Dead People Being Sent Stimulus Checks

The Social Security Administration, which sent out 52 million checks, says that some of those checks mistakenly went to dead people because the agency had no record of their death.

Thousands of Americans are receiving federal stimulus checks in the mail, this week. Only problem: many of them are deceased.

Recently, a Long Island, New York woman was shocked when she checked the mail and received a letter from the U.S. Treasury — but it wasn’t for her.

Antoniette Santopadre of Valley Stream was expecting a $250 stimulus check. But when her son finally opened it, they saw that the check was made out to her father, Romolo Romonini, who died in Italy 34 years ago.

Romonini was a U.S. citizen when he left for Italy in 1933, but only returned to the U.S. for a seven-month visit in 1969.

The Santopadres are not alone. The Social Security Administration, which sent out 52 million checks, said some of those checks mistakenly went to dead people because the agency had no record of their death. That amounts to between 8,000 and 10,000 checks for millions of dollars.

The feds blame a rushed schedule, because all the checks have to be cut by June. But strangely, some of the checks were made out to people — like Romonini — who were never even part of the Social Security system.

Click to watch a video report at MyFoxNY.com.

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Dead People Being Sent Stimulus Checks

Do you want to know WHY Conservative Americans from ALL walks of life are TEA’d OFF? Here it is folks, one of the most graphic demonstrations of a government out of control we have seen to date. Total irresponsibility, a total lack of ANY fiscal Conservatism! This is worse than the *Vote the Dead* that certain political parties are notorious for.

Click the logos to be taken to the home page of TEA Party organizations that NEED your help and support!

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White House aide resigns over NYC flyover

WASHINGTON (AP) - A top White House aide resigned Friday for his role in Air Force One’s $328,835 photo-op flyover above New York City that sparked panic and flashbacks to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Louis Caldera said the controversy had made it impossible for him to effectively lead the White House Military Office.

“Moreover, it has become a distraction in the important work you are doing as president,” Caldera said in his resignation letter to President Barack Obama.

The sight of the huge passenger jet and an F-16 fighter plane flying past the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan financial district sent panicked office workers streaming into the streets on April 27. Obama said it would not happen again.

Caldera’s office approved the photo-op, which cost $35,000 in fuel alone for the plane and two jet fighter escorts. The Air Force estimated the photo shoot cost taxpayers $328,835.

White House officials said the flight was designed to update the official photo of the plane, known as Air Force One when the president is aboard. The White House released a photo of the blue-and-white plane high above the Statue of Liberty, with New Jersey in the background.

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White House aide resigns over NYC flyover

OK, it’s a nice picture. Air Force 1 looks great, the Statue of Liberty is beautiful. In fact, it’s a fantastic picture. It makes me proud to see AF-1 and the Statue of Liberty in this flyover.

I’m pretty sure that it instills a sense of patriotism in many Americans, and well it should. These are highly recognized symbols of our great nation. They represent the office of the president and the freedoms that ALL Americans currently enjoy!

That said, I have to ask this question. In this time of job loss, recession, bailouts, money matters, home foreclosures and all of the other financial maladies the United States of America is currently facing, is this picture worth $328,835 of U.S. taxpayer dollars?

Not in MY opinion. Somehow, I can’t help but believe that this $328,835 could have been better spent on a much more needed service for at least some of the American people!

It appears that this White House aide, Louis Caldera, is going to fall on his sword like a good troop and protect the integrity of the office of president. I have to wonder, given the recent LIES told by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, regarding her supposed lack of knowledge concerning water boarding and other enhanced interrogation tactics, is Louis Caldera the top of the chain? Or did certain other White House officials, or perhaps a noted resident OF the White House know this was being done?

Do you think we’ll ever get a straight answer on that question?

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Bailed-out Wells Fargo plans Vegas casino junkets

WASHINGTON (AP) - Wells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, is planning a series of corporate junkets to Las Vegas casinos this month.

Wells Fargo, once among the nation’s top writers of subprime mortgages, has booked 12 nights at the Wynn Las Vegas and its sister hotel, the Encore Las Vegas beginning Friday, said Wynn spokeswoman Michelle Loosbrock. The hotels will host the annual conference for company’s top mortgage officers.

The conference is a Wells Fargo tradition. Previous years have included all-expense-paid helicopter rides, wine tasting, horseback riding in Puerto Rico and a private Jimmy Buffett concert in the Bahamas for more than 1,000 employees and guests.

“I was amazed with just how lavish it was,” said Debra Rickard, a former Wells Fargo mortgage employee from Colorado who attended the events regularly until she left the company in 2004. “We stayed in top hotels, the entertainment was just unbelievable, and there were awards—you got plaques or trophies.”

While the nation’s recession has led other banks, such as Bank of America, to cancel employee recognition outings, Wells Fargo has not.

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Bailed-out Wells Fargo plans Vegas casino junkets

Of course Wells Fargo isn’t cancelling anything, they are NOT spending their money, they are spending OUR money, TAX PAYER money! I don’t have one penny of ‘personal‘ money in a Wells Fargo bank, maybe it’s none of MY business how they run their business, but I am of the opinion that anyone that DOES have money in a Wells Fargo bank should immediately withdraw ALL of their funds, checking, savings, whatever they may have.

Is that a radical opinion from me?? Maybe. Is it a call to commence a RUN on Wells Fargo?? Possibly. It is MY opinion, and if others share that opinion, and if others seek to hold Wells Fargo’s feet to the fire, this would be one hell of a great way to get it done.

These guys have taken $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, isn’t a junket to Vegas as unscrupulous an act on their part as was the purchase of a multi-million dollar corporate jet by Citi recently?? Citi having been a just bailed out business concern?

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N), which has received $45 billion of capital from the U.S. government, is going through with plans to buy a $50 million jet but a U.S. senator called the deal absurd and wants the Obama administration to block it.

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Citi going through with $50 mln plane order

Stop these ridiculous bailouts and stimulus packages to companies that only turn around and squander even MORE money, money that is NOT their own. There has got to be some serious accountability is all fiscal affairs of the USA, and if the government of this USA isn’t held accountable, if they insist on placing known TAX CHEATS in positions of power, they are NOT exercising ANY responsibility, fiscal or otherwise. The only thing our government is doing at this point in time is throwing MORE of OUR good money after the bad that has already been squandered, misspent, mismanaged and stolen.

If you are a Citi or Wells Fargo customer, let your conscience be your guide. I hope you make the RIGHT choice!

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New Orleans repeating deadly levee mistakes

NEW ORLEANS - Signs are emerging that history is repeating itself in the Big Easy, still healing from Katrina: People have forgotten a lesson from four decades ago and believe once again that the federal government is constructing a levee system they can prosper behind.

In a yearlong review of levee work here, The Associated Press has tracked a pattern of public misperception, political jockeying and legal fighting, along with economic and engineering miscalculations since Katrina, that threaten to make New Orleans the scene of another devastating flood.

Dozens of interviews with engineers, historians, policymakers and flood zone residents confirmed many have not learned from public policy mistakes made after Hurricane Betsy in 1965, which set the stage for Katrina; many mistakes are being repeated.

“People forget, but they cannot afford to forget,” said Windell Curole, a Louisiana hurricane and levee expert. “If you believe you can’t flood, that’s when you increase the risk of flooding. In New Orleans, I don’t think they talk about the risk.”

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New Orleans repeating deadly levee mistakes

The people of New Orleans are not too smart sometime, at least that’s my opinion on the matter. Even if the people of New Orleans think I a NOT entitled to an opinion on their fair city simply because my screen name is TexasFred.

I am NOT joking, that is the rationale offered by many on the NOLA.com site, “You’re from Texas, why do you care what we do or how we do it?” and honestly, I considered a name change but LouisianaFred or CajunFred just didn’t ring my bell, ya know?

But according to the thought process that is New Orleans, I surely can’t have a legitimate opinion of New Orleans and it’s maladies. Never mind the fact that I was born in Louisiana, or that we lived in New Orleans and south Louisiana when I was a lot younger. Never mind the fact that my family goes back to at least the early 1800’s in Louisiana history. That doesn’t matter to the *welfare slugs* and the narrow minded, pompous asses that believe New Orleans to be *bullet proof* when the next hurricane comes in and finishes what Katrina started.

There are some very simple FACTS in play regarding New Orleans, but the simple minds OF New Orleans just can’t seem to grasp them.

New Orleans Is Sinking - Popular Mechanics
New Orleans Is Sinking, New Orleans May Sit In The Gulf Of Mexico In 90 Years - CBS News
ScienceDaily: New Orleans - The New Atlantis?
BBC NEWS Americas New Orleans ’sinking even faster’
NPR : Satellite Imagery Shows a Sinking New Orleans

And even given these facts and predictions, the U.S. government continues to pump billions of OUR tax dollars into their attempt at saving what is, truly, a lost cause. And after the rude arrogance exhibited by the people OF New Orleans and NOLA.com combined with the corruption and inept Democratic leadership that IS New Orleans, I don’t care if the whole damned place falls off in the Gulf.

I just don’t want to see any more of our tax dollars wasted on that stink hole.

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