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Hinting of a cover-up, City Attorney Michael Aguirre said yesterday that he is investigating whether Mayor Dick Murphy knew about the deteriorating state of San Diego's pension system three years ago but kept it quiet. Aguirre, speaking at a downtown news conference, said a 2002 report by Murphy's Blue Ribbon Committee on City Finances failed to disclose deepening troubles with the $3.2 billion San Diego City Employees Retirement System, which today has a $1.2 billion deficit. Aguirre's news conference didn't live up to its billing – a report on "possible abuse, fraud and illegal acts" by city officials – but...

I was thinking of getting myself a gift for Christmas in the form of a new leather chair. I saw Rush's chair on his EIB store website a couple of times, but I don't like buying something if I can't try out first--especially office chairs. Actually, the thing that really scares me away from the EIB chair is spending $500+ for a real unknown. I looked at this one and was impressed, but I've got to know: is it really all that comfortable? Could it support a 6'2" 200 lbs. guy for 3-7 hours a day? Could any fans out...

The link between pay and performance is weak EXECUTIVE pay should reflect performance, right? But does it? A recent survey by the Hay Group, a consultancy, puts the average basic annual salary of the chief executive of a large American firm at $1m. But his total remuneration is more like $5m. Some of the extra comes in perks, but most is “variable pay”—bonuses and stock options that supposedly relate to the performance of his firm. That high level of variable pay should lead to sizeable fluctuations in total remuneration, as good years follow bad, and vice-versa. Yet for a while...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

The Florida supreme court’s rationale for overturning Terri’s Law is fatally flawed. Last Thursday, the supreme court of Florida unveiled its unanimous decision to strike down Terri's Law, the Florida statute that authorized Governor Jeb Bush to save Terri Schiavo's life. Observers have criticized the decision as a frustration of the will of the people, as an exercise in judicial arrogance, and most disturbingly as a green light for the adulterous Michael Schiavo to seek yet another court order terminating the tube-feeding of his brain-damaged wife. All true. Yet the decision is something else as well: It is an embarrassingly...

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Critics question why some top executives at the University of California received pay hikes despite a funding crisis that is forcing the system to cut enrollment and contemplate raising student fees. The incoming chancellor of the UC San Diego campus is being paid $350,000, nearly $70,000 more than her predecessor. In February, a new UC provost was appointed with a salary of $380,000, almost $100,000 more than the previous incumbent. Searches are under way for new chancellors at the Berkeley and Santa Cruz campuses and critics predict more hikes. "Each time they raise one person's salary,...

LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2004—Jody Eldred Productions today announced it has just completed filming and is in the final stages of production on an inspirational documentary called, “Changed Lives: Miracles of The Passion,” which will air nationwide Easter weekend. With rave reviews from Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s “Scarborough Country,” this one-hour T.V. special was shot in High Definition and documents the true stories of people whose lives have been forever changed by Mel Gibson’s incredible motion picture “The Passion of The Christ.” “I knew instantly that people’s lives were going to be...

The Bush Administration reverses itself. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice will break precedent and testify publicly under oath before the 911 Commission. And if any of you saw the hatchet job Ted Koppel did tonight on Bush (using references to Paul O'Neill as further "proof" of Bush's fixation on Iraq/Saddam), I can only say... BRING IT ON, Condi!!!

The Federal Judiciary Is A Spoiled Child, And Congress And The President Are The Pushover Parents That Spoiled It! By Chuck Baldwin Food For Thought From The Chuck Wagon September 16, 2003 People today seem to think that the federal judiciary is the supreme law of the land. They are wrong! The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Just as the executive and legislative branches of government are bound to uphold the Constitution, so is the judicial branch. However, for too long now, the federal judiciary has assumed tyrannical tendencies. What liberal socialists could not do through...

Courtesy of C-SPAN (they do have some uses), here are some great, well-organized resources FReepers can use to keep informed, as well as to research and post information: TV / RADIO / WEBSITES / WEBLOGS NEWSPAPERS / MAGAZINES WHITE HOUSE / EXECUTIVE BRANCH RESOURCES CONGRESSIONAL RESOURCES JUDICIARY RESOURCES STATE / LOCAL GOVERNMENT RESOURCES THINK TANK / PAC / POLICY ORGANIZATIONS RESOURCES (RNC, DNC, and huge list of others) INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENT RESOURCES (British Parliament and more) WAR WITH IRAQ RESOURCES AMERICAN PRESIDENTS

12:10PM Cheney energy task force ordered to turn over documents by Rex Nutting WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Vice President Dick Cheney and the energy task force he headed in 2001 must reveal which industry executives helped formulate its recommendations for national energy policy, or else make a more specific case for executive privilege. In a 2-1 vote, the appeals court upheld a lower court's ruling that a suit filed by Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club could proceed. The administration had sought a blanket exemption from laws that require federal agencies to conduct their...

Former Top Enron Executive Arrested By Spencer Swartz SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A former top Enron energy-trading executive was arrested by federal agents on Tuesday on charges stemming from the company's manipulation of power markets during California's energy crisis. John Forney, 41, is the third former Enron Corp. executive charged with a federal crime in connection with Enron schemes to manipulate energy prices during California's 2000-01 energy crisis, which cost the state an estimated $42 billion. Forney was arrested at the headquarters of American Electric Power Co. Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, where he is currently employed. His arrest was announced...

<p>HOUSTON - A former Enron Corp. executive who once embarked on expanding capability of messaging software to run the company's nationwide telecommunications network surrendered to the FBI Wednesday on charges of fraud, money laundering, insider trading and conspiracy.</p> <p>Rex T. Shelby, 51, was among five former Enron Broadband executives indicted last week for allegedly scheming to promote the network as having capabilities it didn't have and selling millions of dollars in stock.</p>

Associated Press Employees to Vote on Airline Concessions Saturday April 19, 1:09 am ET By David Koenig, AP Business Writer Flight Attendants to Vote Again on American Airlines Concessions, Citing Executive Bonuses DALLAS (AP) -- Enraged by an American Airlines plan to give bonuses to top executives, the flight attendants' union said late Friday it would scrap results of a vote that approved concessions the company says it needs to stay out of bankruptcy. The union said it plans to schedule a new vote. The company said Friday that executives had decided not to accept the bonuses, which were disclosed...

<p>DALLAS -- When the week began, American Airlines' rank-and-file held the power to keep the world's largest carrier out of bankruptcy.</p> <p>By week's end, however, the pressure had shifted toward the company's executives as plans to give them bonuses and protect their pensions threatened to undermine employees' willingness to sacrifice their own wages and benefits.</p>

Think CEO pay is out of control? Wait till you see what these guys get when they retire. For a brief, shining moment, it looked as if outrage had finally triumphed over excess. Earlier this month, soon after Delta Air Lines disclosed that CEO Leo Mullin had hauled in a bonus of $1.4 million plus $2 million in free stock in 2002, howls of protest from shareholders and employees prompted a dramatic turnabout. After all, in 2002 the airline had lost $1.3 billion, slashed thousands of jobs, and seen its stock price collapse by 58%. Mullin announced that he was...

Executive pay has once again outpaced average earnings, climbing an average of 17% last year. More than 130 directors received total pay packages in excess of £1m and seven received more than £1m compensation when they left their jobs, according to the Guardian's annual survey of boardroom pay, conducted with pay consultants Inbucon. The survey shows that executive remuneration has been largely unaffected by the stock market turmoil, which has wiped billions of pounds off the value of the companies they run. Over the period studied the FTSE 100 index lost nearly a third of its value. At the same...

WASHINGTON — The Sept. 11 attacks moved Americans to grief and horror — and moved our nation to war. They revealed the cruelty of our enemies, clarified grave threats to our country and demonstrated the character and decency of our people. At a moment of great testing, the spirit of men and women in New York City, at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 93 became the spirit of our country. Tonight in New York, I will be speaking of what our nation has lost, what we have discovered about ourselves and what lies ahead. The terrible illumination of these...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) --  The business news cable channel CNBC, which has been struggling along with the stock market, is replacing one of its top programming executives.</p> <p>Bruno Cohen, CNBC's executive vice president of business news, will take a four-month sabbatical and is expected to take a different role at NBC when he returns, the network said on Thursday. Executive producer David Friend will replace him temporarily.</p>

I was thinking when I heard the Senate voted down President Bush's plan on drilling for oil in ANWR. Well, I had an interesting thought. I know how President Clinton (aka "Beezebubba") just overrode many things by just issuing an Executive Order (EO). Well, I don't care for EO's, but you know what, I would love to see Daschle's face of President Bush would just override the Senate with an Executive Order much like Clinton would have done. >B-) Just bring up the point that our national security is at stake and then do it. I guess I wanted to...

City votes could hold key in county executive race With two suburban officials, Scott Walker and Jim Ryan, advancing in Tuesday's primary election, the contest for Milwaukee County executive has become a race for the three M's: money, the middle and Milwaukee itself. Walker has the edge with the first and Ryan appears well-positioned for the second, but the third - the vote of city of Milwaukee residents - could be up for grabs, judging by strong showings from Tom Nardelli and Tyrone Dumas, who combined for about one-third of the vote. In the next four frantic weeks, Tuesday's winners...

When I was a boy," Clarence Darrow said, "I was told that anybody can become president. I'm beginning to believe it." Frank Bruni's "Ambling Into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush" will make believers of us all. But Mr. Bruni, who covered Mr. Bush's presidential campaign for The New York Times, will also strengthen our faith in a president's capacity to rise above personal limitations in times of crisis. Mr. Bruni has written a judicious portrait of our 43rd president. Anyone interested in the man — his personality, family ties, work habits and maturation as a politician and...