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a secret santa dropped $50,000 into one of those little red kettles. it happened in joplin, missouri. anonymous donor dropped five checks wrapped in dollar bills, each check for 10 grand and signed simply santa. we're told the same anonymous donor has dropped about a half million bucks in those red army kettles over the past eight years. but we're not sure how they know that. now to another christmas miracle. the actress lindsay lohan successfully getting through this month's court ordered service hours and she did it ahead of schedule. much to the surprise of the judge. >> ms. lohan, have you actually done the work. and done it not only on time but early. >> shepard: the judge gave her props for finishing the extra therapy sessions as well which key didn't have to do. not to mention her 2011 mugshot now has some competition with the latest edition to what is clearly an already impressive photo collection. her spread in playboy magazine
>> i continue to be that this decision represents a failure of leadership both iraqi and american that it was a sad case of political expediency triumphing over military necessity both in baghdad and in washington. >> shepard: regardless, december 31st is to mark the end of the nation's second longest war and mark a major milestone in american history. ed henry is live at the white house with nor on this tonight. the president tried to focus on the troops not on politics. >> that's right, shep. let's not forget the whole political career the fuel for it really was opposing the war in iraq. as a state senator he called it a dumb war. the bottom line as a candidate for president in 2008 he promised to bring all u.s. troops home by the end of his first term as he is now. he said there had been politically charged debate. he didn't want to get into that today. he thinks people on all sides of the debate were patriots
they shouldn't mess with the deal. take a listen. >> if we have a reasonable agreement with the republics on funding the government, we should seize that opportunity and do it and not hold it up for what may be more political considerations. >> now, the democratic leadership would like to tie that government funding bill with the payroll tax holiday, unemployment benefits and that is where things kind of get stuck, shep. >> shepard: mike, some breaking news happening as we are going through all of this. the time something good. the house of representatives has just voted to passion a big defense bill. mike, give us the details of that if you would, please. >> it's a 662 billion-dollar package to fund a lot of what our military does. a critical bill to pass. passed the house tonight by a wide margin. it will come up for a vote in the senate tomorrow. there was some controversy about the way you would handle terrorist suspects. initially said it would go to military custody instantly. the language has been
in the arab world, for instance, all the protesters in europe or occupy wall street here in this country or even the crowds who turned out in russia over the weekend. you are not happy to seat protesters on the front cover the "time" magazine. this should not be seen as a prize more as a measure of influence. listen. >> what's important is that all of these people in their own way and in their own countries helped to change the conversation. helped to bring attention to their causes in a way that we have not seen before. and it's forced not just ordinary people to pay attention to them but forced their governments and ruling elites to reckon with them. in a very serious way. >> editors also say they simply wanted to spark debate. they have certainly done that shep. >> shepard: they have done that very successful. others in the mix besides the one person. >> interesting group of runners up. among them admiral william
florida. a would-be thief broke into the wrong church east of tampa, turns out the pastor there is a war vet. he says he used his military training to track and subdue the suspect. >> i moved to these. and then i moved in around the corner and caught him at the entrance of the door right there. >> then he called the sheriff's office. new jersey, quite a christmas display at this home southwest of trenton. the owner says he plans a year in advance for the show. >> each year it gets a little bigger, brighter, better. of course, tackier. >> we're told the family raises money for a health care center and that's a fox watch across america. >> shepard: i'm shepard smith. this is "the fox report." it's the bottom of the hour. time for the top of the news. after nearly nine years of roadside bombs and sniper fire and suicide attacks, the end of the war in iraq is finally in sight. that's the message from
you door of england. 16th century. it's the season, time to be generous. >> shepard: all of this liz taylor excitement dragged the markets down today. >> direct correlation on that. unfortunately italy having to pay nor for their debt up to 7%. dow down 131 points. been down 360 points. gold down 2.6%. that's a big number for gold to be down. fourth steepest decline on record. >> a date is not a trend make but a lot of people have been predicting volatility in the gold market. >> it had to happen. it was only going up. it has got to go down he. >> shepard: it's balloon boy in that way. eventually comes down. sometimes not so great when it does. >> i thought so. >> shepard: gerri willis part of the best team in business. airs over weekday afternoon 4:00 in oxford on the fox business network. some employers are now offering an extra incentive to get employees to lose weight.
mcgraven. you may not have heard of him but he heads u.s. special operations and therefore was the commander of the operation that took down usama bin laden. the chinese dissident who spent 81 days in solitary confinement this year for his protests over chinese corruption. paul ryan the republic congressman described as the most influential politician in america by "time" magazine because of his budget plan and finally my personal favorite. waity katie getting hitched and bringing gloss back to the royal family. >> shepard: quite a mix there. thanks a lot. you don't speak for "time." nice to see you. stocks were down today and the price of gold took a big hit. price of diamonds is an entirely different matter. especially when they're the ones elizabeth taylor once wore. wait until you hear the details of a record breaking auction. that's coming up.
tomorrow night's huge debate hosted by fox news in sioux city and it could be a game changer. get them to the ballot boxes and to make the decision. >> shepard: there is the potential for surprises this time. >> oh yeah. and we're going to see in the next two weeks very aggressive old style bus tour campaigning. rick perry is going to head out and hit 45 cities in the next 15 days. look for the polls to show he has got some movement. he is working on an organization busing people out of state and sewing up a good base here in iowa. michele bachmann county chairman in 9 a of the 99 counties in iowa they hope to have 1500 precinct captains to cover the 1800 precincts that will make up the caucuses on january 3rd. you have rick santorum who has been working very very hard with pastors, home schoolers and other socially conservative christian conservative republics who
everybody admits it might take out a few years to work out the bugs. >> shepard: wake you up in the middle of night if you forgot to turn off the tv. >> this is the right call they acknowledge it's kind of annoying. those who support the advertisers say look, these companies spend way too much money on commercials to have people scrambling for the mute button. listen. >> the job of an advertiser is to get your attention. and then, of course, when your attention they have to hold it when the volume goes up there is a propensity to almost stop in your tracks and times it's shockingly loud. >> especially during football games when the advertisements come on. the fec didn't just do this on their own, shep. they still had to go to congress to get the authority to get this rule in place. >> they got it trace gallagher in l.a. thank you. a freak accident today in new
seemed like there was candidate all the time at a coffee shop. hotel room. want to talk about what they have done, what they want to do. this year it's, for some it's polar opposite. >> now, there still are a lot of republicans out here. they are wondering where the visits went. shep? >> shepard: i bet they are. if the republic vote has grown in other parts of iowa. what's wrong with candidates spending more time elsewhere? >> that does make sense but the state parties republic chair says that there are some candidates that may be facing some peril by not spending time out here in western iowa. have a listen. >> that may be a mistake. one thing that we know, the republicans and turn out on caucus night. even though there are more republicans across the state the one thing you do know in iowa republicans will turn out and they will start the process for whatever it takes to replace barack obama. >> at this man late but rick perry and michele bachmann will make bus tours here before the to reach out to