The Los Angeles Times won the Pulitzer Prize for public service April 18 for a series revealing that politicians in the struggling, working-class city of Bell (Los Angeles County) were paying themselves extravagant, six-figure salaries. See 2011 journalism and arts winners at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/18/MN7L1J2VVP.DTL

Members meet regularly for lunch or dinner, write songs about liver and hold holiday gatherings. At the Halloween outing of the Pittsburgh Liver and Onions Club, co-founder Jeanette Matthews, and her son, Ed, dyed some sheets and dressed up as liver and onions. The group has a Christmas carol with a liver theme sung to the tune "Walking in a Winter Wonderland." Sample: "What a dish, c'mon try it. It's delish, toss the diet, the taste we adore and you'll ask for more. Liver and Onions—That's for sure." The Regina Liver Lovers Luncheon Club in Saskatchewan holds potluck liver picnics in the summer and has a sister club in Comox, British Columbia. Loosely organized Ditto's Liver and Onion Club of Stanwood, Iowa, was started by a loyal patron of Ditto's Family Restaurant who compiled a list of area liver lovers and invited them to a first-Monday-of-the-month $5.75 liver special. The U.S. produced 108,771 metric tons of edible liver in 2010, but it ships 89% overseas, most to Egypt. Americans just don't like it, says Sara Goodwin, the association's communications director. A three-ounce serving of liver contains 260 to 300 milligrams of cholesterol, which exceeds the daily recommendation, but it also is rich in nutrients and was often recommended to pregnant women needing extra iron. The Pittsburgh Liver and Onions Club met recently in the back room of the Getaway Cafe. President Alycia Bencloski pounded the club gavel, which happens to be a meat tenderizer, to bring the meeting to order. The secretary read the monthly minutes, announcing proceeds of the last raffle, which will be used to rent a pavilion for a summer picnic.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704843404576251271955583098.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_RIGHTTopCarousel_2

City upon a hill is a phrase from the parable of Salt and Light in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. The phrase entered the American lexicon early in its history, in the Puritan John Winthrop's 1630 sermon "A Model of Christian Charity". Still aboard the ship Arbella, Winthrop admonished the future Massachusetts Bay colonists that their new community would be a "city upon a hill", watched by the world. Winthrop's sermon gave rise to the widespread belief in American folklore that the United States of America is God's country because metaphorically it is a Shining City upon a Hill. On 9 January 1961, President-Elect John F. Kennedy returned the phrase to prominence during an address delivered to the General Court of Massachusetts:
...I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. "We must always consider", he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us". Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us—and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill — constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities. For we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the Arbella in 1630. We are committing ourselves to tasks of statecraft no less awesome than that of governing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, beset as it was then by terror without and disorder within. History will not judge our endeavors—and a government cannot be selected—merely on the basis of color or creed or even party affiliation. Neither will competence and loyalty and stature, while essential to the utmost, suffice in times such as these. For of those to whom much is given, much is required... President Ronald Reagan used the image as well, in his 1984 acceptance of the Republican Party nomination and in his January 11, 1989 farewell speech to the nation: ...I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_upon_a_Hill


A simile is a figure of speech that says that one thing is like another different thing. We can use similes to make descriptions more emphatic or vivid. We often use the words as...as and like with similes. Other similes are made with adverbs or words such as than and as if, for example:
He ran as fast as the wind.
He is larger than life.
They ran as if for their lives.
Similes can include other figures of speech. For example, "He ran like greased lightning" is a simile that includes hyperbole (greased lightning). Similes often make use of irony or sarcasm. In such cases they may even mean the opposite of the adjective used. Look at these examples:
His explanation was as clear as mud. (not clear at all since mud is opaque)
The film was about as interesting as watching a copy of Windows download. (long and boring)
Watching the show was like watching paint dry. (very boring) http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/figures-simile.htm

A metaphor is a figure of speech that says that one thing is another different thing. This allows us to use fewer words and forces the reader or listener to find the similarities. The word metaphor comes from the Greek word metapherin (meaning "transfer"). The simplest form of metaphor is: "The [first thing] is a [second thing]." Example: Her home was a prison.
Dead Metaphors
In the phrase "to grasp the concept" the physical action "to grasp" is used as a metaphor for "to understand" (which is non-physical). But this phrase has been used so often that most English speakers do not have an image of the physical action in their mind. This metaphor has died; it is a "dead metaphor".
Mixed Metaphors
The awkward use of two or more different metaphors at the same time is normally best avoided. It creates conflicting images in the reader or listener's mind, reduces each metaphor's impact, and generally causes confusion. http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/figures-metaphor.htm
'This is awfully weak tea to have to hang your hat on.'"
"[T]he bill is mostly a stew of spending on existing programs, whatever their warts may be."
"The mayor has a heart as big as the Sahara for protecting 'his' police officers, and that is commendable. Unfortunately, he also often strips his gears by failing to engage the clutch when shifting what emanates from his brain to his mouth. The bullets he fires too often land in his own feet."
Read other examples of mixed metaphors at: http://grammar.about.com/od/qaaboutrhetoric/f/QAmixmetaphor.htm

The 111-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on April 16. The orchestra said in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Philadelphia that a “precipitous decline in revenue” depleted cash reserves and unrestricted endowment to the point the ensemble would run out of cash next month. To regain financial viability, the orchestra says it needs relief from pension obligations, a new lease with the Kimmel Center where it performs, and a new union contract with musicians. The existing contract expires in September.
The union made $7 million in concessions in 2010 and 2011. While acknowledging that the union made “substantial concessions” in negotiations on a new contract, Worley said additional giveups offered by the musicians weren’t sufficient. Musicians are now covered by a union pension fund. Worley said that tickets sales represent one-third of income. Contributions represent 25 percent, and endowment makes up 40 percent of income. From Worley’s statement to the bankruptcy judge, it is unclear how bankruptcy alone will solve the orchestra’s financial problems except to the extent concessions from various parties encourage donors to make larger contributions. The case is In re The Philadelphia Orchestra Association, 11-13098, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-18/philadelphia-orchestra-lehman-innkeepers-bankruptcy.html