Over the past few years -- especially since First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden have started working on Joining Forces, an effort to "highlight and support service members and their families, joining with top corporations and nonprofit groups to bolster their health-care, employment, and educational opportunities" -- we've seen some great progress with organizations and companies making strides to assist veterans upon their return home. Now comes exciting news that Walmart is making a huge move to make life easier for former members of the armed services. They've vowed to employ every veteran looking for work, hailing vets as “leaders with discipline, training, and a passion for service.”

The announcement today is linked to the company's five-year plan, which will officially kick off on Memorial Day, and should ultimately help 100,000 vets get hired. Awesome!

Jackie Chan: Martial artist, comedian, movie star, and America hater? Say it ain’t so! It’s sad but true; the actor absolutely slammed America as “the most corrupt” country in the world in a recent Chinese TV interview.

"Where does this Great Breakdown [financial crisis] come from?” he asked the host. He then continued, “It started exactly from the world, the United States …” He also criticized any Chinese citizen that speak ill of China, especially to foreigners. He said, “If our own countrymen don’t support our country, who will support our country? We know our country has many problems. We [can] talk about it when the door is closed. To outsiders, [we should say] ‘our country is the best.’”

Maybe President Obama should borrow one or two of Mitt Romney’s binders full of women, because there’s clearly a shortage of females among his top staff. The White House recently released a photo on its Flickr account with the caption: "In the Oval Office, the President meets with senior advisors to discuss the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations."

There are 11 men in the picture and exactly zero females.

A woman walked into a Wal-Mart and tried to buy several iPads with her EBT card. Twice. Food stamps for iPads. Tracy Browning, a 38-year-old Louisville, Kentucky woman, allegedly attempted to purchase the Apple tablets using an Electronic Benefit Transfer card, then assaulted store employees and took off with the merchandise when it didn’t work. She was arrested when she tried to do the same thing at another Wal-Mart a few hours later.

According to Louisville police, Browning had previously been banned from all Wal-Mart locations for other incidents with the discount retailer. She’s been charged with robbery, shoplifting, and trespassing, and has been booked into the Louisville Metro jail. No word on what those prior incidences were, or if they involved theft or fancy electronics.

While most of us were toasting to the new year this week and contemplating how long we can leave our Christmas decorations up before we start to look like total slackers, Congress has been in session trying to keep us from flying off the fiscal cliff. They eventually reached a deal, but not without some drama.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took the floor and accused Speaker of the House John Boehner of being a “dictator” for only bringing up legislation in the House that’s supported by the majority of the Republican Party. He also accused him of caring more about his job than doing what’s right for the American people. Apparently, “doing what’s right” is to just agree with the Democrats and do whatever they want, but I digress.

You guys, I've been dying to write "fiscal cliff" for the last time ever but I'm afraid the fight goes on. But there is an end in sight! This afternoon President Obama gave us an update on how these negotiations are going. Short story: There will be no grand bargain today, but a deal is in the works that will extend middle-class tax cuts and unemployment benefits. It will raise taxes for households earning over $450,000 a year and raise estate taxes to 40 percent, generating an estimated $600 billion in revenue.

As for the rest of the fiscal pie, that's a $24 billion fight for another day. Part of the agreement is a delay in planned, across-the-board cuts to programs until the whole enchilada is baked. Vice President Biden has been in talks with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. The Senate may vote on the deal this afternoon. We're almost there. So what's keeping us from passing the no-brainer portion of the budget?

Letter was hidden in this type of boxIt was the last thing 42-year-old mom Julie Keith expected to find when she opened a box of Halloween decorations: Stuffed between two styrofoam headstones was a letter, folded into eighths. Written in a combination of broken English and Chinese characters, the unsigned note told a horrifying story. It began:

Sir, If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution [sic] of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.

This product produced by Unit 8, Department 2, Mashanjla Labour Camp, Shen Young, Liaoning, China.

Remember when the auto industry started crashing and the government came in and spent our money to prop it up? In 2009, we spent $50 billion on GM, to purchase just over 25% of the company -- 500 million shares. Then remember a few months ago, when President Obama campaigned hard on the premise that they had saved the auto industry? Joe Biden even illustriously cried from the podium at the Democratic National Convention, “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!”

So what’s all this news now about the U.S. Treasury selling off its GM shares at a loss to taxpayers? Didn’t GM already pay off their loans? President Obama praised them as a great example, and GM even said “thanks” to America in a commercial about it. Did they pay back the loans in full and with interest or did they not?