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MERRY CHRISTMAS!-)

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Holidays /

Christmas

CHRISTMAS News:

20081224

Karl Rove

Federal

Christmas

Trade

Texas

"Top Bush Aides to Linger on High-Profile Boards." ... "The Christmas Eve appointments will allow them to serve far beyond [2009, January] Jan. 20, the end of [Republican President] Mr. Bush’s term in office." ... "Ms. [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice got a spot on the John F. Kennedy Center’s board of trustees until September 2014." ... "Mr. Bush’s gift to Mr. [Commerce Secretary Carlos M.] Gutierrez: membership on the board of trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a research institute in Washington. Joining Mr. Gutierrez as a trustee is Barry Jackson, a former deputy to Karl Rove, who serves as assistant to the president for strategic initiatives and external affairs." ... "Maria Cino, a longtime ally of the president who was deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation and helped run the 2008 Republican National Convention, received a four-year term on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. President Bush also extended the same courtesy to Israel Hernandez, who was once a personal aide to Mr. Bush in Texas and now serves as an assistant secretary of commerce and director general of the United States Commercial Service." ... "And the first lady, Laura Bush, appears to be taking care of her own, too. The president appointed her chief of staff, Anita B. McBride, to a three-year term on the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board." -By Michael Falcone with contributions by Sheryl Stolberg

-NYTimes

20081216

Corporate

Government

Christmas

Debt

History

Accounting

Politics

Homeowners

Auto

Military

Space

"Bailout payout tops $8 trillion." ... "As the holiday season commences, it’s worth taking stock of the last gift that [Republican] President George W. Bush and the 110th Congress have left for U.S. [United States] taxpayers." ... "It’s a package of about $8.7 trillion dollars’ worth of potential taxpayer commitments for loans, guarantees and other bailout goodies for businesses and distressed homeowners." ... "Amid the tissue paper:" ... "• More than $1.5 trillion in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. [Corporation] loan guarantees, including a $139 billion assist to the lending arm of General Electric Corp." ... "• $1.8 trillion in cash, tax breaks and loan guarantees doled out from the Treasury Department to taxpayers, financial institutions and credit companies." ... "• $300 billion for homeowners from the Federal Housing Authority." ... "• $25 billion in assistance for auto companies from a program overseen by the Energy Department, which is separate from the bailout proposal that tanked last week in the Senate." ... "• And $5 trillion worth of new money, loan guarantees and loosened lending requirements from the Federal Reserve Bank." ... "According to Bianco Research President James Bianco, who crunched these numbers, that amounts to more government aid and assistance than nine other historic bailouts and big government outlays combined." ... "The New Deal, for instance, cost an estimated $32 billion in its day, which would be about $500 billion in today’s dollars. The Marshall Plan cost about $12.7 billion, which is the equivalent of a paltry $115.3 billion. The Louisiana Purchase? The French got $15 million, which would be worth about $217 billion today." ... "If you take those three items, add in the adjusted costs of the Race to the Moon, the savings and loan crisis, the Korean War, the Iraq war, the Vietnam War and assistance for NASA [National Aeronautics and Space Administration ], you still get to just $3.92 trillion — not even half of the taxpayers’ exposure today, according to Bianco." -By Jeanne Cummings

-Politico.com via -AP

20081212

Christmas

Children

Consumer

History

Sacramento - California

"Christmas bleak for KB Toys as it files Chapter 11." ... "The toy retailer filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday just two weeks before Christmas and announced plans to immediately liquidate its stores, including all four in the Sacramento [California's capital] area." ... ""It's sad that all of these companies are going out of business," said Gina Quivan of Sacramento after a day of Christmas shopping with husband Justin Vasquez and their three children. Vasquez carried a large bag of toys stamped with the KB Toys logo." ... "KB Toys now joins a growing list of household names tacking up going-out-of-business signs, from Linens 'n Things to Mervyns to Circuit City and Shoe Pavilion. That a toy retailer failed just before Christmas shows how bleak things have become." ... "Retail sales are at their worst in 35 years, and three in five people say they'll spend less money over the next 90 days, according to a survey of consumer spending released Thursday by Maryland-based researcher ChangeWave." ... "The 86-year-old company decided the most viable way to cover its debt was to liquidate its stores via immediate going-out-of-business sales." -By Darrell Smith

-SacBee.com

20081211

Auto

Manufacturing

Politics

Jobs

Economic

History

Christmas

Consumer

China

"Senate Republicans Determined to Cause a Depression by Destroying Big 3." ... "Looks like the Senate Republicans are serious about killing the auto deal. Here's the bottom line, if GM [General Motors] goes down, it will take Ford and Chrysler with it, because the three of them share suppliers. Losing GM's business will put most of them into the red. 80% of American consumers will not buy a car from a company in bankruptcy, so the idea that going bankrupt is the solution to the auto companies woes is nonsense." ... "What comes out of any bankruptcy, even if they have the names GM, Ford and Chrysler, will be a shadow of what went into bankruptcy—assuming anything comes out at all. More likely would be that big chunks would be gobbled up by foreign car companies, especially by the Chinese, who want expertise, but not to make cars in the US [United States]." ... "We can expect, then, to lose most o f the three million jobs related to the auto industry if the Big 2 1/2 go under. To put this in perspective, in the last year the US has lost 2.7 million jobs. This would be more than the job losses for an entire (lousy) year. The US lost half a million jobs last month, and almost every economic forecaster expects the US to lose even more jobs in January, when retailers go fish-belly up due to an abysmal Christmas retail season." ... "Economic contractions of this sort are self-reinforcing. The more people who lose their jobs, the less consumer spending there is. The less consumer spending there is, the less money businesses make. The less money businesses make, the more they have to lay off people. The more people who lose their jobs, the less consumer spending there is. The less... but why go on, you get the point." ... "The cascading financial and economic effect will make the oncoming economic storm far, far worse. If 700 billion was ok to use to save Wall Street, whose business model was probably even worse than Detroit's (add up their losses and most of Wall Street didn't actually make any money for the last ten years), then 15 or 25 billion to save Detroit is peanuts." ... "Or we can make sure this turns into a Depression. Guess the Republicans playing Scrooge this Christmas prefer that." -By Ian Welsh

-FireDogLake.com

20080107

John Edwards - New Hampshire - Iowa - North Carolina - California - Teenager - Health - Company - Drug - Christmas - Working - People - 2008 Election - "Underdog Edwards says he won't give up the fight for the White House." ... "The former senator from North Carolina [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards] sought to bring added emotional wallop to his message before Tuesday's primary by campaigning with the family of a Northridge [California] teenager who died after her insurance company delayed approval for a liver transplant." ... "The newest participants in the Edwards campaign were the Sarkisyans of the San Fernando Valley [California], whose 17-year-old daughter, Nataline, died just before Christmas of complications from leukemia. After much debate, the family's insurance company had approved a liver transplant, but she died hours later." ... ""When I talk about what insurance companies and drug companies are doing to America, this is what I mean," Edwards said to a crowd of about 500 in Manchester [New Hampshire], where some were moved to tears by the family's story. "This has real effects on real people's lives."" ... "Grigor Sarkisyan told the audience how he had promised to buy his daughter a white car after she got out of the hospital, but had to buy a white coffin instead. He said he thought he had done everything he was supposed to as a father: working hard, supporting his family and buying health insurance he thought would take care of them if they got sick." ... "His wife, Hilda Sarkisyan, had heard Edwards' speech Thursday after his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and called the candidate's campaign. The family arrived in New Hampshire on Sunday morning." ... "The couple urged voters to support Edwards, saying he is the lone candidate who will fight for Americans against such powerful interests as insurance companies." ... ""They cannot tell us who's going to live and who's going to die," Hilda Sarkisyan said." -By Seema Mehta and James Rainey -LAtimes

20071226

Secret - Torture - Terrorism - Government - Detainee - Intelligence - Law- Virginia - Christmas - "Senate meets briefly to block Bush." ... "The House was quiet as a mouse the day after Christmas. But across the Capitol, the [Democratic controlled] Senate was operating in an unusually efficient manner in its ongoing power struggle with [Republican] President Bush." ... "A nine-second session gaveled in and out by [Virginia Democratic Senator] Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.[Democratic-Virginia], prevented Bush from appointing as an assistant attorney general a nominee roundly rejected by majority Democrats. Without the pro forma session, the Senate would be technically adjourned, allowing the president to install officials without Senate confirmation." ... "Democrats wanted to block one such recess appointment in particular: Steven Bradbury, acting chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Counsel. Bush nominated Bradbury for the job and asked the Senate to remove the "acting" in his title." ... "Democrats would have none of it, complaining Bradbury had signed two secret memos in 2005 saying it was OK for the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] to use harsh interrogation techniques — some call it torture — on terrorism detainees." -By Laurie Kellman -AP via -Yahoo

20071222

Families - Poverty - Agriculture - Christmas-Holidays - Thanksgiving - Gasoline - Households - Money - People - "Food Bank Shelves Going Bare At Holidays: High Living Costs Hurting Donations, While Increasing Demand By Needy Families." ... "The reports from across the country are dismaying: Food pantries are running short and cannot meet the needs of all those seeking help." ... "In the Department of Agriculture's most recent study of hunger in America, released in November, more than 35.5 million Americans, including 12.6 million children, were found to have "low" or "very low food security" (defined as households where hunger was prevalent, where there was not enough money to buy adequate food supplies, where food purchased did not last, or where family members had to cut down or skip meals - sometimes not eating for a day or longer)." ... "That's roughly 1 in 9 households. And the numbers are rising from last year." ... "Everywhere, people are feeling the crunch of rising gasoline and grocery prices, as well as utility bills, rent and mortgage payments." ... "Those factors also are cutting into people's ability to donate to food banks for others in need." ... "At Thanksgiving, the [America's Second Harvest] organization estimated that food banks nationally were short a total of 15 million pounds of food, or roughly 11.7 million meals. " -AP via -CBSNews

20071211

US - Iraq - Military - Police - Terrorism - Politics - Christmas - "Christians in Basra told not to celebrate to protest 2 deaths." ... "The Christian archbishop of Basra on Tuesday canceled the celebration of Christmas in that southern city to protest the deaths of a brother and sister, both Christians, as bombings and mayhem struck at cities throughout Iraq." ... "Archbishop Imad al Banna said Christians in Basra should still pray to mark Christmas, but should forgo such celebratory trappings as trees, gift-swapping and family gatherings to protest the deaths of Maysoon Farid, a 30-year-old cashier at a local pharmacy, and her brother Osama, 33. The two were found dead Monday night, dumped in a neighborhood controlled by the Shiite Muslim Mahdi Army militia." ... "Meanwhile, two police officers in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] were killed by a car bomb that struck near the homes of two prominent politicians, while south of Fallujah, in the west, family members mourned a 9-year-old girl who they said was killed by U.S. troops." -By Leila Fadel and Ali al Basri with contributions by Hussein Kadhim in Baghdad and Jamal al Dulaimy -McClatchy

20071201

Secret - Rudy Giuliani - Cops - Car - Family - Travel - Gas - Account - New York - Pennsylvania - Christmas - 2008 Election - "City taxpayers picked up tab for Judith Giuliani's visit to kin in Pennsylvania." ... "In the fall of 2001, [New York City, New York] city cops chauffeured [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's then-mistress, Judith Nathan, to her parents' Pennsylvania home 130 miles away on the taxpayers' dime." ... "Records show that city cops refueled at an ExxonMobil station down the road from Nathan's childhood home in Hazleton on Oct. 20, 2001, while Giuliani stayed behind in New York attending 9/11 funerals." ... "A similar receipt pops up at a different Hazleton gas station two months later, when Nathan apparently went home for a pre-Christmas visit with her parents." ... "The records show that - in addition to using [New York] City Hall funds to take Giuliani and Nathan to 11 secret trysts in the Hamptons, as has been previously reported - taxpayers were paying to ferry Nathan on long-distance trips without Giuliani, now a Republican contender for President." ... "The expenses were all paid with a City Hall American Express card funded with money from mayoral office units that had nothing to do with travel or security." -By Michael Saul and David Saltonstall -NYDailyNews.com

20071114

Money - Politics - School - Healthcare - US - Iraq - Afghanistan - Military - Christmas - National_Debt - Maryland - "Bush vetoes domestic spending bill: His first rejection of an appropriations measure steps up his budget battle with congressional Democrats, who deride as hypocritical his complaints about the price tag." ... "Intensifying his battle with Congress over federal spending, [Republican] President Bush on Tuesday vetoed an appropriations bill for the first time, rejecting $150.7 billion in spending for school aid, healthcare and other domestic programs." ... "But as he complained about the cost of that bill, which would have increased spending on these programs by 4.3% over last year, Bush signed a $471-billion defense appropriations bill that pushed up military spending by more than 9.5%." ... "And he urged Congress to quickly appropriate $196 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." ... ""Congress' responsibility is clear: It should not go home for the Christmas holidays without giving our troops on the front lines the funds they need to succeed," Bush told business leaders in southern Indiana after excoriating Democrats for mismanaging the federal budget." ... "The president's veto and his complaints were greeted with derision by congressional Democrats, who were quick to point out Bush's six-year record of approving unbalanced budgets passed by Republican Congresses." ... ""It is patently absurd that President Bush, whose irresponsible policies instigated record budget deficits and added more than $3 trillion to the national debt, now wants to pretend that he is somehow an exemplar of fiscal responsibility," said House Majority Leader [and Maryland Democratic Representative] Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.)." (1, 2) -By Noam N. Levey and James Gerstenzang -LAtimes

20071107

Children - Safety - Science - US - Australia - Canada - China - Manufacture - Industry - Christmas - "'Date rape' drug scare in popular toy: Chinese-made craft beads pulled from shelves in U.S. and Australia." ... "A toy that has been hyped on top-10 lists for the Christmas season has been pulled from the shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found it contains a chemical that converts into a powerful "date rape" drug when ingested." ... "Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the Chinese-made craft beads, called Aqua Dots in the U.S. and Bindeez in Australia." ... "Aqua Dots, distributed by Toronto[Canada]-based Spin Master Toys, appeared on many toy experts' list of must-have holiday toys." ... "Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. The compound -- made from common and easily available ingredients -- can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death." ... "The toys' manufacturer, Australia-based Moose Enterprises, said Bindeez and Aqua Dots are made at the same factory in Shenzhen in China's southern Guangdong province." -AP via -SeattlePI

20071028

India - US - Child - Labor - Factory - Christmas - Clothing - "Indian 'slave' children found making low-cost clothes destined for Gap." ... "Child workers [in India], some as young as 10, have been found working in a textile factory in conditions close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for Gap Kids, one of the most successful arms of the high street giant." ... "Speaking to The Observer, the children described long hours of unwaged work, as well as threats and beatings." ... "Gap said it was unaware that clothing intended for the Christmas market had been improperly subcontracted to a sweatshop using child labour. It announced it had withdrawn the garments involved while it investigated breaches of the ethical code imposed by it three years ago." ... "The discovery of the children working in filthy conditions in the Shahpur Jat area of Delhi [India] has renewed concerns about the outsourcing by large retail chains of their garment production to India, recognised by the United Nations as the world's capital for child labour." ... "According to one estimate, more than 20 per cent of India's economy is dependent on children, the equivalent of 55 million youngsters under 14." -By Dan McDougall -Observer.co.uk via -Guardian.co.uk

20061225

US - Iraq - Christmas - "In Baghdad, a Christmas patrol." ... "The sun was just beginning to rise, bringing a dim glow on a cold and clear Christmas morning in Baghdad, but the U.S. Army mission was late." ... "The Stryker armored vehicles were supposed to have rolled from Forward Operating Base Loyalty 11 minutes ago, at 6:30 a.m., yet soldiers were still milling about outside the green machines, shivering in bulletproof jackets and Kevlar helmets." ... "Christmas was another working day for many in the battalion, heading out to cordon off a dangerous section of eastern Baghdad and go house to house searching for insurgents, weapons and bomb-making materials." ... "But the holiday - and thoughts of friends and family back home - never left their minds." -By Will Weissert -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource

20051224

Christmas - Consumer - "Last-minute shoppers flock to stores on Christmas Eve." ... "Shoppers — some holding out for the best deals, others just not inspired to shop earlier — headed for the nation's malls and stores for last-minute gifts and gift cards on Saturday, the day before Christmas." ... "With shoppers delaying their holiday shopping even longer than last year, merchants are depending even more on the final hours before Christmas and post-holiday business to salvage the season. The exceptions have been online shopping, sellers of consumer electronics, and luxury stores, which have continued to generate strong gains." ... "The good news this year, analysts said, is that many retailers haven't reacted with a frenzy of bargains beyond what was in their strategy, recognizing that there is a second shopping season after Dec. 25." -By Anne D'Innocenzio with contributions by Brian Witte -APvia -StarTribune
Palestine - Israel - Religion - Christmas - "Christmas Spirit Returns to Bethlehem." ... "Holiday spirit returned to Bethlehem [West Bank] on Saturday for the first time in six years as hundreds of pilgrims from around the world packed the town of Jesus' birth for Christmas Eve celebrations." ... "More than 30,000 people were expected to flock to Bethlehem in what would be the largest turnout since fighting erupted in September 2000." ... "Israel's summer withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a sharp drop in violence this year contributed to the joyful atmosphere, which buoyed the spirits of Bethlehem residents and tourists visiting the festively decorated town." (1, 2) -By Sarah El Deeb -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20051223

Palestine - Israel - Religion - Christmas - "Isolated Bethlehem struggles for its survival." ... "In a street below the Church of the Nativity this week, three Palestinians were wrestling with a gigantic blow-up Santa Claus as they attempted to add a touch of seasonal cheer to a town that feels itself increasingly cut off from the outside world." ... "Since Christmas 2004, Israel has completed an eight-metre high concrete separation barrier between Bethlehem and neighbouring Jerusalem and recently opened a $7.5m crossing point that resembles an international frontier." ... "Most residents of Bethlehem, which is just inside the West Bank, are no longer allowed to travel to Jerusalem, although the army is making an exception this Christmas for Christian Palestinians wishing to visit relatives in Israel." -By Harvey Morris -FT.com

Christmas is when Christians traditionally celebrate Jesus Christ's birth.

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20051222

Religion - Christmas - History - "Christmas and Hanukkah have fallen on the same day only 4 times in the past 100 years." ... "When traditions overlap Interfaith families face the dilemma of how to celebrate with respect, understanding." ... "For this first time since 1959, Christmas and the first night of Hanukkah fall on the same day." ... "The number of families trying to respect two religions is growing. According to the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01, 47 percent of Jews who wed since 1996 have married people of other faiths." -By Barbara Karkabi -HoustonChronicle.com

20051207

Christmas - Religion - "'Holiday' Cards Ring Hollow for Some on Bushes' List." ... "What's missing from the White House Christmas card? Christmas." ... "This month, as in every December since he took office, President Bush sent out cards with a generic end-of-the-year message, wishing 1.4 million of his close friends and supporters a happy "holiday season."" ... "Religious conservatives are miffed because they have been pressuring stores to advertise Christmas sales rather than "holiday specials" and urging schools to let students out for Christmas vacation rather than for "winter break." They celebrated when House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) insisted that the sparkling spectacle on the Capitol lawn should be called the Capitol Christmas Tree, not a holiday spruce." ... "Then along comes a generic season's greeting from the White House, paid for by the Republican National Committee. The cover art is also secular, if not humanist: It shows the presidential pets -- two dogs and a cat -- frolicking on a snowy White House lawn." (1, 2) -By Alan Cooperman-WashingtonPost

20051206

Christmas - "Some megachurches closing for Christmas." ... "This Christmas, no prayers will be said in several megachurches around the country. Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when churches normally host thousands for worship, pastors are canceling services, anticipating low attendance on what they call a family day." ... "The churches closing on Christmas plan multiple services in the days leading up to the holiday, including on Christmas Eve. Most normally do not hold Christmas Day services, preferring instead to mark the holiday in the days and night before. However, Sunday worship has been a Christian practice since ancient times." -By Rachel Zoll -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Christmas - Stem Cells - Parents - "With love at Christmas - a set of stem cells." ... "Christmas shopping for the unborn baby has never been easy. However, stem cell technology may have brought what is possibly this year's most original gift. For a mere £1,250, it is possible to harvest stem cells from the umbilical cord at birth and store them frozen for up to 25 years." ... ""Stem cells are not just for life - they're for Christmas," said Shamshad Ahmed, managing director of Smart Cells International, a company offering stem cell gift certificates as a new line this year." -By John Carvel -Guardian.co.uk

20051205

Christmas - Family - Religious - TV - Entertainment - Business - History - "The Christmas classic that almost wasn't." ... "When CBS bigwigs saw a rough cut of A Charlie Brown Christmas in November 1965, they hated it." ... ""They said it was slow," executive producer Lee Mendelson remembers with a laugh. There were concerns that the show was almost defiantly different: There was no laugh track, real children provided the voices, and there was a swinging score by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi." ... "Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez fretted about the insistence by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz that his first-ever TV spinoff end with a reading of the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke by a lisping little boy named Linus." ... "The first broadcast was watched by almost 50% of the nation's viewers." ... "And when the program airs today at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, it will mark its 40th anniversary — a run that has made it a staple of family holiday traditions and an icon of American pop culture. The show won an Emmy and a Peabody award and began a string of more than two dozen Peanuts specials." -By Bill Nichols -USATODAY

20051204

Christmas - Plants - Business - "We’re buying trees via Internet, catalog." ... "A growing number of American families are buying real Christmas trees via the Internet or by mail order — this year, an estimated 330,000 people will make their tree selections after gazing at computer screens or paging through catalogs, the National Christmas Tree Association says." ... "That’s barely a blip on the holiday radar when compared with the 27.1 million real Christmas trees sold last year at chain stores, through nonprofit groups, from retail lots, harvested for a price from choose-and-cut farms or by permit from public lands." -By Dean Fosdick -AP via -QCTimes

20051203

UK - Christmas - Business - "One of first Christmas cards is sold at auction." ... "A 162-year-old Christmas card — one of the first ever printed — sold at auction Saturday for $16,000." ... "The hand-colored card, which shows a family celebrating around a table, is one of about 10 surviving from an original batch of 1,000 printed in 1843, auctioneer Henry Aldridge said." ... "The cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, a Londoner who is generally recognized as the inventor of the commercial Christmas card. " -AP via -USATODAY

20031223

- - "Where Christmas trees will stay up until April: One Army town's bittersweet celebration." ... "The past nine months have been difficult for families of soldiers at Fort Carson, an Army post south of Colorado Springs. About 11,000 troops were deployed from Fort Carson to Iraq in April. Most aren't expected to return until spring." ... "In many homes, Christmas trees will stay up through the spring, with packages underneath for returning soldiers and their stockings full and dangling from mantles." -By Jeremy Meyer -CSMonitor
- - "China Cracks Down on Unofficial Worship: China Promotes Christmas Commerce While Cracking Down on Unofficial Worship, Detaining Activists." ... "The Christmas carol "Deck the Halls" blares over the speakers of the warehouse store as the toddler lunges for a plastic Santa. His mother grabs him by the seat of his pants and hauls him back." ... "It's a classic Christmas shopping moment in the unlikely setting of central China though one that is becoming more common as Chinese, few of whom are Christians, adopt the holiday as a festive time to shop." ... "But for members of China's unofficial Christian congregations, this is a season of fear as communist authorities crack down on unauthorized worship, detaining activists and bulldozing churches." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20031222

"Last Christmas Shopping Weekend Disappoints." ... "The critical last weekend before Christmas didn't deliver the sale bonanza merchants were hoping for, with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT, news) announcing that last-minute buying showed "some improvement" but wasn't enough to offset weak business in the early part of the month." ... "In the past few years, the Saturday before Christmas has been the busiest day of the season. Last year, the Monday before Christmas was the second-biggest sales day." -AP via -Quicken.com

20031220

- - Christmas News - "Spanish PM Aznar Makes Christmas Trip to Iraq." ... "Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar made a lightning trip to Iraq Saturday to express his support for Spanish troops just ahead of the Christmas holiday." ... "Despite strong opposition to the U.S.-led war among the Spanish public, Spain has 1,300 soldiers in Iraq." -Reuters

20031217

- - - "Christmas boxes bring Afghan mob scene." ... "Attempts by Canadians to hand out almost 2,000 Christmas gift boxes to impoverished Afghan children Wednesday turned into a melee as some of their parents beat back the young people trying to reach the presents and soldiers had to stop them." ... "A Canadian Forces truck was quickly surrounded by hundreds of children as it arrived at a hillside camp in Kabul, where internally displaced people (IDPs, as they are known by the military) live destitute lives in makeshift housing." -GlobeAndMail
- - "Groups Around the Nation Re-enact the Wright Brothers' First Flight." ... "One hundred years ago, a telegram arrived in Dayton, Ohio, at the home of the Rev. Milton Wright." ... ""Success four flights thursday [sic] morning all against twenty one mile wind," it began. "longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas." It was signed with the misspelled name of Orville Wright." ... "It makes history's first airplane flight sound almost easy — as if the Wright Flyer had leapt into the air. But in fact, the Wrights crept forward. The first flight was only 120 feet, and the plane broke several struts when it landed." -By Ned Potter -ABCNEWS.com

20031207

- Water - "Powerful storm buries Northeast in foot of snow." ... "The finale of a powerful, two-day storm roared across the New York metropolitan area and played out over the Northeast yesterday, burying parts of the region in a foot of snow that set records, slowed travel, challenged Christmas shoppers and transformed the landscape into vistas as uncluttered as early maps of America." ... "The snowstorm, a 450-mile-wide galaxy swirling counterclockwise on satellite pictures and a thing of awesome beauty on the ground, was the biggest on record for early December in New York, and it packed the wallop of heavy-duty winter blows more typical of January and February." -NYTimes and -AP via -SeattleTimes.NWsource

Christmas 2002
20021227

OPINION - "Jack Whittaker Caps The Year Of The Scam." ... "... Whitaker, the West Virginia man who won "$314.9 million" in the Powerball lottery on Christmas day, is now most known for his participation in a long-running, ever growing scam: the state lotteries." ... "First, the jackpot is not $314.9 million--that's what it would be if paid out over 30 years. Whittaker opted for a single lump sum payment of $170.5 million. That number gets reported, too, but it seems to get buried." ... "State lotteries are a sucker bet. They typically return about 55% of the money wagered. That's much less than a casino or a racetrack. The various lotteries admit it, but it's reported much less often than stories about winners, a staple on the local news. No one ever publicizes the millions of losers, but they're out there. You have to be in it to lose it." -By Dan Ackman -Forbes

20021226

"55-Year-Old Man Wins $314.9M Powerball: 55-Year-Old Contractor Is Sole Winner of $314.9 Million Powerball Jackpot." ... "A 55-year-old contractor won the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot, the largest single lottery jackpot in history, lottery officials said Thursday." ... "Andrew Jackson Whittaker Jr., opted to take the lump sum of more than $111 million after taxes, Lottery spokeswoman Nancy Bulla said." ... "The ticket for the Christmas night drawing was purchased Monday at the C&L Super Serve in Hurricane [West Virginia], 25 miles west of Charleston, officials of the multistate lottery said." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20021225
Christmas Day 2002

"Anticipation builds for Christmas Powerball drawing: An estimated $280 million is on the line." ... "One of the hottest stocking stuffers this Christmas may provide an extremely enriching holiday season for at least one lucky recipient." ... "With an estimated value of $280 million, the Powerball lottery jackpot -- the fifth largest lottery payoff in the world -- was attracting plenty of attention as a last-minute gift ahead of the Christmas night drawing." -AP via -CNN
"Christmas under tight security." ... "Christians in many parts of the world are celebrating Christmas this year under tight security, following the recent devastating attacks by Islamist militants in Indonesia and Kenya." ... "There has been particularly strong tension in Pakistan, after the authorities discovered grenades and ammunition close to a big church in the capital, Islamabad." -BBC/News
- "'Saddest Christmas Ever' in Bethlehem." ... "Palestinians marked what some called the saddest Christmas ever in the biblical city of Bethlehem, walking to Mass through cold rainy streets bereft of holiday cheer after weeks of Israeli military occupation." ... "Hundreds of Palestinians and a few hardy tourists and pilgrims attended Christmas Day services in the ancient Church of the Nativity, the reputed site of Jesus's birth, but found little joy from an Israeli army pullback for the occasion." -By Mark Heinrich -Reuters

20021224
Christmas Eve 2002

- "At Christmas Mass in Baghdad, worshippers offer special prayers for peace." ... "More than 100 Christians and peace activists gathered at a Catholic church in Iraq's capital for Christmas Eve Mass Tuesday, offering special prayers that war can be avoided." ... "Christians represent about 5 percent of Iraq's 22 million population and live mainly in Baghdad and the north. Iraq is predominantly Muslim and officially secular." -By Nadia Abou El Magd -AP via -SFGate.com

"Eleven deaths blamed on winter storm." ... "A storm system blamed for at least 11 deaths moved across the Plains on a path toward the Northeast Tuesday, leaving up to a foot of snow across parts of Oklahoma and making travel hazardous in the Missouri Ozarks on the day before Christmas." ... "Winter storm warnings and advisories were in effect Tuesday from the mountains of New Mexico to Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia., and snow was likely on Christmas Day in northern New Jersey, southeastern New York and southern New England, the National Weather Service said." -AP via -CNN

20021223

"Asia adopts Christmas." ... "Somewhere on the journey to becoming the world's biggest exporter of Christmas toys, China started importing yule for itself." ... "Christmas wreaths and lighted trees, white-foam snowmen and special dinners, as well as an ethos of "jingle-bell cool" are wafting in on the wings of global culture, bringing a holiday atmosphere to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou." ... "Throughout Asia, in fact, Western holidays have become chic, both for their commercial potential and because new generations think the act of decorating and celebrating is fun and different. Not only Christmas, but Valentine's Day, Father's Day and Mother's Day, Thanksgiving and Halloween, are finding a Pacific niche - where five years ago there was none." -By Robert Marquand -CSMonitor/buy

20021218

- - Christmas News - - "When a 'Christmas Truce' put war on back burner." ... "Christmas came to the battlefield in "the Great War to end all wars," and that story became the stuff of legend." ... "The History Channel tells what happened when British and German soldiers laid down their arms to meet in a No Man's Land strewn with the bodies of their fallen comrades. Never before --and never again, probably -- was there ever such a celebration as The Christmas Truce." -By Ann Hodges -HoustonChronicle.com

Search Google: <"The Christmas Truce">

20021217

"Chain Stores Take on Christmas Trees." ... "Operating a roadside Christmas tree stand has never been a huge moneymaker, and now that the big boys have moved into the market it's even tougher." ... "The National Christmas Tree Association says 17 percent of the roughly 30 million Christmas trees sold last year were at large chain stores, such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's and Target. That's up from 14 percent in 2000 - the first year the association began tracking sales at chain stores - and came even as the overall market shrank a bit." -By Clarke Canfield -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
RealChristmasTrees.org - "National Christmas Tree Association."

- "The gift of virus: In the spirit of the holiday season, a tale of one man who clicked too soon but discovered that missent e-mail can still lead to a wonderful life." ... "This holiday season, when thoughts turn to family and friends, we are all perhaps a little more trusting, and maybe a little more gullible. This is not necessarily a bad thing. That's my one excuse for falling prey to a software virus that disguises itself as an e-card." -By Nick Altebrando -Salon

20021216

- "Joyless Christmas in Holy Land." ... "Known as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem is epicenter for Christians in the holiday season. But the mood could not be further from the traditional spirit of Christmas. After more than two years of surging Israeli-Palestinian violence, fear and despair hang heavy over the West Bank town." ... "Christmas festivities, which before the 26-month-old Palestinian intifada used to bring in thousands of pilgrims and tourists a day, as well as tens of millions of dollars in revenue, have been canceled." ... "Only the midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, which was built in the 4th century A.D. to mark the spot where tradition holds that Jesus was born, will go ahead as planned. But few people are expected to attend, given curfew restrictions." -By Jim Maceda -MS NBC

20021009

-West Coast Port Lockout - "Dock backlog likely to hit Christmas sales: Intervention by Bush will get ports moving again, but return to normal is uncertain." ... "At least four weeks of loading and unloading backlog still lie ahead, after which the movement of goods will still be crimped. The amount of available dock space, and the number of containers, ships, and personnel to process goods are all in question." ... "The result, for the short term of five weeks, will continue to be the stranding of both perishable foodstuffs as well as goods destined for those markets with very specific windows of salability." -By Daniel B. Wood -CSMonitor/buy

20021008

- -West Coast Port Lockout - "Port Lockout Left Cargo Stranded." ... "The current port shutdown occurred in a critical month, October, when imports are generally at their highest as American retailers rush to obtain deliveries for the all-important Christmas sales season. The October-December period normally accounts for 40 percent of retailers' annual sales." ... "The West Coast ports, which handle more than $300 billion in trade annually, account for more than half of all containerized cargo moving in and out of the country, reflecting the burgeoning trade with Pacific Rim countries." -By Martin Crutsinger -AP via -Newsday.com

RealChristmasTrees.org - "National Christmas Tree Association."

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