Detroit founder of "The Empowerment Plan" for homeless wins JFK New Frontier Award

from Michigan LIVE! website -- www.mlive.com/

Veronika Scott, who founded the non-profit The Empowerment Plan, which makes coats that convert into sleeping bags made for and by Detroit’s homeless women, is being given the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award Monday evening (Nov. 19, 2012).

Two years ago, when Scott was a student at the College for Creative Studies, she began working on a class assignment that asked students to design something that would help fill a need. Scott designed a winter coat that doubled as a sleeping bag, aimed at helping Detroit’s homeless population to stay warm during the area’s frigid winters.

Her tireless research into the need of the local homeless population and refinement of her own product prototypes has since turned a simple class assignment into The Empowerment Plan, now a growing non-profit enterprise helps to employ the people it serves. 

Scott has converted an abandoned warehouse into a production facility, and has garnered donated materials from companies such as General Motors and Carhartt. One of her employees was able to use the work to rise up from a homeless shelter and find her own apartment. The hope is that others will also able to do so soon. 

The John F. Kennedy New Frontier Awards were created by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and Harvard University’s Institute of Politics to honor Americans under 40 years of age who are making an impact in their local communities through public service. “Veronika Scott turned a class project into an engine of opportunity and hope for the citizens of Detroit. They both are inspiring examples of my father’s belief that every person can make a difference,” Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and Chair of the Senior Advisory Committee for Harvard’s Institute of Politics, and daughter of the late president, said in a release. 

Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on this date (1863)

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

November 19 was the day in 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln got up in front of about 15,000 people seated at a new national cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and delivered the Gettysburg Address.
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. At that time, a two-hour speech was quite normal. Everett described the Battle of Gettysburg in great detail, and he brought the audience to tears more than once.
When Everett was finished, Lincoln got up and pulled his speech from his coat pocket. It consisted of 10 sentences, a total of 272 words. Lincoln did not mention any of the specifics of the war or any of the details of the battle of Gettysburg. He did not mention the North or the South. He did not mention slavery. Instead, he explained, in ordinary language, that our nation was founded on the idea that all men are created equal, and that we must continue to fight for that principle, in honor of those who have died fighting for it.
Unfortunately for Lincoln, the audience was distracted by a photographer setting up his camera, and by the time Lincoln had finished his speech and sat down the audience didn't even realize he had spoken. Lincoln was disappointed in his performance, but the next day Edward Everett told the president, "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." The speech was reprinted in newspapers around the country, and it went on to become one of the most important speeches in American history.
The Gettysburg Address begins:
"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."

Romney's apology to donors - "I'm sorry. . .It was close. . ."

from LEADERSHIP dot-ng posting (Nov. 15 -- web domain from Nigeria) -- conference call as source of Romney's self-understanding:

The candidate of the Republicans in the just-concluded presidential election in the United States, Mr. Mitt Romney, said on a conference call with donors yesterday that President Obama won the 2012 presidential campaign because of "gifts" given by the administration to black, Hispanic and young voters.

 

"The President’s campaign focused on giving targeted groups a big gift, so he made a big effort on small things. Those small things, by the way, add up to trillions of dollars.” Romney said.

 

Romney said moves like the president's healthcare reform legislation and a decision to suspend deportations of certain illegal immigrants who came to the country as children proved "highly motivational" on Election Day. Romney also said he had "gotten beat up pretty bad" on issues including his immigration stance and personal wealth.

 

“I am very sorry that we didn’t win,” Romney told the donors. “I know that you expected to win. We expected to win. It was very close, but close doesn’t count in this business.”

 

http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/40151/2012/11/15/why_i_lost_us_presidential_election_mitt_romney.html

Born on this date 111 years ago (Nov. 17, 1901): George Gallup

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

Nov. 17, 2012 is the birthday of American statistician George Gallup (1901), born in Jefferson, Iowa. He was a pioneer in scientific polling techniques, and his name became a household word synonymous with the opinion poll.
Gallup enrolled in the University of Iowa in 1918, played football and became the editor of the Daily Iowan. While editor in the early 1920s, he conducted what is widely considered the first poll in human history. He took a survey to find the prettiest girl on the campus. The winner was Ophelia Smith, whom Gallup later married.
From 1929 to 1931, he headed the Drake University School of Journalism, left to teach at Northwestern University and conduct newspaper research in the Chicago area, and in 1935 set up the American Institute of Public Opinion at Princeton University. While teaching and doing research, Gallup found that small samples of the populace could predict general attitudes. He gained recognition for accurately predicting Franklin Roosevelt's victory over Alf Landon in 1936.
Gallup's biggest blunder, the prediction that Thomas Dewey would defeat Harry Truman in 1948, was a minor stumbling block. At one time, nearly 200 newspapers published his reports. At the height of his career, Gallup spoke out against the practice of exit polling in elections and advocated election reforms still being discussed today. Gallup died of a heart attack in 1984 at his summer home in Switzerland.

President Obama -- Asian three-nation tour (Nov. 18 - 20) - East Asia summit conference at end

from CBS News REPORT (Posted early Sunday Nov. 18, 2012) -- www.cbsnews.com/

To kick off the four-day tour, he arrived in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday afternoon, local time (a little after 3 a.m. ET Sunday morning), and one of his first stops was to visit ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who turns 85 next month and is in the hospital. He was accompanied by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who greeted the king by saying, "Hello again. It's so good to see you again. And my husband sends you his very best regards."

Before exchanging gifts, the king and Mr. Obama spoke briefly, to which the president responded, "Elections in the United States are very long but it's very gratifying to know people still have confidence in me. I thought it was very important that my first trip after the elections was to Thailand, which is such a great ally."
The president later headed to the Government House there with Clinton. The president was greeted by Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the two leaders walked down a red carpet, flanked by dozens of Thai soldiers dressed in various military uniforms representing the different branches of the Thai military. Clinton, the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand and about 20 dignitaries stood behind Mr. Obama and Shinawatra.
Mr. Obama and Shinawatra held a press conference before attending an official dinner.
The visit to Thailand will "underscore our strong alliance and shared priorities and regional issues," according to Clinton's office. Monday, the president and Clinton will then travel to Rangoon, Myanmar, for a meeting with the Burmese president, and will finish in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the East Asia Summit.

Mr. Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Myanmar - the former pariah state also called Burma - as well as Cambodia. His visit to Myanmar is controversial; it has been criticized by human rights activists who have said that the country should prove it has truly moved on from its years of brutal military rule before it deserves a presidential visit.
The president said in his Bangkok press conference today that his visit to Myanmar "isn't an endorsement of the Burmese government" but simply "an acknowledgment there's a process underway" towards democracy that "nobody forsaw." Saturday, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, told reporters the president will initiate "dialogue with the Burmese government about the need to reduce their relationship with North Korea."
"We see that as an issue where they've been moving in a positive direction," Rhodes said. "We'd like to reinforce that action and, again, see Burma break its military ties with the North Koreans."

A visit to Asia - Mr. Obama's fourth during as many years in the White House - is personal for the Hawaii-born first "Pacific president." It also stands to send a message that the president's making good on his promise to turn U.S. attention to the region, something Rhodes noted earlier this week: "Continuing to fill in our pivot to Asia will be a critical part of this president's second term," he said, "and ultimately his foreign policy legacy."

Director of "Life of Pi" feature film on "Faith" / "Search for God" (Ang Lee)

from Deborah Potter's interview as posted at "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly" (Nov. 16, 2012):

On the surface, it’s an adventure story about a boy who survives a shipwreck in a lifeboat, alone, except for a man-eating tiger. But at a deeper level, “Life of Pi” explores the meaning and endurance of faith—an unusual theme for a Hollywood movie that critics have called “dazzling” and “magical.” For director Ang Lee, the experience of translating the best-selling novel to the screen required a leap of faith.
ANG LEE (Director, Life of Pi): It is a journey, as a test of the strength of our faith, of how firm we believe in it. I think that has to be the number one thing I took from the experience.
DEBORAH POTTER: In some ways, the story of young Piscine Patel, known as Pi, defies belief from the start. The son of a zoo-keeper, the boy is raised Hindu but also practices Christianity and Islam, to the disappointment of his father. . .
_________________________________________________________________________________

POTTER: So is a film about a man’s search for God aimed at helping audiences find God?
ANG LEE: You know, you cannot tell somebody a story, or show them a movie, for them to believe in God. It wouldn’t be that easy. You have to go through suffer and pain, you have to be in awe. You have to go through tests to believe in God, or not believe in God in some cases.
DAVID MAGEE: To my mind it doesn’t say you have to believe in God, it doesn’t say you shouldn’t believe in God. It says have faith in the stories that take you through your experience with life and if they take you to God, they take you to God, and if they take you in other directions, that’s fine, but listen to the stories.
POTTER: And as Pi himself says in telling his story, “You’ll decide for yourself what to believe.”

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/november-16-2012/life-of-pi/13854/

David H. Petraeus, his wife Holly, two grown children: military family under probing light

from BLOGS - NY Times.com/

David H. Petraeus and his wife, Holly, and their two grown children had “long been viewed by military families as an inspiration, a model for making a marriage work despite the separation and hardship of long deployments overseas,” write Scott Shane and Sheryl Gay Stolberg in an article about the rise and fall of Gen. Petraeus, who resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Friday (Nov. 9, 2012) after admitting to an extramarital affair.
The article concluded with a comment from Jacey Eckhart, the spouse editor for the Web site military.com, who said the fact that the Petraeuses had been married for so long, and survived so many separations, was a source of inspiration to younger military couples:

The sense was they had a strong marriage, that this was a functioning relationship, that they had good kids. It’s one of those relationships that you look up to: if they can do it, we can do it. This is what success looks like. So this is shocking. This is what it looks like when a hero falls.

On the At War blog, Rebekah Sanderlin has posted a poignant account of her years as an Army wife. She points out that while there is a wealth of advice on how to deal with separation and the single-parent household, “post-deployment reintegration barely merits a mention in most of these resources, and usually then only with a throwaway sentence that admonishes us to “give it time” and to “expect difficulty.””
Military duty in particular — but also other professions that require people to travel a lot or work away from home for long periods of time — can put serious strains on marriages and family life. Cellphones, email and Skype allow more connection among family members and loved ones, but are no substitute for being there.

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/when-a-spouse-is-posted-abroad/