Santa's Helper

Joe –

This is a letter from one of "Santa’s helpers". A couple of years ago you and your readers helped a family at Christmastime. The grandmother’s name was Sheila and she was raising her grandchildren. Many generously pitched in and shared a story of how the real gift had been getting to meet this wonderful family.

On July 4^th of this year Sheila had a massive stroke. She is fighting her way back to health and has experienced many blessings that were unpredicted including being able to speak, walk with assistance, write, and feed herself. Each of these accomplishments, which she attributes to God and faith, has been a milestone in her recovery.

Sheila’s mother is also a wonderful and giving woman of faith. Sheila now lives with her mother in the family home. Both are seriously disabled and have very limited resources. Unlike before when your readers responded with wonderful toys for the children and more, this year the family’s needs are very basic. Here’s what would be most helpful in case you have the ears of a few elves:

Grocery store gift cards (they don’t have a large kitchen so storing staples or perishables can be a challenge)

Drug store gift cards (if there is such a thing to help with prescription and medical supply expenses)

A tutor/mentor for the oldest of the girls, whose dreams of becoming a CNA won’t become a reality without help in studying for her GED. She also likes to draw and would benefit greatly from some lessons in drawing or painting. Sheila has given these girls wonderful and loving care, but her immobility and challenges make it impossible for her to help these young women to be successful without our help. I don’t have these art skills, but I will be providing some new supplies…brushes, watercolors, and watercolor paper to do my part.

The other of the girls is in school and talks of her school accomplishments with a big smile. She could use a pair of new boots in a women’s size 11. I talked to her about what hobbies might interest her since we all know that the temptations are great for our young people if they don’t have great ways to spend their time. After some brainstorming she thought that jewelry making might be something that she would really fancy….again, a smile lit up her face. Here too, I will be putting together somewhat of a starter kit so that she can try this out. There may be readers with experience at jewelry making who would like to provide some tips and inspiration.

The big item on the list is a bathroom. Yes, a bathroom. Their home is 2 stories. They are using the living room as Sheila’s room since she can’t navigate the stairs. There is no bathroom downstairs …any contractor elves out there could provide a blessing beyond imagination that would make this family’s lives so much easier.

That’s it. All of the glitter and tinsel and love for the real meaning of this holiday is already in their hearts.

If a few elves could help out we could give the gift of living with less worry to a family in need in the coming year. I know that this has been a very difficult year for just about everyone, but if enough of us are able to do a little we can make a difference together.

Confronting The Myths About Tenure And Teachers' Unions

Current American education policy is built on these assumptions: The quality of American education has plummeted because our schools are filled with teachers who can't teach. Teachers' unions and contracts tie the hands of school administrators. And teachers' unions protect bad teachers. Here are a few reasons why these conclusions are leading our educational system in a bad direction.

First, these policies ignore the effects of poverty on educational outcomes. Given the increasing number of children growing up in poverty, we ignore its effects at our peril.

I know something about poverty and its effects because I grew up in an impoverished, single-parent home and attended a low-quality school through eighth grade. Despite those beginnings, I graduated from one of the top US law schools and am now a law professor. If I could make it, then poverty must not matter, right?

But not all poverty is the same. My mother had a nursing degree and our home was filled with books. We lived in rural, small-town poverty near my farmer grandparents, who made certain we had good-quality food. Crime in our area was almost nonexistent. I am white, and my family has spoken standard English for generations. And there wasn't much of a gap between the poorest and the richest in that area.

GO HERE to read more.

Abbas Lays Groundwork For Unilateral Declaration Of PA State

Arab media is reporting that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has told his aides to ask the United Nations Security Council to recognize the PA as a new Arab country, to be called “Palestine.” According to a report published Thursday in the London-based Arabic-language daily A-Sharq al-Awsat, the PA is now prepared to ask the U.N. to recognize a unilaterally-declared new PA state.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit allegedly tried to intervene by asking PA officials to wait for the Obama administration to make another attempt at negotiating a two-state solution with Israel, according to the report. Gheit also allegedly warned that the U.S. must apply further pressure on Israel.

Abbas met in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday and held firm on his refusal to engage in direct final status talks with Israel unless a complete freeze is in place on Jewish construction in Judea, Samaria and much of Jerusalem. “Our stance is clear and we have announced it to the Americans,” Abbas told reporters. “We will not agree to negotiate as long as settlement building continues.”

Abbas, who met Wednesday with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, said there is no flexibility on the issue of forming a PA state along the 1949 armistice line, referred to by some as the “1967 borders.” He also said that any exchange of land would require similar quantity and quality.

The Fatah Revolutionary Council that is led by Abbas, and which leads the PA, last month issued a proclamation rejecting all proposals for peace, including land swaps, and refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish State.                                       

More

Can Union Solidarity Trump Tea Party Rage?

Despite the somewhat rocky relationship between the labor movement and the Obama Administration, Democratic hopes for holding on to Congress were largely dependent on the political efforts of organized labor—still the only grassroots organization that has a track record of turning out reliably Democratic voters in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin. According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 55 percent of union members prefer to see the Democrats in control of Congress, compared to the general population, which is split down the middle.

While the Great Recession has further decimated labor’s shrinking ranks, which currently stands at 13 percent of the work force, union voters were a key voting bloc in some of the most highly contested races this year. The AFL-CIO—along with the Change to Win unions—launched an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign. In September alone, the labor federation mailed out 2.5 million pieces of campaign literature, targeting approximately 50 congressional and gubernatorial races.

Exit polling year after year shows that a union card is one of the strongest predictors of voting behavior, trumping race, educational background, and religiosity—identities that the GOP have masterfully manipulated since Richard Nixon first reached out to the silent majority in 1970. Labor had the job of not only getting its members to the polls but of, as liberal columnist Harold Meyerson writes, “…keeping the white working class from flooding into the Republican column.”

The question many embattled Democrats and labor leaders asked going into this election was: how would the rank-and-file respond?

GO HERE to read more.

Enjoy

This Is What A Tea Party Looks Like

However they felt about Barack Obama’s presidential campaign two years ago, activists on the Left agreed about one thing: any real gains to be made under an Obama presidency would depend on pressure from the grassroots after the voting was over. Unfortunately this consensus did not actually lead to such a mobilization. Major labor unions descended into embarrassing conflicts with each other instead of seriously fighting for labor law reform. Mass movements against war and for immigrant rights lost their ability to put people in the street, and the massive outpouring of democratic hopes that dealt the Republicans their soundest defeat in generations was channeled into little more than fundraising spam emails from DC. The first few months of the disappointing Obama administration could hardly surprise anyone familiar with the words of Frederick Douglass—lacking demand, power conceded very little indeed.

Meanwhile, the national debate around a package of minor adjustments to the country’s broken healthcare system brought an ugly plot twist to contemporary politics. It remained true that pressure and mobilization would shape the Obama’s legislative agenda—but the only political actor to show up in force for the fight was the Right.

GO HERE to read more.

G. Gordon Liddy: WikiLeaks Chief Deserves To Be On 'Kill List'

Former White House adviser: 'We're not playing games here'

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says his action "puts people's lives in danger," and U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., has called for his website to be declared a foreign terrorist organization, but radio host and former White House leaks-stuffer G. Gordon Liddy has a more severe step in mind for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: kill him.

"Julian Assange is a severe national security threat to the U.S., and that then leads to what to do about it," Liddy told WND. "This fellow Anwar al-Awlaki – a joint U.S. citizen hiding out in Yemen – is on a 'kill list' [for inciting terrorism against the U.S.]. Mr. Assange should be put on the same list."

"I'm not surprised that G. Gordon Liddy wants Julian Assange killed," commentator Bill Press told WND. "He admits he once tried to figure out how to kill journalist Jack Anderson. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think people should have to commit a crime and be convicted before getting the death penalty. And, so far, Assange has done neither. The best treatment for Julian Assange is to ignore him – and focus on who's leaking to him."

GO HERE to read more.

Camel Falls Into Crowd At Christmas Pageant

Joe,

I'm currently a college student in West Palm Beach, FL and last week attended a Christmas show which took a spin unlike any other I've been to. A camel used to carry one of the wise men fell into the aisle onto one of my roommates. Luckily, no one was injured but the story has caused quite a stir going viral on youtube. The local CBS news interviewed me yesterday. Check this out:

http://www.cbs12.com/articles/christmas-4730009-west-palm.html

Obama's Jewelry

Another piece falls into place.

In a press conference last week Obama was not wearing his wedding ring nor was he wearing his watch.

When noticed, his staff said his ring was out for repairs.

No reason was given for the missing watch.

So it’s just a coincidence that Muslims are forbidden from wearing jewelry during the month of Ramadan??? (think about that one)

Can't possibly be that, because although he hasn't gone to a Christian church service since entering the White House, we know he's a committed Christian 'cause he said so during the campaign.

Today"s Survey Question

Do you believe Madoff's son committed suicide?