Friday, December 31, 2010

I bid you good noon.

I bid you good noon. Iam @ dialysis & hooked up. I have 4:20 left. I will becoming off around 4:50pm.

Oliver North Great Expectations

Oliver North

Oliver North

Great Expectations

WASHINGTON -- "Happy new year," I said to the long-haul trucker as we arrived simultaneously at the door of a service station just off Interstate 70 near Frederick, Md. The temperature was in the teens; the wind was gusting at more than 30 miles per hour; and his 18-wheel rig was covered with residue of the blizzard he had driven through on his way west.

"What's to be happy about?" was his frosty response to my cheery salutation. He continued in a tone more frigid than the weather: "Have you seen the price of diesel fuel? It's going to cost you 50 bucks to fill up your SUV. It's going to run me almost a grand. I'm an independent trucker. My wife lost her job last year when the company where she worked for 15 years shut down. I'm hauling Chinese-made auto parts from Baltimore to Indianapolis and then a load of scrap steel to California for shipment to China. My wife and our three kids are counting on me. And the clowns in Washington are trying to put me out of business."

Through beads of condensation on the store's window, I could see his big Freightliner sleeper cab idling at the pump -- and a neon sign advertising diesel fuel at $3.26 a gallon. As we filled paper cups of coffee, I tried to cheer him up by suggesting that "things will get better after the new Congress is convened on Jan. 5."

The trucker shrugged and concluded our brief conversation with a stark warning: "They better, 'cause if they don't make things right, we've had it. Our oldest son is a Marine on his second tour in Afghanistan. He was going to stay in the Corps, but since this 'don't ask, don't tell' thing, his wife wants him to get out when he comes home. Our daughter is working her way through college but couldn't find a job last semester. My wife is now home-schooling our 12-year-old because half his sixth-grade public-school classmates can't speak English, and most of his classes had a Spanish-language 'translation teacher.' Anyone who thinks Congress can fix all this is naive. Happy new year to you and your family, Colonel."

Reflecting on this somber discussion, I think the 18-wheel nomad's dark prophecy may well be right. Our country does indeed face enormous challenges -- both domestic and foreign -- many of them exacerbated by what the Obama administration and the 111th Congress did and failed to do. The most visible indicators: glaring price displays above gas stations and the increasing number of foreclosure notices posted on homes and commercial real estate across America. There is an unfortunate correlation in these signs of the times.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the retail price for gasoline broke the $3-per-gallon barrier in July 2006 and again in November 2007. By June 2008, when it topped $4 per gallon, our nation's longest, deepest economic slide since the Great Depression was well under way, and the unemployment rate was accelerating toward its current high of 9.8 percent.

Thanks to a devalued U.S. dollar and the Obama administration's self-imposed ban on domestic petroleum exploitation, we're poised to exacerbate our problems. Reputable forecasters predict the price of motor fuel will be more than $4 again by midsummer. That, of course, will drive up the cost of everything we eat, use and do. It also will make it more expensive for those with jobs to get to work, pay for schooling, buy homes, meet mortgage payments or even rent an apartment.

New homes and commercial structures are among the few things that still carry a valid "Made in America" label. But selling an existing home is becoming increasingly problematic, and there is a paucity of startup businesses to fill vacant commercial property. The National Association of Realtors notes that nationwide, average home prices continue to drop by more than 1 percent per month. All this means fewer private-sector construction jobs in the year ahead.

Worse still, The Conference Board notes that despite a spike in retail sales in December, overall "consumer confidence" -- the key indicator for future economic growth -- remains near record lows. And now retail employers who hired temporary workers at Thanksgiving in preparation for the Christmas rush are laying them off again. Predictions of 11-13 percent unemployment by the end of 2011 no longer are deemed to be unreasonable.

Can the 112th Congress overcome the inane policies of its predecessors and the Obama administration to alter this gloomy outlook? My trucker-prophet on I-70 didn't think so. John Boehner, the new speaker of the House of Representatives, and his GOP majority believe they can. Their New Year's resolutions include promises to mend Washington's free-spending ways and rein in Obamacare. But there is much more that needs to be done. Urgent repairs for American energy policy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil would have a profound, positive impact on the U.S. economy.

Of course, all this needs to be done without promising more than they can deliver. In the year ahead, Boehner and his colleagues must avoid emulating the characters in Charles Dickens' 1861 novel, "Great Expectations." Even Pip came to understand that unfulfilled expectations are the greatest cause of anger on the planet. Happy new year, indeed.

Oliver North

Oliver North

Oliver North is the host of War Stories on the Fox News Channel, the author of American Heroes in Special Operations, and the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.

 
Carl Ray Louk

"FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996
"LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000
"THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD
"EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941
"FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" CVTD-1895
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, FOR HATE SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE" CA-1895 
"I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE YOUR FRIEND" Spock 
"TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT CANDY IS DANDY BUT MURDER, OH MURDER, IS SO SWEET" CRL-2003 
"EYE OF NEWT, AND TOE OF FROG, WOOL OF BAT, AND TONGUE OF DOG ADDER'S FORK, BLIND-WORM'S STING, LIZARD'S LEG, AND OWLET'S WING. FOR A CHARM OF POWERFUL TROUBLE, LIKE A HELL-BROTH BOIL AND BABBLE. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CALDRON BUBBLE" WS

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David Limbaugh The Administration's Administrative Tyranny Marches On

David Limbaugh

David Limbaugh

The Administration's Administrative Tyranny Marches On

This administration is abusive enough when it acts outside its constitutional authority, but it is even more tyrannical when it affirmatively thwarts the express will of the Congress on matters within the legislative domain.

When Congress denied Obama authority to transfer money to the International Monetary Fund, he did so anyway, issuing an executive order promising to give that body $140 billion for redistribution to Third World countries.

Now he's made another mockery of bipartisanship and the Constitution in making six recess appointments, including two people so objectionable that a near supermajority of Democratic senators wouldn't confirm them: James Cole as deputy attorney general, whose lax position in the war on terror is disturbing, and Francis J. Ricciardone Jr. as ambassador to Turkey.

Meanwhile, Obama's Environmental Protection Agency is gearing up to engage in a defiant end run around Congress by attempting to impose cap-and-trade-type regulations by administrative fiat after Obama's failed attempt to shove this nightmarish disaster through Congress.

It obviously doesn't matter to these zealots that an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress couldn't pass cap and trade or that the Clean Air Act gives them no authority to regulate so-called greenhouse gas emissions. It doesn't matter that their proposed regulatory blitzkrieg would further damage an already anemic and precarious economy.

What matters is that the earth goddess Gaia beckons, and she is not to be denied. Just as her global warming cultists view every environmental development and incident as confirmation of their cataclysmic myopia, including the ones that flatly contradict their theories, her disciples in government march to her orders, irrespective of the rule of law and silly capitalistic concerns.

Unlike those annoying evangelical Christians, who employ gentle persuasion techniques in their efforts to proselytize, Gaia's acolytes use the coercive power of government to bring us all into the fold. And all this time, libs have been telling us they abhor state-sponsored religion.

So on Jan. 2, new and modified industrial facilities, such as refineries and power plants, will be required to incorporate processes designed to curb their carbon dioxide emissions. Initially, the regulations will apply only to those concerns that already fall under the EPA's rules governing the emissions of other pollutants, such as soot and smog.

But in July, the scope of the regulations will expand to encompass large plants based solely on their greenhouse gas emissions. As deceitful, er, compassionate liberals, they're phasing in the pain to soften the blow (and the public's outrage) -- just as they did with the sundry gimmicks of Obamacare.

These developments also represent another phase of Obama's federal war against the states, which is currently raging in the Obamacare and Immigration Law theaters. That's because many states have conflicting or no administrative regulations in place to facilitate the implementation of the EPA's scheme.

Texas, for example, has adamantly refused to roll over for the administration's climate commands, so the EPA is preparing to subsume greenhouse gas permitting authority indefinitely in that little obstreperous state.

Even some Democrats and hardly conservative Republicans are objecting to this power grabbish assault on the economy. Sen. John Rockefeller warned of dire economic consequences and said, "We must call a timeout on these regulations." Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the EPA's new rules could lead to an "economic train wreck" and could cause businesses to close down, unemployment to rise and the costs of housing and consumer goods to increase.

And let's not forget gas prices. Remember when liberals used to oppose rising gas prices -- you know, under Bush, even when they were still less than $2 per gallon? According to Sen. Barbara Boxer, those astronomical prices were the result of George Bush and Dick Cheney's being "too cozy with the oil industry."

The Heritage Foundation notes that gas prices decreased 9 percent during Dubya's eight-year tenure, but they've been on a steady rise under Obama. The EPA emission rules will clearly make it more expensive to convert fossil fuels into energy, putting even more upward pressure on gas prices.

That's not all. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has decreed that the Bureau of Land Management will establish new rules to make it more difficult to develop natural resources on government-owned land, which will also drive up the cost of gas and electricity and increase our dependency on foreign energy sources. All these developments serve as a nice complement to Obama's seven-year ban on drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. King Barack wasn't about to let the insubordinate courts have the last say in ruling that his earlier moratorium on deep- and shallow-water drilling was illegal.

In November, Obama's political theology took a shellacking at the polls, but he marches on, undeterred, in his quest to implement an agenda that is anathema to the great majority of Americans and devastating to our Constitution, our economic prosperity and our individual liberties.

David Limbaugh

David Limbaugh

David Limbaugh, brother of radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, is an expert in law and politics and author of new book Crimes Against Liberty, the definitive chronicle of Barack Obama's devastating term in office so far.

 
Carl Ray Louk

"FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996
"LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000
"THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD
"EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941
"FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" CVTD-1895
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, FOR HATE SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE" CA-1895 
"I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE YOUR FRIEND" Spock 
"TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT CANDY IS DANDY BUT MURDER, OH MURDER, IS SO SWEET" CRL-2003 
"EYE OF NEWT, AND TOE OF FROG, WOOL OF BAT, AND TONGUE OF DOG ADDER'S FORK, BLIND-WORM'S STING, LIZARD'S LEG, AND OWLET'S WING. FOR A CHARM OF POWERFUL TROUBLE, LIKE A HELL-BROTH BOIL AND BABBLE. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CALDRON BUBBLE" WS

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Michelle Malkin Big Labor's Snowmageddon Snit Fit

Michelle Malkin

Michelle Malkin

Big Labor's Snowmageddon Snit Fit

Diligent English farmers of old once shared a motto about the blessings of work: "Industry produces wealth, God speed the plow." Indolent New York City union officials who oversee snow removal apparently live by a different creed: Sloth enhances political power, Da Boss slow the plow.

Come rain or shine, wind, sleet or blizzard, Big Labor leaders always demonstrate perfect power-grabby timing when it comes to shafting taxpayers. Public-sector unions are all-weather vultures ready, willing and able to put special interest politics above the citizenry's health, wealth and safety. Confirming rumors that have fired up the frozen metropolis, the New York Post reported Thursday that government sanitation and transportation workers were ordered by union supervisors to oversee a deliberate slowdown of its cleanup program -- and to boost their overtime paychecks.

Why such vindictiveness? It's a cold-blooded temper tantrum against the city's long-overdue efforts to trim layers of union fat and move toward a more efficient, cost-effective privatized workforce.

Welcome to the Great Snowmageddon Snit Fit of 2010.

New York City Councilman Dan Halloran, R-Queens, told the Post that several brave whistleblowers confessed to him that they "were told (by supervisors) to take off routes (and) not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file."

Denials and recriminations are flying like snowballs. But even as they scoff at reports of this outrageous organized job action, the city sanitation managers' unions openly acknowledge their grievances and "resentment" over job cuts. Stunningly, sanitation workers spilled the beans on how city plowers raised blades "unusually high" (which requires extra passes to get their work done) and refused to plow anything other than assigned streets (even if it meant leaving behind clogged routes to get to their blocks).

When they weren't sitting on their backsides, city plowers were caught on videotape maniacally destroying parked vehicles in a futile display of Kabuki Emergency Theater. It would be laugh-out-loud comedy if not for the death of at least one newborn whose parents waited for an ambulance that never came because of snowed-in streets.

This isn't a triumphant victory for social justice and workers' dignity. This is terrifying criminal negligence.

And it isn't the first time New York City sanitation workers have endangered residents' well-being. In the 1960s, a Teamsters-affiliated sanitation workers' strike led to trash fires, typhoid warnings and rat infestations, as 100,000 tons of rotting garbage piled up. Three decades later, a coordinated job action by city building-service workers and sanitation workers caused another public trash nuisance declared "dangerous to life and health" in the Big Apple.

New Yorkers could learn a thing or two from those of us who call Colorado Springs, Colo., home. We have no fear of being held hostage to a politically driven sanitation department -- because we have no sanitation department. We have no sanitation department because enlightened advocates of limited government in our town realized that competitive bidders in the private sector could provide better service at lower cost.

And we're not alone. As the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan reported: "The largest study ever conducted on outsourced garbage collection, conducted by the federal government in the 1970s, reported 29 to 37 percent savings in cities with populations over 50,000. A 1994 study by the Reason Foundation discovered that the city of Los Angeles was paying about 30 percent more for garbage collection than its surrounding suburbs, in which private waste haulers were employed. A 1982 study of city garbage collection in Canada discovered an astonishing 50 percent average savings as a result of privatization."

Completely privatized trash collection means city residents don't get socked with the bill for fraudulently engineered overtime pay, inflated pensions and gold-plated health benefits in perpetuity -- not to mention the capital and operating costs of vehicles and equipment. The Colorado Springs model, as city councilman Sean Paige calls it, is a blueprint for how every city can cope with budget adversity while freeing itself from thuggish union threats when contracts expire or cuts are made. Those who dawdled on privatization efforts in better times are suffering dire, deadly consequences now.

Let the snow-choked streets of New York be a lesson for the rest of the nation: It's time to put the Big Chill on Big Labor-run municipal services.

Michelle Malkin

Michelle Malkin

Michelle Malkin is the author of "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies" (Regnery 2010).

 
Carl Ray Louk

"FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996
"LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000
"THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD
"EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941
"FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" CVTD-1895
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, FOR HATE SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE" CA-1895 
"I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE YOUR FRIEND" Spock 
"TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT CANDY IS DANDY BUT MURDER, OH MURDER, IS SO SWEET" CRL-2003 
"EYE OF NEWT, AND TOE OF FROG, WOOL OF BAT, AND TONGUE OF DOG ADDER'S FORK, BLIND-WORM'S STING, LIZARD'S LEG, AND OWLET'S WING. FOR A CHARM OF POWERFUL TROUBLE, LIKE A HELL-BROTH BOIL AND BABBLE. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CALDRON BUBBLE" WS

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Thursday, December 30, 2010

New Year's - Eating Your Traditions

New Year's - Eating Your Traditions

 

If you thought that what you eat on New Year's Day was simply a matter of "that's what I've always done" - you might be right. But, your tradition might be based on centuries of belief. Many cultures prepare New Year's foods that are believed to influence good fortune; or, avoid dishes that might cause misfortune.

 

In many Spanish-speaking countries, eating one grape at each stroke leading up to midnight (12 grapes for the next calendar year), is for good luck. If the grape for the corresponding month is sweet, so goes that month. If, however, the grape is sour, don't expect a good month. Of course, no matter sweet or sour, by the stroke of midnight, unless you chew very fast, you've got a mouth full of grapes.
Ollie Bollen

 

Ollie Bollen - literally "oil balls" - are a traditional New Year's confection in Holland. These puffed doughnuts are frequently filled with currants, raisins and/or diced apples. Dutch history tells, from their Teutonic roots, that a goddess and evil spirits flew around during the winter months, slicing the bellies of all they come upon. If you were filled with Ollie Bollen, their sword would slip off - very good fortune, indeed!
New Year's food is called osechi-ryori in Japan and is, traditionally, prepared before midnight on December 31 and enjoyed until January 3. There is meaning and symbolism for each food arranged in layers of lacquered boxes - jubako. Traditional osechi (seasonal festival) dishes can include:

 

Osechi-ryori

 

datemaki - rolled sweet omelet - symbolizes knowledge
kabumaki - rolled kelp with fish - to be glad/happy
kurikinton - mashed sweet potato with chestnuts - bring wealth for the new year
kuromame - sweet black beans - symbol of health
tazukuri - small, dried sardines - good harvest
kazunoko - herring roe - hope of having many children

 

In addition, shrimp represent long life and sea bream - i.e. porgies, perch, scup, snapper, pomfret - are for an auspicious fortune. Red and white are traditional New Year's colors, symbolizing joy and peace, that are, also, part of the considerations for choosing and arranging your osechi. It's particularly fortuitous to eat long soba noodles, sucked up without breaking, indicating long life.

 

Media noche (middle of the night) in the Philippines includes 12 round fruits (representing money) for each month of the New Year. Added to the spread on their New Year's table, Filipinos believe an abundance of food that night is believed to ensure a prosperous new year.

 

Savory French-Canadian tourtiere (meat pie) can include pork, veal and/or beef, often with mashed potatoes, combined with herbs and spices, served up in a flaky crust on New Year's Day. The tradition of ingredients signifies wealth (meat), substance (potatoes) and the seasonings add the subtleties of flavor, indicating the nuances of life for the new year.
Black-Eyed Peas - Eating Your Traditions

 

Black-Eyed Peas (photo credit: Bill Koslosky, MD)
If you thought that what you eat on New Year's Day was simply a matter of "that's what I've always done" - you might be right. But, your tradition might be based on centuries of belief. Many cultures prepare New Year's foods that are believed to influence good fortune; or, avoid dishes that might cause misfortune.

 

Many cultures serve similar vegetables and meats in their New Year's Day celebrations to bring good fortune. During the time of the Pharaoh, black-eyed peas were a symbol of luck and good fortune. The belief was that those who ate black-eyes, an inexpensive and modest food, showed their humility and saved themselves from the wrath of the heavens because of the vanity they might have. In fact, black-eyed peas aren't a pea at all - they're lentils. For example, in Brazil and Italy, lentils (money) are served - in Brazil, with rice - which expands when cooked, showing increase - arroz brazileiro; and, in Italy, lentils are eaten with pork sausage, to bring abundance - cotecchino con lenticchie. Pork and sauerkraut (cabbage) are combined in Germany, Poland and Scandinavia. Cabbage represents the green leaves of money.

 

Similarly, throughout Southern United States, black-eyed peas in some variation, with or without ham hocks, and greens have inspired such dishes as Hoppin' John, that combines peas, rice and ham. As the story goes, black-eyed peas were used exclusively for cattle feed in the old South. During the battle of Vicksburg during the Civil War, the town was under siege for over 40 days. No supplies came in or out. Vicksburg was on the edge of starvation. The people had no choice but to eat those black-eyed peas, therefore starting a southern tradition. Today, black-eyes are eaten every New Year's Day to bring good luck for the new year.

 

There are, however, beliefs that exclude some foods as bad luck. These include lobsters, they move backwards and chickens, that scratch in reverse. Eating these on New Year's day might cause a reversal of fortune.

 

Celebrating New Year's Day with family, friends and food is a time-honored tradition that has included symbols of prosperity and good fortune. Enjoy "what you've always done" and, perhaps, add a new tradition in your New Year.

 
Carl Ray Louk

"FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996
"LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000
"THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD
"EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941
"FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" CVTD-1895
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, FOR HATE SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE" CA-1895 
"I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE YOUR FRIEND" Spock 
"TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT CANDY IS DANDY BUT MURDER, OH MURDER, IS SO SWEET" CRL-2003 
"EYE OF NEWT, AND TOE OF FROG, WOOL OF BAT, AND TONGUE OF DOG ADDER'S FORK, BLIND-WORM'S STING, LIZARD'S LEG, AND OWLET'S WING. FOR A CHARM OF POWERFUL TROUBLE, LIKE A HELL-BROTH BOIL AND BABBLE. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CALDRON BUBBLE" WS

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Did You Know? Facts, Figures & Folklore About New Year's Eve & New Year's Day

Did You Know?
Facts, Figures & Folklore About New Year's Eve & New Year's Day

 

Did you know that celebrating the New Year is a tradition that dates back to ancient Babylon, nearly 4000 years ago? The Babylonians originally celebrated New Year's during the time of the first New Moon, which is in the spring.

 

Did you know that the Babylonians' celebrations of New Year's lasted for eleven days? Their parties would undoubtedly have put modern day New Year's Eve parties to shame.

 

Did you know that the tradition of setting New Year's resolutions also dates back to the ancient Babylonians? Their most common resolution was to return used farm equipment.

 

Did you know that today, "losing weight" is the most common New Year's resolution? More than sixty percent of adult Americans are overweight and the number of overweight children has more than tripled since 1980.

 


Did you know that Julius Caesar was the first to set January 1st as the New Year? Caesar did so when he established the Julian calendar.

 

Did you know that Western nations have only celebrated the New Year for the last four centuries? Before that time, the Church adamantly opposed New Year's festivities, citing their pagan roots.

 

Did you know that the symbol of Baby New Year's dates back to ancient Greece? The Greeks marked the rebirth of their god of fertility by parading a baby around in a basket. In ancient Egypt, the baby was also a symbol of fertility. When the Church began to allow celebrations of New Year's, the baby was seen as a symbol of the baby Jesus.

 

Did you know that in Holland, the Dutch traditionally eat donuts on New Year's? This sugary round treat is believed to symbolize the sweetness of life coming full circle. In the U.S., many communities see legumes and black beans as a sign of good luck, making them a traditional New Year's dish.

 

Did you know that "Auld Lang Syne" was written in the 1700's by Robert Burns? The traditional New Year's song, played on New Year's Eve at the strike of midnight, was published in 1796 after Burns' death. "Auld Lang Syne" is Scottish for "old long ago".

 

Did you know that the U.S. annually manufactures more than $475 worth of effervescent wines, including sparkling wines and champagne? Champagne sales spike in the days leading up to New Year's Eve, when the bubbly drink is the most popular one at the bar.

 

Did you know that when Americans ring in the New Year on January 1st, more than 303 million people are projected to be living in the United States?

 
Carl Ray Louk

"FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996
"LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000
"THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD
"EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941
"FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" CVTD-1895
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, FOR HATE SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE" CA-1895 
"I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE YOUR FRIEND" Spock 
"TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT CANDY IS DANDY BUT MURDER, OH MURDER, IS SO SWEET" CRL-2003 
"EYE OF NEWT, AND TOE OF FROG, WOOL OF BAT, AND TONGUE OF DOG ADDER'S FORK, BLIND-WORM'S STING, LIZARD'S LEG, AND OWLET'S WING. FOR A CHARM OF POWERFUL TROUBLE, LIKE A HELL-BROTH BOIL AND BABBLE. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CALDRON BUBBLE" WS

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Celebrating New Years: When January 1st isn't New Year's Day Globally, people ce

Celebrating New Years:
When January 1st isn't New Year's Day
Globally, people celebrate the coming of a new year with many traditions, customs and activities. However, not all cultures celebrate New Year's Day on January 1st.

 

Japan
 
In Japan, every February 3 or 4, based on the lunar calendar, Setsubun is celebrated. Although not a national holiday, Setsubun ("sectional/seasonal division") has marked the last day of winter since the 13th century and is one day prior to the beginning of Spring, signifying a new year with the return of the warming sun, symbolic rebirth, rejuvenation of spirit and body, and preparing for the planting season. Setsubun traditions have been celebrated in many ways; the most common, however, is throwing beans - Mame Maki - to drive away evil spirits - oni. The Toshi Otoko/Onna - year man/woman - throws mame - beans - inside their home (or, perhaps, at someone dressed as an oni), while shouting, "Oniwa sato, fukuwa uchi!" - "Devils out, good luck/happiness in!" After the beans are thrown, family members pick up and eat the same number of beans as their age, bringing good health, luck and fortune for the new year.

 

Vietnam
 
Vietnamese New Year - Tet Nguyen-Dan; Tet - is also based on the lunar calendar and most often occurs in late January or early/mid February. Tet Nguyen-Dan, literally translated, is "the first morning of the first day of the new period." Believing that the first day and the first week of the new year determines your fortune (or misfortune); weeks of preparations are made including thoroughly cleaning your home (perhaps, even repainting it), buying new clothes, and settling debts and past arguments. Tet is the most important holiday within the Vietnamese culture, with New Year's traditions lasting at least three days, beginning with New Year's Eve - Giao Thua, to give/to receive - acting as the transition between the old and the new. Families gather to wait until midnight, praying together and then congratulating each other, beginning with the eldest members of the family. Traditionally, huge strings of fireworks, attached to houses, shattered midnight, scaring away evil spirits. Now illegal in many countries, community fireworks replace individual displays. Banging pots, ringing bells and making noise in all sorts of manner also adds to the clatter. Family alters are perfumed with incense sticks and offerings of fresh flowers, food and water are made. With the morning of Mong Mot Tet - New Year's Day - new clothes continue to signify new beginnings, as greeting of "Chuc mung nam moi!" - "Congratulations for the New Year!" - are exchanged between family members, friends and business associates.

 

China

 

The 15-day Chinese New Year is celebrated on the second new moon (lunar) after the Winter Solstice (solar) - occurring between January 20-February 20 - culminating with the Lantern Festival. Preparing begins weeks ahead - buying presents, decorations, food and new clothes. Houses are cleaned to sweep away bad luck; and, old debts are settled before the last day of the old year. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day celebrations are primarily family affairs, with members gathering for their meal on New Year's Eve. Traditionally, if a family member couldn't attend this meal, a place was set for them, representing their presence. At midnight, younger family members pay their respect to elders and parents. New Year's Day, children are given "Red Envelopes" - Lai See - red envelopes with good luck money by their parents. Each day - from the 2nd to the 14th - traditional observations are made - such as married daughters visiting their parents, eating specific foods and offering particular prayers. The Lion Dance is particularly common during Chinese New Year, as tradition believes that the loud drums and cymbals, combined with the fierce image of the Lion/dragon evicts evil spirits. On the last day of the Chinese New Year's celebration, lanterns are lit and carried to show spirits the way home.

 

Persia/Iran

 

On the first day of spring, marked by the Vernal Equinox, the two-week celebration of the Persian/Iranian New Year - Nowruz, NoRuz, NoRooz, Noruz - "new day" - begins. Occurring between March 20 to 22, Nowruz activities include symbolic gestures, such as - cleaning your home, confessing wrong-doings, making peace with yourself and your enemies; and, enjoying parties with ceremonial foods. Representing the end of one year and the rebirth of a new year, making or buying new clothes and germinating seeds are signs of renewal. Within Persian homes a special cloth is spread on which to make the sofreh-ye haft-sinn - seven dishes - setting. The number seven is sacred within the Iranian culture and the dishes represent the seven heralds of beauty, happiness, health, joy, life, patience and prosperity. Included on the sofreh there are traditional books- for wisdom, coins - for wealth, painted eggs - for fertility, an orange floating in a bowl of water - representing the earth; and a goldfish in its own bowl - representing life. Branches of olive, fig and pomegranate symbolize time. A mirror, surrounded by a candle for each child in that family - signifying happiness and enlightenment, reflects the Creation that's celebrated on the first day of Spring - Nowruz. On the night of the last Wednesday of Nowruz, bonfires are set and people jump over the fires, shouting, "Give me your red color and take back my pallor!" Jumping through the fire - symbolizing good - the celebrants pass through the end of the year into Spring.

 

Sri Lanka

 

A calculation, based on astrological signs, determines the New Year - Aluth Avurudhu - in mid-April for Sri Lankans. Unique to these celebrations, when the old year ends and the new year begins is, also, astrologically determined - occurring several hours apart. This "in between time" is, appropriately, called nona gathe - neutral period - when refraining from material pursuits is encouraged and participating religious traditions is customary. Rituals include house cleaning, lighting of the hearth, making milk rice - kiri bath, and herbal bathing on the last day of the passing year. Strengthening family relationships - between parents and children - and respecting elders is a foundation of New Year customs. Exchanging gifts of betel and sweets and greetings between families and neighbors shows gratitude for the old year and re-confirms the desire for continued prosperity and peace in the new year.

 

India
 
April 13th or 14th marks the beginning of the solar New Year in Indian and is regionally celebrated in Punjab (Sikh) - Baisakhi; Assam - Rongali Bihu; Bengal - Naba Barsha; Tamil Nadu - Puthandu; Keral - Vishu; and, Bihar - Vaishakha. Ritual baths and visiting temples to give thanks for a good harvest and to prayer for future prosperity are similarly celebrated within each region. Following the customary prayers, traditional dancing is performed by men and women, who are elaborately dressed. Processions, mock duels and fairs are, also, shared customs. However, each region has its special interpretations of their shared celebrations. For example, Tamil New Year's Day is celebrated at the start of the first month of the Tamil calendar year - Chithirai. It is, also, celebrated as the day when the Hindu God of Creation, Lord Brahma, started creation. Auspicious sightings - kanni - is important because to begin a New Year by seeing such things as silver and gold, flowers, fruits, vegetables and rice will ensure happiness and prosperity for the coming year. All regions share wearing new clothes, the preparations particular feast foods and long and joyous gatherings to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

 

Maori

 

In the southern hemisphere, late May to early June is mid-winter. The Maori New Year,
Matariki - the Maori name for the star cluster Pleiades - celebrates this as a time of remembrance for those who have died and, since the harvest is done and food has been collected, it is, also, a time for celebration. Rising only once during the year, Matariki - literally "eyes of god" - is a period of feasting and new beginnings. Traditionally, kites - pakau - were flown, because they were closer to the stars. How bright or hazy the stars are, also, foretold if a warmer or colder planting season; and, therefore, a better harvest yield.

 

Globally, people celebrate the coming of a new year with many traditions, customs and activities. However, not all cultures and religions celebrate New Year's Day on January 1st.

 

Baha'i

 

Known as Naw Ruz or "New Day", the first day of the Baha'i new year occurs on the Vernal Equinox (the first day of Spring). Baha'is fast for nineteen days leading up to the holiday. The fast is broken on the morning of Naw Ruz with Baha'is taking part in a great feast. Many with tables are decorated with Haft Sin; fruits, cakes and colored eggs. The celebration corresponds with the Persian/Iranian New Year, also known as Nowruz, NoRuz, NoRooz, or Noruz.

 

Hindu

 

Traditions celebrating the Hindu Deepawali/Diwali in mid-October to mid-November, (according to the position of the moon) vary from region to region. However, the universal theme of the triumph of Good/Light over Evil/Darkness is the foundation for all observances. Before Deepawali, people decorate and light their homes with diyas - lamps, prepare sweets and buy new clothes. Literally meaning "rows of diyas," Diwali - Festival of Lights - symbolizes victory of righteousness and the lifting of spiritual darkness. Homes are spruced up and cleaned and decorative designs are painted on walls and floors. Relatives gather, offering prayers and giving sweets. Celebrated over five days, each day is dedicated to a special philosophy or ideal.

 

Islam

 

The Islamic New Year begins on the first day of the first month (Muharram) of the Islamic calendar and is known as 1 Muharram. It is generally observed with quiet reflection and prayers.

 

Jewish

 

Rosh Hashanah, New Years Day on the Jewish calendar, begins a 10 day period known as the High Holy Days - a time of penitence and prayer that ends with Yom Kippur. The holiday is observed the first and second day of the month of Tishri, usually falling during September. It is believed that on Rosh Hashanah the destiny of all mankind is recorded by G-d in the Book of Life. On Yom Kippur the Book is closed and sealed. Those that have repented for their sins are granted a good and happy New Year.
The centuries of customs and traditions, prayers, offerings and joyful celebrations that have marked the ending of one year and the beginning of a new year encircles the earth throughout the calendar. Good fortune! Great prosperity! Happy New Year!

 
Carl Ray Louk

"FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996
"LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000
"THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD
"EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941
"FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" CVTD-1895
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, FOR HATE SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE" CA-1895 
"I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE YOUR FRIEND" Spock 
"TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT CANDY IS DANDY BUT MURDER, OH MURDER, IS SO SWEET" CRL-2003 
"EYE OF NEWT, AND TOE OF FROG, WOOL OF BAT, AND TONGUE OF DOG ADDER'S FORK, BLIND-WORM'S STING, LIZARD'S LEG, AND OWLET'S WING. FOR A CHARM OF POWERFUL TROUBLE, LIKE A HELL-BROTH BOIL AND BABBLE. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CALDRON BUBBLE" WS

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Celebrating New Year's Eve What would New Year's Eve be like without the firewor

Celebrating New Year's Eve What would New Year's Eve be like without the fireworks, the Ball dropping in Times Square, singing Auld Lang Syne and rockin' out with Dick Clark?

 

Prior to 1904, New Year's Eve was celebrated in Herald Square with much less pomp and partying. However, several innovations transformed New York that year: the invention of neon lights, the opening of New York's first subway line; and the first celebration of New Year's Eve in Times Square.

 

The New York Times had just completed building the Times Tower on an isolated triangle of land at the intersection of 7th Avenue, Broadway and 42nd Street - dubbed the "Crossroads of the World" - where commerce and culture collided. The newspaper's owner, Alfred Ochs, had successfully convinced the city to rename Longacre Square, the district surrounding the paper's new home, in honor of the his publication. On December 31, 1904, Ochs' new building was the focus of an unparalleled New Year's Eve celebration. An all-day festival concluded in a fireworks display ignited from the base of the tower. At midnight the raucous sound of cheering from over 200,000 merry makers was the genesis of a new tradition.

 

However, two years later, the city banned the fireworks because they were too dangerous. Ochs was not deterred. He arranged to have an illuminated seven-hundred-pound iron and wood ball to be lowered from the tower flagpole (77 feet, 23 meters) precisely at midnight to signal the end of 1907. In 1914, The New York Times outgrew Times Tower and relocated to West 43rd Street. By then, however, New Year's Eve in Times Square had become part of our tradition.

 

The use of a "time ball" by Ochs wasn't arbitrary and dates to 1829, when the first was erected in Portsmouth, England, as a way for sailors to synchronize their marine chronometers and, thereby, determining their marine position. Ochs, simply, converted that daily convention to signal the passage of time to be part of his annual tradition - and it stuck! The Ball drop has become a kind of metaphor for marking our own "positions" - where were we last year; where will we be next year?

 

In 1942 and 1943, the Ball - as it's become known - was temporarily eliminated due to the World War II "lights out" in New York. Celebrants who continued to gather in Times Square during those years greeted the New Year with a moment of silence followed by the chimes from Times Tower.

 

Today's Time Square New Year's Eve Ball was designed by Waterford Crystal and has been used since the ringing in of 2000. The Ball is a geodesic sphere, six feet in diameter, weighing 1,070 pounds. Covered with a total of 504 Waterford crystal triangles, ranging from 4.75" to 5.75", the outside of the Ball includes 90 computer-controlled rotating pyramid mirrors, able to reflect light across Times Square.

 

Today, New Year's Eve in Times Square is a phenomenon, with hundreds of thousands of people continuing to gather at the Time Tower, now known as One Times Square, waiting in the New York winter. Thanks to satellite technology, a global audience, estimated at over one billion people, watches this ceremony each year.

 
Carl Ray Louk

"FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996
"LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000
"THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD
"EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941
"FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" CVTD-1895
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, FOR HATE SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE" CA-1895 
"I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE YOUR FRIEND" Spock 
"TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT CANDY IS DANDY BUT MURDER, OH MURDER, IS SO SWEET" CRL-2003 
"EYE OF NEWT, AND TOE OF FROG, WOOL OF BAT, AND TONGUE OF DOG ADDER'S FORK, BLIND-WORM'S STING, LIZARD'S LEG, AND OWLET'S WING. FOR A CHARM OF POWERFUL TROUBLE, LIKE A HELL-BROTH BOIL AND BABBLE. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CALDRON BUBBLE" WS

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Celebrating January 1st as New Year's Day......but not always

Celebrating January 1st as New Year's Day......but not always

 

While most of the world now celebrates New Year's Day on January 1st, it was not always that way. If you had lived in Mesopotamia and Babylon 4,000 years ago (c. 2000 B.C.), you probably would have celebrated the new year in mid-March, at the time of the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. If, however, you were an Egyptian, your new year began with the Autumnal Equinox and the flooding of the Nile. If you were Greek, the Winter Solstice began your new year celebrations. All these seasons reflected a time of renewal, re-birth and regeneration. However, it was secular, civic and religious influences that eventually changed most "new year" celebrations to January 1st.

 

Measuring time was, historically, determined by the easily observed cycles of the sun (solar), the moon (lunar) and of the regular occurrences of seasonal events that influenced agriculture. However, since solar, lunar and seasonal events were not consistent, formulating a reliable calendar evolved over eons.

 

The earliest known Roman calendar designated March as the beginning of the new year, on the Vernal Equinox - the beginning of spring and a time when warring could begin, again. Depending upon whether one focuses on Mars or Martius as the derivation of that month's name, either interpretation is acceptable, as the return of spring begins a new crop season; and, with the winter ending, the weather was favorable for moving troops. Their calendar had ten named months, reflected in the historic, numerical names of six of the months. The origin of the names of the months were:

 

March - Mars, Roman god of war; or, Martius - Roman god of fertility and vegetation

 

April - perhaps derived from aperire - Latin from open; or, from Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty
 
May - Maia, Roman goddess of spring

 

June - Juno, principle Roman goddess of marriage and the well-being of women

 

July - originally Quintilis, Latin for 5th month, renamed for Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.

 

August - originally, Sextilis, Latin for 6th month, renamed for Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C.

 

September - septem, Latin for 7
 
October - octo, Latin for 8

 

November - novem, Latin for 9

 

December - decem, Latin for 10

 

Before 700 B.C. the calendar year began with the month of March, until the second king of Rome, Numa Pontilius, added the month of January and February. The month of January was named to honor Janus, a Roman god with two faces - one looking back and the other looking forward, signifying the old and the new. February is derived from Februa, the Roman festival of purification.

 

The new year was, eventually, moved from March to January because it was the start of the civil year, when elected consuls, the highest officials in the Roman republic, began their tenure.

 

Nevertheless, this new year date was not always observed, and in many places within the Roman empire, the new year continued to be celebrated on March 1.

 

In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar introduced a new, solar-based calendar that was an improvement on the ancient Roman calendar, which was lunar-based and had become inaccurate over the years. A lunar-based calendar is founded on the cycles of the moon - the synodic period. However, there is variation in the precise time for a specific lunation - the time between successive new moons - from 29 days, 6 hours, 35 minutes to 29 days, 19 hours, 55 minutes. Therefore, cumulatively, any lunar-based calendar will be "adding" time over any prolonged period. The Julian calendar, named for Julius Caesar, decreed that the new year would occur on January 1st. Julius wanted the year to begin in January since it celebrated the beginning of the civil year and the festival of the god of gates and, eventually, the god of all beginnings, Janus, after whom it was named. Combining these two celebrations joined the civil and the religious/pagan fetis, the genesis of the word festival.

 

Romans traditionally exchanged gifts - strenae - of good omen on January 1, the Kalends (root of the word calendar) of January. These gifts included sweet dates, honey and coins. In addition, it was the beginning of the one year term for the consuls, who had a procession on January 1 and, also, wanted a good omen for their tenure.
With Constantine (274-337 A.D.), the first Christian Roman emperor, New Year's evolved into a day of fasting rather than feasting, as had become the custom to celebrate Janus.
In medieval Europe, however, the celebrations accompanying the new year were considered to have become pagan and unChristian. In 567, the Roman Catholic church, at the Second Council of Tours in France, abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year. Thereafter, at different times and in various places throughout medieval Christian Europe, the new year was celebrated on Dec. 25, the birth of Jesus; March 1; March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation; and Easter, which continues to be based on the lunar calendar.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII re-established January 1 as new year's day with calendar reform. Today the Gregorian calendar has become the international standard for civil use. Although most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar, it was only gradually adopted among Protestant countries, who didn't recognize the Pope as their ecclesiastical leader. The British, for example, did not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752. Until then, the British Empire, and its' colonies, continued to celebrate the new year in March. In the beginning years of British America, Puritans disavowed any new year observances at all. Still associating any celebrations with pagan traditions, Puritans wouldn't speak the word "January," calling it "The First Month" because of the association with the pagan god, Janus.

 

Given the various measures of time and the influence of power and the persistence of belief, the history of new year has been determined by shifts in liturgical, civic, religious, lunar, solar and seasonal variations. However, by all accounts, celebrating New Year's has been, and continues to be, a time of rejuvenation and renewal, whether reflected upon quietly, with piousness or with days of feasting and frivolity.

 
Carl Ray Louk

"FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996
"LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000
"THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD
"EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941
"FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" CVTD-1895
"FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, FOR HATE SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE" CA-1895 
"I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE YOUR FRIEND" Spock 
"TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT CANDY IS DANDY BUT MURDER, OH MURDER, IS SO SWEET" CRL-2003 
"EYE OF NEWT, AND TOE OF FROG, WOOL OF BAT, AND TONGUE OF DOG ADDER'S FORK, BLIND-WORM'S STING, LIZARD'S LEG, AND OWLET'S WING. FOR A CHARM OF POWERFUL TROUBLE, LIKE A HELL-BROTH BOIL AND BABBLE. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CALDRON BUBBLE" WS

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