IRS employees with tax and conduct issues still got awards, watchdog report finds

IRS employees who had been disciplined for tax and conduct issues were nonetheless rewarded with monetary awards or time off.

Over 2,800 employees who had been disciplined for conduct problems, including issues with federal tax compliance, had received monetary awards and time-off awards. 

The IRS said in a statement it has already developed a new policy linking conduct and performance bonuses for executives and senior level employees.


IRS employees with tax and conduct issues still got awards, watchdog report finds

By FoxNews.com | 04/23/14

IRS employees who had been disciplined for tax and conduct issues were nonetheless rewarded with monetary awards or time off, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday.

The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that while for the most part the reward program for IRS workers complied with federal regulations, employees who had themselves failed to pay their federal taxes and had discipline problems were also rewarded. 

Medicaid paid $12 million for deceased people in Illinois, documents show

Surprise, surprise - no is watching the store!

No response from the governor.  No resaponse from the agencies involved.

This data was only made public because of a Freedom of Information Act request.



Medicaid paid $12 million for deceased people in Illinois, documents show

By Associated Press | 04/18/14

The Illinois Medicaid program paid an estimated $12 million for medical services for people listed as deceased in other state records, according to an internal state government memo.

The memo dated Friday, which The Associated Press obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, says the state auditor compared clients enrolled in the Medicaid database last June with state death records dating back to 1970. Auditors identified overpayments for services to roughly 2,900 people after the date of their deaths.

The heads of the departments of Healthcare and Family Services and Human Services, the two state agencies involved with Medicaid payments, outline steps to fix the problem in the memo to their senior staffs.

Teen punished for recording alleged bullying wants policy changes, not 'heads to roll'

A Pa. teenager made an audio recording of alleged bullying.

School officials forced him to delete the recording and called the police alleging a violation of wiretapping laws.

He was later convicted of disorderly conduct and fined $25 plus court costs.

Teen punished for recording alleged bullying wants policy changes, not 'heads to roll'

By Joshua Rhett Miller | FoxNews.com | 04/15/14

A Pennsylvania teenager convicted of disorderly conduct for recording his alleged tormenters in class wants changes to the district’s zero tolerance policy rather than the wishes of his mother, who wants “heads to roll” for the incident.

Shea Love, 40, said her 15-year-old son, Christian, had long been victimized by fellow students in his special education math class at South Fayette High School in McDonald, Pa. So the frustrated sophomore made an audio recording of the alleged bullying using his iPad, which school officials forced him to delete upon learning of the 7-minute segment in February. He was later convicted of disorderly conduct and fined $25 plus court costs.

“What I want is for heads to roll,” Love told FoxNews.com. “But he said to me, ‘Mom, it might make you feel better if people get fired, but that won’t change anything.’ He said there needs to be more compassion for people and changes to the zero tolerance policy. I want people’s heads to roll, but my son doesn’t and I have to respect his wishes.”

U.S. consumer confidence near six-year high, home prices rise

U.S. consumer confidence dipped in April but remained near a six-year high, while home prices rose in February, suggesting the economy continued to regain momentum after a winter lull.

The monthly price increase mirrored the one in January, while prices were up 12.9 percent from a year ago, compared with a year-on-year gain of 13.2 percent in January.

Data last week showed sales of new U.S. single-family homes tumbled to their lowest level in eight months in March, dashing hopes for a quick turnaround in the sector.

U.S. consumer confidence near six-year high, home prices rise

By Rodrogo Campos and Ryan Vlastelica | Reuters | 04/29/14

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence dipped in April but remained near a six-year high, while home prices rose in February, suggesting the economy continued to regain momentum after a winter lull.

The Conference Board said its index of consumer attitudes dipped to 82.3, the second-highest reading since
January 2008, from an upwardly revised 83.9 in March.

An unusually cold and snowy winter disrupted economic activity early in the year.

The expectations index rose to its highest since August, hitting 84.9 in April from an upwardly revised 84.8 in March, while the present situation index fell to 78.3 versus an upwardly revised 82.5 last month.

Emails Show Susan Rice Prepped To Lie By White House

Ambassador Susan Rice was coached by a key White House aide to lie and ignore the facts known and reported on the ground to make the administration look good.

One of the goals listed in the emails was the need for Rice "to underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure or policy."

The question of how the video story was concocted out of whole cloth, by whom and why, and why it was trumpeted by Rice, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama himself with such fervor at the United Nations has remained unanswered until now.

Emails Show Susan Rice Prepped To Lie By White House

IBD Editorials | Investors Business Daily | 04/29/14

Scandal: Newly obtained emails on Benghazi show then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice was coached by a key White House aide to lie and ignore the facts known and reported on the ground to make the administration look good.

The fish rots from the head, as the saying goes, and no further proof is needed than a Sept. 14, 2012, email from Ben Rhodes, an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, contained in more than 100 pages of documents released by Judicial Watch and obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request.

That email, with the subject line: "RE: PREP Call with Susan: Saturday at 4:00 p.m. ET," was sent to other key White House staffers such as then-Communications Director David Plouffe and Press Secretary Jay Carney the day before now-National Security Adviser Susan Rice made her whirlwind tour on five Sunday news show appearances to specifically and emphatically blame an Internet video for the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, in which U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other nationals were killed.

10 Small Money Moves That Will Make a Big Difference

10 Small Money Moves That Will Make a Big Difference

By Allison Martin | MoneyTalksNews | 04/02/14

How much time do you spend on your finances each week? A couple of hours? Or do you rarely spend any time at all?

Many shy away from what appears to be a daunting task for a number of reasons, including fear, time constraints and, in some cases, laziness.

Regardless of which excuse, if any, applies to you, one thing’s for certain: Choosing to be involved can save you a ton of time, money and headaches in the long run.

I’ve heard over and over that if you take care of your money, it’ll take care of you. Unfortunately, the saying goes both ways. If you refuse to get your financial house in order, there’s a strong chance that it may eventually come crashing down. Don’t believe me? Just think about those individuals who were once wealthy, but lost it all.

1. Modify your spending habits

This one is a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many individuals complain about not having enough money to make ends meet, yet refuse to cut back on variable expenses. Can’t think of anything to cut back on? How about those quick runs to the nearest fast-food joint, frequent movie nights, daily trips to Starbucks or cable upgrades, just to name a few?

You can also improve your spending habits by shopping smarter. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Buy secondhand. Craigslist and garage sales are my best friends when I’m searching for big-ticket items because I simply refuse to pay full price. In fact, I’ve saved over 50 percent in some instances on items that would have easily cost more than $1,000 in the store.
• Bargain shop. You can also reduce your spending drastically by avoiding full-priced items in the store. I can’t remember the last time I paid retail for a piece of clothing; the clearance rack is my best friend. This may seem difficult initially, but the best way to avoid temptation is to embed in your brain the following: “If it’s not on sale or clearance, I’m not buying it.” Sounds corny, but it works!
• Never pay full price. As I said before, avoid the regular-priced racks altogether. Also, check online for promotional offers and check the store policies to see if they allow price matching. (You may have to dig deep because some retailers don’t openly advertise their policy.)

Social Security, Treasury target taxpayers for their parents’ decades-old debts

• The U.S. government has decided that it is going after the overpayment of funds made to individuals and families.  I applaud this action.

• However, it is confiscating money from relatives, which is contrary to much of what the government has said and done in the past.  Not good.

• The Federal Trade Commission, on its Web site, advises Americans that “family members typically are not obligated to pay the debts of a deceased relative from their own assets.

• Treasury officials say that before they will take someone’s refund, the agency owed the money must certify the debt, meaning there must be evidence of the overpayment.  They provided no evidence.

• A Social Security spokeswoman... said that before taking any money, Social Security makes “multiple attempts to contact debtors via the U.S. Mail and by phone.”  They did not make contact.

Social Security, Treasury target taxpayers for their parents’ decades-old debts

By Marc Fisher | The Washington Post | 04/10/14

A few weeks ago, with no notice, the U.S. government intercepted Mary Grice’s tax refunds from both the IRS and the state of Maryland. Grice had no idea that Uncle Sam had seized her money until some days later, when she got a letter saying that her refund had gone to satisfy an old debt to the government — a very old debt.

When Grice was 4, back in 1960, her father died, leaving her mother with five children to raise. Until the kids turned 18, Sadie Grice got survivor benefits from Social Security to help feed and clothe them.

Now, Social Security claims it overpaid someone in the Grice family — it’s not sure who — in 1977. After 37 years of silence, four years after Sadie Grice died, the government is coming after her daughter. Why the feds chose to take Mary’s money, rather than her surviving siblings’, is a mystery.

Across the nation, hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who are expecting refunds this month are instead getting letters like the one Grice got, informing them that because of a debt they never knew about — often a debt incurred by their parents — the government has confiscated their check.

Window closing on world’s ability to meet global warming targets: UN study

• World powers are running out of time to slash their use of high-polluting fossil fuels and stay below agreed limits on global warming, a draft UN study to be approved this week shows.

• It says nations will have to impose drastic curbs on their still rising greenhouse gas emissions to keep a promise made by almost 200 countries in 2010 to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times.

• Temperatures have already risen by about 0.8 C since 1900 and are set to breach the 2 C ceiling on current trends in coming decades, UN reports show.

Window closing on world’s ability to meet global warming targets: UN study

By Alister Doyle | The Globe and Mail | 04/06/14

World powers are running out of time to slash their use of high-polluting fossil fuels and stay below agreed limits on global warming, a draft UN study to be approved this week shows.

Government officials and top climate scientists will meet in Berlin from April 7-12 to review the 29-page draft that also estimates the needed shift to low-carbon energies would cost between two and six per cent of world output by 2050.

It says nations will have to impose drastic curbs on their still rising greenhouse gas emissions to keep a promise made by almost 200 countries in 2010 to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times.

Temperatures have already risen by about 0.8 C since 1900 and are set to breach the 2 C ceiling on current trends in coming decades, UN reports show.

“The window is shutting very rapidly on the 2 degrees target,” said Johan Rockstrom, head of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and an expert on risks to the planet from heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising seas.
“The debate is drifting to ‘maybe we can adapt to 2 degrees, maybe 3 or even 4’,” Rockstrom, who was not among authors of the draft, told Reuters.

Personal Finance 101

Quiz: What You Don’t Know Could Cost You

By Christie McFarland | The Country Financial Security Blog | 03/17/14

The results are in! This month, we tested Americans’ personal finance knowledge and found they need to spend more time studying if they want to earn a passing grade.

See how your personal finance knowledge stacks up, take our personal finance 101 quiz here:

How much do citizens trust their state government?

How much does your state trust the government?

By Aaron Blake  The Washington Post  004/04/14

To see a map and a list of trust in government, by state, click here.

Just 28 percent of voters in Illinois have trust in their state's government -- by far the lowest number in the United States.

The scandal-plagued state -- four of its last seven governors have wound up in jail -- ranks the lowest in trust in government by 12 points, according to a new Gallup poll. The next least-trusting citizens are in another state known for its scandals, Rhode Island, and Maine (40 percent each).

By contrast, about three-fourths of voters in North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming say they trust their government. Those three rank the highest among all 50 states.

Below are the most trustful and least trustful states. You'll notice that the most trustful states are all red states (12 of the top 13, in fact), while the seven least trustful are blue states -- the lone exception being Louisiana.

To see a map and a list of trust in government, by state, click here.

6 Ways to Save on Basic Car Maintenance

Understanding how to fix a car is a valuable skill, but not everyone has the time to devote to it. Here are 6 simple tips that can save you money on car repairs when you pay someone else to do it


6 Ways to Save on Basic Car Maintenance

By Grayson Bell  Country Financial Security Blog  03/04/14

I’ve been doing my own minor car repairs for years. Ever since my brother became a mechanic, I was fascinated with how cars worked. After years of learning from him, I decided to start doing my own car maintenance. It’s been over 13 years since I first turned a wrench on my car.

Understanding how to fix a car is a valuable skill, but not everyone has the time to devote to it. Here are 6 simple tips that can save you money on car repairs when you pay someone else to do it:

Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media

Pulitzer Prize winner explains how to fix journalism, saying press should 'fire 90% of editors and promote ones you can't control'

He says investigative journalism in the US is being killed by the crisis of confidence, lack of resources and a misguided notion of what the job entails

The Obama administration lies systematically, he claims, yet none of the leviathans of American media, the TV networks or big print titles, challenge him


Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media

The Guardian Media Blog

Seymour Hersh has got some extreme ideas on how to fix journalism – close down the news bureaus of NBC and ABC, sack 90% of editors in publishing and get back to the fundamental job of journalists which, he says, is to be an outsider.

It doesn't take much to fire up Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the 1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist".

He is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth.

Don't even get him started on the New York Times which, he says, spends "so much more time carrying water for Obama than I ever thought they would" – or the death of Osama bin Laden. "Nothing's been done about that story, it's one big lie, not one word of it is true," he says of the dramatic US Navy Seals raid in 2011 [see footnote].

White House defends 'Cuban Twitter' to stir unrest

The Obama administration on Thursday defended its creation of a Twitter-like Cuban communications network

It is unclear whether the scheme was legal under U.S. law, which requires written authorization of covert action by the president as well as congressional notification

The estimated $1.6 million spent on ZunZuneo was publicly earmarked for an unspecified project in Pakistan, public government data show, but those documents don't reveal where the funds were actually spent

For more than two years, ZunZuneo grew, reaching at least 40,000 subscribers. But documents reveal the team found evidence Cuban officials tried to trace the text messages and break into the ZunZuneo system. USAID told the AP that ZunZuneo stopped in September 2012 when a government grant ended

ZunZuneo vanished abruptly in 2012, and the Communist Party remains in power — no Cuban Spring on the horizon

White House defends 'Cuban Twitter' to stir unrest

By Desmond Butler, Jack Gillum and Alberto Arce  Associated Press 04/03/14

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Thursday defended its creation of a Twitter-like Cuban communications network to undermine the communist government, declaring the secret program was "invested and debated" by Congress and wasn't a covert operation that required White House approval.

But two senior Democrats on congressional intelligence and judiciary committees said they had known nothing about the effort, which one of them described as "dumb, dumb, dumb." A showdown with that senator's panel is expected next week, and the Republican chairman of a House oversight subcommittee said that it, too, would look into the program.

An Associated Press investigation found that the network was built with secret shell companies and financed through foreign banks. The project, which lasted more than two years and drew tens of thousands of subscribers, sought to evade Cuba's stranglehold on the Internet with a primitive social media platform.

First, the network was to build a Cuban audience, mostly young people. Then, the plan was to push them toward dissent.

Obama lands in Belgium with entourage of 900 and 45 armored vehicles for ONE night only costing THEM $10.4 million in security

President Obama's 24-hour stay in Brussels is costing Belgium $10.4 million in extra security
He has arrived with a 900-strong entourage and 45 vehicles transported in three cargo planes
Has made a conspicuous show of diplomatic force since arriving in Europe for a round of summits on Sunday
German foreign minister said Putin has 'opened Pandora's Box' in Crimea

Indeed, presidential trips set the taxpayer back enormously. The Washington Post reported in June 2013, that the Obama family trip to Africa cost the government anywhere between $60 and $100 million

Obama lands in Belgium with entourage of 900 and 45 armored vehicles for ONE night only costing THEM $10.4 million in security

By James Nye  The Daily Mail  03/25/14

It is going to cost Brussels $10.4 million to host Barack Obama on his first presidential visit to the Belgian capital.

Even for the headquarters of the European Union and NATO the astronomical sum has raised eyebrows - especially as President Obama intends on spending only 24 hours in the historic city.

Bringing with him a personal diplomatic and security entourage of 900 people and three cargo planes carrying 45 vehicles, the visit is also being policed by 350 police and military on motorbikes to secure the president's routes to EU and NATO summits on Wednesday.

The president has been conspicuously projecting American power during his tour of Europe - arriving in Amsterdam on Monday flanked by a squadron of Marine-Corp gunships.

The show of force was undeniably for the benefit of Russian President Putin who has angered the international community with his unilateral annexation of Crimea.

The President landed on Tuesday night in Air Force One and was escorted in his armored car, nicknamed 'The Beast' to his hotel in the upmarket Toison d'Or shopping district.

Advanced security teams have already combed every inch of Brussels, including the sewers and all major hospitals have been briefed.

But for a city that hosts at least four EU summits a year that witness the visit of British, French and German leaders, this is expensive.

Usually those summits cost Brussels $690,000, 'But this time round, you can multiply that figure by 20,' said Brussels mayor, Yvan Mayeur.

Google encrypts Gmail in an attempt to make it 'NSA proof' and stop mass surveillance

All messages sent and received through Gmail are now encrpyted, making them extremely difficult to intercept

Move follows revelations in documents leaked last year by Edward Snowden that spy agency can look at private messages

In the first half of 2013, Google received 25,879 requests for user information from federal government and courts


Google encrypts Gmail in an attempt to make it 'NSA proof' and stop mass surveillance

By Daily Mail Reporter  The Daily Mail  03/22/14

Amid revelations that the National Security Agency has the ability to intercept data going between servers and other computers, tech giant Google now says it will encrypt all messages sent through its Gmail email service to prevent prying eyes from looking at private messages.

In a blog post made Thursday by head Gmail security engineer Nicolas Lidzborski, Google said that every time a user checks or sent email, it will be encryped as the data goes to and from Google's servers.

Although Google has given Gmail users the ability to sign into their accouints through an encrypted connection (known as HTTPS) since 2010, Gmail will now automatically default users to the more secure network.

'In addition, every single email message you send or receive—100 percent of them—is encrypted while moving internally,' the post reads. 'This ensures that your messages are safe not only when they move between you and Gmail's servers, but also as they move between Google's data centers—something we made a top priority after last summer’s revelations.'