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OMB Nominee Got $900,000 After Citigroup Bailout

July 30th, 2010 | Add a Comment

Remember the outrage when executives got big bonuses after their companies received government bailouts? Here is a reminder: From MSNBC: Pressure grows on AIG to return bonuses – Talking tougher by the hour, livid Democrats confronted beleaguered insurance giant AIG with an ultimatum Tuesday: Give back $165 million in post-bailout bonuses or watch Congress tax it away with emergency legislation. From Politics Daily: Bailed-Out Firms Overpaid Executives, Pay Czar Says From the Washington Post: Congress Moves to Slap Heavy Tax on Bonuses - “Let’s take a step and say we want our money back,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said moments before the vote. “Here’s one way to get it.” So WHY is Jacob Lew, the fellow that Obama chooses to be the Chief Budget Officer one of those bonus recipients? From … Read entire article »

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Hanging Out With Uncle Meek

Hanging Out With Uncle Meek

Miquel is very busy. Work, band practice, gigs, errands, dates with Jenny…. So when he is actually HOME, and that is rare, he gets to hang out with his nephew and niece. … Read entire article »

Watch Out for Those Cash Register Receipts

This morning on Fox News I heard a portion of a health alert, and one of them items mentions was BPA (bisphenol A). Since I didn’t grab the whole story, I looked it up on Environmental Working Group. In animal tests, scientists have produced evidence that BPA can induce abnormal reproductive system development, diminished intellectual capacity and behavioral abnormalities and can set the stage for other serious conditions, such as reproductive system cancer, obesity, diabetes, early puberty, resistance to chemotherapy, asthma and cardiovascular system disorders. It has caused epigenetic changes, meaning alterations in the way genes switch off and on and genetic changes that can be passed on to the next … Read entire article »

Dee Snider Gets a Laugh on Gore

Dee Snider Gets a Laugh on Gore

Ok, this was my giggle for the morning. Remember so many years ago, the Gores, mostly Tipper, wanting restrictions on music and petitioned for labels? Remember how the music community opposed them so? Dee Snider had a comeback for them. From Politico: ‘Twenty-five years ago, Parents Music Resource Center founder Tipper Gore listed a song by the band Twisted Sister on … Read entire article »

A Visitor

A Visitor

We had a lovely visitor to our front yard this evening… It just wanted some dinner. Needless to say Laura and I were thrilled! I took these photos from a spot  through the window. So not the best photos, but I didn’t want to scare it and have it run into the road! … Read entire article »

Virtuous Filibuster

You say the word filibuster, and you get a negative vibe. According to the Wall Street Journal, we had a Virtuous Filibuster on Free Speech yesterday. Sometimes this filibuster power can be abused, but yesterday’s legislation is the kind it was made for. House and Senate Democrats, egged on by President Obama, want to limit what corporations can spend on political campaigns, while not imposing similar limits on their union friends. Previous campaign finance reforms, however misguided, have at least waited an election cycle to take effect. But Democrats want to give unions a leg up this year, as they scramble to maintain their majorities in the face of rising … Read entire article »

Did Obama Back the Release of the Lockerbie Bomber?

For those who don’t remember this story: Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways’ third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. On Wednesday 21 December 1988, the aircraft flying this route—a Boeing 747-121 named Clipper Maid of the Seas—was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members. Eleven people in Lockerbie, southern Scotland, were killed as large sections of the plane fell in and around the town, bringing total fatalities to 270. As a result, the event has been named by the media as the Lockerbie Bombing. All 243 passengers and 16 crew members were killed. Eleven residents of Lockerbie also … Read entire article »

Obamas Show The Misery Index with Vacations?

Now the president would have us believe that he understands what it’s like to be so hard hit (with the economy). He says he and first lady Michelle Obama took a hit like everybody else when the economy nearly collapsed, telling ABC that a college fund for daughters Malia and Sasha has gone “up and down” with the stock market. Obama says the first couple is “not that far removed from what most Americans are going through.” I just don’t know what to say about that when I read about all his recent vacations, and those planned: For example, the First Lady can reserve 30 rooms at a five-star hotel in Spain next month… Michelle Obama has … Read entire article »

Can I Live

Can I Live

I don’t know Nick Cannon. I rarely watch TV or films, nor have I listened to rap music. So I know nothing about this young man. Recently I learned about a song he sings, and a thanks he gave his mother, for not aborting him. Apparently she was 17  and pregnant, and she first thought to have an abortion, and then didn’t. He … Read entire article »

Why Did the Auto Dealerships Close?

The United States of America, as I see it, is becoming the United States of Obama. Liberals control Congress and the White House. They’ve taken over health care. They’ve nationalized large blocks of the auto industry, the insurance industry, the banking industry. Once they finish with the oil and gas industry, what’s left? That’s an important question to ask yourself, as you look at these industries and think to yourself, yes, they’re hit, but not me. It won’t happen to me. Think again. This is Obama we’re talking about and the NEW nation he is forming. Another important question to ask, is HOW did they GET control? Well an interesting bit of old news was sent … Read entire article »

Rubi’s First Baby Shower

Rubi’s First Baby Shower

Yesterday, Rubí attended her very first baby shower! She looked very spiffy for the event. It was a sweet day with lovely ladies of all ages. Two pastor’s wives in our church will have new additions to their families very soon! PHOTOS of the Double Baby Shower HERE … Read entire article »

Enric’s 9th Birthday

Enric’s 9th Birthday

This is  a special birthday clip. Enric was turning 9 and we chose a 5o’s theme for the occasion. A lot of music preparation went into this day. We didn’t have the children dress up, but the decorations were 50’s theme and we even had a jukebox piñata. In this clip there are a lot of neighborhood children, Tamisha, Anthony, Chucky, Brett, … Read entire article »

An Act of War?

I believe this has now been confirmed: In what could be deemed an act of war against the sovereign borders of the United States, Mexican drug cartels have seized control of at least two American ranches inside the U.S. territory near Laredo, Texas. Two sources inside the Laredo Police Department confirmed the incident is unfolding and they would continue to coordinate with U.S. Border Patrol today. “We consider this an act of war,” said one police officer on the ground near the scene. There is a news blackout of this incident at this time and the sources inside Laredo PD spoke on the condition of anonymity. Word broke late last night … Read entire article »

Biden Says Economic Meltdown Avoided

Biden Says Economic Meltdown Avoided

I don’t think some feel that way. So on The Hill it reports that Joe Biden made a comment at a fundraiser, “the heavy lifting is over, now we can go make our case.” Which is the equivalent to “We’re done for the year, let the campaigning start!” Then he goes into a rant practically breaking his arm patting himself on the back… “We … Read entire article »

Bailout BP, Hugo Chavez’s Citgo, and China’s CNOOC ?

Bailout BP, Hugo Chavez’s Citgo, and China’s CNOOC ?

is America’s independent, non-partisan advocate for overburdened taxpayers. National Taxpayers Union reports: Radio buys and print ads are part of a major effort the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) unveiled today to combat newly proposed energy taxes which, according to the nonpartisan citizen group, would harm American consumers and hand a competitive advantage to foreign oil and … Read entire article »

Tax Tsunami

Tax Tsunami

From Investors.com Many voters are looking forward to 2011, hoping a new Congress will put the country back on the right track. But unless something’s done soon, the new year will also come with a raft of tax hikes — including a return of the death tax — that will be real killers.Through the end of this year, … Read entire article »

No Recession in the Halls of Congress

They’re spending like drunken sailors. From AOL News: Congress requires a lot of stuff to keep itself running. Like coffee. And plane tickets. And student loan payments. Together, the Sunlight Foundation’s three databases of this internal congressional spending — prepared in coordination with the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call — show what the House spent on itself in the last six months of 2009 and first three months of 2010. The files provide an unprecedented window on what legislators buy themselves with your money, and AOL News wanted to know what kinds of eye-opening details they might contain. After combing through the info, we found plenty, from the House’s bill for … Read entire article »

Deep in the Health Care Bill…A New Tax

Deep in the Health Care Bill…A New Tax

From ABC NEWS Money: Those already outraged by the president’s health care legislation now have a new bone of contention — a scarcely noticed tack-on provision to the law that puts gold coin buyers and sellers under closer government scrutiny. Section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will amend the Internal Revenue Code to expand … Read entire article »

Rubi Sits Up

Rubi Sits Up

Yesterday….So Laura lays Rubí down on the pillow, and the next time we look, she is sitting straight up! They grow up so fast! … Read entire article »

Miquel and Ice Cream

Miquel and Ice Cream

Miquel has been the ’star’ of the latest posts putting excerpts of our home videos on the web, but I thought to share the three I know of him that were food related, kind of together. So here is another Miquel moment, eating ice cream, or what he calls “eye cam”. (He was close!) Seen here also are my mom and dad. … Read entire article »

Overpaid Mayor in California

Last I remember hearing, California was broke, right? Items like the following in Bloomberg could be a partial reason, if this is how they run government there: Hundreds of residents of one of the poorest municipalities in Los Angeles County shouted in protest last night as tensions rose over a report that the city’s manager earns an annual salary of almost $800,000. An overflow crowd packed a City Council meeting in Bell, a mostly Hispanic city of 38,000 about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, to call for the resignation of Mayor Oscar Hernandez and other city officials. Residents left standing outside the chamber banged on the doors and shouted “fuera,” or “get out” in … Read entire article »

Miquel amb Formatge

Miquel amb Formatge

So a few days ago, I blogged an old home movie about a young Miquel and his love affair with food. The video showed his struggles as he tried to eat a bowl of potatoes. The video that follows, he is about the same age and we are at a friend’s house, who before the main meal, put an assortment of … Read entire article »

Silas Home

Silas Home

Silas is home and resting. We are thanking the Lord that his surgery went well! … Read entire article »

The Prize Doesn’t Always Go to the Most Deserving

The Prize Doesn’t Always Go to the Most Deserving

“Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory.” One of the things that irks me about this story is this is the first I have ever heard of it, what else irks me comes later. First as written in Wikipedia: Irena Sendler (née Krzyżanowska, in Poland commonly referred to … Read entire article »

First Summer in Our House

First Summer in Our House

Taking another trip down memory lane…. Well, still looking at home movies. Only this time it was my sister’s home movies! This came to be because one year for Christmas, I did a lot of homemade gifts. I found my sister’s old home movies, you know, the kind that requires a projector and a screen to view? I took my video camera, recorded her … Read entire article »

Carbon Pawprints

There were some odd bits of news today…. Maybe you’re aware how the Obama’s went to Maine for their vacation? (Even though they told everyone else to go to the gulf?) Did you know their dog Bo was flown to Maine in its own plane? The president was the first to walk onto the tarmac, dressed casually in a pale blue Oxford shirt and khakis. A few minutes later, the first lady, dressed in black capris, a tank-top and sandals, walked onto the runway. Shortly afterward, Malia and Sasha joined their parents. [...] Arriving in a small jet before the Obamas was the first dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog given as a … Read entire article »

Unemployment Rates

Unemployment Rates

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 31 million people currently unemployed — that’s including those involuntarily working parttime and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions of Americans … Read entire article »

NOW They Call it a Tax!

From the New York Times: When Congress required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, Democrats denied that they were creating a new tax. But in court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.”And that power, they say, is even more sweeping than the federal power to regulate interstate commerce. Administration officials say the tax argument is a linchpin of their legal case in defense of the health care overhaul and its individual mandate, now being challenged in court by more than 20 states and several private organizations. Under the legislation signed … Read entire article »

Impeachable Offense

Some people are complaining about Obama’s amounts of golf, or the timing or the whereabouts of his vacations and getaways… In his defense, one of his strategist puts it this way, “Barack Obama is working as hard as any president that we’ve had in recent history and certainly harder than the most immediate previous president.” Working hard at WHAT should be our worry! From ImpeachObama A Congressman says the Obama administration is engaging in illegal funding of Pro-Abortion and Pro-Sharia Kenyan Constitution using taxpayer dollars, in direct conflict with U.S. law. Despite denials by the offices of VP Joe Biden and the U.S. embassy in Kenya, Rep. Chris Smith says there is proof … Read entire article »

BP Paying Off Universities And Gulf Scientists In Mass To Hide Oil Spill Research Data

If the people of the Gulf have had one advocate throughout the BP Gulf Oil Spill it has been the scientific community. They have not been afraid to step and challenge BP and The Federal Government over the existence of underwater plumes, the dangers of the dispersants BP is using, or the safety of Gulf waters. The scientific community has sounded the alarm on skyrocketing arsenic levels in the Gulf while the Government has kept quiet and has exposed the improper BP cleanup practices that are contaminating Gulf beaches. Scientist have come forward to reveal the real location of the oil spill, exposed the lies about oil … Read entire article »

Tatas

Tatas

I’ve added a new category to the blog, “Memories,” as I am in the process of trying to preserve home movies of our family. Today’s memory is of Miquel eating a bowl of potatoes. Every since I can remember, Miquel has had a love affair with food. From the day he was born, I swear he would watch us chew and swallow … Read entire article »

Silas and Rubi Growing

Silas and Rubi Growing

Each day reminds me how fast Silas and Rubí are growing up. I was quite surprised to see Silas playing video games with his daddy… Then, later today, his mama acquired a very reasonable priced Sandbox from Craigslist for Silas. And here is Rubí, constantly amazing me with her strength, doing one of her favorite activities, standing! … Read entire article »

Not Working

The man Europe wished on us, they couldn’t wait for us to vote for a socialist, now are having second thoughts. Europe’s disappointment with President Barack Obama’s presidency was laid bare Thursday as the EU’s most senior figure called for a dramatic effort to revive transatlantic relations. The president of the European Commission said the new era at the White House was in danger of becoming a “missed opportunity” for Europe. José Manuel Barroso said the EU-U.S. relationship was not living up to its potential. The criticism follows a series of fundamental disagreements on how to deal with the economic crisis, climate change and trade reform. The feelings of a deepening … Read entire article »

Finance Bill Favors Interests of Unions and Activists

Well so far, Washington and Obama’s administration, can’t seem to do anything right unless he owes you for something, then it might be a little different. From the Washington Times: The financial reform bill expected to clear Congress this week is chock-full of provisions that have little to do with the financial crisis but cater to the long-standing agendas of labor unions and other Democratic interest groups. Principal among them is a measure to make it easier for unions, environmental groups and other activist organizations that hold shares to put their representatives on the boards of directors of every corporation in the United States. The so-called “proxy access” provision, which activist … Read entire article »

One Industry Not Hurting, the Sign Industry

One Industry Not Hurting, the Sign Industry

Signs Signs, Everywhere Signs. Political in nature? Maybe. Waste of money? I think so. As the midterm election season approaches, new road signs are popping up everywhere – millions of dollars worth of signs touting “The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act” and reminding passers-by that the program is “Putting America Back to Work.” From ABC News On the road leading … Read entire article »

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