Author: luken7

German trainer in racial video still on duty – USATODAY.com BERLIN (AP) — A Germany army instructor who ordered a soldier to envision himself facing hostile blacks in New York while firing his machine gun is still on duty, the army said Sunday. A video of the army instructor telling the soldier to shoot and yell obscenities while thinking of African-Americans in the Bronx aired on German national television Saturday and prompted calls for an apology by the New York City borough’s president. When asked Sunday if the army would apologize, spokesman Florian Naggies said, "The German Army takes the incident very serious and is interested in quickly resolving it." Naggies said that the case is under investigation, and the instructor "is still working for the army."

In other words, no, they won’t apologize. Well, there are several ways we can handle and respond to this. First is to say that we understand German ignorance because all they know of the Bronx is what they’ve learned from movies like The Warriors and Fort Apache. So we should forgive their ignorance.

Next, we can say, "Those Damn Hessians are at it again", and just accept who and what they are.

Lastly, we can simply remind them that we can associate anyone with Al-Queda, and put them on our Axis of Evil list.

So while we understand that German culture probably hasn’t changed much, it’s pretty much like the rest of Europe, make no mistake, we can out-hate you, and justify any action we take. And to that German Army instructor…oh, nevermind….

It amazes me to no end, the practices of certain business sectors to keep a grip on their revenue stream and to lock out competition, even at the expense of the American family. What is even more disgusting, are the schools themselves, who say that they are about education and contributing to a better good, while their intent  is nothing more than being a business. To Indiana University, just go ahead and incorporate yourself, and be what you truly are.

Lenders Sought Edge Against U.S. In Student Loans – New York Times In a fierce contest to control the student loan market, the nation’s banks and lenders have for years waged a successful campaign to limit a federal program that was intended to make borrowing less costly by having the government provide loans directly to students. The companies have offered money to universities to pull out of the federal direct loan program, which was championed by the Clinton administration. They went to court to keep the direct program from becoming more competitive. And they benefited from oversight so lax that the Education Department’s assistant inspector general in 2003 called for tightened regulation of lender dealings with universities. At Indiana University in 2004, for example, Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest student lender, offered $3 million that the university could use for “opportunity loans” to some students if it left the direct loan program. Indiana left the direct loan program but said the $3 million was not the reason; Sallie Mae currently administers their loan program.

N.J. Governor Is Critical After Car Crash – New York Times Gov. Jon S. Corzine remained on a ventilator and was heavily sedated for pain today as he recovered in the hospital following a car accident Thursday in which it appears he was not wearing a seat belt, his spokesman and a doctor said.

His injuries probably wouldn’t be critical if he had worn a seat belt, which is reported that he didn’t have one on. So, after the taxpayers end up with the tab ov his medical bills, will he at least pay the seat belt fine? BTW, I do hope he fully recovers.

Think Progress » White House Claims It Lost RNC Emails “The White House said Wednesday it had mishandled Republican Party-sponsored e-mail accounts used by nearly two dozen presidential aides, resulting in the loss of an undetermined number of e-mails concerning official White House business.” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel “could not say what had been lost, and said the White House is working to recover as many as they can. The White House has now shut off employees’ ability to delete e-mails on the separate accounts, and is briefing staffers on how to better make determinations about when — and when not — to use them, Stanzel said.”

And as one Digg member said: So let me get this straight… All copies off these emails were lost from the RNC host, the senders’ computers, the receives’ computers, the originating servers, the destination servers, every Blackberry and cell phone which received copies, AND the archive system?

So with all the modern governance compliance archiving system out there, the White House managed to loose undelete-able messages from a permanent archive system? Sorry, I must cry Bullshit on this one. Sounds like just criminal activity here.

So I get my proxy notice in the mail form one of the companies in which I hold stock. A certain telecom company. In the section for voting by mail, the board recommends a vot AGAINST the following:

1. elimination of stock options
2. an advisory vote on executive compensation
3. reporting on charitable contributions
4. shareholder approval of future severance agreements
5. limits on the service of outside boards
6. disclosure on compensation consultants
7. shareholder approval of future poison pills

All these steps are designed to provide transparency of the board and executives to the shareholders, the owners of the company. But for some reason, the board and it’s chairman, who is also the CEO of the company, is against measures that should be rightfully given to the shareholders. Right now, we have unchecked executive compensation, no disclosure on compensation consultants who recommend compensation, and a host of other issues that leave shareholders in the dark.
Once again, I fully believe that no CEO or other executive within a company, should also have a board seat, let alone being the chairman. It’s the role of the board to ensure and watch over the CEO. How can that be done when the CEO controls the board? Essentially, they’re puppets.

Oh yeah, I’ll help promote it. Soon, no more absurd telco charges for information when you already pay for a service. Google is my way of sticking it to the man.

Google Voice Local Search Welcome to Google Voice Local Search Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone. To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone. Using this service, you can: * search for a local business by name or category. You can say "Giovanni’s Pizzeria" or just "pizza". * get connected to the business, free of charge. * get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone. Just say "text message". And it’s free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider. Note: Google Voice Local Search is still in its experimental stage. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We’re fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing your requests. It’s currently only available in English, in the US, for US business listings.

Yup, the new face of executive pay run amok. Now at Ford. $28M in total comp for four months of work, while the company he manages looses $12 Billion (too high for even Dr. Evil to say). I wonder if I should really care since I’m not a shareholder (probably am somewhere in my mutual funds) and I don’t ever intend on purchasing another Ford vehicle. Maybe some of that money could have gone into designing transmissions that last more than 62000 miles. Now I’m not saying that they guy shouldn’t make all the money he can, but clearly there has to be proper measurement. If you’re hte head of a company and you have a loss for that year, all you should receive is a percentage of your base pay.

In fact, compensation should reflect the true performance of a company. An executive should be paid a percentage of the profits, straight cash, on a quarterly basis when the company reports their earnings. There should be no additional perks, stocks, etc. Simply cash, a percentage of profits. If that exec feels that strongly about the company’s stock, he/she can purchase it from their salary at the regular price.

The next rule, executives can not be members of the board, and the CEO definitely cannot be chairman. Who oversee’s the CEO when he runs the board? Also, board members should not be executives at other companies, especially when it’s in the same industry. For example, the CIO of Verizon shouldn’t be on the board of Sun Microsystems when he’s purchasing Sun servers for his company. Just makes no sense.

Ford CEO Mulally got $28 million for four months on job – Apr. 5, 2007 NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Struggling Ford Motor Co., which posted a record $12.7 billion net loss in 2006, gave its new CEO Alan Mulally $28 million for four months on the job, according to the company’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.

His base salary was $666,667, which works out to annual pay of about $2 million. He also received restricted stock grants, which the company valued at $920,404, as well as 3 million stock options valued at $7.8 million. The stock options are not yet exercisable, and they have an exercise price of $8.28, or about 4 percent above current prices.

Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe. Striking similarities between him and Bush. Highly unpopular, lack credibility, cannot be trusted and leading a country into demise (but not as bas for us obviously). And not this president is seeking another term by running (stealing) the next election.

And what of the rest of the African nations? Don’t they realize that once civil war breaks out in Zimbabwe, they’ll be refugees flooding into their countries, and the violence will most likely spill over into their nations…again?

FBI releases Emmett Till autopsy – USATODAY.com More than half a century after 14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman, his family sat down with federal investigators to discuss the final autopsy on the boy’s exhumed body and to hear about the investigation. The report released Thursday found that Till died of a gunshot wound to the head and that he had broken wrist bones and skull and leg fractures. When his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River in the summer of 1955, the report said, "the crown of his head was just crushed out … and a piece of his skull just fell out." The report also set out a timeline constructed from witness statements, and it said a third man had given a deathbed confession. Roy Bryant, the white woman’s husband, and his half-brother J.W. Milam were charged in Till’s death shortly after the killing but were acquitted by an all-white jury. Both men, now deceased, later confessed in a 1956 interview with Look magazine. According to the new report, Leslie Milam, a relative of the two men, also confessed before he died.

And so, it seems that justice does have color. And like 50 years ago, make no mistake that color has a big role in juries and outcomes, as you have to look no further than the atrocities in the state of Texas where it routinely takes place. Whether it be a white defendant and a white jury, or a black defendant and white jury.

So while this is America, it is still America…..and we must continue to work hard to remove that second part of America. Someday…maybe someday.