Hump Day Stuff!

I have a few odds and ends to discuss today... My schedule is a little whack because I'm working the full week, which really screws with my routine of writing for free! Therefore, just a few quick thoughts...

• It's a good thing President Obama banked a whole lot of positive love during the inauguration, because he's looking positively human this week! Obama is taking his punishment for picking top job nominees with shady tax problems like a man, but when he says "I screwed up", he's not merely falling on a sword. This mess IS his mess.


• Loudoun County is spending 250, 000 dollars over two years for the right to call itself the official home of the Washington Redskins. I love the Redskins, but if I lived in Loudoun, I'd be calling my lawmakers and demanding an eviction! Nothing against the team... but do you really think any local jurisdiction has that kind of $$$ to throw around these days?


• I gotta figure out a way to get a Metro to give ME money! Read this:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department has settled a lawsuit accusing Washington's transit agency of religious discrimination.

The complaint filed in federal court accused Metro of discriminating against a woman of the Apostolic Pentecostal faith because she was unable to comply with Metro's uniform policy.

Gloria Jones said she wasn't hired as a bus driver because her religious beliefs prohibit her from wearing pants, which are part of the uniform.The Justice Department announced Tuesday that Metro has agreed to pay more than $47,000 to Jones and $2,500 each to two others who say Metro didn't accommodate their beliefs.

• And finally, Wells Fargo Bank has reluctantly cancelled a 12-night junket for its top employees in Las Vegas after lawmakers on Capitol Hill howled to the moon about it. Wells Fargo lost 2.3 billion dollars in the last quarter, but the funniest thing to me is that the bank tried initially to KEEP the trip. "Recognition events are still part of our culture," spokeswoman Melissa Murray said Tuesday afternoon. "It's really important that our team members are still valued and recognized."In previous years, top Wells Fargo loan officers were treated to performances by Cher, Jay Leno and Huey Lewis. One year, the company provided fortune tellers and offered camel rides, said Debra Rickard, a former Wells Fargo mortgage employee from Colorado who attended the events regularly until she left the company in 2004. Every night when employees returned to their rooms, there was a new gift on their pillows, she said. "I was amazed with just how lavish it was," Rickard said. "We stayed in top hotels, the entertainment was just unbelievable, and there were awards - you got plaques or trophies." Kevin Waetke, another spokesman for Wells Fargo, said the Las Vegas trip provided a "unique opportunity" for employees of Wells Fargo and newly acquired bank Wachovia Corp. "to focus on continuing to do all we can for U.S. homeowners."

I have an idea. I think I'm going to sue my Dad for failing to push me into the banking business when I was a child. How the heck did I miss out on this? Dad - expect to hear from my lawyer!