The Sunday 'Report;' 10/23/2011

What The Nation Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Seven Hidden-Gem Careers
By Larry Buhl,
Monster Contributing Writer
Jobs that impress strangers and make your parents giddy with pride may not be the best for you. Whether you’re starting out or changing careers, lesser-known alternative careers may offer lower pressure, better hours and greater personal satisfaction. Here’s a look at seven hidden-gem careers:
If you love to teach but prefer adult students to kids:
Corporate trainers teach employees skills, technologies and protocols. A bachelor’s degree is required. A technical, business or psychology background plus a certificate are helpful. The median training and development specialist salary was $54,160 in May 2010, according to the BLS.
If you’re a wiz at finance and investing but wary of Wall Street:
Personal financial advisors are often self-employed, so you’ll need entrepreneurial skills. Strong math, accounting and problem-solving abilities [....]
http://career-services.monster.com/yahooarticle/alternative-careers-less-stress#WT.mc_n=yta_fpt_article_hidden_gem_careers
 
Steve Jobs and the 7 Rules of Success

By Carmine Gallo
Entrepreneur,
October 14, 2011
Steve Jobs' impact on your life cannot be underestimated. His innovations have likely touched nearly every aspect -- computers, movies, music and mobile. As a communications coach, I learned from Jobs that a presentation can, indeed, inspire. For entrepreneurs, Jobs' greatest legacy is the set of principles that drove his success.  Over the years, I've become a student of sorts of Jobs' career and life. Here's my take on the rules and values underpinning his success. Any of us can adopt them to unleash our "inner Steve Jobs."
1. Do what you love. Jobs once said, "People with passion can change the world for the better." Asked about the advice he would offer would-be entrepreneurs, he said, "I'd get a job as a busboy or something until I figured out what I was really passionate about." That's how much it meant to him. Passion is everything.
2. Put a dent in the universe. Jobs believed in [....]
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/steve-jobs-and-the-7-rules-of-success.html

Conservative Celebrites (38 images)
Tony Danza
The star of "Who's the Boss" is glad to see Republicans as the bosses, and is a registered Republican. [....]
http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/Entertainment/Conservative-Celebrites/5289/28/?ref=ma

U.S. truckers, lawmakers unite in bipartisan opposition to cross-border trucking

[Along with OOIDA’s Executive Vice President Todd Spencer, small-business trucker and OOIDA member Jose Escott spoke of concerns about opening the border to Mexico-based motor carriers. They were joined by Congressmen Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Bob Filner, D-Calif., along with James P. Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.]
The Truckers News Service,
10/19/2011
OTAY MESA, Calif. — The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) today stood at the Mexican border alongside Republican and Democratic lawmakers and other vocal opponents of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s cross-border trucking pilot program — citing concerns for highway safety, homeland security, and regulatory fairness for U.S.-based companies and drivers.  The bipartisan [....]
http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2011/10/19/UStruckerslawmakersuniteinbipartisanoppositiontocross-bordertrucking.aspx

Letting Wood Express its Kinetic Energy
Posted by hipstomp

October 11, 2011
Having spent time in the shop, we all know the line that wood is still alive even after it's dead. Sawn boards have an elasticity and flex that we attempt to master with screw guns and glue-ups (and occasionally, screw-ups). But here's a rather novel use of wood's properties for recreational purposes: The Stick Bomb.
A Stick Bomb is simply a grouping of sticks—in this case, tongue depressors or ice cream sticks—woven together [....]
http://www.core77.com/blog/materials/the_stick_bomb_letting_wood_express_its_kinetic_energy_20758.asp

The Conservative Case Against Mitt Romney (2011 Edition)
John Hawkins,
Townhall.com 
October 18, 2011
It's no accident that Mitt Romney has done so well during this election cycle. He has excellent name recognition, he's extremely well organized, he's a great fundraiser, he's become a polished debater, and he's not gaffe prone. His business experience doesn't hurt either, although it is worth noting that the only reason he's able to brag that he's not a "career politician" is because he lost to Ted Kennedy for the Senate and probably would have lost in 2008 had he run for governor of Massachusetts again.
All that being said, there's a reason why Mitt Romney has been unable to walk away with the nomination despite all of those advantages. It's because Mitt is a deeply flawed candidate. Yes, he would certainly be better than Obama (and I will vote for him if he gets the nomination), but this IS NOT someone conservatives should want as their nominee.
Why?
1) Romneycare: One of the biggest issues the Republican Party has to run on in 2012 is Obamacare. Although Mitt Romney does oppose Obamacare, it's purely a political calculation because [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2011/10/18/the_conservative_case_against_mitt_romney_2011_edition

Rare Titanic photos and letters

An archive of incredible photos and handwritten letters acquired from the descendants of Titanic survivors John and Nelle Pillsbury Snyder, who were returning from their honeymoon when the tragedy struck. They were some of the first people to board lifeboats and later rescued by the Carpathia, the first ship that arrived at the disaster scene on the morning of April 15, 1912. The collection is due to be sold by Philip Weiss Auctions on October 22, 2011, and the current minimum bid is $36,000. [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/rare-titanic-photos-and-letters-1319127118-slideshow/

Random Thoughts
by Dr Thomas Sowell,
Townhall.com Columnist,
October 18, 2011
Like so many people, in so many countries, who started out to "spread the wealth," Barack Obama has ended up spreading poverty.
Have you ever heard anyone as incoherent as the people staging protests across the country? Taxpayers ought to be protesting against having their money spent to educate people who end up unable to say anything beyond repeating political catch phrases.
It is hard to understand politics if you are hung up on reality. Politicians leave reality to others. What matters in politics is what you can get the voters to believe, whether it bears any resemblance to reality or not.
I hate getting bills that show a zero balance. If I don't owe anything, why bother me with a bill? There is too much junk mail already.
Radical feminists seem to assume that men are hostile to women. But what would they say to the fact that most of the women on the Titanic were saved, and most of the men perished -- due to rules written by men and enforced by men on the sinking ship?
If he were debating Barack Obama, Newt Gingrich could chew him up and spit him out.
Whether the particular issue is housing, medical care or anything in between, the agenda of the left is to take the decision out of the hands of those directly involved and transfer that decision to third parties, who pay no price for making decisions that turn out to be counterproductive.
It is truly the era of the New Math when a couple making $125,000 a year each are taxed at rates that are said to apply to "millionaires and billionaires."
On many issues, the strongest argument of the left is that there is no argument. This has been the left's party line on the issue of man-made global warming and the calamities they claim will follow. But there are many scientists -- some with Nobel Prizes -- who have repudiated the global warming hysteria.
With professional athletes earning megabucks incomes, it is a farce to punish their violations of rules with fines. When Serena Williams was fined $2,000 for misconduct during a tennis match, that was like fining you or me a nickel or a dime. Suspensions are something that even the highest-paid athletes can feel.
Most of us may lament the fact that so many more people are today dependent on food stamps and other government subsidies. But dependency usually translates into votes for whoever is handing out the benefits, so an economic disaster can be a political bonanza, as it was for Franklin D. Roosevelt. Don't count Obama out in 2012.
Politicians can solve almost any problem -- usually by creating a bigger problem. But, so long as the voters are aware of the problem that the politicians [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/10/18/random_thoughts/page/full/

Protests Are a Payday for Security Firms

by Kevin Roose,
The New York Times
October 18, 2011
They call when they make the Forbes 400 list. They call when annual hedge fund rankings appear, when their names are mentioned on CNBC and when their children travel abroad. And, these days, they call when protesters camped in Lower Manhattan grow uncomfortable with the idea of their existence.
The ultra-rich bankers, hedge fund managers and private equity executives of New York City have long enlisted private security firms to help safeguard them and their wealth. But as the mood on Main Street turns increasingly hostile, New York’s financial titans are cranking their security measures up to 11. For the high-end security firms that provide the moneyed elite with specialty services like around-the-clock bodyguards and elaborate home security systems, Occupy Wall Street has been a stimulus package all its own.  “We expect to more than double our revenue in New York this year,” said Paul M. Viollis, a [....]
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Protests-Are-a-Payday-for-nytimes-150438655.html?x=0

No Apology Necessary, Mr. President

by Ben Crystal
personalliberty.com
October 15, 2011
[....]
(video)
http://www.personalliberty.com/feature-video/no-apology-necessary-mr-president-50153/?rmid=2011_10_15_PLA_[P11176710]&rrid=387432349

Mexican drug cartels recruiting Texas children

By Jim Forsyth
Reuters
October 18, 2011
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Texas law enforcement officials say several Mexican drug cartels are luring youngsters as young as 11 to work in their smuggling operations.  Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told Reuters the drug gangs have a chilling name for the young Texans lured into their operations.
"They call them 'the expendables,'" he said.
McCraw said his investigators have evidence six Mexican drug gangs -- including the violent Zetas -- have "command and control centers" in Texas actively recruiting children for their operations, attracting them with what appears to be "easy money" for doing simple tasks.
"Cartels would pay kids $50 just for them to [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/mexican-drug-cartels-recruiting-texas-children-173402030.html

Mark Cuban and His OWS White Lie

by Jeff Carter
Townhall.com
October 17, 2011Mark Cuban has shared his opinons on Occupy Wall Street. I empathize with them, but Mr. Cuban and I have very different opinions on the movement.
I like Cuban’s public persona. He is obviously smart, is unafraid of risk and has been wildly successful. I have never met him.
Wall Street doesn’t shoot straight with the public. Investment bankers are salesman. Do you think a car salesman shoots straight with you when you go into the showroom? Why do you think an investment advisor that makes money selling you financial products is going to be any different? “Buyer beware” holds true no matter what you are buying.
In order to be a successful CEO of a company, you have to know how to sell. It’s one of my basic requirements if I am going to invest in a start up. Some CEO’s are great salesman, and it’s reflected in the companies stock price. Warren Buffett is a tremendous sales person. How much value he himself by force of personality adds to the stock price we won’t know until after he is gone. Apple’s ($AAPL) Steve Jobs was a great salesperson too. It will take some time for the dust to settle to see how much of a dollar effect his loss figures into the stock price. One of the reasons that Apple doesn’t mind articles pushing the fact that “Jobs still has products in the pipeline” is because they want to Jobs effect to be priced into their stock.
Cuban says, “Great CEO White Lie = “We are acting in the best interests of shareholders.””.
It is a great white lie depending. CEO’s also act in the best interest of management, which doesn’t always align with the best interests of shareholders. If the economic interests of shareholders and CEO compensation are aligned correctly-everyone benefits. That’s generally where the problem is found.  I don’t pay too much attention to the actual salary of the CEO and top management. I pay more attention to the type of asset they are being paid to manage, and how much risk the shareholders have at stake. The CEO of Boeing ($BA) ought to be paid more than the CEO of Kellogg ($K). Boeing has a market cap of 47 billion, Kellogg 19 billion. Steve Kaplan did [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/jeffcarter/2011/10/17/mark_cuban_and_his_ows_white_lie/page/full/

[Content related to above article.]
Professor Steven Kaplan on CEO pay in Crain’s Chicago Business

by Steven Kaplan,
ChicagoBooth News,
June 10, 2005Are CEO salaries too big? Steven Kaplan, Neubauer Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance , took the opposing view in a May 30 Crain’s Chicago Business article. He squared off in the debate against Dale Moyers, president of the Chicago Compensation Association and director of compensation and benefits at Loyola University of Chicago.
The article took the form of a series of four email responses to questions posed by Crain’s. The use of email allowed each speaker to polish his thoughts.  The debate kicked off with a look at executive salaries for Chicago’s 20 top companies. At an average of $10.3 million, they have increased 35% over the last two years. Kaplan observed that larger salaries “…(boost) the (relationship) of CEO wealth to stock performance by a factor of more than 10.” Kaplan sees that relationship [....]
http://www.chicagobooth.edu/news/2005-06-10h_kaplanceopay.aspx

In tiny rural Kansas district, students out-performing global competition
By Liz Goodwin
National Affairs Reporter
The Lookout
October 20, 2011
In the rural Waconda Lake area of North Central Kansas, the nearest Wal-Mart is 60 miles away and the best-known local landmark is an enormous ball of twine that locals claim is the largest in the world. (Darwin, Minnesota begs to differ.)  But don't be fooled. The students in this sleepy agricultural community are not only out-performing American kids in other, much wealthier schools; they're also out-performing most students in developed nations around the world, according to a new analysis.  The average student at the Waconda school district of 385 kids scores better than 90 percent of students in 20 developed countries on math and reading tests, according to The Global Report Card, published in the journal Education Next. In fact, Waconda is the second [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/tiny-rural-kansas-district-students-performing-global-competition-195446967.html

Pampered Protesters

by Michael Reagan
October 12, 2011
The hordes of so-called “protesters” now polluting the streets of several U.S. cities, including New York, are sending confused messages about their grievances.  The unemployed among them complain that the jobs available to them are beneath them. I guess that cancels out the old concept of starting in the mailroom and advancing step-by-step to the boardroom. It used to be the norm that one started at the bottom and worked his way up. This bunch seems to be living under the delusion that simply by virtue of having been born they are entitled to immediate arrival at the boardroom level with appropriate compensation.
Viewing these unruly mob scenes, featuring numerous public sexual activities posing as protests, I am reminded of the manner in which my dad dealt with such malcontents. If they were government employees he simply fired them. It worked. The remaining ones slinked back to work.
And I recall how he dealt with his son (me) back in 1965, when I dropped out of Arizona State University and thought that I was simply going home to live with — and off — either my mom or dad, who were then divorced. When I got home I found that their doors were locked to college dropouts.
Nancy, my ever-loving stepmom, was busy calling all branches of the military to let them know I was a college dropout and thus now eligible to be drafted. Don’t you just love such devoted stepmothers, eager to help their stepsons make their way in the world by locking the doors to keep them out?
When I finally was able to speak to my parents, they simply told me to find another place to live and to get a job. I did both. I moved in with some friends and got a job working at Asbury Transportation Company in Los Angeles loading oil-well freight from 5:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., Monday through Friday. That’s where I was working when my father was elected governor of California.  Did I complain that my lowly job was beneath my new station in life as the son of the governor of California? How could I? I was the one who set [....]
http://floydreports.com/pampered-protesters/

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

by Cliff Ennico
Townhall.com Columnist
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 [....]
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/ 

'Occupy' memo could discourage victims from reporting assaults
Protest group says it wants to be self-contained community
October 19, 2011
By Peter Hermann,
The Baltimore Sun
Efforts by the Occupy Baltimore protest group to evolve into a self-contained, self-governing community have erupted into controversy with the distribution of a pamphlet that victim advocates and health workers fear discourages victims of sexual assaults from contacting police.
The pamphlet says that members of the protest group who believe they are victims or who suspect sexual abuse "are encouraged to immediately report the incident to the Security Committee," which will investigate and "supply the abuser with counseling resources."
The directive also says, in part, "Though we do not encourage the involvement of the police in our community, the survivor has every right, and the support of Occupy Baltimore, to report the abuse to the appropriate authorities."
Despite this caveat, the heads of three rape crisis centers and a nurse who runs the forensic division at Mercy Medical Center called the message about not involving police dangerous. They said it contains erroneous information that could undermine efforts to convince victims to properly report crimes and get the counseling they need.
"It might actually passively prevent someone from seeking justice," said Jacqueline Robarge, the executive director of Power Inside, a nonprofit support group that helps women who have been victimized.  The hodgepodge of anti-establishment activists who have erected a tent city at the Inner Harbor as part of the broader Occupy Wall Street movement [....]
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-10-19/news/bs-md-ci-occupy-baltimore-rape-20111019_1_sexual-assaults-sexual-abuse-report-crimes
Until Next Sunday....