You gotta be kidding......................

9-11 first responders to be checked on FBI terror list

Fri Apr 22, 11:15 am ET AP

It's the sort of legislative provision that "Inception" director Christopher Nolan—or maybe paranoid sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick—might dream up: Under the terms of last year's health compensation law for first responders to the 9/11 terror attacks, would-be beneficiaries have to submit to FBI background checks to verify that they are not themselves terrorists. The provision places applicants' names and personal information in a file to be cross-checked with the FBI's Terror Watch list before they receive any medical compensation.

The Huffington Post's Michael McAuliff reports that a last-minute amendment to the James Zadroga 9/11 Health And Compensation Law mandates that the government must establish that no first responders and 9/11 survivors are terrorists prior to assessing their eligibility for federal benefits.

Rep Cliff Stearns (R-FL) added the amendment during the bitter debates over the bill, which provides $4.3 billion in compensation to help workers who fell ill after the attacks. The bill also provides compensation for people who lived or attended school near Ground Zero. Senate Republicans initially blocked the bill.

Workers will be informed by their medical providers before July that they need to be screened to ensure they are not terrorists.

"It's comical at best, and I think it's an insult to everyone who worked on The Pile and is sick and suffering from 9/11," John Feal, an advocate for 9/11 workers and a former construction worker who lost part of his foot at Ground Zero, told The Huffington Post. "When cops and firefighters get this at home, they're going to hit the roof," he said.

But one first responder told McAuliff he had no problem with being screened. "How do you know if there were any terrorists there?" Anthony Flammia, a former NYPD Highway Patrol officer, asked.

Stearns says because the bill applies to people working in the vicinity, he wants to ensure no terrorists benefit. You can read the whole story here.

(Wendy Flammia holds a photo of John McNamara, a New York City firefighter who died August 9, 2009, as Sen. Charles Schumer talked about the first responders' bill last December: AP.)

I am speechless on this. First time in a long time......

The Europeans can have it but not North America.....WHY?

The 55 MPG Ford You Can't Buy in the U.S.

Published April 06, 2011

| FoxNews.com

Ford

The 2012 Ford Focus is one of the most fuel-efficient compact cars on sale in the United States today, with a maximum EPA combined fuel economy rating of 33 mpg. Impressive, until you hear that Ford has introduced one in Europe that gets 55 mpg.

The Focus ECOnetic is the global automaker’s latest high-efficiency vehicle, returning 67 mpg on the European fuel economy test cycle. It’s a very different evaluation than the EPA test, which makes it difficult to compare the two directly, but extrapolating from the specifications of other similar vehicles that are sold both there and here that converts to about 55 mpg.

It does this by combining a highly-efficient turbo-diesel engine with stop-start technology, ultra-low rolling resistance tires, a hybrid-like kinetic energy recovery system for the battery and a more aerodynamic body style that includes shutters in the grille which can close it at cruising speed – a feature also found on the Super Fuel Efficiency version of the Focus sold in the U.S.

Just don’t expect the ECOnetic to join it in showrooms. Citing low demand, high federalization costs and the increasing fuel economy of its gasoline-powered cars, Ford has no current plans to offer any diesel-powered cars here. Instead it will concentrate on hybrids and electrics, like the Ford Focus Electric that will go on sale in 2012 with an efficiency rating that’s expected to be even better than 55 mpg of gasoline, because it doesn’t use any.

And as always, Americans get the shaft......in Spain last year we drove a VW that got 50 MPG, also not available in the US.....go figure. I guess they want us to buy lots of gas.

Rub my neck....Please

Fake massage parlor inspector demands rubdown

The Associated Press

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - A California man is charged with demanding a rubdown and $200 while pretending to be a massage parlor inspector.

Orange County prosecutors charged Edward Justin LaPorte with felony burglary and misdemeanor counts of impersonating a peace officer and firearm violations. The 47-year-old faces arraignment Friday in Newport Beach.

Investigators say LaPorte is a former police officer from Illinois. They say he was wearing a badge when he entered the Golden Spa massage parlor in Lake Forest on Jan. 31 and told the manager he was investigating a complaint.

Prosecutors say he then complained of back pain, and a masseuse gave him a back rub before LaPorte asked for a frontal massage, which was refused.

No phone listing could be found for LaPorte and court records don't list an attorney for him


Pay like everyone else!

Woman wants to waterski......NOT

Woman Sued Carnival Claiming Cruise Ship Was Too Fast

AOL Travel News

An Indiana woman will not have her day in court, at least in her home state, on claims that as a cruise passenger she became ill because a Carnival Cruise Lines ship was going too fast.

Doris Beard sued Carnival claiming "due to the speed of the ship I became very sick, my body swayed terrible on the ship I had bleeding, which I had not has [sic] in three years. The ship was moving so fast everyone on board became sick, even the workers," according to a court document.

Carnival called for the case to be dismissed, arguing the venue for the suit should be changed to Florida, where the cruise line is based.

The cruise line's motion was denied by a small claims court in Lake County, Indiana. But the Indiana Court of Appeals said this week the small claims court "erred," and has reversed the decision.

Which Carnival ship Beard cruised on and where she took her cruise was not listed in the court document.

The woman first filed her claim in August 2009. The amount she is seeking was not specified.


Is there no end to what people can sue for? And they wonder why courts are tied up for years.....

Typical , Do as I say, not as I do.do....

Former MADD Leader Arrested For Drunk Driving

Debra Oberlin. Photo via Gainesville Police Department.

If something hilarious yet tragically ironic is going to happen, chances are it will happen in Florida, men urinating on chicken at the grocery store notwithstanding. The latest of Florida's wacky produce: former Gainesville Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter president Debra Oberlin was arrested for, you guessed it, drunk driving in Gainesville.

Pulled over for veering across lanes of traffic at about 1:10 a.m., Oberlin had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol, according to the incident reports. Oberlin failed a field sobriety test.

Oberlin's blood alcohol level was then found to be between .234 and .239 according to two Breathalyzer tests, though she says she only drank four beers before hopping--or more likely, stumbling--into her car.

Thank you, Florida, for your fantastic fruits. MADD: you got some 'splaining to do.



Surprising that this didn't hit more media........well not really.

So....cops never lie, not if their dead? Justice you bet!

Baltimore Red-Light Camera Tickets Verified by Dead Police Officer

As readers of the Risk Factor know, blaming the computer for any and all technical glitches is a fairly regular and convenient excuse. One of the more unusual technical problems blamed on a computer was reported about a week plus ago by the WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team in Baltimore, Maryland.

Apparently, some 2,000 Baltimore red light camera traffic citations which require a police officer to swear that he or she has reviewed the photos as indeed showing a traffic violation had a slight problem. It seems that all the verification signatures on the citations issued were from a police officer who had died in a car accident last year.

WBAL-TV said the error was discovered when a retired police officer acquaintance of a driver who had received a $75 red light camera ticket on 12 January 2011 noticed the signature on the citation was from the police officer who he knew was deceased.

A Baltimore police spokesperson, WBAL-TV said:

"... blamed the problem on a computer glitch, which is the fault of the company that operates the camera system, and he said the problem has been rectified."

Exactly how the deceased officer's name ended up on the tickets wasn't fully explained, but Baltimore police insist that internal police documents show that a live officer reviewed and approved the citations. Legal experts say Baltimore may have difficulty enforcing the tickets if they are challenged in court, however.

What Baltimore could (or should) do is follow the lead of Edmonton Canada's Chief Crown Prosecutor Steven Bilodeau who decided late last month that all persons who had received speed on green camera tickets at city intersections since November 2009 are eligible for refunds. Some 140,000 tickets worth about C$13 million are involved.

According to this story published in the Edmonton Sun, a speed on green ticket coincidentally issued on 12 January 2011 indicated that that a car had gone through a city intersection at 143 km/h, which, the Crown prosecutor said, was "obviously wrong."

This erroneous speeding ticket kicked off an investigation that resulted in the decision to dismiss all the speed on green tickets as a "matter of fairness," Crown Prosecutor Bilodeau said.

The Sun story says that the offending cameras would be pulled for at least a month, and that the cameras' problem could involve either hardware or software issues.

I can't find any update to this story, such as the confirmed cause of the glitch or when the cameras will be returned to operation. Anyone know?

I also haven't seen anything that indicates that Baltimore plans to drop all 2,000 tickets "as a matter of fairness," either. With a $150,000 at stake, I doubt the city will.

So I guess we are to believe that this is an isolated incident? At least in Mexico I can try and convince the perfectly alive police that I didn't do the bad deed and have the privilege of buying him a nice cool drink......

Awww come on, relax a bit..............

2 men to be charged in Pa. cow's head prank

The Associated Press

EBENSBURG, Pa. - Police plan to cite two men who left a package containing a cow's head on the doorstep of some friends in Pennsylvania.

Ebensburg police Chief Terry Wyland tells the Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown that it was a "prank" that "went quite a bit over the top."

The chief says a couple returned home from a trip Saturday evening to find a large cardboard box with their name and address on it near their front door. Inside was the cow's head. The chief says it "caused the victims, especially the wife, stress."

Police say the pranksters came to police headquarters to confess Tuesday night. One of them has experience butchering cows.

The chief isn't naming the suspects. He plans to file harassment and disorderly conduct citations against them later this week.

Gee that sounds like stuff we use to do all the time, in my day that was called horsing around....

And now it's against the law..........

Give me a break!

Next thing they are going to outlaw, setting a paper bag of manure on your buddies doorstep on fire................