CEO Perks Rise As Pay Falls – U.S. companies remain generous with the perks they give to CEOs, including some that are unfathomable to the average American worker: chauffeured cars, bodyguards, club memberships and free travel in company jets. The median value of these and similar perks rose nearly 7 percent in 2008, according to an Associated Press analysis of regulatory filings from 309 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500. The increase came even as overall CEO compensation fell 7 percent to $7.6 million. Perks rose despite a public backlash against such benefits, which many investors and lawmakers deem excessive.
Newt Gingrich Says Obama Wants to “get up in the morning and punish Americans” – A pretty good barometer of Republicans’ utter desperation these days is just how far-flung from reality their attempts to characterize President Obama are getting to be. Newt Gingrich, who’s clearly preparing for a 2012 White House run, was interviewed yesterday on Fox by Greta Van Susteren said, “I think that’s very dangerous, to have a president who thinks he should get up in the morning and punish Americans. You know, appease foreigners, bow to the Saudi king, embrace the Venezuelan dictator, and punish Americans? I think that’s a very dangerous attitude.”
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) Opposes Public Health Plan. His Pockets are Lined with Gold from the Healthcare Industry – Nelson’s problem, he told CQ, is that the public plan would be too attractive and would hurt the private insurance plans. “At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game,” Nelson said. Including a public option in a health plan, he said, was a “deal breaker.”
Are you kidding me? Screw the American citizens and what’s best for them…let’s be worried about the poor for-profit healthcare companies? So much for that vaunted filibuster-proof majority. Nelson plans on gathering together some like-minded sell-outs Democrats to oppose any public health plan. Go to Open Secrets to find out who has donated money to Nelson last few years for his re-election and whaddya know? Blue Cross/Blue Shield is in the top 5 with $31K. In fact, Nelson received more than $230,000 from the healthcare industry in the last four years. Actually, HCAN lists more than $600,000 from the insurance industry to Nelson.
If you’re of a mind to let Sen. Nelson know that his job is to represent the people of the United States, not the insurance companies, you can send him an email. The phone numbers for his various offices arealso available. Remember, you get further being polite.
The Swift-Boating of Health Care – Recently, former hospital CEO Rick Scott bought ads for his group “Conservatives for Patients’ Rights” on CNN and FOX News networks. Scott’s ad contains blatantly false statements, and misleading excerpts of interviews with health care professionals. Join in calling on cable news networks to adhere to their own ‘truth-in-advertising’ policies and pull these ads.
US Soldiers in Afghanistan Told to “hunt people for Jesus… so we get them into the kingdom” – New video evidence has surfaced showing that US military forces in Afghanistan have been instructed by the military’s top chaplain in the country to “hunt people for Jesus” as they spread Christianity to the overwhelmingly Muslim population. Soldiers also have imported bibles translated into Pashto and Dari, the two dominant languages of Afghanistan. What’s more, the center of this evangelical operation is at the huge US base at Bagram, one of the main sites used by the US military to torture and indefinitely detain prisoners.
teCongresswoman Michele Bachmann Uses Fake George Washington Prayer to Bash Obamaxt – On April 21, the very same day that she enlightened us all with her scientific analysis of CO2, Bachmann also took to the House floor to rant about Obama’s statement in Turkey that the United States is not a Christian nation. Bachmann then proceeded to spew out a fake Washington prayer found on numerous Christian nationalist websites, compounding the lie by attributing this prayer to Washington’s inaugural address:
‘Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. And finally, that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.’
Where did this prayer come from? Well, it’s a rewriting of the last paragraph of the circular letter sent by Washington to the governors of the states in 1783, when he resigned from the Army at the end of the Revolutionary War. This paragraph was altered by a church, inserting a few “Thys,” “Thous,” and “Thees,” and adding the “Almighty God” opening at the beginning, and the “through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen” closing to the end, thus creating Washington’s “prayer for the nation.” This fabricated prayer was put on plaques in several churches associated for one reason or another with Washington, then spread to the Christian nationalist American history books, and eventually to the internet, which is apparently where Michele Bachmann gets her historical “facts.
Conservative Radio Host Makes Racist Remarks –Jay Severin is a former Republican Party political consultant, who worked for the presidential campaigns of George H. W. Bush (1980) and Pat Buchanan (1996) before becoming a radio talk show host and political analyst. Here are just some of his prize quotes from the show:
So now, in addition to venereal disease and the other leading exports of Mexico – women with mustaches and VD – now we have swine flu.
He described Mexicans as “the world’s lowest of primitives.”
When we are the magnet for primitives around the world – and it’s not the primitives’ fault by the way, I’m not blaming them for being primitives – I’m merely observing they’re primitive.”
“It’s millions of leeches from a primitive country come here to leech off you and, with it, they are ruining the schools, the hospitals, and a lot of life in America.”
“We should be, if anything, surprised that Mexico has not visited upon us poxes of more various and serious types already, considering the number of criminaliens already here.
He also said that emergency rooms had “become essentially condos for Mexicans.”
And on a 2004 broadcast, he compared Muslims to a fifth column in this country and said in response to a caller who thought people should reach out to Muslims: “You think we should befriend them; I think we should kill them.”
You want to know how much he makes for spewing this kind of hate and being the fourteenth best radio show in his timeslot? One million dollars, plus bonuses!
Here’s how you can contact the station in Boston who hired Severin (even though he lied about winning a Pulitzer Prize and having a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Boston University; and he had already said the comments on killing Muslims in 2004). Write them an e-mail or call them here. Remember, they have suspended him for now, which means they are trying to decide whether they should fire him or keep him. What do you think they should do? Let them know.
Regards,
Jim
Andy Hailey