Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire (The Christmas Song)

This is my favorite song for the holidays and my newest video.


More soon!

Stay Tuned !

Happy Halloween !

Happy Halloween to all of my readers and Facebook friends. Be Safe !

That's it for now. More soon!

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Jump Jive And Wail

Girl From Ipanema

In Memory Of The Victims Of 9/11

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins An Exciting And Emotional Daytona Nationwide 250 !

Dale Earnhardt Jr. crossed the finish line first Friday night winning the Daytona 250 as thousands in the grandstands and millions tuned into the television cheered wildly. Earnhardt's number 3 Wrangler Chevrolet, the car's blue-and-yellow retro paint scheme, is a tribute to his late father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., who drove the No. 3 to six of his seven championships before he was killed in an accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

As Earnhardt made his victory lap, absorbing and cherishing the crowd's emotion, his crew chief and first cousin, Tony Eury Jr., cried openly on pit road. Richard Childress, his dad's former team owner and best friend, met Dale Jr. in victory circle for a congratulatory hug. Earnhardt Jr. has won eight races on Daytona's high banks, but this win was very special.

As "Little E" drove toward victory circle, I couldn't help but remember the day that his father was killed at Daytona. Deep down, I felt that Dale Sr. was smiling down on his son. I'm proud of Dale Jr., not only for his spectacular win, but for taking on the added burden of driving "his father's car" and the uncertainty of whether he could win this event.

The only problem that I have with Dale Jr., is the nerve wracking last laps that left me mentally exhausted and looking for my bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. Congratulations to Dale Earnhardt Jr for winning such an exciting event and congratulations to me for not having a stroke.

Here's the final laps of the Daytona 250. Remember to mute my music playlist on the left sidebar.

Laugh Lines: A guy out on the golf course takes a high speed ball right in the crotch. Writhing in agony, he falls to the ground. As soon as he could manage, he took himself to the doctor. He says, "How bad is it doc? I'm going on my honeymoon next week and my fiancé is still a virgin - in every way." The doctor told him, "I'll have to put your willie in a splint to let it heal and keep it straight. It should be okay next week." He took four tongue depressors and formed a neat little 4 sided splint, and taped it all together. An impressive work of art.

The guy mentions none of this to his girl, marries her, and goes on their honeymoon. That night in the motel room, she rips open her blouse to reveal her beautiful breasts. She says, "You're the first! No one has ever touched these." He immediately drops his pants and replies, "Look at this, still in the crate!"

Two old men sat talking over the weather and the latest in medical science, and such, when one brings up the latest male medical miracle, Viagra. The other wasn't familiar with Viagra and asked the first man what it was for. The first man said, "It's the greatest thing I've ever known. The Fountain of Youth! Makes you feel like a man of 30." The second then asked, "Can you get it over the counter?" The first man replied, "You probably could, if you took 2 pills."

The following pictures are from the press release when Dale Jr., Richard Childress and Teresa Earnhardt announced they would race the retro paint-schemed number 3 at the July 4th Daytona Nationwide race.

How's that for irony? I couldn't happen to a nicer family!

That's it for now. Have a great fourth of July weekend. More soon.

Stay Tuned !

Franchitti Wins Indianapolis 500 - Video: Mike Conway Crash - Car Cut In Half On The Final Lap.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. Today is a day to remember the men and women of our armed forces, both past and present.

Dario Franchitti drove 199 nearly flawless laps, then survived the last one with a huge break from a spectacular crash to climb back on top of the open-wheel world Sunday with his second win at the Indianapolis 500.

Two years removed from his failed try in NASCAR, Franchitti held on with a scant tenth of a gallon of fuel left in the tank -- a victory made possible by a crash that sent Mike Conway airborne on the final lap. "Still running," Franchitti told his crew over the radio as he crossed the finish line, while wreckers were moving out to scoop up debris from Conway's accident with Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Franchitti's second Brickyard victory in four years helped his boss, Chip Ganassi, become the first owner to win Indy and NASCAR's Daytona 500 in the same year. It also validated the Scottish driver's return to the IndyCar circuit two years after celebrating his 2007 Indy victory by making an unsuccessful move to NASCAR. England's Dan Wheldon, the 2005 winner who closed furiously as Franchitti slowed to save fuel before Conway's crash, was second, and fellow Brit Alex Lloyd was third.

Pole-sitter Helio Castroneves saw his quest for his record-tying fourth Indy victory come to an end with an uncharacteristic mistake -- stalling out leaving the pits on the 146th lap. It left him in need of a yellow-flag miracle at the end that never came. He had to pit again on the 193rd lap and finished ninth.

That was four spots behind Danica Patrick, who picked and poked her way from 23rd to finish fifth despite a balky car that she complained about in qualifying. Patrick never found her comfort zone over 500 miles in 88-degree weather - at one point saying she wished she could make up as much time on the track as in the pits - but she was patient and disciplined and now has three top-five finishes in six years.

Laugh Lines: An Indian boy goes to his mother one day with a puzzled look on his face and says "Say Mom, why is my bigger brother named Mighty Storm"? His mother said, "Because he was conceived during a mighty storm." Then he asked, "Why is my sister named Cornflower"? She replied, "Well your father and I were in a cornfield when we made her", she replied.

He then asked "And why is my other sister called Moonchild"? His mom said, "We were watching the moon-landing when she was conceived." The mother paused and said to her son, "Tell me, Two Dogs Humping," why are you so curious?"

In Louisiana, Boudreaux was out in the field talking with his friend, Thibodeaux. Thibodeaux said, "Boudreaux, you see dat ole barn out dere? Well man, its completely infestered wit rats. I tried everything I know an can't get rid of dem." Boudreaux said, "Thibodeaux, I know xactly how to get rid of dem rats. You gotta get you one of dem bull constriptors."

Thibodeaux said, "Whats a bull constriptor?" Boudreaux explains, "Man, dats one of dem big ole snakes and he loves to eat rats and swallers dem whole, all at once."

The next day, Thibodeaux went down to Kliberts reptile farm and bought him the biggest Boa Constrictors they had. He brought the snake to the barn and let him loose. Thibodeaux watched for a long time and the big snake just curled up and slept all day. He didn't even move and the rats just ran everywhere.

So Thibodeaux got frustrated and he called up Boudreaux on the phone, "Boudreaux, man dats some bad advice bout dat snake. Dem rats is still runnin' al around and dat snake jus lays dere sleepin' all day long." Boudreaux says, "Man, Thibodeaux, I know just what to do. Give dat snake some Viagra." Thibodeaux said, "What? Viagra? What's dat gonna do?" Boudreaux said,"I was just listening to da radio and de man say dat Viagra is da best ting to use for a reptile dysfunction."

That's it for now. More soon.

Stay Tuned !

I'm Moving My Family To Mexico

Dear President Obama:

I'm planning to move my family and extended family to Mexico for my health, and I would like to ask you to assist me. We're planning to simply walk across the border from the U.S. into Mexico, and we'll need your help to make a few arrangements.

We plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration quotas and laws. I'm sure they handle those things the same way you do here. So, would you mind telling your buddy, President Calderon, that I'm on my way over

Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:

1. Free medical care for my entire family.
2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need, whether I use them or not.
3. Please print all Mexican Government forms in English.
4. I want my grandkids to be taught Spanish by English-speaking (bi-lingual teachers).
5. Tell their schools they need to include classes on American culture and history.
6. I want my grandkids to see the American flag on one of the flag poles at their school.
7. Please plan to feed my grandkids at school for both breakfast and lunch.
8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I can get easy access to government services.
9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico, but I don't plan to purchase car insurance, and I probably won't make any special effort to learn local traffic laws.
10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo from their president to leave me alone, please be sure that every patrol car has at least one English-speaking officer.
11. I plan to fly the U.S. flag from my housetop, put U.S. flag decals on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want any complaints or negative comments from the locals.
12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes or have any labor or tax laws enforced on any business I may start.
13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican people to be extremely nice and never say critical things about me or my family, or about the strain we might place on their economy.
14. I want to receive free food stamps.
15. Naturally, I'll expect free rent subsidies.
16. I'll need income tax credits so that, although I don't pay Mexican taxes, I'll receive money from the government.
17. Please arrange it so that the Mexican Government pays $4,500 to help me buy a new car.
18. Oh yes, I almost forgot, please enroll me free into the Mexican Social Security program so that I'll get a monthly income in retirement.

I know this is an easy request because the U.S. already does all these things for all his people who walk over to the U.S. from Mexico. I am sure that President Calderon won't mind returning the favor if you ask him nicely.

Thank you so much for your kind help.

Sincerely,
Jimmy

Laugh Lines: A lady walked into a jewelry store and bent over to look more closely at a piece of jewelry, inadvertantly breaking wind. Embarrassed, she looked around to see if anyone had heard the "accident" and prayed that no salesman would come to attend her until the "fog had lifted".

Her worst fears were realized when a salesman came to assist her. Hoping that the salesman was not near at the time, she nervously asked, "Sir, exactly how much is this lovely bracelet?"

The salesman responded, "Lady, if you farted when you looked at it, you're gonna shit when you hear the price."

Two statues were in a park, one of a nude man and one of a nude woman. They had been facing each other in the park for over 100 years. One day, an angel came down from the sky and, with a single gesture, brought them both to life.

The angel said, "For being so patient over 100 years of blazing summers and brutal winters, I will give you one hour of life to do what you wished the most." He looked at her and she looked at him and together, they ran off behind the shrubbery. The angel waited patiently as the bushes rustled and giggling ensued, and after thirty minutes they both emerged from behind the shrubbery.

The angel said, "Um, you still have thirty minutes left. Would you like to do it again?" He looked at her and said, "Shall we?" She eagerly replied, Oh yes ! Lets ! This time, I'll hold the pigeon down and you shit on his head."

That's if for now. More soon.

Stay Tuned !

Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon - Watching The Talladega Nascar Race !

If you like parlor games, you'll really enjoy the newest game called Bullshit Bingo. It's easy to play.

The Rules for Bullshit Bingo:

1. Before Obama's next televised speech, print-out the above bingo card.
2. While he reads his teleprompter out-loud, check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words or phrases.
3. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout "BULLSHIT!"

There's Nascar racing at Talladega Super Speedway today and if you like excitement, tune in to NBC because the race will be starting at 1:00 pm (EST) and the Nationwide race will run after the Sprint Cup race. This is a race that you really don't want to miss!

Laugh Lines: One morning, on his way out to check on the cows, the rancher says to his daughter, "The insemination man is coming over to impregnate one of our cows today, so I drove a nail into the 2 by 4 just above where the cow's stall is in the barn. Please show him where the cow is when he gets here, OK?"

The rancher leaves for the fields. After a while, the artificial insemination man arrives and knocks on the front door. The rancher's daughter takes him down to the barn. They walk along the row of cows and when his daughter sees the nail, she tells him, "This is the one right here."

The man, assuming he is dealing with a naive young farm girl, asks, "Tell me Miss, how do you know that this is the right cow to be bred?'' The girl says, "That's simple, by the nail that's over its stall." Laughing rudely at her, the man says, "And what, pray tell, is the nail for?" The girl smiles, turns to walk away and says sweetly over her shoulder, "I guess it's to hang your pants on."

That's it for now. More soon.

Stay Tuned !

Tiger Woods Nike Commercials Parodies

If you think the new Tiger Woods Nike Commercial is controversial, take a look at these parodies from YouTube (Mute the playlist music on my sidebar).

Calvin Klein could save a few bucks with this ready to roll new fragrance campaign.

Morgan Freeman and John F. Kennedy have some choice words and advice for Tiger. (via Morning Moose, from Lazer 103.3 radio station.)

Laugh Lines: An old nun who was living in a convent next to a construction site noticed the coarse language of the workers and decided to spend some time with them to correct their ways. She decided she would take her lunch sit with the workers and talk with them. She put her sandwich in a brown bag and walked over to the spot where the men were eating.

She walked up to the group and with a big smile said "Do you men know Jesus Christ?" They shook their heads and looked at each other. One of the workers looked up into the steelwork and yelled "Anybody up there know Jesus Christ?" One of the steelworkers asked why. The worker yelled "his wife is here with his lunch".

That's it for now. More Soon.

Stay Tuned !

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all my family, friends and readers. May the sunshine always warm your lives.

Stay Tuned!

Bush Wins Nascar Atlanta 500 - Edwards Wrecks Keselowski (Video)

The Atlanta 500 race on Sunday saw Kurt Bush running out front with three laps to go when things really got interesting. First, a frightening crash that seemed intentional between two feuding drivers. Then, another spinning, slamming melee before the white flag came out.

“We’ve got to win this race three times, maybe even four times,” a frustrated Busch said on his radio. Not to worry. Busch survived a couple of overtime restarts and 16 extra laps to win again Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a race marred by accusations that Carl Edwards purposely wrecked Brad Keselowski's car, sending it hurtling toward the main stands upside down.

Busch won the spring race at the 1.54-mile trioval for the second year in a row, beating Matt Kenseth to the line by nearly half a second in the Kobalt Tools 500. Juan Pablo Montoya was third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Paul Menard.

The race went 341 laps instead of its scheduled 325 because of two big crashes near the end. The first one drew the most attention.
Edwards, running 156 laps behind, clipped Keselowski and caused his car to spin, then lift into the air at around 190 mph. It smashed into the barrier in front of the stands roof-first, then flipped back onto the track right side up. Keselowski was OK, but NASCAR ordered Edwards to park his car and summoned him to its trailer. NASCAR put off a decision on whether to discipline Edwards until at least today.

On the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, another crash took out seven cars coming through turns three and four. Finally, they got in two clean laps, and it was Busch all the way for his third career win in Atlanta.

The obviously intentional move by Edwards to spin Keselowski was a dangerous move and could have injured drivers and spectators alike. But Keselowski has not made too many friends in his Nascar Sprint Cup career making many stupid and careless moves and crashing out several drivers in both Sprint Cup and Nationwide series events, namely Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin.

Although I don't condone Edward's move in the race, I must admit I thought it was a fitting lesson to be learned by the upstart Keselowski. He needs to show a little more respect to other drivers. Payback is hell!

Laugh Lines:

A man is getting on a flight and he hears that the Pope is on the flight. He thinks, "Wow, great! What a safe place to be today." As he boards, he doesn't see the Pope and figures that maybe the other passengers were wrong. He takes his seat and is thankful that there is an empty next to him. Just before the flight closes on walks the Pope and sits next to him. The man thinks, "I am surely blessed. Here I am a good Catholic on a flight and the Pope is sitting next to me."

So the plane takes off and after a few minutes the passengers take off their seatbelts and the man looks sideways and sees the Pope reaching into his bag and takes out a crossword book. He thinks, "Not only am I blessed with the Pope next to me, but he does crosswords and so do I. Maybe he will ask for help."

The flight continues and the Pope is working his way through the puzzle and the man notices that the Pope is tapping his pencil thinking. The Pope turns to him and asks, "I usually don't talk to others on flights but I wonder if you can help me. " The man says, "Anything for you, your eminence. What is it?" The Pope says, "Do you know a four letter word for 'woman' that ends in u-n-t?"

The man feels uncomfortable. He thinks and thinks. Finally he says "The only word I can think of is aunt." The pope turns to him and asks "Do you have an eraser?"

That's it for now my little lug nuts. More Soon.

Stay Tuned !

Why "We Will Not Pay For Facebook" and Gold Membership Scams Refuse To Die

This is a reprint from AOL Tech. Hopefully Facebook users and especially readers of Jimmy's Journal and Jimmy's Journal - The Original will take heed.

Why "We Will Not Pay For Facebook" and Gold Membership Scams Refuse to Die

by: Terrence O'Brien — Feb 23rd 2010 at 10:18AM

Facebook has become an indispensable part of daily life for many people. They use it to keep in touch with friends and family, to play games, and to track down old flames. So, it's only natural that folks would panic at the thought of having to pay for what has been a free service. And, of course, there are plenty of e-con men willing to exploit that fear for profit.

The 'We Will Not Pay for Facebook' Scam

Back in December, a group protesting Facebook and the company's rumored plans to charge users $4.99 a month, amassed well over 100,000 members. Of course, it was a giant scam; Facebook had no such agenda, and the group merely served to distribute links to a site that loaded up visiting PCs with malware. Two months later, the scam is back, this time claiming that Facebook plans to charge $3.99. And it's been even more successful. The three groups perpetrating the hoax have collected roughly 340,000 gullible Facebook users, and the number is still climbing.

A Facebook spokesperson denied even the possibility of such plans to the Telegraph, saying, "We have no plans to charge users for Facebook's basic services. Facebook is a free service..." That's a pretty clear statement, so why does this rumor seem so reluctant to die?

Gold Memberships?

There are other scams that play on, and add to, the confusion. The age-old "gold membership" scam has made its way to Facebook. These "upgrade" groups and pages prey on the unfounded fear of subscription fees, urging users: "GET YOUR UPGRADE WHILE THEIR FREE!!"

The promised free upgrade to the (nonexistent) Facebook Gold account leads you on a wild goose chase in which you spread the scam by inviting your friends, fill out a pointless survey, and ultimately hand over your cell phone number and sign up for a bogus service. The service, of course, does absolutely nothing, and charges your cell phone bill several dollars every month.

Staying Power

First, these are relatively well-constructed scams with believable rationales behind their claims of forthcoming fees. The groups' creators (or creator) claim that Facebook, hemorrhaging cash, is on the verge of being bought out by a nameless corporate entity. The groups even provide links to fake articles about the impending subscription fee. The Gold Membership trick only enhances the believability of the rumors. Users who may have been initially skeptical of the claims that Facebook planned to charge may suddenly become believers at the sight of a Facebook Gold Account logo.

Additionally, Facebook is not doing much to put their members' minds at ease. Not content with Facebook being a social network funded primarily through advertising, founder Mark Zuckerberg has pushed for the site's evolution into a development platform and marketplace. The latest fuel on the fire is Facebook's partnership with PayPal. The deal could allow users and companies to pay for ads, add credits for in-app purchases, and to buy games -- all using PayPal, and all directly through Facebook.

Facebook has also done very little to squash the false rumors; the groups seem to survive without much threat of deletion. The company's denial of the rumors is also vague enough (only stating that "Facebook's basic services" will always be free) to keep the truly paranoid person's mind churning.

None of that changes the fact that these groups are obvious scams. They're loaded with shady links and spam messages, and the administrators of all three groups use the same Cat Eye Promotions logo as their profile images.

How to Avoid the Scams

Just be smart. The gold membership pages are the most obvious. The groups urge you to upgrade "WHILE THEIR FREE." And, as if such flagrant misuse of the English language didn't set off enough alarms, you'll notice that the "comments" on these pages are just static images tied to malicious links.

In the end, the real reason people fall for the ruse is a willingness to believe anything they read, mixed with a palpable financial paranoia. This isn't unique to social networking and malware distributors, though. Less than admirable agenda-ists have been using similar tricks since the dawn of the nation.

This article was an eye opener for many people and hopefully, all of my friends and readers.

That's it for now. More soon.

Stay Tuned !

The Daytona 500 Final Two Lap Finish And Dale Earnhardt Jr's Nationwide Flip And Crash

The 2010 Daytona 500 green-white-checkered finish as Jaime McMurray wins his first Daytona 500 (Note: Turn off the music on located on the left sidebar.)

Now that's a Daytona 500 finish! The following video is from the 2010 Daytona Nationwide race when a misjudged move by Carl Edwards send Dale Earnhardt Jr flipping down the backstretch.

Earnhardt was uninjured in the crash. That's racing at Daytona International Speedway. More soon.

Stay Tuned !

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all my family and friends. May your day be filled with warmth and happiness. As an afterthought, some red roses and some dark chocolates wouldn't hurt either.

Jimmy

Kevin Harvick Wins The Budweiser Shootout - Danica Shines !

The Nascar Championship season began Saturday afternoon with Daytona 500 pole qualifying and veteran Mark Martin won his first Daytona 500 pole. Dale Earnhardt Jr qualified on the outside pole giving team owner Rick Hendrick sole possession of the front row. The Twin 125 mile qualifying races on Thursday will determine further positions for next Sunday's Daytona 500.

The ARCA 200 was run following the Sprint Cup qualifying and the crowd was buzzing over Indy car racer Danica Patrick's stock car debut, wondering how Danica would handle the switch from the lightweight Indy cars to the heavier stock cars. A record six women started the race and Patrick, along with Jennifer Jo Cobb, both ran very competive races. Lack of seat time and experience was the determining factor for the ladies, but both showed potential.

There were multiple wrecks in the early laps and Bobby Gerhart, a four time Daytona ARCA 200 winner took the early lead of the race. Midrace, Danica Patrick, who was running in an admirable seventh position, was forced into the infield by rookie Nelson Piquet, who evidently was unaware that Patrick was beneath him. The result was a wild, high speed spin through the infield. Patrick handled the spin like a veteran, keeping the car off the wall and running through the infield.

Patrick's car was fairly undamaged and after a series of repairs, she was still on the lead lap running at the back of the field. A later caution flag for wrecks allowed Patrick to catch back up to the field where she remained competitive. Bobby Gerhap held off James Buescher and Mark Thompson to win his fifth ARCA 200. Danica Patrick finished in a respectable sixth position.

The Budweiser Shoutout at Daytona International Speedway kicked off the Nascar Sprint Cup Championship season and the race was very interesting. I expected a little more separation between the cars because of the new rules, but they ran in a very competitive pack right from the start. A proverbial chess game of moves and strategy kept positions two through ten constantly changing, but Kevin Harvick put his Chevrolet in front right from the start and was never headed.

The race ended under an anticlimactic caution flag as Jeff Gordon dumped second place Greg Biffle on the final lap causing a big wreck. Gordon has had a tendency to stick his nose into the flay numerous times in the past, and as usual, he came out smelling like a rose as he was able to avoid Biffle after dumping him.

All in all, it was a tense and interesting race and the Shootout looks like an indication of what will come in next Sunday's Daytona 500.

Laugh Lines: Ole Larson is a farmer in Minnesota. He is in need of a new milk cow and hears about a nice one for sale over in North Dakota. He drives to North Dakota, finds the farm and looks at the cow. He reaches under to see if she gives milk. When he grabs the teat and pulls, the cow farts. Ole is very surprised. He looks at the farmer who is selling the cow, then reaches under the cow to try again. He grabs another teat, pulls, and the cow farts again.

Milk does come out however, so after some discussion with the cow's owner, Ole decides to buy the cow and takes it home. When he gets back to Minnesota , he calls over his neighbor, Sven, and says, "Hey, Sven, come look at this here new cow I just bought. Pull her teat, and see what happens." Sven reaches under, pulls the teat and the cow farts.

Sven looks at Ole and says, "You bought this here cow in North Dakota, didn't yah?" Ole is very surprised since he had not told Sven about his trip. Ole replies, "Yah, Thats right. But how'd you know?" Sven says, "My wife's from North Dakota."

That's it for now. More soon.

Stay Tuned !

The Truth Is That A.A.R.P. Could Care Less About The Welfare Of Its Members !

This is a reprint of an article from Bloomberg.com. For those of you who are members of A.A.R.P., you might want to read the following excerpts. AARP doesn't have the best interest of seniors in mind. It's true goals are for it's own bottom line......

Jimmy

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Arthur Laupus joined AARP because he thought the nonprofit senior-citizen-advocacy group would make his retirement years easier. He signed up for an auto insurance policy endorsed by AARP, believing the advertising that said he would save money.

He didn’t. When Laupus, 71, compared his car insurance rate with a dozen other companies, he found he was paying twice the average. Why? One reason, he learned, was because AARP was taking a cut out of his premium before sending the money to Hartford Financial Services Group, the provider of the coverage.

Laupus stumbled onto something that many members of the world’s largest seniors’ organization don’t know: The group, formerly called American Association of Retired Persons, collects hundreds of millions of dollars annually from insurers who pay for AARP’s endorsement of their policies.

The insurance companies build the cost of these so-called royalties and fees, which amounted to $497.6 million in 2007, into the premiums they charge AARP members, according to AARP’s consolidated financial statement for that year.

AARP uses the royalties and fees to fund about half the expenses that pay for activities such as publishing brochures about health care and consumer fraud -- as well as for paying down the $200 million bond debt that funded the association’s marble and brass-studded Washington headquarters.

In addition, AARP holds clients’ insurance premiums for as long as a month and invests the money, which added $40.4 million to its revenue in 2007.

"There's an inherent conflict of interest....They're ending up becoming very dependent on sources of income." - Former AARP Executive Marilyn Moon, quoted in Bloomberg article.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it was investigating Humana for providing "misleading" information regarding the Administration's proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage policies-and prohibited other Medicare Advantage plans from providing similar information on how Democrat health "reform" could take away their current coverage.

Yet the Administration's edict prohibiting plans from communicating with their beneficiaries failed to include AARP, which sponsors a Medicare Advantage plan but has been a prime advocate of Democrats' government takeover of health care-quite possibly because AARP has been supporting a health care overhaul from which it stands to gain overall handsomely.

Even as AARP advocates for cutting Medicare Advantage plans by more than $150 billion, an analysis of the organization's operations reveals that it stands to receive tens of millions of dollars at the expense of seniors' medical care-with Democrats' full approval:

** The Congressional Budget Office has previously estimated that the cuts to Medicare Advantage plans proposed in Democrats' government takeover of health care (H.R. 3200) would cause millions of seniors to lose their current plan and enroll in government-run Medicare.

** Because the government-run Medicare benefit is less generous than most private health plans, the independent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission found in June that more than nine in ten seniors not in nursing home settings utilize some form of Medicare supplemental insurance.

** While many of these individuals currently rely on Medicare Advantage plans for the extra benefits they provide to seniors, many would be forced to purchase supplemental Medigap policies should their existing Medicare Advantage plans be taken away from them due to Democrats' government takeover of health care.

** A review of its financial statements finds that in 2008, AARP received more than half a billion dollars in revenue from selling products like Medigap supplemental insurance policies-$652.7 million in direct "royalties and fees," and an increase of more than 31 percent from the $497.6 million in similar revenue AARP generated in 2007.

** Royalty revenues now comprise more than half-60.3 percent-of all AARP revenues; a Bloomberg news analysis published in December found that in 1999, royalties comprised only 11 percent of the organization's total revenues.

** The Bloomberg article-which highlighted what one observer called AARP's "dirty little secret"-profiled seniors who felt betrayed after paying hundreds of dollars above market price for AARP-branded coverage. One noted that "AARP has great buying power, and people should be able to get the best deal....This is unconscionable, what AARP has allowed to happen."

Another disillusioned senior wrote to the organization's leadership asking whether AARP had a "‘special relationship' with (insurance carriers) by which it receives commissions, incentives, rebates, or dare I say ‘kickbacks?'"-and when he arrived at AARP headquarters for a tour, was promptly escorted out of the marble-covered atrium.

** While H.R. 3200 would place strict price controls on Medicare Advantage plans-requiring them to pay out 85 percent of premium revenues in medical claims-Medigap policies face a far less strict 65 percent requirement. In other words, under the Democrat bill, seniors could pay as much as 20 cents more out of every premium dollar to fund "kickbacks" to AARP-sponsored Medigap plans than Medicare Advantage plans.

The higher prices charged by AARP plans and the organization's increasing dependence upon revenue from "royalties," provide tangible evidence why AARP would support cuts to Medicare Advantage that would likely increase their "kickbacks" from Medigap plans. However, it does not answer several key questions:

** Given the myriad new layers of insurance regulation included in Democrats' government takeover of health care, why does the legislation not include a single provision attempting to impose any new restrictions on Medigap policies?

** Did Democrats "forget" to protect seniors-or were they informed that AARP could not support legislation that would limit its lucrative revenue source?

** Similarly, did CMS "forget" to include AARP among the organizations whose First Amendment rights to inform seniors of harmful Medicare provisions were restricted-or did the Administration only wish to silence its critics, and not outside organizations using "kickbacks" to fund advertising in support of the Democrat agenda?

These questions hint at a more fundamental query: With seniors believing that AARP is "making money on the backs of old people," who should believe that the organization is looking out for seniors' interests and not its own?

That's it for now. More soon.

Stay Tuned !