Archive for the ‘Politics’ category

Justice After All…?

June 1st, 2010

Criminal charges have been filed against John Goodman, 46, the owner of the International Polo Club Palm Beach.  He is being charged with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide.  If convicted, he can face up to 30 years for each charge.  Goodman posted the $100,000 bail and turned over his passport to authorities to negotiate his release for the time being.

The Wilson family has filed a civil suit against Mr. Goodman.  Goodman’s lawyer, Roy Black, had filed a motion to halt the suit until such time as the criminal proceedings had come to a conclusion.  A judge ruled, denying the motion; the civil suit will be moving forward, concurrent with the criminal trial. » Read more: Justice After All…?

John Goodman gets away with murder in Florida?

March 11th, 2010

John B Goodman - Not Charged with Murder

Feb. 12, 2010.   At the corner of Lake Worth Road and 120th Avenue South a Bentley went through a stop sign and crashed into the Hyundai vehicle of Scott Patrick Wilson, age 23, declared dead at the scene.  The Bentley (a $250,000 vehicle) that crashed into their son’s car is owned, and was driven by, John Goodman.  John Goodman, according to many, is responsible for founding and owning the International Polo Club of Palm Beach.

Now here is where the opinion part comes in.  I’m thinking that perhaps when police officers, or later detectives and prosecuting attorney’s got involved, they realized there was a ‘Bentley’ on the scene.  And what does a ‘Bentley’ imply?  MONEY.  Not just any kind of money, but BIG money.  Do they really want to upset someone with multi-million dollar stature, a person who probably knows a lot of people who know a lot more people?  Let’s face it:  if John Smith had been involved in this kind of incident, they would have been arrested on the scene for driving under the influence, with a possible vehicular manslaughter to follow.  (See the police report here http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/palmbeachpost/news/PBSO_LogReport.pdf )

If it had been myself, or you – the reader – we would have been spending at least the night in jail.  But not Goodman!  Oh, no – he is way above the like’s of us.  Drinking and driving?  No big deal.  Running a stop sign and hitting – killing – another driver?  That’s okay.  Fleeing the scene to get to a phone (because we are so stupid we believe that multi-millionares with Bentley’s don’t have a car phone or cell phone?)?  Absolutely okay! » Read more: John Goodman gets away with murder in Florida?

Small Business Unemployment on the Rise

February 28th, 2010

Small Business Unemployment on the Rise

With unemployment at a 26 year high at 10.2%, its no wonder that DC movers and shakers are starting to focus more attention on small business owners.

Statistics supplied by ADP (and reported by CNN) show that small businesses (businesses with less than 50 employees) cut 68,000 jobs in the last quarter of 2oo9. A huge portion of the total 5.3 million jobs lost this year alone was due to the 2 million jobs lost in small business.

With challenges such as small business loans drying up, SBA subsidies running out, and other small business financial institutions going bankrupt, it will be harder to recover those lost jobs. In fact, large banks have axed close to $10 billion dollars in small business lending. » Read more: Small Business Unemployment on the Rise

My Toddler Is Not Eating

February 25th, 2010

Every night just before dinner the request for snacks begin.  My daughter is teeny tiny and just does not have an appetite.  What she likes one day she will not the next, I have had a hard time deciding on how to handle this.

There is always the old wives tale – they will eat when they get hungry.

Or you could go to the extreme, I remember as a child not being to get up from the table until my plate was cleared.  The stubborn child I was, I spent many nights sitting there until it was time to go to bed.

My tummy says its not hungry !

How do you keep dinner time a fun, sharing family time when stressed about nutrition?  I decided to do some research and found many different approaches.  Below are some of the ones that I felt would work best in our home.  » Read more: My Toddler Is Not Eating

How Toyota Saved $100M and Endangered Customers

February 22nd, 2010

Toyota Had Prior Knowlede of Diffects

At this point is a trivial fact that Toyota Motor Company is in deep troubles over their repeat recalls in recent month. What people did not know is the previous knowledge of the issues by high ranking Toyota officials.

Did Toyota know about the issue and chose to continue with the production of their vehicles or were they as surprised as we all were? Documents handed over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are painting a very scary picture of the company that many Americans have come to regard as one of the most trustworthy car manufacturers on the market.

In an internal document dating back to June 6 of 2009, a top executive boasted how by negotiating the recall to be an “equipment only” recall versus a much larger and costly “total vehicle recall” the company was able to save $100M plus. This recall was directly mentioning the problem [re: sudden acceleration]. » Read more: How Toyota Saved $100M and Endangered Customers

FDIC Push to Increase Insurance Rates for Risky Banks

February 17th, 2010

FDIC Rate Adjustment

Wall Street wants us to believe that the causes of the financial crash are too complicated for regular folks to understand. But fundamentally, it all came down to greed. Mortgage brokers sold unaffordable mortgages to collect their commissions. Stock brokers made huge, risky bets to get big bonuses. And now that taxpayers rescued Wall Street, greed is making a comeback.

But the FDIC—the agency that insures bank deposits—is trying to do something about it. The FDIC wants banks that hand out big bonuses for risky behavior to pay higher insurance premiums.  Just like a reckless driver pays more for auto insurance, these banks would pay more if they insist on rewarding recklessness.

The FDIC is taking public comments on the proposed new rule until this Thursday, February 18. But banks are pushing hard against it, and many of the comments so far are from bankers. The FDIC needs to hear from regular Americans who got stuck with the bill when these bankers wrecked the economy. If you are tired of  big banks playing risky games on your dime let the FDIC know by submitting a comment here. » Read more: FDIC Push to Increase Insurance Rates for Risky Banks

Democrats Shut Down Senate Jobs Bill

February 16th, 2010

Where's the Party At?

This has to be the shortest lived jobs bill to ever enter senate, and sooner than you can say “bi-partisan effort” the bill has been nixed by Senate Majority Leader Reid. Apparently the bill introduced on the 11th by senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was little “too bi-partisan” for Mr. Reid’s taste. After been hashed out in the senate for weeks, the democrats opposing the bill (and that would be most of them) complained to Mr. Reid that the bill contains too many tax cuts for small and medium businesses and no unemployment benefits extension. In other words… the bill did not include enough government spending.

With unemployment benefits standing to end on February 28th, it seams that the bi-partisanship effort we have grown accustomed to in the last 8 years is well and thriving on Capitol Hill. I just love watching my elected officials at work, especially when by now I am quite amused by the hatred and poisonous debates that the health care reform had to go through and the job bill is falling victim to.

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