A Good Monday Morning

Is Your Favorite Charity Paying For A CEO’s Mansion?

Susan G. Komen Foundation’s CEO Nancy Brinker - salary  $684,000

The $500,000 question of the day is …

How much do charities actually give toward their “cause”?

The CEO of the American Red Cross makes $500,000 a year and after collecting $564 million in the wake of 9/11, the American Red Cross had only distributed $154 million in the months after the event.

After three years of collecting $360 million for the 11 Asian countries devastated by the tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, the Canadian Red Cross still had not spent $200 million of the donations they collected and there are similar allegations of the Red Cross withholding donations after many more disasters including the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Several other popular charities have reported CEO salaries ranging from $600,000 to $1.2 million including the March of Dimes, United Way, Unicef, and the American Cancer Society.

Cancer charities are frequently cited as paying exorbitant CEO salaries. For example, the recently released tax records of the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s CEO revealed her yearly salary to be $684,000. Records also revealed that the Komen Foundation spent a mere 15 percent of the funds it received on breast cancer research in 2011.

In 2009, the American Cancer Society (ACS) spent $149 million on cancer research after raising over $455 million in Relay for Life events. They spent over $499 million on salary, employee benefits, payroll taxes and another $152 million on supplies, telephone bills, postage, shipping, meetings and travel expenses.

Even more distressing, ACS reportedly has close financial ties to the makers of mammography equipment and cancer drugs. They also receive financial support from the pesticide, petrochemical, biotech, cosmetics, and junk food industries – products which are primary contributors to cancer.

ACS’s board of trustees has even included an executive from the American Cyanamid Company, which made chemical fertilizers and heribicides before producing anti-cancer drugs. On the receiving end of cancer research money, researchers have been frequently caught fabricating positive findings with the end goal of producing more drugs.

To find out which charities are sharing the highest percentage of donations received, many donors turn to a charity rating service. Like the charities they rate, not all charity rating sites are created equally.

Charity Navigator, a popular charity rater, lists Red Cross as giving 90% of donations to programs. According to Charity Watch, while charities often claim that “90% of donations are spent on programs,” the programs can include many activities that “most donors would not consider to be the bona-fide programs they are intending to support.” Charity Watch’s articles bluntly assess the actions of charities and ferret out waste, but Charity Watch also gives the American Red Cross an A- rating. Another charity rater, Give Well , doesn’t print harsh reviews, but does highlight the charities it finds highly effective.

All three services have a list of their most effective charities, the tops of which are mostly occupied by groups doing work in the poorest countries, where dollars go the farthest. For those looking to help the Philippines, Action Against Hunger, American Refugee Committee, International Rescue Committee, Project Concern, and Save the Children are highly rated alternatives to the Red Cross with reports from aid workers on the ground.

LHJ Wookie Holiday Edition:

"Nothing is Beyond Our Reach" - The Obama administration's new creepy spy satellite logo

The logo in all its Orwellian glory:

Poor Richards News: "When I saw this image, I had to do a doubletake. Surely this can’t be real, right? Turns out, it’s completely legitimate. The ominous octopus consuming the earth with the slogan “Northing is Beyond Our Reach” emblazons the rocket just launched yesterday by the Office of National Intelligence and NASA."

and this from Forbes:

"Dragnet surveillance is a touchy subject these days what with the Snowden leaks and constant new revelations about cell phones being turned into location trackers, listening in on foreign leaders’ phone calls and the vacuuming up of any information sent digitally that’s not encrypted. Given that, I was a little surprised that ODNI was bragging about the launch on Twitter and putting the mission patch for the rocket on prominent display as it looks like it was drawn by a writer for The Simpsons with his tongue firmly in his cheek.

“NROL-39 is represented by the octopus, a versatile, adaptable, and highly intelligent creature. Emblematically, enemies of the United States can be reached no matter where they choose to hide,” says Karen Furgerson, a spokesperson for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). “‘Nothing is beyond our reach’ defines this mission and the value it brings to our nation and the warfighters it supports, who serve valiently all over the globe, protecting our nation.”

One would think that all the controversy surrounding the Edward Snowden NSA leaks would give somebody at the Obama administration pause before slapping this monster onto the side of our new spy satellite and live tweeting its launch. But nope. Like something out of a dystopian-future novel, the Obama administration is apparently bragging that no private communications anywhere in the world is beyond their reach. 

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Chris Matthews to Donate Leg to Obama Presidential Library

Washington - MSNBC political commentator Chris Matthews today announced he would proudly donate his famous "Tingling Leg" to the future Barack Obama Presidential Failure Library. 
 
"Every since I made that statement on-air about the tingle up my leg the night of the election, the conservative bloggers have been shellacking me with it night and day!. So I plan when Barack leaves office to amputate it and donate it to the Obama Library and make all those bastards look like fools" Matthews told Middle Finger News. 

Ask if he was absolutely serious about the statement he  told us,  "Look, we were indeed drinking heavily during commercial breaks in the election coverage, but on air I was sitting next to Rachel Maddow for Gods sake! And while she was wild eyed and had on a nice pair of fishnets and playing footsie under the table with Andrea Mitchell.... I know the tingle wasn't because of them! That was 100% adrenaline and admiration for Barack Obama because of the outcome of election night." 

There has at this time been no official statement from the White House, but Press Secretary Jay Carney  suggested the addition of the famous amputated leg, preserved in a glass case in the entrance to the future library would be an towering symbol of the love and support by members of the media for the 44th President in his heroic struggle to save America.

" Barack will get the leg when he leaves office.....I'll show those bastards!" said Matthews.

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And He Actually Said This With a Straight Face....

“I think Joe Biden will go down in history as one of the best vice presidents ever, and he has been with me, at my side, in every tough decision that I’ve made,” Obama told Chris Matthews in an interview Thursday held at American University. “Hillary, I think, will go down in history as one of the finest secretaries of state we’ve ever had, and helped to transition us away from a deep hole that we were in, when I first came into office, around the world, and rebuilt confidence and trust in the United States.” - Barack Obama

You know what they say...."Birds of a feather........"

Fishnet Friday

Kim Kardashian Busts One for Mandela

 

NEWSLO / LOS ANGELES – Television personality Kim Kardashian today commemorated the death of Nelson Mandela by tweeting a “selfie” featuring herself posing with a picture of the former iconic South African president and activist.

Kardashian, present baby momma of rapper Kanye West explained that she was “representin’” and would “pour one out” for Mandela, her “BFF [best friend forever].”

“Never met NM,” Kardashian tweeted. “But were a kindred spirit . We both dedicated our lives to makin’ this a better world.”

Kardashian, reached for comment, explained that “Mandela worked against racism and whatnot, whereas I’ve introduced four different perfume fragrances, which has most definitely made the world smell better, at least. Want ta smell me?"

In the hours following Mandela’s death, the internet was awash with “selfies” featuring celebrities posing with the former president—a form of tribute that experts say would have “totally freaking confused” Mandela, who was 95 years old.

“Nelson, you were the cutest!” tweeted Miley Cyrus with her own selfie. “God bless you for freeing all the slaves.”  

Mandela Checks Out - WH Blog Pays Tribute with Picture of ......You Guessed it!

'“Let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson Mandela lived—a man who took history in his hands, and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice.” —President Obama

Source

.......I think a bit more appropriate

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Obama Gives Insight into Post White House Plans

The Hollywood Reporter

"If you have any doubt as to how much of a sports junkie Barack Obama is, check in with the entertainment moguls who attended a private briefing with the president Nov. 26 before his speech at Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation campus in Glendale.

At the end of the conversation -- which touched on a myriad of topics, from piracy to Iran -- Obama revealed what's at the top of his bucket list post-White House: 

"At least I know what I want to do when I retire … host ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 list," Obama quipped as he turned to Disney's Robert Iger, whose empire includes ESPN."

image via Earl of Taint

Other than having a good laugh, Iger apparently didn't respond....."

[SNIP]

I think that could work, after all, Barack has wowed the country with his teleprompter skills and we all know TV jocks rely heavily on teleprompters (you know, all those blows to the head thing). And sometimes he does come across like a cheesy games show host. I think there might be a future there.

I say more power to him, it can't come to soon for me. But somehow I envisioned Barack's post-White House years more like this:

The Leftist New Mantra

"Mr. Obama’s problem now is that people think he is smart. 

They think, as they look at his health-care vows, that either he didn’t know how bad his program was, what dislocations it would cause, what a disturbance it would be to the vast middle class of America . . .

Or he knew, and deliberately misled everyone.

If they thought he wasn’t very bright, they might give him some leeway on that question. But they think he’s really smart.

So they think he knew.  And deliberately misled." - Peggy Noonan/ WSJ

Joe Does Asia

The Vice President's trip comes at an important time for the country and therefore it makes him that more relevant *cough* and reminds Americans of his longtime role in
the Senate and his extensive experience with foreign policy.

 Stepping off his plane in Beijing in his signature aviator sunglasses, Biden was met by
a Chinese military honor guard before being whisked to the U.S. Embassy

(CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden faces a very delicate task this week as he makes a diplomatic visit to East Asia in hopes of turning down the volume on an increasingly noisy territorial tug of war.

The spotlight also provides Biden with an opportunity to remind people why Barack Obama chose him as his running mate and to tout his strong suit as he's mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2016.

"This trip, if nothing else, reinforces the notion of why Joe Biden was put on the ticket in the first place and has emerged as one of the best vice presidents in history," Larry Rasky, a longtime senior political adviser to the Democrat, told CNN. "He was equipped for this job before he got there. He's not going to China for that reason, of course, but it certainly doesn't hurt."

"It's definitely his wheelhouse. He has the relationships, the global credibility. There's no on-the-job training necessary."

While Welfare Skyrockets - Military Families Face Services Cut

First they try to disenfranchise them as voters, now they threaten to cut one of the most valuable benefits military families receive.

BARKSDALE AFB, LA - The Office of the Secretary of Defense confirms that the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) has been asked to prepare a draft plan for closing all 178 commissaries in the United States to be presented possibly as part of the fiscal 2015 budget request. 

According to published reports, the Joint Staff asked DeCA to look at cutting its $1.4 billion dollar annual budget by at least a third. According to DeCA Director Joseph Jeu, the agency has already trimmed its budget by $7 million over the last 20 years. To make the additional cuts, DeCA has been asked to draft the proposal that would close all stateside commissaries. According to Pentagon Spokesman Col. Steve Warren, "The Secretary of Defense has made it clear on numerous occasions that all cost-cutting efforts need to be on the table in order for the Department of Defense to meet the spending caps associated with the 2011 Budget Control Act."

At this time, no final decisions have been made on the Department of Defense's fiscal year 2015 budget submission.  Therefore, it would be inappropriate to discuss any specific budget decisions." Although that budget request is due in February, it would be at least a year before such cuts could be implemented.

There are many ways of bringing the federal budget into line without punishing the military personal and the families that support them in their mission to keep the country save. One way is to freeze and cap all elected federal employee's salaries. (In 1960, JFK earned 125,000 as president, which he refused to accept. Barack Obama receives $400,000 a year plus 50,000 pocket money). 

The men and women who serve in the military, many who make just enough not to qualify for food stamps are in the crosshairs for cuts.  Because of no profit margin to meet, commissary food prices are at or about 30% cheaper then in the private sector.

Next time you see a service man or women and their families who may soon lose the benefits they earn as servants, remember this: