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[linkshotleft=http://www.uspsoig.gov/][b][url=http://www.uspsoig.gov/]Office of inspector General[/url]:[/b] [center][img]http://www.uspsoig.gov/images/Special-Report.jpg[/img][/center] Special Report New OIG Study Estimates USPS Has Been Overcharged for the CSRS Pension Fund by $75 Billion A study just released by the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) shows that the current system of funding the Postal Service’s Civil Service Retirement System pension responsibility is inequitable and has resulted in the Postal Service overpaying $75 billion to the pension fund. The OIG estimates that if the overcharge was used to prepay the Postal Service’s health benefits fund, it would fully meet all of the Postal Service’s accrued retiree health care liabilities...

To support and defend... By now, you've probably heard that large sectors of the U.S. economy have collapsed, consumer confidence is at a historic low, Democrats control the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, and they're poised to print "bailout and infrastructure" money on the theory of "trickle up poverty" -- risking a prolonged recession followed by hyperinflation. If there is an economic recovery any time soon, it will be the result of private sector initiatives and a consumer confidence recovery, not the redistribution of a few trillion dollars among friends. Never fear, there is a "community organizer" at...

VILLAGE IDIOTS Social engineering: "I am concerned, as I'm sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high-skill people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers. I have nothing against white male construction workers. I'm just saying that there are a lot of other people who have needs as well..." --former Labor Secretary Robert Reich From the peacenik files: "I have believed for some time that military power is no solution to terrorism. ... So let me suggest a truly audacious hope for [the Obama] administration: How about a five-year time-out on war...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Sometimes it's hard to get bikers and NASCAR fans to dress up and attend church on Sunday morning. So Southern Baptists are taking the Gospel to them, giving away free motorcycles at biker rallies and motor speedways as they try to attract new converts with a revved-up new style of evangelism. Baptists in North and South Dakota for a second year in a row gave away a new Harley Davidson at the Sturgis, S.D., biker rally in August. To be eligible, people had to listen to a 3-minute sermon and fill out a card to get a...

I have a problem with my Apple G3 and after a day of pulling out my hair, It dawned on me that the best place to have my questions answered is right here. I had gotten my G3 when it was brand new, than gave it to my son, who after a few years gave it to my other son. The G3 having gone full circle I have it again. The problem is I can't get it to boot, I have OSX and the update to it. When I start the system with OSX the installer never comes up, when...

Ashcroft says judges threaten national security by questioning Bush decisions The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Federal judges are jeopardizing national security by issuing rulings contradictory to President Bush's decisions on America's obligations under international treaties and agreements, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday. In his first remarks since his resignation was announced Tuesday, Ashcroft forcefully denounced what he called "a profoundly disturbing trend" among some judges to interfere in the president's constitutional authority to make decisions during war. "The danger I see here is that intrusive judicial oversight and second-guessing of presidential determinations in these critical areas can put at...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Real estate developer and political fund-raiser Charles Kushner of Livingston, New Jersey, was charged by federal prosecutors Tuesday with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and interstate promotion of prostitution. The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie for New Jersey. In February 2003, Christie's office began investigating Kushner for alleged violation of federal tax and fraud statutes and for purported violation of federal campaign contribution laws. According to the indictment, two of the cooperating witnesses in the investigation -- a married couple described as close relatives of Kushner -- provided information against him to federal...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A year and a half before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a British Muslim told the FBI that he was trained to be a hijacker for Osama bin Laden and was in the United States to carry out attacks, NBC News and The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Niaz Khan, a British citizen of Pakistani descent, said in interviews that instead of meeting his contacts in New York, he went to Atlantic City, New Jersey, gambled away his money, then turned himself in and confessed. Khan told NBC and The Wall Street Journal that he was...

French policeman arrested driving in fishnet tights PARIS (Reuters) - A French policeman faces trial in a police court for driving under the influence after he was stopped at the wheel of his car drunk and wearing only a pair of fishnet tights, a prosecutor said Friday. The man admitted he was a part-time prostitute after fellow police chased him through the Bois de Boulogne, a wooded area on the outskirts of Paris reputed as a nighttime hangout of transsexual prostitutes, in the early hours of Thursday. The policeman said he needed the extra income. If convicted, he could lose...

It's one thing to criticize SUVs for using more gas than the typical passenger car--even to dislike them on aesthetic grounds. But to argue they're less safe than the typical passenger car--as NHTSA's Dr. Jeffrey Runge has implied--or to accuse them of befouling the environment is quite another. Part of the attempted crucifixion of SUVs relies on selling half-truths about government and insurance-industry crash-test data. SUVs are often portrayed as "menaces" because when they are involved in collisions with the average passenger car--which is much smaller and lighter than the average SUV--the smaller car almost always suffers disproportionately more damage....

<p>PILOT MOUNTAIN, N.C. (AP) - As soon as a group of fellow bikers pulled the handlebars out of his abdomen after his motorcycle crash, Brian Shipwash wanted to do one more thing in case he died.</p> <p>So he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, broken and blood-spattered, with a ring inside and asked Shandra Miller to marry him.</p>

<p>UTOPIA, Ohio (AP) - A car crossed the center line of a highway and struck seven motorcycles Saturday in southwestern Ohio, killing one man and injuring nine others, authorities said.</p> <p>A westbound car driven by Joshua Kash, 18, of Franklin, struck the eastbound motorcycles about 1:20 p.m. on U.S. 52 in Clermont County, 35 miles southeast of Cincinnati, the State Highway Patrol said.</p>

More people were killed last year in rollover-type accidents involving pickup trucks and SUVs than in previous years--statistically speaking, about 1.51 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. But despite alarmist reportage by the major media and SUV-haters in the punditocracy, that is still pretty low by historical standards. (There were 5.5 million deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in the mid-1960s, and 1.75 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1992.) Moreover, it's rarely mentioned in anti-SUV rants that rollover-type accidents account for just 2.5 percent of all crashes. Or that the actual number of people killed...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Did you hear the one about the governor from Arkansas who ran for the White House and won?</p> <p>The nation's top late-night joke meisters certainly did.</p> <p>President Clinton was the target of more political jokes cracked by Jay Leno and David Letterman than any other world figure over the past decade, according to a new study that raises questions about the impact of the proliferation of political humor and the blurring line between entertainment and news.</p>

CAMP LEJEUNE, Oct. 8 -- One marine was in custody and four others were being sought Sunday night after a sentry at Camp Lejeune was struck by a vehicle and shots were fired at the suspects, authorities said. The incident occurred around 6:30 p.m. when two Marine Corps vehicles tried to leave the base through the back gate at the Stone Bay area of N.C. 172, according to the base's public affairs office. The five marines were told to stop by a sentry, but the drivers refused, 1st Lt. William Klumpp, spokesman for the Camp Lejeune public affairs office, told ...

I don't normally post vanities, as a matter of fact this is my first one. I have a problem that I can bet solved here. Here is my problem I just acquired a Toshiba notebook model 550 CDT. I also just bought Corel Linux OS se. I loaded the OS onto the notebook and all seamed fine. I just cannot get either the modem or the PC card port to work. I have to disable them in the bios. Everything worked with no problem when I had Win98. I have reformatted the harddrive. I know there are a lot of ...

Global Media Behemoths Raise Red Flags NEW YORK (Reuters) - The clock radio wakes you with the latest tunes from Madonna. You soon sit down to breakfast and, while thumbing through the pages of Time magazine, are drawn in by ads for HBO's "Sex in the City" and "Sopranos." On your way out the door, you grab your mobile telephone and log onto AOL to scan the latest financial headlines as you head for work. Only one hour into your day, and all the news and entertainment you've encountered has been brought to you by just one company -- ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush appealed directly to the public on Saturday to tell Congress not to spend any more than what he is seeking in his budget blueprint. "When money is left in Washington, there is a tremendous temptation for the government to use it. The point is simple: If you send it, they will spend it," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "And this is why we need a balanced approach of moderate spending growth, debt reduction, and meaningful tax relief. This is the plan that Congress is now considering, and I hope you'll give it your ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration gets off to a heady start this week with promotion of the president's $1.6 trillion tax plan in the Senate. President Bush picked up a Democratic sponsor, but also got Democratic warnings that he faces trouble if he ignores their priorities. Bush must also deal with the insistence of his former rival for the GOP presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain (news - bio - voting record), that campaign finance be one of the first items on the congressional agenda. The Arizona senator and his Democratic ally, Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, are to introduce ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Moving quickly upon taking office, President George W. Bush (news -web sites) on Saturday issued an order that essentially blocked some of the last-minute executive orders and rules laid down by outgoing President Clinton (news-web sites). The order was believed to apply to such orders as new regulations for managed care programs under Medicare and new environmental rules on runoff from animal feeding operations. It would also apply to Clinton's declaration of the former military post of Governor's Island in New York Harbor as a national monument, a designation Clinton made on Saturday. Bush's move did not ...