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I received a tip from someone about how checks can be purchased online with the Obama design on them. He thought I could do something with it... At first I thought I would make a graphic spoofing it, but then I thought of something that was more unusual, and potentially more fun. It's an interactive Flash graphic (my first one, hopefully not the last). So I can't post here, I can only put it put it up at the original post (here.)

Jailed killer had dad, girlfriends cash unemployment checksBy msnbc.com staff A convicted murderer awaiting trial in the Los Angeles County jail system had family cash $30,000 in unemployment checks, the Los Angeles Times reported. Anthony Garcia’s father and two girlfriends reportedly cashed those checks, $1,600 a month, and also deposited money in his jail account and that of other gang members. His father, Juan Garcia, 47, and girlfriends, Sandra Jaimez, 45, and Cynthia Limas, 25, were charged with unemployment fraud, the Times reported.

[The following profile is part of a series on long-term unemployment in America.] John Schmidt has been out of work for 150 weeks. Due to complications regarding his official date of termination, he is still eligible for weekly checks from the government. "It's absolutely retarded, but I'm not going to turn it down." Schmidt has been unemployed since April, 2009 when he lost his job as a database architect at JC Penney. Fired for health reasons, Schmidt says he wanted to sue but no lawyers in the Dallas area would go against the local corporation. In his first year of...

Huntington Bank discovers original checks signed by Lincoln, Washington, Edison, Twain and others (photo gallery) President Abraham Lincoln made out this First National Bank printed check to "self" for $800 on April 13, 1865, two days before he died. BROOKLYN -- Dozens of personal checks -- some 150 to 200 years old and signed by the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, George Washington and Thomas Edison - have been unearthed by Huntington Bank. Some of the historic checks, all signed by U.S. presidents, were unveiled Tuesday and are on display at Huntington's newest branch in Brooklyn. The display is...

snip... Customers of the bankrupt firm are starting to complain about getting checks that bounced, having requests to transfer funds denied and receiving inaccurate account statements. The growing litany of woes is adding to the tasks for the receiver assigned to liquidate MF Global and causing some investors to voice concern about the basic plumbing of the financial services system. Steve Meyers, an independent futures trader in Florida, said he asked for $500,000 from his MF Global account to be wired back to him on October 28 because he was concerned about the firm filing for bankruptcy. The money never...

In February 2009, ABC News was first to report on the 10 letters from constituents that the president is given each day. Culled from the thousands the White House Correspondence Office receives each day from Americans who have taken the time to sit down and write to their president,” the letters “help him focus on the real problems people are facing,” said then-senior adviser David Axelrod. Some of these, maybe two or three each day, the President responds to in his own hand. Then-White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told us that before two different economic speeches, the President “pulled...

Alaskans get $1,174 checks from state's oil wealthThe Associated Press Oct 06, 2011 ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Most Alaskans will be getting $1,174 in Permanent Fund dividends on Thursday. **SNIP** Voters passed a constitutional amendment in 1976 to establish the Permanent Fund as a way to stretch out the state's oil wealth for future generations.

On Sat., Oct. 1, new regulations from the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul go into effect on debit cards. Specifically, they impose price controls on “interchange fees,” the fees that banks and credit unions charge to retailers on debit card transactions. The average interchange fee is about 44 cents. The new rules limit the fees to 21 to 24 cents. “The costs of processing debit card transactions doesn’t go away because you limit the price,” said John Berlau, director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute. “That shifts the costs to consumers.”

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Israel is urging the international community to continue aid to the Palestinians just as U.S. lawmakers are contemplating an aid cutoff if the Palestinians press for statehood at the United Nations. An Israeli government website on Thursday carried a report saying the Palestinian Authority already faced economic and fiscal woes, in part due to a decline in donor aid. "Israel calls for ongoing international support for the PA budget and development projects that will contribute to the growth of a vibrant private sector, which will provide the PA an expanded base for generating internal revenue,"...

Prev Previous Article Editorials Print Comments 3 Debt crisis punctures Social Security myth By: Examiner Editorial | 07/14/11 9:00 PM "I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on Aug. 3,” President Barack Obama warned “CBS Evening News” viewers about Social Security on Tuesday night. “There may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.” But how can that be? Haven’t Washington, D.C.’s professional politicians been telling us for decades that Social Security is in no danger of bankruptcy because of those trillions of dollars supposedly just sitting there in the Social Security Trust Fund? Why can’t...

Reid: No Social Security checks without debt dealAP – 10 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) — Echoing President Barack Obama's warning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Social Security payments would stop if there is no deal to raise the government's borrowing limit by Aug. 2. Speaking on the Senate floor, the Nevada Democrat said flatly that payments for veterans benefits and the military, as well as Social Security, would cease if the government defaults on its obligations. His statement goes beyond Obama, who said earlier this week that he could not guarantee Social Security checks will be issued on Aug....

The European Union is warning Denmark its plans for customs checks may violate EU law and the Schengen free travel agreement. Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, telephoned Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen Friday morning, then followed up with a letter saying the commission had "grave concerns" that Denmark's plan would hinder the smooth functioning of Europe's single market. Member countries may not institute systematic border checks. They can sometimes institute spot checks, but Barroso wrote that the country must demonstrate that the measures are necessary. Denmark says the checks are needed to fight cross-border crime and...

Social Security Payments to Go Paperless Beginning May 1Published April 22, 2011 | FoxNews.com Social Security checks are going paperless beginning May 1, as the U.S. Treasury Department retires paper checks for electronic payments. The cost-saving measure, which won't be fully implemented until May 2013, is aimed at reducing government expenses by $1 billion over the next decade as millions of baby boomers and others apply for monthly federal benefits. Federal benefits will also be paid electronically to recipients of veterans and disability payments, the Treasury Department announced Friday. Eighteen million baby boomers are expected to go onto the retirement...

Federal fraud: Healthy workers took disability Investigation finds $25 billion misspent on payments from 2005 to 2009; thousands of federal workers received questionable checks February 18, 2011 By Sharyl Attkisson * Play CBS Video Video Fighting federal disability fraud According to government estimates, fraud and improper payments ate up $25 billion dollars in federal disability payments from 2005-2009. Sharyl Attkisson reports on the double-dipping that's slipping through the cracks. * 111 Charged in Medicare Scams Worth $225M * Taxpayer Funds Paid for Bonuses, Casino Trips (CBSNews) You have no doubt noticed it when you get your paycheck, the deduction for...

Pop quiz. What's the biggest single job the federal government undertakes? National defense? Nope. Homeland security? Wrong. Transportation? Not even close. Law enforcement? No way. Education? Getting colder. Foreign aid? Are you kidding? Nope, the biggest single thing the federal government does these days is ... cut checks. Lots and lots and lots and lots of checks that go to individual citizens -- $2.3 trillion worth last year alone. In fact, according to a table buried deep inside the little-noticed Historical Tables volume of the White House's 2012 budget, these "direct payments to individuals" accounted for more than two-thirds...

PASSENGERS and other people entering Shanghai's two airports will no longer be searched for flammable materials, after aviation authorities removed a layer of checks following the conclusion of the World Expo. However, East China Civil Aviation Administration officials insist that security has not been downgraded as passengers will still be screened before boarding flights. Authorities said they are trying to find a balance between the level of security during the Expo and the standard one, as passenger volume this year will reach a record high. The city's two airports beefed up security in April, in anticipation of the Expo, which...

CORBIN — LEXINGTON (AP) — Kentucky Senate President David Williams told a group of law students that state legislators, not voters, should choose members of the U.S. Senate — comments that drew a negative reaction from Kentucky’s two senators. Declaring himself “a tea partier,” Williams on Wednesday called for repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which provides for popular election of U.S. senators, the Lexington-Herald Leader reported. Williams is seeking the Republican nomination for governor next year.

<p>Once a month, just after midnight, the beeping checkout scanners at a Wal-Mart just off Interstate 95 come alive in a chorus of financial desperation.</p> <p>Here in Fredricksburg, Va., and at grocery stores across the country, the chimes come just after food stamps and other monthly government benefits drop into the accounts of shoppers who have been rationing things like milk, ground beef and toilet paper and can finally stock up again.</p>

Otter shifts stand on 17th Amendment repeal; The Spokesman-Review Idaho Gov. Butch Otter declared during a political debate today that he doesn’t favor repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - though he’s been sharply critical of the amendment for the past year, including in his keynote speech at a Tea Party rally in Spokane in April. The amendment shifted selection of U.S. senators from state Legislatures to a vote of the people, and repealing it is a plank in Idaho’s Republican Party platform. The governor’s comments came as he and Democratic challenger Keith Allred sparred over everything...

Hundreds of federal employees may have improperly reaped millions in Social Security disability benefits, according to a government watchdog that caught workers at several major agencies pocketing fraudulent payments. The Government Accountability Office issued a report that showed at least 1,500 federal employees may have wrongly received benefits. The group's investigation, which focused on two Social Security programs for people who have limited incomes due to disabilities, found several specific cases in which beneficiaries were earning well above the income cap while still receiving benefits. In one case, a Transportation Security Administration screener was overpaid $108,000, according to the report.

Congress Fails to Act as Thousands Collect Their Last Unemployment Checks'We're Dying Out Here' While Congress Stalls By BETSY STARK and SADIE BASS Oct. 9, 2009 The House of Representatives voted on an extension of unemployment benefits 17 days ago, but today the Senate failed to pass a bill of its own. In those two weeks the Senate has failed to act, an estimated 200,000 Americans have lost a lifeline. Many who contacted ABCNews.com said lawmakers are missing the emergency. "I wonder if the senators of this great country ever wake up worrying about how to pay their electric bill...

Broad, invasive provision touches nearly every aspect of American commerce. ~~~ Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate this week, would require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government. *** Call Congress and Tell Them to Oppose The eBay Reporting Provision in the Housing Bill: 1-866-928-3035 *** FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey commented: "This is a provision with...

Senate Housing Bill Requires eBay, Amazon, Google, and All Credit Card Companies to Report Transactions to the Government Broad, invasive provision touches nearly every aspect of American commerce. Washington, D.C. - Update: Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley is pushing the bill. Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America's small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate this week, would require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction...

Sen Johnny Isakson Says Checks Would Entice People To Buy He would know. As a longtime realtor in Cobb County, Sen. Johnny Isakson has seen housing downturns before. "We had recessions in 1968, 1974, 1982, and 1991, by every measurement, this is going to be a deeper and bigger recession in residential housing. It's a significant event." Isakson is pitching an idea to his colleagues in Congress: a $15,000 tax rebate check to anyone who agrees to buy a home. Congressional budget analysts project the program would cost $14 billion over the next few years. But Isakson said the rebate...

Streisand pitches in as leaders write checks to defense fundsBy Susan Crabtree Posted: 02/04/08 06:38 PM [ET] For lawmakers faced with mounting legal bills, itÂ’s good to have friends in high places with deep pockets. Members of the leadership on both sides of the aisle cut checks to legally embattled House colleagues, and even Barbra Streisand contributed $1,000 to Rep. Jim McDermottÂ’s (D-Wash.) legal expense fund. Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), who will face trial late this month on an array of bribery and corruption charges, has collected a total of $166,550 since 2005 to help defray legal costs. Members of...

OCALA - A woman who reportedly confessed to Marion County sheriff's deputies that she stuffed the body of her 83-year-old mother into two black garbage bags and dumped her along a dirt road so she could cash her retirement check was arrested Tuesday and charged with failure to report a death, a misdemeanor. Inspector Mike Mongeluzzo arrested Debra Loreth, 53, of Belleview. On Monday, Mongeluzzo learned from the Medical Examiner's Office that the cause of Jeanne Vasa's death was "undetermined." Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. John Herrell said detectives have filed paperwork with the State Attorney's Office seeking a charge of...

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Castro: Cuba not cashing U.S. Guantanamo rent checks By Anthony Boadle 2 hours, 23 minutes ago HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States pays Cuba $4,085 a month in rent for the controversial Guantanamo naval base, but Cuba has only once cashed a check in almost half a century and then only by mistake, Fidel Castro wrote in an essay published on Friday. The ailing Cuban leader, who has not appeared in public for more than a year, said he had refused to cash the checks to protest the "illegal" U.S. occupation of the land which he said was now used...

The Home Office is to investigate allegations that immigration officials operated a "sex for visas" scam and ignored vital security checks. Anthony Pamnani, a former administration officer at the Lunar House immigration processing centre in Croydon, south London, told The Sun newspaper that women were helped to stay in the UK in return for sex. He also alleged that security checks were lax, making it easier for potential terrorists to sneak into the country. According to the newspaper, Mr Pamnani, 23, alleged that attractive women applicants were seen first at the centre, which deals with 300,000 visa and asylum applications...

State performs criminal checks on evacueesAction aimed at identifying sex offenders raises questions of profiling Wednesday, November 09, 2005 By SEAN REILLY Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Alabama law enforcement authorities have been routinely running criminal background checks on adult Hurricane Katrina evacuees housed at 13 state parks, a spokesman for Gov. Bob Riley confirmed Tuesday. The spokesman, Jeff Emerson, described the move as primarily aimed at protecting children from registered sex offenders who might be among the evacuees. But as he and other state officials acknowledged, the evacuees' names are being run through the FBI's Nation al Crime Information Center,...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he can't be bought. He has often lambasted state politicians for taking money from people with a vested interest in bills before the Legislature. "Here's how it works," Schwarzenegger said in a television spot when he ran for governor. "Money comes in, favors go out. The people lose." Yet during the four-week period this year when Schwarzenegger acted on the vast majority of bills passed by the Legislature, he raised far more money than his predecessors did during comparable periods: $8.7 million, about 14 times as much as Gov. Gray Davis ever did in...

/begin my translationMassive Search under Way to  Arrest  an 'Important N. Korean Fugitive Soldier',  Tense Sino-N. Korean Border[Breaking news from the border] Tollgates are manned not by police but military, running thorough checks for  possession of weapons [2005-09-29 16:22] Chinese border troops running a checkpoint. All vehicles and passers-by are being checked Checks and searches in Sino-N. Korean border area to capture 'an important  N. Korean fugitive soldier', which had started in the afternoon of (Sept.) 28th, is still continuing as of 4pm, (Sept.) 29th. At 3pm, (Sept.) 29th[S. Korean time], (Chinese) border troops were urgently dispatched at ' Ryong-yen(?) Tollgate,' located...

LITTLE ROCK ? The number of states reporting forged Arkansas checks is now at 22 and the amount of money actually cashed has reached $114,400, state Auditor Jim Wood said Friday. None of the forged Arkansas checks have been found in state and Arkansas has not lost any money, Wood said. The checks have been found before they cleared the treasurer?s office,? Wood said, adding that they were cashed at liquor stores or check-cashing stores.

LOS ANGELES - Actor Tom Sizemore missed a probation violation hearing Tuesday after checking into a live-in drug rehabilitation program. If the court finds Sizemore violated probation, he could be sent to prison for up to three years. The actor was ordered into drug treatment after pleading guilty in October to possession of methamphetamine. Sizemore, who played baseball player Pete Rose in last year's ESPN movie "Hustle" and had roles in films including "Natural Born Killers" and "Saving Private Ryan," has denied violating the terms of his probation. Prosecutors allege Sizemore tried to falsify a urine test for drugs and...

MIDI - LAST SONG (La la la la la la la la la la la) Did you know I wrote a check and put it in the mail 'Cause you promised me you would always do what's right and never fail All you sen-a-tors, I have had your back But I watch you rolling over...you yellow-bellied hacks That's the last check I'll ever write for you I have had it and this time I really swear that I am through It was the last stinking check I'll ever write for you You just watch and you will see...no more...

WASHINGTON - Someone born next year who goes on to earn what the government considers a high-wage income could see his Social Security check replaced by the personal investment account President Bush has proposed, a congressional study says. Democrats said Wednesday that the study, which they commissioned from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, was troublesome because it illustrated how the accounts — invested in the stock market — might eventually eliminate Social Security's guaranteed checks. "President Bush says his plan is best for future generations, but this analysis shows how they would be the biggest losers. Our kids and grandkids...

According to reports in the U.S. media, the Democrats are worried that George Bush and his fellow Christian fundamentalists, now that they have control of both Houses of Congress, will feel free to ride roughshod over all opinions contrary to their own. Since the U.S, unlike Canada, is blessed with a system of checks and balances, no president, no matter how popular he may be, can impose his will on the nation. The U.S. Democrats would really have something to worry about if they had to contend with a Canadian style government, where, unlike the U.S., there is nothing to...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles Police Department is tightening its policy on handling illegal immigrants to allow officers to check the status of suspected felons. If approved, the new rules would be a shift from a 1979 policy that prevents officers from inquiring about a person's immigration status to encourage illegal immigrants who had witnessed or been victims of crimes to cooperate with police without fear of deportation. Assistant Police Chief George Gascon said the proposal would direct officers to report suspected felons in the United States illegally to their supervisors, who would then consult with immigration officials....

Ex-Democratic Aide Admits Stealing Checks Tue Feb 15, 9:41 PM ET Elections - AP By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - A former staffer for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee admitted Tuesday to stealing about $360,000 in donor checks while he was employed there. Roger Chiang pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of mail fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for June. Chiang, a staffer in charge of ethnic outreach and fund raising, was fired from the DSCC after about $360,000 in missing committee donor checks were traced to a bank account he had opened. The DSCC is...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Hundreds of dead San Diego city retirees continue to receive pension checks and the city scans the obituaries to determine whether its beneficiaries are still alive, according to a whistle-blower on the city's pension board. San Diego's pension system has a nearly $1.4 billion deficit and is at the heart of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. attorney and FBI into city finances, possible public corruption and securities fraud. Those investigations were sparked by revelations from Diann Shipione, who testified Monday at the first hearing before the City Council's new Government Efficiency and Openness...

A Humbling Lesson: Congressman Davy Crockett Learns About Limited Government   In the following, excerpted from the book The Life of Colonel David Crockett (1884) compiled by Edward S. Ellis, the famous American frontiersman, war hero, and congressman from Tennessee relates how he learned -- from one of his own backwoods constituents -- the vital importance of heeding the Constitution and the dangers of disregarding its restraints. Crockett was then the lion of Washington. I was a great admirer of his character, and, having several friends who were intimate with him, I found no difficulty in making his acquaintance. I was...

Your bank is about to make some pretty radical changes to your checking account -- changes that could cost you money in bounced-check fees and limit your ability to fight fraud or errors. These alterations are so significant, in fact, that it may be time to abandon paper checks, if you haven’t already.

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Costco workers checked the merchandise at its food court and found nothing out of the ordinary after a woman claimed she bit into a bullet while eating a hot dog, the company's chief executive officer said Wednesday. Police interviewed workers and opened all of the approximately 25 remaining hot dog packages after Olivia Chanes, 31, reported the incident, CEO Jim Sinegal said. "We checked everything thoroughly," Sinegal said by phone from Costco's corporate office near Seattle. "Obviously, it's regrettable. ... The question is when could something like this happen."

A man and his donkey have been arrested in Cyprus after they tried to poke fun at passport checks by crossing the island's divide equipped only with a "donkey passport". Greek Cypriot pensioner Savvas Christodoulou and his donkey, Shelidona, were part of a protest which activists hoped would highlight opposition to passport checks at the recently opened border, which has divided the island since 1974. Turkish Cypriot police encouraged them to cross the Nicosia checkpoint into Turkish-controlled territory but moments later plainclothes officers bundled Mr Christodoulou into a car. His donkey, the heavily pregnant Shelidona, was led off to the...

Greasing Gray with Fat Checks California's Richest Look to Protect Selves as Recall Takes Off (July 10, 2003) ~ By Jill Stewart As the Gray Davis recall moves into overdrive and the noxious consultant Chris Lehane--who helped Clinton formulate his creepy Monica Lewinsky strategy--prepares to launch an assault on the truth unlike anything we've witnessed in a California election, a phrase keeps circling inside my head. Follow the money. Most political junkies know by now that Lehane and the rest of Davis' advisors plan to paint the recall as right-wingers stealing an election from liberals. Lehane is said by some...

WASHINGTON, June 24 — More than 100 federal air marshals have been fired or stripped of their flight status in recent weeks for problems stemming from their security clearance background investigations, MSNBC.com has learned. In addition, some air marshals are flying without having received their final security clearances, Transportation Security Administration sources told MSNBC.com. The revelations fuel critics’ charges that a key element of post-9/11 airline security is being poorly managed. THE TRANSPORTATION Security Administration, the agency that oversees federal air marshals, admits that some marshals have been fired while others have been stripped of their flight status and placed...

Judge dismisses charges against man who wrote obscene check -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fri, Jan 24, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The contempt of court charge against a Howell man who wrote obscenities on a check he used to pay a traffic fine was dismissed Thursday. Reason for the dismissal: "limited resources." John Pikkarainen, chief judge of the 53rd District Court in Howell, dismissed the case a day before an evidentiary hearing. He wouldn't comment on the case, but did write an opinion on the order. Pikkarainen wrote that he believes the act was indirectly contemptuous and warranted appointing a special prosecutor to the case. But...

<p>Connecting the dots is usually child's play. But privacy advocates say that a government plan to apply sophisticated computer algorithms and "fuzzy logic" to unconnected databases to sniff out terrorists violates the privacy of American travelers.</p> <p>Transportation Department officials counter that it's just another way they're using technology to rout terrorism.</p>

Man charged with contempt for obscene message on check Writing what was really on his mind could end up buying a Howell man more trouble than he bargained for after he wrote obscene comments on a check used to pay a traffic ticket. Eric Wilmoth, 26, has been charged with contempt of court by 53rd District Court Judge John Pikkarainen after Wilmoth wrote "Bulls- - - F- - - - - - ticket. Suck on it" on the memo line of a check he mailed to the court to pay a traffic fine. Wilmoth will appear before Pikkarainen in Howell...

House Panel OKs Tougher Gun Checks WASHINGTON (AP) - Peter Troy's history of mental illness made it illegal for him to own the gun that police say he used to spray bullets at a Long Island church, killing the priest and a worshipper. But the database used by the FBI for background checks is so incomplete that Troy was approved to buy a rifle even though he been committed to a mental institution at least twice. The FBI's system is supposed to identify felons, drug addicts, domestic abusers, illegal immigrants, people who were involuntarily committed to a mental institution and...