This'n'That; November Thirtieth #1; Hand Surgery

My Hand Surgery Precludes More Postings
    "Trigger-finger" is a condition in which one or more fingers 'lock up' when a fist is made and won't straighten out 'without help!  I had surgery surgery today to correct the condition in one finger.  The hand is nearly covered with bandages so typing is practically impossible!!  So we'll try to 'talk' again.... say, next Monday, OK?!?  I have a follow-up appointment in mid-December so "we shall see what we shall see!!"
Til Nex'Time....

This'n'That; November Twenty-Ninth #1; The 'Menu'

'Toasted' Cain!
    Was I a Herman Cain supporter?  Absolutely!  I supported Mr Cain throughout the several bimbos coming out of the woodwork; I just don't think his reputation; his campaign can survive  the "Ginger White affair!"  After the "Slick Willie-esque" bimbo eruptions died down I became a financial supporter as well.  Would I do it again? Absolutely!  But, no more.
    While the Herman Cain Campaign most probably can't survive this alleged 'full-fledged affair,' the campaign has had several positive aspects. If nothing else, the Cain Campaign has proven that not all negros are socio-fascists; not all negro politicians covertly intend to destroy the United States as we know her!  Mr Cain--along with others like Oprah Winfrey and Robert Johnson--also proved that negros can be business magnates as well as successes in the entreprenuerial world. 
    Not only the negros among us but every American, owes Herman Cain a debt of gratitude!!  Not only to advance his campaign initially, but to continue on in the light of the bimbos!!  I think now is the time for Mr Cain to step down from the campaign stump.  It would be unfair to demand that he refrain from further political activities; he could very well serve the republicRAT party.
Til Nex'Time....

This'n'That; November Twenty-Eighth #1; A "Person of the Year?"

Why?  It's Blatantly Irrelevant!
    Look at just the past three choices for Time's Person of the Year; clearly there's not a modicum of relevance:
2010:  Mark Zuckerberg.  In the whole scheme of things, just how important is it that I tell my 856 friends that I'm having lunch at 'thus-n-such' diner with my "BFF--whoo-zits?!?"
2009:  Ben Bernanke.  Since when is unsustainable, out-of-control borrowing a valid solution for unsustainable, out-of-control spending?!?
2008:  "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist."  An excellent example that a "clean, articulate" smooth talker, reading from a well-programmed teleprompter is not sufficient experience to advance the greatest country on the planet with the largest economy on the planet!!!
2007 Vladimir Putin.  Much like "Clown Prince" owe-bama, "Vlad" seeks to continue the basic communist principles, except where said principles conflict with the demands of the Ruling Class of either country.  Putin did out-distance the "Clown Prince" with the level of government and Ruling Class corruption in their respective "sorta-free market" systems.
    The history of this less-than-august selection indicates that just being well-known will put one in the running; even that year's total miscreants:
1938:  Adolf Hitler.
1939:  Josef Stalin.
1942:  Josef Stalin.
1979:  Ayatollah Khomeini.
While 'position' shouldn't even be considered over 'accomplishments;' nearly every U.S. president has been "Man (or Person) of the Year."  For example:
1976: Jimmuh Cahtah (Jimmy Carter).  What--exactly--did 'the Georgia peanut farmer' accomplish while in office? 
Inflation over 17%;
Necessitated the 'Misery Index;'
"Around-the-block" gas lines;
Initiated a new--but proved ineffective as designed--Department of Energy;
Initiated a new--but proved ineffective as designed--Department of Education;
Gave away control of the Panama Canal;
Deregulated energy, transportation, communications and finance;
Environmental legislation!!
    Need more be said?!?  Time Magazine is using their "Person of the Year" designation as a last-ditch attempt at relevence!!
Til Nex'Time....

The Sunday 'Report;' 11/27/2011

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Gov. Sam Brownback Narrowly Survives High School Student's Mean-Spirited Tweet
by Dennis DiClaudio
November 25, 2011
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is, by all accounts, safe and relatively unharmed following a harrowing Twitter attack from an 18-year-old high school student last week.  Luckily, Brownback has a brave and astute staff ready to snap into action at the first sign of an online trolling…
Emma Sullivan, a senior at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, was in Topeka on Monday as part of Kansas Youth in Government, a program for students interested in politics and government.  During the session [....]
http://www.indecisionforever.com/2011/11/25/gov-sam-brownback-narrowly-survives-high-school-students-mean-spirited-tweet/

Obama Leaves God Out of Thanksgiving Address
by Todd Starnes
radio.foxnews.com
November 24, 2011
    President Obama did not include any reference to God during his weekly address titled, “On Thanksgiving, Grateful for the Men and Women Who Defend Our Country.”  His remarks were void of any religious references although Thanksgiving is a holiday traditionally steeped in giving thanks and praise to God.  The president said his family was “reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are.”
For many Americans, though, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on how blessed and thankful they are.  The president said the “most American of blessings” is the “chance to determine our own destiny.”  He called the very first Thanksgiving a “celebration of community”
    “We’re also grateful for the Americans who are taking time out of their holiday to serve in soup kitchens and shelters, making sure their neighbors have a hot meal and a place to stay,” he said. “This sense of mutual responsibility – the idea that I am my brother’s keeper; that I am my sister’s keeper – has always been a part of what makes our country special.”  The president said that belief [....]
http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/obama-leaves-god-out-of-thanksgiving-address.html

Cowboys cheerleader knocked over by Witten forced off Twitter


by Chris Chase
November 26, 2011
Cheerleader Melissa Kellerman was barely into the middle part of her 15 minutes of fame when the Dallas Cowboys pulled the plug.  Kellerman, a 22-year-old student in her fourth year with the team, became a national sensation on Thanksgiving when she was accidentally tackled on the sideline by Cowboys tight end Jason Witten.  CNBC's Darren Rovell reported that Kellerman was forced to delete her [....]
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Cowboys-cheerleader-knocked-over-by-Witten-force?urn=nfl-wp12519

The Best Cyber Monday Deals
by Kali Geldis and Danielle Kost

November 25, 2011
Reports of Black Friday violence and pepper-spraying may have made some holiday shoppers wary of hitting the mall this year. Luckily, there are some great Cyber Monday deals that don't require you to leave the house.  Like many of the brick-and-mortar retailers offering Black Friday sales this year, many Cyber Monday retailers are allowing customers to shop the deals early before the actual online shopping holiday. Others, however, are staying tight-lipped about their deals until the day before, so MainStreet rounded up some of the best Cyber Monday sales that retailers are pushing in 2011.
Wal-Mart
The world's largest retailer tried to lure consumers to its doors first by kicking off Black Friday sales on Thursday. Its Cyber Monday sales are also beginning a day early. Wal-Mart will begin its "Cyber Week" sales with deals on gadgets, toys and home goods. Shoppers will be able to scoop up 32-inch Toshiba LCD HDTVs for $249 and Xbox holiday gamer bundles for $319. Tramontina Dutch ovens will be offered for $35 and Hot Wheels Mega Garage Playsets will be $25. The site will offer free shipping on orders of more than $45, on qualifying products.
Toys "R" Us
The toy superstore plans to roll out discounts on thousands of items on its website, starting at 6 p.m. Sunday. Shoppers will be able to get 60% off the cost of certain [....]
http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-113796-11671-1-the-best-cyber-monday-deals?ywaad=ad0035&nc

6 Rags-to-Riches Millionaires
by Andrea N. Brown, John Miley,
Susannah Snider, Michael Stratford
November 15, 2011From Oprah Winfrey to Steve Jobs to J.K. Rowling, entrepreneurial success stories are the stuff from which American dreams are made. Much like these famous names, the six self-made millionaires we’re profiling have one thing in common: Thanks to hard work, determination and sound advice from mentors, friends and family, they’ve been able to build thriving businesses from the ground up.
The rise to the top can be bumpy. In fact, some of the entrepreneurs we talked to were homeless during the early years of their companies. That’s why they all agree that it’s important to help others in need. All, including Radio One’s Catherine L. Hughes and Life is good co-founder Bert Jacobs, give back to the community by volunteering time, donating to charitable organizations or running their own charities.  Learn how these six diverse entrepreneurs -- from a t-shirt designer to a media mogul -- turned meager beginnings into multimillion-dollar success and [....]
http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/rags-to-riches-millionaires/1.html

‘Going Galt’: Hedge Broker Shuts Down Firm With Chilling Letter About the Market

by Jonathon M. Seidl
November 18, 2011
Ann Barnhardt describes herself as a an “an old-school commercial hedge broker specializing in CATTLE and GRAIN.” And she just shut down her business by delivering a passionate and chilling open letter posted on her website.  “I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not,” she writes. And then she unloads:  Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all [....]
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/going-galt-hedge-broker-shuts-down-firm-with-chilling-letter-about-the-market/

Earn more without giving up your whole life 
By Ruth Mantell,
MarketWatch
November 15, 2011
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Do you work to live or live to work? You may have to do both to be a top performer who still manages to have a personal life.   Most workers aren’t top performers, but smart choices and near-term sacrifice can put them on the road to greater salary gains, experts say. The key is an ability to think long-term: setting goals that allow you to vary how much effort you put in at work, cutting back on leisure and family time when necessary. There are real rewards for a company’s best workers. Top performers received average base-pay increases of 4.4% this year, compared with 2.8% for average performers, and 0.4% for the lowest performers, according to Mercer, a human-resources-services provider. Read more about growing pay gap between workers. Further, with most employers seeking to increase performance-based pay differentiation, even greater rewards could be in store for top performers.  In many industries, working long hours is expected -- for top performers and others, too. “If you choose to go [....]
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/earn-more-without-giving-up-your-whole-life-2011-11-15?siteid=nwhpf

Europe's Crisis: Beyond Finance
by George Friedman
stratfor.comNovember 15, 2011
Everyone is wondering about the next disaster to befall Europe. Italy is one focus; Spain is also a possibility. But these crises are already under way. Instead, the next crisis will be political, not in the sense of what conventional politician is going to become prime minister, but in the deeper sense of whether Europe’s political elite can retain power, or whether new political forces are going to emerge that will completely reshape the European political landscape. If this happens, it will be by far the most important consequence of the European financial crisis.   Thus far we have seen some changes in personalities in the countries at the center of the crisis. In Greece, Prime Minister George Papandreou stepped aside, while in Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi now has resigned. Though these resignations have represented a formal change of government, they have not represented a formal policy change. In fact, Papandreou and Berlusconi both stepped down on the condition that their respective governments adopt the austerity policies proposed during their respective tenures.
Europeanists dominate the coalitions that have replaced them. They come from the generation and class that are deeply intellectually and emotionally committed to the idea of Europe. For them, the European Union is not merely a useful tool for achieving national goals. Rather, it is an alternative to nationalism and the horrors that nationalism has brought to Europe. It is a vision of a single Continent drawn together in a common enterprise — prosperity — that abolishes the dangers of a European war, creates a cooperative economic project and, least discussed but not trivial, returns Europe to its rightful place at the heart of the international political system.  For the generation of leadership born just after World War II that came to political maturity in the last 20 years, the European project was an ideological given and an institutional reality. These leaders formed an international web of European leaders who for the most part all shared this vision. This leadership extended beyond the political sphere: Most European elites were committed to Europe (there were, of course, exceptions).
Greece and the Struggle of the European Elite
Now we are seeing this elite struggle to preserve its vision. When Papandreou called for a referendum on austerity, the European elite put tremendous pressure on him to abandon his initiative. Given the importance of the austerity agreements to the future of Greece, the idea of a referendum made perfect sense. A referendum would allow the Greek government to claim its actions enjoyed the support of the majority of the Greek people. Obviously, it is not clear that the Greeks would have approved the agreement.  Led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20111114-europes-crisis-beyond-finance?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20111115&utm_term=gweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=1034c1741e0a402d93f40aa5b4917e0c

First-time Homebuyers Tax Credit Shows Government Can’t Fix Housing

by David C. John
November 14, 2011
Government programs cannot stop the decline in housing prices. The latest evidence of this comes from a study of first-time homebuyers who took advantage of an $8,000 tax credit available between 2009 and September 2010.  According to a new study, housing prices in 110 of 157 studied cities have dropped more than the value of the $8,000 tax credit since June 2010. Home prices in six of the 157 cities increased.  In short, not only did the $26 billion program fail to stabilize housing prices, but those who took advantage of the program have seen the value of their houses drop by more than the value of the tax credit that they received. Nationwide, the average price of a home has dropped by about $15,000 since 2009. Of course, the housing market is really a collection of individual local markets, not a national market. The fact that houses are cheap in Detroit does no good to a potential homebuyer in New York.  As with other proposed housing “fixes,” such as the several attempts to structure the Housing Affordable Refinance Program, the net result of government intervention [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/14/first-time-homebuyers-tax-credit-shows-government-cant-fix-housing/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=33%2BMinutes%20Update

Federal Government Swindles Native Americans Again

by John Ransom
Townhall.com
November 16, 2011You knew it would take a little while, but federal government over-reach has gone so far now as to try to regulate the affairs of other, sovereign nations.  With the growing poverty problem in the United States and 25 percent of the American public either un-banked or under-banked there’s a great benefit to the financial products that are being offered by the sovereign nations in Indian Country, who understand better the needs of the customers for their products than the fat cat Senators in DC who will leave the town richer than when they arrived.  This week the Senate Banking committee held hearings under the spine-chilling name Opportunities and Challenges for Economic Development in Indian Country. 
“Opportunities” for whom?
“Economic Development” that benefits whom?
Not for Native Americans, that’s for sure.  Hey, there may be a recession on but a US Senator still has to make a buck.  Native Americans, without federal assistance, are already providing valuable banking services for those Americans who are otherwise neglected by traditional financial institutions.  For example the types of loans that tribes offer help people with immediate short term needs like car repairs, utility bills, or child care.  But not content with the disaster that they have created in the rest of the country, the Senate, still under Democrat control, is now making a land-grab to regulate banking operations in Indian Country too, while denying them the basic tools for self-sufficiency like municipal bond offerings.  It doesn’t matter to Senators that under the constitution, various laws, court decisions and, oh yeah, treaty obligations the US has with sovereign Indian nations, that the federal government does not have the authority to interfere in Native American affairs.
    “The United States has both a moral duty and a legal obligation to the tribes,” says Senator Jonathan Windy Boy, a Democrat state senator from Montana and former Chippewa Cree Tribe Vice-Chairman. “It’s unconstitutional and violates long-standing treaties that allow us to govern our own affairs.”   Since when has a little formality like the law stopped this round of Senate Democrats from doing anything they like?  But where the law has been unsuccessful in keeping government hands off Native banking, perhaps public opinion might work.
    Zogby today released a poll that shows that 55 percent of adults “say that, in general, they feel the federal government already has too many regulations, while a quarter (25%) say there is just the right amount.”  Democrats still haven’t heard that message despite huge- and I mean really freaking big- electoral defeats they have suffered in Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Nevada and Colorado.  The Zogby survey also showed that 88 percent of adults think the “U.S. Government should keep its word and honor Native American treaties it has made with the nation’s Indian tribes.”  Instead of looking to try to regulate existing [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/11/16/federal_government_swindles_native_americans_again/page/full/

Occupy camp in upstate NY marks Thanksgiving
Associated Press
November 24, 2011
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Scores of Occupy Rochester protesters have tucked into turkey at their 35-tent camp on a sunny but bracing Thanksgiving Day at an upstate New York park.  Well-wishers dropped by Washington Square Park in Rochester Thursday with turkey, pies and assorted side dishes.  The protesters have been gathering for the last five weeks in the park — about the size of a city block across from the Xerox Corp. tower.  As the crowd ate, a guitarist played "Ripple" by the Grateful Dead at the foot of a Civil War monument [....]
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP39c20cea5893462f921be6df2d709db6.html

Our Tax System Stinks

by Chip Wood,
Personal Liberty Digest
November 25, 2011
$14 billion in profits, zero in taxes. If you invest in General Electric, congratulations. Your company made $14 billion in profits last year and didn’t pay a penny in taxes. How was that possible? Well, $5 billion in profits in the United States were zeroed out because of a multitude of tax credits (think green energy) and other deductions. And $9 billion was earned and kept overseas, so no taxes were due on that money, either. If this makes you think our tax system stinks, you’re right. Now, what are we going to do about it?  And speaking of a government program that stinks. There are several landfills in and around Dallas where companies can dump garbage. But only one is owned by the city. The McCommas Bluff Landfill in South Dallas charges $21.50 per ton of trash. The private landfills in north Dallas charge $17 to $18 per ton. So the city has decided to order [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/our-tax-system-stinks/?eiid=&rmid=2011_11_25_PLA_[P11555299]&rrid=387432349

Saving the American Idea: Rejecting Fear, Envy, and the Politics of Division
by The Honorable Paul Ryan

November 15, 2011
Abstract: The American commitment to equality of opportunity, economic liberty, and upward mobility is not tried in days of prosperity. It is tested when times are tough—when fear and envy are used to divide Americans and further the interests of politicians and their cronies. In this major address at The Heritage Foundation, Congressman Paul Ryan dissects the real class warfare—a class of governing elites, exploiting the politics of division to pick winners and losers in our economy and determine our destinies for us—and outlines a principled, pro-growth alternative to this path of debt, doubt and decline. 
    We’re here today to explore the American Idea, and I can’t think of a better venue for this topic. The mission of The Heritage Foundation is to promote the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. These are the principles that define [....]
http://www.heritage.org/research/lecture/2011/11/saving-the-american-idea-rejecting-fear-envy-and-the-politics-of-division

School changes homecoming rules so female kicker can win
By Cameron Smith
November 25, 2011
When Henry County (Ga.) Community Christian School was naming its homecoming court, Katie Davidson knew she wouldn't be a part of it. After all, the sophomore place kicker wouldn't even be eligible; Community Christian school rules dictate that all potential female members of the homecoming court wear a dress to the annual homecoming game.  Davidson couldn't fulfill that court demand, for a good reason: She's the starting place kicker on the Community Christian 8-man (8-person?) football team. Yet when Davidson was nominated for the court, the school thought so much of the [....]
http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/School-changes-homecoming-rules-so-female-kicker?urn=highschool-wp9010

Secret Service Secrets
by WildBill for America
July 2, 2011
What the Secret Service agents say about past and present Presidents[....]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5INFAuM1xI
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wild+bill+for+america&oq=wild+bill+for+america&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=0l0l0l105703l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0

Solyndra to Cost You Another $14.3 Million

by Ben Johnson
The White House Watch,
Floydreports.com
November 22, 2011
The Solyndra loan debacle has already cost American taxpayers more than half-a-billion dollars, but it is about to cost them millions more. Each of the company’s 1,100 former employees will receive a package of federally funded benefits worth approximately $13,000 in Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), increasing the Solyndra bill by $14.3 million.  TAA assists workers who have lost their jobs because of trade imbalances due to increased foreign imports or outsourcing.  The Labor Department announced the award on November 18, the day after Energy Secretary Steven Chu testified before Congress that the loan guarantee was apolitical and made entirely on the merits. Chu specifically declined to apologize for the growing scandal.  The newest payout some Republicans outraged. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, said, “The failure was blamed on China, but if you cannot even out-compete U.S. companies, it wasn’t foreign competition that ruined your business; it was simply a failed business model.” Hatch’s spokeswoman Julia Lawless (whose surname best describes the Obama administration) added [....]
http://floydreports.com/solyndra-to-cost-you-another-14-3-million/

Syria, Iran and the Balance of Power in the Middle East
by George Friedman
stratfor.com
November 22, 2011
U.S. troops are in the process of completing their withdrawal from Iraq by the end-of-2011 deadline. We are now moving toward a reckoning with the consequences. The reckoning concerns the potential for a massive shift in the balance of power in the region, with Iran moving from a fairly marginal power to potentially a dominant power. As the process unfolds, the United States and Israel are making countermoves. We have discussed all of this extensively. Questions remain whether these countermoves will stabilize the region and whether or how far Iran will go in its response.  Iran has been preparing for the U.S. withdrawal. While it is unreasonable simply to [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20111121-syria-iran-and-balance-power-middle-east?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20111122&utm_term=gweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=be4d2156a5b64ab7b21b72ba9b2021fb

The Plot To Make Hillary President

by Chip Wood,
Personal Liberty Digest,
November 25, 2011
    Democratic leaders Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen wrote an opinion piece detailing why Barack Obama should withdraw from the 2012 race.Here’s some news that could turn the entire election upside down. Leading Democrats are urging Barack Hussein Obama to withdraw as a candidate for re-election in 2012, as Lyndon Baines Johnson did almost 50 years ago.
    The campaign to get Obama to quit the race kicked into high gear on Monday, when influential Democratic leaders Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen wrote a lengthy piece for The Wall Street Journal on why Obama should withdraw. Here’s part of what they said:  “[Obama] should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president’s accomplishments.” 
    Who would they have run instead? Get ready for their totally predictable pitch: “He should step aside for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”  I’ll spare you the hundreds of words that follow as the two Democratic pollsters make their case “as patriots and Democrats.” Let me go directly  [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/the-plot-to-make-hillary-president/?eiid=&rmid=2011_11_25_PLA_[P11555299]&rrid=387432349

The Mexican Drug Cartel Threat in Central America
by Karen Hooper
stratfor.com
November 17, 2011
Guatemalan President-elect Otto Perez Molina told Mexican newspaper El Universal on Nov. 9 that he plans to engage drug cartels in a “full frontal assault” when he takes office in 2012. The former general said he will use Guatemala’s elite military forces, known as Los Kaibiles, to take on the drug cartels in a strategy similar to that of the Mexican government; he has asked for U.S. assistance in this struggle.
The statements signal a shifting political landscape in already violent Central America. The region is experiencing increasing levels of crime and the prospect of heightened competition from Mexican drug cartels in its territory. The institutional weakness and security vulnerabilities of Guatemala and other Central American states mean that combating these trends will require significant help, most likely from the United States.
From Sideshow to Center Stage
Central America has seen a remarkable rise in its importance as a transshipment point for cocaine and other contraband bound for the United States. Meanwhile, Mexican organized crime has expanded its activities in Mexico and [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20111116-mexican-drug-cartel-threat-central-america?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=111117&utm_term=sweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=f463d99806784c3c93d272851f82f14d

US Should Follow Leftist Canada- and Cap Spending

by Daniel J. Mitchell
finance.Townhall.com
November 15, 2011
Since I’ve written before about Canada’s remarkable period of fiscal restraint during the 1990s, I am very pleased to see that the establishment press is finally giving some attention to what our northern neighbors did to reduce the burden of government spending.  "Everyone wants to know how we did it,” said political economist Brian Lee Crowley, head of the Ottawa-based think tank Macdonald-Laurier Institute, who has examined the lessons of the 1990s. But to win its budget wars, Canada first had to realize how dire its situation was and then dramatically shrink the size of government rather than just limit the pace of spending growth. It would eventually oversee the biggest reduction in Canadian government spending since demobilization after World War Two. …The turnaround began with Chretien’s arrival as prime minister in November 1993, when his Liberal Party – in some ways Canada’s equivalent of the Democrats in the U.S. – swept to victory with a strong majority. The new government [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/danieljmitchell/2011/11/22/us_should_follow_leftist_canada-_and_cap_spending/page/full/

Woody Allen and Mia Farrow's Son Becomes Rhodes Scholar

The Hollywood Reporter
November 21, 2011
Ronan Farrow, the biological son of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, is one of 32 Rhodes Scholars representing the United States, as announced by the Rhodes Trust over the weekend.  Farrow, 23, graduated from Yale Law School and works as a State Department special adviser on global youth issues.  Farrow, a former child prodigy, graduated [....]
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/woody-allen-and-mia-farrow-s-son-becomes-rhodes-scholar.html
Until Next Sunday....

"Clown Prince" Weekly Blather; November 24th

A Patriotic Response To The "Clown Prince;" 11/26/2011
[As opposed to the subject of this 'every Saturday-morning' blog entry, I was intent with family and friends and made the unlikely assumption that "The Narcissistic One" would be with his extended family!!  Hence, I didn't search out his 'Weekly Blather' until this morning{November 26th}, Sorry!] 
barackingham Palace,
District of Corruption,
November 24, 2011
From my family to yours, I’d like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Like millions of Americans, Michelle, Malia, Sasha and I will spend the day eating great food, watching a little football, and reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are.  As Americans, each of us has our own list of things and people to be thankful for. But there are some blessings we all share.  We’re especially grateful for the men and women who defend our country overseas. To all the service members eating Thanksgiving dinner far from your families: the American people are thinking of you today. And when you come home, we intend to make sure that we serve you as well as you’re serving America.  We’re also grateful for the Americans who are taking time out of their holiday to serve in soup kitchens and shelters, making sure their neighbors have a hot meal and a place to stay. This sense of mutual responsibility – the idea that I am my brother’s keeper; that I am my sister’s keeper – has always been a part of what makes our country special. And it’s one of the reasons the Thanksgiving tradition has endured.
[What I'm not telling you: As you've probably picked up on by now, I--and by 'I,' I mean the entire "Narcissist" family--really don't 'give-two-hoots-in-hell' about the military except during campaign season.  During said season, I'll be hitting the military bases harder and harder, trying to coherce the serving men and women into voting for me, members of my regime and members of the owe-bamacRATic party.  You've probably already surmised that Michelle "eat'cher veggies" owe-bama feels much the same way about military spouses and military families!  I've had Michelle "eat'cher veggies" owe-bama drag Dr {of education} Jill Biden to her 'forced-participation' public appearances. The Dr {of education} seems to draw larger crowds than Mrs "eat'cher veggies" owe-bama can, on her own.  The 'Thanksgiving' holiday is strictly an American tradition!  While we muslims aren't real big on the tradition, we are grateful for the day off; grateful for the 'above-the-fold' news items that take the spotlight away from my failed policies.  That "I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper" thingie?  I sure-as-hell don't subscribe to that principle!  Why else does my brother George live in a mud-hut in Kenya on twenty-dollars-a-year?!?  Why else do others in my clan enter the United States illegally and hide in rat-infested apartments in one of America's largest, most liberal cities?!?  Yea, I'm my 'relatives keeper,' alright!!]



[Thanks to Rush Limbaugh and his "Excellence in Broadcasting" Network]

 The very first Thanksgiving was a celebration of community during a time of great hardship, and we have followed that example ever since. Even when the fate of our union was far from certain – during a Civil War, two World Wars, a Great Depression – Americans drew strength from each other. They had faith that tomorrow would be better than today.  We’re grateful that they did. As we gather around the table, we pause to remember the pilgrims, pioneers, and patriots who helped make this country what it is. They faced impossible odds, and yet somehow, they persevered. Today, it’s our turn.  I know that for many of you, this Thanksgiving is more difficult than most. But no matter how tough things are right now, we still give thanks for that most American of blessings, the chance to determine our own destiny. The problems we face didn’t develop overnight, and we won’t solve them overnight. But we will solve them. All it takes is for each of us to do our part.
[What I'm not telling you: If you're looking for an accurate story of what happened at that First Thanksgiving, look no farther than the Limbaugh website: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2011/11/23/the_real_story_of_thanksgiving
If you're looking for the annually sanitized version, it can be found almost anywhere liberals blog.  The annual 'Thanksgiving Days' were true inspirations to those suffering through the various kerfuffles involving the United States, both at home and on the world stage!

"Americans drew strength from each other" 
....and....
"They had faith that tomorrow would be better than today." 

Those two statements I made were made only in jest!!  Since George Soros brought my regime into power, the premise of individual strength; the premise of taking care of one's neighbor, have been essentially destroyed by my failed policies; by my failed legislation and by my abject failure in leading the country out of the hole I created with my union hierarchy; with my supporter and donor pay-offs!!  Please take care to notice that no one in my regime; no one working in the federal government ever suffers the way the American serf; the American taxpayer does!!]
With all the partisanship and gridlock here in Washington, it’s easy to wonder if such unity is really possible. But think about what’s happening at this very moment: Americans from all walks of life are coming together as one people, grateful for the blessings of family, community, and country.  If we keep that spirit alive, if we support each other, and look out for each other, and remember that we’re all in this together, then I know that we too will overcome the challenges of our time.  So today, I’m thankful to serve as your President and Commander-and-Chief. I’m thankful that my daughters get to grow up in this great country of ours. And I’m thankful for the chance to do my part, as together, we make tomorrow better than today.
[What I'm not telling you: Have faith, American Follower!!  The aforementioned partisanship and gridlock are the only things saving you from further and continued economic destruction!!  My 'unapproved' attempts to socialize; to fascist-ize, to communist-ize the American form of government have further moved 'national destruction' down the path to "Third-World Rathole" status!!  THANKFUL {to be America's ruler}, my fuzzy brown ass!!  The United States as a country; the United States as a philosophy; the United States as a people, owed the exhaulted position of 'Ruler of America' to me, simply because I know I'm worthy of it!!  Never before have my 'wants' been questioned.  Well, they've been questioned but Soros fought off the inquiries; keeping my history; keeping my background a deep, dark secret!  Does anyone on the planet even pretend to believe that I'm "thankful for the chance to do my part....?!?"  Well I guess they might if said 'chance' is the chance to transform the American form of government from one that's worked brilliantly for the past 228 years to one--hopefully--that will continue to function so as to benefit the serf class until it collapses as a form of government proven 'unworkable' over the long term!]

This'n'That; November Twenty-Fifth #1; TV Ads

owe-bama Continues To Whine!
This post is about the ZERO-bama campaign whining about the Romney campaign using quotes originally co-opted by the "Clown Prince," against him [ZERO-bama].
The blogspot site so screwed this post that I've deleted it.  It still exists at the wordpress site, where these screw-ups are the exception rather than the blogspot rule!
http://justincase505.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/thisnthat-november-twenty-fifth-1-tv-ads/ 
Enjoy!

This'n'That; November Twenty-Second #1; Trump on Value

[Completely f**ked up by blogspot!!  A better view is: http://www.justincase505.wordpress.com/]
'The Donald' On The Discovery Channel:
    One of the latest 'good' shows on TV is the Discovery Channel's "Curiosity."  the episode I saw was interesting as well as informative.  I hope "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" was distracted away from the referenced episode featuring Donald Trump.  One--and by one, I mean ALL OF US!--can only hope the aforementioned "Clown" didn't see the Trump episode where Mr Trump explores the 'value of America.'
    A partial list of the categories involved are:
    The part we should not want "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" to learn is the grand total: the amount that should be asked if someone wanted to "buy America!"  Well it involves one last mathematical calculation:  The total value minus the debt:

All sub-terrainian mineral values;
Surface infrastructure values;
Surface naturally occurring (i.e., lakes, rivers, etc)values;
Human body value;
Human intellectual property values,
....and on and on.

  Now there's some walkin' 'round; some 'piss-away' money for "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist!!"  Remember the last ill-conceived debt-ceiling increase?!?  How many days did it take said "Clown" to spend a majority of the billions-of-dollars unleashed?!?  He--as with all socio-fascists--has never seen a single dollar he couldn't spend SOMEWHERE!!!

The gross total:  295 Trillion Dollars
 -National Debt:    15 Trillion Dollars
                         ---------------------
Net Total Value: 280 Trillion Dollars ($280,000,000,000,000.00!!)

This'n'That; November Twenty-First #3; Email to Cong.

Yet Another Email To Rep Buerkle:
(Sent via Congressional email on 11/21/2011)
Representative Buerkle,
    What the hell is going on with this sham known as the "Super Committee??"  This is nothing more than a circumvention of YOUR responsibilities; a method for the socio-fascists among YOU to arrive at a solution agreeable to said socio-fascists--but against the will of the taxpaying public!!
    YOU foisted this upon the American taxpayer because YOU were unable to control the runaway spending; of which YOU--as the Congress--are duplicitious!!  Not only--during YOUR formation of this sham--did YOU exempt practically anything that would affect your individual voting blocks, you undually heaped cuts on the defense budget!!  What kind of bullshit crap is that?!?  Just as the "devil's-in-the-details" of owe-bamaKare, we're finding the provisions of this ludicrious "Super Committee" are just as full of "devils!!"
    For the incompetent boob 'less-than-affectionately-known-as' "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" to have an increase in the debt ceiling--against the wishes of a majority of taxpayers--there was to be a concurrent 917-Thousand-Million-Dollar cut in spending OVER TEN-YEARS!!  That--the phrase 'over-ten-years'--is just as incompetent in it's definition as those who propose it!! YOU--as the Congress--are every-bit as incompetent as said "Clown Prince," with your approval of these initial negotiations; without restricting the additional spending as you spread the reductions "over-ten-years!!"  You--as the Congress--are intent on "screwing us--as the American taxpayer--to the wall" financially, at every turn!!
    Now we--as the American taxpayer--find that any disagreeable decision by YOU as said "Super Committee" can be legislated away!!  Combining incompetence--as personified by John McCain--with ineptness--as personified by Lindsay Graham--and we will have proposed legislation that will do away with any severe cuts to the military budget!!   What-the-hell good is an agreement when one component can just "legislate away" any disagreeable decisions?!?"
    Ms Buerkle, you must admit I've been one of your most ardent supporters both in the campaign process and your governance, subsequent!!  How can YOU--as a legislative body--maintain any credence when any and all decisions seem to be "chiseled in Jello?!?!?"  If the McCain-Graham Incompetency can "legislate away" military budget cuts; what's to say a John Hines-Kerry (coupled with another congressional miscreant) won't "legislate away" cuts in--say--infrastructure payments to labor unions, or foreign aid to muslim miscreant ratholes, or payments to Solyndra-esque green failures?!?
    The 'one-more-chance' I and others like me, gave the congress as a whole-has failed miserably!!  I've been in favor of term limits for every elective office for many years and now intend to make it a major item in every upcoming political post; every election, every campaign commentary!!
Your comments?
Justin Case
Til Nex'Time

This'n'That; November Twenty-First #; Why Now?!?

Concert At barackingham Palace; Why Now?!?
    I'd be curious to know when this 'country music' concert was scheduled for next week at barackingham Palace?  Was it before or after Michelle was unceremoniously handed "her more-than-ample ass-on-a-platter" by NASCAR fans!!
    We all--the NASCAR fans among us--know that runnin' illegal whiskey is the backbone of NASCAR!! 
We all--the country music fans among us--know that country music is the backbone of the country folk who supported themselves for generations with the production and sale of illegal whiskey!!
We all--the great Charley Pride, aside--know that country music is not a favorite form with the negros among us.
    We all know that this sudden, star-studded country music concert in barackingham Palace, is nothing more than a blatant attempt to bring the countrified commoners--members of the serf class among us--into the socio-fascist fold!!  I'm kinda thinkin' the serfs among us--of which I am one--will see through this masquerade and put the 'ass-clown'-known-as-obama, on the ass ....err.... ash-heap of political history!!
Til Nex'Time....

This'n'That; November Twenty-first #1; Realization?!?

NASCAR Expresses It's 'Love!'
    Yesterday (Sunday, November 20th) during their introductions, the Homestead-Miami Speedway crowd expressed their 'love' for the pretend princess and the pretend doctor.  Michelle "Eat'cher Veggies" owe-bama and Jill "Dr of education" Biden are finally getting the message on how much their subjects actually love the vote-buying gimmicks they come up with!!  Depending on who you read, the pair were booed (American newspaper websites) or they were resoundingly booed (British newspaper websites)!!
     As with "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist," the wives' bullshit ain't going over as big as it did during the 'Campaign of Fluff!!'  The entire lot of fascists are beginning to realize how much the socio-fascist voter-base has deterioriated over the past two-years, plus!!  To that end--in order to preserved their 'permanent vacation' status--the wives are 'hitting the stump' harder than they've ever done before; in Miami, beating the drum to convert active and retired military and their dependents into "good lil' fascists"-ready to vote for the current "Clown!!"  The military--traditionally--overwhelmingly vote for the republicRATic candidate; the fascists must either have mass-conversions, or have the absentee ballots denied.  I don't see it going well for the socio-fascist side!!
Til Nex'Time....

The Sunday 'Report;' 11/20/2011

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Baird's STOCK Act gains new, vital life
Daily News Editorial
November 17, 2011
Baird's insider trading bill finally gets noticed
One year removed from completing six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, former 3rd District [Washington State] Rep. Brian Baird may have discovered a secret for getting things done in the Nation's Capital:  Use a public forum to embarrass someone, particularly someone big and important.  Baird was a longstanding proponent of a measure he called the STOCK Act — an acronym for "Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge." If enacted, the bill would prevent members of Congress and their staffs from using information not available to the public to guide them in making or selling investments. This sort of "insider trading" is patently illegal for most Americans, but the prohibition has never been extended to Capitol Hill.  As a congressman, Baird was always a sheriff in search of a posse on this issue. Even though he took to introducing the STOCK Act in every session of Congress, no more than six other House members ever signed on as co-sponsors.  As a retired congressman, Baird finally had his day in the famous Court of Public Opinion. CBS Television's "60 Minutes" took up the story and Baird was a willing interview. In a broadcast Sunday night, Baird helped outline the nature and possible extent of the problem and CBS reporters identified former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current Speaker John Boehner as persons [....]
http://tdn.com/news/opinion/baird-s-stock-act-gains-new-vital-life/article_1af1a2cc-10a5-11e1-b116-001cc4c002e0.html

Is economy best birth control?
US births dip again
By MIKE STOBBE
November 18, 2011
ATLANTA (AP) — The economy may well be the best form of birth control.  U.S. births dropped for the third straight year — especially for young mothers — and experts think money worries are the reason.  A federal report released Thursday showed declines in the birth rate for all races and most age groups. Teens and women in their early 20s had the most dramatic dip, to the lowest rates since record-keeping began in the 1940s. Also, the rate of cesarean sections stopped going up for the first time since 1996.  Experts suspected the economy drove down birth rates in 2008 and 2009 as women [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/economy-best-birth-control-us-births-dip-again-213808194.html

Zuccotti Park had own 'ghetto': Samantha Bee
By Matt Cantor,
Newser Staff
November 17, 2011
(Newser) – Just like the society it criticizes, Occupy Wall Street suffers class divisions of its own, and none other than the Daily Show investigated the depths of it on the day protesters were booted from Zuccotti Park—even uncovering divisions in the layout of the park. With its drum circles and “downwardly mobile” protesters, one end was downtown to the other end’s uptown, where Occupy’s elite had “their library, Apple pop-up store, and bike-powered espresso machines,” Samantha Bee [....]
http://www.newser.com/story/133571/daily-show-samantha-bee-reveal-occupy-wall-streets-class-divisions.html
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-november-16-2011/occupy-wall-street-divided?xrs=share_copy

Too Big to Fail Accounting Explained
by Jeff Carter
Townhall.com
November 12, 2011
MF Global blew up because it made really dumb bets on European debt, and levered them 40:1. Lehman and Bear Stearns blew up in 2008, because they made highly levered bets on home mortgages and were levered 30:1.
Yesterday, Goldman ($GS) and Morgan Stanley ($MS) are considering accounting changes that will allow them to lever up their balance sheets.
Currently, Goldman and Morgan carry loans on their balance sheets at a mark to market value. This means that when do their books, they find the actual market price of the [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/jeffcarter/2011/11/12/too_big_to_fail_accounting_explained/page/full/

Ghost alps of Antarctica reveal their secret
AFP
Nov 17, 2011
For more than half a century, geologists have wrangled over the origins of an astonishing range of mountains found beneath ice up to three kilometers (two miles) thick in East Antarctica.  Named after the Soviet geophysicist who detected them in 1958 during the first International Polar Year exploration, the Gamburtsev mountains are 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) long, with jagged peaks up to 2,700 meters (8,900 feet) high intersected by deep troughs and valleys.  How this chain came into being is one of the many mysteries of the great white continent.  The Gamburtsevs are located at high elevation and on a continent that geologically is [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/ghost-alps-antarctica-reveal-secret-181520334.html

Stock experts’ tips can puncture your portfolio
Buying what others are touting is not investing
By Chuck Jaffe,
MarketWatch
November 13, 2011
LAS VEGAS (MarketWatch) — Tom Lydon had just finished a speech at the American Association of Individual Investors Conference here when a woman came up to him, pen and paper in hand, with a simple question: “Would you tell me what ETFs you invest in?”
Lydon, editor of ETF Trends, graciously shared the ticker symbols of his portfolio positions. The woman scribbled notes, thanked him and left.
I asked Lydon what he thought she would do with the information.
“I don’t think she’ll buy all of them,” he said with a laugh, “but she will at least go look at them.”
What’s in your wallet?
That’s the problem. Members of AAII typically are motivated, self-directed investors. But put 1,200-plus of them together for a conference and you still get plenty of “Can you give me that ticker symbol?” behavior. That’s where someone [....]
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-experts-tips-can-puncture-your-portfolio-2011-11-13?siteid=nwhpf

Vikings’ Allen assists wounded veterans
By Jason Cole,
Yahoo! Sports
November 10, 2011
Army veteran Josh Bullis is too young to have to be put back together. At age 22, he should worry about finding a good tattoo parlor, not whether his new house has a roll-in shower for a wheelchair.  Fortunately for Bullis, through the charitable work of Minnesota Vikings star Jared Allen, some of Bullis’ concerns have been alleviated. Through Allen’s “Homes for Wounded Warriors” program, Bullis is the latest veteran to get some assistance in life as a triple amputee.  “It’s more like the mental aspect, this allows me to be independent and feel independent again,” said Bullis, who lost both legs and his left arm [....]
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-cole_direct_snap_jared_allen_vikings_veterans_day111011

The $200,000-a-Year Mine Worker
By John W. Miller
The Wall Street Journal
November 17, 2011
MANDURAH, Australia — One of the fastest-growing costs in the global mining industry are workers like James Dinnison: the 25-year-old high-school dropout from Western Australia makes $200,000 a year running drills in underground mines to extract gold and other minerals.  The heavily tattooed Mr. Dinnison, who started in the mines seven years ago earning $100,000, owns a sky-blue 2009 Chevy Ute, which cost $55,000 before a $16,000 engine enhancement, and a $44,000 custom motorcycle. The price tag on his chihuahua, Dexter, which yaps at his feet: $1,200.  A precious commodity himself, Mr. Dinnison belongs to a class of nouveau riche rising in remote and mineral-rich parts of the world, such as Western Australia state, where mining companies are investing heavily to develop and expand iron-ore mines. Demand for those willing to work 12-hour days in sometimes dangerous conditions, while living for weeks in dusty small towns, is huge.  "It's a historical shortage," says Sigurd Mareels, director of global mining for research firm McKinsey & Co. Not just in Australia, but around the world. In Canada, example, the Mining Industry Council foresees a shortfall of 60,000 to 90,000 workers by 2017. Peru must find 40,000 new miners by the end of the decade.  Behind this need for mine workers is a construction boom in China and other emerging economies that has ramped up the demand for iron ore, used to make steel, and other metals used in construction, such as copper, typically used for wiring buildings.  The manpower dearth comes with a hefty price tag. "Inflationary pressures are driving up costs and wages at mining hot spots like Western Australia, Chile, Africa," said Tom Albanese, CEO of Rio Tinto PLC the world's third-biggest miner by sales. "You're seeing double-digit wage growth in a lot of regions."  The shortage is [....]
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the--200-000-a-year-mine-worker-.html

Obama's Newest Excuse: Lazy Americans
by John Ransom
townhall.com
November 11, 2011
Obama took his You Don’t Love Me Enough reelection tour on the road to the 57th state this weekend on his way to a less hostile, foreign audience.  No, the stopover wasn’t in Kenya.  It was in Hawaii on his way to Bali, Indonesia, as a part of a new election strategy that aims to capture the entire foreign vote for Obama and the Democrats.
Hey, and why not?
No one has done more for those thrifty, industrious, hard working foreign countries than Obama has. And under Obama’s executive amnesty program it’ll be easier than ever for foreigners to register and vote for him via absentee ballot.  When he said Transforming America, he wasn’t kidding.  In the stopover in Hawaii, in anticipation of speechifying to foreigners, the President of the United States revised slightly his grand apology speech on behalf of all of us Ugly Americans who are responsible for the world’s ills.  You’ll remember that in return for a Noble “Peace” Prize, Obama toured the world in 2009 apologizing for how great the United States is- and presumably  [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/11/14/obamas_newest_excuse_lazy_americans

Pakistan bans 'obscene' words on cell phone texts
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT
Associated Press
Nov 18, 2011
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Texters in Pakistan better start watching their language.  Pakistan's telecommunications authority sent a letter ordering cell phone companies to block text messages containing what it perceives to be obscenities, Anjum Nida Rahman, a spokeswoman for Telenor Pakistan, said Friday.  It also sent a list of more than 1,500 English and Urdu words that were to be blocked.  The order was part of the regulator's attempt to block spam messages, said Rahman. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority refused to comment on the initiative.  Many of the words to be blocked were sexually explicit terms or swear words, according to a copy [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-bans-obscene-words-cell-phone-texts-122933488.html

HR 822-National Reciprocity Legislation Moves to Floor Vote in Congress

by Alice Tripp
TSRA 
November 14, 2011
This week HR 822 is expected to move to the floor of the U.S. House for a floor vote. It is expected to pass, moving to the U.S Senate and taken up for discussion early next year. Below is a document, a myth-buster, offered by NRA-ILA Federal in response to nay-sayers. 
H.R. 822: Responding to the Naysayers
H.R. 822, the “National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act,” would allow any person with a valid state-issued concealed firearm permit to carry a concealed firearm in any state that issues concealed firearm permits, or that does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms for lawful purposes. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, H.R. 822 is now being attacked by a few self-proclaimed “gun rights” supporters with no active lobbying presence in any legislature, whose real agendas have little to do with promoting the interests of gun owners. Here are the facts about a few of their claims:
Myth: H.R. 822 would involve the federal bureaucracy in setting standards for carry permits, resulting in “need” requirements, higher fees, waiting periods, national gun owner registration, or worse.
Fact: H.R. 822 doesn’t require—or even authorize—any such action by any federal agency. In fact, since it would amend the Gun Control Act, it would fall under a limitation within that law that authorizes “only such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out” the GCA’s provisions. No federal rules or regulations would be needed to implement H.R. 822, which simply overrides certain state laws.
Myth: H.R. 822 would destroy permitless carry systems such as those in Arizona, Alaska, Vermont and Wyoming.
Fact: H.R. 822 would have absolutely no effect on how the permitless carry states’ laws work within those states. For residents of Arizona, Alaska and Wyoming, where permits are not required but remain available [....]
https://www.tsra.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=344:hr-822-national-reciprocity-legislation-moves-to-floor-vote-in-congress&catid=55:tripp-talk&Itemid=113
 
Meet Canada’s new high-tech plastic currency

By Mike Wehner,
Tecca; Today in Tech
November 17, 2011
    Despite many of us relying on plastic credit and debit cards to make the majority of our daily purchases, the idea of saying goodbye to paper money seems ludicrous. That's just what the Bank of Canada is planning to do, and the first in an all-new line of plastic money will begin rolling out to consumers this month. The bills — made of a single piece of polymer — boast a longer life than paper notes, as well as some advanced security features to keep counterfeiters scratching their heads.
    The new, high-tech currency includes two transparent windows that give the bills a strikingly futuristic appearance. The first window — in the shape of a maple leaf with a frosted outline — includes a unique anti-counterfeit feature: When looking through the window at a single light source, a ring of text appears, verifying the value of the note.  The second, larger window includes a metallic portrait that mimics the face in the center of the bill. The transparent plastic beneath the smaller portrait is decorated with various digits, and below that is a large picture of a building, carrying a metallic sheen similar to the face above. When tilted, both the face and the building show [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/meet-canada-high-tech-plastic-currency-184640433.html

Europe, the International System and a Generational Shift
by George Friedman
STRATFOR,
November 8, 2011
    Change in the international system comes in large and small doses, but fundamental patterns generally stay consistent. From 1500 to 1991, for example, European global hegemony constituted the world’s operating principle. Within this overarching framework, however, the international system regularly reshuffles the deck in demoting and promoting powers, fragmenting some and empowering others, and so on. Sometimes this happens because of war, and sometimes because of economic and political forces. While the basic structure of the world stays intact, the precise way it works changes.
    The fundamental patterns of European domination held for 500 years. That epoch of history ended in 1991, when the Soviet Union — the last of the great European empires — collapsed with global consequences. In China, Tiananmen Square defined China for a generation. China would continue its process of economic development, but the Chinese Communist Party would remain the dominant force. Japan experienced an economic crisis that ended its period of rapid growth and made the world’s second-largest economy far less dynamic than before. And in 1993, the Maastricht Treaty came into force, creating the contemporary European Union and holding open the possibility of a so-called United States of Europe that could counterbalance the United States of America.
The Post-European Age
    All these developments happened in the unstable period after the European Age and before … well, something else. What specifically, we’re not quite sure. For the past 20 years, the world has been reshaping itself. Since 1991, then, the countries of the world have been feeling out the edges of the new system. The past two decades have been an interregnum of sorts, a period of evolution from the rule of the old to the rule of the new.  Four things had to happen before the new era could truly begin. First, the Americans had to learn the difference between extreme power (which they had and still have) and omnipotence (which they do not have). The wars in the Islamic world have more than amply driven this distinction home. Second, Russian power needed to rebound from its post-Soviet low to something more representative of Russia’s strength. That occurred in August 2008 with the Russo-Georgian war, which re-established Moscow as the core of the broader region. Third, China — which has linked its economic, political and military future to a [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20111107-europe-international-system-and-generational-shift?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20111108&utm_term=gweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=e15f0916e3004e5086cb442f9573a004

Crooks find new ways to prey on home woes
By Amy Hoak,
MarketWatch
November 14, 2011
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Fraudsters find a way to scam lenders and homeowners out of money no matter how the housing market is faring, but in recent years they’ve shifted their tactics to profit from the market’s downturn.  Today, there’s less identity fraud and misrepresentation of income or employment to obtain a mortgage, mainly because stricter validation criteria when a borrower applies for a loan makes that strategy much less successful, said David Johnson, vice president of fraud and consortium solutions for CoreLogic, a provider of financial, property and consumer information.  But other types of fraud are replacing those scams. Some schemes target distressed homeowners who are looking for a way to save their home from foreclosure. Another tactic: Profiting off of short sales at the expense of the lender.
Foreclosure rescue
Schemes that prey on struggling homeowners heading toward foreclosure are still prevalent, even years into the foreclosure crisis, said Yolanda McGill, senior counsel for the Fair Housing and Fair Lending Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.  “It’s a crime of opportunity. A lot of people who are participating in [....]
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scammers-profit-from-struggling-housing-market-2011-11-14?siteid=nwhpf

Man pays off mother's 1954 parking ticket in Nebraska

Associated Press,
November 4, 2011
YORK, Neb. (AP) — A parking ticket issued 57 years ago in southeast Nebraska has finally been paid off. The fine: a dime.  York Police Chief Don Klug says a man walked into the station Tuesday with the ticket and payment — mounted and framed. Klug tells the York News-Times (http://bit.ly/uPLvCV ) that the man said he found the ticket among his mother's things and wanted to settle the debt. The ticket was issued on July 13, 1954, to a vehicle licensed in Oklahoma. The man told Klug that he [....]
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20111104/NEWS08/111104011/Man-pays-off-mother-s-1954-parking-ticket-Nebraska?odyssey=mod

High stakes in backroom battle

by Financial Times Management,
October 11, 2011The leadership is in transition, and changes to the political system are under discussion, says Jamil Anderlini.  When former Chinese President Jiang Zemin stepped out on to the stage this month at a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of imperial rule, the entire country stopped to take notice.  The man who occupied the top spot in the Communist hierarchy from 1989 to 2002 had not
been seen in public for at least a year and was rumoured to be dead or at least in a coma.  Although he could not stand up or walk without support and was clearly very sick, his appearance was highly symbolic for a country and ruling party in transition. 
    About this time next year, virtually all of China’s top leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, will step down from their party posts after a decade as the unelected rulers of the world’s most populous nation.  In a tightly choreographed ceremony, their successors will walk out on to the stage in the Great Hall of the People just off Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and assume responsibility for 1.3bn people and an economy that is the world’s second largest.  The procedure by which this new generation of leaders will be chosen is a mystery to all but a tiny handful of power brokers in the party.  But the public appearance of the ailing Mr Jiang was a sign of the vicious jockeying going on behind closed doors, as past and present leaders attempt to place allies and acolytes in positions of influence.  He was there to encourage the remnant members of his faction and show his
opponents he still wields some power from behind the scenes.
    The positions of president and premier are the only ones that seem to have been settled – with Vice-President Xi Jinping very likely to succeed Mr Hu and Vice-Premier Li Keqiang expected to fill Mr Wen’s shoes – but the other seven slots on the all-powerful nine-member standing committee of the Communist party politburo are still up for grabs.  The stakes in the backroom political battles could not be higher.  China is approaching a number of crucial points in its rapid rise on the world stage and its next generation of mandarins will be confronted by some of the most difficult decisions in decades.  After 30 years of rapid growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, the party knows that its economic and political models as well as its strategy for dealing with the world are all approaching the end of their usefulness.
    First, the export-led, investment-driven model that has served the country so well is increasingly seen by domestic and international economists as running out of steam.  At home, a rapidly ageing workforce and soaring costs for everything from land to labour mean the low-cost manufacturing model that has driven growth for decades is increasingly untenable.  With much of the developed world facing the likelihood of renewed recession and with protectionism rising among important trading partners, the days of ever-growing exports are nearly over.  Meanwhile, a more recent housing-led construction boom looks increasingly unsustainable and many observers are worried about a real estate bubble that could pop, causing terrible damage to the financial sector and to headline growth.  The government has identified the problems and made “transformation of the pattern of economic development” [....]
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/0763661a-fdda-11e0-b6d9-00144feabdc0.pdf

A Blueprint for America's Survival During the Next 50 Years (Part 1 of 2) [Part 2 follows]

by Cliff Ennico
Townhall.com
October 18, 2011
A lot of people are worried about America's future right now.  And they are right. Things have changed so quickly in the past few decades that only a handful of people -- and I'm not sure about them, either -- have an idea of what it even means to be an American right now. What values do we uphold? Does our Constitution continue to make sense? Does it matter that we may soon no longer be the No. 1 economy in the world?  This is a column for entrepreneurs, not political junkies, but you can't write for business owners without at least thinking about the political, economic and environmental climate that is healthiest for them. I try to do this from time to time, hopefully without getting too personal about my own opinions.  That's why I thought it might help the current debate to point out a few self-evident, if inconvenient, truths about what America will need to do -- not just the government, but all of us as Americans -- if our country is to survive the next 50 years on Earth.
-- We have to maintain leadership in technology.
We no longer can be the world's manufacturer; many countries have proven that they can make stuff cheaper and better than we can. If America has an economic future, it is as the world's research-and-development department. We must maintain our leadership in innovation and the development of new technologies, ideas and business models that will rule the future. If we let China, India or anyone else take that away from us, we're toast.
-- We have to maintain our military might.
We live in an increasingly dangerous world. A nationalistic China is building its military technology, hacking into the world's computers, shooting down space satellites (so far, only its own) and providing arms to Iran and other troublemaking nations. It is not our friend, folks.  We all hope the Arab Spring revolts will lead to greater democracy in the Middle East, but they could just as easily lead to a rise in Islamism, anti-Western sentiment, and attacks on Israel, Christians in Egypt, and other non-Muslims throughout the world.  Long-term demographic changes, failing economies in the Mediterranean countries, and rising Russian nationalism (Vladimir Putin's back in town, although he never really left, did he?) may lead to destabilization in Europe as well.  For those reasons alone, maintaining world [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/cliffennico/2011/10/18/a_blueprint_for_americas_survival_during_the_next_50_years_part_1_of_2/page/full/

A Blueprint for America's Survival During the Next 50 Years (Part 2 of 2)

— Everyone — but especially the government — needs to get behind business.
As a former president once said, "The business of America is business." For a few years now, government has treated business as an enemy, something that must be tolerated in order to create jobs and tax revenue. That has to stop. Government needs to get behind businesses, especially entrepreneurial ones, and create the environment they need to grow — even if it means cutting taxes, and even if it means removing regulations, or limiting them to publicly held companies.  The only jobs government can create are government jobs. Unless we want massive bureaucracies like they had in czarist Russia (and remember what happened to them?), all of us need to get behind private enterprise. Stop protesting in public parks about the evils of capitalism. Go back to school, learn how businesses work, and then get out there and start some.
— We need to balance our freedoms and our values.
The current debate between political liberals and "values" conservatives is a little like that old beer commercial of the 1980s: "Tastes great, less filling!" The message, of course, was that there was no conflict between the two: You could actually drink a lower-calorie beer without sacrificing taste.  People from all over the world want to come to America, even to the point of violating our immigration laws to do so. And they're not coming here for the weather or to take advantage of our social welfare programs. (Many come from countries where such features are far superior.) They come here for the freedoms and opportunities — the ability to be [....]
http://www.creators.com/lifestylefeatures/business-and-finance/succeeding-in-your-business/a-blueprint-for-america-s-survival-during-the-next-50-years-part-2-of-2.html
Until Next Sunday....