AIG Starts "Rebranding" Effort

I expected this to happen, but it's just happening a little quicker than I expected. AIG Corporation has decided that there's just too many negative connotations to it's current name, and they have begun a process to "rebrand" the corporation. They hope a new name will help to bring back some customers -- because who wants to say they're doing business with AIG?

Here in Amarillo, the AIG signs have already come down. If you drive by the corporation's local offices, you won't see any signs that say AIG. I expect new signs with a new name will go up in a few days (or weeks).

John Pulhowski, spokesman for AIG Retirement Services, said, "AIG announced a major restructuring earlier this month that will help position its businesses, like AIG Annuity, to run more independently and our decision to remove signage from our buildings reflects the strategy. We expect by June 1 of this year AIG Annuity will be rebranded to a familiar name, Western National Life."

Western National Life. That doesn't sound anything like AIG, does it? I expect it will fool a lot of people, especially after things settle down a little bit. Can't say I blame the company though.

Right now, I would rather do business with the Bush-Madoff Bubonic Plague Memorial House of Thievery, Scams and Pyramid Schemes than spend a penny with AIG.

Not A Fun Game

Political Cartoon is by Daryl Cagle at msnbc.com.

Incredible Stupidity Of Leo Berman

State Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) continues to amaze me with his breath-taking stupidity. We already knew he was a racist immigrant basher. He has been the author of several unconstitutional bills directed at immigrants with brown skin. He has even written one that would deny citizenship to those born in the United States, if there parents were brown-skinned and born south of our border.

Then he gets into a public argument with a Asian-American journalist whose questions were evidently a little too tough. Berman basically told him to go back to China. The journalist later apologized, but Berman refused to do the same. He seemed to be proud of his inexcusable behavior. There is a movement afoot to have Berman censured in the Texas House over this incident.

Now Berman is trying to make higher education in Texas a national laughing-stock. Several months ago, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) refused to grant the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) the right to grant a Masters Degree in science for creationism. Obviously, granting ICR such a right would degrade the value of all higher education science degrees in Texas.

Creationism is religion -- not science, and those who believe in it can get all the degrees they want in theology. But that is not good enough for them. Their purpose is not to grant degrees, but destroy the teaching of real science in Texas and replace it with religion. If the state recognized a science degree in creationism, this would mean schools in Texas could hire those with the degree as science teachers.

Well, Berman got upset because ICR can't grant Masters Degrees in Science, so he has now filed a bill in the Texas House (HB2800) that would exempt them from any decisions of the THECB and allow them to issue the creationism degrees. The bill would force the state to recognize these degrees as SCIENCE degrees.

Berman told Fox News, “I don’t believe I came from a salamander that crawled out of a swamp millions of years ago. I do believe in creationism. I do believe there are gaps in evolution."

I have to agree with Berman about that. The salamander is far too high on the evolutionary scale to have produced such a freak of nature as Leo Berman. Slime mold would be much more likely.

The bill is currently stuck in the Higher Education Committee, and hopefully it will never be reported out of that committee. But Texas legislators have done some incredibly stupid things in the past, so a letter to your State Rep. and Senator would not be out of order.

And a note to the people of Tyler. Elect a Republican if you must, but try to find one with at least half a brain. Berman is an embarrassment to your city and our entire state.

Tallying Job Losses

Political Cartoon is by Mike Keefe in The Denver Post.

Americans Are Fickle

A few months ago, a buyer would have to wait in line to get a hybrid automobile. The automakers couldn't make them as fast as buyers were snapping them up, and some dealers were even charging more than the sticker price and selling all they could get. A dealer was lucky to have a few days worth of hybrids in stock. That was because the price of gasoline was approaching $4 a gallon.

Americans were flocking to dump their gas hog SUVs and get a hybrid or a smaller car that would get more mileage. Many found themselves paying far too much at the pump and it was seriously cutting into their lifestyle. But that was a few months ago. Things have changed.

The price of gasoline has dropped back to less that $2 a gallon in most places, and car dealers are finding that no one wants a hybrid anymore. The dealers now have a several months supply on their lots. Where they were charging above sticker price, they are now actually offering substantial discounts to get buyers to purchase a hybrid. And even with discounts, the sales are very slow.

With cheap gas at the pumps again, Americans are once more opting for the huge SUVs. While all auto sales are down because of the economy, an SUV will move off the lot faster than a hybrid these days. Americans are acting like the cheap gas is here to stay.

Of course, it isn't. As soon as they can justify it (and that probably won't be long), the oil companies will begin to creep the price back up. They like those record profits they've been making, and they're not about to give them up. One thing you can count on is the oil companies going for ever increasing profits each year. Another is that someday soon the oil will begin to run out.

Then, once again, people will be trying to dump the gas hogs (and taking a beating on them because no one will want them). Hybrids will again become the hot ticket item. It's just a matter of time.

A smart buyer would take this opportunity to buy a hybrid at a discount right now.

The Job Everyone Wants

Political Cartoon is by Jeff Parker in Florida Today.

Good News For Drinkers

All of you drinkers out there need to send a thank you to Japanese researchers -- at least those of you who drink less than 300 grams per week. Researchers from Osaka University have published a new study about alcohol use, and it's very interesting.

It has already been shown that alcohol in light to moderate use (not more than 300 grams a week) can have a healthy benefit regarding heart disease and stroke. These drinkers simply have less heart disease or stroke than either non-drinkers or heavy-drinkers according to studies. The Japanese study verified this.

It has also been shown these same health benefits show up in people who have a strong social-support system -- a lot of supportive friends and family. Those without a social-support system are generally less heart healthy. It is believed that those alone experience more stress than those with friends and family.

What the Osaka University researchers have discovered is that these two phenomena can work together for even greater health benefits. It seems that if you combine light to moderate drinking with a strong social-support network, the combination has a stronger positive effect on heart disease and stroke than either one does by itself.

However, heavy drinking (more than 300 grams a week) does not show the same benefit -- probably due to alcohol-induced high blood pressure. As lead researcher Dr. Hiroyasu Iso says, "...this beneficial effect of social support is confined to light-to-moderate drinking. Heavy drinking is risky irrespective of social support level."

Well, I've got the alcohol part right. Now all I need is some friends.

Bonuses Are A Symptom - Not The Problem

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Does Someone Own The Rain ?

All over the United States there are people who catch rainwater in barrels or cisterns. They then use this water to water plants, wash their autos or a myriad of other uses. After all, the rain fell on their property so they have the right to use it however they want. Right?

Actually no. At least not in Colorado and a few other states (mostly in the West). In those states, if you capture the rainwater that falls on your own property, then you are guilty of stealing water that belongs to someone else. Can you believe that?

According to Colorado law, the rain that falls on your property "should be allowed to fall to the ground and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and streams to become the property of farmers, ranchers, developers and water agencies that have bought the rights to those waterways."

Doug Kemper, director of the Colorado Water Congress, says "If you try to collect rainwater, well, that water really belongs to someone else. We get into a very detailed accounting on every little drop."

Assistant state engineer Kevin Rein says, "If I decide to [take rainwater] in 2009, somewhere, maybe 100 miles downstream, there's a water right that outdates me by 100 years that's losing water."

I find these laws incredible. If a raindrop on your property sinks into the soil and waters a plant or settles down to the water table, then it is yours. But before it does so, it actually belongs to someone else. You can legally drill for water on your own land, but you cannot catch it as it falls from the sky. Does that make any sense at all?

When you consider that 97% of the water that falls on the soil never makes it into a stream or river, it doesn't. People downstream own 100% of your rainwater so they can eventually use 3% of it!

Personally, I believe any landowner should own not only the water under his land, but also any rainwater he is able to capture before it leaves his land. That's just common sense.

All of you people out there who harvest your own rainwater should check the water laws in your state. Otherwise you might find yourself accused by the "water police" of stealing your own rainwater.

AIG Execs

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Van Os On "The Real Class War"

The corporate elite and their many political stooges love to scream, "Class war!" when change is demanded from the bottom up.

Their intention is to evoke in the public mind frightening images of bloodthirsty Bolshevik revolutionaries rampaging through the streets with torches and red banners, chanting "Dictatorship of the proletariat" and shooting every businessman and employer on sight.

With such propaganda what they are really trying to do is to divert the public's attention from the true fact that there really is socioeconomic class war in the United States of America, except that the aggressors are the elite denizens of the top, not the rest of us down here at the bottom.

The bailouts of Wall Street robber barons are some of the clearest manifestations of the real class war in a long time.

.For example, in an attempted defense of the obscene bonuses paid to AIG executives with taxpayers' money, the first excuse we heard two days ago was that the executives were entitled to their bonuses by contract, and we could not intrude on the sanctity of contracts.

Well, now. When the automakers asked for government assistance to stay afloat, did anybody in decision-making authority say, "We can't interfere with the United Auto Workers' contracts"? Of course not! It was presumed by all, and expected by the Congress and the President (both the former and the current), that the hourly-wage workers would give up their contractually protected benefits and wages. The Auto Workers' contracts were no less legally binding contracts than the AIG executives' contracts. In fact, it seems to me the Auto Workers' contracts carried more sanctity, in having been agreed to and ratified by many more thousands of individuals

There was one big difference between the two situations. One involved the silk stocking elite, and the other involved hourly paid blue-collar workers. One involved the aristocracy, and the other involved the grassroots masses.

And in the paneled offices and conference rooms of the Beltway elite who inhabit the political administrations (both former and current), the aristocracy protected their own. Let's make the workers at the auto plants give up their contracts, but for heaven's sake let's not interfere with the sacred contracts of our wine-and-cheese buddies.

Meanwhile right here in Texas, the Neanderthal Republican Governor and his fellow Neanderthal Republican political elite have declared that out-of-work Texans should not benefit from the extended unemployment benefits offered by the federal stimulus package. In other words, Texas taxpayers should not participate in some comeback from their own federal tax dollars. I'm talking about all Texas taxpayers, not just the unemployed. Keeping unemployment benefits flowing into the otherwise penniless pockets of the jobless puts much-needed money into the cash registers of honest local retail businesses, thus keeping more employees from falling into the ranks of the unemployed. All of us are the victims of this top vs. bottom class war that we did not initiate, are we not?

Today journalistic pundits are breathlessly announcing that populist anger is cropping up in the countryside over the Wall Street executives' greedy personal self-enrichment at the hands of the taxpayers. Well, duh!

The President and his administration have joined the outrage parade - not as leaders, but as followers of We the People when it became politically necessary. Let's keep up the "populist anger", folks. We are in the lead. And when the corporate executives and Washington politicians start talking about "class war", let's remember who has really been making war on whom for a very long time.

Sincerely,

David Van Os

Geithner's Bracket

Political Cartoon is by Nate Beeler in The Washington Examiner.

U.S. Supports U.N. Gay Rights Declaration

Last December, the Bush administration once again proved they really didn't believe in human rights, especially if it might upset the bigots in their right-wing base. Bush made the United States the only Western government to not sign a United Nations declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.

The declaration was signed by Japan, Mexico, Australia, all 27 European Union members and over 30 other countries, but not by the United States. Well, that is changing. Sources within the Obama administration say the United States will now sign the declaration and has asked to be added as a sponsor. As soon as Congress has been notified, the announcement will be made.

An anonymous administration official said, "The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world. As such, we join with the other supporters of this statement and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora."

He went on to say, "In the words of the United States Supreme Court, the right to be free from criminalization on the basis of sexual orientation 'has been accepted as an integral part of human freedom'."

Thank goodness George Bush is gone, and the United States can once again be a leader in establishing human rights around the world.

Rewarding Failure

Political Cartoon is by John Darkow in The Columbia Daily Tribune.