Give us this day our daily news, January 27th

In the news today: what humans are capable of doing with their lives:

• A woman in California gave birth to eight babies. Eight!?!?!?!?! We salute you!!!
  
• Microsoft, Caterpillar, Home Depot, Sprint Nextel and many other companies announced that they are laying off workers. Total jobs lost in this recession so far: 2.55 million. We have nothing to fear but fear itself, unless we were planning to retire in the next ten years, in which case: bummer.
  
• Illinois Governor Rod blagoyevich went on The View and talked to Diane Sawyer on national TV yesterday while back in Springfield the state legislature convened to impeach him for trying to sell his power to appoint the Senator to replace Obama. A complicated man with a simple plan... or a simple man with a complicated man.
  
• Neil Gaiman won the John Newbury Medal for his book, "The Graveyard Book." The courage to create.
  
• Dina Vierny died at the age of 89. She was the muse who inspired Aristede Maillol to create many great scupltures in the 1930s and 1940s. A nice Jewish girl from Moldava who wanted to study physics and chemistry, she was also a nudist and had a physical and spiritual beauty that attracted the attention of artists her entire life. During WWII she joined the Resistance and led refugees over the Pyrenees into Spain. She was arrested twice, spent six months in prison in Paris in the hands of the Gestapo, and survived the war. She became a well-known art collector and established the Malliol museum in Paris. Hat's off!!! The courage to live!!