Thank God for the Recession

'War on Christmas': Ill will does more harm
Well, Thanksgiving is over. The turkey has been consumed, and Black Friday's door busters are but a distant memory. Time to bring on the "War on Christmas"! Fox already has fired the opening salvo, reporting that a Florida school has banned the colors red and green. Never mind that, according to school officials, this has never been the case. Who cares if this really happened? Bring on the righteous indignation! Not to be outdone, Liberty Counsel has put up its annual "Naughty a...

Europe's resilient economies: Little triggers
THE euro area is under siege. Two of its members, Greece and Ireland, are in the IMF’s intensive-care ward. The crisis threatens to engulf several others. Yet for all the bond-market turmoil, the real economy is doing well. GDP rose by 1.9% in the year to the Third Quarter (see chart). Business surveys point to annualised growth of at least 2% in the Fourth Quarter—slow by American standards, but not bad for an ageing continent. It is also enough to eat into spare capacity, since ou...

So, People Are Going to Give You Obnoxious Crap for Christmas
​What are the most obnoxious Christmas gifts ever? Gifts that are customized to remind the recipient of yours truly. This is why, despite what the Wall Street Journal is dubbing a trend of sorts ("The Rise of Holiday Me-Tailers"), you should never, ever, ever, give your girlfriend or boyfriend a Yoga Mat that has a photo of you giving her/him the thumbs up on it. For one, this is because when you break up, that Yoga Mat will come to no good end. For two, this is because, Jesus, why would...

5 Christmas Gifts That Keep on Giving
If you want to help out someone you know who is struggling financially, you could give them money for Christmas. That might not be practical, though, since the recipient may be too proud to accept a handout, but there are several gifts you can give that will save the recipient money all year long. [In Pictures: 12 Money Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes] 1. Reusable Water Bottle If you know someone who drinks lots of Bottled Water, they could save a lot of money and make less waste by using a re...

Poll: 56% to spend less on gifts this year
Published: Dec. 9, 2010 at 1:52 PM Shoppers walk through Brookfield Square Mall in the early morning hours on November 26, 2010 in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Shoppers turned out early to get in on "Black Friday" sales on the official first day of the holiday shopping season as Retailers hope the improved economy will translate to big sales numbers. UPI/Brian Kersey ASBURY PARK, N.J., Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Eighteen percent of American adults said they plan to spend more money on Christmas gifts t...

More Shoppers Take to the Web for the Holidays
So far, U.S. online retail spending this Holiday Season is up about 12% over last year, research firm ComScore said this week. In five weeks ending Dec. 3, Americans spent $17.5 billion on retail items on the Web, up from $15.7 billion during the same period a year earlier, according to ComScore. More shoppers took to their computers on Thanksgiving Day and the following Monday, so-called Cyber Monday, driving Thanksgiving spending up 28% from a year earlier and Cyber Monday sales up 16%. Onlin...

Poll: Most Celebrate Christmas as a Religious Holiday
What a shocker. Most people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ as a religious holiday. Who would have thunk it? From Rasmussen: An overwhelming majority of Americans celebrate Christmas, and for most of those who celebrate, it's a religious holiday rather than a Secular one despite the strong commercial overtones of the season. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 92% of all Adults celebrate Christmas in their family. Six percent (6%) do not. (To see survey question wording, c...

Cuomo Backs the Obama/GOP Tax Plan
The White House touted an awful lot of political B-listers supporting the President’s Tax Cut deal yesterday in the effort to quell a Democratic rebellion, but today they’ve got a top-shelf backer in New York Gov.-elect Cuomo. Here’s Cuomo’s reasoning: “I commend President Obama for his leadership in forging a Compromise that will help stabilize our fragile economy. Failing to act now would result in higher taxes for most Americans come January 1st. That would be ...

Mancession Threatens American Dream
It's a question that riles Soldiers on the front lines of the gender wars: Has the economic Recession hit men disproportionately to women? University of Michigan Economist Mark Perry says yes, and coined the term, "mancession" as the economic plunge gained momentum. He says that while the Recession is a "downturn" for women, it is a "catastrophe" for men. Some statistics bear that out. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, when the labor market deteriorated in 2009, men felt the brunt of ...

What Reporters Found on Their Chairs
The House Radio & TV Gallery is on the cusp of completing their board Elections.Voting has been taking place yesterday and today. Reporters found this pitch on their chairs yesterday. It’s from FNC cameraman John Wallace , a 27-year Veteran of the Washington News Corp.. “I understand first hand, what you need, and I am anxious to make a difference on the board,” he writes in an all caps memo. …WE ALL NEED TO PUSH THE ENVELOPE WITH NEW AND INNOVATIVE WAYS OF COVERING T...

Obama and family light National Christmas Tree
WASHINGTON (AP) — Christmas has arrived in Washington. With the flip of a switch, President Barack Obama lit the National Christmas Tree — a 40-foot Colorado blue spruce growing on a grassy area near the White House known as the Ellipse. Obama was accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha. The tradition dates to 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge presided over the lighting a national Christmas tree. Thursday’s event kicks off days of holiday celebration...

VIDEO: Man Gives Up NFL Job to Care For Parents
It’s not “The Gift of the Magi.”  But still a pretty touching story about giving up what you really treasure to save those you really love. Would you give up a possible dream job in the NFL to care for your parents?  Keith Fitzhugh did that, saying no to the New York Jets.  It’s not like he was certain to get a multi-million dollar-or even multi-hundred-thousand dollar-contract.  And that’s part of the reason he said no.  Fitzhug...

Report: Growing mental health problems in military
Source: CNN Washington (CNN) -- Mental problems send more men in the U.S. Military to the Hospital than any other cause, according to a new Pentagon report. And they are the second highest reason for Hospitalization of women Military personnel, behind conditions related to Pregnancy. The Defense Department's Medical Surveillance report from November examines "a large, widespread, and growing mental Health Problem among U.S. Military members." The 31-page report says Mental Disorders are a proble...

Be All Your iPhone Can Be
For a long time The Army and the US Military in general were very leery of Soldiers having digital gadgets that might breach security in various ways. But now The Army wants every soldier on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan equipped with their own Smartphone along with special DOD-designed apps to run on them. ...

Quote of the Day.
More than 60 senators, enough to overcome a Filibuster, agreed DADT should end. Military leadership has endorsed Repeal. Volumes of Empirical Evidence, including the Pentagon’s own study and the experiences of the U.S.’s own military allies, show that ending the policy would offer minimal risk of disruption. Yet the vote fell short anyway. This is not 1964, with Senator Richard Russell filibustering the Civil Rights Act in a losing attempt to preserve Jim Crow. Senator Brown, who vot...

New rifles give Army snipers in Afghanistan needed range
The Army is shipping powerful new rifles to its snipers in Afghanistan to kill Insurgents who are firing from greater distances and shooting at Troops more frequently than in the early years of the war. The XM2010 sniper rifle can hit a target 3,937 feet away, which is a quarter-mile farther than the current Army sniper rifle shoots. The added distance is important because Insurgents have been shooting down from ridges and mountaintops where gravity helps their bullets travel farther and beyond ...

The Israeli Culture Of Drinking Urine
Issa Qaraqe’e, the Palestinian Minister of Detainee Affairs, revealed that Israeli Soldiers urinated on two Palestinian minors who they had kidnapped, then jailed, forced to drink urine from a toilet, tortured and filmed while they were completely naked. Minister Qaraq’e said that lawyer Hibah Masalhah visited the kids Mohammed Tariq Abed El-Latif Mekhemar, 13 years old, and Mohammad Naser Ali Ridwan, 13 years old, at the Rimonim Prison. After her visit she sta...

Activists Deliver 528,000 DADT Petitions To DC Office Of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
Via Press Release: "The folks who made the delivery on behalf of the 582k proponents of DADT Repeal were Saif Khan, an Iraq War Veteran; Colonel William Cline, a retired Army physician; and Brad Reichard, the spouse of a West Point graduate." Labels: Activism, DADT, GOP, Maine, Senate New! Share this on Facebook: Share ...

NY subway plotter's father pleads not guilty
A New York City Subway pulls up to a station. The father of a Colorado man ... The father of a man who admitted plotting to bomb New York's Subway System in an Al-Qaeda inspired scheme pleaded Not Guilty Thursday to new charges. Afghan-born Mohammed Wali Zazi, 54, entered his plea in Federal Court responding to charges that include obstruction of justice, witness tampering, making false statements and visa Fraud. "He pleaded Not Guilty and was released on bail," Brooklyn Federal Court spokesma...

School edits controversial books
The head of the King Fahad Academy in west London said pupils had never been taught from the chapters in question but that they would be removed. The head insisted pupils were never taught religious hatred or intolerance. But the passages would be removed "in the public interest", she said. She admitted the textbooks - translated for BBC Two's Newsnight programme by two independent scholars - were kept at the school. But the translations were "taken out of context" and had "lost some of thei...

U.S. Army Shipping New XM2010 Sniper Rifle to Soldiers in Afghanistan, Can Hit Targets 4,000 Feet Away
9-11 Infidel on Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Muslims. 9-11 Infidel on Revolution Muslim Creator Joey Boy Cohen: You Guys Misinterpreted Me - or Something. Nothing up my sleeve on Revolution Muslim Creator Joey Boy Cohen: You Guys Misinterpreted Me - or Something....

Alzheimer's vs. Dementia? Subtle Difference
Dubbed the "Iron Lady," Britain's hard-nosed former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was revered for her nimble command of world events and her quick verbal repartee. But today, in a soon-to-be-published memoir, her daughter Carol describes an 82-year-old woman -- the world leader once feared and admired -- as humbled by memory lapses so severe she doesn't even know that her longtime husband has died. Readers across Britain called the publication of details of Thatcher's decline "exploitive...

Politically Incorrect Parenting Presents: Top 5 Christmas Gifts For Boys
It’s here. Christmas, that wonderful time of year when toy manufacturers find out just how well their advertising dollars were spent, and parents have a chance to put their money where their hearts are. While the Left complains about our consumer-oriented society, and looks for books to indoctrinate their three-year olds, I have a better idea. How about buying toys that enrich Children’s lives? It can be done. Not only can it be done, but in doing so, I can almost guarantee these items wil...

Song series ends on sad note
As Bill Studwell lay in bed, his body weak from Lymphoma, all he could think about was writing the letter. "I just need to get this done," he kept telling his daughter, who was befuddled by his sense of urgency but dutifully took dictation at his bedside. On that hot and humid Sunday in August, Studwell, 74, was completely preoccupied by Christmas carols. He seemed relieved as she typed the title of one particular carol in the letter, sealed the envelope and sent it to officials at Northern Ill...

Jobless claims fall, near lowest level of the year
(12-09) 08:58 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Applications for Unemployment Benefits dropped last week to the second-lowest level this year, fresh evidence that companies are cutting fewer jobs. First-time claims for jobless aid fell by 17,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 421,000 in the week ending Dec. 4, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure, dropped for the fifth straight week to 427,500. That's the lowest since August 2008, just before the financi...