next....

[Evil Eye]

If they're that easy to get, selling them seems like a no-brainer.

 

[DrLeftover]

I'm sorry, but if I'd seen this last week, I would have had another joke for the contest.

A newspaper in Virginia is removing the word "Democrat" from its name because of the nation's increasingly divisive politics.

In an editorial (http://bit.ly/102C4gg) published Wednesday, The Fauquier (faw-KEER') Times-Democrat announced it would now be known as the Fauquier Times. The editorial said having the word "Democrat" in the newspaper's name in such partisan political times "is no longer a very astute business decision."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/va-newspaper-removes-democrat-19436927#.UcICrD6Y4hx

 

[DrLeftover]

And then.....

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) assistance that the department slashed for 600,000 women and children. Coburn points out that despite sequestration, on April 4, representatives from the USDA Rural Development Office held “a workshop on their agency’s economic development and affordable housing programs” for residents of Martha’s Vineyard. Clearly, affordable housing is not the key issue in an area whose cheapest home is listed at $260,000 (a two-bedroom condo). In fact, Coburn points out, the “entire island of Martha’s Vineyard has been designated as a rural area eligible for taxpayer backed home loans by USDA.”

That’s not the only giant waste of money. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the USDA will now provide “free meals to all children 18 years of age or younger this summer through the Summer Café program of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) regardless of need.”

The USDA Rural Development agency also touted a program to subsidize the Wine Barn LLC in “marketing and increasing production of its Kansas produced wine.” That cost $25,000. The USDA Rural Development also said it would hand $300,000 to the Mackinaw Trail Winery in Michigan, $100,000 for the Appleton Creek Winery in New York, $162,500 for the Old Westminster Winery in Maryland, and tens of thousands of dollars to wineries in Nebraska and Iowa.

Liquor is the name of the game for the USDA, apparently – they’re also subsidizing the production of vodka in North Carolina, Bloody Mary mix in West Virginia, and hard cider in Virginia.

And then it talks about pickles:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/20/USDA-slashes-care-subsidies

 

[DrLeftover]

And today in IRS Scandal News:

6/25/2013 9:53:46 PM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Poor oversight by the Internal Revenue Service allowed workers to use agency credit cards to buy wine for an expensive luncheon, dorky swag for managers' meetings and, for one employee, romance novels and diet pills, an agency watchdog said Tuesday.

Two IRS credit cards were used to buy online pornography, though the employees said the cards were stolen. One of the workers reported five agency credit cards lost or stolen.

http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/DA7512Q00


AND, as if that were not enough.

‘Lavish’ IRS confab cost $2.4M
By Bob Cusack - 06/26/13 05:00 AM ET

The IRS held a 2008 conference in Atlanta that included an open bar, elaborate hors d’oeuvres and a video of agency employees dressed as Olympic athletes with makeshift torches.

Two people who attended the three-day event put on by IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel described it as “very lavish” and “over the top.” The agency said Tuesday it cost taxpayers about $2.4 million.

The “grand finale” of the conference, held during President George W. Bush’s administration, was an awards dinner at the Georgia Aquarium catered by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, according to an IRS document provided to The Hill.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/307815-lavish-irs-confab-cost-24-million

 

[Evil Eye]

Decadent feasting on the commoners' coin? Surely not!

 

[DrLeftover]

... and then they take the Fifth.

For the second time in as many months, a senior IRS manager on Wednesday invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination, fueling perceptions of an agency in crisis.

Greg Roseman, a Deputy IRS Director, spearheaded the awarding of the IRS's largest contract in history to a company owned by a close friend of his, an action that is prohibited under government contracting regulations.

The company is Strong Castle, Inc., owned by Braulio Castillo. Castillo won several contracts totaling almost $500 million for IRS IT services in part on the basis of his friendship with Roseman and by qualifying for two minority programs that allow disadvantaged applicants a better chance of winning lucrative government contracts.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/27/senior-irs-manager-invokes-fifth-amendment-right/

 

[DrLeftover]

And on the NSA front:

June 28, 2013 3:35 pm

The NSA’s surveillance program has come under intense scrutiny following a leak revealing the agency harvested the phone metadata of millions of American citizens.

The senators noted that the federal government’s authority under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act is broad and rife with potential for abuse. Among the senators’ concerns was whether the NSA’s bulk data harvesting program could be used to construct a gun registry or violate other privacy laws.

“It can be used to collect information on credit card purchases, pharmacy records, library records, firearm sales records, financial information, and a range of other sensitive subjects,” the senators wrote. “And the bulk collection authority could potentially be used to supersede bans on maintaining gun owner databases, or laws protecting the privacy of medical records, financial records, and records of book and movie purchases.”

The senators asked Clapper in the letter whether the NSA used PATRIOT Act authorities to conduct bulk collection of other types of records, and whether there are any instances of the agency violating a court order in the process of such collections.

http://freebeacon.com/senators-ask-if-nsa-collected-gun-data/

 

[wirelessguru1]

Yes, you do write a lot on this web site and obviously you are also not an Obama fan... LOL!

 

[DrLeftover]

Yes, you do write a lot on this web site and obviously you are also not an Obama fan... LOL!

Slight correction to that statement.

I'm not a "fan" of ANY politician.

Mister Obama just happens to be the ringleader of the current bunch of flaming asshole crooks in DC at the moment.

 

[DrLeftover]

And in another arena:

Two for One Church corruption stories.

Documents show Milwaukee archdiocese shielded pedophile priests

MILWAUKEE | Mon Jul 1, 2013 11:27pm EDT

(Reuters) - Roman Catholic Church officials in Milwaukee vigorously shielded pedophile priests and protected church funds from lawsuits during a decades-long sex abuse scandal, according to hundreds of documents released on Monday.

The documents include letters and deposition testimony from Cardinal and Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan who, during his time as archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009, appealed to Vatican on numerous occasions to help address the ongoing fallout from the scandal.

The 6,000 pages of documents related to eight decades of abuse cases showed in great detail the Milwaukee archdiocese regularly reassigned priests who were accused of sexual molestation to new parishes and Dolan himself asking the Vatican permission to transfer $57 million to a trust fund to protect it against court action.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/02/us-usa-milwaukee-church-idUSBRE96103M20130702

and

Top Vatican bank managers resign after Monsignor's arrest
VATICAN CITY | Mon Jul 1, 2013 7:18pm EDT

(Reuters) - Two top managers of the scandal-plagued Vatican bank resigned on Monday following the arrest of a high-ranking cleric with close ties to the financial institution, in the latest of a string of embarrassments for the Holy See.

Director Paolo Cipriani and deputy-director Massimo Tulli stepped down three days after the Vatican was rocked by the arrest of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, who is accused of plotting with two other people to smuggle 20 million euros into Italy from Switzerland.

Ernst von Freyberg, a German who earlier this year became president of the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), will assume the role of bank director until a permanent replacement is appointed.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/01/us-vatican-bank-resign-idUSBRE96011720130701

 

[Fatal Dawn]

I'm happy with my local parish, but I've not been happy with the scandals that keep hitting the Catholic church. You have good priests then you have the few corrupt ones. Don't let these few corrupt men make you think that they rule the church, it is God's house. Of course I have to think there is also some bias in the media against the Catholic church when it comes to how the church is being portrayed.

 

[DrLeftover]

"media bias"?

Maybe.

But there is also the fact that for many years, possibly even several decades, the hierarchy of the church knew about these problems and simply ignored them, and even worse, added to them.

 

[Fatal Dawn]

When it rains it pours. You have the potential for predators to worm their way into any institution. It speaks volumes for the management if they allow it to happen but shouldn't speak for the institution as a whole.

In my perspective, the image of the Catholic church, especially in the liberal media outlets, has been very poor and is largely responsible for the perception of the Catholic church as this breeding ground for pedophiles and embezzlers. I can't remember the last time I read about a highly publicized church charity event or read about the church's contributions towards education (I received my first scholarship from the church).

 

[DrLeftover]

You mean like this?

Posted Jun 27, 2013
Norwich, Conn. —

Children and agencies that help the poor are among those who will benefit most from the more than $250,000 the Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of Norwich gave out Thursday night at its annual awards dinner.

The Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, bishop of Norwich, greeted families as they arrived at the Holiday Inn Norwich, a new venue for the annual awards dinner.

“It’s an opportunity to give tuition assistance and other assistance to the ministries of our diocese,” Cote said. “It’s a sizable gift we’re able to give because of the foundation.”

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x997474290/Norwich-Diocese-gives-250K-to-charity

 

[Fatal Dawn]

That article is fairly obscure (a 16,000 daily circulation means the publication is highly outclassed to begin with) and does little to change my perception (which was rooted in experience to begin with). Also just because something is printed doesn't mean it is at all publicized (2 completely different meanings).

 

[DrLeftover]

It was a start, and it was a good story.

 

[DrLeftover]

And the latest from the IRS:

July 8, 2013

Another day, another slipup by the Internal Revenue Service.

The incident involves the unwitting exposure of as many as 2,319 Social Security numbers, maybe more, according to a July 1 audit by the independent transparency and public-domain group Public.Resource.org. The identifying numbers were on the Internet for less than 24 hours, but the damage was done. And unfortunately, the data-breach concerns some of the most sensitive types of transactions: Those made by nonprofit political groups known as 527s.

 

[DrLeftover]

Oh... no.

It was a couple more than 2,300.....

Last Updated: 10:49 AM, July 9, 2013

The IRS mistakenly posted the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of Americans on a government website, the agency confirmed Monday night. One estimate put the figure as high as 100,000 names.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/irs_mistakenly_posted_social_security_J8N94UwwIunpvllubAjoxH?utm_source=SFnewyorkpost&utm_medium=SFnewyorkpost

 

[DrLeftover]

And ANOTHER 'glitch' in Obamacare

from ANOTHER certified Non-Disgusting Non-Hater media source:

A glitch involving President Barack Obama's health care law means smokers may get at least some relief next year from tobacco-use penalties that could have made their premiums unaffordable.

In yet another health care overhaul delay, the administration has quietly notified insurers that a computer system problem will limit penalties that the law says the companies may charge smokers. A fix will take at least a year.

Older smokers are more likely to benefit from the glitch, experts say. But depending on how insurers respond to it, it's also possible that younger smokers could wind up facing higher penalties than they otherwise would have.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/09/obamacare-smokers-penalty-glitch_n_3568084.html

 

[DrLeftover]

Oh, by the way, something else not seen in American media-

10 July 2013

Barack Obama has rewarded some of his most active campaign donors with plum jobs in foreign embassies, with the average amount raised by recent or imminent appointees soaring to $1.8m per post, according to a Guardian analysis.

The practice is hardly a new feature of US politics, but career diplomats in Washington are increasingly alarmed at how it has grown. One former ambassador described it as the selling of public office.

On Tuesday, Obama's chief money-raiser Matthew Barzun became the latest major donor to be nominated as an ambassador, when the White House put him forward as the next representative to the Court of St James's, a sought-after posting whose plush residence comes with a garden second only in size to that of Buckingham Palace.

As campaign finance chairman, Barzun helped raise $700m to fund President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. More than $2.3m of this was raised personally by Barzun,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/10/obama-donors-top-embassy-jobs-rewards