Casino welfare! California recipients Go Wild! with Taxpayer Money.
http://www.libertarianrepublican.net/2010/06/casino-welfare-california-recipients-go.html
From Eric Dondero:
Seven years in office, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is just now uncovering a huge scam from the previous administration. In the late 1990s, Democrat Governor Gray Davis instituted a program that would allow welfare recipients to access "Fast Cash," out of ATMs. The ATMs included machines located at the States' numorous Indian-owned Casinos.
The money drawn from the accounts can be used for any purpose: Booze, Black Jack, Concert tickets, 24-hour Buffets, even tipping Cocktail waitresses. There is absolutely no accounting or oversight.
From the LA Times, June 24, "California welfare cards can be used in many casino ATMs":
The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found.
State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards.
Schwarzenegger reacts:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who learned of the issue when asked to comment for this story, promised to take immediate action.
"We have instructed our vendors to prohibit these cards from being accepted at ATMs located in casinos and card rooms," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said Wednesday. "It is reprehensible that anyone would use taxpayer money for anything other than its intended purpose."
Fortunately, this strengthens his hand against Democrat lawmakers screaming about his proposed "drastic" budget cuts to welfare programs. Continuing:
Schwarzenegger had already threatened to eliminate the state welfare program in his May budget proposal, and that was before he and his Republican allies in the Legislature knew that the cash could be accessed by people strolling from poker games to blackjack tables.
"In a time when we have a $19-billion deficit, and we're taking a serious look at the future of many safety-net programs, it's appalling to think that welfare beneficiaries can use their cards in a casino," said Seth Unger, spokesman for the Assembly Republican Caucus.
Meanwhile, Republican for Governor Meg Whitman has made cutting waste, fraud and abuse in California's massive welfare budget a key campaign plank. Also from the LA Times, May 17:
Whitman insisted that the state budget could be brought under control by targeting "waste, fraud and abuse" -- as well as making cuts to social services.
The State currently suffers from a $19.1 Billion deficit
CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) – A patient, believed to be having a stroke, says an officer with the Chattanooga Police Department blocked her husband from taking her to the emergency room at Erlanger Wednesday night.
Aline Wright is a cancer survivor, amputee and a newlywed. Wednesday night she began to show signs she was having a stroke.
"I started feeling some left arm numbness and a facial droop," said Aline.
"It appeared to me that I was probably having a stroke."
That's when her husband of four days, Jesse Wright, put her in the car and rushed her to the Erlanger Medical Center. Wright knows an emergency. He is a nurse technician at Erlanger.
On the way to the hospital, Aline says Jesse treated two red lights like stop signs. He would stop and then proceed if no traffic was coming. After Jesse ran the second stop light one block from Erlanger, the officer turned on the cruiser's blue lights and followed the couple into the emergency room parking lot.
"At that point we figured because we were so close to Erlanger emergency department that the police would be aware that's where we were going," said Aline.
According to Aline, the officer caught up with the couple as they were attempting to enter the emergency room at Erlanger Medical Center. Aline says her husband was carrying her in his arms because she could not walk. According to Aline, the officer blocked the entrance and demanded answers for running the red lights.
"He picks me up in his arms and the officer continues to block the way into the emergency room," said Aline.
"He's standing between Jesse and I, and the emergency room doors."
Aline says eventually the officer allowed them to enter the hospital, but says he didn't stop there.
Aline tells Channel 3 Eyewitness News that once the couple was placed in a hospital room, the officer attempted to enter their room to arrest Jesse for evading the police.
Erlanger medical personnel then turned the officer away, informing him that since Aline could not speak Jesse was needed to answer questions for the doctors.
Thursday morning Erlanger security informed the couple that a warrant for Jesse's arrest had been issued, and suggested he turn himself in. Aline says Jesse went to the Hamilton County Jail to turn himself in that evening. According to Aline, jail employees told Jesse that they had no record of a warrant for him and told him he was free to go.
Jesse returned to his ailing wife's bedside at Erlanger Medical Center.
"I thought it was over," said Aline.
"But apparently it wasn't. I was awakened abruptly by people coming in the room."
On Friday morning the police were back at the hospital. This time Jesse surrendered to Erlanger Security who arrested him on behalf of the Chattanooga Police Department.
Channel 3 had the only crew there as Jesse was released on $7,500 bond, about eight hours after being arrested. He is facing seven charges related to Wednesday night's events, including felony evading arrest. He's due in court on July 9th.
Eyewitness News contacted Chattanooga Police today for their side of the story.
Lt. Kim Noorbergen says the officer was just "doing his job".
The department will not comment further until a formal complaint is filed with the Internal Affairs Department.
Aline Wright says she plans to file a complaint. The couple has already hired an attorney for a possible lawsuit.
An Erlanger spokesperson tells us by law their security guards are obligated to carry out any arrest warrant related to felony charges. The Erlanger spokesperson says once they learned the warrant for Wright's arrest was issued, and they learned he was in the building, they had to arrest him.
(CNN) -- President Obama's speech on the gulf oil disaster may have gone over the heads of many in his audience, according to an analysis of the 18-minute talk released Wednesday.
Tuesday night's speech from the Oval Office of the White House was written to a 9.8 grade level, said Paul J.J. Payack, president of Global Language Monitor. The Austin, Texas-based company analyzes and catalogues trends in word usage and word choice and their impact on culture.
Though the president used slightly less than four sentences per paragraph, his 19.8 words per sentence "added some difficulty for his target audience," Payack said.
He singled out this sentence from Obama as unfortunate: "That is why just after the rig sank, I assembled a team of our nation's best scientists and engineers to tackle this challenge -- a team led by Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and our nation's secretary of energy."
"A little less professorial, less academic and more ordinary," Payack recommended. "That's the type of phraseology that makes you (appear) aloof and out of touch."
The monitor's chief word analyst found these three sentences insensitive: "Already, this oil spill is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced. And unlike an earthquake or a hurricane, it is not a single event that does its damage in a matter of minutes or days. The millions of gallons of oil that have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico are more like an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years."
"You shouldn't be saying that in Katrina land," said Payack, referring to the 2005 hurricane that devastated the Gulf Coast. "New Orleans lost a third of its population; it's still recovering."
But he praised Obama's phrase "oil began spewing" as active and graphic.
At a micro level, the average word in the speech contained 4.5 letters, a bit longer than is typical for the former constitutional law professor, Payack said.
Obama's nearly 10th-grade-level rating was the highest of any of his major speeches and well above the Grade 7.4 of his 2008 "Yes, we can" victory speech, which many consider his best effort, Payack said.
"The scores indicate that this was not Obama at his best, especially when attempting to make an emotional connection to the American people," he added.
"With the concept of shame out the window and infamy guaranteed by one phone call to US Weekly, the options for the mistresses of Tiger Woods, Jesse James and other high profile philanderers to make bank these days are many."
But Verrett and others said Hallmark should issue a formal apology to African-Americans. They also said they found the card in Hallmark stores in Redondo Beach and on the Palos Verdes Peninsula as recently as last week.
Councilwoman Lula Davis-Holmes, who is an NAACP member, said she will probably vote in support of the resolution on Tuesday.
"I'm insulted in the first place because we, as black women, cannot be victimized if, in fact, it says `ho,"' she said. "I think Hallmark owes an apology. If there's an inkling of a doubt, it should be dealt with. People are outraged."
Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. The series is produced by Sony Pictures Television and broadcast in the United States and Canada on the cable channel AMC. It premiered on January 20, 2008, and completed its first seven-episode season on March 9, 2008. The show's 13-episode second season ran from March 8 to May 31, 2009. The third season began on March 21, 2010.
Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer at the beginning of the series. He breaks down and turns to a life of crime, producing and selling methamphetamine with his former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) in a desire to secure his family's financial future.
Breaking Bad has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its writing as well as Bryan Cranston's and Aaron Paul's performances, and has won four Emmy Awards in addition to numerous other awards and nominations.
Breaking Bad has received critical acclaim in addition to two Emmy Awards for its first season. It won the award for best editing, and Bryan Cranston won for best actor in a drama series.[13] Breaking Bad in 2008 also won a Peabody Award for excellence in television broadcasting.[14]
Linda Stasi of the New York Post stated "the acting is as good as you'll see on TV." Time said the series "has the elements of success".[15] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly rated season one a "B+".[16]
The second season opener was watched by 1.7 million people, up 21% from the previous season.[17]
The second season received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Bryan Cranston) and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Aaron Paul). Cranston won for Outstanding Lead Actor.[18]
The third season premiere was the highest rated episode in the series' history; having been watched by 2 million viewers, with an additional 1.1 million watching while the episode was re-aired later on the premiere night
Scientists affiliated with Earthwatch have uncovered signs of an oil leak in Chuuk (formerly known as Truk) Lagoon, a popular dive destination in Micronesia.
Earthwatch volunteers and scientists, who are conducting the first-ever comprehensive survey of the area, recently discovered a long oil slick coming from the sunken oil tanker Hoyo Maru and a smaller surface slick originating from the Rio de Janeiro Maru, a former passenger vessel that was converted to a submarine tender (support ship for submarines) by the Japanese navy during World War II.
There are 52 documented World War II shipwrecks and three oil tankers found in Chuuk Lagoon, with an estimated 32,000,000 litres of oil still secured inside. Dynamite fishing practices, storms and human activities (such as irresponsible anchoring) are destabilizing some of the wrecks, increasing the chances of an oil spill.
"This could have a devastating effect on the marine environment and negatively impact Chuuk's tourist industry," said Dr. Bill Jeffery from James Cook University, who leads the Earthwatch research project. "Some areas of mangroves that provide breeding grounds for many fish species could be completely decimated."
"There is reason to believe that Hoyo Maru is leaking from her bunker, which means there could be a lot more oil left to spill. We're hoping that Japanese historians can help us to determine if she went down with a full tank so we can estimate the full scale of the threat," Jeffery said.
The coral encrusted wrecks attract a diverse array of marine life, including manta-rays, turtles, sharks and corals. In 2007, 266 species of reef fish were recorded by the Earthwatch teams and in 2006 the rare coral Acropora pichoni was identified. (It had never been found at this depth (18 metres) or on an artificial reef before.)
A report from Dr. Jeffery has been submitted to the Chuuk State Department of Marine Resources and the Chuuk Historic Preservation Office who will liaise with the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) to investigate how the oil pollution can be addressed. Earthwatch dive teams will return in November to continue their assessment into the ecological values of the site.
Chuuk, an island area formerly known as 'Truk', is part of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), found in the central Caroline Islands of the Western Pacific. During World War II, Chuuk Lagoon was bombed for over 18 months by the Allied forces and was considered a potential target for an atomic attack. The waters became a graveyard for the Japanese sailors and pilots killed in ships and aircraft.
LAKE DELTON, Wis. -- Authorities in a south-central Wisconsin community say a Green Bay Packers player is being investigated for an alleged sexual assault of two women early Saturday.
Lake Delton police have not released the player's name. They say he was released after being interviewed at a condo where he and six other players were staying and where the women allege the assault happened.
Police Chief Tom Dorner says he will take the case to the district attorney Monday or Tuesday to consider charges.
Packers spokesman Jeff Blumb said in a statement that team officials "are aware of the reported incident and still are gathering facts."
Police cleared all the players except the one accused. They said the cleared players are backup quarterback Matt Flynn, safety Khalil Jones, guard Josh Sitton, fullback Korey Hall, and linebackers Brad Jones and Clay Matthews
CHICAGO – Senate candidate Mark Kirk apologized Thursday for making inaccurate statements about his service in the Navy Reserves, while acknowledging more discrepancies.
"I apologize to everyone for these errors," the Illinois Republican said. "They were my responsibility entirely and I will fix them."
The five-time U.S. representative, who is competing with Democrat Alexi Giannoulias for the Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama, also acknowledged new incidents where public statements didn't match reality about his service.
Kirk said a letter sent by his congressional district office last year described him as a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, the first Persian Gulf war, but he did not participate in that operation.
Kirk later flew over Iraq for intelligence reconnaissance missions in 2000. He said Thursday he does not recall coming under enemy fire on those flights and added it was sometimes hard to tell whether his plane was being targeted.
But C-SPAN video shows Kirk on the House floor saying he was fired upon.
"The last time I was in Iraq I was in uniform flying at 20,000 feet, and the Iraqi air defense network was shooting at us," Kirk said in the undated video, which was posted online by the Giannoulias campaign.
Kirk also said last year that he once saw anti-aircraft flack when flying an intelligence mission over Kosovo and thought he might be killed.
The Kirk campaign did not respond Thursday night to requests for clarification on those incidents.
The furor over Kirk's military record took off last week when he acknowledged that, contrary to his many statements over the years, he hadn't won the Navy's award for intelligence officer of the year.
Amid media inquiries to the Navy, Kirk corrected his resume to show he actually received a different award, one that went to his unit instead of him personally.
Kirk also has said that when he's on active duty, he commands the Pentagon war room, which is an exaggeration of his intelligence duties there. And until 2005 he sometimes said he served "in" Operation Iraqi Freedom, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, although his duties at the time were entirely stateside.
Politicians' military records are under particularly intense scrutiny after the recent revelation that a Senate candidate in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, had sometimes told audiences he served in the Vietnam War. Actually, he was in the Marine Reserves and never left the United States.
Kirk initially played down the significance of the incorrect information about his own record, and criticized Giannoulias for raising the issue. He accused Giannoulias, the Illinois treasurer, of denigrating his military service.
But as more errors come to light, Kirk is changing his tone. His campaign released his military fitness reports Thursday so the public can see what his commanding officers have said about his performance.
In them, he is portrayed in glowing terms for his work as an intelligence officer, including for stints in Italy and Turkey.
In one report, Kirk is praised for his "unmatched managerial and planning skills," while another recognizes his "phenomenal performance." Another says he's "head and shoulders above any other intelligence officer" the reviewer had ever met.
"I think going forward I have to be humble about my military record," Kirk said earlier Thursday. "I have to understate it and I have to own up to any errors that I created. I do not want to create the impression of adding to the record."
