Bogus Statistics

Dear editor:

I read with interest the letter in Sunday’s (March 22, 2009) American Press written by Gene Hay of Lake Charles. In it he claims that according to Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, MN that Republicans outpolled Democrats 29 states to 19, that they outpolled their Democratic opponents 2,470,000 square miles to 589,000, and population by those counties 143 million to 127 million. In addition it states that the murder rate per 100,000 in those counties was Republicans 2.1 versus 13.2 for Democrats.

Going onto the internet, which is obviously where Mr. Hay obtained his absolutely wrong information, it took all of three minutes to find that this information was bogus. Checking on the two most respected sites for clarification, Snopes.com and Truth or Fiction.com, I found that Professor Olson has denounced this information. On Truth or Fiction it was written “Joseph Olson is a real Professor at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul Minnesota but he did not write this, according to his faculty bio page on the university site. Olson called it "bogus" in his disclaimer and said that the eRumor dates back to 2000 and originally was a commentary about the Bush/Gore election.”

Mr. Hay states in his letter to the editor “Most Americans don’t realize how much is now at stake.” What he obviously doesn’t realize himself is that passing on bogus information from the internet without first checking it is what is truly dangerous and at stake.

The American Press also needs to be wary of passing on this kind of information.

AIG Screws America

Dear editor:

In my business experience over the years, with both large and small companies, end of the year bonuses were something that everyone looked forward to. It was something that all employees hoped the company would be in a position to reward those people who were, in one way or the other, responsible for the financial health and continued prosperity of the company that occurred that past year. There was never a guarantee that bonuses would be paid and everyone knew that. After all, this was something employees and the company had to earn each and every year.

Normally, prior to the granting of these rewards a number of conditions had to first be satisfied. First, the company had to have been profitable during the past year. Second, the business needed to show growth for the period in question. Third, there had to be funds available for the rewarding of bonuses that did not affect the company’s need for cash in the future. Fourth, the bonuses were given in recognition to those who were responsible for the increased financial and business health and growth of the company during the past year. Fifth, the granting of bonuses would be good for the owners (or shareholders) and the future success of the corporation. Sixth, it would be a good way to retain excellent employees.

With these six prerequisites in mind we can now consider the bonuses of $165 million recently paid to the executives of AIG. None of the six have been met.

First, the company has been nowhere close to profitable and stands no chance whatsoever to be so in the near future. Second, there has been no growth in the company at all. Third, cash availability doesn’t exist except for the billions in taxpayers’ money that was needed to save the corporation. In fact there is doubt that enough cash exists without additional government bailout in the future. Fourth, since there has been no increased financial and business health and growth of the company, why should anyone be rewarded? In fact, the people receiving these toxic bonuses are the very people who almost bankrupted AIG, and had a major hand in the current worldwide financial crisis. They need rewarding? Fifth, how will giving away taxpayer money to scheming incompetents be good for the owners (80% American taxpayers)? Sixth, retention? According to New York Attorney General Mario Cuomo fifty-two of the executives receiving this largess have already left AIG. And good riddance.

It would seem that the federal government needs to do something about this abuse of “our” money. After all, we, the American taxpayers, are the majority stockholders (80%) of AIG. If we can’t get the money back after the fact then maybe we should consider taxing individual bonuses received from bailout assisted companies at a 75% rate. That should put a little vinegar in their scheming sugar.

Holocaust Not an Aberration

Dear editor:

Pope Benedict is to be commended for his stand on denouncing a Bishop of the Church who claimed that the Holocaust never happened. There are many hateful Holocaust deniers worldwide and his Holiness’s stand on this matter is refreshing..

On top of this level of hate mongers are those who want to rewrite history claiming that the Shoah (Holocaust) was strictly a Nazi affair and that history had nothing to do with this 20th century horror.

For those who claim the Holocaust was an aberration of Nazi Germany and has nothing to do with both ancient and Christian history fail to acknowledge what has truly happened over the course of human history. No minority has ever faced such a history of prejudice and slaughter in the name of religion, not Christians, African Americans, Palestinians, Muslims or others who claim their own “Holocaust.” It is amazing that Jews still exist after thousands of years of subjugation.

The Pharaohs enslaved (Jews) in Egypt, the Assyrians grabbed their northern kingdom (Israel), Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia destroyed the rest of their kingdom (Judah) and carted off ten thousand valuable Jewish captives into “Babylonian Exile,” the Greeks and Persians oppressed and despised them, the Romans deprived them of their homeland in Palestine and dispersed them all over the ancient world, Muslim fanatics periodically descended upon them, Christian crusaders slaughtered thousands of them before embarking on their holy mission, the Inquisition expelled them from Iberia (and most other European countries,) the Catholic church and many of its “saints” called them the sons of the devil and called for their death, Poles and Russians viciously massacred them in genocidal pogroms, and the Germans consummated this long harvest of hate by annihilating six million of them in the Holocaust. Hitler didn’t invent the “ghetto,” which is an Italian word and was first developed in that country many centuries before the Holocaust. Muslim countries have always treated Jews as second class citizens due to the anti-Semitism they learned from Europeans many centuries ago and had nothing to do with today’s Israel/Palestinian conflict.

The Shoah (Holocaust) was not just a bump in modern history as many claim, and anti-Judaism still exists. Just look at the Middle East and Europe today. There must be a reason in all of this for Judaism to have lived thru all of this hatred and bigotry and still exist today.