Justice Department Commemorates Fifteen Years of the Violence Against Women Act

/PRNewswire/ -- The Department of Justice today commemorated the 15th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which was signed into law on September 13, 1994. This critical legislation was created in recognition of the severity of the crimes associated with domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. The anniversary also marks 15 years since the creation of the Department's Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), which administers financial and technical assistance to communities around the country to facilitate the creation of programs, policies and practices aimed at ending domestic and dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

"We've made tremendous progress since the Violence Against Women Act first passed in 1994, but we have much more to do. We cannot rest. It will take all of us to fulfill the promise to end domestic violence and sexual assault," said Vice President Joe Biden, the author of the landmark Violence Against Women Act.

"The Violence Against Women Act forever changed the way this nation meets our responsibility to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. It has been an essential building block in the Justice Department's work to end violence against women," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "It is only in working together that we can make a difference and save lives, and the Justice Department will continue to take every possible step to enforce laws protecting victims of violence and to provide resources to aid victim service providers."

"Without a doubt, VAWA would never have happened without the steadfast commitment and work of the countless advocates, coalitions and community partners who worked tirelessly for federal legislation to mark the importance of the issue and provide vital resources," said Catherine Pierce, Acting Director of OVW. "In the past 15 years, countless lives have been saved, the voices of survivors have been heard, families have been protected, and the criminal justice community has been trained on the complex responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking."

The anniversary marks the start of a year-long anniversary effort to raise public awareness on issues around violence against women, to reinforce and build coalitions among federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and victim services communities, and to reinforce the goal of ending domestic and dating violence, sexual assault and stalking for men, women and children across the country.

In recognition of the severity of the crimes associated with gender-motivated violence, Congress passed VAWA as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. VAWA is comprehensive legislative designed to end violence against women through criminal penalties, civil remedies, federal grant programs, and research and was reauthorized in 2000 and 2005. Since the passage of VAWA, there has been a paradigm shift in how the issue of violence against women is addressed in communities throughout the nation.

OVW was created to specifically implement VAWA and subsequent legislation. Currently, OVW administers two formula grant programs and 17 discretionary grant programs, all of which were established under VAWA and subsequent legislation. The office has also maintained a 15-year partnership with state, local and tribal governments, coalitions, law enforcement, prosecutors, judges and court personnel, victim advocates, health care providers and national organizations.

Every day, VAWA funding makes a difference in how communities across America help victims and hold offenders accountable. For example, subgrantees receiving funding awarded by states through OVW's STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program reported that, in calendar year 2007:

-- More than 505,000 victims were served;
-- Over 1,201,000 services were provided to victims; and
-- More than 4,700 individuals were arrested for violations of protection
orders.

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Mars Rovers Near Five Years of Science and Discovery

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity may still have big achievements ahead as they approach the fifth anniversaries of their memorable landings on Mars.

Of the hundreds of engineers and scientists who cheered at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 3, 2004, when Spirit landed safely, and 21 days later when Opportunity followed suit, none predicted the team would still be operating both rovers in 2009.

"The American taxpayer was told three months for each rover was the prime mission plan," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The twins have worked almost 20 times that long. That's an extraordinary return of investment in these challenging budgetary times."

The rovers have made important discoveries about wet and violent environments on ancient Mars. They also have returned a quarter-million images, driven more than 13 miles, climbed a mountain, descended into craters, struggled with sand traps and aging hardware, survived dust storms, and relayed more than 36 gigabytes of data via NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. To date, the rovers remain operational for new campaigns the team has planned for them.

"These rovers are incredibly resilient considering the extreme environment the hardware experiences every day," said John Callas, JPL project manager for Spirit and Opportunity. "We realize that a major rover component on either vehicle could fail at any time and end a mission with no advance notice, but on the other hand, we could accomplish the equivalent duration of four more prime missions on each rover in the year ahead."

Occasional cleaning of dust from the rovers' solar panels by Martian wind has provided unanticipated aid to the vehicles' longevity. However, it is unreliable aid. Spirit has not had a good cleaning for more than 18 months. Dust-coated solar panels barely provided enough power for Spirit to survive its third southern-hemisphere winter, which ended in December.

"This last winter was a squeaker for Spirit," Callas said. "We just made it through."

With Spirit's energy rising for spring and summer, the team plans to drive the rover to a pair of destinations about 200 yards south of the site where Spirit spent most of 2008. One is a mound that might yield support for an interpretation that a plateau Spirit has studied since 2006, called Home Plate, is a remnant of a once more-extensive sheet of explosive volcanic material. The other destination is a house-size pit called Goddard.

"Goddard doesn't look like an impact crater," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y. Squyres is principal investigator for the rover science instruments. "We suspect it might be a volcanic explosion crater, and that's something we haven't seen before."

A light-toned ring around the inside of the pit might add information about a nearby patch of bright, silica-rich soil that Squyres counts as Spirit's most important discovery so far. Spirit churned up the silica in mid-2007 with an immobile wheel that the rover has dragged like an anchor since it quit working in 2006. The silica was likely produced in an environment of hot springs or steam vents.

For Opportunity, the next major destination is Endeavour Crater. It is approximately 14 miles in diameter, more than 20 times larger than another impact crater, Victoria, where Opportunity spent most of the past two years. Although Endeavour is 7 miles from Victoria, it is considerably farther as the rover drives on a route evading major obstacles.

Since climbing out of Victoria four months ago, Opportunity has driven more than a mile of its route toward Endeavour and stopped to inspect the first of several loose rocks the team plans to examine along the way. High-resolution images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which reached Mars in 2006, are helping the team plot routes around potential sand traps that were not previously discernable from orbit.

"The journeys have been motivated by science, but have led to something else important," said Squyres. "This has turned into humanity's first overland expedition on another planet. When people look back on this period of Mars exploration decades from now, Spirit and Opportunity may be considered most significant not for the science they accomplished, but for the first time we truly went exploring across the surface of Mars."

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December 5, 2008, Marks 75th Anniversary of Prohibition Repeal

RJ Note: Ahh. Prohibition. The time when Americans decided they could end drunkeness and overindulgence by declaring alcohol illegal. Seems like that thought backfired. Seems like I can remember moonshine. Seems like I can remember backyard stills. Seems like I can remember the taste of homemade shine. Seems like I can remember young people losing their lives running illegal alcohol. Wait a minute. Some of those memories are only 30-35 years old. Ahh. Memories. Some are good and some are better left in the past.

Should you decide to celebrate the day, please do so responsibly.

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- December 5, 2008, marks 75 years since Prohibition was officially repealed in the United States with the ratification of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution. On December 5, 1933, a 3/4 majority of states needed to ratify the 21st Amendment was reached when Utah adopted the 21st Amendment. It not only officially ended national Prohibition which began with the 18th Amendment in 1919; the 21st Amendment also established the effective, state-based system of alcohol regulation that today works to efficiently provide American consumers with an unparalleled choice and variety of beer.

"This anniversary is a great time to recognize the success of the past 75 years of effective, state-based alcohol regulation since the ratification of the 21st Amendment," said NBWA President Craig Purser. "A 'one size fits all' approach to alcohol regulation during Prohibition was a failure. The 21st Amendment allows individual states to regulate alcohol as their citizens see fit."

"Today, American consumers of legal drinking age have access to nearly 13,000 labels of beer from small regional microbrews to the largest multinational labels - all delivered through a transparent and accountable alcohol distribution system," continued Purser. "The American system of alcohol distribution, which tracks products from the time they leave the brewer or importer until the time they reach store shelves or bar taps, is the gold standard for transporting products to consumers."

Today, America's 2,750 licensed beer distributors - which are licensed by both the states and the federal government - are the critical link in the three-tier system of beer distribution, sourcing fresh beer only from federally-licensed brewers and importers and supplying it only to licensed retailers including restaurants and convenience stores.

Unlike other countries around the world, the American beer distribution system creates a clear chain of custody and provides transparency, accountability and traceability. Beer distributors are able to track the product from the time it leaves the brewer or importer until the time it reaches a licensed retailer. This regulated market works to protect American consumers from "bootlegging" and poisonous or counterfeit alcohol which is a problem in many countries.

America's beer distributors provide quality jobs to 91,000 hard-working men and women, who start the engines on beer trucks long before the sun comes up in markets from coast to coast. These employees not only earn solid wages; they receive company-provided benefits including health care.

"On December 5, join America's beer distributors in recognizing this landmark anniversary and the effective, state-based system of alcohol regulation that has supplied American consumers with an enormous choice and variety of beer through a transparent and accountable system for the past 75 years," said Purser.

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Cabbage Patch At 25

RJ Note: Wow. Cabbage Patch Dolls. What memories they evoke. Do you remember before Cabbage Patch when the Xavier Roberts dolls were called "Little People?" Do you remember the grown women who would spend hundreds of dollars to have that little doll? Do you remember the grown women who would purchase car seats for the dolls? It was a cult, for sure, in the metro Atlanta area.

(NAPSI)-They've been up to outer space, on the cover of Newsweek, on postage stamps, been celebrity impersonators and have even been the U.S. Team Mascots for the Summer Olympic Games twice. According to Elizabeth Werner, chief toy officer of iVillage, "Cabbage Patch Kids are a huge part of pop culture history."

It all started in 1983, when artist Xavier Roberts took his one-of-a-kind dolls, known as Cabbage Patch Kids, to the mass market. That year, over 3 million homes welcomed one of these new additions. Adorable and unique, each 'Kid came with a special name and birth certificate and quickly took the nation by storm.

Today, more than 118 million 'Kids have been "adopted," and in honor of their 25th Anniversary, a collection of limited-edition 'Kids is now available. The 25th Anniversary 'Kids are replicas of the originals with the same outfits, names and faces-that have not been available since the early '80s.

Grandparents who waited in endless lines and parents of today who had Cabbage Patch Kids as children are overcome with nostalgia at seeing these 'Kids again and are clamoring to share the experience with their young kids this holiday season. Anyone with a great Cabbage Patch Kids story, photo or video can share that memory with other fans at the Cabbage Patch Kids Memory Wall at www.cabbagepatchkids25.com.

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