RePUBLICan TV? Has Chairman Tomlinson, a Republican, though appointed by big Dem Willie J—God knows why—been dishing out secret money to Republican snoops and lobbyists to slant programming to the right? Looks like he has, and unless someone makes a whole lot of noise, we'll soon be viewing the Rove Cheney Rumsfeld Rice back to the Bible hour reality TV show for new military recruits, the religious right, and the NRA. God Help Elmo and America!
$120 Billion Reward for Killing Americans! That's how much a former tobacco legal big now in the Justice Department, a good pal of W's, ordered career lawyers to reduce penalties against big tobacco, from $130 billion to $10 billion. Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, but someone in Washington is blowing a lot of smoke up our collective asses.
Jack the Ripper Establishes Humanities Chair at Oxford Not really, but Bristol Myers Squibb, one of the companies of the oligopoly that sucks our wallets dry, in addition to a $300 million settlement for cooking the books, will establish an endowed business ethics chair at Seton Hall University. Question: Do we really and truly want our future business leaders learning business ethics courtesy of companies that constantly spit in the eye of the law? Have them endow a 'business crooks slammer survival' chair instead.
GM Gets the FINGER Gettelfinger that is. Ron Gettelfinger, UAW's head honcho, tells profit immune GM ix-nay on changes before the UAW contract expires in 2007, and lowering health benefits of hourly workers to match those of salaried employees got about as much response as calling a nurse to dump your bedpan.
Bank Service Charge - $8.7 Billion? Cost of check writing going up? How about other fees? Yep, they sure are. J .P. Morgan Chase and Citicorp ponied up $4.2 billion to Enron investors. That's on top of the $4.5 billion they paid to WorldCom investors. Bob and Ted's Friendly Community Bank and Trust, totally free checking, is beginning to look better all the time.
These Two Businessmen Go Into A Bar…They weren't drunk, it just seemed like it. A lot of 90's mergers financed with air dollars are coming unstuck. Viacom is splitting in two, doubtless anxious to cash in on CBS's current ratings surge; Morgan Stanley is rethinking Dean Wittier (like that's a surprise), and Time Warner should drop kick AOL into the next millennium. The divestiture game is afoot, watch for more, and then it'll start all over again, just as it always has.
Holy HELLiburton Batman! Hold your nose on this one. Treatment of inmates at the American prison at Guantanamo, under attack by Amnesty International (Bush called their report absurd), and a host of others sources like Time and Business Week and now even the United States Congress, was staunchly defended earlier this week by Veep Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton, and his chief bum boy Rummy Rumsfeld. Well guess who the Pentagon yesterday picked to build a second prison at camp Gitmo? Yep, Halliburton, for $30MM. I warned you: this one stinks even for D.C.