On this day in 1908 Otto Zachow and William Besserdich of Clintonville, Wisconsin, received a patent for their four-wheel braking system, the prototype of all modern braking systems. You can read more from this link to a Fedruary 28, 1938 Time magazine.

QoD: “I’d like to get away from earth awhile: And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me: And half grant what I wish and snatch me away:
Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love: I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.
I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree~And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going and coming back. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.” – Robert Frost, Birches.

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For those of you still reading the internet on this fourth day of Christmas, here are four links (plus a bonus):

• FRC’s own Tom McClusky takes part in NRO’s symposium on the good, bad, and ugly of politics in 2006.
• Gregory Lopes of The Washington Times looks at how in some places work is making way for family life.
• At Human Events, Dennis Prager discusses how The Culture War Is About the Authority of a Book.
• Finally, in a move that echoes the legalization of roadkill by some states, the FDA has approved the consumption of meat and milk from cloned animals.

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Today could officially be called Geek Day, so many things happened of the nerd variety:

For the pocket protector set there are a number of events surrounding today. For those whose nerdiness leans toward the math side (and those without a pocket protector there is no need to worry, because on this day in 1849 M Jolly-Bellin discovered dry-cleaning by accidentally upsetting a lamp containing turpentine and oil on his clothing and saw the cleaning effect.) The white coats born this day include Arthur Eddington (1882, astrophysicist/mathematician), John Von Neumann (1903, mathematician/astronomer), Clabon W. Allen (1904, astronomer), and Maarten Schmidt (1929, astronomer who discovered first quasar), Paul Horowitz (1942, physicist.) For the less bookish geeks, unless we are talking comic books, on this day in 1922 Stan Lee the creator of such comic icons as Spider-Man, X-Men and the Incredible Hulk was born. Two years later in 1924, host and the man behind the Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, Rod Serling was born. In either 1933 or 1936 Nichelle Nichols, Uhuru on the original Star Trek was born. And definitely in 1934 Dame Maggie Smith, Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films and Thetis in Clash of the Titans, was born in Ilford, England. Other random but connected events on this day include the death of Dutch astronomer Albert Pigge in 1542, the patenting of chewing gum by William Finley Semple in 1869, the world’s first commercial screening of a film at the Grand Cafe in Paris in 1895, the announcement in 1948 of a U.S. study looking into launching an Earth satellite and the birth of the first American test tube baby in 1981.

QoD: “When a friend calls to me from the road, And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around, On all the hills I haven’t hoed, And shout from where I am, ‘What is it?’, No, not as there is a time talk. I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall, And plod: I go up to the stone wall, For a friendly visit.” – Robert Frost, A Time to Talk

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I highly recommend reading “The Great Stem Cell Error,” an oped by Tom Bethell in The American Spectator. He makes some excellent points about the hype over embryonic stem cell research. I could summarize a few of the key points, but won’t. Instead, read it!

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As many of us get ready to leave to celebrate Christmas with our families, let us end on a high note with some inspirational Christmas stories from this year (For the three people who have missed it, This Day in History/Quote of the Day will return when I do next week.)

First off let us look at Santa’s helpers who work on his behalf in all the malls. A recent survey found that 90 percent say they get their beards pulled daily; About half nearly lose their glasses from clutchy kids every shift; Some 60 percent are sneezed or coughed on up to 10 times a day; About a third have been wet on and more than half say they get their boots stepped on as many as 10 times a day. Despite all this the survey, commissioned by Auntie Anne’s pretzel shops, revealed that Santa’s love their jobs.

“Everybody comes in a good mood and that puts me in a good mood,” said Steve Macarus, 39, of Elgin, who was playing Santa at Navy Pier on Wednesday. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had,” said Johnson, a retired printer. “There’s no, ‘Aw, do I have to go to work today?’ I look forward to it.”

The only number from the survey I have a dispute with is:

Some 75 percent of kids say they’ve been good all year, the survey reported.

Now going to Vermont and a story that we hear a version of every year. A good hearted soul in Barre, VT put a coin from 1908 that is potentially worth up to $14,000 into one of the Salvation Army’s red kettles. You can donate any type of coin you want to the Red Cross here.

From Maine comes the story of how for “15 years, the Worcester Wreath Co. in Harrington has been taking Christmas wreaths to the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., to decorate the graves of fallen U.S. soldiers and sailors. A burst of publicity this year came with two developments. First, instead of just focusing on the Arlington cemetery, the company started what it calls “Wreaths Across America” and sent six wreaths each to 230 state and national cemeteries in the 50 states and Puerto Rico. The expansion was the bright idea of Karen Worcester, who with her husband, Merrill Worcester owns and runs the company.” The picture on the blog is from their current laying of the wreaths.

Finally for any last minute shoppers with $18,920.59 to spare might I suggest you pick up the Twelve Days of Christmas? Every year PNC tabulates the cost and this year saw it getting close to the $19 thousand mark:

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(With gruvvulous apologies to Dr. Seuss)

Every American
in America
Liked Christmas a lot…

But Barry Lynn,
Who worked against religion,
Did NOT!

Barry Lynn hated Christmas!
But especially the whole Christmas reason!
I’m not sure why. Perhaps he saw worshiping the Son of God akin to treason.
But he was not alone, not at all, in his ridiculous fight.
The ACLU and People for the (Un)American Way also saw Christmas as a terrible blight.

Every December these groups would sue and sue, spending every red cent
On a misguided and twisted definition of the Constitution’s first Amendment!!
They didn’t like religious Christmas carols!!
Or a child distributing a candy cane!!
They hated Poinsettias and Christmas trees!!
They would find activist judges to cause all great pain!!
They hated a lot, for all of their days, mentioning Christ made them mean!!
And God forbid (yes they hated that phrase) you displayed a Nativity scene!!

One Christmas season they stole all the creches, the stockings and mistletoe
They stole all the carols, even the First Noel!!
They stole all the trees!! They stole all the presents!!
They laughed out in glee: “We will show these religious peasants!!”

So Christmas morning came and the liberals hoped it would just be like any other day
But, no, for you see America . . . they celebrated anyway!!
The Left was foiled once again – what could have gone wrong?
People were praying!! And worshiping with song!!
“Joy to the World,” “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger”!!
All sung in worship!! Was the Left’s assault on Christmas finally in danger??

The ACLU and Barry and Ralph – they just didn’t understand
It wasn’t the trappings that were important, but God being born to man
But the people, they knew, as did every Founding Father
Religion strengthens our nation, and is far from a bother.

The Founders recognized this, from when they first landed on America’s shore
That Christ . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!
It is OK to have “Christmas trees” and a nativity scene

Judges can not stop it, nor could even Howard Dean.
So I say to you, without trepidation or fear
May you have a Merry CHRISTMAS and a blessed New Year!!

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In Baghdad, the blackened cars outside churches and abandoned houses where people once worshiped point to an even greater emptiness in Iraq. Since the war, Christians have faced great persecution and hardship, all signaling a new era in a country that was once the cradle of their faith. While it may be home to the ancient cities of Ninevah and Babylon, Ur and the Garden of Eden, families of God are fleeing Iraq–afraid for their lives and the daily threat of terrorism. Frightened by a future where they would be hunted or outcast, thousands of Christians have fled for safe havens.

In the past few years, the fragile peace between the country’s Christians and Muslims has been shattered. God-fearing Iraqis have watched helplessly as their brothers and sisters in Christ fall victim to bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and intimidation. In the face of great suffering, the shrinking population still searches for asylum. By record numbers, nearly half of what was once considered the world’s oldest Christian body has disappeared. As one religious leader said, “The situation that is in the country will not allow us to practice our services freely. It is not safe to go [out] from home. We are meeting every Sabbath, but it is very difficult. We expect an explosion at any time during the day.” Like every Iraqi, he prays for a better tomorrow. “We hope that things will change,” he said. “But no one knows except God.”

Two thousand years ago, the fate of the world hung by a similar thread. A virgin birth. The innocent manger. A promise of salvation. All were endangered by a Middle Eastern tyrant who slaughtered millions in hopes of killing the rightful King, Jesus Christ.

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Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Christmas message, as translated by Scott Ott, evangelicalism’s funniest satirist.

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This story about a Mumbai toddler treated by stem cell therapy provides some good news about a baby girl treated for a heart condition with her father’s blood stem cells.

I don’t know how accurate this story is, but it is consistent with the use of adult stem cells to treat patients for heart damage. The hospital mentioned, Frontier Lifeline Hospital, is focusing on cardiac care. In fact, according to this recent story, An invaluable exposure, Frontier Lifeline Hospital is working with Iraqi doctors and surgeons to help them get up to speed on newer techniques for treating heart damage. Iraqi doctors are struggling to treat heart trauma resulting from the war in Iraq, so some of them have gone for more training in India.

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I predicted Al D’Amato would beat Chuck Schumer. I predicted George H. W. Bush would beat Bill Clinton. I predicted Hillary Clinton would never become Senator of New York State. I predicted the Republicans would retain both Chambers of Congress. I predicted a ship like the Titanic could never be sunk and the Hindenburg was as safe as a horseless carriage. Finally, I predicted that the Democratic leadership wouldn’t be able to help themselves after winning Congress and would throw a lavish Hollywood type “Inaugural” – the kind normally reserved for Presidential elections. I guess I had to be right one of these times:

Tony Bennett is coming, of course, to croon his trademark “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

Carole King and Wyclef Jean will be there. Mayor Gavin Newsom is scheduled to be there, too.

And a big delegation of San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and labor leaders is jetting back East, together no less.

All will converge on Washington in early January to take part in four days of events surrounding the swearing-in of Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who will be elected the new speaker of the House and the first woman and first Californian to occupy the post.

After running through a long list of planned events designed to highlight different phases of 66-year-old Pelosi’s life, her spokesman Brendan Daly said, “Overall this is who Nancy Pelosi is. And this is a chance for people to meet Nancy Pelosi and see who she is.”

Already “historians” are “>trying to rewrite history to say such a party isn’t unusual:

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A couple of FDA items in the news yesterday are of interest, as is an oped about dealing with drug costs. First, the Washington Post reports on a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) study that new drugs are decreasing while the cost of drug R&D is increasing. In fact, the cost of R&D for drugs has increased to $60 billion annually from 1993 to 2004.

The amount of regulation on drug companies is definitely part of the reason for the enormous costs of getting new drugs to the market. I had a friend working for a company, and her job was to help companies run clinical trials in line with FDA regs. After a trial was complete, she said the amount of paperwork literally filled two trucks (not pickup trucks either). The amount of paper work alone has got to drive up costs, which of course are passed on to the consumer.

Second, it was widely reported yesterday that the FDA will require clearer labels for over-the-counter pain meds. I was shocked at how many deaths are attributed to pain killers (Tylenol, Aleve, etc). According to a Washington Post article:

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Mishandling classified information, committing a crime and then lying to cover it up – and then when caught he still denies everything!! Where did he learn his ethics from? Oh wait I forgot who his former boss was.

Report Says Berger Hid Archive Documents

President Clinton’s national security adviser removed classified documents from the National Archives, hid them under a construction trailer and later tried to find the trash collector to retrieve them, the agency’s internal watchdog said Wednesday.

The report was issued more than a year after Sandy Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removing the documents.

Berger took the documents in the fall of 2003 while working to prepare himself and Clinton administration witnesses for testimony to the Sept. 11 commission. Berger was authorized as the Clinton administration’s representative to make sure the commission got the correct classified materials.

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When Susan B. Anthony fought for women’s rights do you think this is what she had in mind?

Vienna to get gender-equal traffic and exit signs

A green exit sign shows a woman, rather than a man, running for the door, while a traffic light features another crossing the street in a new initiative by the City of Vienna to raise awareness about gender equality.

The campaign, launched on Thursday and entitled “Wien sieht’s anders” (Vienna sees it differently) is part of the City’s “Gender Mainstreaming” project.

Its aim is to “give both genders the same exposure and ensure an equal distribution of chances, opportunities and duties” by changing the gender of figures pictured on familiar signs, City Hall said in a statement.

“Because it clashes with fixed visual habits, the campaign compels (people) to think, look and act differently,” Sonja Wehsely, city councillor in charge of women’s affairs, said in the statement.

Thus, signs using male characters will have their female equivalent, while the opposite will also be true.

Female exit signs and pictograms in bathrooms featuring a man, rather than a woman, changing a baby, will be introduced at City Hall to start with, the statement said.

Seats reserved for the elderly and pregnant women on Vienna’s buses and trams will soon also picture a man carrying a child on his lap.

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The Associated Press reports that 7,000 fewer girls are born in India every day. The increased use of ultrasound in India has made sex-selection that much easier. The number of abortions of girls is staggering. Indian officials aren’t pleased:

“Female feticide should be treated as a crime and not just a social evil, therefore stringent punishment and punitive action is required,” said Renuka Choudhury, India’s women and child development minister.

She’s correct. But why isn’t abortion of any child regardless of sex viewed as a form of feticide?

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Killer elephant Osama bin Laden shot dead:

A killer elephant named Osama bin Laden that is thought to be responsible for the deaths of at least fourteen people in India has been shot dead. ‘Osama’ had reportedly trampled 14 people to death in the past six months in the north-eastern state, the BBC reported.

He was given his name by villagers in Assam’s eastern district of Sonitpur. Reuters is reporting that a forestry official said on Sunday “Osama” had been shot dead on Saturday in a tea plantation on the outskirts of Behali town, about 140 km (90 miles) north of Guwahati, Assam’s main city.

“The elephant was killed after villagers identified him,” a senior forestry official said, adding the animal could be identified because it had no tusks.

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What exactly does 33% of a song sound like?

Howell rule limits choirs’ sacred tunes

District’s 10-year-old policy stirs debate before the high school’s annual holiday concert.

The “Hallelujah Chorus” from “The Messiah,” “Glory, Glory” and “Weep O Mine Eyes” are among the repertoire of musical selections to be sung by the nearly 300 members of Howell High School choirs at 7 tonight and Thursday.

But, for every religious song performed by the nine choral groups, 3.33 others have to be secular yuletide offerings as required under a school district’s policy.

“We’re falling within the guidelines. I comply with (the rules) although I don’t agree. I just find the whole thing disturbing that we’re not able to do all the literature I’d like to do,” said Rod Bushey, choral director at Howell High.

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On this day in 1799, George Washington, the first president of the United States, dies of acute laryngitis at his estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia. George Washington was born in 1732 to a farm family in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His first direct military experience came as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia colonial militia in 1754, when he led a small expedition against the French in the Ohio River valley on behalf of the governor of Virginia. Two years later, Washington took command of the defenses of the western Virginian frontier during the French and Indian War. After the war’s fighting moved elsewhere, he resigned from his military post, returned to a planter’s life, and took a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. In 1774, he represented Virginia at the Continental Congress.

After the American Revolution erupted in 1775, Washington was nominated to be commander in chief of the newly established Continental Army. Some in the Continental Congress opposed his appointment, thinking other candidates were better equipped for the post, but he was ultimately chosen because as a Virginian his leadership helped bind the Southern colonies more closely to the rebellion in New England. After winning the war, the victorious general retired to his estate at Mount Vernon, but in 1787 he heeded his nation’s call and returned to politics to preside over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In February of 1789 Washington was unanimously elected the first president of the United States. In 1792, he was unanimously reelected but four years later refused a third term. In 1797, he finally began a long-awaited retirement at his estate in Virginia. He died two years later. His friend Henry Lee provided a famous eulogy: “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

QoD: “Me and Janet really are two different people.” – Michael Jackson. On this day in 1969 the Jackson Five made their 1st appearance on “Ed Sullivan Show.”

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It appears the majority of the bills came from the Democrats. What will be left to name once they are in power?

109th Congress a success at naming buildings

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Despite criticism for adjourning last week without acting on several major legislative initiatives, members of Congress can boast significant achievements in at least one area of federal lawmaking — naming post offices.

Of the 383 pieces of legislation that were signed into law during the two-year 109th Congress, more than one-quarter dealt with naming or renaming federal buildings and structures — primarily post offices — after various Americans.

Three post offices were named after entertainers. Ray Charles, the late singer and musician, was honored with a post office in Los Angeles in July 2005 in a bill sponsored by Rep. Diane Watson, D-California Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, authored a law naming another Los Angeles post office after actor and former American Express pitchman Karl Malden.

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On this day in 1928 the clip on tie was designed. The tie is a bow tie or four in hand tie which is permanently tied into its knot with a dimple just below the knot, which is fixed only to the front of the shirt collar by a metal clip. Many types of occupations require their personnel to wear clip-on ties for safety or efficiency reasons. These occupations include police, paramedics, and engineers. Other people may wear a clip-on tie in lieu of a standard necktie if they do not know how to tie one, while others feel it is less constrictive than a standard necktie.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!” – From Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” published on this day in 1843, selling 6,000 copies.

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The ACLU is saying a teacher’s First Amendment rights are being violated because he was fired due to his side job of making paintings that are probably the butt of many wise cracks. In what way is the school stifling his freedom of expression? The “artist” is still free to do his “paintings,” however the school district by no means needs to condone his behavior. The ACLU knows that by suing under First Amendment grounds that they can profit by suing the school district for legal fees. This is done by abusing existing civil rights laws that were meant to protect minorities who were victims of prejudice; instead the ACLU uses it as a cash cow. This is why Congress needs to stop this abuse and reintroduce and pass the Public Expression of Religion Act as soon as they come back.

Virginia Teacher Suspended for Painting With Genitals

RICHMOND, Va. — Chesterfield County school officials have suspended a teacher they say may be setting a bad example for students through his outside artistic activities.

Stephen Murmer is a self-described “butt-printing artist.”

He creates floral and abstract art by plastering his posterior and genitals with paint and pressing them against canvas.

His cheeky creations sell for hundreds of dollars.

But Murmer is also known as a popular, joke-cracking art teacher at Monacan High School.

Chesterfield County schools spokeswoman Debra Marlow says school system regulations state that teachers must set an example for students through their personal conduct.

Murmer was placed on administrative leave on Friday.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia says the suspension goes against Murmer’s First Amendment rights.

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