endlesschatter

1.88

March 23rd, 2009 | Tags: gas | Category: Gas and Such | Leave a comment

1.79

March 19th, 2009 | Tags: gas | Category: Gas and Such | Leave a comment

I remember her in “The Parent Trap”…

Natasha Richardson Dead At 45

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Natasha Richardson Dead At 45

Two days after a freak ski accident in Canada, Natasha Richardson passed away in New York on Wednesday at the age of 45.

From the AP:

Alan Nierob, the Los Angeles-based publicist for Richardson’s husband Liam Neeson, confirmed her death in a written statement.

“Liam Neeson, his sons (Micheal, 13, and 12-year-old Daniel), and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha,” the statement said. “They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”

The statement did not give details on the cause of death for Richardson, who suffered a head injury and fell on a beginner’s trail during a private ski lesson at the luxury Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec. Seemingly fine after the fall, about an hour later she complained that she didn’t feel well.

She was hospitalized Tuesday in Montreal and later flown to a hospital in New York, where family members had been seen coming and going.

Richardson married Liam Neeson in 1994 and together they have two sons, splitting their time between an apartment in New York City and a farm in Millbrook, NY. She is the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and the late Tony Richardson and the sister of actress Joely Richardson.

Richardson, who was supposedly brain dead Tuesday when flown to New York, was reportedly taken off life support earlier Wednesday. Initially she got up and walk away laughing from the crash, only complaining hours later of feeling sick.

March 19th, 2009 | Tags: actors, death, Entertainment, people | Category: Open | Leave a comment

Not much to say, the news in and of itself, makes comments almost inane.

If I was basically bankrupt, how is it that I could pay out bonuses to people when I don’t have the funds to make even the utility payments? AGI is saying they HAVE TO pay out these bonuses… but if they don’t have the money to make these payments (bonuses), then how can they make them?

Lets get something right. First off, I’m not in the upper management of where I work, hell, the cleaning staff make more than me… but if I was suppose to get a bonus, but the business couldn’t afford it, I wouldn’t be getting that bonus. And when the company is giving these bonuses out of money that was given to them to make their business solvent… what he hell am I doing wrong???

Not only am I not getting a bonus to begin with (let alone a cost of living increase), but our government is paying these bonuses. Talk about sending in good money after bad.

The Associated Press: Millions in AIG bonuses draw chorus of outrage

Millions in AIG bonuses draw chorus of outrage

4 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of the White House economic team and the Senate’s top Republican bellowed about bonuses at a bailed-out insurance giant and pledged to prevent such payments in the future.

From one Sunday talk show to the next, they tore into the contracts that American International Group asserted had to be honored, to the tune of about $165 million and payable to executives by Sunday — part of a larger total payout reportedly valued at $450 million. The company has benefited from more than $170 billion in a federal rescue.

AIG has agreed to Obama administration requests to restrain future payments. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed the president’s case with AIG’s chairman, Edward Liddy, last week.

“He stepped in and berated them, got them to reduce the bonuses following every legal means he has to do this,” said Austan Goolsbee, staff director of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

“I don’t know why they would follow a policy that’s really not sensible, is obviously going to ignite the ire of millions of people, and we’ve done exactly what we can do to prevent this kind of thing from happening again,” Goolsbee said.

Added Lawrence Summers, Obama’s top economic adviser: “The easy thing would be to just say … off with their heads, violate the contracts. But you have to think about the consequences of breaking contracts for the overall system of law, for the overall financial system.”

Summers said Geithner used all his power, “both legal and moral, to reduce the level of these bonus payments.”

The Democratic administration’s argument about the sanctity of contracts was more than Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky could bear.

“For them to simply sit there and blame it on the previous administration or claim contract — we all know that contracts are valid in this country, but they need to be looked at,” McConnell said. “Did they enter into these contracts knowing full well that, as a practical matter, the taxpayers of the United States were going to be reimbursing their employees? Particularly employees who got them into this mess in the first place? I think it’s an outrage.”

In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not address the bonuses but expressed his frustration with the AIG intervention.

“It makes me angry. I slammed the phone more than a few times on discussing AIG,” Bernanke said. “It’s — it’s just absolutely — I understand why the American people are angry. It’s absolutely unfair that taxpayer dollars are going to prop up a company that made these terrible bets — that was operating out of the sight of regulators, but which we have no choice but to stabilize, or else risk enormous impact, not just in the financial system, but on the whole U.S. economy.”

AIG reported this month that it had lost $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history.

In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy said outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so.

Liddy said in his letter that “quite frankly, AIG’s hands are tied,” although he said that in light of the company’s current situation he found it “distasteful and difficult” to recommend going forward with the payments.

March 16th, 2009 | Category: Featured, Open | Leave a comment

Strange between 1.75 to 1.69… the locations I normally use as a guide are at 1.75

March 16th, 2009 | Tags: gas | Category: Gas and Such | Leave a comment

While not one of my favorite actors, he was certainly one I would recognize in a crowd. His part will be missed.

RON SILVER DEAD – New York Post

Actor and longtime political activist Ron Silver died Sunday morning, succumbing to a long battle with cancer, friends of the liberal Democrat-turned-GOP stalwart told The Post.

“Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him this morning,” said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver helped create.

“He had been fighting esophageal cancer for two years and his family is making arrangements for a private service.”

Friends of Silver first told Post columnist Cindy Adams of the native New Yorker’s death.

The steely-eyed, blunt-talking Silver, 62, enjoyed a long career on the stage, TV and in movies, and most recently hosted a public affairs talk show on Sirius satellite radio.

Once a self-identified lifelong Democrat, Silver was a founding member of the liberal-leaning Creative Coalition in 1989. But he made a breathtaking political transformation, going from far left to radical right after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, enthusiastically backing a second term for President Bush.

“Twelve years ago I was here for the Democratic convention. I was on the platform committee. Zell Miller was the keynote speaker. A lot’s changed since then, I can tell you,” a chuckling Silver told The Washington Post.

“If you asked me on September 10, 2001, would I consider going to the Republican National Convention and speaking, I would have thought you were from another planet and didn’t know who I was.”

Silver’s last public appearance came on “Larry King Live” in late October just before last year’s presidential election.

The actor seemed to be swinging slightly back to the left, and took a moderate, down-the-line stance on then-Sen. Barack Obama’s race with GOP rival John McCain.

March 16th, 2009 | Tags: actors, death, Entertainment, Movies, people | Category: Entertainment, Open | Leave a comment

He was a good actor and until I read some of the other shows he had been on I hadn’t realized I had seen him except in Monk. There were probably hundreds of shows he could have done that he will never now do.

Stanley Kamel – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born and raised in South River, New Jersey, Kamel attended Rutgers Preparatory School. He started his acting career off Broadway, and broke into television with a role in Days of Our Lives as Eric Peters.

In his thirty years of professional acting, Kamel was a guest star on well over eighty television shows, including Mission: Impossible (his first television role, for which he went uncredited), Mod Squad, McMillan & Wife, Kojak, Quincy, M.E., Charlie’s Angels, Mork & Mindy, Three’s Company, Cagney & Lacey, Knight Rider, LA Law, Mr. Belvedere, Matlock, The Golden Girls, MacGyver, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210, ER, 7th Heaven, NYPD Blue, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Murder One, Dark Angel, Six Feet Under, The West Wing and Monk. In addition to guest starring on dozens of television series, his film work included Domino, Inland Empire, and The Urn.

He was most recently known for his role as Dr. Kroger in the popular USA Network television show Monk playing the infinitely patient and ever supportive psychiatrist to the main character Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub).

On April 8, 2008, Kamel was found dead in his Hollywood Hills home. Police investigators ruled that the cause of death was a heart attack. He was 65.

The Monk episode “Mr. Monk Buys a House” was dedicated in his memory.

March 8th, 2009 | Tags: actors, death, Entertainment, people | Category: Entertainment, Open | Leave a comment

1.79

March 4th, 2009 | Tags: gas | Category: Gas and Such | Leave a comment

03/03/2009 – Ex-StL officer guilty of illicitly obtaining information – STLtoday.com

Ex-StL officer guilty of illicitly obtaining information
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/03/2009

St. Louis — A former St. Louis police officer pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge, admitting she illegally used a law enforcement database to help a friend find out whether a secret arrest warrant had been issued.

Marla A. Arinze, 43, of St. Louis, was overheard on a wiretap in another criminal case agreeing to run a name through the REJIS database to search for immigration warrants, according to court testimony.

Arinze admitted checking on a name for Ghandi Hisham Hamed, who is currently facing a charge in a multidefendant racketeering conspiracy, bank fraud and stolen property case. Federal officials say that members of the “Hamed Organization,” headed by Bassam H. “Sam” Hamed of Florissant, were transferring money to “entities” in the Palestinian territories.

Defense lawyers insist their clients were simply sending money back to help relatives at home.

Ghandi Hamed’s lawyer, Larry Hale, declined to comment.

Arinze now faces probation or up to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines for the felony charge, unauthorized access to a protected computer.

She resigned from the force while under investigation by the internal affairs unit. The investigation began after the FBI notified the department about the allegations.

Arinze graduated from the Police Academy in 1993 and worked in homicide and the city’s 3rd, 4th and 9th districts.

In 2006, a former St. Louis officer was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for using REJIS to help the boss of a heroin ring identify a possible informer.

March 3rd, 2009 | Tags: idiots, people, police, stupid people | Category: Open | Leave a comment