Showing posts with label breathless assholishness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breathless assholishness. Show all posts
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
How does the Google's all-seeing eyeball in the sky know I'm a nort'-side drunken a$$#ole?
Gmail is trying to sell me a "Horry Kow" t-shirt. $13.99!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
I know, I know... I'll get over it
(Crain's) — Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to shake down Children’s Memorial Hospital’s CEO in exchange for $8 million in state health care funding, according to a federal affidavit unsealed Tuesday detailing corruption charges against the governor.
Mr. Blagojevich on Oct. 8 discussed with one of his campaign fundraisers pressing the executive — named in the criminal complaint as “Hospital Executive 1” — for a $50,000 campaign contribution, allegedly a quid pro quo for the governor’s recent funding commitment, according to the affidavit.
“I’m going to do $8 million for them. I want to get (Hospital Executive 1) for 50,” Mr. Blagojevich told the fundraiser, according to the 78-page affidavit.
Mr. Blagojevich on Oct. 8 discussed with one of his campaign fundraisers pressing the executive — named in the criminal complaint as “Hospital Executive 1” — for a $50,000 campaign contribution, allegedly a quid pro quo for the governor’s recent funding commitment, according to the affidavit.
“I’m going to do $8 million for them. I want to get (Hospital Executive 1) for 50,” Mr. Blagojevich told the fundraiser, according to the 78-page affidavit.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
An open apology from Da Mare to LoC bitchers & whiners who complain about all that sucks in Chicago
Daley issues sarcastic apology for torture
Mayor Daley on Thursday issued a sarcastic blanket apology for the alleged torture of suspects by former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge. The best way is to say, 'Okay. I apologize to everybody [for] whatever happened to anybody in the city of Chicago.' So, I apologize to everybody. Whatever happened to them in the city of Chicago in the past, I apologize," Daley said.
~
Mayor Daley on Thursday issued a sarcastic blanket apology for the alleged torture of suspects by former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge. The best way is to say, 'Okay. I apologize to everybody [for] whatever happened to anybody in the city of Chicago.' So, I apologize to everybody. Whatever happened to them in the city of Chicago in the past, I apologize," Daley said.
~
Monday, October 6, 2008
Why yes, he's like a circus show attraction: Come SEE the World's BIGGEST ASSHOLE and his stupid fucking hair!
Trump: 'I'm the biggest celebrity'
Q: How will you attract celebrities to your new Chicago hotel?
A: I think we're getting most of them because the name Trump attracts celebrities. When you get right down to it, who's the biggest celebrity in the world? Donald Trump. At least, my wife says that.
~
Q: How will you attract celebrities to your new Chicago hotel?
A: I think we're getting most of them because the name Trump attracts celebrities. When you get right down to it, who's the biggest celebrity in the world? Donald Trump. At least, my wife says that.
~
Monday, September 15, 2008
in fairness, she ain't real bright...
"Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that 'some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in pubic premises before the snow flies.'
It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list."
-- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list."
-- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
When even Karl Rove thinks you're an @sshole....
you're a YOOOOOOOOOGE @SSHOLE.
But when half the electorate is profoundly developmentally disabled, being an @sshole works.
Turdblossom: "There ought to be an adult who says, 'Do we really need to go that far in this ad?'"
But when half the electorate is profoundly developmentally disabled, being an @sshole works.
Turdblossom: "There ought to be an adult who says, 'Do we really need to go that far in this ad?'"
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Whee! I know a secret!
The official who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, preferring not to pre-empt a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning.
Correction: Graf should end: "...preferring not to be blamed for pre-empting a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning -- but obviously relishing the opportunity to in fact do so."
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Republicans embrace the Twitter (cont'd)
A Stunt-Driven Agenda
"Eighteen times over the past 90 days, the minority tried, unsuccessfully, to force the House to adjourn. Now the House has finally adjourned -- for a five-week recess, no less -- and Republicans are demanding that the chamber be called back into session," the Washington Post's Dana Milbank observed. Believing "they have struck political gold with American voters," conservatives are lauding their stagecraft in the most grandiose terms. "Today is the 2008 version of the Boston Tea Party," exclaimed Rep John Shadegg (R-AZ). "[L]ike the founders of this country we're going directly to the American people," boasted Rep. Tim Price (R-GA). "This could be America's greatest hour," crowed Rep. Don Manzullo (R-IL). Conservatives extended the theatrics yesterday and have declared they will continue their floor protests for "as long as it takes."
"Eighteen times over the past 90 days, the minority tried, unsuccessfully, to force the House to adjourn. Now the House has finally adjourned -- for a five-week recess, no less -- and Republicans are demanding that the chamber be called back into session," the Washington Post's Dana Milbank observed. Believing "they have struck political gold with American voters," conservatives are lauding their stagecraft in the most grandiose terms. "Today is the 2008 version of the Boston Tea Party," exclaimed Rep John Shadegg (R-AZ). "[L]ike the founders of this country we're going directly to the American people," boasted Rep. Tim Price (R-GA). "This could be America's greatest hour," crowed Rep. Don Manzullo (R-IL). Conservatives extended the theatrics yesterday and have declared they will continue their floor protests for "as long as it takes."
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
offered without comment (except for a few obvious ones)
In Defeat, Clinton Graciously Pretends to Win
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, June 4, 2008; A03
NEW YORK "What does Hillary want?"
Hillary Clinton put the question to her supporters here Tuesday night, moments after her opponent, Barack Obama, clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.
What Hillary did not want to do was to concede defeat. "I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard," she told her fans, who answered with cheers of "Denver! Denver!" and "Yes she will!"
The campaign was over, and Obama had locked up the nomination after a flood of more than 40 superdelegates announced their support for him throughout the day. But in the Baruch College gymnasium here (the "Bearcat Den"), Clinton spoke as if she were the victor.
She and her husband and daughter took the stage, smiling, clapping and bopping to the beat. She said nothing about losing the nomination, instead thanking South Dakota for giving her a victory in Tuesday's balloting: "You had the last word in this primary season!" This, she said, confirmed that she had won "more votes than any primary candidate in history."
Clinton congratulated Obama -- not for winning the nomination, but for running an "extraordinary race." She recognized Obama and his supporters "for all they accomplished."
It was an extraordinary performance by a woman who had been counted out of the race even when she still had a legitimate chance. Now she had been mathematically eliminated -- and she spoke as if she had won.
........
"Obama has work to do," the outspoken Clinton adviser Lanny Davis* told reporters in the hallway outside the gymnasium here. "Senator Clinton can't do it for him."
........
The rush of the opportunistic superdelegates toward the inevitable nominee only worsened what was certain to be an unhappy day for the Clintons, who had arrived at their Westchester home at about 3 a.m. after an awkward last day of campaigning in South Dakota. Bill Clinton had flown into a rage and called a reporter a "scumbag." At her last event in South Dakota, Hillary had lost her voice in a coughing fit. Somebody had seen fit to play an inappropriate John Fogerty tune before she took the stage: "It ain't me, it ain't me. I ain't no fortunate one."
........
A crew from "The Daily Show" joined the party, and, hoping to keep Clinton in the race, struck up a cheer of "Four more months!"
Such an outlandish thing seemed almost plausible among the Clinton backers in the hermetically sealed Baruch gym. Below ground level, there was no cellphone or BlackBerry reception, and there was no television playing in the room. That meant that they could not see the network projections showing that, while Clinton had won South Dakota, Obama had won enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Instead, they listened to Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down."
Just before Obama officially clinched, the Clinton campaign issued a press release as if it were still in the middle of a nominating battle. "Wyoming Automatic Delegate Backs Hillary," the e-mail said. It didn't include the name of the brave superdelegate.
Terry McAuliffe,** the campaign chairman, took the stage and read the full list of Clinton's victories, from American Samoa to Massachusetts. Introducing Clinton, he asked: "Are you ready for the next president of the United States?"
This brought laughter from the reporters in the back of the room, but Clinton induced the crowd to boo the "pundits and naysayers" who would have run her from the race. "I am so proud we stayed the course together," she told her backers, who interjected cries of "We believe in you!" and "Yes, we will!"
Only obliquely did Clinton refer to the fact that she had, in fact, lost the nomination. "The question is: Where do we go from here?" she said. She would figure that out "in the coming days," she said, but "I will be making no decisions tonight." The crowd in the Bearcat Den erupted in a sustained cheer. She referred her supporters to her Web site, as she had after many a primary night victory.
For a candidate who had just lost the nomination, she seemed very much in charge.
That must be what Hillary wants.
* K-Mad's boy (see also: fullas#i+)
** K-Mad's other boy (same as above)
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, June 4, 2008; A03
NEW YORK "What does Hillary want?"
Hillary Clinton put the question to her supporters here Tuesday night, moments after her opponent, Barack Obama, clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.
What Hillary did not want to do was to concede defeat. "I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard," she told her fans, who answered with cheers of "Denver! Denver!" and "Yes she will!"
The campaign was over, and Obama had locked up the nomination after a flood of more than 40 superdelegates announced their support for him throughout the day. But in the Baruch College gymnasium here (the "Bearcat Den"), Clinton spoke as if she were the victor.
She and her husband and daughter took the stage, smiling, clapping and bopping to the beat. She said nothing about losing the nomination, instead thanking South Dakota for giving her a victory in Tuesday's balloting: "You had the last word in this primary season!" This, she said, confirmed that she had won "more votes than any primary candidate in history."
Clinton congratulated Obama -- not for winning the nomination, but for running an "extraordinary race." She recognized Obama and his supporters "for all they accomplished."
It was an extraordinary performance by a woman who had been counted out of the race even when she still had a legitimate chance. Now she had been mathematically eliminated -- and she spoke as if she had won.
........
"Obama has work to do," the outspoken Clinton adviser Lanny Davis* told reporters in the hallway outside the gymnasium here. "Senator Clinton can't do it for him."
........
The rush of the opportunistic superdelegates toward the inevitable nominee only worsened what was certain to be an unhappy day for the Clintons, who had arrived at their Westchester home at about 3 a.m. after an awkward last day of campaigning in South Dakota. Bill Clinton had flown into a rage and called a reporter a "scumbag." At her last event in South Dakota, Hillary had lost her voice in a coughing fit. Somebody had seen fit to play an inappropriate John Fogerty tune before she took the stage: "It ain't me, it ain't me. I ain't no fortunate one."
........
A crew from "The Daily Show" joined the party, and, hoping to keep Clinton in the race, struck up a cheer of "Four more months!"
Such an outlandish thing seemed almost plausible among the Clinton backers in the hermetically sealed Baruch gym. Below ground level, there was no cellphone or BlackBerry reception, and there was no television playing in the room. That meant that they could not see the network projections showing that, while Clinton had won South Dakota, Obama had won enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Instead, they listened to Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down."
Just before Obama officially clinched, the Clinton campaign issued a press release as if it were still in the middle of a nominating battle. "Wyoming Automatic Delegate Backs Hillary," the e-mail said. It didn't include the name of the brave superdelegate.
Terry McAuliffe,** the campaign chairman, took the stage and read the full list of Clinton's victories, from American Samoa to Massachusetts. Introducing Clinton, he asked: "Are you ready for the next president of the United States?"
This brought laughter from the reporters in the back of the room, but Clinton induced the crowd to boo the "pundits and naysayers" who would have run her from the race. "I am so proud we stayed the course together," she told her backers, who interjected cries of "We believe in you!" and "Yes, we will!"
Only obliquely did Clinton refer to the fact that she had, in fact, lost the nomination. "The question is: Where do we go from here?" she said. She would figure that out "in the coming days," she said, but "I will be making no decisions tonight." The crowd in the Bearcat Den erupted in a sustained cheer. She referred her supporters to her Web site, as she had after many a primary night victory.
For a candidate who had just lost the nomination, she seemed very much in charge.
That must be what Hillary wants.
* K-Mad's boy (see also: fullas#i+)
** K-Mad's other boy (same as above)
Thursday, May 29, 2008
a shocking development from the Do Nothing Administration
White House issues climate report 4 years late
Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist who was not involved in the effort called it "a litany of bad news in store for the U.S."
"Finally, climate change is very likely to accentuate the disparities already evident in the American health care system," the report said. "Many of the expected health effects are likely to fall disproportionately on the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the uninsured. Though who gives a shit about those losers? Certainly not us."
ASSHOLES ALERT:
The report was required by a 1990 law which says that every four years the government must produce a comprehensive science assessment of global warming. It had not been done since 2000.
Environmental groups got a court order last summer to force the Bush administration to produce the document by the end of this month. Hays said the White House has preferred issuing studies on individual global warming issues, such as an agricultural effects report that was released on Tuesday.
"It's totally begrudging," said Rick Piltz, director of Climate Science Watch at the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, a whistleblowers' organization. "It's important the government go on record honestly acknowledging this stuff."
Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist who was not involved in the effort called it "a litany of bad news in store for the U.S."
"Finally, climate change is very likely to accentuate the disparities already evident in the American health care system," the report said. "Many of the expected health effects are likely to fall disproportionately on the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the uninsured. Though who gives a shit about those losers? Certainly not us."
ASSHOLES ALERT:
The report was required by a 1990 law which says that every four years the government must produce a comprehensive science assessment of global warming. It had not been done since 2000.
Environmental groups got a court order last summer to force the Bush administration to produce the document by the end of this month. Hays said the White House has preferred issuing studies on individual global warming issues, such as an agricultural effects report that was released on Tuesday.
"It's totally begrudging," said Rick Piltz, director of Climate Science Watch at the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, a whistleblowers' organization. "It's important the government go on record honestly acknowledging this stuff."
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Hillary: "Stop me before I bullshit again"
Clinton Desperate to Count Votes, Compares Fla. Primary to Zimbabwe
SUNRISE, FLA. -- Desperate to get attention for her cause to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and Florida voters saying it is wrong when “people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded.”
“We’re seeing that right now in Zimbabwe," Clinton explained. "Tragically, an election was held, the president lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people,” Clinton told the crowd of senior citizens at a retirement community in south Florida.
SUNRISE, FLA. -- Desperate to get attention for her cause to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and Florida voters saying it is wrong when “people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded.”
“We’re seeing that right now in Zimbabwe," Clinton explained. "Tragically, an election was held, the president lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people,” Clinton told the crowd of senior citizens at a retirement community in south Florida.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Perinoian bulls#i++ing
"ETHICS" -- WHITE HOUSE SAYS SECRET PENTAGON PROPAGANDA SIMILAR TO WRITING FOR A 'LIBERAL BLOG': Earlier this month, the Pentagon released documents relating to the secret military analysts program first reported by the New York Times on April 20. The documents raise questions about White House involvement in the program, which it had previously denied. One e-mail from a Pentagon official expressed his hope to get the analysts "in with potus" -- President Bush -- an idea the writer said "was submitted to karl and company," suggesting involvement from Karl Rove. Yesterday, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel refused to discuss the White House's involvement in the program, but insisted that "it's not unusual for administration officials to brief people...just like I'm standing here answering your question." But the Pentagon program, unlike the daily, televised press briefings, were kept secret. "Participants were instructed not to quote their briefers directly or otherwise describe their contacts with the Pentagon," the Times reported. When a reporter pointed this out to Stanzel, he ducked the question. "You can talk to the Defense Department. It was their program," he said.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Hillary spinning herself into the ground again
Currently bloviating again about how "Florida and Michigan should count." And yet one of her main bloviator-toadies, Terry "Fullas#i+" McAuliffe, when he was DNC Chairman, once threatened to strip Michigan of half its delegates if they moved their primary too early.
"They thought I was bluffing. But it was my responsibility as chairman to take action for the good of the party, and taking away half their delegates was well within my authority...The whole primary calendar was in danger of spinning out of control."
-- Terry "Fullas#i+" McAuliffe
"They thought I was bluffing. But it was my responsibility as chairman to take action for the good of the party, and taking away half their delegates was well within my authority...The whole primary calendar was in danger of spinning out of control."
-- Terry "Fullas#i+" McAuliffe
Friday, April 4, 2008
no homes and next...no benches
Activist* Seeks to Eliminate Transient Loitering
Peter Feytser Thursday, Apr. 3, 2008
Community activist Esther Viti attempted to organize a group of volunteers to prevent the homeless from occupying benches in downtown La Jolla, ...by sitting on the benches themselves in three-hour shifts.
Why don't these worthless homeless people put on some heavy weights and walk into the Pacific Ocean? There, problem solved...
*"Activist"? Uh, i don't think so. HYOOOOooooooOOOOGE @$$HOLE, maybe...
Peter Feytser Thursday, Apr. 3, 2008
Community activist Esther Viti attempted to organize a group of volunteers to prevent the homeless from occupying benches in downtown La Jolla, ...by sitting on the benches themselves in three-hour shifts.
Promote La Jolla’s previous attempts to deal with the problem include installing metal dividers on benches to split the seats, but this tactic was unsuccessful because the homeless simply “perfected sleeping upright,” Marengo said.
Full Story
Why don't these worthless homeless people put on some heavy weights and walk into the Pacific Ocean? There, problem solved...
*"Activist"? Uh, i don't think so. HYOOOOooooooOOOOGE @$$HOLE, maybe...
Sunday, March 30, 2008
So how much are the bastards in the finance game going to have to pay back again?
How long does this kind of stuff go on before people fight the huge amounts of power giving to assholes who don't deserve to lick the slime off the streets?
Katrina Victims May Have to Repay Money
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 30, 2008
Filed at 3:10 a.m. ET
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Imagine that your home was reduced to mold and wood framing by Hurricane Katrina. Desperate for money to rebuild, you engage in a frustrating bureaucratic process, and after months of living in a government-provided trailer tainted with formaldehyde you finally win a federal grant.
Then a collector calls with the staggering news that you have to pay back thousands of dollars.
Thousands of Katrina victims may be in that situation.
A private contractor under investigation for the compensation it received to run the Road Home grant program for Katrina victims says that in the rush to deliver aid to homeowners in need some people got too much. Now it wants to hire a separate company to collect millions in grant overpayments.
The contractor, ICF International of Fairfax, Va., revealed the extent of the overpayments when it issued a March 11 request for bids from companies willing to handle ''approximately 1,000 to 5,000 cases that will necessitate collection effort.''
The bid invitation said: ''The average amount to be collected is estimated to be approximately $35,000, but in some cases may be as high as $100,000 to $150,000.''
The biggest grant amount allowed by the Road Home program is $150,000, so ICF believes it paid some recipients the maximum when they should not have received a penny. If ICF's highest estimate of 5,000 collection cases -- overpaid by an average of $35,000 -- proves to be true, that means applicants will have to pay back a total of $175 million.
One-third of qualified applicants for Road Home help had yet to receive any rebuilding check as of this past week. The program, which has come to symbolize the lurching Katrina recovery effort, is financed by $11 billion in federal funds.
ICF spokeswoman Gentry Brann said in an e-mail Friday that the overpayments are the inevitable result of the Road Home grant being recalculated to account for insurance money and government aid given to Katrina victims.
Brann said there was a sense of urgency in paying Road Home applicants, and ICF and the state knew applicants would have to return some money.
''The choice was either to process grants immediately or wait until the March 2008 deadline (for submitting Road Home applications) before disbursing any funds,'' Brann said in her e-mail.
Brann pointed out that 5,000 collections cases would represent a 4-percent error rate for the Road Home that is ''quite good for large federal programs.''
Frank Silvestri, co-chair of the Citizen's Road Home Action Team, a group that formed out of frustrations with ICF, sees it far differently.
''They want people to pay for their incompetence and their mistakes. What they need to be is aggressive about finding the underpayments,'' he said. ''People relied, to their detriment, on their (ICFs) expertise and rebuilt their houses and now they want to squeeze this money back out of them.''
The prospect of Road Home grant collections comes less than two weeks after the Louisiana inspector general and the legislative auditor said they were investigating why former Gov. Kathleen Blanco paid ICF an extra $156 million in her waning days in office to administer the program. With the increase, ICF stands to earn $912 million to run Road Home, a contract that also sweetened its initial public stock offering, and helped it buy out four other companies. It now reaches into government contracting sectors that include national defense and the environment.
Paul Rainwater, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the state body that asked for the Blanco-ICF investigations, acknowledged the collections could be painful for applicants, many of whom have used up their nest eggs to rebuild.
''The state must walk a fine line of treating homeowners who have been overpaid with fairness and compassion and ensuring that all federal funds are used for their intended purpose,'' said Rainwater, an appointee of new Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Upon receiving money from Road Home, grantees sign a batch of forms, including one that says they must refund any overpayments.
Melanie Ehrlich, co-chair of Citizen's Road Home Action Team, which has documented Road Home cases that appear littered with mistakes, said she had no confidence that ICF had correctly calculated overpayments. She charged that the company was more likely using collections as retribution against people who had appealed their award amounts in effort to get the aid they deserved.
''I think they are looking for ways to decrease awards and that's part of dissuading people,'' she said.
Brann said applicants are told an appeal could boost or diminish their award. She called Ehrlich's charge ''a totally unfounded assertion.''
Katrina Victims May Have to Repay Money
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 30, 2008
Filed at 3:10 a.m. ET
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Imagine that your home was reduced to mold and wood framing by Hurricane Katrina. Desperate for money to rebuild, you engage in a frustrating bureaucratic process, and after months of living in a government-provided trailer tainted with formaldehyde you finally win a federal grant.
Then a collector calls with the staggering news that you have to pay back thousands of dollars.
Thousands of Katrina victims may be in that situation.
A private contractor under investigation for the compensation it received to run the Road Home grant program for Katrina victims says that in the rush to deliver aid to homeowners in need some people got too much. Now it wants to hire a separate company to collect millions in grant overpayments.
The contractor, ICF International of Fairfax, Va., revealed the extent of the overpayments when it issued a March 11 request for bids from companies willing to handle ''approximately 1,000 to 5,000 cases that will necessitate collection effort.''
The bid invitation said: ''The average amount to be collected is estimated to be approximately $35,000, but in some cases may be as high as $100,000 to $150,000.''
The biggest grant amount allowed by the Road Home program is $150,000, so ICF believes it paid some recipients the maximum when they should not have received a penny. If ICF's highest estimate of 5,000 collection cases -- overpaid by an average of $35,000 -- proves to be true, that means applicants will have to pay back a total of $175 million.
One-third of qualified applicants for Road Home help had yet to receive any rebuilding check as of this past week. The program, which has come to symbolize the lurching Katrina recovery effort, is financed by $11 billion in federal funds.
ICF spokeswoman Gentry Brann said in an e-mail Friday that the overpayments are the inevitable result of the Road Home grant being recalculated to account for insurance money and government aid given to Katrina victims.
Brann said there was a sense of urgency in paying Road Home applicants, and ICF and the state knew applicants would have to return some money.
''The choice was either to process grants immediately or wait until the March 2008 deadline (for submitting Road Home applications) before disbursing any funds,'' Brann said in her e-mail.
Brann pointed out that 5,000 collections cases would represent a 4-percent error rate for the Road Home that is ''quite good for large federal programs.''
Frank Silvestri, co-chair of the Citizen's Road Home Action Team, a group that formed out of frustrations with ICF, sees it far differently.
''They want people to pay for their incompetence and their mistakes. What they need to be is aggressive about finding the underpayments,'' he said. ''People relied, to their detriment, on their (ICFs) expertise and rebuilt their houses and now they want to squeeze this money back out of them.''
The prospect of Road Home grant collections comes less than two weeks after the Louisiana inspector general and the legislative auditor said they were investigating why former Gov. Kathleen Blanco paid ICF an extra $156 million in her waning days in office to administer the program. With the increase, ICF stands to earn $912 million to run Road Home, a contract that also sweetened its initial public stock offering, and helped it buy out four other companies. It now reaches into government contracting sectors that include national defense and the environment.
Paul Rainwater, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the state body that asked for the Blanco-ICF investigations, acknowledged the collections could be painful for applicants, many of whom have used up their nest eggs to rebuild.
''The state must walk a fine line of treating homeowners who have been overpaid with fairness and compassion and ensuring that all federal funds are used for their intended purpose,'' said Rainwater, an appointee of new Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Upon receiving money from Road Home, grantees sign a batch of forms, including one that says they must refund any overpayments.
Melanie Ehrlich, co-chair of Citizen's Road Home Action Team, which has documented Road Home cases that appear littered with mistakes, said she had no confidence that ICF had correctly calculated overpayments. She charged that the company was more likely using collections as retribution against people who had appealed their award amounts in effort to get the aid they deserved.
''I think they are looking for ways to decrease awards and that's part of dissuading people,'' she said.
Brann said applicants are told an appeal could boost or diminish their award. She called Ehrlich's charge ''a totally unfounded assertion.''
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
a YOOOOOOOOGE asshole... or... da YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGEST asshole? (cont'd)
News item: Noting the burden placed on military families, the vice president said the biggest burden is carried by President George W. Bush, who made the decision to commit US troops to war, and reminded the public that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteered for duty.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
a YOOOOOOOOGE asshole... or... da YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGEST asshole?
News item: Bush "Envious" of U.S. Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq
"I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."
"I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."
Dick Cheney to Everyone: Go Fuck Yourself
An enormous asshole or a gigantic asshole??
Raddatz: Two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting, and they’re looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives.
Cheney: So?
Raddatz: So — you don’t care what the American people think?
Cheney: No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls. Think about what would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had paid attention to polls, if they had had polls during the Civil War. He never would have succeeded if he hadn’t had a clear objective, a vision for where he wanted to go, and he was willing to withstand the slings and arrows of the political wars in order to get there. And this President has been very courageous, very consistent, very determined to continue down the course we were on and to achieve our objective.
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