Unified Agenda, April 2010 Edition "The Unified Agenda: Main Page - The Unified Agenda (also known as the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda), published twice a year (usually in April and October) in the Federal Register (FR), summarizes the rules and proposed rules that each Federal agency expects to issue during the next year. It is published by the Office of the Federal Register National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)."

Michigan will become the 19th state where police can stop drivers for text messaging behind the wheel. And Gov. Jennifer Granholm is to put her signature on the new law on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on April 30, as part of Winfrey's ongoing campaign to stop cell phone use by drivers. Final approval was delayed by House Democrats, who sought to divert revenue from texting tickets to the state general fund, rather than a fund for libraries. House members from Detroit voiced concern that the new law would be used as a racial profiling tool by police against African-American drivers. The Senate rejected the House changes, and the full House overwhelmingly agreed to the Senate version on April 28. Nationally, nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 from traffic accidents attributed to distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Michigan in 2008-09, 16 people were killed and 783 injured in wrecks in which drivers were using cell phones, according to the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. http://www.freep.com/article/20100429/NEWS06/4290458/1320/No-texting-keep-your-thumbs-on-the-wheel

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Cleveland, Ohio commemorates the American Civil War; it consists of a 125' column surrounded at its base by a Memorial Room and esplanade. The column, topped with a statue of the Goddess of Freedom, defended by the Shield of Liberty, signifies the essence of the Nation for which Cuyahoga County veterans were willing to and did give their lives. The column is made of polished black, Quincy stone with 6 foliated bronze bands listing the names of 30 battles in which soldiers from this County fought. The Memorial Room is constructed of rough finished, light gray granite and light brown Amherst sandstone; the esplanade and steps of Medina red sandstone. The interior of the monument has been rehabilitated with its original coloration restored, new lighting, heating, air conditioning and ADA access. See location and hours at: http://www.soldiersandsailors.com/

The idea of the Statue of Liberty was not received well by either the USA federal nor New York state governments. However, due to a campaign stated by publisher Joseph Pulitzer, funds were raised for the American half of the bill in only five months. In Roman mythology, Liberty is Libertas, the goddess of freedom. Originally a deity of personal freedom, she evolved to become the goddess of the commonwealth. Her temples were found on the Aventine Hill and the Forum. She was depicted on many Roman coins as a female figure wearing a pileus (a felt cap, worn by slaves when they were set free), a wreath of laurels and a spear . Libertas was presented in 1884 as a gift from the French Grand Orient Temple Masons to the Masons of America in celebration of the centenary of the first Masonic Republic, as much as a gift from France to America. The cornerstone of the statue has an inscription that records that it was laid in a Masonic ceremony. It is believed that Bartholdi conceived the original statue as an effigy of the Egyptian goddess Isis, and only later converted it to a ‘Statue of Liberty’ for New York Harbor when it was rejected for the Suez Canal. http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/statue_of_liberty.html

The 1883 poem by Emma Lazarus to the Statue of Liberty was hardly noticed until after her death, when a patron of the New York arts found it tucked into a small portfolio of poems written in 1883 to raise money for the construction of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. The patron, Georgina Schuyler, was struck by the poem and arranged to have its last five lines become a permanent part of the statue itself. More than twenty years later, children's textbooks began to include the sonnet and Irving Berlin wrote it into a Broadway musical. By 1945, the engraved poem was relocated--including all fourteen lines--to be placed over the Statue of Liberty's main entrance. In "The New Colossus," Lazarus contrasts the soon-to-be installed symbol of the United States with what many consider the perfect symbol of the Greek and Roman era, the Colossus of Rhodes. Her comparison proved appropriate, for Bartholdi himself created the Statue of Liberty with the well-known Colossus in mind. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/liberty/lazarus.html

The Goddess of Freedom How Lofty She 1927 poem by William A. Cox: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/liberty/coxpoem.html

The Tonga Room, the venerable tiki bar in the basement of San Francisco’s luxurious Fairmont Hotel, might be demolished to make way for condominiums. Tiki enthusiasts rank the room—built in 1945 and equipped with an indoor thunderstorm, complete with sheets of sprinkler-produced rain, lightning and thunder —as one of the finest examples of faux Polynesian paradise around. Hotel officials quickly cautioned that no construction was planned until at least 2012, but that hasn’t stopped San Franciscans from organizing “happy hour protests” at the club.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/fashion/05tonga.html

LYNNE'S TIPS
• The key to tender, juicy, lean cuts like chicken breasts is a fast high-heat sear to lightly brown both sides. This gives us that satisfying taste of caramelization. Then you do the real cooking very slowly over low heat. This keeps lean cuts like chicken breasts juicy. The last all important step is to let them rest at room temperature 8 to 10 minutes. This assures you lots of juice and tenderness.
• Use good-tasting, organic canned tomatoes packed in juice (not puree), such as Muir Glen. You don't want puree because often low grade tomato paste is used to thicken purees, which can ruin your cooking with nasty metallic flavors. The Splendid Table April 28, 2010