe in some way."
Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning at a seaside memorial on New York's Rockaway peninsula to mark the 10th anniversary of the crash, which killed everyone aboard the aircraft and five people on the ground. The wreck remains the second deadliest aviation accident on U.S. soil.
The ceremony, held on a cool but beautiful fall day, echoed the ones that have been held annually at ground zero where the World Trade Center once stood. At 9:15 a.m., a bell tolled and there was a moment of silence to mark the time the plane went down. The name of each victim was read, often tearfully, by relatives. Some lost several members of their family on the flight, from toddlers to aging patriarchs.
"Ten years have gone by, but as you know all too well, every day in the wake of tragedy is a day of remembrance," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The accident will remain forever linked to Sept. 11 because of its proximity in both time and distance to the disaster at the World Trade Center. Belle Harbor, the suburban beach neighborhood where the plane went down, has been a longtime enclave of police officers, firefighters and financial district workers, and was still holding funerals for its Sept. 11 dead when the accident happened.
The hardest blow, though, came for New York City's large community of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Flight 587 was bound for Santo Domingo when it went down. In some city neighborhoods, like Manhattan's Washington Heights, it seemed like everyone knew someone aboard the flight.
Parts of Saturday's ceremony were conducted in Spanish, including a reading of verses by the Dominican poet Pedro Mir. A line from his poetry also graces the Flight 587 memorial: "Despues no quiero mas que paz," translated as "Afterward I want only peace."
Investigators ultimately determined that the plane's tail had detached in midair because of stress put on the plane's rudder as the co-pilot tried to steady the aircraft in another jet's turbulent wake. Since then, steering systems for some airliners have been redesigned so pilots can have greater awareness of movements in the tail rudder.
"Before this crash, pilots probably didn't have an understanding that this kind of accident could occur," said Steve Pounian, a lawyer at the law firm Kreindler & Kreindler, which represented the families of 90 crash victims. Well over 250 lawsuits were brought because of the accident. All have since been settled, for undisclosed amounts that Pounian said totaled more than $500 million.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57323672/nyc-marks-10th-anniversary-of-flight-587-crash/?tag=stack
For a few anguished hours on Nov. 12, 2001, Americans still in shock over the Sept. 11 attacks watched television footage of the blazing wreckage of a jetliner bound for the Dominican Republic that had just crashed in a Queens neighborhood, and wondered: Is it happening again?
It wasn't. By late afternoon, authorities were saying the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 looked like an accident, not terrorism. The country breathed a sigh of relief. The horror and grief lingered longer for the loved ones of the 265 dead, most of them Dominican.
Even after a decade, sadness lives on for people like William Valentine, whose partner and lover of 20 years, Joe Lopes, a flight attendant who died in the crash.
"I don't think an hour goes by," he said, suppressing a sob, "when I'm not thinking of Joe in some way."
Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning at a seaside memorial on New York's Rockaway peninsula to mark the 10th anniversary of the crash, which killed everyone aboard the aircraft and five people on the ground. The wreck remains the second deadliest aviation accident on U.S. soil.
The ceremony, held on a cool but beautiful fall day, echoed the ones that have been held annually at ground zero where the World Trade Center once stood. At 9:15 a.m., a bell tolled and there was a moment of silence to mark the time the plane went down. The name of each victim was read, often tearfully, by relatives. Some lost several members of their family on the flight, from toddlers to aging patriarchs.
"Ten years have gone by, but as you know all too well, every day in the wake of tragedy is a day of remembrance," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The accident will remain forever linked to Sept. 11 because of its proximity in both time and distance to the disaster at the World Trade Center. Belle Harbor, the suburban beach neighborhood where the plane went down, has been a longtime enclave of police officers, firefighters and financial district workers, and was still holding funerals for its Sept. 11 dead when the accident happened.
The hardest blow, though, came for New York City's large community of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Flight 587 was bound for Santo Domingo when it went down. In some city neighborhoods, like Manhattan's Washington Heights, it seemed like everyone knew someone aboard the flight.
Parts of Saturday's ceremony were conducted in Spanish, including a reading of verses by the Dominican poet Pedro Mir. A line from his poetry also graces the Flight 587 memorial: "Despues no quiero mas que paz," translated as "Afterward I want only peace."
Investigators ultimately determined that the plane's tail had detached in midair because of stress put on the plane's rudder as the co-pilot tried to steady the aircraft in another jet's turbulent wake. Since then, steering systems for some airliners have been redesigned so pilots can have greater awareness of movements in the tail rudder.
"Before this crash, pilots probably didn't have an understanding that this kind of accident could occur," said Steve Pounian, a lawyer at the law firm Kreindler & Kreindler, which represented the families of 90 crash victims. Well over 250 lawsuits were brought because of the accident. All have since been settled, for undisclosed amounts that Pounian said totaled more than $500 million.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57323672/nyc-marks-10th-anniversary-of-flight-587-crash/?tag=stack
Keep the lights burning (Niles, MI AMTRAK depot) - Dec. 3 plans announced - Christmas Open House 2011
As publicized in Niles Daily Star (11/11/11) - nilesstar.com/
From 4:30 to 6 p.m. Dec. 3, the Four Flags Garden Club will host its 20th annual Hometown Christmas Celebration at the Historic Amtrak Depot, 600 Dey St., Niles.
The impetus for this free, annual event is the last scene of the 1991 John Candy movie Only the Lonely, which was filmed at the depot on a warm summer night. To create a Christmas scene, the studio placed lights on the roofline and fake snow on the ground. Many Niles locals served as stand-ins.
After the filming, the studio left the lights behind and the garden club, along with community members campaigned to “Keep the Lights Burning.”
This was a fundraising endeavor to rewire the depot in order to use the lights, as the movie company had used portable generators.
Now, two sets of lights later — the most recent being energy-efficient LEDs — the event marks its 20th anniversary.
Everyone is invited to visit the depot to enjoy the holiday decorations, visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus and enjoy homemade cookies, cider and candy.
The depot interior and exterior will be decorated with fresh greens, window topiaries, wreaths and handmade ornaments on the Fraser fir tree donated by Pinecrest Christmas Tree Farm of Galien.
Entertainment will be provided by Lake Effect Winds, a woodwind quartet from St. Joseph, performing music ranging from classical to 20th century.
Niles Mayor Mike McCauslin will address the group, and community royalty will stop by.
A drawing will be held at 5:45 p.m. for two round- trip tickets, compliments of Amtrak, from Niles to Chicago for two lucky people. The tickets are free, and you must be present to win.
The official lighting of the Depot outside lights will be at 6 p.m.
From 4:30 to 6 p.m. Dec. 3, the Four Flags Garden Club will host its 20th annual Hometown Christmas Celebration at the Historic Amtrak Depot, 600 Dey St., Niles.
The impetus for this free, annual event is the last scene of the 1991 John Candy movie Only the Lonely, which was filmed at the depot on a warm summer night. To create a Christmas scene, the studio placed lights on the roofline and fake snow on the ground. Many Niles locals served as stand-ins.
After the filming, the studio left the lights behind and the garden club, along with community members campaigned to “Keep the Lights Burning.”
This was a fundraising endeavor to rewire the depot in order to use the lights, as the movie company had used portable generators.
Now, two sets of lights later — the most recent being energy-efficient LEDs — the event marks its 20th anniversary.
Everyone is invited to visit the depot to enjoy the holiday decorations, visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus and enjoy homemade cookies, cider and candy.
The depot interior and exterior will be decorated with fresh greens, window topiaries, wreaths and handmade ornaments on the Fraser fir tree donated by Pinecrest Christmas Tree Farm of Galien.
Entertainment will be provided by Lake Effect Winds, a woodwind quartet from St. Joseph, performing music ranging from classical to 20th century.
Niles Mayor Mike McCauslin will address the group, and community royalty will stop by.
A drawing will be held at 5:45 p.m. for two round- trip tickets, compliments of Amtrak, from Niles to Chicago for two lucky people. The tickets are free, and you must be present to win.
The official lighting of the Depot outside lights will be at 6 p.m.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Feast day of St. Martin of Tours -- Nov. 11 -- A day of feasting -- A time of harvest
from WIKI article on "St. Martin's Day"
From the late 4th century to the late Middle Ages, much of Western Europe, including Great Britain, engaged in a period of fasting beginning on the day after St. Martin's Day, November 11. This fast period lasted 40 days, and was, therefore, called "Quadragesima Sancti Martini", which means in Latin "the forty days of St. Martin." At St. Martin's eve, people ate and drank very heartily for a last time before they started to fast. This period of fasting was later shortened and called "Advent" by the Church.
In Ireland, on the eve of St. Martin's Day, it is tradition to sacrifice a cockerel by bleeding it. When the blood was collected, it was sprinkled on four corners of the house. Also in Ireland, no wheel of any kind was to turn on St. Martin's Day because Martin was thrown into a mill stream and killed by the wheel and because of that, it was not right to turn any kind of wheel on that day.
In some parts of the Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, children make their own lantern and go door to door with the lantern, and sing St. Martin songs, in exchange for sweets.
Many churches in Europe are named after Saint Martinus. St. Martin is the patron saint of Szombathely in Hungary, with a church dedicated to him, and also the patron saint of Quillota in Chile and Buenos Aires.
In Latin America, Martin has a strong popular following and is frequently referred to as San MartÃn Caballero, in reference to his common depiction on horseback.
Though no mention of Saint Martin's connection with viticulture is made by Gregory of Tours or other early hagiographers, he is nonetheless credited with a prominent role in spreading wine-making throughout the Touraine region and facilitating the planting of many vines. The Greek myth that Aristaeus first discovered the concept of pruning the vines after watching a goat eat some of the foliage has been appropriated to Martin.[2] Martin is also credited with introducing the Chenin Blanc grape varietal, from which most of the white wine of western Touraine and Anjou is made.
Martin Luther was named after Saint Martin, as he was baptized on November 11 (St. Martin's Day), 1483.
SECTION on "Customs" -- Wiki article
From the late 4th century to the late Middle Ages, much of Western Europe, including Great Britain, engaged in a period of fasting beginning on the day after St. Martin's Day, November 11. This fast period lasted 40 days, and was, therefore, called "Quadragesima Sancti Martini", which means in Latin "the forty days of St. Martin." At St. Martin's eve, people ate and drank very heartily for a last time before they started to fast. This period of fasting was later shortened and called "Advent" by the Church.
In Ireland, on the eve of St. Martin's Day, it is tradition to sacrifice a cockerel by bleeding it. When the blood was collected, it was sprinkled on four corners of the house. Also in Ireland, no wheel of any kind was to turn on St. Martin's Day because Martin was thrown into a mill stream and killed by the wheel and because of that, it was not right to turn any kind of wheel on that day.
In some parts of the Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, children make their own lantern and go door to door with the lantern, and sing St. Martin songs, in exchange for sweets.
Many churches in Europe are named after Saint Martinus. St. Martin is the patron saint of Szombathely in Hungary, with a church dedicated to him, and also the patron saint of Quillota in Chile and Buenos Aires.
In Latin America, Martin has a strong popular following and is frequently referred to as San MartÃn Caballero, in reference to his common depiction on horseback.
Though no mention of Saint Martin's connection with viticulture is made by Gregory of Tours or other early hagiographers, he is nonetheless credited with a prominent role in spreading wine-making throughout the Touraine region and facilitating the planting of many vines. The Greek myth that Aristaeus first discovered the concept of pruning the vines after watching a goat eat some of the foliage has been appropriated to Martin.[2] Martin is also credited with introducing the Chenin Blanc grape varietal, from which most of the white wine of western Touraine and Anjou is made.
Martin Luther was named after Saint Martin, as he was baptized on November 11 (St. Martin's Day), 1483.
SECTION on "Customs" -- Wiki article
Nov. 11 (8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.) Reading of the names of the fallen (Indiana Univ., South Bend, IN)
from WSBT (CBS affliate) dot-com
Students from IUSB have joined a nationwide grass-roots effort to honor American service men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and aAfghanistan during the past decade. On Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, campus and community volunteers at more than 100 college and universities across the nation will read the names of the 6,300-plus casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF), now called Operation New Dawn. At IUSB, members of the Student Veterans Organization will begin reading at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11, in the Student Activities Center foyer. They will be reading names for the next seven hours. At 2 p.m. there will be a moment of silence for the fallen.
Students from IUSB have joined a nationwide grass-roots effort to honor American service men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and aAfghanistan during the past decade. On Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, campus and community volunteers at more than 100 college and universities across the nation will read the names of the 6,300-plus casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF), now called Operation New Dawn. At IUSB, members of the Student Veterans Organization will begin reading at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11, in the Student Activities Center foyer. They will be reading names for the next seven hours. At 2 p.m. there will be a moment of silence for the fallen.
Veterans Day 2011 observances (POTUS): News of diverse activities
AP story details :
President Barack Obama is taking part in Veterans Day observances in Washington and San Diego before heading to Hawaii for an Asia-Pacific summit.
The president is hosting a veterans breakfast Friday at the White House, then laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns before speaking at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Soon after, Obama flies to California to take part in the first-ever Carrier Classic, basketball game between Michigan State and No. 1 North Carolina aboard the USS Carl Vinson.
The Veterans Day observances come a day after the Senate approved Obama's call for a tax credit for those who hire jobless veterans. In a written statement, he said the vote is a fitting way to help honor those who've served their country.
President Barack Obama is taking part in Veterans Day observances in Washington and San Diego before heading to Hawaii for an Asia-Pacific summit.
The president is hosting a veterans breakfast Friday at the White House, then laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns before speaking at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Soon after, Obama flies to California to take part in the first-ever Carrier Classic, basketball game between Michigan State and No. 1 North Carolina aboard the USS Carl Vinson.
The Veterans Day observances come a day after the Senate approved Obama's call for a tax credit for those who hire jobless veterans. In a written statement, he said the vote is a fitting way to help honor those who've served their country.
On this date in 1821 -- Happy 190th Birthday to Russian novelist Dostoevsky
from Writer's ALMANAC - (Garrison Keillor, American Public Radio):
Today (Nov. 11) is the birthday of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (books by this author), born in Moscow (1821). He published his first novel -- a short novel in letters called Poor Folk -- in 1846, and was hailed as a great new voice of Russian literature. The most important Russian literary critic, Vissarion Belinsky, proclaimed that Dostoyevsky was the new Gogol. But Dostoyevsky's arrogance got the better of him -- he wrote to his brother, "Everywhere I am the object of an unbelievable esteem, the interest in me is, quite simply, tremendous." Ivan Turgenev responded by publishing a satirical poem about Dostoyevsky, mocking him for being so arrogant that he wanted a special border printed around his work. His next novels got terrible reviews, and he fell out of the good graces of Belinsky and his circle. It was generally assumed that Dostoyevsky wouldn't live up to his promise.
In 1849, Dostoyevsky was arrested for his affiliation with a group of radical thinkers called the Petrashevsky Circle. He was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to four years of hard labor in a maximum-security prison in Siberia. He wrote a letter describing his experience: "In summer, intolerable closeness; in winter, unendurable cold. All the floors were rotten. Filth on the floors an inch thick; one could slip and fall. The little windows were so covered with frost that it was almost impossible to read at any time of the day. An inch of ice on the panes. Drips from the ceiling, draughts everywhere. We were packed like herrings in a barrel. [...] There was no room to turn around. From dusk to dawn it was impossible not to behave like pigs." He wrote in another letter: "There were moments when I hated everybody I came across, innocent or guilty, and looked at them as thieves who were robbing me of my life with impunity. The most unbearable misfortune is when you yourself become unjust, malignant, vile; you realize it, you even reproach yourself -- but you just can't help it."
After he was released from the prison camp, things were looking brighter for a while. Dostoyevsky married, served his time in the army, and was allowed to return to St. Petersburg. He joined his brother Mikhail in editing two literary journals. But in the year 1864, both his wife and his brother died. Already in debt, Dostoyevsky took on his brother's publishing debts and the financial burden of his brother's family. He thought gambling would help him manage his debt, but instead he became addicted to gambling and ended up losing more and more money. In July of 1865, he went abroad with the hopes of getting some writing done and making back his money by gambling; it only took him five days to lose everything. He had to ask for a loan from Turgenev -- he promised to repay it in a month, which of course he was unable to do. The future looked bleak.
Then, less than two months later, he wrote a letter to a publisher outlining his idea for a new story, or maybe novella -- at this point he had no idea it would turn into a novel. He wrote: "It is the psychological report of a crime. The action is contemporary, set in the present year. A young man, expelled from the university, a petit-bourgeois in origin and living in the direst poverty, through light-mindedness and lack of steadiness in his convictions, falling under the influence of the strange, 'unfinished' ideas afloat in the atmosphere, decided to break out of his disgusting position at one stroke. He has made up his mind to kill an old woman, the wife of a titular counselor who lends money at interest. The old woman is stupid, stupid and ailing, greedy [...] Almost a month passes after this until the final catastrophe. No one suspects or can suspect him. Here is where the entire psychological process of the crime is unfolded. Insoluble problems confront the murderer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. Heavenly truth, earthly law take their toll and he finishes by being forced to denounce himself."
That book would become Crime and Punishment (1866).
Today (Nov. 11) is the birthday of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (books by this author), born in Moscow (1821). He published his first novel -- a short novel in letters called Poor Folk -- in 1846, and was hailed as a great new voice of Russian literature. The most important Russian literary critic, Vissarion Belinsky, proclaimed that Dostoyevsky was the new Gogol. But Dostoyevsky's arrogance got the better of him -- he wrote to his brother, "Everywhere I am the object of an unbelievable esteem, the interest in me is, quite simply, tremendous." Ivan Turgenev responded by publishing a satirical poem about Dostoyevsky, mocking him for being so arrogant that he wanted a special border printed around his work. His next novels got terrible reviews, and he fell out of the good graces of Belinsky and his circle. It was generally assumed that Dostoyevsky wouldn't live up to his promise.
In 1849, Dostoyevsky was arrested for his affiliation with a group of radical thinkers called the Petrashevsky Circle. He was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to four years of hard labor in a maximum-security prison in Siberia. He wrote a letter describing his experience: "In summer, intolerable closeness; in winter, unendurable cold. All the floors were rotten. Filth on the floors an inch thick; one could slip and fall. The little windows were so covered with frost that it was almost impossible to read at any time of the day. An inch of ice on the panes. Drips from the ceiling, draughts everywhere. We were packed like herrings in a barrel. [...] There was no room to turn around. From dusk to dawn it was impossible not to behave like pigs." He wrote in another letter: "There were moments when I hated everybody I came across, innocent or guilty, and looked at them as thieves who were robbing me of my life with impunity. The most unbearable misfortune is when you yourself become unjust, malignant, vile; you realize it, you even reproach yourself -- but you just can't help it."
After he was released from the prison camp, things were looking brighter for a while. Dostoyevsky married, served his time in the army, and was allowed to return to St. Petersburg. He joined his brother Mikhail in editing two literary journals. But in the year 1864, both his wife and his brother died. Already in debt, Dostoyevsky took on his brother's publishing debts and the financial burden of his brother's family. He thought gambling would help him manage his debt, but instead he became addicted to gambling and ended up losing more and more money. In July of 1865, he went abroad with the hopes of getting some writing done and making back his money by gambling; it only took him five days to lose everything. He had to ask for a loan from Turgenev -- he promised to repay it in a month, which of course he was unable to do. The future looked bleak.
Then, less than two months later, he wrote a letter to a publisher outlining his idea for a new story, or maybe novella -- at this point he had no idea it would turn into a novel. He wrote: "It is the psychological report of a crime. The action is contemporary, set in the present year. A young man, expelled from the university, a petit-bourgeois in origin and living in the direst poverty, through light-mindedness and lack of steadiness in his convictions, falling under the influence of the strange, 'unfinished' ideas afloat in the atmosphere, decided to break out of his disgusting position at one stroke. He has made up his mind to kill an old woman, the wife of a titular counselor who lends money at interest. The old woman is stupid, stupid and ailing, greedy [...] Almost a month passes after this until the final catastrophe. No one suspects or can suspect him. Here is where the entire psychological process of the crime is unfolded. Insoluble problems confront the murderer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. Heavenly truth, earthly law take their toll and he finishes by being forced to denounce himself."
That book would become Crime and Punishment (1866).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)