“The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday announced the first of a series of measures to delay hitting the government’s $16.4 trillion borrowing limit. Without those steps, the debt ceiling would be hit on Dec. 31.

The government is facing a crunch on the debt ceiling because the issue has become ensnarled in talks to avoid some $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts due to begin in early January. Failing to raise the debt ceiling could cause the government to default on its debt.

To cut government spending and delay bumping up against the debt ceiling, the Treasury will suspend issuance of state and local government series securities — known as “slugs” — beginning on Dec. 28.

Investments in a government employee pension fund will also be suspended, along with some other measures, although Treasury did not give dates for when these other measures will begin,” quoting NBC News.
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“How the surveillance state co-opted personal technology”
“Big Brother has been outsourced. The police can find out where you are, where youve been, even where youre going. All thanks to that handy little human tracking device in your pocket: your cellphone.”

“The phones communicate via a nationwide network of nearly 300,000 cell towers and 600,000 micro sites, which perform the same function as towers. When they are turned on, they ping these nodes once every seven seconds or so, registering their locations, usually within a radius of 150 feet. By 2018 new Federal Communications Commission regulations will require that cellphone location information be even more precise: within 50 feet. Newer cellphones also are equipped with GPS technology, which uses satellites to locate the user more precisely than tower signals can. Cellphone companies retain location data for at least a year. AT&T has information going all the way back to 2008.

Police have not been shy about taking advantage of these data. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), U.S. law enforcement agencies made 1.5 million requests for user data from cellphone companies in 2011. And under current interpretations of the law, you will never find out if they were targeting you,” quoting Ronald Bailey from the January 2013 issue of Reason.com.
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Looking west from Yelm’s Yum Brands! Plaza (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut),
photographed earlier this month

WARMEST WISHES THIS HOLIDAY SEASON FROM THE YELM COMMUNITY BLOG TO YOU & YOUR FAMILIES!

Santa’s view last night –
This image of the continental United States at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. The image was made possible by the satellite’s “day-night band” of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires and reflected moonlight.
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC
Yelm is in the upper, left-hand corner.

Photo courtesy: ThurstonTalk.com

– From ThurstonTalk.com:
“Holiday Spirit Is In The Air From Olympia To Yelm”
“When I think of holiday cheer, I usually envision Christmas carolers and makeshift plays at the local church. I set out to photograph what I could find, to find people singing, laughing. But, I found something much, much different, and it was silent.

Somewhere in between the swipe of a credit card and the wrapping of a present lies holiday spiritnoiseless and in the form of tithed time to make everything brighter. Be it the holiday decorations that Dorrie Carr and Shelly Thomas put together at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, or the Christmas trees in random storefronts, or simply the holiday displays at Eastside Big Toms and the Yelm Park, one thing is for sure: Thurston County screams holiday spirit.

Sometimes, the most silent things in life are the loudest,” by Jake Luplow.
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Lead singer from Handal’s Messiah performed in Yelm featuring Opera Pacifica and members of the Olympia Chamber Orchestra.
Photo courtesy: The Triad Theater

– Handal’s Messiah performed in Yelm
On December 16, Yelm was treated to The Triad Theater hosting Handal’s Messiah and a Hallelujah Sing-Along conducted by Claudia Simpson-Jones and featuring Opera Pacifica and members of the Olympia Chamber Orchestra, with local vocal stars from the community!
Honorary Guest Host was Dr. Miceal Ledwith, who addressed the subject of the Messiah. Dr. Miceal Ledwith, L.Ph., L.D., D.D., LL.D (h.c) served as served as a Catholic priest and as Professor of Theology and College President for over 25 years in Ireland. Dr. Ledwith was also an adviser to the Holy See, Pope John Paul II, for seventeen years on theological matters.
This event was co-sponsored by www.yelm.com, Yelm True Value Hardware, Mariachi Allegra Mexican Restaurant & Cantana, dTERRA – Essential Oils, RE/MAX Country, Nature’s Garden Nursery and Fruit Stand & The UPS Store.

Blog writer Klein owns www.yelm.com, Gateway to the Nisqually Valley.

– Christmas in the Northwest
And last, I was in the San Jose International Airport awaiting my return flight to Seattle on December 16 and heard to my surprise, a Northwest favorite on the airport’s speakers, “Christmas in the Northwest” by Brenda White.

“Brenda White had the opportunity to submit music for a project that would benefit Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The song she wrote, very simply entitled “Christmas in the Northwest“, became the theme for the project, an endeavor that has benefited countless children throughout the Pacific Northwest.”
Click here for the YouTube audio.

Photo courtesy: @AnnCurry’s profile photo

– “‘If you do good, you’ll feel good’:
Ann Curry explains origins of #26Acts of Kindness”
“Ann Curry of NBC News got on Twitter with an idea to honor those lost [in Newtown] and look what she has done!” quoting her NBC News colleague Brian Williams.
Click here for the video.

Ann’s Twitter site says:
“Journalism is an act of faith in the future.”

Editor’s Note: I have watched Curry’s former show TODAY since the early 1960’s and knew their executives made such a huge mistake in replacing her, and wrote that to them. This is one journalist who demonstrates her genuineness, sincerity and heart at every turn.
However, the morning show’s loss has been the gain of so many NBC Nightly News viewers, as Ann’s new assignment is at-Large and National and International correspondent.
Click here to learn more about Ann Curry.

Rep. Denny Heck, Congressman-elect
of the 10th Congressional District

From the Press Release:
“Congressman-elect Denny Heck has been named to the influential House Budget Committee for the upcoming Congress. Of the 49 new Democratic members of the U.S. House, Heck will be the only one to serve on the high-profile committee.

The House Budget Committee is chaired by Congressman Paul Ryan, the 2012 Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States. The House Budget Committee sets overall spending levels for all areas of the federal budget. It will be the focal point for upcoming Congressional action relating to the federal budget deficit and for action related to spending throughout the federal government.

‘The House Budget Committee is going to be at the heart of the biggest debate that will take place in Congress over the next two years. I look forward to working with members of both parties on passing a budget that reduces the federal deficit, helps create jobs, and keeps the American Dream alive for the middle class and those working to get into it,’ Heck said.”

Be a Part of History!!

From the Yelm Food Co-op’s e-letter:
Your Co-op is proud to announce that we will have the first ever wine tasting in our store on Saturday, Dec 22nd from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and then again on Dec 29th in our under-construction Wine Cellar.

Be there and be part of history in the making!

Come meet our Wine Department Coordinator, Anne Marsh, and let her guide you through tastings of our great selection and get her ideas for gifts, special occasion wines and meal accompaniments. Anne knows her wine!

This is the start of what we hope will be The Best Little Wine House in Yelm. Our goal is to provide a unique selection of carefully chosen wines that will not only please your palate but also your wallet. We want to have wines that no one else in town has and to make selection a pleasure.

You can help us spread the word by simply forwarding this email to everyone you know in the Yelm and surrounding areas. Or just tell all your friends and family to come be a part of history in the making!

Mark these days in your calendars: Dec 22nd and 29th, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

The Yelm Co-op Wine Department
Yelm Food Co-op
308 Yelm Ave, E. @ Gordon’s Garden Center
Yelm, WA. 98597
Phone: 360-400-2210

P.S. Come meet and give a hearty YFC welcome to our new General Manager, Barnaby Urich Rintz, at the same time.

Photo courtesy Victoria Harper Parsonson,
taken Thanksgiving Eve, November 24, 2010 from Yelm’s Bald Hill Rd area

Winter Solstice
Dec. 21, 2012, 6:11 AM EST (11:11 UT), marks the solsticethe beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere [that’s 3:11 AM PST, Yelm]

By Ann-Marie Imbornoni in Infoplease:
“In astronomy, the solstice is either of the two times a year when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, the great circle on the celestial sphere that is on the same plane as the earth’s equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs either December 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn; the summer solstice occurs either June 20 or 21, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Cancer. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winter and summer solstices are reversed.”
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From the WA. Dept. of Ecology Press Release:
“Washington states recycling rate grew to its highest level ever, reaching 50.7 percent in 2011, according to data reported today by the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology). This is the first time the recycling rate has topped the 50 percent goal set by a 1989 Washington state law. The latest available national average recycling rate was 34 percent in 2010.

Washington residents continue to recycle more and throw away less. The total amount of municipal waste recycled by state residents increased by more than 186,000 tons in 2011, up 4 percent from 2010. That equals 3.64 pounds per person per day collected for recycling, which is the highest ever measured in Washington, since Ecology began measuring recycling in 1986.”
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Ed. Note: A city the size of Yelm should work on ways to reinstate the recycling center at the Public Works facility, which was closed due to what was stated as the need for constant clean-up. If there is a will from the Yelm City Council, there are effective ways this can be done & I am willing to offer several suggestions.

I CAN BE ME, Yelm resident Jean Handley’s book

Here is local author’s Jean Handley’s story of her new book in her own words:

“I have always been attracted to words growing up with WINS1010 radio in New York City most of the day, I learned how big the world was. I crept up the stairs of the local library escaping from the childrens section dreaming of the day when I would be old enough to borrow the books sitting on mahogany shelves reserved only for grown-ups and I laughed every Saturday watching Leo Gorcey, one of the Dead End Kids, using words inaccurately.

In order to make that happen I read, contemplated and observed topics followed by creating a crayon drawing on which to focus. The results gave me a deeper understanding an experience a more open mind. This has come to fruition with my book I CAN BE ME.”

I CAN BE ME
To pretend is a child’s game that if we stay open minded to… is with us throughout our lifetime. Science calls this analogical mind.

I CAN BE ME is a magical doorway to making dreams reality. This little coloring book is designed to take you on an inspirational journey created by your drawings/dreams envisioned through these poems covering nature, science and spirituality… impacting your life in marvelous ways. Discover a secret which children use every time they put crayon to paper… your only limitation is your imagination. Enjoy.
Yet, this book is not just for children, rather a magical doorway for everyone of all ages!

Jean Handley’s self-published book I CAN BE ME is available locally in Yelm at JZ Rose and Lemuria and in Rainier at Mirror Magic and online with LULU.com and Amazon.com.