The Sunday 'Report;' 07/03/2011

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Winners and losers (Fast-food Chains)
Last reviewed: August 2011
    Are some of the biggest and best-known chains low-rated because of the Walmart syndrome, in which the public enjoys taking potshots at the 800-pound gorilla? Not according to Tristano. "The large chains are consistent and they're everywhere, but they do get lower scores for their overall experience," he says. "It's not high quality that's driving traffic, it's good value, drive-thru, and convenience."   Fortunately, if you like fast food of any type, there are plenty of good choices. 
    For burger fans, the best restaurants include In-N-Out Burger, rated highest of all 53 chains, Burgerville (39 in Oregon and Washington), Five Guys Burgers and Fries (750 nationwide and in Canada), Culver's (428 mainly in the Midwest), and Back Yard Burgers (120 mostly in the South and East).
    For Mexican food, Chipotle, Rubio's Fresh (180 in the West), Qdoba (500 nationally), and Baja Fresh (255 in 24 states and Dubai) earned high marks for food and service.
    One chicken chain topped the rest: [....]
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/august/food/fast-food/winners-and-losers/index.htm?EXTKEY=AYFCF07
 
Unexpected NH Support Presses Perry Run, Aide Says

Thursday, 30 Jun 2011
By Hiram Reisner
    A top adviser to Texas Gov. Rick Perry says New Hampshire support for the governor’s potential presidential run was unexpected — especially since Perry has yet to visit the Granite State — and a decision will be made in the next several weeks, according to a UnionLeader.com blog.  “The amount of organic calls of support from New Hampshire has been surprising since [....]
http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Perry-president-texas-NewHampshire/2011/06/30/id/402079?s=al&promo_code=C892-1


The No-Baby Boom
A growing number of couples are choosing to live child-free. By Brian Frazer,
April 2011 Issue
      This summer, 28-year-old Anthony Shepherd and his wife of seven years, Cynthia, will fly from China, where they've been teaching English since 2009, to Wisconsin for a vacation. In addition to relaxing, catching up with friends, and attending her brother's wedding, they plan on stopping by a vasectomy clinic. The People's Republic may be notorious for its one-child policy, but the Shepherds' attitude toward reproduction is even more stringent. Call it the zero-child policy.
     Even before the Shepherds left Asheville, North Carolina, for Sichuan province, they'd made their life decision based on the experiences of their "childed" friends. "We watched them struggle to pay bills, find suitable apartments or houses to fit their families, and work at [....]
http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/201104/no-baby-boom-non-breeders?mbid=synd_yshine

Fraud Fannie Mae Silence on Taylor Bean Led to $3 Billion Fraud
Thursday, 30 Jun 2011    The first sign of what would ultimately become a $3 billion fraud surfaced Jan. 11, 2000, when Fannie Mae executive Samuel Smith discovered Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. sold him a loan owned by someone else.  Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise which issues almost half of all mortgage-backed securities, determined over the next two years that more than 200 loans acquired from Taylor Bean were bogus, non-performing or lacked critical components such as mortgage insurance.  That might have been the end of Taylor Bean and its chairman and principal owner, Lee Farkas. He was sentenced today in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to 30 years in prison for orchestrating what prosecutors call one of the “largest bank fraud schemes in this country’s history.”  Instead, it was just the beginning.  Fannie Mae officials never reported [....]
http://www.moneynews.com/FinanceNews/Fannie-Mae-Silence-3Billion/2011/06/30/id/402062

..The First Car to 3 Million Miles?

One man's Volvo P1800 is still breaking records.
By Anthony Ingram
High Gear Media
Jun 27, 2011
    Modern cars can do over 100,000 miles without pausing for breath. If you really pile on the miles, you might have 200,000 or even 300,000 miles on the clock. If the car Gods are really shining on you, you might have managed more than half a million.  Prepare to feel insignificant. Irv Gordon from East Patchogue, New York, and his 1966 Volvo P1800, have completed over [....]
http://autos.yahoo.com/news/the-first-car-to-3-million-miles-.html
 
Greenspan: 'There is No Evidence' Fed Tactics Have Helped Economy
Friday, 01 Jul 2011
By Forrest Jones
    The Federal Reserve's recent quantitative easing program, a $600 billion bond buyback program designed to stimulate the economy and the latest in a series of similar assets purchases, really didn't help the economy that much, says former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.  Easing did weaken the dollar somewhat, which was good for U.S. exports.  "There is no evidence that huge inflow of money into the system basically worked," Greenspan tells CNBC.  "It obviously had some effect on the exchange rate and the exchange rate was a critical issue in export expansion."   "Aside from that, I am ill-aware of anything that really worked. Not only QE2 but QE1."  QE2 is the popular abbreviation for the $600 billion bond buyback program, while QE1, the first round easing, involved [....]
http://www.moneynews.com/Headline/GreenspanQE2DidntAffectEconomyVeryMuch/2011/07/01/id/402173

Fun Facts--Alcohol Trivia

1.President Lyndon B. Johnson's favorite drink may have been scotch and soda. He would ride around his Texas ranch in an open convertible in hot weather. He drank his "scotch and soda out of a large white plastic foam cup. Periodically, Johnson would slow down and hold his left arm outside the car, shaking the cup and ice. A Secret Service agent would run up to the car, take the cup and go back to the station wagon (following the President's car). There another agent would refill it with ice, scotch, and soda as the first agent trotted behind the wagon. then the first agent would run the refilled cup up to LBJ's outstretched hand, as the President's car moved slowly forward." 60
2.Don’t swallow in Utah! Wine used in wine tastings in Utah must not be swallowed! 37
3.Adding a miniature onion to a martini turns it into a Gibson. 38
4.The longest bar in the world is 684 feet (or about 208.5 meters) long and is located at the New Bulldog in Rock Island, Illinois. 39
5.A drinking establishment is now located in the New York City building that once housed the National Temperance Society. 40
6.A tequini is a martini made with tequila instead of dry gin. 41
7.The body or lightness of whiskey is primarily determined by the size of the grain from which it is made; the larger the grain, the lighter the whiskey. For example, whiskey made from rye, with its small grain size, is bigger or fuller-bodied than is whiskey made from corn, with its large grain size. 42
8.Each molecule of alcohol is less than a billionth of a meter long and consists of a few atoms of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen. 43
9.Christopher Columbus brought Sherry on his voyage to the New World. 44
10.As Magellan prepared to sail around the world in 1519, he spent more on Sherry than on weapons. 45
11.Sixty-two percent of  [....]
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/FunFacts/AlcoholTrivia.html
Until Next Sunday....