Da Hawg Frog Blog

What is it with all these elected officials and their taxes? They pass laws and levy taxes on everyone, but refuse to pay their own. Then they turn around and want us to contribute to their war chests. Now this.

Alaska officials have told Gov. Sarah Palin she must pay back taxes on the thousands of dollars she received in state per diem funds while living at her home in Wasilla. . . .

Palin’s office would not say how much she owes in back taxes, or if she would continue to receive the payments.

“The amount of taxes owed is a private matter,” Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow told the paper. “If the governor collects future per diem, those documents would be a matter of public record.” (Source: CNN)

You have to admit it is amusing to watch. First the Republicans dig into every Obama appointee to find any skeletons in their closets. Two have had to drop out or decline the appointments because of tax issues. Now the darling of the Republican party is uncovered as a tax cheat, too. Ironic. Anyway, now that they have that little issue out of the way isn’t it about time she have to claim the $150,000 or so that the RNC paid for her and her family’s wardrobe? Isn’t that also income? Is she going to have to resign now? It will take a lot of time pole dancing in the Wasilla bar and grill for her to pay back what she owes to society.

Senile old coot and consumate asshat John McCain critizes President Obama’s handling of the economy. He has been whining about the lack of bipartisan effort on the part of the Obama administration to resolve the financial crisis the country now faces. He believes that Obama is on the wrong path and should listen more closely to the side of the aisle that got us into this mess. 

“It was a bad beginning,” McCain said Sunday of the legislative process that resulted in the $787 billion stimulus bill recently passed by Congress. “It was a bad beginning because it wasn’t what we promised the American people, what President Obama promised the American people – that we would sit down together.”

While McCain said he appreciated the fact that Obama came to Capitol Hill to speak with House Republicans about the stimulus bill. But, “that’s not how you negotiate a result.” Instead, “you sit down in a room with competing proposals” and “almost all of our proposals went down on a party-line vote”

“I hope the next time we will sit down together and conduct truly bipartisan negotiations. This was not a bipartisan bill.” (Source: CNN)

What he is really trying to say is that even though the Republicans suffered a crushing defeat in the last election, even though the American public resoundingly said no more of this Neocon nonsense, that the Obama administration should just bend over and take it in the rear again. He is making it clear that even though the new administration is doing everything it can to appease the far right, that they will never agree with anything the Democrats propose. They are the world’s sorest losers. The keyword being losers. For eight years the American people and the rest of the world’s citizens endured the arrogance and ignorance of the Bush administration. They voted for change, not more of the same crap. Endless war, soaring deficits and eroding rights.

“You sit down in a room with competing proposals,” McCain says. No, John, you sit down in a room with competing proposals. That room is called Congress. The President simply makes the proposals and you are supposed to debate them in the House and Senate. Remember, Obama is not a Senator anymore, he is the President. And about those promises he made to the American people. He promised change. He is changing the Executive Branch, it us up to the Legislative Branch to either get on board or face defeat in the next election. 

And all that talk of bipartisanship. It is obvious the Republicans are not interested in bipartisanship. Obama should just say, okay, we tried. He should borrow a page from the Bush administration and totally ignore the other side of the aisle. Get down to business and pass the legislation necessary to clean up the mess he inheirated. 

To borrow a quote from your beloved Bush, “Who cares what you think?”
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Our Service Officer at the American Legion told us last night that the Veterans Administration was going to streamline the application process for claims. During the last few years of the Bush administration many veterans were turned down and all category 8 veterans were rejected. That will change in June 2009 when new rules take effect.

New regulations have been proposed to allow VA to enroll certain Priority Group 8 Veterans in the VA health system. These Veterans would qualify if their household income does not exceed the current VA income thresholds (means test threshold and/or geographic means test threshold) by more than 10%. These proposed regulations should take effect in June 2009. For more information on these upcoming changes, go to PG 8 Enrollment Relaxation.

An Enrollment Calculator is available to help Veterans determine their potential eligibility for VA health care services under the proposed regulation. (Source: Veterans Administration)

They have relaxed the income and assets restrictions imposed by the last administration. Previously you had to be living near poverty to qualify. Now it is easier for those veterans who work hard, earn a living, own a home and yet are straining to meet their obligations to survive in today’s sorry economic state. It is good news for thousands of vets who made more than the VA allowed before.

There are some new faces with fresh ideas taking over the reigns of government these days. The abysmal record of the last administration is being corrected. These are the people who refused to listen to the commanders on the ground unless they towed the party line. Remember, General Shinseki was retired because of his personality clash with War Criminal, Donald Rumsfeld. Now this great general is vindicated by the appointment  to head of the Veterans Affairs by President Obama. Now General Shinseki is spearheading significant changes in the way veterans claims will be handled.

“You walk into one of our rooms where…decisions are being made about disabilities for veterans [and] see individuals sitting at a desk with stacks of paper that go up half way to the ceiling. And as they finish one pile, another pile comes in,” Shinseki, former Army chief of staff, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee Feb. 4.

“There are 11,100 people doing this…good people, hired to do a rather challenging job in which they are trying to apply judgment to situations that occurred years ago,” Shinseki said. Paperwork, he added, doesn’t draw out “a full appreciation for the context of combat.”

The army of claim adjudicators is equal in size to the 82nd Airborne Division, Shinseki said. It grew by 4000 in the last two years. Another 1100 will be hired this year to address VA’s claims backlog. It’s “a brute force solution” to a problem best solved with an electronic claim processing system. Information technology, he said, could produce the “timely, accurate, consistent decision-making” that veterans deserve. (Source: The Stars and Stripes)

Many of us old vets have resisted seeking help from the Veterans Administration. After Vietnam we were told our problems were either all in our heads or unsubstantiated. Attempts to get help were abandoned and we never looked back. The whole process left a bad taste in our mouths. Today’s veterans have seen how the last administration treated them. Charging them for food and medications after being wounded. But, it may be a new day. It is time for all veterans who qualify to reapply and get the benefits you are owed for the service and sacrifice you rendered.
If you belong to a veterans organization like the VFW, American Legion or AMVETS then ask your Service Officer to help you. They know the ropes and can help you expedite your claims. Do it now, because too often these windows of opportunity have evaporated quickly.

Mission Motors, out of San Francisco, CA, announced they are going into production with an electric model that will do 150 MPH. They also claim that it will go 150 miles on a charge. But at $69,000 the bike is not a cheap alternative to traditional internal combustion engine motorcycles. Da Frog figures it would pay for itself in . . . oh about 250,000 miles or so.

The prototype, wearing bodywork designed by Yves Behar, is based on a Ducati 900 was designed entirely in-house by Mission Motors. Power comes from a 3-phase AC induction motor and a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery the company claims delivers 150 miles and recharges in just two hours at 240 volts. That climbs to eight hours at 120 volts.

Top-shelf hardware includes Ohlins suspension at both ends, four-piston Brembo brakes and Marchesini forged wheels. The components – and the claimed 150 horsepower – put the bike on par with hardcore sportbikes like the Ducati 1198. That’s exactly what North had in mind.

“With Mission One, we’re writing the next chapter in motorcycle design, delivering a new riding experience without sacrificing performance or design in a zero emissions vehicle,” he said in a statement. (Source: Wired Blog Network)

At 150 MPH it would become the fasted electric vehicle on the market. Unlike the Harley, you could actually sneak into the garage without waking the old lady in this model.

Martin Schur was a World War II veteran, widowed and living alone in Bay City, Michigan. He fell behind in his utility payments so the Bay City Electric Company placed a “limiter” on his electric service. The World War II Combat Medic froze to death as a result.

The World War II veteran’s frozen body was found in his home January 17, just four days after a device that regulates how much power he uses — installed because of failure to pay — shut off his power. A medical examiner said the temperature was 32 degrees in the house when Schur’s body was found.

The medical examiner told The Bay City Times that Schur died a “slow, painful death.” “It’s not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they’re burning,” Dr. Kanu Virani told the paper. (Source: CNN)

Nobody deserves to be treated like Mr. Schur was. Those responsible should be held accountable. Since his death the Bay City Electric Company has quit the practice of placing “limiters” on those delenquent in their payments.

Unlike private utilities regulated by the state, Bay City runs and oversees its own utilities and therefore doesn’t fall under Michigan’s public service commission. By law, Michigan requires private companies to prohibit cutting off service to senior citizens between November and April. Seniors must register for the program.

The city has begun questioning whether its rules and procedures for limiting or cutting off power need a major overhaul. The utility has stopped its practice of cutting power to customers who don’t pay their bills.

The utility also has removed all “limiters” on homes. (Source: CNN)

This veteran deserved the respect he earned by not only his service to his country, but also his frugal lifestyle. In his will he left his estate to the local hospital. All $600,000 dollars of it. Shame on Bay City for not looking after this elderly veteran. Someone should be charged with murder, because that is what it was, plain and simple.

Bay City Electric Light & Power put a “limiter” on Marvin Schur’s home because he hadn’t paid his bill but never spoke to him face to face about it. Instead they put a notice on his door, which the old man either didn’t see or didn’t understand. When the limiter popped his breaker, his furnace apparently went out and Schur died a slow, painful death.

As one Bay Cityian put it: “This man served his country and he survived Hitler, but he couldn’t survive Bay City (Electric) Light & Power.”

As much as I agree with that sentiment and as outraged as I am, we ought to hold back our anger just a little. The city says Schur had a gas furnace, not an electric one, and it may have malfunctioned. An investigation is ongoing. (Source: The Flint Journal)

Lets see what the investigation uncovers. This is not over yet.

In a bold move today President Obama took steps to limit the salaries of top executives who receive taxpayer bailout money. He is suggesting a cap of $500,000. The decision is a result of the obviously out of control executives who have been issuing bonus and other perks to their failing businesses and partners. Of course the neanderthals of the Republican side of the aisles are protesting this action. They want us to stay out of business, unless it is to bail out their criminally stupid cronies in the banking industry.

A lot of us working stiffs out here are glad to see it. The obscene amounts of money these people made for wrecking our economy and stealing our retirements is sickening. While we, the working taxpayers work our asses off to straighten out the mess they’ve gotten us into the banking executives have taken our money and had one big party. We should not only cap their salaries, we should recoup the losses these companies have experienced from the pockets of these malfeasance’s who have run them into the ground. Then lock the bastards up for being criminally stupid.

Last year’s “shameful” handout of $18 billion in Wall Street bonuses “is exactly the kind of disregard for the costs and consequences of their actions that brought about this crisis: a culture of narrow self-interest and short-term gain at the expense of everything else,” Obama said to reporters at the White House.

“For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis isn’t just bad taste — it’s a bad strategy — and I will not tolerate it. We’re going to be demanding some restraint in exchange for federal aid — so that when firms seek new federal dollars, we won’t find them up to the same old tricks,” the president added.

Under Obama’s plan, companies that want to pay their executives more than $500,000 will have to do so through stocks that cannot be sold until the companies pay back the money they borrow from the government. (Source: CNN)

Of course the Grand Obstructionists Partyers are saying, “but all the good talent will go elsewhere if they don’t get their benefits and perks!” If they were any good at their jobs then these companies wouldn’t have failed in the first place. The CEOs and CFOs are all a bunch of greedy crooks who killed, plucked and ate the golden goose. We should outsource their jobs to some $5.00 a day laborer in India and recoup the losses we’ve been paying. The day laborer couldn’t possibly do any worse.

Campbell Brown over at CNN had some good suggestions. Starting with something as simple as accountability of the taxpayers funds these miscreants are spending.

All the books must be opened and any company taking another penny must consent to an audit, waiving any legal right to block the government from stepping in.

We have the right to know what they are doing and how to keep all this from happening again.

And what about penalties going forward, real penalties for some of the outrageous behavior we’ve seen?

Misuse of bailout money must be punished if executives decide it’s more important to, say, redecorate their offices or give each other bonuses or go on some boondoggle junket, than to truly try and keep their companies afloat.

The bailout conditions must be unconditional, zero-tolerance, real accountability this time. That’s what we hope to hear from the president tomorrow. (Source: CNN)

These failing banks should have never been bailed out. They wanted a free market and they had one. But as soon as their bad investments caught up with them they whinned for help. Well a free market also allows bad businesses and stupid managers the right to fail. We should have let them go under. The results could not have been any worse than they are now. At least we wouldn’t have thrown away our money so these bastards could go on junkets to Las Vegas and given themselves huge bonuses of taxpayer’s dollars.