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Month: February 2007

Lame Duck Congress gives Big Oil a $10 Billion Tax Break

Lame Duck Congress gives Big Oil a $10 Billion Tax Break

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Public Citizen News (January/February) published an article entitled "109Th Congress Exists in Disgrace, Giving Big Oil a $10 Billion Break on Oil, Gas Lease Royalty Payments" which tells the whole shameful story. It seems that Congress with the help of lame duck Republican House members cast the deciding vote which gave big oil a huge financial break while allowing drilling in the Golf of Mexico without having to pay American taxpayers for the privilege. A bill to have allowed the…

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Fr. Donald Cozzins Book about Celibacy & Catholic Priests

Fr. Donald Cozzins Book about Celibacy & Catholic Priests

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Fr. Richard P. McBrien is a Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is a syndicated columnist. McBrien’s column is regularly published in the National Catholic Reporter where he recently reviewed a book, Freeing Celibacy by Fr. Donald Cozzins who teaches religious studies at John Carroll University at Cleveland. McBrien points out that the Catholic Church had a married priesthood and even married popes during the first one thousand years of its existence. It wasn’t until 1074…

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Halliburton, Dick Cheney & War Profiteering

Halliburton, Dick Cheney & War Profiteering

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I’ve previously reported on the connection between Vice President Dick Cheney and the Texas based Halliburton Company: Vice President Richard Cheney – Unrestrained Arrogance 1/31/07. They are joined at the hip with the result taxpayers have been robbed by this corporate giant. It is a classic "military industrial complex" illustration of what is wrong with unregulated revolving door relationships between big business and government. Cheney is the former CEO of Halliburton whose world wide business activities involve a number of…

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Eddie Bauer Pays a CEO $10 Million for a Failed Job

Eddie Bauer Pays a CEO $10 Million for a Failed Job

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One of my pet peeves is the frequent occurrence of paying offensive amounts of money to outgoing CEO’s at the expense of shareholders and prices paid by their customers. (Overpaid CEO’s & Tort Reform 1/26/07) Now we have another example here in Seattle which I’ve written about before – Another Golden Parachute for a CEO 1/3/07. Fabian Mansson was recruited by Eddie Bauer’s parent company, Spiegel Group in 2002 to save Eddie Bauer from financial distress. A year later Spiegel…

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John Edwards is Better off Without Melisa McEwan & Amanda Marcotte

John Edwards is Better off Without Melisa McEwan & Amanda Marcotte

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I am not hesitant to acknowledge I am an strong supporter of presidential candidate John Edwards. So, the recent controversy involving two people associated with his campaign is bothersome. The ruckus involves Melissa McEwan and Amanda Marcotte who have well read personal blogs and who were hired by the Edwards staff as bloggers in support of his campaign. After being associated with his campaign Catholic and Christian right members protested because Ms Marcotte wrote in December that the Catholic church…

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ExxonMobil Now Acknowledges Fossil Fuel Emmissions & Global Warming

ExxonMobil Now Acknowledges Fossil Fuel Emmissions & Global Warming

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ExxonMobil, the oil giant, has a long history of blatant hypocrisy about global warming. While publicly claiming to be concerned about the world environment it covertly provided millions of dollars in funding efforts to deny it as a threat to the health of our planet. The company CEO’s have flat out denied there is a human created problem and the oil giant has worked to obscure the subject with endless smoke and mirror tactics. Its last CEO, Lee Raymond, whose…

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Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key & the Defense of Insanity

Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key & the Defense of Insanity

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Andrew Jackson was born in the backwoods of the Carolinas and he read the law to become a lawyer. He was an outstanding lawyer in Tennessee. He was a frontiersman who engaged in brawls and killed a man in a duel. He was the commander of American forces at the Battle of New Orleans and was known as "Old Hickory" for his toughness. He was the founder of the Democratic party He was the seventh president of the United State…

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Arthur Fergson & Charles Ponzi Scam Artists

Arthur Fergson & Charles Ponzi Scam Artists

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Most of us are familiar with the famous "Ponzi scheme" a scam worked by Charles Ponzi in the 1900’s. Ponzi was an Italian immigrant who became famous for his swindles after immigrating in 1903. Standing only 5′ 2" tall, Ponzi had a gift of gab, enormous self confidence and a charming manner. After serving a prison term in Canada for forging checks he came back to the United States where he served time again for involvement in an illegal immigrant…

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Inspiration from Books & Song Lyrics

Inspiration from Books & Song Lyrics

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Here are some random observations about life. Richard Carlson has written Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work after his best seller Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. His second book has chapter headings that speak for themselves. They include "Remember to acknowledge, Stay focused in the now, Don’t be trapped by golden handcuffs, Accept the Fact That There’s Always Going to be Someone Mad at You, Before Becoming Defensive, Take Note of What is Being Said and Marvel At How…

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George Bush and Texas Tort Reform

George Bush and Texas Tort Reform

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Stephanie Mencimer has written Blocking the Courthouse Door, a book which carefully documents the Republican’s discovery that tort reform is an issue that elects Republicans and closes the court house door to injured people saving business money. Tort reform not only raises millions of dollars from industry seeking to stop lawsuits against them, but at the same time it elects Republicans to office. Republicans discovered that by focusing on tort reform the Democrats were in a conflicted position. If they…

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