The Sunday 'Report;' 11/28/2010

What 'National Pamphleteers' Don't Report:
Blue Collars, Red Voters: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/253448/blue-collars-red-voters-henry-olsen
    Less than two years after a Time magazine cover proclaimed Republicans an “Endangered Species,” the GOP is back in black. With its largest number of House seats since the election of 1946 and its largest number of state legislative seats since 1928, the Republican party seems to have repopulated its native environment.  Questions lurk underneath this phoenix-like rebirth. Who composes the newly emerged Republican majority? How can this coalition be....

Ex-auto czar paying $6.2M in SEC settlement:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2013465201_apussecrattner.html?syndication=rss
    The Obama administration's former auto czar agreed Thursday to pay $6.2 million to settle civil charges over his role in an influence-peddling scandal involving New York state's public pension fund.  The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement with investment banker Steven Rattner. As part of the settlement, Rattner will also be barred for at least two years from working in the securities industry.  The SEC alleged that Rattner and his private-equity firm Quadrangle Group provided kickbacks, political favors and personal benefits in 2004-05 to get....

What's the Matter With Alaska?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/whats-the-matter-with-ala_b_784650.html
    Something in Alaska stinks. Again. Not just an ordinary low tide smell. Not like something you'd blame on the dog. It smells like an infection. For me to plug my nose, I'd have to overlook some curious facts.  I've written another piece like this. It was after the last election. I said it the three elections before that. In the words of baseball great Yogi Berra, it's Déjà vu all over again! I'm writing and talking about the same thing, in what has become an even-year ritual: Alaska doesn't count votes properly and hasn't for years. Alaska still uses the Diebold Accuvote Optical Scanners. The same Diebold machines California "decertified" because....

Where Do We Get These People?
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/253837/where-do-we-get-these-people-rich-lowry
    In this season of gratitude, Bill Krissoff has a different notion of thankfulness than most of us.  He feels “very lucky” to have been able to drop his orthopedic practice in Truckee, Calif. (a ski town in the Sierra Nevada), enlist in the Navy, and deploy to a war zone to repair the broken bodies of Marines — all at an age when most other people are making retirement plans.
    Bill and Christine Krissoff had a right to think their family had already sacrificed enough for the country. Both of their sons, Nathan and Austin, “were heavily influenced by 9/11,” Krissoff recounts, and enlisted in the Marine Corps. The older, Nathan, a graduate of Williams College who was an accomplished piano player, a talented athlete, and a natural leader, was killed in combat in Iraq in December 2006.  The idea came to Krissoff that he, too, wanted to serve the Marines, as a surgeon. Usually, as Krissoff says, “fathers inspire sons; in our case, I think sons inspired dad.”  Only at age 60, he was too old. He wanted to sign up with the Navy so he could care for Marines, but the Navy....

China, Russia quit dollar
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-11/24/content_11599087.htm
    China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday.  Chinese experts said the move reflected closer relations between Beijing and Moscow and is not aimed at challenging the dollar, but to protect their domestic economies.  "About trade settlement, we have decided to use our own currencies," Putin said at a joint news conference with Wen in St. Petersburg.  The two countries were accustomed to using other currencies, especially the dollar, for bilateral trade. Since the financial crisis, however, high-ranking officials on both sides began to explore other possibilities.  The yuan has now started trading against the Russian rouble in the Chinese interbank market, while the renminbi will soon be allowed to trade against the rouble in Russia, Putin said.  "That has forged an important step in bilateral trade and it is a result of the consolidated financial systems of world countries," he said.  Putin made his remarks after a meeting with Wen. They also officiated at a....

The Day the Dollar Died
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N8gJSMoOJc&feature=player_embedded

Sen. Rockefeller: FCC Should Take FOX News, MSNBC Off Airwaves
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/11/17/sen_rockefeller_fcc_should_take_fox_news_msnbc_off_airwaves.html

New highs may be ahead for German index
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-high-can-germanys-dax-index-go-2010-11-23?siteid=nwhwk
    Germany’s benchmark index has hit a succession of multiyear highs in recent weeks, leading some analysts to suggest it could climb to an all-time peak by the end of 2011.  The DAX 30 (DX:DAX 6,849, -30.68, -0.45%) has clearly outperformed other major western indexes, recording a gain of 20% in the last 12 months, compared to around 8% for the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,669, -30.23, -0.53%) and less than 2% for the French CAC 40  (FR:PX1 3,729, -31.77, -0.84%) (FR:PX1 3,729, -31.77, -0.84%) (FR:PX1 3,729, -31.77, -0.84%) . The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 11,092, -95.28, -0.85%) is up 8.3% in the same period.  The German index on Friday closed at its highest level since June 2008.  The gains have come despite sovereign-debt problems in Europe and worries about slow U.S. growth.  One of the main reasons for this strong performance is German industry’s close ties with emerging markets, particularly China.  Roughly 6% of German exports go....

The Politician

http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/government/the-politician/
"You have a choice between the natural stability of gold and the honesty and intelligence of the members of government. And with all due respect for those gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the capitalist system lasts, vote for gold." –George Bernard Shaw.

    I have written to you in the past that we must know the mind of government or pay a huge price and perhaps pay with our lives. Ask the people of World War II Germany.  They didn’t think that the National Socialists would be too bad. Then they thought that things would get better. Then they lost everything, and many lost their lives.  The U.S. today is a fascist state no different from Nazi Germany. The only thing missing is the swastika and the jackboots. American fascism is far advanced from....

U.S. seizes sites linked to copyright infringement
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20023918-93.html
    The U.S. government has launched a major crackdown on online copyright infringement, seizing dozens of Web site domains linked to illegal file sharing and counterfeit goods.  The domains of torrent sites that link to illegal copies of music and movie files and sites that sell counterfeit goods were seized this week by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security. Visitors to such sites as Torrent-finder.com, 2009jerseys.com, and Dvdcollects.com found that their usual sites had been replaced by a message that said, "This domain name has been seized by ICE--Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court."  "My domain has been seized without any previous complaint or notice from any court!" the owner of Torrent-Finder told TorrentFreak, which listed more than 70 domains that were apparently part of the massive seizure.  DHS representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  The seizures came after a Senate committee unanimously approved....


The United Nations Moves In
http://www.personalliberty.com/this-week-in-history/the-united-nations-moves-in/
It was 60 years ago this Saturday, on Aug. 21, 1950, that the advocates of one-world government and defenders of murderous tyrannies and corrupt dictators got the world headquarters they had sought for nearly a century. The United Nations moved into its new home along the East River in New York City on land donated by the Rockefeller family.  Few remember (and of course history books never mention) that the first Secretary General of the U.N. was the communist spy and convicted traitor Alger Hiss. The pantheon of perfidy committed by this monstrous organization is too vast to describe here. Suffice it to say there has never been an anti-communist leader the organization has not despised and tried to destroy, nor a pro-communist despot, dictator or mass murderer (the three are frequently the same) that it has not applauded and appeased.
Yes, the U.N. serves the cause of “peace”—so long as the word “peace” is understood to mean “the elimination of all opposition to a socialist dictatorship.” [Entire Article]

Dublin details plan; corporate tax unchanged
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/europe-bond-turmoil-continues-on-contagion-fears-2010-11-24?siteid=nwhwk
    Embattled Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen on Wednesday detailed 15 billion euros ($20 billion) worth of tax hikes and spending cuts designed to slash Ireland’s budget deficit over the next four years as the government negotiates a rescue package with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.  The measures, equal to 9.5% of gross domestic product, will mark a “signpost” on the road to recovery from the nation’s economic and financial crisis, Cowen said at a news conference in Dublin.  The outlines of the package, including the plan to hike revenues by €5 billion and to cut spending by €10 billion, were already known. The plan is seen as a prerequisite for receiving EU-IMF aid.  The government, however, vowed it would not raise its 12.5% corporation tax rate, the lowest in Europe. News reports have said the Irish government has been pressured by EU partners to raise the rate.  “The government remains committed to the 12.5% corporation tax rate: it will not be increased under any circumstances,” the government said in the document detailing the budget plan.  The plan calls for increases in the value-added tax from 21% to 22% in 2013 and 23% in 2014. It would also broaden the tax base and change tax rules related to pensions.  On the spending front, the government calls for cuts in social welfare spending, further public-sector job cuts, and tighter....

Til Nex'Sunday....