bread and circuses noun
something, as extravagant entertainment, offered as an expedient means of pacifying discontent or diverting attention from a source of grievance.
Origin: 1910–15; translation of Latin pānis et circēnsēs; from a remark by the Roman satirist Juvenal on the limited desires of the Roman populace. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bread+and+circuses

To celebrate New Year's Eve, a crowd of 500 revelers at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., whip into frenzy as the band plays the KISS song, "Rock and Roll All Nite." But for this audience, the anthem is just a metaphor. The disco ball signaling the arrival of the new year will drop at 8:30 p.m. Singer Robert Burke Warren, known by the stage name Uncle Rock, has held this annual "Family New Year's Eve" for four years. Strange objects drop at even stranger times to welcome 2012. Bethlehem, Pa., which has an annual tradition of dropping a 6-foot-wide replica of a marshmallow Peep chick from a crane on New Year's Eve, at 5:15 in the afternoon this year to attract families. At 9 p.m. in Easton, Md., a steel-reinforced, papier-mâché crab—8 feet from claw tip to claw tip—drops 20 feet into a crowd to mark the New Year in this crab-fishing community. Why 9 p.m.? "That's midnight in the mid-Atlantic where crabs live," says Marie U'Ren, who helps run the event. Other towns, zoos and amusement parks have created an even earlier alternative New Year celebration, dubbed "Noon Year's Eve," with countdowns and ball drops that happen when the sun is high in the sky. But there's likely no earlier alternative than the annual "Early New Year's Eve Party" held by a chapter of the AARP in the Pennsylvania Poconos. On Dec. 30, more than 100 partygoers aged 50 to 90 gather from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Riverview Inn Ballroom in Matamoras, Pa., for a roast-beef-and-potatoes lunch, followed by a Champagne toast and performance by crooner and sometime Elvis impersonator Rich Wilson. GEOFFREY A. FOWLER http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204632204577126893681096380.html

Millions more Americans will be required to show photo identification when they head to the polls in four states in 2012, headlining the welter of new laws across the nation that take effect with the turn of the year. Kansas, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas will require voters to prove their identities at the ballot box, bringing the total number of states that require some form of voter identification to 30, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan group that provides research and data to state governments. The voter ID measures are among a large number of new state laws that also reflect concerns related to illegal immigration, employment and the well-being of the country's youth. An estimated 40,000 new laws were passed in 2011, up 29% from the previous year. A few states tackled illegal immigration. Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama will require many businesses to enroll in the federal E-Verify program to check whether new hires are allowed to work in the U.S. California went in the other direction, saying it would prevent private employers from checking such eligibility unless federal law requires it or federal funds depend on it. Separate provisions of the South Carolina law, including requirements that law enforcement check the immigration status of persons during traffic stops, were blocked by a federal judge last week. JENNIFER SMITH
Get details on an avalanche of new laws including a ban on minors from tanning indoors and making it harder for them to get high on cough syrup at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203899504577130952187227564.html

National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories. NCSL provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues. http://www.ncsl.org/

Roses and Thistles from the Des Moines Register's editorial staff
A rose to Jon Huntsman for taking the pressure off Iowans who were operating under the mistaken impression they had an important role to perform on Tuesday in stating their preference for a Republican presidential nominee in the first major measure of candidate strength in the nation. This should come as a big relief to Iowans, who have more important work to do, like picking corn. Meanwhile, Huntsman should share his insight with the all those other candidates who have spent gobs of money and oodles of time in this state. Not to mention the hordes of political writers and TV crews. They are getting in the way of our cornpickers. A thistle to all those pundits (too many to list here) who weigh in about this time every four years with a tiresome rant about how Iowa is not the right place to start the presidential nominating process. We won’t defend the people of Iowa, the caucus process or the weather in January. They are what they are, and not likely to change anytime soon. What’s galling about the caucus critics is the predictability and lack of originality of their rants. Iowans generally shrug off character assassination, however, with the quiet knowledge that just like the snowbirds that return in the spring, the candidates will wing their way back to the state.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120101/OPINION03/301010026/-1/gallery_array/Roses-Thistles-Here-results-our-R-T-staff-caucus

January 3 is the third day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 362 days remaining until the end of the year (363 in leap years). The Perihelion, the point in the year when the Earth is closest to the Sun, occurs around this date.
1870 – The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
1888 – The refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory, measuring 91 cm in diameter, is used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.
1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
1932 – Martial law is declared in Honduras to stop revolt by banana workers fired by United Fruit Company.
1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
1958 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
1961 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_3