Legal

Hugh Son of bloomberg.net reports that AIG continues to push forward more bonus payments (under another name) to an additional 38 "executives" of as much as $4 million. These "executives" earn salaries between $160,000 and $1million. On Nov. 26, Hugh Son of bloomburg.com reported that AIG will pay 130 managers "cash awards" to stay with the firm, including $3 million to retirement services chief Jay Wintrob.

This insider corporate culture of rewarding people for failure has to stop. Does Edward Liddy need to get jail time to think about how WRONG this is? He is responsible for AIG losing $25 BILLION last quarter. I'm certain that this pressure to get the AIG bonus distributed before the next AIG quarterly financial report goes public is because the losses will be astoundingly high. AND REMEMBER, THAT'S OUR MONEY AIG IS SPENDING.

These A.I.G. "executives" have an unrealistic sense of entitlement like W's Mayberry Machiavelli's. They all need to pay back their wild spending and punished for their bad actions. Support Integrity!

Four top AIG executives flipped U.S. taxpayers the bird by spending $86,000 on a partridge hunt at an English country manor as the feds gave their struggling firm billions to stay afloat.

American International Group agreed Thursday to help the New York State attorney general's office recover tens of millions of dollars in improper expenditures, including compensation given to two former top executives.

From the Dept. of You Get The Government You Vote For:

More than 900 cases alleging that government contractors and drugmakers have defrauded taxpayers out of billions of dollars are languishing in a backlog that has built up over the past decade. Many of the cases involve the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising health-care payouts, and privatization of government functions -- all of which offer rich new opportunities to swindle taxpayers.

Army contracts overseer tells of being forced out of his job of 31 years for refusing to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR.

The Good Friday Massacre

A lawsuit was brought on behalf of KBR drivers whose fuel convoy was ambushed on April 2004 in what's known as the Good Friday Massacre. Six drivers were killed. One is still missing and presumed dead. Fifteen were wounded. More on this at Law.com

Department of Defense Oversight - The waste will make any sane American furious.

The Web of Cover Ups

Much more at American Chronicle

Example:

"Constitution in Crisis," a book by Congressman John Conyers, details the Bush Administration's response when contract abuse is made public:

"Bunnatine Greenhouse was the chief contracting officer at the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that has managed much of the reconstruction work in Iraq. In October 2004, Ms. Greenhouse came forward and revealed that top Pentagon officials showed improper favoritism to Halliburton when awarding military contracts to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR). Greenhouse stated that when the Pentagon awarded Halliburton a five-year $7 billion contract, it pressured her to withdraw her objections, actions which she claimed were unprecedented in her experience.

"On June 27, 2005, Ms. Greenhouse testified before Congress, detailing that the contract award process was compromised by improper influence by political appointees, participation by Halliburton officials in meetings where bidding requirements were discussed, and a lack of competition. She stated that the Halliburton contracts represented "the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career." Days before the hearing, the acting general counsel of the Army Corps of Engineers paid Ms. Greenhouse a visit and reportedly let it be known that it would not be in her best interest to appear voluntarily.

"On August 27, 2005, the Army demoted Ms. Greenhouse, removing her from the elite Senior Executive Service and transferring her to a lesser job in the corps' civil works division . As Frank Rich of The New York Times described the situation, '[H]er crime was not obstructing justice but pursuing it by vehemently questioning irregularities in the awarding of some $7 billion worth of no-bid contracts in Iraq to the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown Root.' The demotion was in apparent retaliation for her speaking out against the abuses, even though she previously had stellar reviews and over 20 years of experience in military procurement."

If you want more click here and here and here.

Remember Obama's statement about an "oil company windfall profits tax"? Sounds good to the average guy, right? What is the story behind that message to the oil companies? Get the story here.

http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/04/16/aNewReasonToHateComcast.html

Please read. This is classic anti-customer service.

Oral Roberts University President, Facing Accusations He Misspent College Funds, Resigns

JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS AP News

Nov 23, 2007 23:38 EST

The president of Oral Roberts University, facing accusations he misspent school funds to support a lavish lifestyle, resigned on Friday, officials said.

Richard Roberts' resignation is effective immediately, according to a statement e-mailed from George Pearsons, chairman of the school's Board of Regents. Roberts and the evangelical university have come under fire since three former professors sued last month, alleging wrongful termination. The lawsuit includes allegations of a $39,000 shopping tab at one store for Richard Roberts' wife, Lindsay, a $29,411 Bahamas senior trip on the university jet for one of Roberts' daughters, and a stable of horses for the Roberts children.

Roberts, son of school founder and televangelist Oral Roberts, had been on temporary leave from the university, fighting the accusations against him. The Board of Regents had ordered an outside probe of the school's finances. In a recent interview, Roberts and his wife denied wrongdoing. He has said the lawsuit amounted to "intimidation, blackmail and extortion." On Friday, he said in the statement that he loved the university, of which he became president in 1993.

"I love ORU with all my heart," he said. "I love the students, faculty, staff and administration and I want to see God's best for all of them." The school will not provide additional comment until next week, spokesman Jeremy Burton said. A message left for Roberts' personal attorney wasn't immediately returned.

Gary Richardson, the attorney for the three professors, said, "Those who have seen what we have seen won't have any surprise about the fact that Richard has stepped down." He later said, "There was no option, period." One of the plaintiffs, John Swails, said Roberts "could have spared the university and the students by going ahead and stepping down and admitting his wrongdoing."

The professors also alleged in their lawsuit that Richard Roberts required students in a government class to work on 2006 mayoral candidate Randi Miller's campaign.

Roberts publicly endorsed Miller, but said then that he was doing so as a private citizen and not as an ORU representative. He has denied the lawsuit's claims that he ordered students to work on Miller's campaign.

Professor Tim Brooker, one of the lawsuit plaintiffs, accused the school of forcing him to quit after he warned Roberts that requiring students to work on Miller's campaign jeopardized ORU's tax-exempt status. In the weeks since that lawsuit was filed, others have cropped up, including one from a former senior accountant who alleged that the Robertses ordered him to help them hide improper and illegal financial wrongdoing from the authorities and the public.

"This is good news for the university," said Donald Vance, a professor of biblical languages and literature. "It's time for the Board of Regents to step forward with a strong choice, and I hope they will involve the tenured faculty in the process."

Two weeks ago, Vance joined the majority of tenured faculty in a vote of "no confidence" in Richard Roberts as president, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit.

Cornell Cross II, a senior government major, said the resignation is "an excellent step to fix the university," but believes the school's most trying days lie ahead.

"This is not over, there a lot of things that need to continue," Cross said. "The culture of fear that has been allowed to fester at ORU has to be looked into.

"We still haven't heard any admission of wrongdoing or any kind of humility or contrition," he said.

The school's regents will meet Monday and Tuesday to determine action in the search process for a new president, Pearsons said in the statement. Executive Regent Billy Joe Daugherty will assume the president's administrative responsibilities, working with Oral Roberts until the regents' meeting, the college said.

Former ORU Regent Harry McNevin, who quit the board in 1987 because of the misspending he alleged he witnessed, called the resignation "inevitable." "You can't take the sacrifices of God's people and use them any old way," he said. "It's been 20 years that they've been doing the same things that I became aware of."

Source: AP News

Background: It's good to have faith

It gives people comfort to have faith in a god and to believe in the unbelievable. But that also means the faithful believers are not completely understanding of the real world. It's an often told and still sad story that, when exposed, certain "leaders" have used religion to personally benefit themselves, their family, and friends. I urge all people of faith to demand transparency and accountability from their leaders. If the leaders are doing nothing wrong then there should be no reason to not be accountable. Is there?

The Robert's family, like pigs at a trough. CBS News

You can read or download the pdf titled:
Scandal Vulnerability Assesment, Oral Roberts University, Oral Roberts Ministries.

It is an internal investigation of potential ares of leagal and/or financial issues in the university and ministry.