Monday 31st Congressional Action to avert "Cliff": Associated Press ("Here and Now")

from WBUR - National Public Radio Boston -- website for "Here and Now":

The White House and Senate Republicans sorted through stubborn disputes over taxing the wealthy and cutting the budget to pay for Democratic spending proposals as Monday’s (12/31/2012) midnight deadline for an accord avoiding the “fiscal cliff” drew to within hours.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke repeatedly Sunday (Dec. 30) to Vice President Joe Biden, a former Senate colleague, in hopes of settling remaining differences and clinching a breakthrough that has evaded the two sides since President Barack Obama’s November re-election. In one indication of the eleventh-hour activity, aides said the president, Biden and top administration bargainer Rob Nabors were all working late at the White House, and McConnell was making late-night phone calls as well.
Unless an agreement is reached and approved by Congress by the start of New Year’s Day (1/1/2013), more than $500 billion in 2013 tax increases will begin to take effect and $109 billion will be carved from defense and domestic programs. Though the tax hikes and budget cuts would be felt gradually, economists warn that if allowed to fully take hold, their combined impact – the so-called fiscal cliff – would rekindle a recession.
“There is still significant distance between the two sides, but negotiations continue,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said shortly before the Senate ended an unusual Sunday session. “There is still time to reach an agreement, and we intend to continue negotiations.”

The House and Senate planned to meet Monday, a rarity for New Year’s Eve, in hopes of having a tentative agreement to consider. Yet despite the flurry of activity, there was still no final pact.
“This whole thing is a national embarrassment,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said Monday on MSNBC, adding that any solution Congress would swallow at this late stage would be inconsequential. “We still haven’t moved any closer to solving our nation’s problems.”
In a move that was sure to irritate Republicans, Reid was planning – absent a deal – to force a Senate vote Monday on Obama’s campaign-season proposal to continue expiring tax cuts for all but those with income exceeding $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.

Attached to the measure – which the GOP seemed likely to block – would be an extension of jobless benefits for around 2 million long-term unemployed people. The plan was described by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat.
The House and Senate met Sunday ready to debate an agreement or at least show voters they were trying. But the day produced alternating bursts of progress and pitfalls, despite Senate chaplain Barry Black’s opening prayer in which he asked the heavens, “Look with favor on our nation and save us from self-inflicted wounds.”
In one sign of movement, Republicans dropped a demand to slow the growth of Social Security and other benefits by changing how those payments are increased each year to allow for inflation.
Obama had offered to include that change, despite opposition by many Democrats, as part of earlier, failed bargaining with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, over a larger deficit reduction agreement. But Democrats said they would never include the new inflation formula in the smaller deal now being sought to forestall wide-ranging tax boosts and budget cuts, and Republicans relented.
“It’s just acknowledging the reality,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said of the GOP decision to drop the idea.

There was still no final agreement on the income level above which decade-old income tax cuts would be allowed to expire. While Obama has long insisted on letting the top 35 percent tax rate rise to 39.6 percent on earnings over $250,000, he’d agreed to boost that level to $400,000 in his talks with Boehner. GOP senators said they wanted the figure hoisted to at least that level.
Senators said disagreements remained over taxing large inherited estates. Republicans want the tax left at its current 35 percent, with the first $5.1 million excluded, while Democrats want the rate increased to 45 percent with a smaller exclusion.
The two sides were also apart on how to keep the alternative minimum tax from raising the tax bills of nearly 30 million middle-income families and how to extend tax breaks for research by business and other activities.
Republicans were insisting that budget cuts be found to pay for some of the spending proposals Democrats were pushing.
These included proposals to erase scheduled defense and domestic cuts exceeding $200 billion over the next two years and to extend unemployment benefits. Republicans complained that in effect, Democrats would pay for that spending with the tax boosts on the wealthy.
“We can’t use tax increases on anyone to pay for more spending,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

Both parties also want to block an immediate 27 percent cut in reimbursements to doctors who treat Medicare patients. Republicans wanted to find savings from Obama’s health care bill as well as from Medicare providers, while Democrats want to protect the health care law from cuts.
Both sides agree that a temporary 2-percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax was likely to expire. That reduction – to 4.2 percent – was initiated by Obama two years ago to help spur the economy and has meant $1,000 annual savings to families earning $50,000.

A senior defense official said if the spending cuts were triggered, the Pentagon would soon begin notifying its 800,000 civilian employees to expect furloughs – mandatory unpaid leave, not layoffs. It would take time for the furloughs to be implemented, said the official, who requested anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the preparations.

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/12/31/fiscal-cliff-deadline

Ring out the old year 2012, ring in the new year 2013 -- Literary quotations for Dec. 31

from the Writer's Almanac (American Public Media, Garrison Keillor):

December 31 is New Year's Eve, a time for toasts and resolutions.
T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem "Little Gidding": "For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. [...] And to make an end is to make a beginning."
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, wrote: "Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true."
Ben Franklin said, "Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man."

Symptoms - Conjunctivitis (WebMD online posting)

Dec. 29, 2012 -- this is a highly contagious disease -- easily treated with prescription eyedrops
http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/pinkeye-topic-overview

If you have any of the following symptoms, evaluate those symptoms first.

• Blurred vision, loss of vision, or blood in your eye: Go to the topic Eye Problems, Noninjury.
• An eye injury: Go to the topic Eye Injuries.
• An object in your eye: Go to the topic Objects in the Eye.
• A liquid or solid chemical in your eye: Go to the topic Burns to the Eye.

Do you have eye pain?

Do you have drainage from one or both eyes?

Are your eyes sensitive to light (photophobia)?

Have your eye symptoms continued longer than 7 days?

Viral and bacterial pinkeye are contagious and spread very easily. Since most pinkeye is caused by viruses for which there is usually no medical treatment, preventing its spread is important. Poor hand-washing is the main cause of the spread of pinkeye. Sharing an object, such as a washcloth or towel, with a person who has pinkeye can spread the infection.

Octave following December 25 -- from History dot-org article about Colonial Virginia observances

from History dot-org

Some of the most sacred holy days are observed within the octave of Christmas. The octave week (an eight-day observance) began on Christmas Day and included December 26-- Saint Stephens Day; December 27--Saint John the Evangelists Day; and December 28--Holy Innocents Day. The octave week festival ended with the Feast of the Circumcision on January 1. It cannot be emphasized enough that amid the joy of the season, the holy days of Saint Stephen and the Holy Innocents were a solemn reminder of the darker side of humanity. In fact, Saint Stephen and the Holy Innocents were martyred because of Christ's coming. The observance of the first four sacred holy days is reflected in Fithian's diary entry of December 29, 1773:

"This Morning our School begins after the Holidays. . . . At Dinner we had the Company of Dr. Franks. . . . We had a large Pye cut to Day to signify the Conclusion of the Holidays."

While the observance of these sacred days was over, it did not signal the end of the liturgical season of Christmas. Eight days after Christmas, January 1, was the celebration of the Circumcision of Christ. Twelve days after Christmas was the Feast of the Epiphany, or the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. Finally, forty days after Christmas was the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.

Dickens quotation in 2012 Blockbuster ("The Dark Knight Rises" screenplay): TALE OF TWO CITIES

Reference noted at Internet Movie DataBase dot-com (www.imdb.com/ )

Character speaking is "Jim Gordon" (portrayed by Gary Oldman)

[reading from the book "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens] I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss. I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy. I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/quotes

December 28 & 30 -- "Holy Innocents" and "Holy Family" -- Interfaith Calendar

December 28, 2012

Holy Innocents (Christianity)
Holy Innocents is the Christian day of solemn reflection, recognizing the male children of Bethlehem who were killed by Herod the Great in his attempt to eliminate the infant Jesus, whom he deemed as a threat to the throne.

Dec. 30

Feast of the Holy Family (Catholic Christianity)
This day celebrates the family unit, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and is recognized with special prayer. The moveable feast is usually celebrated the Sunday after Christmas, or if Christmas is on a Sunday, December 30th.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/multifaith-calendar/

Was the Bethlehem of the Holy Family (Joseph, Mary, infant Jesus) in Galilee not Judea? NPR interview w/ archaeologist

www.npr.org/ "Morning Edition" 12/25/2012

Thousands of Christian pilgrims streamed into Bethlehem Monday night (December 24, 2012) to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It's the major event of the year in that West Bank town. But Israeli archaeologists now say there is strong evidence that Christ was born in a different Bethlehem, a small village in the Galilee.
About 100 miles north of where the pilgrims gathered, shepherds still guide their flocks through green unspoiled hills, and few give notice to the tucked-away village with the odd sounding name: Bethlehem of the Galilee. But archaeologists who have excavated there say there is ample evidence that this Bethlehem is the Bethlehem of Christ's birth.
"I think the genuine site of the nativity is here rather then in the other Bethlehem near Jerusalem," says Aviram Oshri, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority which has excavated here extensively. He stands on the side of a road that now cuts through the entrance to the village. It was the construction of this road that led to the discovery of the first evidence that Bethlehem of the Galilee may have had a special place in history.
"It was inhabited by Jews. I know it was Jews because we found here remnants of an industry of stone vessels, and it was used only by Jews and only in the period of Jesus," Oshri says.
He also found artifacts which showed that a few centuries later the community had become Christians and had built a large and ornate church. He says there is significant evidence that in early Christianity this Bethlehem was celebrated as the birthplace of Christ. The emperor Justinian boasted of building a fortification wall around the village to protect it. The ruins of that wall, says Oshri, still circle parts of the Galilee village today.
He thinks many early scholars would have concluded that this Bethlehem was the birthplace of Christ.
"It makes much more sense that Mary rode on a donkey, while she was at the end of the pregnancy, from Nazareth to Bethlehem of Galilee which is only 7 kilometers rather then the other Bethlehem which is 150 kilometers," Oshri says.
He adds there is evidence the other Bethlehem in the West Bank, or what Israelis call Judea, was not even inhabited in the first century.

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/168010065/dig-finds-evidence-of-pre-jesus-bethlehem

Join the human race this Christmas -- 12/25/2012 - Homily by Rowan Williams, archbishop

from the Archbishop of Canterbury's website (Christmas Morning):

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is urging people to go and ‘join the human race’ this Christmas and become agents of transformation and renewal.

In his final Christmas sermon in Canterbury Cathedral, Dr. Williams says the purpose of the Christian message isn’t to defend religion or make the church credible, but to pose a challenge to everyone to reconsider who they are:

“Here is something so extraordinary that it interrupts our world; here is something that – like Moses in the story of the Burning Bush – makes you ‘turn aside to see’, that stops you short. Faith begins in the moment of stopping … the moment when you can’t just walk on as you did before ...”

Dr Williams acknowledged the damage to credibility that the church experienced in the vote over women bishops, but rejected the notion that census statistics showing an apparent religious decline were entirely good news for campaigning atheists. 59% of people (in the U.K.) still identified themselves as Christian, he observed, and faith has to mean more than ‘what public opinion decides’. Christians should not, he says, lose heart:

“We are after all, doing something rather outrageous, asking men and women to stop and look and turn around, and learn how to keep company with a figure whose outlines we often see only dimly.”

The challenge of the Gospel message, he says, is not about religious defensiveness but about the possibilities of transformation:

“Jesus does not come just to answer the questions we think important … he does not come to give us a set of techniques for keeping God happy; and he certainly doesn’t come to create a harmlessly eccentric hobby for speculative minds. He comes to make humanity itself new, to create fresh possibilities for being at peace with God.”

And people responding to this invitation and bringing about incredible transformation and had proved inspirational to him in his time as Archbishop:

“When people respond to outrageous cruelty and violence with a hard-won readiness to understand and be reconciled, few if any can bring themselves to say that all this is an illusion.
“The parents who have lost a child to gang violence, the wife who has seen her husband killed in front of her by an anti-Christian mob in India, the woman who has struggled for years to comprehend and accept the rape and murder of her sister, the Israeli and Palestinian friends who have been brought together by the fact that they have lost family members in the conflict and injustice that still racks the Holy Land – all these are specific people I have had the privilege of meeting as Archbishop over these ten years; and in their willingness to explore the new humanity of forgiveness and rebuilding relations, without for a moment making light of their own or other people’s nightmare suffering, or trying to explain it away, these are the ones who make us see, who oblige us to turn aside and look, as if at a bush burning but not consumed.”

The challenge is for everyone, he says;

“Go and join the rest of the human race and acknowledge who you are. That’s the truest heroism and the hardest. It’s a foreshadowing of the New Testament invitation: repent and believe and be baptised. Turn round and look where you’ve never looked before, trust the one who is calling you and drop under the water of his overflowing compassion. Be with him. Join the new human race, re-created in the Spirit of mutual love and delight and service.”

www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/

The Gift of Life: Touranment of Roses Parade 2013 to honor Organ Donors

from Michigan Live! coverage (www.mlive.com/ )

Even though an asthma attack ended her life at age 28, Kristen Michelle Joe is still credited with saving at least four others — as an organ donor.
On New Year's Day, the Detroit woman and 71 other donors across the country will be memorialized in "floragraphs" — floral arrangements incorporating their portraits — on a float in their honor at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif.
Joe had once mentioned to her parents about a desire to register as an organ donor. Her mother, Annette Joe, a doctor, isn't sure if her daughter ever followed through with it. But after she died in February, the decision seemed easy.
"When we were in the hospital and they approached us and asked if we were willing to donate her organs, I knew that was what she wanted, so we didn't hesitate," Annette Joe said.
Family and friends of Kristen Michelle Joe, a University of Michigan grad and community affairs coordinator with the Detroit Tigers, created the floral display earlier this month. It will be added, along with this year's other honored organ donors, to a flower-covered Donate Life Rose Parade Float.
While she had battled asthma all her life, her mother said that even in death her organs remained functional.
"I know that her heart is still beating," Dr. Joe said. "Her kidney, her liver, they're still functioning and made it possible for multiple other people to continue to live. They were able to use her skin and tendons and lot of other tissues ... her cornea to benefit other people. We don't feel like it was a sacrifice. It really was just helpful for us."
About 2.8 million Michigan residents are organ donors. Last year, 792 organs were transplanted in the state, with at least 733 more this year, according to Gift of Life Michigan Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program.
But more than 3,000 Michigan residents are awaiting organ transplants, said Remonia Chapman, program director for the Detroit area. More than 2,500 are waiting for kidney transplants while another 333 are seeking livers.

To travel outside earth's orbit and gravity: Dec. 25, 1968

On December 25, 1968,  the crew of the Apollo 8 spacecraft returned to a course for Earth after orbiting the moon 10 times over 20 hours. They were the first humans to ever leave our planet's orbit, and the first to ever see the Earth as an entire planet. On Christmas Eve, the crew had taken the iconic "Earth rise" picture and read the first 10 verses from the book of Genesis over a live television broadcast. When Commander Frank Borman signed off, he said: "We close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless you all -- all of you on the good Earth."

How broadly is Christmas celebrated? Nationwide? Worldwide?

Christmas E-Newsletter from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Minnesota Public Radio: Garrison Keillor)

Today is Christmas Day. It's a holiday observed by about 95 percent of Americans and one-third of the population worldwide. For some, today marks the beginning of the Twelve Days of Christmas, or Christmastide, a week and a half of feasting and revelry that culminates in the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6.
Washington Irving said: "Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart."
Sir Walter Scott wrote:
 
  "'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale;
  'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale;
  A Christmas gambol oft could cheer
  The poor man's heart through half the year."

Astronomical Data (Week of Dec. 22 - 28): Old Farmer's Almanac

from "The Old Farmer's Almanac calculated on a new and improved plan for the Year of our Lord 2012, being Leap Year and the 236th Year of American Independence" (Yankee Publishing Incorporated)

Sunrise 8:10 a.m. Sunset 5:19 p.m. on Dec. 22, 2012

The Moon and Jupiter form a strikingly close holiday conjunction on the 25th, with the orange star Aldebaran dangling below them.  The earliest winter since 1896 arrives with the solstice at 6:12 a.m. (eastern time zone) on the 21st.

December 28 is "Holy Innocents" -- the "Full Cold" Moon -- 28th day, 5th hour, 21st minute

Pages 134 - 135 -- "Like mimic meteors the snow in silence out of heaven sifts" -- Frank Dempster Sherman

9:30 a.m. Moment of Silence (Friday Dec. 21)

One week ago -- 26 Students and Elementary Teachers - Administration shot and killed by lone gunman at Newtown (CT) Elementary School (Sandy Hook School).

A day of mourning and remembrance -- we will be praying for the survivors and the nation's resolve during this time of prolonged grief and sadness.  The nation cannot wait for action on gun violence but must examine what to do next in this area of public and political action / consideration of safety.

6 a.m. (Friday, Dec. 21, 2012) -- Weather and Power Outage closes school districts

AUTOMATIC Phone Notification: These school districts will be closed Friday Dec. 21 -- No classes and school activities - Berrien Springs School District; Niles (Michigan) Schools; Buchanan Schools, and more.

Winter Break (Dec. 22 - Jan. 6) will begin one day early.

Celebritologist (Wash. Post online) answers my question on "Zero Dark Thirty" and CIA Analyst role

from "Celebritology" Column's weekly Chat Discussion (www.washingtonpost.com/ )

Q: Will CIA Operatives receive special status (Jessica Chastain, Clair Danes - portrayals)?

With the acclaim and attention for "Homeland" and "Zero Dark Thirty" will actresses who give powerful perfomances lend more consideration to those who are unsung anti-terror heroines?

• Answer:

Jen Chaney :

Perhaps, although I think there are only so many of those kids of stories that can be put out there right now without them starting to seem derivative.
I think it's great to see stronger women in general, particularly Chastain's character. There's an interesting conversation to be had there about whether she's truly a strong woman to be celebrated, or if some of her behavior in that film probably shouldn't be emulated in the workplace. I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

– December 20, 2012 2:14 PM

Question to WashingtonPost discussion - will CIA heroine portrayal win OSCAR?

from online chat-discussion dialogue with those who submit and those who have answer from their "journalistic beat":
Column called "Reliable Source" (www.washingtonpost.com/ )

Will ZERO DARK THIRTY & Jessica Chastain make it even more "cool" to be CIA operatives?

Will Jessica Chastain be a Oscar shoo-in due to the simultaneous popularity of CIA "insider" Carrie on the hit TV series HOMELAND?

• –
  December 19, 2012 11:21 AM
• Permalink

A.

Amy Argetsinger :

Ha. I think it's just a zeitgeisty thing that we have both a TV and movie drama centered on a young, tightly-wound female CIA analyst. But what a fascinating character, the one who inspired Chastain's character, "Maya" (no, not her real name. You read the A1 story last week about her? Fascinating.

Chastain, who is coming off a string of movies over the past year that have made her a critics' favorite, is indeed a serious contender for best actress; Jennifer Lawrence (for "Silver Linings Playbook") is also in that conversation, with a lot of growing buzz for Naomi Watts in that tsunami movie whose trailers are kind of upsetting, "The Impossible."

– December 19, 2012 12:10 PM

Winter Storm approaches -- Warning from 7 p.m. to Friday evening (Dec. 20-21)

HAZARDOUS WEATHER...
* VERY STRONG WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS OF 30 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 40 TO 50 MPH INLAND AND A FEW GUSTS TO 60 MPH NEAR LAKE MICHIGAN.

* RAIN WILL MIX WITH SNOW THIS EVENING... AND THEN CHANGE TO ALL SNOW BY LATE THIS EVENING. THE SNOW WILL CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY. TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 5 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED BY FRIDAY EVENING. THE STRONG WINDS WILL CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED VISIBILITIES. NEAR WHITEOUT CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE AT TIMES... ESPECIALLY ACROSS OPEN RURAL AREAS.

IMPACTS...
* TRAVEL TO BECOME VERY DIFFICULT... ESPECIALLY LATE TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING... DUE TO SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW.

* WIND DAMAGE AND SPORADIC POWER OUTAGES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE DUE TO THE VERY STRONG WINDS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW... ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. VERY STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO LIKELY WHICH WILL LEAD TO WIDESPREAD BLOWING SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

National Registry of Films -- 2012 additions to Lib. of Congress List

www.loc.gov/

2012 National Film Registry Picks in A League of Their Own

NFL Film, “A Christmas Story,” “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” Among Registry Additions

The excitement of national football; the first black star of an American feature-length film; the visionary battle between man and machine; and an award-winning actress born yesterday are part of a kaleidoscope of cinematic moments captured on film and tapped for preservation. The Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today named 25 motion pictures that have been selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. These cinematic treasures represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking.
"Established by Congress in 1989, the National Film Registry spotlights the importance of preserving America’s unparalleled film heritage," said Billington. "These films are not selected as the ‘best’ American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture. They reflect who we are as a people and as a nation."
Spanning the period 1897-1999, the films named to the registry include Hollywood classics, documentaries, early films, and independent and experimental motion pictures. This year’s selections bring the number of films in the registry to 600.
The films include such movie classics as "Born Yesterday," featuring Judy Holliday’s Academy Award-winning performance; and Truman Capote’s "Breakfast at Tiffany’s," starring Audrey Hepburn. Among the documentaries named to the registry are "The Times of Harvey Milk," a revealing portrait of San Francisco’s first openly gay elected official; "One Survivor Remembers," an Academy Award-winning documentary short about Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein; and Ellen Bruno’s documentary about the struggle of the Cambodian people to rebuild in the aftermath of Pol Pot’s killing fields.
The creative diversity of American filmmakers is evident in the selections of independent and experimental films, which include Nathaniel Dorsky’s "Hours for Jerome," Richard Linklater’s "Slacker" and the Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Test film of 1922. Among the cinema firsts are "They Call It Pro Football," which has been described as the "Citizen Kane" of sports movies; and the 1914 version of "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," which features the first black actor to star in a feature-length American film. The actor Sam Lucas made theatrical history when he also appeared in the lead role in the stage production of "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" in 1878.

Films Selected to the 2012 National Film Registry

• 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
• The Augustas (1930s-1950s)
• Born Yesterday (1950)
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
• A Christmas Story (1983)
• The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight (1897)
• Dirty Harry (1971)
• Hours for Jerome: Parts 1 and 2 (1980-82)
• The Kidnappers Foil (1930s-1950s)
• Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests (1922)
• A League of Their Own (1992)
• The Matrix (1999)
• The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair (1939)
• One Survivor Remembers (1995)
• Parable (1964)
• Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia (1990)
• Slacker (1991)
• Sons of the Desert (1933)
• The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
• They Call It Pro Football (1967)
• The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
• Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914)
• The Wishing Ring; An Idyll of Old England (1914)

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2012/12-226.html

"A Christmas Carol" -- writing & publishing by Charles Dickens (1843)

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):

December 19 in 1843 was the day that Charles Dickens' story "A Christmas Carol" was published. Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" in six intense weeks. He was struggling for money -- he had a large mortgage payment, his parents and siblings were asking for money, his wife was expecting their fifth child, and sales from his most recent novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, were disappointing. He rushed through "A Christmas Carol" in time to get it printed for the holiday season, finished it in early December, wrote "The End" in huge letters and underlined it three times.

Dickens was angry with his publisher over how little money he had made from Martin Chuzzlewit, so he refused the lump-sum payment that his publisher offered for "A Christmas Carol." Instead, he decided to publish it himself. He oversaw every detail of the publication, and he had a very specific vision for the book: he wanted a gold-stamped cover, woodcuts and four hand-colored etchings, a fancy binding, gilt-edged pages, title pages in red and green, and hand-colored green endpapers. He examined the first copies and decided that he didn't like them after all -- the green on the title pages was not bright enough, and the endpapers smudged. So he demanded a new version: red and blue title pages, and yellow endpapers. All the changes were made to Dickens' satisfaction by December 17th, two days before the book was to go on sale.

Dickens wanted as many people as possible to purchase the book, so he charged five shillings, and sure enough, it was a huge best-seller -- the first edition of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve. By the following spring, the book had run through seven editions.
Unfortunately, Dickens priced the book too low for the amount of cost that went into it -- he had hoped to net 1,000 pounds from the first edition, but he made just over 200. He wrote to a friend: "I had set my heart and soul upon a Thousand, clear. What a wonderful thing it is, that such a great success should occasion me such intolerable anxiety and disappointment! My year's bills, unpaid, are so terrific, that all the energy and determination I can possibly exert will be required [...] I am not afraid, if I reduce my expenses; but if I do not, I shall be ruined past all mortal hope of redemption."

New President Pro Tempore of Senate sworn in (following death of Inouye) - Dec. 2012

from Politico dot-com news article (December 18, 2012):

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) was sworn in as president pro tempore of the Senate on Tuesday (Dec. 18, 2012), putting the veteran senator third in line of succession to the presidency.
As a few dozen senators watched in the chamber, Vice President Joe Biden administered the oath to Leahy, who became the current longest-serving senator following the death of Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) on Monday afternoon.

With his right hand raised, Leahy – accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and fellow Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (Independent) – replied to Biden: “I do, so help me God.”
“Kind of a bittersweet moment,” Biden remarked as senators applauded Leahy, who has served in the Senate since 1975. The senior Vermont senator then walked around the chamber, getting congratulatory handshakes from colleagues. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) gave Leahy a hug.
Shortly before he was sworn in as president pro tempore, Leahy delivered an emotional tribute to Inouye, calling him a mentor and friend who was one of the “greatest members of this body ever to have served.”

www.politico.com/

On this date in history (Dec. 18, 1915) -- President Woodrow Wilson married Edith Galt

from Real Clear Politics e-newsletter -- (Carl Cannon, writer):

Three marriages took place in the White House during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, but none of them were his own. First daughter Jessie married in the East Room in 1913; the following year her sister Eleanor took her vows in the Blue Room. The president’s niece Alice Wilson enjoyed that setting so much she was married in the same room in 1918.

But the president himself had lived in that residence with his first wife, Ellen – the mother of those girls -- and he was still mourning her death when he met Edith Bolling Galt, so they married in a private ceremony in her home December 18, 1915.
Despite his grief, Wilson had been instantly taken with the outgoing Edith, who was descended from Virginia aristocracy and claimed to be related to Pocahontas. In the words of first lady historian Allida Black, Edith Galt was “charming and intelligent and unusually pretty.”
She was also interested in politics and public affairs. This knowledge came in handy after her husband was incapacitated with a stroke during his second term. Wilson administration critics called her “Mrs. President” and the “secret president” and the “first woman to run the government.”
These descriptions were not intended as compliments, but Edith Wilson brought some of this on herself. Even before Wilson’s stroke, she let it be known that she preferred being called “Mrs. Woodrow Wilson," and afterward she insisted that he not resign, explaining that she believed that being idle would kill him.
Edith Wilson gave mixed signals when describing her own role in this period. In her memoirs, published in 1939 long after her husband’s death, Edith claimed that as first lady she “never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs.”
Yet she also described this period of Wilson’s presidency as her “stewardship” and said his doctors urged her to help him by deciding what papers – and which people -- would be brought before the president, while leaving most matters of routine policy to the cabinet.

Most Wilson scholars are sympathetic toward Edith, who was put in an untenable position because of a deficiency in the U.S. political system – the lack of a provision for the disability of the chief executive. This oversight was not addressed until 1967, with the passage of the 25th Amendment.

By then, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson had passed away. But she resided for the last 37 years of her life in the couple’s home on S Street in Northwest Washington, and lived long enough to ride in John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural parade. She died in late December that same year -- on Woodrow Wilson’s birthday  (Dec. 28).

Panel Discussion of "Mass Shootings and the American Psyche" (call-in show, WAMU Public Radio)

information posted at Diane Rehm Show (www.drshow.org/ ) -- 10 - 11 a.m. December 17, 2012

Reaction to Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn., has been loud and swift. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on President Barack Obama to make gun control his No. 1 agenda. The dean of Washington’s National Cathedral said, “enough is enough ... the massacre of these 28 people in Connecticut is ... the last straw." A sense of helplessness and frustration is palpable across the nation. While many are calling for more controls on guns and ammunition, others say we must focus on creating a more accessible mental health system. They worry we aren’t doing enough to de-stigmatize treatment. Diane Rehm and her guests during the First Hour discuss the effects of mass shootings on the American psyche.

Guests

Dan Burns

correspondent, Reuters News Agency

Ladd Everitt

director of communications at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

Daniel Webster

co-director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Alan Lipman

director of the Center for the Study of Violence and professor at the George Washington University Medical Center.

Dr. Jana Martin

clinical psychologist with 30 years of practice with children and families. Dr. Martin also leads public education efforts with the American Psychological Association.

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-12-17/mass-shootings-and-their-effect-american-psyche

American Writer (Erskine Caldwell) born on this date (1903) - work was banned in Boston

From Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):

December 17 is the birthday of writer Erskine Caldwell, born in Moreland, Georgia (1903). His father was an itinerant Presbyterian preacher, and Caldwell lived in a series of poor rural communities in the South. He said: "I could not become accustomed to the sight of children's stomachs bloated from hunger and seeing the ill and aged too weak to walk to the fields to search for something to eat. In the evenings I wrote about what I had seen during the day, but nothing I put down on paper succeeded in conveying the full meaning of poverty and hopelessness and degradation as I had observed it."

Caldwell published his two most famous books back to back: Tobacco Road (1932) and God's Little Acre (1933). Both were stories of destitute Southern workers -- Tobacco Road was about sharecroppers, God's Little Acre about mill workers. Both books were sexually explicit and full of profanity, and were widely condemned and banned across the South. Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone With the Wind, criticized Caldwell (and William Faulkner) for selling a vision of the South that Northerners wanted to read. God's Little Acre was banned in Boston, and the Georgia Literary Commission recommended that anyone caught reading it be sent to jail, but it became one of the best-selling books of the 20th century. Caldwell's books have sold more than 80 million copies.
His other books include We are the Living (1933); You Have Seen Their Faces (1937), with his second wife, Life photographer Margaret Bourke-White; A Place Called Estherville (1949), and With All My Might (1987).

Prayerful Comments and Intercessions (26 victims at Newtown, CT School) - Dec. 16, 2012

from POLITICO coverage:  www.politico.com/

President Barack Obama said he came with “the love and prayers of a nation” as he spoke Sunday night (December 16, 2012) here at the Newtown, CT vigil for those killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, but said the nation faces “hard questions” in the aftermath.
“Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm?” Obama said. “If we’re honest with ourselves, the answer’s no. We’re not doing enough, and we will have to change.”
Obama said that though there is no single law or set of laws that could prevent such tragedies, “that can’t be an excuse for inaction,” dismissing people who say the “politics are too hard. Are we prepared that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?”
Obama concluded his remarks by reciting the first names of every victim, to an eruption of tears in the room.
“For those of us who remain, let us find the strength to carry on and make our country worthy of their memory. May God bless and keep those we’ve lost in his heavenly place.”

Families streamed into the auditorium of Newtown High School, just a mile and a half from the site of the massacre. Adults – many wearing ribbons in the green and white school colors pinned to their lapels — greeted each other with hugs. Many children clutched floppy-eared brown plush dogs that the local Red Cross was distributing outside.
First responders were cheered and applauded as they entered the auditorium as the vigil began.
They listened to the president’s speech at the end of the memorial service commemorating the 26 people — including 20 children — killed Friday. Before the vigil, Obama met with victims’ families and first responders, as well as Connecticut Malloy and the state’s congressional delegation.

Obama wrote the speech working with speechwriter Cody Keenen, who also assisted with Obama’s post-Tucson shooting speech and who went to high school in Connecticut.
This was the second time this year and fourth since taking office that Obama arrived to help lead the mourning over the victims of a mass shooting. In July, it was 12 dead and 58 injured at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater.
Just under two years ago, it was six killed and 13 — including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) — injured outside a Tucson supermarket. Before that, it was Fort Hood, Texas, where a U.S. Army major killed 13 people and wounded 29 in November 2009.

On Friday December 14, 2012, Obama got choked up as he wiped away tears from his reddened eyes. “As a country, we have been through this too many times,” he said at the White House. “We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”
Over the summer 2012, he said in a speech to the National Urban League that many “steps to reduce violence have been met with opposition in Congress. This has been true for some time — particularly when it touches on the issues of guns.”

Obama issued a similarly vague call to action soon after the Aurora shooting. Again on Sunday night, the president offered solace to this town and to the nation, but no new details or specifics.

POSTED at political coverage website as of 9 p.m. Sunday night 12/16/2012

Bill of Rights Day (historical - National anniversary) - Dec. 15th each year

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized the 150th anniversary of our Nation's Bill of Rights, he called it the "great American charter of personal liberty and human dignity." He understood that the freedoms it protects -- among them speech, worship, assembly, and due process -- are freedoms that reinforce one another. They form the bedrock of the American promise, and we cannot fully realize one without realizing them all. Today, as we work to reinforce human rights at home and around the globe, we reaffirm our belief that government of the people, by the people, and for the people inspires the stability and individual opportunity that serve as a basis for peace in our world.

In adopting the 10 Constitutional Amendments that make up the Bill of Rights, the Framers sought to balance the power and security of a new Federal Government with a guarantee of our most basic civil liberties. They acted on a conviction that rings as true today as it did two centuries ago: unlocking a nation's potential depends on empowering all its people. The Framers also called upon posterity to carry on their work -- to keep our country moving forward and bring us ever closer to a more perfect Union.

Generations of patriots have taken up that challenge. They have been defenders who stood watch at freedom's frontier, marchers who broke down barriers to full equality, dreamers who pushed America from what it was toward what it ought to be. Now it falls to us to build on their work. On Bill of Rights Day, we celebrate the liberties secured by our forebears, pay tribute to all who have fought to protect and expand our civil rights, and rededicate ourselves to driving a new century of American progress.

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 December 15, 2012, as Bill of Rights Day. I call upon the people of the United States to mark these observances with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/12/14/presidential-proclamation-bill-rights-day-2012

Happy Birthday, Ludwig van Beethoven (in 1770)!

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):

Although no official birth date has been recorded, it's traditionally believed that Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770. He was born in Bonn, Germany, into a family of court musicians. Beethoven's father, mindful of the stories of the child prodigy Mozart, pushed a rigorous but disorganized musical education on his talented son. It wasn't until the boy was 12 that he found a teacher that really proved valuable, and by the time he was 16, he had established a good professional reputation in Bonn. But he was feeling frustrated with the city's limitations, and he left for Vienna to meet Mozart, who was preoccupied at that time with composing Don Giovanni, but Beethoven made an impression on him nonetheless. Mozart said: "Watch out for that boy. One day he will give the world something to talk about." He took the 16-year-old Beethoven on as a pupil.

But the death of Beethoven's mother, and problems with his father's increasingly erratic behavior, brought the young man home to Bonn once more. By the time he was able to return to Vienna, Mozart had died, and Beethoven began studying with Franz Joseph Haydn.
In 1801, Beethoven wrote in a letter to a friend: "Your Beethoven is most wretched. The noblest part of my existence, my sense of hearing, is very weak." He had been noticing symptoms for several years, and tried a variety of medical treatments, but they didn't help. His deafness didn't seem to affect his music, or his success; he composed at a furious pace, and performed piano concerts throughout Europe for several more years, until he became almost totally deaf in 1814. But as his hearing deteriorated, he also started suffering headaches and other health problems.
Beethoven died in 1827; the cause of his death was not determined, but he'd been bedridden for several months, and his autopsy showed severe liver damage. Schools were closed on the day of his funeral, and 30,000 people followed his casket through the streets of Vienna.

Are Twitter messages from #Pontifex (Pope Benedict XVI) infallible? - BBC coverage

online coverage at BBC News

Pope Benedict XVI has sent his first much-anticipated Twitter message using his personal account.

The Pope was shown pressing a button on an iPad tablet at the Vatican.

The message read: "Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart."
A spokesman said earlier the pontiff would "reach out to everyone" with accounts in eight languages.
After his introductory tweet on Wednesday, Benedict posted two follow-up messages.

---

This venture into the Twittersphere is meant to reflect the Vatican's commitment to being part of the debate in cyberspace.

People are being asked to put questions to the Pope. And among those already posted, some are funny, and many others crude or silly. But some are sincere.
As one Vatican insider put: "The Pope's job description is to spread the word, and Twitter is a good way of doing that."
And being limited to the use of just 140 characters should not be too much of a hindrance. . .

They focused on promoting the Church's recently launched Year of Faith - an initiative intended to re-energise Roman Catholicism.

"How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?" the pontiff asked.
And he answered: "By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need."
Benedict's English account already has more than 700,000 followers and is growing fast.

So far, the Pope's accounts @pontifex - which mean "pontiff" or "builder of bridges" - are only following each other.
Last year, the Pope sent his first tweet from a Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal.
The leader of the world's 1.2 billion or so Roman Catholics is expected to sign off, rather than write, each individual tweet himself.
The Pope's tweets are also expected to highlight messages from his weekly general audience, Sunday blessings and homilies on key Church holidays as well as papal reaction to world events.
The Vatican has long shown interest in using the latest communications technologies to spread the faith with the inventor of radio, Guglielmo Marconi, setting up Vatican Radio in 1931.

Vatican media advisor Greg Burke explains what the Pope's Twitter handle means

The Catholic Church also already uses several social media platforms, including text messages and YouTube, to communicate with young people.
Papal aides say the pontiff himself still prefers to communicate in longhand rather than using a computer keyboard.

Pope Benedict's six-year papacy has been bedevilled by poor communications.
Embarrassing clarifications had to be issued over such thorny issues as his 2005 speech about Islam and violence, and his stance on condoms and HIV.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20693734

Wheaton College professor on "Hobbit" blockbuster (Dec. 14, 2012) and Tolkien's Original story for kids (1937)

from WBUR radio talk-features program "Here and Now" --

The Hobbit is the fore-runner to Tolkien’s three “Lord of the Rings” trilogy of books which Peter Jackson turned into the Oscar-winning film trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003). The long-awaited film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits theaters this weekend. It’s the first of three films that director and co-screenwriter Peter Jackson adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien’s much-loved book The Hobbit.
But why make a trilogy out of The Hobbit? Wheaton professor and Tolkien scholar Michael Drout tells Robin Young (Host of "Here and Now") that Jackson not only is bringing the book to screen, but also using source material from “The Lord of the Rings.”“It’s ‘The Hobbit’ plus,” says Drout, “not just back story, but parallel stories and the sort of geopolitical events that were going on.”

But, Drout tells Robin Young, the movie isn’t as good as it could have been, because Jackson and his co-screenwriters stopped trusting Tolkien’s text and the audience.“And they think ‘no, what this really needs is not a dwarf and a goblin fighting but a 144,000 dwarves and goblins. That’ll make it better.’ And sometimes they lose the tension out of a scene because it’s so elaborated,” says Drout.

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/12/13/hobbit-tolkien-movie

Sixth night of Hanukkah (White House observance - Dec. 13, 2012) - Menorah from Long Beach, Long Island

from Obama Food-o-rama blog ( http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/ )

President Obama will celebrate Hanukkah with a White House reception this Thursday, Dec. 13, the sixth night of the eight-day holiday.  Each year, the menorah used for the President's candle-lighting is loaned to the White House, and has symbolic significance that ties in to the Jewish story of overcoming vast challenges.  This year's brass, 90-year-old menorah is being loaned by Temple Israel of Long Beach on Long Island, New York, which was decimated by Hurricane Sandy.  A hurricane-surviving menorah is something of an Obama tradition:  In 2010, the President's guests lit candles on a menorah borrowed from a New Orleans temple, reclaimed after Congregation Beth Israel was ravaged by Katrina. 

http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2012/12/president-obama-to-host-hanukkah-party.html

Lucia Night 2012 -- Swedish folk holiday (Dec. 13 annually) - how observed in Bishop Hill, IL

http://visithenrycounty.com/blog/lucia-nights-in-bishop-hill/

Lucia Nights in Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill invites you to join in the Lucia Nights celebration on Friday, December 7th and Saturday, December 8th, 2012 from 6 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. This Swedish tradition is based on a legend of Saint Lucia, Queen of Light. During a famine in Sweden, on the longest and darkest night of the year, Lucia appeared wearing a long white robe and encircling her head was a crown of candles. Legend has it that Lucia appeared on a ship laden with food. When the ship was unloaded, both it and Lucia vanished. Girls today wake their families on December 13th, dressed in a white robe and wearing a crown of candles carrying a tray of Lucia buns.

Attractions include free musical performances in various locations in town.    Businesses and museums will have a Lucia girl serving cookies. Around the village, each building will have a single candle in each window, and sidewalks will be illuminated.  Special Christmas gifts will also be on sale.

On Friday, December 7th, 2012 the Lucia Nights begin at 5:30 p.m. with the Lighting of the Park Christmas tree.  Then, the Cantabile String Trio will be performing in VagnHall Galleri from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

more on Bishop Hill "Steeple Building" Museum hours for Winter season at --
http://visithenrycounty.com/blog/bishop-hills-steeple-building-switching-hours/

Why are Nobel Prize-winning individuals & organizations called "Laureates"?

From recent posting at NOBEL PRIZE FACTS:

*Why are the individuals and organisations awarded a Nobel Prize called Nobel Laureates?The word "Laureate" refers to being signified by the laurel wreath.

In Greek mythology, the god Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head. A laureal wreath is a circular crown made of branches and leaves of the bay laurel (In latin: Laurus nobilis). In Ancient Greece, laurel wreaths were awarded to victors as a sign of honour - both in athletic competitions and in poetic meets.

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/nobelprize_facts.html

Human Rights Week : Dec. 10 - 16, 2012 (Proclamation)

from WHITEHOUSE dot-gov Proclamations section

A PROCLAMATION

Sixty-four years ago, a group of nations emerging from the shadow of war joined together to light a path toward lasting peace. They adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- a revolutionary document that recognized the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all people as the "foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world." As we mark the anniversary of that historic act, we celebrate the rights the Declaration recognized and recommit to strengthening them in the 21st century.

The United States was built on the promise that freedom and fairness are not endowed only to some -- they are the birthright of all. Ordinary Americans have fought to fully realize that vision for more than two centuries, courageously forging a democracy that empowers each of us equally and affords every citizen due process under the law. Just as we have cultivated these rights here at home, so have we worked to promote them abroad. Societies across the globe are reaching toward a future where leaders are fairly and duly elected; where everyone can get an education and make a good living; where women and girls are free from violence, as well as free to pursue the same opportunities as men and boys; and where the voice of the people rings clear and true. As they do, the United States stands with them, ready to uphold the basic decency and human rights that underlie everything we have achieved and all our progress yet to come.

Men and women everywhere long for the freedom to determine their destiny, the dignity that comes with work, the comfort that comes with faith, and the justice that exists when governments serve their people. These dreams are common to people all around the world, and the values they represent are universal. This week, we rededicate ourselves to fortifying civil rights in America, while reaffirming that all people around the world should live free from the threat of extrajudicial killing, torture, oppression, and discrimination. And we renew our promise that the United States will be a partner to any nation, large or small, that will contribute to a world that is more peaceful and more prosperous, more just and more free.

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 December 10, 2012, as Human Rights Day and the week beginning December 10, 2012, as Human Rights Week. I call upon the people of the United States to mark these observances with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

On this date in history -- 66 years ago in 1946 -- important charity - help for world's children

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):

December 16, 1946 was the date that the United Nations created UNICEF. The acronym originally stood for United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund; the organization is now called the United Nations Children's Fund. UNICEF provided food, clothes, and medical aid for children in countries devastated by World War II. Once the immediate post-war crisis was over, UNICEF began providing humanitarian aid in troubled and developing nations. It's now an advocate for children's nutrition, health, and education in a broader sense.

Hanukkah - Statement from the Obama Family to Jewish believers (weekend of Dec. 7 - 8, 2012)

www.whitehouse.gov/

For Immediate Release

December 07, 2012

Statement by the President on Hanukkah

Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all those celebrating Hanukkah around the world.

This Hanukkah season we remember the powerful story of the Maccabees who rose up to liberate their people from oppression. Upon discovering the desecration of their Temple, the believers found only enough oil to light the lamp for one night. And yet it lasted for eight.

Hanukkah is a time to celebrate the faith and customs of the Jewish people, but it is also an opportunity for people of all faiths to recognize the common aspirations we share. This holiday season, let us give thanks for the blessings we enjoy, and remain mindful of those who are suffering. And let us reaffirm our commitment to building a better, more complete world for all. 

From our family to the Jewish Community around the world, Chag Sameach.

12-12-12 concert to benefit victims of Superstorm Sandy (Oct. 2012)

site will be Madison Square Garden -- New York City, NY

http://www.thegarden.com/concerts/concerts.html

Wednesday Dec. 12, 2012 :  7:30 p.m. Eastern Time Zone

Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, The Rolling Stones,  Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Eddie Vedder, Roger Waters, Kanye West, The Who, Paul McCartney.

Join us in rebuilding $50 Billion in damage in the Tri-State area, making it the country's costliest storm other than Hurricane Katrina (August 2005).

 ROBIN HOOD RELIEF FUND -- information at this weblink
http://www.121212concert.org/

Lemon Drop Cake

Line two 8-inch square pans with foil; grease or spray bottoms and sides of foil.

Make cake batter (Super Moist), pour into pans, bake 25 - 32 minutes.  Cool 15 minutes.

In small bowl, mix 1 cup powdered sugar and lemon juice (1 / 4 cup).  Poke top of warm cake every 1 / 2 inch with long-tined fork, wiping fork occasionally to reduce sticking.  Drizzle and spread lemon mixture over top of cake.  Refrigerate about 2 hours.  Remove cakes from pans by lifting with foil.  Microwave Rich & Creamy lemon frosting on HIGH 15 seconds.  On serving plate, place 1 cake, rounded side down; trim if necessary so layer rests flat.  Spread with half of frosting.  Top with second cake, rounded side up.  Frost top of entire cake with remaining frosting.  Store loosely covered.

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/lemon-drop-cake/

Berrien County, Michigan (Annual Bird Count, Dec. 17, 2012): Feeder Count form

A combination of bird watchers in the field and at home feeders will be counting all birds found in a single day -- the data from these counts allows scientists to monitor early winter bird populations.

A Berrien County "Count Circle" includes the towns of Baroda, Benton Harbor, Berrien Sprints, Eau Claire, St. Joseph, Sodus, Stevensville, and rural areas -- All volunteers will be provided with instructions and a feeder count form -- contact Love Creek Nature Center -- (269) - 471 - 2617.

Sunday Dec. 17 is within the gudieline for the National Audubon Society across North America (Dec. 14 to Jan. 5).

International Day of Persons with Disabilities (Dec. 3, 2012)

A Presidential Proclamation (Monday, Dec. 3, 2012): posted at WhiteHouse dot-gov

Americans have always understood that each of us is entitled to a set of fundamental freedoms and protections under the law, and that when everyone gets a fair shot at opportunity, all of us do better. For more than two decades, our country has upheld those basic promises for persons with disabilities through the Americans with Disabilities Act -- a sweeping civil rights bill that moved our Nation forward in the journey to equality for all. And from making health care more affordable to ensuring new technologies are accessible, we have continued to build on that progress, guided by the belief that equal access and equal opportunity are common principles that unite us as one Nation.

On the 20th International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we reaffirm that the struggle to ensure the rights of every person does not end at our borders, but extends to every country and every community. It continues for the woman who is at greater risk of abuse because of a disability and for the child who is denied the chance to get an education because of the way he was born. It goes on for the 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide who all too often cannot attend school, find work, access medical care, or receive fair treatment. These injustices are an affront to our shared humanity -- which is why the United States has joined 153 other countries around the world in signing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which calls on all nations to establish protections and liberties like those afforded under the Americans with Disabilities Act. While Americans with disabilities already enjoy these rights at home, they frequently face barriers when they travel, conduct business, study, or reside overseas. Ratifying the Convention in the Senate would reaffirm America's position as the global leader on disability rights and better position us to encourage progress toward inclusion, equal opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for persons with disabilities worldwide.

We have come far in the long march to achieve equal opportunity for all. But even as we partner with countries across the globe in affirming universal human rights, we know our work will not be finished until the inherent dignity and worth of all persons with disabilities is guaranteed. Today, let us renew our commitment to meeting that challenge here in the United States, and let us redouble our efforts to build new paths to participation, empowerment, and progress around the world.

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 December 3, 2012, as International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I call on all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

Jupiter in Dec. 3, 2 a.m. Sky -- best watching until 2021

from Michigan Live! -- www.mlive posting

The gigantic, gaseous planet Jupiter will burn bright in the southern sky tonight (Sunday - Monday Dec. 2 - 3, 2012) as it aligns itself with the Earth and the Sun in a show that will be unparalleled until 2021, according to multiple space blogs.
The monstrous orb will appear markedly brighter than most stars in the nighttime sky, a product of Jupiter being its closest to Earth all year, according to EarthSky.org.
EarthSky was among space blogs reporting Jupiter's "opposition," or its alignment directly opposite the sun in the Earth's path, which is expected to happen around 2 a.m. Monday, Dec. 3.
Still, Jupiter will appear bright in the sky all night, meaning Michigan skywatchers won't have to stay up late to get a glimpse.
The alignment began Saturday December 1, 2012, and will continue into tonight, according to EarthSky:

Then [Saturday] Jupiter was only 378 million miles (609 million kilometers) away. Because Jupiter passed its perihelion – or closest point to the sun – in March 2011, the giant planet is now getting farther from the sun. As a result, at this opposition, Jupiter is as close as it will be until the year 2021.

It may be 2021 until Jupiter is comparably close to Earth, but the planet does go into opposition every 13 or so months, EarthSky reported.
Weather forecasts throughout Michigan vary tonight, with some cloudy and partly cloudy weather expected, according to the National Weather Service.

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/luminous_jupiter_will_burn_bri.html#incart_river_default

On Dec. 1, 1935 -- Woody Allen born in Brooklyn, NY

from IMDb Biography web posting (from "Biography & Trivia section")

Woody Allen was born December 1, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York. As a young boy he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.

He broke into show business at age 15 when he started writing jokes for a local paper, receiving $200 a week. He later moved on to write jokes for talk shows but felt that his jokes were being wasted. His agents, Charles Joffe and Jack Rollins, convinced him to start doing stand-up and telling his own jokes. Reluctantly he agreed and, although he initially performed with such fear of the audience that he would cover his ears when they applauded his jokes, he eventually became very successful at stand-up.

After performing on stage for a few years, he was approached to write a script for Warren Beatty to star in What's New Pussycat? and would also have a moderate role as a character in the film. As production was ongoing for the film, Woody gave himself more and better lines and left Beatty with less compelling dialogue. Beatty inevitably quit the project and was replaced by Peter Sellers, who demanded all the best lines and screen time. It was from this experience that Woody realized that he could not work on a film without complete control over its production. . .IMDb Mini Biography By: Michael Castrignano

One of the most prolific American directors of his generation, he has written, directed, and more often than not starred in a film just about every year since 1969.

Billing his actors alphabetically on opening credits;
His films often include opening Narration or the protagonist talking directly to the audience;
His female characters are often free spirited but naive and often come from small town backgrounds;
References to famous writers and literary classics;
References to classic Films, particularly the works of Ingmar Bergman;
Brooklyn Accent;
Stumbling and nervous delivery;
Often bases films on his own life experiences.

WORLD AIDS Day -- MTV offers five ways to get involved and raise "awareness"

http://act.mtv.com/posts/5-actions-world-aids-day-2012/

This Saturday, December 1, is World AIDS Day, but we’re not here to preach, or lecture, or cover you in red ribbons. Okay, maybe just a little. But mostly, we've got 5 easy ways to play it safe and celebrate! From a backpack full of condoms to a free trip to the MTV Video Music Awards, here are a few great ways to celebrate World AIDS Day.

Fourth of Five points =
Educate Others
You’re reading this, but not everybody is as awesome as you are! Now that you know how to protect yourself, share your knowledge with your family, friends, significant others. . .

World AIDS Day (Dec. 1, 2012) - Observance Proclamation - White House

from WHITE HOUSE dot-gov

Saturday, December 1st, on World AIDS Day, we will come together as a global community to stand with people affected by HIV/AIDS, to remember those we have lost, and to renew our commitment to ending the pandemic once and for all.  We have made great strides in combating this disease, and an AIDS-free generation is within sight.  Here in the United States we are implementing a National HIV/AIDS Strategy and concentrating our efforts in communities where HIV rates are highest, including among gay men, Latinos, and African Americans. We are investing in comprehensive HIV prevention and care, including through the Affordable Care Act, to prevent infection and ensure that all people living with HIV have access to life-extending treatment.  Testing for HIV remains a top priority, and thanks to ongoing scientific advancements, finding out your HIV status has never been easier and treatment is more effective than ever.

Today, I am pleased my Administration will make public new data that demonstrates we are on track to meet the ambitious treatment and prevention targets I announced on World AIDS Day a year ago.  As of today, we are treating over 5 million people with lifesaving medicines for AIDS, up from 1.7 million in 2008, and, as I pledged last year, we are on track to treat 6 million people by the end of 2013.  This year, we have also reached over 700,000 HIV-positive pregnant women with antiretroviral drugs that will prevent them from passing the virus to their children.  As we meet these new targets, we are joined by a growing number of countries and the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, who share our commitment to doing more so that more may live.  As we continue this important work with our partners around the world and here at home, let us remember the lives we have lost to AIDS, celebrate the progress we have made, and, together, recommit to ourselves to achieving our shared vision of an AIDS-free generation.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/29/statement-president-observance-world-aids-day

Birthday of C.S. Lewis (Nov. 29, 1898) - professor, theologian, apologist

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):

It's the birthday of novelist and theologian C.S. Lewis, born Clive Staples Lewis in Belfast, Ireland (1898). He grew up going to church, but he was more interested in mythology, and after his mother died when he was a boy, he became even less convinced that God existed. By the time he was a young teenager, he was a committed atheist. He received a scholarship to Oxford, and although he did not like England and though English accents sounded strange, he loved it there and ended up teaching there for nearly 30 years.

At Oxford, he met another faculty member, J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis said: "At my first coming into the world I had been (implicitly) warned never to trust a Papist, and at my first coming into the English Faculty (explicitly) never to trust a philologist. Tolkien was both." But they became close friends, and it was Tolkien who helped convince Lewis to give up his atheism and embrace Christianity. Lewis described himself as "the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England," but he went on to write books that are now considered classics of Christian apologetics, including The Screwtape Letters (1942) and Mere Christianity (1952). He is best known for his fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, which begins with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1950).

Birthday of James Agee (American writer - journalist)

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):

November 27 is the birthday of writer James Agee, born in Knoxville, Tennessee (1909). He is best remembered for his autobiographical novel, A Death in the Family (1957), and his account of Southern sharecroppers during the Dust Bowl, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). But during his life, he was best known as a film critic. He worked for Time and then for The Nation. The poet W.H. Auden declared that Agee's weekly film column in The Nation was "the most remarkable regular event in American journalism today."  He is also known as the screenwriter who adapted for Director John Huston The African Queen (famous feature film with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn).

On this date in 1922: Cartoonist Charles Schulz born in Minneapolis

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):

Today (Nov. 26) is the birthday of cartoonist Charles Schulz, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (1922). His parents left school after third grade, and his father was a barber who supported the family on 35 cent haircuts. Every Sunday, Schulz and his father read the "funny pages" together, and the boy hoped to become a cartoonist someday. But he had a tough time in school -- he felt picked on by teachers and other students. He was smart enough to skip ahead a couple of grades, but that only made it worse. He wished someone would recognize his artistic talent, but his cartoons weren't even accepted by the high school yearbook.
After high school, he was drafted into the Army; his mother died of cancer a couple of days before he left. When he came home, he moved in with his father in the apartment above the barbershop. He got a job teaching at Art Instruction, a correspondence course for cartooning that he had taken as a high schooler. There he fell in love with a red-haired woman named Donna Mae Johnson, who worked in the accounting department. They dated for a while, but when he asked her to marry him, she turned him down and soon after married someone else. Schulz was devastated, and remained bitter about it for the rest of his life. He said: "I can think of no more emotionally damaging loss than to be turned down by someone whom you love very much. A person who not only turns you down, but almost immediately will marry the victor. What a bitter blow that is."
Schulz started publishing a cartoon strip called L'il Folks in the local paper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, but they dropped it after a couple of years. Schulz sent some of his favorite L'il Folks cartoons to the United Features Syndicate, and in 1950, the first Peanuts strip appeared in nine national newspapers, including The New York Times and The Boston Globe. The first strip introduced Charlie Brown, and Snoopy made an appearance two days later. The rest of the Peanuts characters were added slowly over the years: Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, Pig Pen, Peppermint Patty, and many more. Throughout the years, the object of Charlie Brown's unrequited love is known simply as The Little Red-Haired Girl.
Peanuts was eventually syndicated in more than 2,500 newspapers worldwide, and there were more than 300 million Peanuts books sold, as well as 40 TV specials, four movies, and a Broadway play.
Charles Schulz said: "My whole life has been one of rejection. Women. Dogs. Comic strips."

Nov. 21, 1620 : date of Mayflower Compact : precedent for American CONSTITUTION

from Christianity dot-org educational posting:

The idea of a written contract between the people and their government came from a tiny band of 50 Christians called Pilgrims that sailed to America in the Mayflower in l620. The Pilgrims believed many of the Church of England's traditions were not Biblical. Since both King James and the state church persecuted many critics as criminals, the Pilgrims became Separatists and fled first to Holland, then to America. They planned to land in Virginia, where they had a charter from the King to govern them, but Atlantic storms carried them far north to Cape Cod. Since their charter was not valid in that region, they needed a new government.
And so on this day, November 21, l620, the Pilgrims drew up and signed the Mayflower Compact (which is actually dated the 11th of November because Britain was still using the Julian calendar) . It said: "For the glorie of God and advancement of ye Christian faith, we do... ...covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politick...to enact,... and frame... just and equal laws...for the general good of the Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."
Several of the men aboard did not sign. Did they believe the document was illegal?
The compact was modeled after the church covenant that the Pilgrims had drafted and signed in l607 when they had first separated from the English Church and fled to Holland. For the next fifty years, the Mayflower compact served the Pilgrims well, and it became an important precedent for the idea of a written American Constitution at the Convention of l787.

http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/original-mayflower-compact-11630072.html

Birthday (48th) of TV - Film actor Garret Dillahunt - b. in

from IMDb -- Biography section

Biography
Born Nov. 24, 1964 in Castro City, California, Garret grew up in Washington State, and attended the University of Washington where he studied journalism. He received his MFA degree from New York University's Graduate Acting Program. He has appeared on and off-Broadway and in theaters around the country before he began pursuing film and television roles.  Most notable roles have been in TERMINATOR: Sarah Connor Chronicles and RAISING HOPE (2010 - current on FOX TV).

He has two brothers: Brett, a teacher; and Eric, deceased.

He has been huge fan of Cormac McCarthy since college; Garret claims to have auditioned for parts in every adaptation of McCarthy's novels that have been made. He said he read seven times for the part of Llewyn Moss in No Country for Old Men (2007), but was ultimately cast in the smaller part of Deputy Wendell.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0226813/bio

Thanksgiving Proclamation (President's 2012 official statement)

www.whitehouse.gov/ Proclamations

On Thanksgiving Day, Americans everywhere gather with family and friends to recount the joys and blessings of the past year.  This day is a time to take stock of the fortune we have known and the kindnesses we have shared, grateful for the God-given bounty that enriches our lives.  As many pause to lend a hand to those in need, we are also reminded of the indelible spirit of compassion and mutual responsibility that has distinguished our Nation since its earliest days.

Many Thanksgivings have offered opportunities to celebrate community during times of hardship.  When the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony gave thanks for a bountiful harvest nearly four centuries ago, they enjoyed the fruits of their labor with the Wampanoag tribe -- a people who had shared vital knowledge of the land in the difficult months before.  When President George Washington marked our democracy's first Thanksgiving, he prayed to our Creator for peace, union, and plenty through the trials that would surely come.  And when our Nation was torn by bitterness and civil war, President Abraham Lincoln reminded us that we were, at heart, one Nation, sharing a bond as Americans that could bend but would not break.  Those expressions of unity still echo today, whether in the contributions that generations of Native Americans have made to our country, the Union our forebears fought so hard to preserve, or the providence that draws our families together this season.

As we reflect on our proud heritage, let us also give thanks to those who honor it by giving back.  This Thanksgiving, thousands of our men and women in uniform will sit down for a meal far from their loved ones and the comforts of home.  We honor their service and sacrifice.  We also show our appreciation to Americans who are serving in their communities, ensuring their neighbors have a hot meal and a place to stay. Their actions reflect our age-old belief that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers, and they affirm once more that we are a people who draw our deepest strength not from might or wealth, but from our bonds to each other.

On Thanksgiving Day, individuals from all walks of life come together to celebrate this most American tradition, grateful for the blessings of family, community, and country. Let us spend this day by lifting up those we love, mindful of the grace bestowed upon us by God and by all who have made our lives richer with their presence.

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 22, 2012, as a National Day of Thanksgiving.  I encourage the people of the United States to join together -- whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors -- and give thanks for all we have received in the past year, express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and share our bounty with others.

Ten members of the Armed Forces

from OBAMA FOOD-o-RAMA blog (Google Blogger):

The President loves pie, and the big finish to the dinner was six kinds of pie:  Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Cherry, Banana Cream, Apple, and Huckleberry. The White House pastry chefs also created a special cake in honor of the Oregon State University Men's Basketball team (coached by the President's brother-in-law), which featured white frosting, little marzipan basketballs, and their team insignia.

On Thursday morning (Nov. 22), in keeping with a Thanksgiving tradition, President Obama called ten members of the Armed Forces deployed in support of the war in Afghanistan.  "The President thanked each of them for their service and sacrifice and wished them and their families a Happy Thanksgiving,” the White House said.  He called two service members in the Army, two in the Air Force, two in the Coast Guard, two in the Marine Corps, and two in the Navy.   
During their visit, the Oregon State University Beavers, clad in orange dress sweat suits, had a tour of the White House, shot hoops on the basketball court, and met with President Obama in the Oval Office.  They joined the First Family for a visit to a D.C. - area Food Bank on Wednesday afternoon, too.
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2012/11/president-obama-celebrates-thanksgiving.html

"National Day of Listening" (NPR's StoryCorps)

November 23, 2012

ASK GREAT QUESTIONS.  SHARE GREAT STORIES.

The National Day of Listening is a day to honor a loved one through listening. It's the least expensive but most meaningful gift you can give this holiday season. You can choose to record a story with anyone you know. This year, StoryCorps has chosen to feature the stories of veterans, active duty military, and their families.

http://nationaldayoflistening.org/

A day for small business (Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012)

from American Express online FAQ:

Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a day
dedicated to supporting small businesses nationwide. Last year,
over one hundred million people* came together to Shop Small® in
their communities on Small Business Saturday®.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/Shop-Small/

La Jolla, California: time for sightings of the Romney family (Nov. 21, 2012)

posted at VIBE dot-com -- reposting of Reddit and TMZ news of the GOP Nominee and wife :

After losing to President Obama in the election earlier this month, his former political opponent Mitt Romney has kept in the shadows of defeat.

The former Republican nominee was spotted at La Jolla, California gas station Monday (Nov. 19, 2012) pumping gas, looking rather disheveled. TMZ reports that he and his wife were on a movie date, catching the Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and grabbed some pizza afterwards.

The flick of Romney at the tank was snapped up by Reddit user mkb95, who wrote "Mitt Romney at my local gas station. He looks tired and washed up."

He even got to interact with the former presidential candidate. "I talked to him for a good three minutes while he was filling his tank," the photographer added. "I guess he's moving to one of his houses in the town I live in, La Jolla."

Things aren't entirely bad for Romney. He gets to wallow in his losses as the owner of a $12 million mansion in California.

World Day of Prayer and Action for Children (2012 theme) - endorsement posted Nov. 20, 2012

Announcement at Archbishop of Canterbury (Rowan Williams) web presence:

The World Day of Action Prayer and Action for Children held every year on 20th November is promoted by a NGO coalition including UNICEF, Religions for Peace, and Save the Children.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's full statement is below:

"On this World Day of Prayer and Action for Children we remember the 51 million invisible children who do not have birth certificates. Birth registration is a hidden problem, which most people in the UK take for granted, but for those without a birth certificate life can be very hard. Unable to prove their citizenship unregistered children are often denied access to health and education. Nor can they be full and active members of their societies; unable to stand for election, own property, legally marry or drive a car, or obtain a passport.

Churches and other faith groups are well placed within remote and marginalisedcommunities to raise awareness of the importance of birth registration and to collaborate with governments, the UN and other agencies in order to promote innovative community based responses to registration. This is desperately needed in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 63% of births remain unregistered.

This year’s theme for prayer and action is ‘violence against children’. Last month I was in Papua New Guinea; a country which continues to experience significant levels of violence against children and vulnerable adults. For the estimated 30% of the population who remained unregistered there is limited access to justice. Unregistered children are also significantly more vulnerable to other forms of violence such as trafficking and child labour. 

I urge us all, in churches and other faith communities around the world, to unite in this World Day of Prayer and Action for the recognition, protection and flourishing of all our children."

http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2712/archbishop-of-canterburys-statement-for-the-world-day-of-prayer-and-action-for-children

Historic Vote on Women -- Episcopal Bishop (Church of England) - Nov. 20, 2012

article for International Herald Tribune / NY TIMES online by Alan Cowell (London, England):

Two decades after it supported the introduction of women as priests, the Church of England began three days of deliberations on Monday that will include a critical vote on the ordination of women as bishops — a notion that still splits its members into rival camps.

The church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, a Protestant denomination that is deeply divided on issues of gender and sexuality. The church’s 470-member National Assembly is to vote on Tuesday on the question of ordaining women as bishops; to be approved, all three houses of the synod — the church’s bishops, clergy and laity — must vote in favor by a two-thirds majority.

The bishops and clerics are regarded as likely to endorse a compromise that would allow ordination of women as bishops but permit traditionalist parishes to reject their authority. But the outcome of the vote among lay members is far less assured, according to British analysts.

Almost all of the 44 Church of England bishoprics have indicated support for the measure.

Women currently account for one-third of the Anglican clergy and around half of those now in training to become priests. But the question of women as bishops stirs passionate debate among Anglicans, especially in Africa, where one-quarter of the world’s Anglicans live and where social attitudes tend to be more conservative than in the West. The church’s attitude toward same-sex marriage and homosexuality stirs similar controversy.

The vote this week will test the authority of both the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the departing archbishop of Canterbury, and his successor, Justin Welby, the bishop of Durham. Archbishop Williams is set to retire at the end of this year from the post, the most senior in the church. Both he and Bishop Welby have said they will vote in favor of the compromise.

In an open letter published in the newspaper The Independent on Monday, more than 1,000 church members urged the synod to accept women as bishops. “Just as the churches have repented of our historic anti-Semitism and endorsement of slavery, so we believe that we must now show clearly that we no longer believe women to be inferior to men,” the letter said.

If the synod approves the measure, the first female bishops could be appointed in 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/europe/church-of-england-female-bishops-vote.html?_r=1&&pagewanted=print