| Famous Holiday Movie Posted: 19 Dec 2011 09:00 PM PST  Profile America — Tuesday, December 20th. One of America’s best-loved holiday movies premiered on this day in 1946 in New York City. “It’s a Wonderful Life” starred Jimmy Stewart in what he called his favorite role, along with Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore. Directed by Frank Capra, it was nominated for five Academy Awards even though it got mixed reviews. When its copyright was not renewed in 1974, it became a television staple during the holiday season and is today considered a classic. When “It’s a Wonderful Life” was first shown, there were some 18,500 movie theaters across the country. Today, that figure is less than 5,000, although most of these facilities have multiple screens. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.
Sources: Chase’s Calendar of Events 2011, p. 606
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 855
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, t. 1128
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012edition.html  
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| Death toll nears 1,000 after Tropical Storm Sendong hits the Philippines Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:30 PM PST MANILA, PHILIPPINES (BNO NEWS) -- The death toll after Tropical Storm Sendong hit the southeastern Philippines over the weekend has surpassed 950, emergency officials said on Tuesday morning. Dozens more remain missing. Sendong made landfall over the northeastern region of Mindanao island on late Friday, causing heavy rains, flash floods and landslides. Most of the fatalities were reported in the Northern Mindanao Region, which rarely experiences tropical cyclones, although dozens were also killed in the nearby Visayas island group. Benito Ramos, the Executive Director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said 957 people have been confirmed to have been killed as of Tuesday morning. He said at least 49 others remain missing and 1,582 people have been reported to be injured. The vast majority of bodies were found in Cagayan de Oro, the capital city of Misamis Oriental province, where 579 fatalities were reported. At least 279 people were killed in Illigan City, a highly urbanized industrial city in Lanao del Norte province. Senior Inspector Elmer Decena of the Northern Mindanao Regional Public Safety Battalion previously said authorities had to use rubber boats to rescue residents starting at 2 a.m. local time on Saturday, when the floods were at their worst. The floods were worsened by high tides. According to authorities, people were warned about the risk of flash floods, especially in areas near rivers, but many refused to leave their homes and were sleeping when the disaster struck. The military has been assisting in search-and-rescue efforts and has flown helicopters to locate missing and trapped victims. According to the NDRRMC, at least 338,415 people have been affected by the storm, although the actual number is likely to be far higher. The agency said 42,733 people were inside the 62 evacuation centers as of Tuesday morning, while 241,877 others are being assisted outside evacuation centers. An initial damage assessment showed at least 10,345 houses were damaged as a result of the storm, including 3,127 houses which were completely destroyed or damaged so badly they are uninhabitable. Many schools and businesses have also been damaged while large areas remain without power. Sendong, which is internationally known as 'Washi', was part of the 2011 Pacific typhoon season which runs throughout 2011, with most tropical cyclones forming between May and November. The storm has since dissipated after leaving the Philippines. (Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.) 
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| Obama Closely Monitoring North Korea Situation Posted: 19 Dec 2011 04:44 PM PST U.S. President Barack Obama, his advisers and other officials in his administration are closely monitoring the situation in North Korea, following the death of the country's leader Kim Jong Il.
Press Secretary Jay Carney responded to at least seven questions from reporters about North Korea on Monday, including what the president has been doing to follow the situation and what consultations he has had about it.
Carney said that after hearing late Sunday from his chief of staff about Kim's death, President Obama telephoned South Korea's President Lee Myung Bak.
Mr. Obama has received regular briefings. Carney noted that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other officials have been in touch with their counterparts in South Korea, and with officials in Russia, China and Japan - the other members of the stalled six-party talks with North Korea.
Carney said there are no additional concerns about the nuclear security situation on the Korean peninsula in the aftermath of Kim Jong Il's death, adding that Washington will continue to press Pyongyang to meet its international obligations.
Carney had this response when asked whether the political transition underway in Pyongyang posed greater instability or a new diplomatic opening.
"I think it is much too early to make any kind of judgment like that. This is a period where North Korea is in a period of national mourning and we hope that the new North Korean leadership will take the steps necessary to support peace, prosperity and a better future for the North Korean people - including as I say acting on its commitments to de-nuclearization," Carney said.
Saying that U.S. concerns about North Korea are not about personalities but about "the actions of the government," Carney added that it would be premature to make assessments of North Korea's new leadership or the chance of resuming the six-party talks.
Reporters pressed the president's spokesman on the status of what news reports say was an expected U.S. announcement of food aid to North Korea after months of intense negotiations with Pyongyang. Carney declined to confirm reports that Washington was on the verge of announcing a food aid deal with Pyongyang. The United States, he said, continues to insist on adequate monitoring to ensure that aid is not diverted from those in need in North Korea.
The State Department says consultations on the food aid issue have been postponed because of Kim Jong Il's death, adding that no decision on the subject has been made.
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| US Faith-Based Organizations Increasingly Care for Poor, Elderly Posted: 19 Dec 2011 04:25 PM PST David Azrak was once a highly-paid lawyer. But after a series of medical and financial setbacks, things are so bad that he cannot afford to feed himself.
Every other week, he receives free groceries at a food pantry in Cherry Hill, a suburb of Philadelphia, run by the Jewish Family and Children's Service of Southern New Jersey (JFCS). "If it wasn't for their help and their friendship and kindness to me in every way, not only financially, I couldn't make it," Azrak says.
Government cutbacks and a poor economy have led the U.S. government to rely increasingly on faith-based organizations to help care for the elderly and those dealing with economic hardship. In many areas, few if any social services are run directly by government agencies.
In southern New Jersey, JFCS provides social support for people at every stage of life -- from child adoption services to hospice care for the elderly. Its programs rely on government funding and private donations. But last year, a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its food pantries was cut in half, says Executive Director Jennifer Weiss. "We're now having to sustain more and more people at a higher level because when the grant goes away, it doesn't mean that the needs are going away," she says. Weiss says her organization provides care to 2,800 senior citizens in southern New Jersey, including social activities and home-based medical care.
She says these services save taxpayers money because they prevent the elderly from having to be institutionalized at a much higher cost to the government. "I do not want to go to a nursing home," says 95-year-old Ethel David, who drove ambulances for the Red Cross during her younger years and still drives a car. She says she only needs JFCS workers' help to fill out forms, but that "just knowing they're there without you needing them - that mental safety - is worth everything."
Ram Cnaan is a professor of social policy at the University of Pennsylvania and a leading expert on faith-based organizations. He says they can deliver services cost-effectively because they rely heavily on volunteers and donors, in addition to government funding. "For every dollar that the government pays them, it's 30 to 40 percent less than they pay for their own services. So they basically subsidize the government," he says.
Cnaan has studied what he calls the "replacement value" of social services delivered by churches, synagogues, mosques and other faith-based groups to their communities. He estimates that in the Philadelphia area alone, these services are worth $500 million annually.
But Cnaan says there is no evidence that faith-based organizations are better at providing services than a government-run social safety net, adding that they have a reliability problem. "The problem with congregational social services is the congregation can decide overnight, 'We don't do it [perform a particular service] anymore. End of story.' It's not a public program that is legislated," he says.
Still, Cnaan says churches, synagogues, temples and mosques are so prevalent in America that there are more of them per square mile than any other public or commercial establishment. "To disregard them and say no no you're in the fringe, we're not interested in you, we are government, and you are religion. It's a mistake."
Cnaan says his research has also found that people are happier when they receive help from faith-based communities than than from the government. "Clients tell us, 'This is where they ask me about myself; this is where I'm being treated more holistically; this is where I feel that people are interested in who I really am,'" he says.
Back at the food pantry, David Azrak says he is more comfortable seeking assistance from an organization run by his own faith than from a government agency. "What a difference! You're not like a number. You're not like a beggar in the street. You're not like a homeless person," he says. "Here I'm treated like an equal."
And at the Jewish Family and Children's Service's food pantry, Azrak finds a can of one of his favorite foods in his grocery bag - a Jewish classic, gefilte fish. 
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| Pentagon Closely Monitors North Korea After Kim’s Death Posted: 19 Dec 2011 03:12 PM PST The U.S. Defense Department is closely watching events on the Korean Peninsula after the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has been touch with South Korean military officials in the hours after Kim's death.
Pentagon officials say the U.S. has not detected unusual military movements by the North Koreans.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is in his home state of California and was on the phone with the South Korean defense minister Monday, as both sides watched events over the border closely.
Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters the U.S. defense chief and his South Korean counterpart pledged to keep each other informed of events in the coming days.
"Both the secretary and the minister understand that this is a delicate time and they need to closely monitor developments in North Korea and on the peninsula," said Little.
There are reports of a missile test after Kim's death. Senior defense officials, speaking anonymously, said they believe the missile test was pre-planned and had no connection to the death of the North Korean leader.
Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute research group in Washington, says Mr. Kim's death creates much instability and the likelihood of a power struggle.
"It's very hard to know what North Korean policy will be both politically and militarily during that time period," said Bandow. "Everyone in region is very nervous."
He said that while there are no reports of unusual movements by the North, U.S. forces have reason to be on alert in the coming days.
"Any kind of instability theoretically could bring the increased prospect of war," he said. "I think that's very unlikely, but if you're an American soldier you have to recognize there's probably going to be heightened security and heightened concern about anything brewing over the border."
Bruce Klingner is a former member of the U.S. intelligence community who is now a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation think tank. He says it remains uncertain how Mr. Kim's successor will behave.
"Perhaps Kim Jong Un may feel even more likely to need provocative behavior to generate a 'rally around the flag' effect or to prove his qualities and his capabilities to any potential challengers," said Klingner. "Given all of those factors, it will remain critical for the U.S. to maintain a vigorous forward deployed military in Japan, including Okinawa, and South Korea to deter and defend and, if necessary, defeat any kind of North Korean attack or other military activities."
About 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea and officials say there are no changes to readiness levels among U.S. forces in the region. The Pentagon on Monday said there is no truth to rumors that the families of U.S. military personnel were leaving South Korea.
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