Post Scripts

Posted by Tina

** U.S. credit card defaults rose in February to their highest level in at least 20 years, with losses particularly severe at American Express Co and Citigroup amid a deepening recession. AmEx, the largest U.S. charge card operator by sales volume, said its net charge-off rate — debts companies believe they will never be able to collect — rose to 8.70 percent in February from 8.30 percent in January. Reuters **

And this morning Freddie Mac says it needs $150 million dollar bailout. Retention bonuses are scheduled to be paid to execs…the madness continues on all fronts…nah nah nah nah…nah nah nah nah…hey hey hey…goodbye.

Posted by Tina

** An Obama administration proposal to bill veterans’ private insurance companies for treatment of combat-related injuries has prompted veterans groups to condemn the plan as unethical and powerful lawmakers on Capitol Hill to promise their opposition. Nevertheless, the White House confirmed yesterday that the idea remains under consideration, and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and leaders of veterans groups are scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss it further. Washington Post **

** Angry advocates for veterans will return to the White House on Thursday to try to talk the Obama administration out of cutting benefits. *** The controversial plan has ignited a firestorm in the veterans community, and a meeting Monday with President Barack Obama failed to tamp it down. The same veterans groups that met with Obama have been asked to go back to meet with his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, for more discussions. – McClatchy Newspapers **

UPDATE** WASHINGTON The Obama administration on Wednesday abandoned a controversial plan to make veterans who have private insurance pay for treatment of combat-related injuries. Stung by the angry reactions of veterans, lawmakers and others, the White House made the decision after top administration officials met Wednesday with 11 veterans advocacy groups. – McClatchy newspapers **

Continue reading “Obama, Health Reform, and Justice for Veterans” »

Posted by Tina

Update submitted by Libby Responding to two Democratic senators representing outraged private gun owners, the Department of Defense announced last night it has scrapped a new policy that would deplete the supply of ammunition by requiring destruction of fired military cartridge brass. …-World Net Daily

If you’ve had some trouble buying ammunition lately this may be why. Theres more than one way to disarm Americans:

** In a move that will greatly increase the cost of ammunition and may cause several US manufacturers to lay off workers, the Defense Department is ending a long standing practice of selling expended brass cartridges to domestic ammunition manufacturers. Instead the readily recyclable casings are to be melted down and recast for sale as scrap metal. To add insult to injury it should be noted that a scrap metal the brass will sell for substantially less than the expended casings themselves now bring! The American Thinker **

Posted by Tina

Campaign cash flow….

** A Pennsylvania defense research center regularly consulted with two “handlers” close to Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) as it collected nearly $250 million in federal funding through the lawmaker, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and sources familiar with the funding requests. The center then channeled a significant portion of the funding to companies that were among Murtha’s campaign supporters. The two advisers included a lobbyist for PMA Group… Washington Post **

Posted by Tina

The results of the census is very important. The information is used to determine our representation in Washington. This is why it should be free of political influence.

** The U.S. Census is supposed to be free of politics, but one group with a history of voter fraud, ACORN, is participating in next year’s count, raising concerns about the politicization of the decennial survey. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now signed on as a national partner with the U.S. Census Bureau in February 2009 to assist with the recruitment of the 1.4 million temporary workers needed to go door-to-door to count every person in the United States… Fox News **

Acorn is under investigation in several states for voter fraud. Several ACORN people have been successfully prosecuted in similar cases. Is it wise to recruit a politically active group nown to be criminals, cheats and intimidation activists to go door to door to head count Americans? The census bureau says they will monitor…uh huh.

How about a little balance? Maybe we could get the National Rifle Association to step up.

Posted by Tina

Dodd says he was directed by the administration to alter the language in the bill.

** Update Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNN Thursday his department asked Sen. Chris Dodd to include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses. CNN **

The stench behind the bonus outrage gets stinkier by the hour. Michelle Malkin is reporting that at the last minute Chris Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the stimulus bill that provides an exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009. That little provision exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax. (Chuck Schumer at 100%!)

And there’s more…Open Secrets reveals that Chris Dodd, followed closely by Barack Obama, was the number one recipient of political cash in 2008 from AIG.

Continue reading “AIG Theres More Here than Meets the Eye” »

Posted by Jack

NEW YORK, March 17 — Seventy-three employees of troubled American International Group received more than $1 million in bonuses under contracts that guaranteed them 100 percent of their 2007 pay in 2008 regardless of performance, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.

Continue reading “Breaking News – AIG and Bonus Pay” »

Murphy told Quinn that his wife was driving him to drink. Quinn thinks he’s very lucky because his own wife makes him walk.

The late Bishop Sheen stated that the reason the Irish fight so often among themselves is that they’re always assured of having a worthy opponent.

Continue reading “Irish Jokes” »

Posted by Jack

Time Magazine has just released it’s list of the top 10 newspapers most likely to fail. This is a sad commentary on our times and where we are headed in the future. I can’t help but think that as each one dies a little of our free speech dies with them:

1.The Philadelphia Daily News
2. The Minneapolis Star Tribune
3. The Miami Herald
4. The Detroit News
5. The Boston Globe
6. The San Francisco Chronicle
7. The Chicago-Sun Times
8. The New York Daily News
9. The Fort Worth Star Telegram
10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Posted by Jack

This week the Obama administration has given embryonic stem cell researchers what theyve been seeking: the potential to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Heres the irony: now that the funding restrictions are lifted, embryonic stem cells may not be the primary focus of stem cell research anyway.

This is articulated very well in an article written for U.S. News & World Report by former director of the NIH, Dr. Bernadine Healy, titled, Why Embryonic Stem Cells Are Obsolete. Dr. Healy points out that not all stem cells are same and that research with adult stem cells has scored major wins. On the other hand, recent data shows that embryonic stem cells injected into patients can cause disabling if not deadly tumors (link to the article in full).

Continue reading “Not All Stem Cells Are the Same” »