CEOs cut pensions, pad their own

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P139870.asp?GT1=7620

When International Business Machines froze its pension plan in early January, thousands of its employees suddenly felt a lot less certain about their retirement security.

Samuel Palmisano, IBM chief executive, has no such worries. Palmisano, according to IBM’s (IBM, news, msgs) regulatory filings, will receive an annual pension of $4 million when he retires at age 65. That works out to $75,000 a week — or more than $10,000 a day, including weekends.
[...]
IBM, of course, is far from alone in cutting back or eliminating pension plans.

When you Google alone, you Google with Bin Laden

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/13657303.htm

The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases.

Go ahead and buy it at Walmart then, you ungrateful slag

If I hear another customer lecturing me about how we’re price gougers for having prices higher than Walmart, somebody’s getting a cap in their ass.  There’s no way a normal human being can “compete in a free market” when every supplier will sell you an item for no less than $15, and Walmart can get it for $5. Then you mark yours $15.50 (a 3.3% markup), Walmart marks theirs $15 (a 200% markup), and you have people in your store calling you a price-gouging crook for “marking up” the product 50 cents more than Walmart does. You should sell the product for $15 too, by God, and lose money on every sale.

Not a day went by when I was working in the drug store when I didn’t have some customer pick up a bottle of tylenol or something and lecture me about what the item costs at the Walmart that’s a 2-hour round trip drive from here. They’re free to drive there to save 38 cents on something we’re lucky to make a whopping 1 or 2% profit margin on, for all I care. With these supply-side price differences and Medicare D cutting profit margins down to less than nothing, I expect a lot of small town pharmacies to go out of business within the next year. Sadly, I don’t think the people in this small town will realize what a resource that store is until it’s gone. The first time they forget to pick up their refill for five days they’ll figure it out. They’re accustomed to calling up the pharmacist at home any hour of the day and on holidays, then they can drive less than one mile to the back door 20 minutes later and he’ll let them walk right into the building with him, robbery risk be damned. And no markup for after-hours service, in fact the insurance company may have forced him to sell it for less than cost.

Let’s see how they like it when they drive an hour to Walmart only to be told there’s no pharmacist on duty at that hour and no you can’t have their home telephone numbers, are you insane?

You got that right, doc.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3415747

Will work for tickets: Fans barter

Desperation for seats hatches oddball offers. A doctor is offering a free vasectomy for tickets to Sunday’s AFC title game.
[...]
“I haven’t had anyone take me up on my offer yet, but I know there are people out there that really need a vasectomy,” Broman said Wednesday.

Update: This is why we still need marriage rights

Here’s an update to this post, via gayly.com:

Mark Bonney, an attorney and the President of Tulsa Oklahomans for Human Rights, shook his head as he loaded a bag of feed on a utility trailer. “If Sam and Earl were married he would have been able to inherit half the estate when Earl’s will was declared invalid.” Without the recognition of partner rights for same-sex couples in the State of Oklahoma Sam lost his court case in District Court and in the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Civil Appeals. He has no legal claim to the estate. “Since the Supreme Court won’t hear Sam’s case, he has to abide by the Appeals Court decision.”

As a result the family of Betty Lou Maschow from Henryetta, Oklahoma has begun taking possession of the property. They initiated eviction proceedings last month. Betty Lou is a cousin of Earl Meadows and the nearest surviving relative. They could not be reached for comment.

Sam isn’t surprised that Betty Lou turned on him. “When Earl was alive Betty Lou would come around sometimes, only when she needed something. As far as the rest of the family was concerned, they regarded Earl as lost. They pretty well disowned him.”

From Sam’s point of view the family started acting like vultures when Earl got sick. They started taking an interest in the property and making noises about taking it over when Earl died. “I wasn’t completely left out,” Sam said. “I was listed on Earl’s insurance as a beneficiary, so I got some money.”

Anticipating a fight over the will, Sam bought some property near Cromwell, Oklahoma in 2001. He planned on relocating there if he lost the lawsuit. While Sam hoped for justice in the courts he had to stay on the property in Bristow because if it appeared that he was getting ready to abandon the property he would lose his legal claim. One of his sons lived on the property near Cromwell for about a year, in a little one-bedroom house no bigger than many apartments. After awhile his son got a job and had to move closer to Tulsa, so the property was vacant for a while. Last fall when Sam and his new partner, Marvin, checked the property, they found the house completely gutted.

“Someone stripped it out,” Sam explained. “They took everything.” He speculated that someone nearby was building a home and that the builders ransacked his little house, taking all the fixtures, the electric hookups, the plumbing, the kitchen cabinets, some of the walls, and even some of the floor. The house is now a mere shell. The thieves also took a heating vent built into the fireplace. Basically, the house needs to be rebuilt. “I don’t know how we’re going to swing this move by January 15th,” Sam said.

This is why we need marriage rights

[I'm summarizing (in my own words)  a long article from indystar.]

For over 20 years, Sam Beaumont and Earl Meadows lived together on an Oklahoma ranch, raising Beaumonts three sons. Earl worked for Black & Decker as a comptroller while Sam tended to the farm and its 50-odd head of cattle. He even built a barn on the farm that was in Earl’s name. In 1999, Earl had a stroke. Sam took care of him at home before he died one year later. Then Earl’s cousins suddenly and finally took an interest in Earl. The cousins went to court and were able to throw Sam out and take the ranch, the animals, and anything else that was in Earl’s name. Even the things Sam had paid for (an estimated $200,000 worth of things). Even the barn Sam built.

The three boys Earl raised as his own and who considered Earl to be a second dad aren’t legally considered heirs.

I suppose someone will argue Sam had it coming for not being able to shell out thousands of dollars to finagle some kind of legal set-up to prevent that from happening. Surely a farmer and a comptroller should have to be legal wizards to have any sort of security in their lives. Nevermind that a heterosexual couple in Oklahoma living in a common law (though not legal) marriage wouldn’t be treated like that at all.

Oh, and the cousins are now suing Sam for “back rent” for the years he lived on the farm. Aren’t they lovely human beings?

There’s a sucker reborn every minute

Via The NY Times:

It is time to pass the offering buckets at World Changers Church New York, and Troy and Cheryal Anderson are eager to give the Lord his due. They wave their blue offering envelope overhead, as all around them worshipers whoop and holler their praises to God.

Inside the envelope is 10 percent of the weekly pay Mr. Anderson takes home as an electrician’s apprentice – he earns about $30,000 a year – and a little more for the church’s building fund.

The Andersons, who live in the Bronx, are struggling financially. A few weeks ago, the couple, who have two young children, had no money to buy groceries. But they believe what their pastor, the Rev. Creflo A. Dollar Jr., said on this recent Saturday night about the offering time: “It’s opportunity for prosperity.”
[...]
Mr. Dollar, whose Rolls-Royces, private jets, million-dollar Atlanta home and $2.5 million Manhattan apartment, furnish proof to his followers of the validity of his teachings, is a leading apostle of what is known as the “prosperity gospel.”

Gee . . . what’s wrong with this picture? I mean besides the fact that Creflo junior and senior aren’t in jail yet.

I think they should change the name from World Changers Church to Money Changers Incorporated. Creflo senior can advertise it on late night TV right alongside his make-Creflo-rich seminar kits.

Seriously, what a jerk. Guilting three grand from a family of four trying to subsist on less than 30K in the Bronx and buying Rolls-Royces (plural), jets, homes. Comeupance couldn’t come soon enough.

Oh, it gets worse:

Mr. Anderson said he started to apply Mr. Dollar’s teachings on love at his job, trying to be more helpful to people. The couple also started to apply his teachings on tithing.

But just as they started to give, their children became sick, and the family began to fall badly behind on the bills. “Things went from bad to worse,” Mr. Anderson said.

A few weeks ago, they had no food and no money. A concerned neighbor, however, surprised them with groceries. Another friend offered winter coats for their children, ages 5 and 7.

The Andersons attributed the unexpected gifts to God’s provision and said they looked to the testimonies of others in the church for inspiration.

Uh, maybe you guys should thank your neighbors. You know, those kind people who didn’t want your children to freeze and starve to death ’cause you gave your money to Cref. Nah, it must be all the tithing that finally put coats on their backs. Every time Creflo gets a new Rolls Royce, some kid gets a secondhand coat and a can of beans. God bless us, everyone.

The most “practical” way to get rich

Via yahoo:

Asked the most practical way to accumulate “several hundred thousand dollars,” 21 percent chose winning the lottery, compared to 55 percent who thought saving something each month for many years was best, according to a survey by the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association.
[...]
“It appears that these Americans both greatly overestimate their chances of hitting a lottery jackpot and greatly underestimate their ability to build six-figure wealth by patiently making regular savings contributions over time that benefit from interest compounding,” Brobeck said.
[...]
While financial planners believe about half of young Americans could accumulate $1 million over a period of 30 years, fewer than 1 in 10 of Americans believe they could save that much money, the survey showed.

“Planners know that it is easier for individuals to build personal wealth than they realise,” said James Barnash, chair of the Financial Planning Association.

Well, at least 55% of the people surveyed know the meaning of the word “practical”.

Utah theaters not screening Brokeback Mountain

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/08/D8F0BQI03.html

A movie theater owned by Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller abruptly changed its screening plans and decided not to show the film “Brokeback Mountain.” The film, an R-rated Western gay romance story, was supposed to open Friday at the Megaplex at Jordan Commons in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Instead it was pulled from the schedule.

They just don’t want any guys having to buy tickets for all ten of his wives.