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One thing we can agree on about government
We are locked in a seemingly permanent debate over the proper size and scope of government. It was a centerpiece of the recent presidential campaign. It featured heavily in the maneuvering over the “fiscal cliff” and the upcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling.

Arts of the patron
Mary Lee Leahy died Dec. 12, after a busy life working for good causes as an attorney and public servant. Perhaps unfairly, she is remembered mainly as a Holy Warrior against patronage in public employment. This alone made her passing notable in Springfield, where patronage has been a way of life since they unloaded the wagons from Vandalia.

Editor’s note
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, the movie, may launch a new generation of would-be buffs. Already exceeding $130 million at the box offi ce, the movie may end up drawing nearly as many ticket-buyers as the 3 million who have been to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum since it opened.

Ballot-measure democracy a notable success in 2012
Unfortunately, corporations and superwealthy individuals have now glommed onto this democratic innovation with deep-pocket vengeance, using their silos of money and expertise in PR deceit to pass some awful proposals and kill some great ones.

LETTERS
The only two reasons for a citizen to own a firearm are for hunting or defense of the household from intruders. In either case, ownership of a single-shot rifle is more than adequate to satisfy these purposes. There is absolutely no need for any U.S. civilian to own any weapon more powerful or sophisticated than this.

The 10 best films of 2012
History will look back at 2012 as the year that American cinemas were forced to convert to digital projection, a strategy that will save Hollywood studios millions upon millions of dollars annually. Declaring that come 2013 no more movies would be released on celluloid, this delivery system was foisted upon exhibitors, forcing them to adapt or die.

The best movie scenes of 2012
Movies are about moments. There are big moments that erase our cynicism about the art form and remind us of its capacity to dazzle. There are quiet moments that succeed in touching our hearts in a way only possible with the medium.

2012 was the best and worst of years
There was the accident in central rural Pennsylvania on Memorial Day, which I’ve written about before.

Land doesn’t fulfill promise
Little time is wasted in the film before we know all we need to know about fracking as Steve Butler (Damon), a representative from Global Crosspower Solutions appears in a small Pennsylvania town with his partner Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand), intent on obtaining drilling rights from its citizens.

Another year passed
As far as milestones for 2012, I think the best for me was seeing my Mom turn 80 years old. We asked her to celebrate with a community get together and such. Her reply was precious and telling when she said, “I could see a big party at 90 or 100, but not for 80.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Bossa Azul
Combining jazz guitar with Brazilian leanings, percussion beats of a universal nature and American blues harmonica with vocals in the original Portuguese of classic samba and bossa music, Bossa Azul invents a sound both “playful and sophisticated,”...

PUB CRAWL
Owen and Dooley Present: Reggie Britton and Tom Irwin.

The Stories Behind the Faces
Pictures paint a thousand words. Portraitures try to do just that. Portraitures are more than a representation of how someone looks or looked. You get a glimpse into the personality of people of all sorts because artists strive to take the essential character of the person they are painting and bring that to the canvas.

THE CALENDAR
Springfield Classical Guitar Society Concert.

SPORTS | High flying
Don’t miss the world-famous basketball team, the Harlem Globetrotters, when they come to the Prairie Capital Convention Center on Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. High-flying dunks … eye-popping tricks … hilarious jokes … the Globetrotters will have you smiling from tipoff to final buzzer.

SCIENCE | Climate change
The next Paul Mickey Science Series lecture will to be held in the Illinois State Museum Thorne Deuel Auditorium on Jan. 9. Dr. Eric Grimm, ISM curator and chair of botany, will present, “The Science of Climate Change.

MUSIC | Royally rockin’
Celebrate the King of Rock ’n’ Roll’s 78th birthday with two nationally known performers Elvis Himselvis, aka Rick Dunham, and Steve Brandes and The Elvis Himselvis Band at the Hoogland Center for the Arts on Jan. 5. The tribute concert is a fundraising show for the Mary Bryant Home for the Blind and Visually Impaired, located in Springfield.