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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (8928)	3/3/2005 11:42:33 AM
From: James Calladine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 363082

Paraphrased, that quote means: "How can you say that we have completed our looting of the Public Purse when we left Social Security alone? We have our theme now: Let freedom ring! Give the young workers a chance to invest DIRECTLY in America and reap the gigantic rewards they will get, instead of having Social Security just piss it all away in low-yield NOTHING. Workers of the world, do not unite. Just let us fleece you quietly as you go to your solitary and despicable death. Maybe Social Security will cover your funeral. Maybe not." Sorry, did I say "fleece you"? I meant to say "Help you get your piece of the American Dream". Namaste! Jim

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (8928)	3/3/2005 11:49:44 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 363082

If it walks like a duct... Tom Ridge and the Department of HomeDepotLand Security Remember duct tape mania? In February 2003, Tom Ridge's Department of Homeland Security recommended obtaining duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal a house in the event of a chemical or biological attack or disaster. The advice triggered a national debate, and also a run on America's home improvement stores. Here's a CNN story from that month: A Lowe's hardware store in Alexandria, Virginia, said every roll of duct tape has been sold. Another Alexandria Home Depot store reported sales of duct tape tripled overnight. "Everything that was on that newscast, we are selling a lot of it," said Rich Pierce with a Home Depot in the D.C. area. In fact, CBS Marketwatch reports that Home Depot soon "went so far as to set up special Homeland Security displays nears it entrances to tout sales of duct tape, plastic sheeting, batteries and bottled water, among other safe-room supplies. " And last August, this blogger found unscientific evidence that Home Depot stock went up every time that Ridge raised the nation's terror alert code to Orange, which (in what would have to be a coincidence, right?) is also the color of the Home Depot logo. The duct tape furor was two years ago. Ridge -- who used to be our governor here in Pennsylvania -- has left the Bush administration, insisting that he wasn't earning enough on his $175,700 annual salary to pay for his two teenagers to attend college. Well, all we can say is....is this a great country, or what?!!! Because just a month after leaving office, Ridge has found himself a gig that involves some good money, not that much work, and probably some stock options to boot. This week, Ridge was named one of the 13 members of the board of directors of the world's largest home improvement company...Home Depot. "Tom Ridge served his country with great distinction, and we are honored to have him join our board, where we expect that his unique global experience and perspective will make a profound contribution to our company and our shareholders," said Bob Nardelli, chairman, president and CEO. Oddly enough, in a move that could only be described as Gannonesque, none of the financial journalists who wrote about the Home Depot-Ridge move was impertinent enough to ask what the former Cabinet member might earn in this gig. So Attytood did some research, and found this story from October 2003: Home Depot's board members are paid an annual retainer of $90,000. On top of that, directors receive $2,000 for attending a board meeting and $1,000 for committee meetings. The company pays an additional $5,000 to chairmen of any of its committees, except for the audit committee, whose chairman gets $10,000. So there you have it, folks -- the company that make a killing on Ridge terror alerts (the only killing that took place, we might note...gratefully, of course) is now paying Ridge in the ballpark of $100,000, plus options, before his Cabinet chair has even cooled down. Does this deal stink? If it walks like a duct... pnionline.com