Consumer Confidence Climbs in November

From Bloomberg - Confidence among U.S. consumers rose in November to the highest level in five months and a gauge of business activity unexpectedly climbed, signaling the recovery is taking hold heading into 2011. The Conference Board’s sentiment index increased to 54.1, exceeding the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey, figures from the New York-based research group showed today. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said its business gauge advanced to the highest since April. Read full story here:

Consumer Confidence Climbs in November

1st Post Mid-Term Summit Today at White House

From the Washington Times - Nearly two years after a newly installed President Obama ended an argument with congressional Republicans with the simple line "I won," he goes back into a room with them on Tuesday having now lost, and badly. The White House says the agenda for the meeting is to try to find agreement on a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia and to work toward agreement on how to handle the Bush-era tax cuts, which are due to expire at the end of this year. But it will also be the first meeting since Mr. Obama endured what he called a "shellacking" at the polls, with his party losing more than 60 House seats and a half-dozen Senate seats. And all eyes will be on him to see how he handles having his coattails clipped. "My hope is that tomorrow's meeting will mark a first step towards a new and productive working relationship," Mr. Obama said Monday as he made a first gesture, expanding on a federal pay-freeze idea Republicans proposed earlier this year. "We now have a shared responsibility to deliver for the American people on the issues that define not only these times but our future, and I hope we can do that in a cooperative and serious way." Read full story here:

1st Post Mid-Term Summit Today at White House

Obama Supports Bureaucrat Pay Freeze

From Washington Times - Calling it a starting point for a looming showdown on budget cuts, President Obama on Monday demanded a two-year pay freeze for federal civilian workers, aligning himself with congressional Republicans and against his labor union allies who warned that the freeze would "stick it" to the government work force. "The hard truth is that getting this deficit under control is going to require broad sacrifice, and that sacrifice must be shared by the employees of the federal government," Mr. Obama said, upping the ante on House Republicans, who had pushed earlier this year for a one-year freeze. Read full story here:

Obama Supports Bureaucrat Pay Freeze

Showdown on Pelosi, Reed, Obama Tax Hikes

From Bloomberg - Congressional Democrats are ready to test Republican resolve on taxes this week by forcing showdown votes on their proposal to extend middle-class tax cuts. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will schedule a vote this week on legislation that would retain lower tax rates and increased credits that apply to the first $250,000 of a married couple’s gross income or $200,000 for a single person, said her assistant, Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen. The Senate will vote “by next week” on Democrats’ proposal to extend middle-income tax cuts, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus told reporters yesterday. “There should be an early vote on middle-income tax cuts” before the Senate considers alternatives on Bush-era tax cuts set to expire on Dec. 31, said Baucus, a Montana Democrat. The vote’s timing will depend on the rest of the Senate’s agenda, he said. Read full story here:

Showdown on Pelosi, Reed, Obama Tax Hikes

German Austerity of 2009 Paying off in 2010

Angela Merkel

From Bloomberg - German unemployment fell for a 17th month in November as business optimism improved, underscoring the gulf between Europe’s biggest economy and peripheral nations struggling to cut debt. The number of people out of work declined a seasonally adjusted 9,000 to 3.14 million, the lowest since December 1992, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. Economists forecast a decrease of 20,000, according to the median of 31 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. The adjusted jobless rate remained at 7.5 percent. Read full story here:

German Austerity of 2009 Paying off in 2010

Progressive Magazine: Perspective on North Korea

Matthew Rothschild

From Progressive.org - When the current Korean crisis emerged, I immediately contacted the wisest person I know on the subject. His name is Gene Matthews, and he spent decades in South Korea as a missionary who was active in the pro-democracy movement there. He’s a contributor to a great new book called “More Than Witnesses: How a Small Group of Missionaries Aided Korea’s Democratic Revolution.” Here’s what he has to say about the current standoff. “North Korea has always felt threatened by joint military exercises of the U.S. and South Korea, and has always protested against them,” he says. “This time, North Korea stated that the exercises were taking place in North Korean territory and that if shots were fired during the exercise they would retaliate.

Shots were fired (not at the North, it should be pointed out but out toward the ocean) and the North retaliated.” What’s saddest about this standoff, he says, is that it shows how far relations have slid in the last fifteen years. Read full column here:

Progressive Magazine: Perspective on North Korea

Doh! - Data Lockdown Ordered

From the Register.com - The US government on Monday enacted new policies designed to prevent mass leaks similar to one rolled out over the weekend, when Wikileaks released thousands of classified diplomatic cables. On Sunday, the Pentagon announced new procedures for the use of thumb drives. Computers that store classified data will no longer be able to write onto removable media, according to Politico. The measure was described as a “temporary technical solution” to the problem of Pentagon personnel who may move vast amounts of secret information to unclassified computer systems. Read full story here:

Doh! - Data Lockdown Ordered

The Tea Party's Big Mistake

From americanthinker.com - In the past week, there has been a call for the Tea Parties to introduce social issues into their "platform." Same-sex marriage, abortion, repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the teaching of abstinence over contraception, and numerous other agenda items of importance to social and religious conservatives have been put forth as issues that the Tea Parties should embrace. Not only should these issues be embraced, but the Tea Parties have been told that they must reconfigure their existing agenda and work toward solutions that satisfy the yearnings of these very same social and religious conservatives. Of course, these issues are of overwhelming importance to a significant number of people. I respect that these people are sincere and truly feel that the country will be hurt beyond redemption should things continue as they are. But a significant number of vocal people do not a political majority make. More here

The Tea Party's Big Mistake

Prime Minister of Kenya and Obama's "Cousin" Orders Arrest of Gays

Raila Odinga

In 2006 Barack Obama took a trip to Kenya at US taxpayer’s expense. While visiting Kenya as a guest of the government Obama campaigned with opposition leader socialist Raila Odinga, who claims he is Obama’s cousin. The opposition said Odinga was using Obama “as his stooge.” Video here This week Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga ordered a nationwide crackdown on gays this week. The radical Kenyan leader said police should arrest anyone found engaging in such behaviors. More here

Prime Minister of Kenya and Obama's "Cousin" Orders Arrest of Gays

Presidential High Hopes for Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson

From tampabay.com - TALLAHASSEE — A self-made millionaire Republican is campaigning in Florida on a platform of spending cuts and less government. It's not Rick Scott, anymore. This is Gary E. Johnson, a former New Mexico governor and advocate for the legalization of marijuana, who's putting out Florida feelers in a possible bid for the presidency in 2012. Johnson's campaign-style stops in Tallahassee, Melbourne and Orlando last week reveal that the presidential race is already at a low boil in the nation's largest swing state. Without Florida, Republicans say, they can't recapture the White House. More here

Presidential High Hopes for Gary Johnson