NBey6's Blog

Prisoners cashed in on homebuyer tax credit

  By Aaron Smith, staff writer

June 23, 2010: 2:03 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- More than 1,200 prison inmates, including 241 serving life sentences, defrauded the government of $9.1 million in tax credits reserved for first-time homebuyers, according to a Treasury Department report released Wednesday.

Treasury's inspector general also found that thousands of people filed multiple claims or made claims outside the allotted time period. In all, more than $28 million was improperly doled out.

 

The Internal Revenue Service program at issue is meant to stimulate the housing market by giving tax credits of as much as $8,000 to qualifying first-time home buyers.

"Additional controls are necessary to address erroneous claims for the credit," the report stated. "Further, fraudulent and questionable claims processed prior to implementation of controls will need follow-up action by the IRS."

According to the report, 4,608 state and federal inmates filed for these tax credits, and that fraudulent refunds were doled out to 1,295 of them.

The inspector general's report said the most "egregious" fraudsters were 715 prison lifers, including 174 who filed with the help of paid preparers. From this group, 241 lifers were awarded $1.7 million.

The problem was particularly bad in Florida: 61% of the lifers who got credits were incarcerated in the Sunshine State.

"It is possible for an inmate to buy a house while in prison," said Jo Ellyn Rackleff, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections. "We have inmates in Florida prisons who still have businesses outside. Many of the inmates have families with children who live outside."

She said that one of the reasons why Florida inmates feature prominently in the Treasury report is because the Florida prison system is transparent in providing inmate information to the IRS.

"We provide [the IRS] with data quarterly," she said. "If we receive an IRS check in the Post Office of an institution, the IRS will receive a call that we received a check, to make sure it's all legitimate."

The homebuyer tax credit program was very specific about the time period in which homebuyers were allowed to participate, though this rule seems to be the most widely violated. The credit was for home purchases that happened after April 8, 2008, with a cut-off date that was eventually extended to May 1, 2010.

The report found that the IRS awarded $17.6 million to 2,555 filers who had bought their homes before the credit program kicked in.

The inspector general also identified 206 filers who claimed the credit for multiple addresses; these fraudulent filers were awarded a total of $1.4 million.

The report also found that improper filers included 34 employees of the IRS. This is in addition to 53 IRS employees that the inspector general identified last year as improper filers.

The report included a response from the IRS, which highlighted the huge scope of the program, with $12.6 billion in claims awarded to 1.8 million participants. The IRS said it had ramped up efforts to crack down on criminal activity and would continue to review claims and "recapture" pay-outs determined to be fraudulent.

The IRS said it "has devoted substantial resources to working with state and federal prison systems to collect and maintain information on the prison population."

But the agency added, "The prison population changes frequently and it is simply not feasible for the IRS to maintain 100% accurate records based on information that is reported to us voluntarily by the various prison authorities." The agency suggested that Congress require prisons to report inmates' status to the IRS.

In an e-mail to CNNMoney.com, IRS spokesman Anthony Burke said the agency had "successfully blocked or denied nearly 400,000 questionable homebuyer claims and opened more than 150 criminal investigations. These aggressive efforts have saved taxpayers more than $1 billion."

As for the IRS employees, the agency said that it was working to identify those at fault.

Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Mundaca said that, despite its problems, the homebuyer tax credit helped to spur more than 2.5 million new home purchases and helped to stabilize the housing market.

"These fraudulent claims, which are being pursued to the fullest extent of the law, represent less than half a percent of the credits paid out under this program," he said, in an e-mail to CNNMoney.com. "As with all new and expanded programs, we are constantly working to improve implementation, and the IRS has already begun to take additional steps to prevent fraud in this program."

Updated: June 23, 2010, 10:19 AM ET

Source: Lakers interested in Raja Bell

By Dave McMenamin
ESPNLosAngeles.com
Archive

The Lakers are interested in signing free agent forward Raja Bell, according to a team source.

 

Bell, who played only six games in 2009-10 before undergoing season-ending surgery on his left wrist in December, is coveted for his defense and his ability to connect on corner 3-point shots that could fortify the Lakers inconsistent bench, according to the source.

 

The 10-year veteran, who turns 34 in September, averaged 13.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 45 games with Charlotte in 2008-09, his last healthy stint before being traded to the Golden State Warriors in a deal for Stephen Jackson in November.

 

 

In the story first reported by Yahoo! Sports, Kobe Bryant was named as one of Bell's strongest supporters, the pair having apparently buried the hatchet after a 2006 first round playoff series between the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers when the two exchanged blows on the court and insults off of it.

 

"I have no respect for him. I think he's a pompous and arrogant individual," Bell said before being suspended for Game 6 of the series for a clothesline foul on Bryant in Game 5.

 

Bryant was merely dismissive.

 

 

"I don't know this guy. I might have said one word to this guy. I don't know this kid. I think he overreacts to stuff. We go out there, we play the game and leave it at that. Maybe he wasn't hugged enough as a kid. I look at him a little bit, he gets a little insecure about something. I don't know," Bryant said the day after Game 5.

 

This exchange was preceded by remarks by Bryant after a Suns-Lakers regular season matchup that year when he scored 51 in a loss to Phoenix with Bell guarding him and said afterwards, "I've got bigger fish to fry than Raja Bell. Are you kidding me?"

 

The Lakers have $83.9 million committed to eight players for next season, nearly $16 million above the luxury tax threshold that comes with a dollar-for-dollar penalty for salary spent over that line. The Lakers will need to sign five more players (six if Shannon Brown opts out of his contract) and will have the mid level exception, valued at approximately $5.5 million, available to do so despite the team being so far over the $56.1 million salary cap.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Grand jury indicts Taylor

---

ESPN.com news services

NEW YORK -- Pro football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor has been indicted by a suburban New York grand jury on charges of rape, criminal sexual act and sexual abuse.

 

Taylor

 

The indictment Wednesday comes after his May 6 arrest at a Holiday Inn. Prosecutors say he paid a 16-year-old girl $300 to have sex with him.

 

The former New York Giant was also indicted on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and patronizing a prostitute.

 

Taylor's longtime agent, Mark Lepselter, told ESPNNewYork.com's Ian O'Connor that Taylor's legal team wasn't surprised by the timing of the indictment.

 

"Lawrence's legal team made a strategic decision not to put him or any of our evidence before the grand jury, and we look forward to the legal process taking its course and allowing Lawrence to move forward with his life," Lepselter said.

 

Asked about Taylor's reaction to the indictment, Lepselter said that his client was hopeful that his innocence would be proven in court.

 

"Obviously it's not a pleasant day for Lawrence and his family, but LT's had to overcome many obstacles in the past and is hopeful he'll be able to overcome this one as well," Lepselter said.

 

Xiomara Lopez, the confidential assistant to the prosecutor, told ESPNNewYork.com's Jane McManus that the next step in the case would be a hearing. That usually happens the same day as the indictment, but she said the Rockland County District Attorney's office is having trouble getting in touch with Taylor's attorney.

 

Earlier Wednesday, former Rockland DA Kenneth Gribetz told ESPNNewYork.com that he was no longer representing Taylor and referred all questions to the DA's office. Taylor's lead attorney Arthur Aidala is also involved in a case currently on trial, defending William Rapetti who is accused of manslaughter due to negligence in operating a crane that toppled and killed seven people.

 

Lepselter said that it is expected that Taylor would appear "in court sometime in the next two weeks."

 

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe says the 16-year-old told investigators that she had been verbally threatened and physically assaulted. She said she was brought to the hotel room by a pimp later arrested by New York City police.

 

Taylor has denied the charges.

Wednesday 6-23-10 Wednesday

459, 467, 628, 728, 485, 998, 779, 302, 204

308, 713, 168, 370, 792, 263, 997, 766, 047

362, 327, 873, 702, 067, 200, 500, 118, 322

4470, 0320, 9989, 8308, 8408, 3188, 1884

Donovan rescues U.S. World Cup dream with goal in 91st minute

PRETORIA, South Africa -- Landon Donovan scored in the first minute of stoppage time off a rebound, advancing the United States to the second round at the World Cup with a 1-0 win over Algeria.

 

With the U.S. perhaps three minutes from elimination, Jozy Altidore was stopped on a breakaway by goalkeeper Rais Bolihi. Donovan hustled in and kicked in the rebound to win Group C Wednesday.

 

After his U.S. record 44th international goal, Donovan joyously ran to the corner flag and his teammates ran down the touchline to mob him. Donovan was in tears when the game ended and the United States had moved into the second round.

 

With just its fifth shutout in World Cup play, the United States (1-0-2) won a World Cup group for the first time since 1930 and will face the runner-up in Group D this weekend.

 

England (1-0-2), which beat Slovenia moments earlier, also had five points but finished second because the U.S. scored four goals to two for the English. Slovenia (1-1-1) was third with four points, missing advancing because of Donovan's heroics, and Algeria (0-2-1) was last with one.

 

Until Donovan's goal, it appeared the officiating would again be the focus.

 

Clint Dempsey put the ball in the net in the 21st minute off the rebound of Herculez Gomez's shot. But the goal was called offside, just as Maurice Edu's late goal was disallowed against Slovenia last week, a score that would have given the Americans a victory. Replays appeared to show Dempsey was onside.

 

Dempsey had another great chance in the 57th minute when Michael Bradley stole the ball and sent Altidore streaking down the right side. Altidore crossed, but Dempsey's shot hit the goalpost. He shot wide on the rebound.

TIW 6-22-10 SC Midday

Winning Numbers: 266 & 0033

 

968, 076, 309, 361, 387, 810, 254, 791
6154, 7618, 5037, 8401, 8927, 4762, 4852
9065, 9368, 9374, 9751, 0632, 1352, 2019
 

076, 187, 298, 309, 410, 521, 632, 743, 854, 965

254, 365, 476, 587, 698, 709, 810, 921, 032, 143

7610, 7611, 7612, 7613, 7614, 7615, 7616, 7617, 7618, 7619

0618, 1618, 2618, 3618, 4618, 5618, 6618, 7618, 8618, 9618

0852, 1852, 2852, 3852, 4852, 5852, 6852, 7852, 8852, 9852

4850, 4851, 4852, 4853, 4854, 4855, 4856, 4857, 4858, 4859

 

21, 70, 76 and/or 25 pairs

¹But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

- 2 Timothy 3:1-5 -

TIW 6-21-10 FL Midday

Winning Numbers: 440 & 2270

 

749, 854, 687, 641, 695, 918, 032, 571
5168, 4517, 6304, 7831, 7924, 8452, 8762
9356, 9057, 9048, 9461, 3502, 1062, 2319
 

854, 965, 076, 187, 298, 309, 410, 521, 632, 743

641, 752, 863, 974, 085, 196, 207, 318, 429, 530

032, 143, 254, 365, 476, 587, 698, 709, 810, 921

4510, 4511, 4512, 4513, 4514, 4515, 4516, 4517, 4518, 4519

0517, 1517, 2517, 3517, 4517, 5517, 6517, 7517, 8517, 9517

0461, 1461, 2461, 3461, 4461, 5461, 6461, 7461, 8461, 9461

9460, 9461, 9462, 9463, 9464, 9465, 9466, 9467, 9468, 9469

2310, 2311, 2312, 2313, 2314, 2315, 2316, 2317, 2318, 2319

0319, 1319, 2319, 3319, 4319, 5319, 6319, 7319, 8319, 9319
 

09, 19, 16, 96, 87, 54, 64, 61, 41 and/or 32 pairs

'Toy Story' breaks records at box office

By Nicole Sperling, EW

• "Toy Story 3" grossed an estimated $109 million, Pixar's highest open ever
• Other release "Jonah Hex" grossed paltry $5 million for eighth place finish
• "The A-Team" held very well, dropping only 46 percent

• Movies
• Entertainment
• Hollywood

(EW.com) -- It may not have reached infinity and beyond, but "Toy Story 3" has broken records with its Father's Day weekend debut.

The G-rated movie starring everyone's favorite Pixar characters Buzz Lightyear and Cowboy Woody grossed an estimated $109 million, earning the status of Pixar's highest-grossing opening weekend ever.

It helped that "Toy Story 3" bowed in more than 2,000 3-D locations, a number that accounted more than 50 percent of its gross. Its IMAX numbers were also solid: The film earned 8 percent of its total from the 180 large-screen theaters. The movie generated a 99 percent positive rating from review collector site Rotten Tomatoes and an A from exit pollster CinemaScore.

The animated flick also helped boost the box office more than 30 percent over this weekend last year, when "The Proposal" debuted to $33 million.

The story is far different for the only other new wide release, "Jonah Hex." In fact, the PG-13 western actioner starring Josh Brolin was wholeheartedly rejected by audiences, grossing a paltry $5 million for an eighth place finish at the box office.

It will likely go down as the biggest disappointment of the summer, one that's surely not going to help the careers of either Brolin or costar Megan Fox. Audiences gave it a C+ as indicated by CinemaScore.

Second place for the weekend went to "The Karate Kid," which held up pretty well considering the competition for family audiences from "Toy Story 3." The PG-rated remake earned an estimated $29 million for the three days, bringing its 10-day total to $106 million.

The film fell off 48 percent from its opening weekend, but that's likely to be the well-playing movie's biggest drop for a while, since no other movie is likely to pose as big a threat as "Toy Story" in the coming weeks.

The other second weekend holdover, "The A-Team," also held very well, dropping only 46 percent to earn an additional $13.7 million. The PG-13 rated movie has now earned close to $50 million for its 10 days in release. The $100 million-budgeted film has a ways to go to break even, but if it can keep its drops in the 40 percent range, it may end up okay.

"Get Him to the Greek" took fourth place for the weekend. The "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" off-shoot grossed another $6 million, representing a 38 percent drop from last weekend. The $40 million-budget film has now earned almost $48 million since it debuted three weekends ago.

"Shrek Forever After" took the fifth place in the derby, earning another $5.5 million, raising its cume to almost $223 million. The film fell off over 65 percent for the weekend, an expected drop considering the direct effect of "Toy Story 3."

"Prince of Persia" held in surprisingly well its fourth weekend in theaters. The PG-rated actioner starring Jake Gyllenhaal earned an estimated $5.2 million, dropping only 19 percent from its session last weekend. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced flick has now earned $80.5 million.

Spot seven went to "Killers," which slipped only 36 percent in its third weekend. The PG-13 rated flick starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl grossed $5.1 million for the weekend, putting its total at $34 million. "Iron Man 2" and "Marmaduke" rounded out the top 10.

"Iron Man 2" holds the title of highest-grossing film of the summer, earning an additional $2.7 million to put its cume at $304 million. Wonder how long it will take for "Toy Story 3" to surpass it?

The PG-rated "Marmaduke" lost 56 percent of its value, not surprising considering all the competition for the family audience. The movie has grossed a weak $28 million since it opened three weekends ago.

In limited release, "Cyrus" and "I Am Love" had solid openings. "Cyrus," starring John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill, earned a huge per-screen average of $45,000 on four screens in New York and Los Angeles, for a total of $180,000 in its first weekend in release. "I Am Love," a Milan-set love story starring Tilda Swinton, opened on eight screens for a per-screen average of $15,000 for a $125,300 total.

Check back in next weekend when Tom Cruise's "Knight and Day" goes up against Adam Sandler's "Grown Ups." My early prediction: Toy Story lands in the No. 1 slot again.

Do women need a sex pill?

By Jennifer Terry, Special to CNN

• Jennifer Terry: Freud asked what women wanted; "female Viagra" raises question again
• Early 20th century doctor studied women, concluded men needed sex training, she says
• Drug company can profit from women worried they have sex problem, she says
• Terry: Women want better understanding of their bodies -- for themselves, partners

• Sexuality
• Women's Issues
• Prescription Drugs

Editor's note: Jennifer Terry is an associate professor of women's studies at the University of California, Irvine. She writes about the history of sexual science in the United States and authored An American Obsession:Science, Medicine, and Homosexuality in Modern Society (Chicago 1999).

 

Long Beach, California (CNN) -- "The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, is, 'What does a woman want?' "

 

This was Sigmund Freud's response in 1925 to a female protégé, Marie Bonaparte, who sought his guidance. Bonaparte, then in her early 40s, suffered in her own words, from "frigidity."

 

His question is alive today: Last week, a Food and Drug Administration panel reviewed the efficacy and safety of a new drug to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder -- lack of sexual desire. (The panel did not recommend approval.) I'll come back to this in a minute.

 

Why does Freud's question persist?

 

Well, one reason may have to do with who is asking the question, when, and why. In the early decades of the 20th century, for example, a Manhattan, New York-based gynecologist named Robert L. Dickinson was preoccupied with what made women unhappy in their marriages. So many had complained to him that they didn't enjoy sex. This prompted the doctor, an early advocate of birth control devices and a passionate promoter of women's sexual pleasure, to conduct research -- loosely defined -- on some of his thousands of female patients.

 

He studied their bodies and sketched their contours, looking for clues to their sensitivities and habits. Female genitals were texts for the doctor to read. But so were the tales of erotic misery -- or just plain indifference -- that his patients would tell him.

 

The doctor compiled his years of clinical observation in two weighty tomes, "A Thousand Marriages" (1931) and "The Single Woman" (1934). Dickinson had a hunch that the growing presence of lesbians in New York and other cities was a symptom of a larger problem with heterosexuality. Women were turning to each other for sexual relations because men were bad lovers. Egads! Maybe the answer to the nagging question could be answered only by women.

 

Dickinson thereafter proposed to write a book he never published -- one that would be addressed to men, husbands in particular, to teach them how to give pleasure to women.

 

Waves of research on female sexual response followed throughout the 20th century, a time when Western society attempted to regulate pleasure by studying it in metric forms and through tortuous interviews and searching questionnaires. "What's wrong with me?" became a commonplace.

 

And through this complex process, lacking desire has become, in many ways, regarded as just as dangerous as having too much desire -- maybe even more so, actually.

 

Here we must turn to money and to the current news of the FDA panel's hearings last week to decide whether to approve the new pharmaceutical pill flibanserin. The drug joins a plethora of pleasure-enhancing drugs and devices that in one way or another are premised upon variations of Freud's nagging question.

 

Developed by the German drug company Boehringer-Ingelheim, the "little pink pill" ("little blue" Viagra's sister?) is meant to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder. How? By increasing levels of dopamine and norepinephrine (libido boosters) and decreasing seratonin (libido downers) in the brains of its sufferers. If the drug were approved, The New York Times reported, annual sales might reach $2 billion in the United States alone.

 

Boehringer-Ingelheim had run a marketing campaign that consisted mainly of convincing women of a certain age and wealth strata that they lack sufficient sexual desire and that they deserve a remedy.

 

In a market-driven society, convincing people that they lack something they need is what advertising is all about. "Do I lack sexual desire?" If you answer yes to this question -- and Boehringer-Ingelheim reports that 1,323 premenopausal women they studied did -- you become a member of the target market for flibanserin. The company's success or failure in the marketplace rests in large part on women realizing they don't have enough mojo.

 

The company limited its subject sample to women living in the U.S. and Canada who were otherwise healthy, well-educated and mostly married -- "normal" but for their deficiency of desire. Studied in a double-blind trial over 24 months, women taking the pill reported that "sexually satisfying events" increased to about 4.5 a month, while those taking a placebo reported about 3.7 such events. Incidentally, according to the framework of the study, these events need not include orgasm.

 

Q: What does a woman want? A: Flibanserin. Things just got so much easier! Or did they? For starters, "hypoactive sexual desire disorder" rests upon such vague criteria that the American Medical Association plans to remove it from the next edition of its authoritative diagnostic manual and replace it with "desire-arousal disorder." And, even if we grant its existence, studies that estimate at least 10 percent of American women suffer from HSDD were paid for by drug companies, The New York Times says.

 

Boehringer-Ingelheim offers online medical education courses for health practitioners to get them involved in diagnosing HSDD. Doctors taking the courses are quizzed on how to diagnose the condition of various kinds of women. In one exercise, the test-taker is asked to figure out what is wrong with a 42-year-old working woman who cares for three children and an ailing mother, and lacks sexual desire. Her husband is a very minor character in the test's scenario. Dr. Dickinson may be spinning in his grave now.

 

Psychologist Lenore Tiefer, who testified before the FDA panel Friday, put it well when she remarked that if the drug had been approved, it would have given women the false impression that they can take a pill to get "the sex life they read about, the one they think everyone else is having."

 

One is tempted to ask whether the alleged upward trend in cases of HSDD in women can be correlated to the "little blue pill's" market debut in 1998. With all the talk of erectile dysfunction in men, maybe what women want now, sexually speaking, is a little less pressure to perform through pharmaceutically prolonged sexual encounters and a little more emotional support for their efforts, in and out of the bedroom.

 

So what's next now that the FDA panel said no to flibanserin? An online course for male partners to teach them how to make love to women diagnosed with HSDD?

 

That would be a start, but my guess is that what women want, particularly those who have come of age in an era of abstinence-only education, is knowledge about their bodies (for themselves and their partners) and respect for how their bodies work. Such knowledge may help them/us question whether a daily dose of yet another "brain drug" will give us what we have come to suspect we need.

Monday 6-21-10 Monday

779, 214, 536, 693, 327, 168, 370, 367, 148, 407

362, 907, 052, 438, 226, 224, 440, 303, 333, 444

2810, 3322, 9441, 3072, 3188, 1884, 3748, 4218

1188, 2449, 3708, 3408, 3948, 4455, 7755, 0740

TIW 6-21-10 SC Midday

Winning Numbers: 597 & 1524

 

274, 187, 012, 073, 048, 431, 569, 823
8496, 7840, 9527, 0654, 0137, 6783, 6093
1589, 1280, 1276, 1794, 5823, 4293, 3541
 

187, 298, 309, 410, 521, 632, 743, 854, 965, 076

012, 123, 234, 345, 456, 567, 678, 789, 890, 901

7840, 7841, 7842, 7843, 7844, 7845, 7846, 7847, 7848, 7849

0840, 1840, 2840, 3840, 4840, 5840, 6840, 7840, 8840, 9840

1270, 1271, 1272, 1273, 1274, 1275, 1276, 1277, 1278, 1279

0276, 1276, 2276, 3276, 4276, 5276, 6276, 7276, 8276, 9276

 

32, 67, 87 and/or 12 pairs

Nearly 27 million Americans eat at McDonald's - per day.

- Provided RandomHistory.com -

Monday, June 21, 2010
Agent: Smith breaks arm playing DB

---

By Adam Schefter
ESPN

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith broke his arm while playing defensive back during a flag football game at his football camp this weekend, his agent Derrick Fox confirmed. 

 

Smith underwent surgery for the injury Sunday night. Fox predicted that Smith should be ready for the Panthers' regular-season opener.

 

"I'm not trying to play doctor, but I don't think he'll miss any games due to this injury," Fox said. "He did this while trying to play with and help the kids."

 

Smith ran his annual youth football camp Thursday through Saturday and the Panthers concluded their offseason practice last week.

 

Smith is not expected to be ready for the start of training camp in late July because of the injury but should be available later in the preseason.

 

Smith broke the same arm last season, albeit in a different spot. Last season, the injury caused him to miss the Panthers' regular-season finale.

Roger Federer is the GOAT, if you ask certain people, but Alejandro Falla made him look like an average tennis player for 2 1/2 sets. The King of Grass was down 0-2 sets and with the score 4 - 4, 15 - 40 in the 3rd set, when he finally came up the the goods to win it. Federer wore Falla, who called out the trainer after winning the second set, completely down late in the match and went on to win 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-0. The Columbian, Falla, has learned why some call Federer the GOAT!!