« November 2022

Welcome to the AREA Newsletter for November 2022

Please note - MEA Retired now has a Facebook page - You can follow us there. 

MEA Retired - Facebook

AND, AREA has a group page... feel free to join this group.

AREA - Facebook GROUP

NOTE - The PAGE is viewable by everyone (everyone in the world). The GROUP is private - only AREA Members are pemitted to join.

NOTE - Our next meeting is in March!

Treasurer's Report

from Gina Fuller

Download the Treasurer's Report -

From the State House

From Crystal Ward 

 The midterm elections are over ---the people have spoken – just the counting of ALL ballots left to complete. Because the election process is left to the states to decide every state has a different set of rules.  The votes will not be officially certified by ALL states for several weeks.  There is still counting going on in as of November 16, 2022. There will be a run- off election in December in Georgia for a US Senate seat.  

Now for local consequences:

Across Androscoggin county people went to the polls and cast ballots for people and on issues in their town/city. Results have been in the newspaper, on-line, and you can get the results at your local town or city office.  Thank you for VOTING !! For the first time in Maine history a senate election, in northern Maine (15,000 voters ) spent a million dollars !!

Now for the Maine consequences:

1. Governor will be Janet Mills
2. Both the Maine House and Senate will have majority democrats
3. There should be no major attacks on our MainePers pension that can pass.
4. Bills that will be submitted in January for the new Legislative session I know about are; one to raise the amount the State pays for your health insurance from 55% to 65% and one to restore the COLA to our full pension amount (fix the mess made in 2011). More to come!
5. Rank Choice Voting process will be used in the Golden Vs Poliquin race and that will take several days to complete, No one has a majority 49% Golden and 44% Poliquin and 7% Bond
6. Last year the two parties worked together on several issues and hopefully that will continue.

Now consequences in Washington D.C.: as of November 10, 2022

1. Maine’s US Representatives will be District 1 Chellie Pringree (D) and District 2 Jared Golden(D)
2. US House may have a majority Republicans, which means a change in House leadership, all committee Chairpersons, and the majority on each committee will be Republican. We will see several “revenge” hearings started on old Republican grievances.
3. US Senate is as of Nov. 16 ---- 50 Democrats plus the Vice President for the majority. There will be a VERY EXPENSIVE run-off election for US Senate seat in December in Georgia. If Democrats win it will be 51 to 49 . If Republicans win 50 to 50 with the vice President cast the deciding vote for Democrats , if 50—50 the committee structure will change they will work out a plan where things are even on committees.
4. During the election several US House Republicans spoke about changes in Social Security and Medicare, NEA and NEA –Retired Legislative committee will have to be very alert.
5. Since no party has a 2/3 majority a President’s VETO will be very powerful, you may see this used
6. One can only hope everyone got the message that the people want the parties to work together for the good of ALL the people! United we stand for democracy !
7. Now for the “lame duck session” remembers the NEW people elected do not get sworn into office until the first week in January 2023. It appears the Democrats are going to try to pass what they can during the Lame Duck session (both parties do this when there is a change in power). HR 82 to fix the Social Security Offset is still alive and could be voted on in the House BUT then the Senate would be the problem. Last glimmer of hope is a compromise bill out of the Ways and Means Committee.

My personal opinion - starting the 2024 President Race NOW is ridiculous but the talking heads are all abuzz!   

Isn’t nice to have all those political Ads off the TV, and the political signs coming down?

Take a small breather and we will need to get back to work in January /February on whatever bills are submitted for the first session of the new term.  

from Mona Ervin 

Veterans, active duty and military families are nearly 40% more likely than the general population to lose money to scams and fraud. According to the Federal Trade Commission, reported fraud attacks against our nation’s heroes and their families jumped 69% from 2020 to 2021.

The Quiz

from Mona Ervin 

How knowledgeable are you about the November Holidays?

Questions

1. What was the original name of Veterans Day?
2. When was the name of the day changed to Veterans Day?
3. When has Veterans Day been celebrated?
4. Why do we celebrate Veterans Day?
5. What flower is associated with Veterans Day?
6. How is Veterans Day different from Memorial Day?
7. Do other nations celebrate a day similar to Veterans Day?
8. What city is home to the oldest Thanksgiving parade?
9. Which president declared Thanksgiving a national holiday?
10. What was the original idea of Thanksgiving?
11. When has Thanksgiving been celebrated?
12. What percentage of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving?
13. Who established the tradition of the turkey pardon and when did it occur?
14. Do other countries celebrate Thanksgiving?
15. Fun fact - The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was originally called the "Macy's Christmas Parade" to kick off the holiday shopping season. Held in 1924, the first parade included monkeys, bears, camels, and elephants borrowed from the Central Park Zoo instead of the traditional character balloons we know today.

Answers

1. Veterans Day originated as "Armistice Day" celebrated on November 11th, 1918. It originally commemorated the armistice between the Allied forces and Germany that took place on the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month." On June 28th, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, officially ending World War I.
2. The first celebration using the term Veterans Day occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1947. Raymond Weeks, a World War II veteran, organized "National Veterans Day," which included a parade and other festivities, to honor all veterans. The event was held on November 11, then designated Armistice Day. U.S. representative Ed Rees from Emporia, Kansas, presented a bill establishing the holiday through Congress. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, also from Kansas, signed the bill into law on May 26, 1954. It had been eight and a half years since Weeks held his first Armistice Day celebration for all veterans.
3. Congress passed the Uniform Holiday Act into law in 1968. That established several holidays to be celebrated on October 25.  Veterans and others pushed back on this. President Gerald Ford stepped in. Ford, in September 1975, signed a measure reversing the Veterans Day provision in the Uniforms Holiday Bill, paving the way for a reunited America to begin observing the “real” Veterans Day in 1978.
4. Veterans Day is a day to acknowledge veterans of all wars, and then all who once served in the U.S. military. Veterans Day is an opportunity to publicly commemorate the contributions of living veterans and to show appreciation toward them.
5. Inspired by the World War I poem “In Flanders Fields,” in which the opening lines refer to poppies that were the first flowers to grow in the soil from soldiers’ graves in the Flanders region of Belgium, these small red flowers were adopted by the National American Legion as their official symbol of remembrance in 1920.
6. Memorial Day honors Americans who died in the line of duty, Veterans Day commemorates all Americans who have served their country honorably, both living and deceased.
7. Several other countries also mark the end of World War I on Nov. 11. Canada, Australia, France and Belgium call it Remembrance Day. The United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries observe Remembrance Sunday on the second Sunday of November. It’s customary to observe two minutes of silence to honor people who died in war, a tradition that originated in South Africa before the end of World War I.
8. The Philadelphia Gimbel Brothers Department Store parade in 1920 had only 50 people, 15 cars and a fireman dressed as Santa Claus. The parade ended with Santa on his sleigh, signifying the arrival of the holiday season. Today, it’s much bigger and called the 6abc Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade instead. It was the inspiration behind the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Day Parade which started in 1924.
9. Writer and editor Sarah Josepha Hale convinced President Abraham Lincoln to officially declare Thanksgiving a national holiday after three decades of persistent lobbying. in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday on the last Thursday in November. Lincoln's proclamation urged the nation to heal its wounds and restore “peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”  This came after a pivotal Union Army victory at Gettysburg.
10. Originally an English tradition, days of thanksgiving typically were marked by religious services to give thanks to God, or to celebrate a bountiful harvest. The first recorded religious thanksgiving day in Plymouth took place a full two years after the 1621 feast.
11. President Lincoln officially recognized the fourth Thursday of November as the day of Thanksgiving. President Franklin Roosevelt bumped it up a week effectively adding seven more shopping days to the holiday season to boost the economy. That angered football coaches who had Thanksgiving games already scheduled and calendar printers who now had incorrect dates. Americans, to say the least, didn't love the change, so it was officially switched back in 1942.
12. According to the National Turkey Federation, 88% of Americans chow down on Thanksgiving turkey. The rest may be vegetarian or vegan, or just taking a stand against a protein. 
13. President George H.W. Bush pardoned the first turkey in 1989 after he noticed the 50-pound bird at his official Thanksgiving proclamation looked a little nervous. Every president has upheld the tradition, ever since. 
14. Our neighbors to the north also celebrate Thanksgiving, but they do so on a different day and for an unrelated reason. While American Thanksgiving pays homage to a feast between the pilgrims and the Native Americans, the Canadian celebration commemorates a feast between English explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew after their successful sail from England to the Canadian territory in 1578. Canadian Thanksgiving takes place on the second Monday of October every year.

from Roger Fuller 

Pumpkin Cheese Cake

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pumpkin-cheesecake

This recipe comes from Taste of Home - see the link above.  Any cheese cake is relatively easy to make. 

Ingredients

• CRUST:
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 
  
• FILLING:
• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
• 1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• TOPPING:
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 to 16 pecan halves, chopped