Posts
The 'owe-bama Thugs' To Start "Work!"
The United Auto Workers (UAW) are hard-at-it, again! Remember; these are the thugs that sell their votes to the highest bidder--most recently--George Soros for the benefit of "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist." At the end of World War II, union membership was a solid 35% of the labor force. By 1998, the membership had fallen to 13.9%. The latest annual statistics show that private sector union membership is at the all-time low of just 7.3%!!
The UAW hierarchy has no other option but to beat--both emotionally and physically--'the union choice' into the heads of non-union auto workers nationwide. To that end, the hierarchy will be 'attacking' both Volkswagen and Daimler AG's US facilities. Volkswagen has a plant in Chattanooga, Tn.(2,000+ employees), while Daimler has 18 facilities in 8 states (17,700+ employees).
With the exception of sometimes outlandish hourly wages and lining the pockets of union hierarchy, the various labor and service unions have done far more damage than good for the American worker, the American economy, the American balance-of-trade!! The clear result has been a severely declining union membership. There's but one clear--although questionable--solution to the problem: use all the methods at hand to attempt a boost in membership numbers. To that end, UAW Secretary/Treasurer Dennis Williams said:
"We'll do whatever it takes."
With a failed premise, Williams also mouthed the falsehood:
"You can't have a middle-class here in the U.S. or around the world without organized labor."
American labor unions didn't become a major force until the 1880s. Going forward, the unions continued declining to it's current levels. That information alone refutes Mr Williams statement.
In preparation for their push, the UAW has been 'massaging' the auto union hierarchy in Germany for some time. Here again, using the failed premise that auto unions are the same, worldwide. In Germany, the members are largely true craftsmen rather than the American version: a common laborer with an inflated paycheck!!
If this push works--and that's questionable, at best--it will be a boon for George Soros as inflated thug-membership will sell their votes in Soros' (hopefully) failed attempt to keep HIS RULER in power!!
Til Nex'Time....
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
This'n'That; January Fourth #1; Economy
It's The Economy, STUPID!!
While the early 1990s economy was on a deliberate, shallow climb from the "Read my lips....." era of President George H.W. Bush (41), then-candidate "Slick-Willie" Clinton with Algore, kept beating us over the head with:
"....the worst economy in the last 50 years!" and
"It's the economy, stupid!"
People--"Slick-Willie's" own KoolAid drinkers--bought into the slogans of "Slick's" bumper-sticker campaign, his--poll driven--bumper-sticker administration. The "Slick-and-Algore Show" continued their foray into advanced socialism for eight years. While "Slick-Willie" continued his dalliances with 'the hired help;' screwing everything that walked--including the taxpayer--muslim terrorists were hard-at-work, planning many and various attacks on the United States and it's overseas assets.
In the '90s--during "Slick's" two terms--"PayGo" was the largely ignored 'theme-of-the-day.' In essence, the plan demanded that new spending legislation be 'paid-for' by spending cuts in other areas or the much-beloved tax increases. The 1990s "PayGo" legislation conveniently expired in 2002 and was never brought up again until 2007.
George W. Bush beat Algore after ump-teen Florida recounts and became president on January 20, 2001. Just nine-months later, Al Qaeda brought down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center! This and various other security and diplomatic measures caused a 26% rise in deficit spending, to $378.2 BILLION; B-I-L-L-I-O-N!!
The 2006 mid-term election brought a 1-seat owe-bamacRATic majority in the Senate, a 31-seat majority in the House of Representatives. After Nancy PORKlosi was elected Speaker of the House, she made the following statements:
(November 8, 2006; On MSNBC-Brian Williams interview:)
"No new deficit spending, no new bridges to nowhere, heaping mountains of debt on our children."
(December 12, 2006; During a speech after the elections:)
"demo-[owe-bama]-cRATs are committed to ending years of irresponsible budget policies that have produced historic deficits. Instead of piling trillions of dollars of debt onto our children and grandchildren, we will restore 'pay-as-you-go' budget discipline."
Senator 'pinky' reid--incoming Senate Majority Leader--also blathered about:
(November 12, 2006; On CBS News-Bob Scheiffer interview:)
"If you want to have a new program, figure out a way to pay for it without raising taxes."
Statements of these two legislative miscreants attempted to re-ignite interest in largely ignored legislation forcing the Congress to curtail their "tax-and-spend" budgetary philosophy. I estimate the re-ignition lasted all of about twenty-minutes!! Then prevailing 'ignorance' resumed!!
On January 20,2009--to re-invigorate the "Slick-Willie" Era of screwing-the-public--"Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" was immaculated. The first day "Clownie" went to play in The Oval Office, the national debt was still just over $10 TRILLION (December, 2008-$10.7 TRILLION)!! An emperor in his own mind, the "Clown" started down the path of "empire equalization." Rather than institute fiscal policies that would raise world-wide standards of living, "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" went about lowering the American standard of living to the best (or worst) of his abilities!!
To express his hatred for the United States in general--and his hatred for the accomplished i.e., the rich--"Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" went about his 'scorched economy' style destruction, simultaneously in two directions. The PORKlus bill to reward his supporters, contributors and voters came into being in February, 2009-with funds borrowed largely from China. His attempt at "Cap-and-Trade" legislation--where your utility bills will 'necessarily sky-rocket'--was soundly defeated while owe-bamaKare was a minor 'success (with major consequences!),' supported by congressional socio-fascists.
Since "The Grand Immaculation," the national debt has been increased by $6 TRILLION in less than three-years! Yes, that's right! Over Two-Trillion-Bucks a year, on average!! Currently--as illustrated by the national debt clock (http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html --the United States Government OUT-SPENDS it's income by $1.3 TRILLION each year. If you and I ran our checkbooks that way, we'd have been in jail for the last ump-teen years!! That's exactly where the likes of George Soros (an owe-bama handler-by-proxy), most of the Congressional Ruling Class of any party as well as all of the current regime should reside for the next decade, at least. Now there's a job creator: building the prisons to house all these miscreants!!
'Splain to me again, why YOU elected "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist?!?"
Til Nex'Time....
While the early 1990s economy was on a deliberate, shallow climb from the "Read my lips....." era of President George H.W. Bush (41), then-candidate "Slick-Willie" Clinton with Algore, kept beating us over the head with:
"....the worst economy in the last 50 years!" and
"It's the economy, stupid!"
People--"Slick-Willie's" own KoolAid drinkers--bought into the slogans of "Slick's" bumper-sticker campaign, his--poll driven--bumper-sticker administration. The "Slick-and-Algore Show" continued their foray into advanced socialism for eight years. While "Slick-Willie" continued his dalliances with 'the hired help;' screwing everything that walked--including the taxpayer--muslim terrorists were hard-at-work, planning many and various attacks on the United States and it's overseas assets.
In the '90s--during "Slick's" two terms--"PayGo" was the largely ignored 'theme-of-the-day.' In essence, the plan demanded that new spending legislation be 'paid-for' by spending cuts in other areas or the much-beloved tax increases. The 1990s "PayGo" legislation conveniently expired in 2002 and was never brought up again until 2007.
George W. Bush beat Algore after ump-teen Florida recounts and became president on January 20, 2001. Just nine-months later, Al Qaeda brought down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center! This and various other security and diplomatic measures caused a 26% rise in deficit spending, to $378.2 BILLION; B-I-L-L-I-O-N!!
The 2006 mid-term election brought a 1-seat owe-bamacRATic majority in the Senate, a 31-seat majority in the House of Representatives. After Nancy PORKlosi was elected Speaker of the House, she made the following statements:
(November 8, 2006; On MSNBC-Brian Williams interview:)
"No new deficit spending, no new bridges to nowhere, heaping mountains of debt on our children."
(December 12, 2006; During a speech after the elections:)
"demo-[owe-bama]-cRATs are committed to ending years of irresponsible budget policies that have produced historic deficits. Instead of piling trillions of dollars of debt onto our children and grandchildren, we will restore 'pay-as-you-go' budget discipline."
Senator 'pinky' reid--incoming Senate Majority Leader--also blathered about:
(November 12, 2006; On CBS News-Bob Scheiffer interview:)
"If you want to have a new program, figure out a way to pay for it without raising taxes."
Statements of these two legislative miscreants attempted to re-ignite interest in largely ignored legislation forcing the Congress to curtail their "tax-and-spend" budgetary philosophy. I estimate the re-ignition lasted all of about twenty-minutes!! Then prevailing 'ignorance' resumed!!
On January 20,2009--to re-invigorate the "Slick-Willie" Era of screwing-the-public--"Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" was immaculated. The first day "Clownie" went to play in The Oval Office, the national debt was still just over $10 TRILLION (December, 2008-$10.7 TRILLION)!! An emperor in his own mind, the "Clown" started down the path of "empire equalization." Rather than institute fiscal policies that would raise world-wide standards of living, "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" went about lowering the American standard of living to the best (or worst) of his abilities!!
To express his hatred for the United States in general--and his hatred for the accomplished i.e., the rich--"Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" went about his 'scorched economy' style destruction, simultaneously in two directions. The PORKlus bill to reward his supporters, contributors and voters came into being in February, 2009-with funds borrowed largely from China. His attempt at "Cap-and-Trade" legislation--where your utility bills will 'necessarily sky-rocket'--was soundly defeated while owe-bamaKare was a minor 'success (with major consequences!),' supported by congressional socio-fascists.
Since "The Grand Immaculation," the national debt has been increased by $6 TRILLION in less than three-years! Yes, that's right! Over Two-Trillion-Bucks a year, on average!! Currently--as illustrated by the national debt clock (http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html --the United States Government OUT-SPENDS it's income by $1.3 TRILLION each year. If you and I ran our checkbooks that way, we'd have been in jail for the last ump-teen years!! That's exactly where the likes of George Soros (an owe-bama handler-by-proxy), most of the Congressional Ruling Class of any party as well as all of the current regime should reside for the next decade, at least. Now there's a job creator: building the prisons to house all these miscreants!!
'Splain to me again, why YOU elected "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist?!?"
Til Nex'Time....
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
This'n'That; January Third #2; Tyranny Abounds!
[Completely "Blog-Spotted!!" A better 'read' at http://www.justincase505.wordpress.com/]
It Ain't The "Tea Party!!"
Remember during the past three-years or so, all the pundits; the members of the national pamphleteer corps (for the ignorant boob in The White House , that's pronounced 'core!!') tried to paint the "Tea Party" Movement as anarchists, as tyrannical, as insurrectionalists?!? They've been proven wrong time and again; they were looking in "the wrong direction!"
Remember during "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist's" last 'Supreme Ruler' campaign, his very own putzfrau, Michelle made the following quote on February 18, 2008, during a speech in Milwaukee:
Later the same day the future First Putzfrau made this statement in Madison, Wi.:
Did anyone--other than me--see during the later stages of the campaign, this couple would not be good for America?!?
We now have our very own CONFIRMED tyrant, anarchist, insurrectionist in "America's House," The White House! that confirmation by way of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act signed on the past New Year's Eve by "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" while continuing his monthly vacation at barackingham Palace-WEST. While said legislation gives the military an across-the-board, whoppin' 1.6% pay raise, the affects on the average American citizen are far more dastardly!! "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" has decided that the United States should be more like Venezuela, in that soldiers can arrest and detain AMERICAN CITIZENS inside the borders of THE FIFTY UNITED STATES for no reason, for any length of time!!! Said American citizens can also be sent to Guantanamo Bay Prison or any other prison the anarchists decide!!
Not only has "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" completely ignored the U.S. Constitution; not only has "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" completely trashed the Bill of Rights; the Congressional award of police powers to "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" and the military via the latest Defense Authorization Act is a de facto repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.; thus giving said "Clown" immeasurable 'third-world rathole' police powers!! "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" has long said he would not sign the defense legislation if it contained said provisions of arrest and unlimited detention of U.S. citizens.
That lie was obviously for public consumption, ONLY!
In his signing statement, "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" has essentially said: "I signed it, but I won't use it."
Given his gross liberties-with-the-truth, this can only be another "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" lie for public consumption, ONLY!!
Surprisingly, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is taking exception to "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist's" HITLER-esque dictatorial actions. Anthony Romero, ACLU Executive Director made the following statements:
'Splain to me again, why YOU elected "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist!?!'
Til Nex'Time....
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/02/michelle-obam-1-2/
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/10396-president-obama-signs-national-defense-authorization-act-into-law
http://sreaves32.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/exclusive-obama-signs-national-defense-authorization-act-into-law-on-december-31-2011-martial-law-comes-to-america/
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/president-obama-signs-indefinite-detention-bill-lawIt should be noted here that with the dictatorial, Hitler-esque authority Congress has given "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist," just the writing and publishing of blogs like this one can--and probably would--subject the author to limitless detention anywhere in the world the U.S. has an overt or covert prison or detention facility!!
It Ain't The "Tea Party!!"
Remember during the past three-years or so, all the pundits; the members of the national pamphleteer corps (for the ignorant boob in The White House , that's pronounced 'core!!') tried to paint the "Tea Party" Movement as anarchists, as tyrannical, as insurrectionalists?!? They've been proven wrong time and again; they were looking in "the wrong direction!"
Remember during "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist's" last 'Supreme Ruler' campaign, his very own putzfrau, Michelle made the following quote on February 18, 2008, during a speech in Milwaukee:
Later the same day the future First Putzfrau made this statement in Madison, Wi.:
"For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback."
Did anyone--other than me--see during the later stages of the campaign, this couple would not be good for America?!?
"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country, and not just because barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change."
We now have our very own CONFIRMED tyrant, anarchist, insurrectionist in "America's House," The White House! that confirmation by way of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act signed on the past New Year's Eve by "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" while continuing his monthly vacation at barackingham Palace-WEST. While said legislation gives the military an across-the-board, whoppin' 1.6% pay raise, the affects on the average American citizen are far more dastardly!! "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" has decided that the United States should be more like Venezuela, in that soldiers can arrest and detain AMERICAN CITIZENS inside the borders of THE FIFTY UNITED STATES for no reason, for any length of time!!! Said American citizens can also be sent to Guantanamo Bay Prison or any other prison the anarchists decide!!
Not only has "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" completely ignored the U.S. Constitution; not only has "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" completely trashed the Bill of Rights; the Congressional award of police powers to "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" and the military via the latest Defense Authorization Act is a de facto repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.; thus giving said "Clown" immeasurable 'third-world rathole' police powers!! "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" has long said he would not sign the defense legislation if it contained said provisions of arrest and unlimited detention of U.S. citizens.
That lie was obviously for public consumption, ONLY!
In his signing statement, "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" has essentially said: "I signed it, but I won't use it."
Given his gross liberties-with-the-truth, this can only be another "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist" lie for public consumption, ONLY!!
Surprisingly, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is taking exception to "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist's" HITLER-esque dictatorial actions. Anthony Romero, ACLU Executive Director made the following statements:
"President obama's action today is a blight on his legacy[?] because he will be forever known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law."
"The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic limitations, and can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield."
"The ACLU will fight worldwide detention authority where ever we can, be it in court, in Congress, or internationally."
'Splain to me again, why YOU elected "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist!?!'
Til Nex'Time....
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/02/michelle-obam-1-2/
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/10396-president-obama-signs-national-defense-authorization-act-into-law
http://sreaves32.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/exclusive-obama-signs-national-defense-authorization-act-into-law-on-december-31-2011-martial-law-comes-to-america/
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/president-obama-signs-indefinite-detention-bill-lawIt should be noted here that with the dictatorial, Hitler-esque authority Congress has given "Clown Prince ZERO-bama, the Narcissist," just the writing and publishing of blogs like this one can--and probably would--subject the author to limitless detention anywhere in the world the U.S. has an overt or covert prison or detention facility!!
This'n'That; January Third #1; Scams
Maybe A Scam; Maybe Not
Don'cha just love all the unsolicited crap ya get in the mail?!? Me NEITHER!! As a retired truck driver with previous experience as a cabinetmaker, I enjoy keeping up with the various woodworking publications and techniques. As such I'm on several mailing lists.
WELL, the "Woodworkers Guild of America" (who-the-hell-ever they are!?!) bought one of the lists I'm on, cuz I received one of their unsolicited DVDs which I could keep for the fantastic price of $12.95; allegedly reduced from $21.95. If I chose not to pay the fee, the onus was on me to return the DVD in a postage paid envelope. If you're like me, you sometimes forget the crap in the mail you're not interested in! This happened to me previously--with an auto-related DVD--I forgot to return it and was dinged for 'ages' for the money. I finally sent them a letter that the onus was on them to come get the DVD; they finally gave up. Oh, I had thrown the DVD away--without viewing--long before the dinging letters started.
I consider this type of activity a scam for two reasons:
Til Nex'Time.... Each of us must make up our own minds, I've decided this type of activity IS a scam and I won't participate!
Don'cha just love all the unsolicited crap ya get in the mail?!? Me NEITHER!! As a retired truck driver with previous experience as a cabinetmaker, I enjoy keeping up with the various woodworking publications and techniques. As such I'm on several mailing lists.
WELL, the "Woodworkers Guild of America" (who-the-hell-ever they are!?!) bought one of the lists I'm on, cuz I received one of their unsolicited DVDs which I could keep for the fantastic price of $12.95; allegedly reduced from $21.95. If I chose not to pay the fee, the onus was on me to return the DVD in a postage paid envelope. If you're like me, you sometimes forget the crap in the mail you're not interested in! This happened to me previously--with an auto-related DVD--I forgot to return it and was dinged for 'ages' for the money. I finally sent them a letter that the onus was on them to come get the DVD; they finally gave up. Oh, I had thrown the DVD away--without viewing--long before the dinging letters started.
I consider this type of activity a scam for two reasons:
The DVD--or some other item--was sent to me unsolicited, and
The onus is on me to return something I didn't order, or pay the required price.
Til Nex'Time.... Each of us must make up our own minds, I've decided this type of activity IS a scam and I won't participate!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
The Sunday 'Report;' 01/01/2012
What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Young Americans Leaving The Country In Record Numbers
by Sam Rolley,
The Liberty DigestDecember 9, 2011
A feeling of economic hopelessness has young Americans leaving the country in record numbers.
A new study shows that more U.S. citizens than ever before are living outside of the United States. Statistics from the State Department indicate that about 6.4 million Americans are either working or studying overseas, the largest number in history. Surveys conducted by Gallup of 135 nations outside the United States found that numbers of Americans leaving the country have skyrocketed only in recent years. In the two years before polling began, the number of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 living abroad surged from about 1 percent to more than 5.1 percent.
Among 18 to 24-year-olds, nearly 40 percent say that they would leave the United States if they had the opportunity to find work elsewhere. Many experts say [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/news/young-americans-leaving-the-country-in-record-numbers/?eiid=
Yemen's leader causes headaches in Washington
by Bradley Klapper; Julie Pace,
Associated Press
December 27, 2011The Obama administration is weighing an unprecedented diplomatic act — whether to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil.
American officials were evaluating on Tuesday an awkward request from Yemeni strongman and longtime U.S. counterterrorism partner Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has said he plans to come to the United States for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a June assassination attempt, and he has asked for a U.S. visa for entry to the country. Fearful of appearing to harbor an autocrat with blood on his hands, the Obama administration [....]
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/26/national/a040055S28.DTL
2011 YEAR IN REVIEW
Where Are They Now?
1. Romance amidst the riots:
2. Premature death of a high-school athlete:
3. Giant creatures from the deep:
4. Super-heroine makeovers:
5. Fast food, NFL, and the call of nature:
6. Grammys gibberish:
7. Death in the water:
8. Reality run-around:
9. Bride on the run:
10. Street millionaire:
http://yearinreview.yahoo.com/2011/us_where_are_they_now
Whoa There!
Time to REIN in Runaway Bureaucrats
by Mike Kelsey
The Foundry
December 5, 2011
America’s out-of-control administrative state can best be compared to a runaway stage coach—trampling American workers and careening away with their money. Next week, Congress will have an opportunity to bring much-needed oversight to America’s regulatory process by voting for the aptly named REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny), which would require any new regulations costing more than $100 million to be approved by Congress. If passed, the REINS Act will go a long way toward curbing the excesses of unaccountable bureaucrats and restoring the constitutional principle of self-government.
But don’t bureaucrats decide only the minor details of regulations? Sadly, no. In 2010 alone, regulatory agencies issued a torrent of major new regulations costing a staggering (and likely underestimated) sum of $26.5 billion. That sticker shock has not slowed bureaucrats one bit; there are currently 144 major regulations pending that would each cost at least $100 million.
Among the most egregious of these new regulations is a recently released 893-page plan by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to raise vehicle fuel-efficiency standards. These regulations will (by the agencies’ own estimates) cost the economy $8.5 billion per year and raise the price of cars by at least $2,000–$2,800, and yet they have not been authorized by any elected officials.
Leftist commentators have predictably denounced the REINS Act as a radical Republican ploy to “cripple” the regulatory agencies responsible for public safety. Liberals are particularly quick to paint menacing images of “caring” experts being overruled by mean, partisan politicians. In the words of one environmental lobbying group, “Do you want Representatives to decide what level of mercury pollution endangers our health or you want medical experts to make this assessment?” These criticisms are highly misleading. The REINS Act in no way prevents agencies from enforcing existing laws and regulations. Nor would it result in politicians having to decide all the technical details of regulations. Rather, the REINS Act simply [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/12/05/whoa-there-time-to-rein-in-runaway-bureaucrats/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=33%2BMinutes%20Update
December 6, 2011
Who Earns Most?
Ratio of Pay CEO-to-Worker
By Bridget Quigg,
PayScale.com
December 6, 2011
How much do certain CEOs make compared to the employees at their companies?
A lot.
Many earn hundreds, even thousands, of times more than their typical employee.
Online salary database PayScale.com researched the total cash compensation for CEOs of the top 50 companies on Fortune’s exclusive 500 list. Then, PayScale calculated the median annual earnings for workers at those companies and came up with a ratio of CEO to typical worker's pay and created an infographic showing the results. Spoiler alert: Prepare to be shocked.
Highest Pay Ratio
Stephen J. Hemsley of UnitedHealth Group brings home $1,731 for every dollar a typical employee at his company earns. Wal-Mart CEO Michael T. Duke sits far behind him with a 713 to one ratio. And, Ivan G. Seidenburg of Verizon Communications comes in third at 613 to one. Do you earn about $10 per hour? Can you imagine earning $6,130 per hour instead? That is what is happening in Verizon’s corner office. At UnitedHealthGroup, it’s more like $17,310 per hour. With a boost in earnings like that, you could afford to buy a Hyundai Elantra GT 4 door hatchback every hour (MSRP $15,389).
Lowest Pay Ratio
Not all leaders take in cash at the same rate.
In fact, Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway earns a humble $10 for every dollar of typical median income earned by his employees.
Microsoft Corp. stands out as a profitable company that pays its employees well. Microsoft boasts the highest typical median pay for full time employees, the fourth highest annual profits, and the 48th highest paid CEO on the list (Steven A. Ballmer) with a ratio of 13 to one.
And, had he lived long enough to still be leading the company he so carefully built, Steve Jobs would have outdone them all, earning his lowly $1 per year salary. [....]
http://blogs.payscale.com/salary_report_kris_cowan/2011/12/ratio-of-pay-ceo-to-worker.html?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=Prod_Newsletter_Email_1211&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fblogs.payscale.com%2fsalary_report_kris_cowan%2f2011%2f12%2fratio-of-pay-ceo-to-worker.html&cm_mmc=Email-_-Prod_Newsletter_Email_1211-_-NA-_-http%3a%2f%2fblogs.payscale.com%2fsalary_report_kris_cowan%2f2011%2f12%2fratio-of-pay-ceo-to-worker.html
The New Flat Tax—Easy as One, Two, Three
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
Heritage.org
December 13, 2011
Abstract: The current tax system discourages saving. It discourages investment. It discourages entrepreneurship. It causes decision makers to misallocate the nation’s resources, limiting productivity gains, wage gains, and the nation’s overall level of international competitiveness. And, it is far, far too complicated. The New Flat Tax is the remedy. It replaces every major tax collected by the federal government. For non-seniors, it is as easy as one, two, three—one rate, two credits, three deductions. For seniors on Medicare, one of the two credits—for health insurance—is replaced by an extra deduction. The New Flat Tax is simple, revenue-neutral, and will allow America to achieve its full economic potential.
The existing tax system is manifestly indefensible, especially in its complexity and its drain on economic vitality. The tax system’s complexity is inflicted on taxpayers of all walks of life. Low-income citizens must navigate the enormously complex Earned Income Credit. Those who save must overcome the system’s inherent discouragements and sort through a passel of tax rates and regimes for different forms of saving. Businesses investing in new plant and equipment must pay extra to obtain equity capital and must then overcome extra tax hurdles on their investments. The net result is a chaotic tax system and a much smaller economy.
The need for comprehensive, fundamental tax reform is clear. Yet typically, tax reform proposals, such as the traditional Flat Tax, solve only a piece of the problem by reforming or replacing the federal individual and corporate income taxes. The New Flat Tax replaces both income taxes, as well as the death tax, payroll taxes, and all excises not dedicated to a trust fund. Under the New Flat Tax, American taxpayers will deal with a single, simple tax.
The design of the New Flat Tax is based on the need for a more coherent tax system. An even greater priority than policy coherence is the need to eliminate, insofar as possible, any loss of economic performance due to federal taxation. Unnecessarily high tax rates combined with ill-advised tax rules distort the economic decisions of businesses and families. In turn, the economy is left much weaker by these distortions. A stronger, larger economy is the primary goal of the New Flat Tax, which would achieve this goal by implementing an [....]
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/12/the-new-flat-tax-easy-as-one-two-three
Tribe's high-interest online lending venture booms
As states rein in risky lending, Indian tribes use sovereignty, Internet to make loans
By Matt Volz,
Associated Press
December 26, 2011
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- An Indian reservation in the heart of Montana's farm country may seem an unlikely place to borrow a quick $600, but the Chippewa Cree tribe says it has already given out more than 121,000 loans this year at interest rates that can reach a whopping 360 percent. As more states pass laws to rein in lenders who deal in high-interest, short-term loans, Indian tribes like the Chippewa Cree and their new online lending venture, Plain Green Loans, are stepping in to fill the void. The Internet lets them reach beyond the isolated Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation to borrowers across the nation, while tribal [....]
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tribes-high-interest-online-lending-164851304.html
Morning Bell: Top 10 Education Stories of 2011
by Lindsey Burke
The Foundry
Heritage.org
December 27, 2011 There was no lack of education news in 2011. From an explosion in school choice options to the Obama Administration’s executive overreach, the top stories included the high and low lights when it came to issues affecting America’s schools.
10. Obama Administration orchestrates for-profit university witch hunt. On June 2, the Department of Education issued restrictive new regulations targeting “for-profit” higher education institutions. The new “gainful employment” regulation restricts access to student loans for students attending for-profit institutions (like Capella University or the University of Phoenix, for instance) if the school’s average debt-to-earnings ratio exceeds 12 percent of a graduate’s income. The net result? De-facto government price controls on a sector meeting the needs of students historically underserved by traditional universities.
9. Obama forgives student loans. In November, President Obama traveled to the University of Colorado-Boulder to announce his plan to forgive federal student loans — a demand made, notably, by the Occupy Wall Street crowd. Students cannot be required to pay more than 10 percent of their discretionary income on loan payments, all of which will be forgiven after 20 years. Sadly, this executive overreach shifts the burden of paying for college from [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/12/27/morning-bell-top-10-education-stories-of-2011/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
To Barack From Congress: Merry Christmas
by Robert Ringer,
The Liberty Digest
December 20, 2011
Risk to our economy… risk to our energy future… send the wrong message to job creators? Sounds to me like Obama’s Christmas wish list.The most predictable governing body on the planet, the U.S. Congress, is once again doing some of its sleaziest sleight-of-hand work at year’s end, with the comfort of knowing that we lowly proletarians are focused on holiday festivities. The average American is totally confused about the flurry of year-end legislation and political posturing coming out of the Nation’s capital, and with good reason: Politicians work hard at creating confusion.
Now, let’s see if I understand this. The Dems want to “cut taxes” by extending a “tax holiday” on some of the money that workers pay into the Social Security retirement “fund.” Could it be that Democrats aren’t as liberal as some of us have believed them to be? After all, they can’t be so bad if they actually favor a tax cut.
I wish that were true, but it isn’t. The truth is that it’s nothing more than a gimmick to keep American piglets mesmerized while feeding at the government’s entitlement trough. I realize that many true-blue conservatives and libertarians believe that any tax cut is a good tax cut; and, in theory, they’re right. But cutting payroll taxes is an illusory tax cut. It’s attacking the symptom (payroll taxes) rather than [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/government/to-barack-from-congress-merry-christmas/
Those Scumbag OWS Protesters Are Helping Our Cause
by Chip Wood,
The Liberty Digest
December 16, 2011
Have OWS protesters infested your city yet? They haven’t infested mine, but I kind of wish they would. Earlier this week, they shut down all shipping through the port of Oakland, Calif. If they knew who their real enemies are, they’d be kicking down the door to Harry Reid’s office in Washington. Clearly, someone behind these clueless, jobless, soapless demonstrators is very familiar with a guy named Saul Alinsky. This left-wing agitator has been honored, if that’s the right word, as this country’s first community organizer. You can see where that’s led. Alinsky, a veteran of Chicago’s dirtiest politics, wrote a book years ago called Rules for Radicals. One of his most important lessons was that “the real action is in the reaction.” That is, so-called peaceful demonstrators will get everything they seek if they can cause the establishment to react forcibly against them. (Think of fire hoses and police dogs during the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s.) Do that and your battle is won. Martin Luther King Jr. was a master implementer of the Alinsky stratagems. Those OWS [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/those-scumbag-ows-protesters-are-helping-our-cause/?eiid=
This Stock Has Both Dividend and Growth Potential
by Crista Huff
Townhall.com
December 22, 2011 Paychex Inc. (PAYX, $30.24) reported its second quarter 2012 earnings on Dec. 20, 2011. ”The company has now beaten estimates the last two quarters. PAYX beat the mean analyst estimate of 38 cents per share. It fell short of the average revenue estimate of $551.7 million. In the first quarter, it topped expectations with net income of 41 cents versus a mean estimate of net income of 38 cents per share,” says WallStCheatSheet.com in Paychex Inc. Earnings Cheat Sheet: Third Straight Quarter of Rising Profit, December 20, 2011.
Paychex Inc. is a leading provider of payroll processing, human resources and benefits services.
“At the end of FY 11 (May), 99% of the company’s clients were businesses of fewer than 100 employees. Its biggest competitors are active in all business sizes. Indicators of health in this market have traditionally been employment rates, since the revenue generated from [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/cristahuff/2011/12/22/this_stock_has_both_dividend_and_growth_potential/page/full/
The Year of Krugman Thuggishness
by Brent Bozell
Townhall.com
December 21, 2011 In 2008, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. At that time, it wasn't hard to imagine the Swedes were rewarding Krugman for eight years of blasting George W. Bush. In other words, the Nobel Prize truly matched its namesake: Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. Krugman regularly throws rhetorical dynamite at anything that stands in the way of his radical worldview. Krugman outdid himself for outrage in 2011. Every year, the Media Research Center collects a panel of willing conservative journalists and talk show hosts and puts them on a sickening roller coaster ride through the worst media bilge of the last twelve months to arrive at the Best Notable Quotables of the Year.
Paul Krugman sat in the sulfurous center with three other "bests."
First, Krugman took the Quote of the Year for his controversial dynamite throwing on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. On his blog "The Conscience of a Liberal," he accused someone else of ruining the unifying force of the attacks. "What happened after 9/11 -- and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not -- was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neo-cons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons." The atrocity was "hijacked" -- note the distinct flavor of terrorism in that term -- by the neocons. "The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it." What made this commentary perfect in its spoiled-brattiness was the last sentence: "I'm not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons." It's obvious he was a world-class divider on a day of unity and a coward.
One of the vilest aspects of Obamacare was the inclusion of "death panels" to recommend when medical treatments should be denied because extending Grandma's remaining life wasn't cost-efficient. But that never stopped a liberal from posturing. Krugman won the Grim Reaper Award for Saying Conservatives Want You to Die for his remarks against the Paul Ryan Medicare proposal on CNN. "To be a little melodramatic, the voucher would kill people, no question," said Krugman, as CNNs Gloria Borger said, Ryan "infuriated liberals." Then came more Krugman. "The cuts in Medicare that he's proposing, the replacement of Medicare by a voucher system, would in the end, mean that tens of millions of older Americans would not be able to afford essential health care. So that counts as cruelty to me." Krugman also won the Tea Party Terrorists Award for [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/brentbozell/2011/12/21/the_year_of_krugman_thuggishness/page/full/
The Worst Product Flops of 2011
by Charles B. Stockdale
24/7 Wall St
December 27, 2011
A number of incredible new products were launched this year. Apple (AAPL) introduced the iPhone 4S — a phone with voice command — and Boeing’s (BA) 787 Dreamliner — a fuel-efficient jet built of carbon composite — finally had its first commercial flight. But not all products and services launched this year did well. Some failed miserably. 24/7 Wall St. looked at the biggest product launches of 2011 in order to identify the worst of the lot. Products generally fail because they are either inferior versions of already successful products or they have little to no demand. Research In Motion’s (RIMM) PlayBook is the greatest example of the former. There was no room for a poorly designed tablet in a market dominated by the upmarket iPad and its inexpensive cousin Kindle Fire. The Playbook was widely panned. RIM publicly blamed its weak sales on competitive shifts in the tablet market, referring to the release of Kindle Fire.
Many companies also often fail to understand consumer sentiment and, as a result, do not accurately estimate demand for the product. When Netflix (NFLX) announced it would spin off its DVD-by-mail service in the form of a new service called Qwikster, customers were outraged. Nobody wanted the new site and nobody wanted to pay extra money for it. As a result, it failed before it even got off the ground. The Qwikster blunder ended up costing Netflix many customers. These are the worst products of the year.
1. Ashley Push-Up Triangle
Company: Abercrombie & Fitch
While no stranger to controversy, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) seemed to have crossed a line this time. In March, 2011, the retailer unveiled its spring line for Abercrombie Kids, a division targeting children ages 8 to 14. Included in the line was the “Ashley” Push-Up Triangle, a bikini top with padding. The launch prompted [....]
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-worst-product-flops-of-2011.html
The Secret of the Hexagon Revealed After Decades
The Intelligencer
Wheeling News-Register
December 26, 2011
DANBURY, Conn. (AP) - For more than a decade they toiled in the strange, boxy-looking building on the hill above the municipal airport, the building with no windows (except in the cafeteria), the building filled with secrets.
They wore protective white jumpsuits, and had to walk through air-shower chambers before entering the sanitized "cleanroom" where the equipment was stored.
They spoke in code.
Few knew the true identity of "the customer" they met in a smoke-filled, wood-paneled conference room where the phone lines were scrambled. When they traveled, they sometimes used false names.
At one point in the 1970s there were more than 1,000 people in the Danbury area working on The Secret. And though they worked long hours under intense deadlines, sometimes missing family holidays and anniversaries, they could tell no one - not even their wives and children - what they did. They were engineers, scientists, draftsmen and inventors - "real cloak-and-dagger guys," says Fred Marra, 78, with a hearty laugh. He is sitting in the food court at the Danbury Fair mall, where a group of retired co-workers from the former Perkin-Elmer Corp. gather for a weekly coffee. Gray-haired now and hard of hearing, they have been meeting here for 18 years. They spend a few hours nattering about golf and politics, ailments and grandchildren. But until recently, they were forbidden to speak about the greatest achievement of their professional lives.
"Ah, Hexagon," Ed Newton says, gleefully exhaling the word that stills feels almost treasonous to utter in public.
It was dubbed "Big Bird" and it was considered the most successful space spy satellite program of the Cold War era. From 1971 to 1986 a total of 20 satellites were launched, each containing 60 miles of film and sophisticated cameras that orbited the earth snapping vast, panoramic photographs of the Soviet Union, China and other potential foes. The film was shot back through the earth's atmosphere in buckets that parachuted over the Pacific Ocean, where C-130 Air Force planes snagged them with grappling hooks. The scale, ambition and sheer ingenuity of Hexagon KH-9 was breathtaking. The fact that 19 out of 20 launches were successful (the final mission blew up because the booster rockets failed) is astonishing. So too is the human tale of [....]
http://news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/563517/
The Fast And The Spurious IV: The Empire Strikes Out
by Ben Crystal
The Liberty Digest
December 13, 2011
UPI The number of prominent Republicans calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign is closing in on five dozen.President Barack Obama and the bulk of the corporate media continue to act as if “Operation Fast and Furious (OFF)” is a bad movie sequel featuring Vin Diesel and the Rock flexing their muscles and struggling with dialogue as opposed to a poorly conceived and implemented Department of Justice “gunwalking” program that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, armed Mexican narcoterrorists and resulted in the murder of at least two Federal agents. Across the aisle, the number of prominent Republicans calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign is closing in on five dozen. I wonder why that number isn’t significantly higher.
Meanwhile, new information surfaced last week that indicates Department of Justice officials openly discussed leveraging the OFF disaster in an effort to put the proverbial bullet in the Constitution. CBS News reporter Sharyl Atkisson, who has played both Woodward and Bernstein on the OFF story despite working well behind enemy lines, revealed last Wednesday afternoon that DoJ officials openly discussed trying to leverage the OFF-linked murders to push the Obama Administration’s and Democratic Party’s anti-Bill of Rights agenda. Despite the fact [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/hot-topics/outside-the-asylum/the-fast-and-the-spurious-iv-the-empire-strikes-out/?eiid=
Congress' Dirty Insider Trading Secret
(As Featured on 60 Minutes)
60 Minutes blew the lid off a story we've been tracking for months. Congress can trade on insider information -- and it's 100% legal. No wonder nearly half of Congressmen are millionaires and their investments outperform the average investor's by an extra 6.8% each year. And if you can't beat Congress, then you might as well join them.
Insider trading laws don't apply to Congress.
I wish I was kidding.
If that makes you mad, then you don't want to read the October 11, 2010 edition of The Wall Street Journal.
I'll let it speak for itself...
"Chris Miller nearly doubled his $3,500 stock investment in a renewable-energy firm in 2008. It was a perfectly legal bet, but he's no ordinary investor. "Mr. Miller is the top energy-policy adviser to Nevada Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who helped pass legislation that wound up benefiting the firm."
And this isn't some rogue staff member who was fired the next day. As I said, insider trading is perfectly legal... if [....]
http://web.streetauthority.com/m/tts/TTS08/tts-congress.asp?TC=TTS590
The 6 Best Foods for Winter
by David Zinczenko,
Matt Goulding
Men's Health
December 19, 2011
It’s the first snow of the season, and it’s so heavy and wet that it clogs your snowblower. You have two choices. Option 1: Shove your arm between the augers and remove the blockage. The downside: You’ll lose your arm in the process, and having it reattached will probably bankrupt you. Option 2: Turn off the machine, grab a broom stick, and chip at the blockage until it crumbles. You might be thinking, “What kind of lunatic would choose option 1?” Well, lunatics like the American people. The U.S. spends more than $2 trillion on health care each year, with much of that cash going toward the treatment of obesity-related complications like heart disease and diabetes. We’re fixing our health problems retroactively, with medication and surgery, even though we could prevent most of them by making smarter choices about what we eat.
There’s no better time to put this notion to the test than the winter months. Winter is not necessarily conducive to good health; the season conjures up images of calorie-loaded comfort foods, fireside naps, and runny noses. Read on for six everyday foods that will keep you healthy and strong from December to March and beyond, compliments of the all-new Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide, which includes thousands of smart swaps that can help you shave 20 pounds or more in just 6 weeks.
Best Winter Food #1: Oatmeal
What it does: Helps you avoid the winter blues
Why it works: Sunlight signals your body to produce the feel-good hormone serotonin, so winter’s short, dark days may leave you in a less-than-cheery mood. If the doldrums persist, you may even find yourself suffering a serious form of depression known [....]
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/8-food-trends-2011-will-make-you-fat-or-keep-you-skinny-2012
Texas Teen Ben Breedlove Posted Powerful Videos Before Christmas Death
by Christina Ng
Good Morning America
December 28, 2011
A Texas teenager who said he cheated death three times despite a dangerous heart condition died Christmas night from a heart attack, but not before posting a two-part video on YouTube telling his story and describing a series of powerful visions. In the videos that have since gone viral, 18-year-old Ben Breedlove of Austin can be seen silently sitting in a room and using handwritten note cards to tell his story. The teen suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which one part of the heart is thicker than the other parts, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood.
He described cheating death three times.
The most recent scare was Dec. 6, when he passed out at school and awoke surrounded by EMS medics preparing to use shock pads to revive him. He posted a two-part video Dec. 18 titled "This is my story." One week later, on Christmas night, he [....]
http://gma.yahoo.com/texas-teen-ben-breedlove-posted-powerful-videos-christmas-195055124.html
Ten most ridiculous lawsuits of 2011
by Howard Portnoy,
hotair.com
December 31, 2011
Another year is ending, and with the transition comes the inexhaustible procession of lists. For your delectation, I offer a list of the ten most ridiculous lawsuits of 2011. The list was compiled by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), which conducted a survey at the website Faces of Lawsuit Abuse.org (h/t Special Report with Bret Baier). The organization’s president, Lisa Rickard, is quoted as saying:
"While these lawsuits vary from the outrageous to the humorous, abusive litigation is hardly a laughing matter. ILR’s annual poll of ridiculous lawsuits helps to remind us that abusive lawsuits affect real people and real businesses, and can have harmful results to lives, jobs, and even our economic growth."
Maybe so, but some of these are pretty funny, if in a “sheesh” sort of way. Number 5 on the list—an obese man who sued White Castle because the booths were “too small” to accommodate his outsize frame—was the focus of a column by yours truly. Others as well as assorted acts of “jurisimprudence” that appeared in these pages but failed to make the cut appear below.
Here, without further ado, is the list along with poll rankings:
10. Man suing for age discrimination says judge in his case is too old (read story). (1.62%)
9. Woman sues over movie trailer; says not enough driving in ‘Drive’ (read story). (1.7%) [....]
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2011/12/31/ten-most-ridiculous-lawsuits-of-2011/
Quirky's Advice for Inventors: Study the Market
by Carol Tice,
entrepreneur.com
October 5, 2011
Would-be inventors have ideas for products all the time. But there's a long and treacherous road from that initial idea to having a big-selling consumer item, as the finale of the Sundance Channel TV show Quirky showed. In the final episode, "Very Messy, Very Fast," two inventors see their ideas go through multiple changes on the way to making it into the lineup of two-year-old online consumer-products company Quirky.
The show also highlights the advantages of Quirky's process. Rather than start up your own company and learn manufacturing and design or pay a marketing firm to bring your product to market, at Quirky you pay just $10 to submit an idea. That idea could end up as a finished product that's been improved by the company design team and their website community. One of the two inventors featured, Christine Torpey, provides a lesson in the dangers of going the big-spending route. When she comes to Quirky, she is on the financial ropes after having shelled out big to a product-commercializing firm that went bust, leaving her with big loans. Quirky's interest in her all-in-one tray for backyard grilling is her last hope to become a successful inventor before she gives it up and finds a day job. Her product goes through many versions, as the Quirky design team works on [....]
http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/220476
Possible DOJ Perjurer Says Sheriff Joe Arpaio Racially Profiles Mexican Illegals?
by Ben Johnson,
The White House Watch
exposeobama.com
December 16, 2011 A new report from the Justice Department accuses America’s toughest sheriff of racially profiling…illegal immigrants from Mexico! Moreover,the man who wrote the report appears to have perjured himself before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission over the Black Panther voter intimidation case. The Justice Department report cum hit piece accuses Sheriff Joe Arpaio of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office of “systematic disregard”for the Constitutional rights…of illegal immigrants.
“We found discriminatory policing that was deeply rooted in the culture of the department,a culture that breeds a systematic disregard for basic constitutional protections,”according to Thomas Perez,the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under Eric “My People” Holder. The report’s most “serious”allegation was that Arpaio racially profiled illegal immigrants. That is,too many of the illegals he arrested were Mexican. The fact that the vast majority of illegal aliens are from Mexico,and 90 percent of illegal immigrants are [....]
http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/12/16/doj-perjurer-says-sheriff-joe-arpaio-racially-profiles-mexican-illegals/
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/15/MNQM1MD4T7.DTL
Morning Bell: An 11th-Hour Spending Deal That Comes Up Short
by Mike Brownfield
Heritage.com
December 16, 2011
With Christmas just a week away and the new year nearly upon us, Congress came within a whisper of yet another potential government shutdown and once again demonstrated its inability to make substantive spending cuts and deliver the American people the reforms necessary to secure America’s fiscal future. Rather than produce a timely [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/12/16/morning-bell-an-11th-hour-spending-deal-that-comes-up-short/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Obama’s Top Boners of 2011
by John Ransom
townhall.com
December 26, 2011 Sure, limiting the list to the nine worst mistakes of the Obama administration in a year that saw so many of them was a tough proposition. But in the spirit of Christmas, I decided to be merciful and not pile on. Plus, you know, I have company coming over. So for now, nine will have to do. Why nine? Quoting Bluto from Animal House sans burp: “Why the hell not.”
I’ve included links and snippets from my columns addressing each topic:
9) Sending a budget to Capitol Hill that didn’t get one vote:
Calculate the man-hours that went into presenting to Congress a budget that didn’t muster even one vote in the Senate. If that didn’t cry out that Obama is a one-term president, certainly the [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/12/26/obamas_top_boners_of_2011/page/full/
Until Next Sunday....
Young Americans Leaving The Country In Record Numbers
by Sam Rolley,
The Liberty DigestDecember 9, 2011
A feeling of economic hopelessness has young Americans leaving the country in record numbers.
A new study shows that more U.S. citizens than ever before are living outside of the United States. Statistics from the State Department indicate that about 6.4 million Americans are either working or studying overseas, the largest number in history. Surveys conducted by Gallup of 135 nations outside the United States found that numbers of Americans leaving the country have skyrocketed only in recent years. In the two years before polling began, the number of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 living abroad surged from about 1 percent to more than 5.1 percent.
Among 18 to 24-year-olds, nearly 40 percent say that they would leave the United States if they had the opportunity to find work elsewhere. Many experts say [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/news/young-americans-leaving-the-country-in-record-numbers/?eiid=
Yemen's leader causes headaches in Washington
by Bradley Klapper; Julie Pace,
Associated Press
December 27, 2011The Obama administration is weighing an unprecedented diplomatic act — whether to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil.
American officials were evaluating on Tuesday an awkward request from Yemeni strongman and longtime U.S. counterterrorism partner Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has said he plans to come to the United States for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a June assassination attempt, and he has asked for a U.S. visa for entry to the country. Fearful of appearing to harbor an autocrat with blood on his hands, the Obama administration [....]
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/26/national/a040055S28.DTL
2011 YEAR IN REVIEW
Where Are They Now?
1. Romance amidst the riots:
2. Premature death of a high-school athlete:
3. Giant creatures from the deep:
4. Super-heroine makeovers:
5. Fast food, NFL, and the call of nature:
6. Grammys gibberish:
7. Death in the water:
8. Reality run-around:
9. Bride on the run:
10. Street millionaire:
http://yearinreview.yahoo.com/2011/us_where_are_they_now
Whoa There!
Time to REIN in Runaway Bureaucrats
by Mike Kelsey
The Foundry
December 5, 2011
America’s out-of-control administrative state can best be compared to a runaway stage coach—trampling American workers and careening away with their money. Next week, Congress will have an opportunity to bring much-needed oversight to America’s regulatory process by voting for the aptly named REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny), which would require any new regulations costing more than $100 million to be approved by Congress. If passed, the REINS Act will go a long way toward curbing the excesses of unaccountable bureaucrats and restoring the constitutional principle of self-government.
But don’t bureaucrats decide only the minor details of regulations? Sadly, no. In 2010 alone, regulatory agencies issued a torrent of major new regulations costing a staggering (and likely underestimated) sum of $26.5 billion. That sticker shock has not slowed bureaucrats one bit; there are currently 144 major regulations pending that would each cost at least $100 million.
Among the most egregious of these new regulations is a recently released 893-page plan by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to raise vehicle fuel-efficiency standards. These regulations will (by the agencies’ own estimates) cost the economy $8.5 billion per year and raise the price of cars by at least $2,000–$2,800, and yet they have not been authorized by any elected officials.
Leftist commentators have predictably denounced the REINS Act as a radical Republican ploy to “cripple” the regulatory agencies responsible for public safety. Liberals are particularly quick to paint menacing images of “caring” experts being overruled by mean, partisan politicians. In the words of one environmental lobbying group, “Do you want Representatives to decide what level of mercury pollution endangers our health or you want medical experts to make this assessment?” These criticisms are highly misleading. The REINS Act in no way prevents agencies from enforcing existing laws and regulations. Nor would it result in politicians having to decide all the technical details of regulations. Rather, the REINS Act simply [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/12/05/whoa-there-time-to-rein-in-runaway-bureaucrats/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=33%2BMinutes%20Update
December 6, 2011
Who Earns Most?
Ratio of Pay CEO-to-Worker
By Bridget Quigg,
PayScale.com
December 6, 2011
How much do certain CEOs make compared to the employees at their companies?
A lot.
Many earn hundreds, even thousands, of times more than their typical employee.
Online salary database PayScale.com researched the total cash compensation for CEOs of the top 50 companies on Fortune’s exclusive 500 list. Then, PayScale calculated the median annual earnings for workers at those companies and came up with a ratio of CEO to typical worker's pay and created an infographic showing the results. Spoiler alert: Prepare to be shocked.
Highest Pay Ratio
Stephen J. Hemsley of UnitedHealth Group brings home $1,731 for every dollar a typical employee at his company earns. Wal-Mart CEO Michael T. Duke sits far behind him with a 713 to one ratio. And, Ivan G. Seidenburg of Verizon Communications comes in third at 613 to one. Do you earn about $10 per hour? Can you imagine earning $6,130 per hour instead? That is what is happening in Verizon’s corner office. At UnitedHealthGroup, it’s more like $17,310 per hour. With a boost in earnings like that, you could afford to buy a Hyundai Elantra GT 4 door hatchback every hour (MSRP $15,389).
Lowest Pay Ratio
Not all leaders take in cash at the same rate.
In fact, Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway earns a humble $10 for every dollar of typical median income earned by his employees.
Microsoft Corp. stands out as a profitable company that pays its employees well. Microsoft boasts the highest typical median pay for full time employees, the fourth highest annual profits, and the 48th highest paid CEO on the list (Steven A. Ballmer) with a ratio of 13 to one.
And, had he lived long enough to still be leading the company he so carefully built, Steve Jobs would have outdone them all, earning his lowly $1 per year salary. [....]
http://blogs.payscale.com/salary_report_kris_cowan/2011/12/ratio-of-pay-ceo-to-worker.html?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=Prod_Newsletter_Email_1211&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fblogs.payscale.com%2fsalary_report_kris_cowan%2f2011%2f12%2fratio-of-pay-ceo-to-worker.html&cm_mmc=Email-_-Prod_Newsletter_Email_1211-_-NA-_-http%3a%2f%2fblogs.payscale.com%2fsalary_report_kris_cowan%2f2011%2f12%2fratio-of-pay-ceo-to-worker.html
The New Flat Tax—Easy as One, Two, Three
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
Heritage.org
December 13, 2011
Abstract: The current tax system discourages saving. It discourages investment. It discourages entrepreneurship. It causes decision makers to misallocate the nation’s resources, limiting productivity gains, wage gains, and the nation’s overall level of international competitiveness. And, it is far, far too complicated. The New Flat Tax is the remedy. It replaces every major tax collected by the federal government. For non-seniors, it is as easy as one, two, three—one rate, two credits, three deductions. For seniors on Medicare, one of the two credits—for health insurance—is replaced by an extra deduction. The New Flat Tax is simple, revenue-neutral, and will allow America to achieve its full economic potential.
The existing tax system is manifestly indefensible, especially in its complexity and its drain on economic vitality. The tax system’s complexity is inflicted on taxpayers of all walks of life. Low-income citizens must navigate the enormously complex Earned Income Credit. Those who save must overcome the system’s inherent discouragements and sort through a passel of tax rates and regimes for different forms of saving. Businesses investing in new plant and equipment must pay extra to obtain equity capital and must then overcome extra tax hurdles on their investments. The net result is a chaotic tax system and a much smaller economy.
The need for comprehensive, fundamental tax reform is clear. Yet typically, tax reform proposals, such as the traditional Flat Tax, solve only a piece of the problem by reforming or replacing the federal individual and corporate income taxes. The New Flat Tax replaces both income taxes, as well as the death tax, payroll taxes, and all excises not dedicated to a trust fund. Under the New Flat Tax, American taxpayers will deal with a single, simple tax.
The design of the New Flat Tax is based on the need for a more coherent tax system. An even greater priority than policy coherence is the need to eliminate, insofar as possible, any loss of economic performance due to federal taxation. Unnecessarily high tax rates combined with ill-advised tax rules distort the economic decisions of businesses and families. In turn, the economy is left much weaker by these distortions. A stronger, larger economy is the primary goal of the New Flat Tax, which would achieve this goal by implementing an [....]
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/12/the-new-flat-tax-easy-as-one-two-three
Tribe's high-interest online lending venture booms
As states rein in risky lending, Indian tribes use sovereignty, Internet to make loans
By Matt Volz,
Associated Press
December 26, 2011
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- An Indian reservation in the heart of Montana's farm country may seem an unlikely place to borrow a quick $600, but the Chippewa Cree tribe says it has already given out more than 121,000 loans this year at interest rates that can reach a whopping 360 percent. As more states pass laws to rein in lenders who deal in high-interest, short-term loans, Indian tribes like the Chippewa Cree and their new online lending venture, Plain Green Loans, are stepping in to fill the void. The Internet lets them reach beyond the isolated Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation to borrowers across the nation, while tribal [....]
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tribes-high-interest-online-lending-164851304.html
Morning Bell: Top 10 Education Stories of 2011
by Lindsey Burke
The Foundry
Heritage.org
December 27, 2011 There was no lack of education news in 2011. From an explosion in school choice options to the Obama Administration’s executive overreach, the top stories included the high and low lights when it came to issues affecting America’s schools.
10. Obama Administration orchestrates for-profit university witch hunt. On June 2, the Department of Education issued restrictive new regulations targeting “for-profit” higher education institutions. The new “gainful employment” regulation restricts access to student loans for students attending for-profit institutions (like Capella University or the University of Phoenix, for instance) if the school’s average debt-to-earnings ratio exceeds 12 percent of a graduate’s income. The net result? De-facto government price controls on a sector meeting the needs of students historically underserved by traditional universities.
9. Obama forgives student loans. In November, President Obama traveled to the University of Colorado-Boulder to announce his plan to forgive federal student loans — a demand made, notably, by the Occupy Wall Street crowd. Students cannot be required to pay more than 10 percent of their discretionary income on loan payments, all of which will be forgiven after 20 years. Sadly, this executive overreach shifts the burden of paying for college from [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/12/27/morning-bell-top-10-education-stories-of-2011/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
To Barack From Congress: Merry Christmas
by Robert Ringer,
The Liberty Digest
December 20, 2011
Risk to our economy… risk to our energy future… send the wrong message to job creators? Sounds to me like Obama’s Christmas wish list.The most predictable governing body on the planet, the U.S. Congress, is once again doing some of its sleaziest sleight-of-hand work at year’s end, with the comfort of knowing that we lowly proletarians are focused on holiday festivities. The average American is totally confused about the flurry of year-end legislation and political posturing coming out of the Nation’s capital, and with good reason: Politicians work hard at creating confusion.
Now, let’s see if I understand this. The Dems want to “cut taxes” by extending a “tax holiday” on some of the money that workers pay into the Social Security retirement “fund.” Could it be that Democrats aren’t as liberal as some of us have believed them to be? After all, they can’t be so bad if they actually favor a tax cut.
I wish that were true, but it isn’t. The truth is that it’s nothing more than a gimmick to keep American piglets mesmerized while feeding at the government’s entitlement trough. I realize that many true-blue conservatives and libertarians believe that any tax cut is a good tax cut; and, in theory, they’re right. But cutting payroll taxes is an illusory tax cut. It’s attacking the symptom (payroll taxes) rather than [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/government/to-barack-from-congress-merry-christmas/
Those Scumbag OWS Protesters Are Helping Our Cause
by Chip Wood,
The Liberty Digest
December 16, 2011
Have OWS protesters infested your city yet? They haven’t infested mine, but I kind of wish they would. Earlier this week, they shut down all shipping through the port of Oakland, Calif. If they knew who their real enemies are, they’d be kicking down the door to Harry Reid’s office in Washington. Clearly, someone behind these clueless, jobless, soapless demonstrators is very familiar with a guy named Saul Alinsky. This left-wing agitator has been honored, if that’s the right word, as this country’s first community organizer. You can see where that’s led. Alinsky, a veteran of Chicago’s dirtiest politics, wrote a book years ago called Rules for Radicals. One of his most important lessons was that “the real action is in the reaction.” That is, so-called peaceful demonstrators will get everything they seek if they can cause the establishment to react forcibly against them. (Think of fire hoses and police dogs during the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s.) Do that and your battle is won. Martin Luther King Jr. was a master implementer of the Alinsky stratagems. Those OWS [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/those-scumbag-ows-protesters-are-helping-our-cause/?eiid=
This Stock Has Both Dividend and Growth Potential
by Crista Huff
Townhall.com
December 22, 2011 Paychex Inc. (PAYX, $30.24) reported its second quarter 2012 earnings on Dec. 20, 2011. ”The company has now beaten estimates the last two quarters. PAYX beat the mean analyst estimate of 38 cents per share. It fell short of the average revenue estimate of $551.7 million. In the first quarter, it topped expectations with net income of 41 cents versus a mean estimate of net income of 38 cents per share,” says WallStCheatSheet.com in Paychex Inc. Earnings Cheat Sheet: Third Straight Quarter of Rising Profit, December 20, 2011.
Paychex Inc. is a leading provider of payroll processing, human resources and benefits services.
“At the end of FY 11 (May), 99% of the company’s clients were businesses of fewer than 100 employees. Its biggest competitors are active in all business sizes. Indicators of health in this market have traditionally been employment rates, since the revenue generated from [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/cristahuff/2011/12/22/this_stock_has_both_dividend_and_growth_potential/page/full/
The Year of Krugman Thuggishness
by Brent Bozell
Townhall.com
December 21, 2011 In 2008, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. At that time, it wasn't hard to imagine the Swedes were rewarding Krugman for eight years of blasting George W. Bush. In other words, the Nobel Prize truly matched its namesake: Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. Krugman regularly throws rhetorical dynamite at anything that stands in the way of his radical worldview. Krugman outdid himself for outrage in 2011. Every year, the Media Research Center collects a panel of willing conservative journalists and talk show hosts and puts them on a sickening roller coaster ride through the worst media bilge of the last twelve months to arrive at the Best Notable Quotables of the Year.
Paul Krugman sat in the sulfurous center with three other "bests."
First, Krugman took the Quote of the Year for his controversial dynamite throwing on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. On his blog "The Conscience of a Liberal," he accused someone else of ruining the unifying force of the attacks. "What happened after 9/11 -- and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not -- was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neo-cons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons." The atrocity was "hijacked" -- note the distinct flavor of terrorism in that term -- by the neocons. "The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it." What made this commentary perfect in its spoiled-brattiness was the last sentence: "I'm not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons." It's obvious he was a world-class divider on a day of unity and a coward.
One of the vilest aspects of Obamacare was the inclusion of "death panels" to recommend when medical treatments should be denied because extending Grandma's remaining life wasn't cost-efficient. But that never stopped a liberal from posturing. Krugman won the Grim Reaper Award for Saying Conservatives Want You to Die for his remarks against the Paul Ryan Medicare proposal on CNN. "To be a little melodramatic, the voucher would kill people, no question," said Krugman, as CNNs Gloria Borger said, Ryan "infuriated liberals." Then came more Krugman. "The cuts in Medicare that he's proposing, the replacement of Medicare by a voucher system, would in the end, mean that tens of millions of older Americans would not be able to afford essential health care. So that counts as cruelty to me." Krugman also won the Tea Party Terrorists Award for [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/brentbozell/2011/12/21/the_year_of_krugman_thuggishness/page/full/
The Worst Product Flops of 2011
by Charles B. Stockdale
24/7 Wall St
December 27, 2011
A number of incredible new products were launched this year. Apple (AAPL) introduced the iPhone 4S — a phone with voice command — and Boeing’s (BA) 787 Dreamliner — a fuel-efficient jet built of carbon composite — finally had its first commercial flight. But not all products and services launched this year did well. Some failed miserably. 24/7 Wall St. looked at the biggest product launches of 2011 in order to identify the worst of the lot. Products generally fail because they are either inferior versions of already successful products or they have little to no demand. Research In Motion’s (RIMM) PlayBook is the greatest example of the former. There was no room for a poorly designed tablet in a market dominated by the upmarket iPad and its inexpensive cousin Kindle Fire. The Playbook was widely panned. RIM publicly blamed its weak sales on competitive shifts in the tablet market, referring to the release of Kindle Fire.
Many companies also often fail to understand consumer sentiment and, as a result, do not accurately estimate demand for the product. When Netflix (NFLX) announced it would spin off its DVD-by-mail service in the form of a new service called Qwikster, customers were outraged. Nobody wanted the new site and nobody wanted to pay extra money for it. As a result, it failed before it even got off the ground. The Qwikster blunder ended up costing Netflix many customers. These are the worst products of the year.
1. Ashley Push-Up Triangle
Company: Abercrombie & Fitch
While no stranger to controversy, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) seemed to have crossed a line this time. In March, 2011, the retailer unveiled its spring line for Abercrombie Kids, a division targeting children ages 8 to 14. Included in the line was the “Ashley” Push-Up Triangle, a bikini top with padding. The launch prompted [....]
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-worst-product-flops-of-2011.html
The Secret of the Hexagon Revealed After Decades
The Intelligencer
Wheeling News-Register
December 26, 2011
DANBURY, Conn. (AP) - For more than a decade they toiled in the strange, boxy-looking building on the hill above the municipal airport, the building with no windows (except in the cafeteria), the building filled with secrets.
They wore protective white jumpsuits, and had to walk through air-shower chambers before entering the sanitized "cleanroom" where the equipment was stored.
They spoke in code.
Few knew the true identity of "the customer" they met in a smoke-filled, wood-paneled conference room where the phone lines were scrambled. When they traveled, they sometimes used false names.
At one point in the 1970s there were more than 1,000 people in the Danbury area working on The Secret. And though they worked long hours under intense deadlines, sometimes missing family holidays and anniversaries, they could tell no one - not even their wives and children - what they did. They were engineers, scientists, draftsmen and inventors - "real cloak-and-dagger guys," says Fred Marra, 78, with a hearty laugh. He is sitting in the food court at the Danbury Fair mall, where a group of retired co-workers from the former Perkin-Elmer Corp. gather for a weekly coffee. Gray-haired now and hard of hearing, they have been meeting here for 18 years. They spend a few hours nattering about golf and politics, ailments and grandchildren. But until recently, they were forbidden to speak about the greatest achievement of their professional lives.
"Ah, Hexagon," Ed Newton says, gleefully exhaling the word that stills feels almost treasonous to utter in public.
It was dubbed "Big Bird" and it was considered the most successful space spy satellite program of the Cold War era. From 1971 to 1986 a total of 20 satellites were launched, each containing 60 miles of film and sophisticated cameras that orbited the earth snapping vast, panoramic photographs of the Soviet Union, China and other potential foes. The film was shot back through the earth's atmosphere in buckets that parachuted over the Pacific Ocean, where C-130 Air Force planes snagged them with grappling hooks. The scale, ambition and sheer ingenuity of Hexagon KH-9 was breathtaking. The fact that 19 out of 20 launches were successful (the final mission blew up because the booster rockets failed) is astonishing. So too is the human tale of [....]
http://news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/563517/
The Fast And The Spurious IV: The Empire Strikes Out
by Ben Crystal
The Liberty Digest
December 13, 2011
UPI The number of prominent Republicans calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign is closing in on five dozen.President Barack Obama and the bulk of the corporate media continue to act as if “Operation Fast and Furious (OFF)” is a bad movie sequel featuring Vin Diesel and the Rock flexing their muscles and struggling with dialogue as opposed to a poorly conceived and implemented Department of Justice “gunwalking” program that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, armed Mexican narcoterrorists and resulted in the murder of at least two Federal agents. Across the aisle, the number of prominent Republicans calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign is closing in on five dozen. I wonder why that number isn’t significantly higher.
Meanwhile, new information surfaced last week that indicates Department of Justice officials openly discussed leveraging the OFF disaster in an effort to put the proverbial bullet in the Constitution. CBS News reporter Sharyl Atkisson, who has played both Woodward and Bernstein on the OFF story despite working well behind enemy lines, revealed last Wednesday afternoon that DoJ officials openly discussed trying to leverage the OFF-linked murders to push the Obama Administration’s and Democratic Party’s anti-Bill of Rights agenda. Despite the fact [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/hot-topics/outside-the-asylum/the-fast-and-the-spurious-iv-the-empire-strikes-out/?eiid=
Congress' Dirty Insider Trading Secret
(As Featured on 60 Minutes)
60 Minutes blew the lid off a story we've been tracking for months. Congress can trade on insider information -- and it's 100% legal. No wonder nearly half of Congressmen are millionaires and their investments outperform the average investor's by an extra 6.8% each year. And if you can't beat Congress, then you might as well join them.
Insider trading laws don't apply to Congress.
I wish I was kidding.
If that makes you mad, then you don't want to read the October 11, 2010 edition of The Wall Street Journal.
I'll let it speak for itself...
"Chris Miller nearly doubled his $3,500 stock investment in a renewable-energy firm in 2008. It was a perfectly legal bet, but he's no ordinary investor. "Mr. Miller is the top energy-policy adviser to Nevada Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who helped pass legislation that wound up benefiting the firm."
And this isn't some rogue staff member who was fired the next day. As I said, insider trading is perfectly legal... if [....]
http://web.streetauthority.com/m/tts/TTS08/tts-congress.asp?TC=TTS590
The 6 Best Foods for Winter
by David Zinczenko,
Matt Goulding
Men's Health
December 19, 2011
It’s the first snow of the season, and it’s so heavy and wet that it clogs your snowblower. You have two choices. Option 1: Shove your arm between the augers and remove the blockage. The downside: You’ll lose your arm in the process, and having it reattached will probably bankrupt you. Option 2: Turn off the machine, grab a broom stick, and chip at the blockage until it crumbles. You might be thinking, “What kind of lunatic would choose option 1?” Well, lunatics like the American people. The U.S. spends more than $2 trillion on health care each year, with much of that cash going toward the treatment of obesity-related complications like heart disease and diabetes. We’re fixing our health problems retroactively, with medication and surgery, even though we could prevent most of them by making smarter choices about what we eat.
There’s no better time to put this notion to the test than the winter months. Winter is not necessarily conducive to good health; the season conjures up images of calorie-loaded comfort foods, fireside naps, and runny noses. Read on for six everyday foods that will keep you healthy and strong from December to March and beyond, compliments of the all-new Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide, which includes thousands of smart swaps that can help you shave 20 pounds or more in just 6 weeks.
Best Winter Food #1: Oatmeal
What it does: Helps you avoid the winter blues
Why it works: Sunlight signals your body to produce the feel-good hormone serotonin, so winter’s short, dark days may leave you in a less-than-cheery mood. If the doldrums persist, you may even find yourself suffering a serious form of depression known [....]
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/8-food-trends-2011-will-make-you-fat-or-keep-you-skinny-2012
Texas Teen Ben Breedlove Posted Powerful Videos Before Christmas Death
by Christina Ng
Good Morning America
December 28, 2011
A Texas teenager who said he cheated death three times despite a dangerous heart condition died Christmas night from a heart attack, but not before posting a two-part video on YouTube telling his story and describing a series of powerful visions. In the videos that have since gone viral, 18-year-old Ben Breedlove of Austin can be seen silently sitting in a room and using handwritten note cards to tell his story. The teen suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which one part of the heart is thicker than the other parts, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood.
He described cheating death three times.
The most recent scare was Dec. 6, when he passed out at school and awoke surrounded by EMS medics preparing to use shock pads to revive him. He posted a two-part video Dec. 18 titled "This is my story." One week later, on Christmas night, he [....]
http://gma.yahoo.com/texas-teen-ben-breedlove-posted-powerful-videos-christmas-195055124.html
Ten most ridiculous lawsuits of 2011
by Howard Portnoy,
hotair.com
December 31, 2011
Another year is ending, and with the transition comes the inexhaustible procession of lists. For your delectation, I offer a list of the ten most ridiculous lawsuits of 2011. The list was compiled by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), which conducted a survey at the website Faces of Lawsuit Abuse.org (h/t Special Report with Bret Baier). The organization’s president, Lisa Rickard, is quoted as saying:
"While these lawsuits vary from the outrageous to the humorous, abusive litigation is hardly a laughing matter. ILR’s annual poll of ridiculous lawsuits helps to remind us that abusive lawsuits affect real people and real businesses, and can have harmful results to lives, jobs, and even our economic growth."
Maybe so, but some of these are pretty funny, if in a “sheesh” sort of way. Number 5 on the list—an obese man who sued White Castle because the booths were “too small” to accommodate his outsize frame—was the focus of a column by yours truly. Others as well as assorted acts of “jurisimprudence” that appeared in these pages but failed to make the cut appear below.
Here, without further ado, is the list along with poll rankings:
10. Man suing for age discrimination says judge in his case is too old (read story). (1.62%)
9. Woman sues over movie trailer; says not enough driving in ‘Drive’ (read story). (1.7%) [....]
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2011/12/31/ten-most-ridiculous-lawsuits-of-2011/
Quirky's Advice for Inventors: Study the Market
by Carol Tice,
entrepreneur.com
October 5, 2011
Would-be inventors have ideas for products all the time. But there's a long and treacherous road from that initial idea to having a big-selling consumer item, as the finale of the Sundance Channel TV show Quirky showed. In the final episode, "Very Messy, Very Fast," two inventors see their ideas go through multiple changes on the way to making it into the lineup of two-year-old online consumer-products company Quirky.
The show also highlights the advantages of Quirky's process. Rather than start up your own company and learn manufacturing and design or pay a marketing firm to bring your product to market, at Quirky you pay just $10 to submit an idea. That idea could end up as a finished product that's been improved by the company design team and their website community. One of the two inventors featured, Christine Torpey, provides a lesson in the dangers of going the big-spending route. When she comes to Quirky, she is on the financial ropes after having shelled out big to a product-commercializing firm that went bust, leaving her with big loans. Quirky's interest in her all-in-one tray for backyard grilling is her last hope to become a successful inventor before she gives it up and finds a day job. Her product goes through many versions, as the Quirky design team works on [....]
http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/220476
Possible DOJ Perjurer Says Sheriff Joe Arpaio Racially Profiles Mexican Illegals?
by Ben Johnson,
The White House Watch
exposeobama.com
December 16, 2011 A new report from the Justice Department accuses America’s toughest sheriff of racially profiling…illegal immigrants from Mexico! Moreover,the man who wrote the report appears to have perjured himself before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission over the Black Panther voter intimidation case. The Justice Department report cum hit piece accuses Sheriff Joe Arpaio of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office of “systematic disregard”for the Constitutional rights…of illegal immigrants.
“We found discriminatory policing that was deeply rooted in the culture of the department,a culture that breeds a systematic disregard for basic constitutional protections,”according to Thomas Perez,the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under Eric “My People” Holder. The report’s most “serious”allegation was that Arpaio racially profiled illegal immigrants. That is,too many of the illegals he arrested were Mexican. The fact that the vast majority of illegal aliens are from Mexico,and 90 percent of illegal immigrants are [....]
http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/12/16/doj-perjurer-says-sheriff-joe-arpaio-racially-profiles-mexican-illegals/
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/15/MNQM1MD4T7.DTL
OpenSecrets-Congressional-Wealth-Nov2011
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArZJzmIoVZE0dDNzc1h0bHpjVk50Wkh6MlVwRkxRcnc#gid=0Morning Bell: An 11th-Hour Spending Deal That Comes Up Short
by Mike Brownfield
Heritage.com
December 16, 2011
With Christmas just a week away and the new year nearly upon us, Congress came within a whisper of yet another potential government shutdown and once again demonstrated its inability to make substantive spending cuts and deliver the American people the reforms necessary to secure America’s fiscal future. Rather than produce a timely [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/12/16/morning-bell-an-11th-hour-spending-deal-that-comes-up-short/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Obama’s Top Boners of 2011
by John Ransom
townhall.com
December 26, 2011 Sure, limiting the list to the nine worst mistakes of the Obama administration in a year that saw so many of them was a tough proposition. But in the spirit of Christmas, I decided to be merciful and not pile on. Plus, you know, I have company coming over. So for now, nine will have to do. Why nine? Quoting Bluto from Animal House sans burp: “Why the hell not.”
I’ve included links and snippets from my columns addressing each topic:
9) Sending a budget to Capitol Hill that didn’t get one vote:
Calculate the man-hours that went into presenting to Congress a budget that didn’t muster even one vote in the Senate. If that didn’t cry out that Obama is a one-term president, certainly the [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/12/26/obamas_top_boners_of_2011/page/full/
Until Next Sunday....
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