The American Trial Lawyers Association

It looks like the sour job market in America is taking a toll on a group of folks who were once able to get great jobs without any qualifications. I'm speaking of course, of former members of the Bush administration. According to a new report, of the 3,000 former officials currently looking for full-time work, only about 25% of them have been able to find a job. For many, the traditional refuge of conservative think tanks in Washington, D.C. has become a Fort Knox, with almost no positions available, and certainly not for lower-rung Bush officials. Some have been able to find positions at universities, and Condoleezza Rice recently signed a three book deal, but others have not been so lucky. According to the original report in the Wall Street Journal, Washington think tanks aren't interested in hiring more Republicans because Democrats control both Houses of Congress as well as the presidency. Other job seekers are falling victim to Bush's historically low approval ratings, which is something that most employers don't want to be associated with. It only seems fitting that the people involved with the administration would finally become effected by it. This is poetic justice at its finest.


In other news, we all know that we have criminals and swindlers on Wall Street, but running a military charity? No! According to a recent investigation, the largest charity inside the US military has been stockpiling tens of millions of dollars that was supposed to be used to help put returning soldiers back on their feet. Between 2003 and 2007 Army Emergency Relief swelled into a $345 million charity titan, while the military families it was designed to help, dealt with long deployments and soaring home foreclosure rates. According to tax records, during those years, the charity hoarded $117 million in its reserves with spending just $64 million on direct aid. The charity was founded in 1942 to help ease cash emergencies of active-duty soldiers and retirees, and provides college scholarships for their families. It also helps cover mortgage payments, food, car repairs, medical bills among other things. It's also been revealed that instead of giving money away, the charity lent out 91% of its emergency funds between 2003 and 2007. AER executives have defended the fund saying they need to keep sizable reserves to be ready for future catastrophes. If the two current wars we have going on right now don't count as a catastrophe, I'm not sure what would.


And finally today, in a case of life imitating art, a man from Australia has been arrested for smuggling…Snakes on a plane. The man has been charged with attempting to smuggle 44 native lizards and snakes on a flight out of Australia. The snakes have been identified as three black headed pythons and an albino carpet python, which is an extremely endangered species with numbers estimated to be as low as 100, and worth as much as 20 thousand dollars. Customs officials estimate that the total worth of the man's reptile haul was close to $200,000 dollars. The man was set to board a flight to Bangkok, but the snakes and lizards were detected by luggage x-rays before he could get on his flight. While wildlife smuggling is a serious crime, the fact that the man actually tried to bring snakes on a plane has to make you laugh, at least a little.

Labels: Afghanistan, Bush Administration, Charity, Economy, Farron Cousins, Fraud, Iraq, Military, Movie, Quote, Samuel L Jackson, Snakes on a Plane, The Daily Left, unemployment