A month ago, I was reading one of those websites where people post their modest wishes and ask readers for help. One man in particular struck me: He'd lost his job, his wife was working to keep the family afloat and his wish was for someone to replace his wife's single ratty bra. He'd scraped together $10 and they bought a new one from Walmart, but it didn't really fit and hurt her to wear it.

He talked about how awful it was, to not even be able to afford this for his wife. I remember reading it and thinking how very little so many people in this country have, and how much we take for granted.

Now, compare and contrast that story with this one:

NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - A top executive at American International Group Inc (AIG.N) has resigned because of pay curbs imposed by the Obama Administration's pay czar, the insurer said on Wednesday.

Anastasia Kelly, AIG's vice chairman for legal, human resources, corporate affairs and corporate communications, resigned effective Dec. 30 for "good reason" and is eligible for severance pay under the terms of the company's executive severance plan, the insurer said.

Kelly stands to be paid about $2.8 million in severance, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Kelly's resignation comes after Kenneth Feinberg, who is charged with monitoring pay levels at companies that received taxpayer funds, imposed pay caps for AIG's top executives.

Earlier this month, Feinberg set the compensation structures for the 26th through 100th highest-paid employees at four firms, including AIG, limiting most cash salaries to $500,000.

Feinberg also granted less than a dozen special exemptions from the cash salary cap, including several AIG executives, after being urged to do so by Federal Reserve and Treasury officials.

Kelly met frequently with Feinberg to discuss pay issues as he prepared to rule on compensation at companies that received extraordinary taxpayer bailouts.

She was among five executives reported by The Wall Street Journal to have notified the insurer that they were prepared to resign and collect severance benefits if their pay was cut sharply by Feinberg. Chief Executive Robert Benmosche separately also had considered quitting because of the pay constraints, the Journal has reported.

Cornelius Hurley, director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law at Boston University, said no AIG employee was irreplaceable.

"We have been duped into thinking that these AIG employees have some kind of secret code that no other employee could discover if they were hired to replace them and therefore they are able to basically hold the company ransom," Hurley said.

This really was a close call and even though I can't stand the thought of any more seemingly pointless anti-terror flying rules, I suppose it's inevitable:

Officials now say tragedy was only averted on Northwest flight 253 because a makeshift detonator failed to work properly.

Bomb experts say there was more than enough explosive to bring down the Northwest jet, which had nearly 300 people aboard, had the detonator not failed, and the nation's outdated airport screening machines may need to be upgraded.

"We've known for a long time that this is possible," said Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar and ABC News consultant, "and that we really have to replace our scanning devices with more modern systems."

Clarke said full body scans were needed, "but they're expensive and they're intrusive. They invade people's privacy."

Al Qaeda, said Clarke, is aware of this vulnerability in the U.S. airport security system. "They know that this is a weakness and an Achilles' heel in our airport security system and this is the second time they've tried it."

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Sean Hannity just came out and said it last night before his "All-American Panel": He's attacking Kevin Jennings, the Obama White House's "School Safety Czar," for ostensibly looking the other way when informed of a teenage boy's affair with an older man.

Hannity, you see, thinks he abetted "statutory rape" and displayed "bad judgment." Therefore:

Hannity: I want him fired!

As usual, Media Matters has the whole story:

Despite evidence to the contrary, Fox News -- led by Sean Hannity -- and other right-wing media have claimed that Department of Education official Kevin Jennings "cover[ed] up statutory rape" and violated Massachusetts law by not reporting to authorities a 1988 conversation in which a high school student told Jennings about his relationship with an older man. In fact, Jennings' attorney wrote in a 2004 letter that the student was 16 years old, which is -- and was at the time -- the legal age of consent in Massachusetts.

What exactly should Jennings have reported to authorities, Sean?

Hannity is just seething with jealousy, and you can tell it. Glenn Beck has two scalps already, and he wants one too, just to keep up. The behind-the-scenes rumors are that Hannity despises Beck and the feeling is mutual -- and that, moreover, Beck is gunning for Hannity's prime evening slot.

Too bad for Hannity he's shooting blanks again with this takedown try. Here's wishing you even worse luck next time, Sean.

Greg Sargent at the PlumLine has more, as does Steve Benen.

Crooked Timber: Sunstein Becked

Emptywheel: Cheney's Sabotage of Counter-Terrorism

The Washington Independent: When is a Czar not a Czar?

Relaxed Politics: The REAL problems with Obama's speech yesterday

Frank Chow: This horse exhaust has been working on the dim bulbs since the 60s so expect more of the same

HOLY CRAP: Hope fading fast...Church/State schism in Italy...Mary Magdalene health care...The Temperature of Hell...Icons...Bible according to Zach...Silly Clothing...WTF Moment... Jesus on a toilet...Amazing Jesus...Helicopter to church...Christ and the Black Heart...

It's nice to know that as Americans struggle with unemployment and lack of health insurance, at least one worthy group of lads are doing well!

American International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments four months ago set off a national furor.

The troubled insurance giant has been pressing the federal government to bless the payments in hopes of shielding itself from renewed public outrage.

Uh, hon? We don't care if the Pope himself blesses you. We're not going to be happy about this. Nope.

The request puts the administration's new compensation czar on the spot by seeking his opinion about bonuses that were promised long before he took his post.

AIG doesn't actually need the permission of Kenneth R. Feinberg, who President Obama appointed last month to oversee the compensation of top executives at seven firms that have received large federal bailouts. But officials at AIG, whose federal rescue package stands at $180 billion, have been reluctant to move forward without political cover from the government.

"Anytime we write a check to anybody" it is highly scrutinized, said an AIG official, who declined to speak on the record because the negotiations with Feinberg are ongoing. "We would want to feel comfortable that the government is comfortable with what we are doing."

I don't know about you, but I'm not feeling all that comfortable with this.

The payments coming due next week include $2.4 million in bonuses for about 40 high-ranking executives at AIG, according to administration documents from earlier this year. Though the actual sum may have changed since then, the payments are much smaller than those that caused the upheaval in March.

To those of us who are lucky enough that they're still employed, I'll bet they're thinking about that past ten years of one- and two-percent raises, wondering how to get on that magical merry-go-round. Dream on!

NO QUARTER: Look at our collective shock. Our horrified reaction. The public sorrow.  It happens every day in Iraq.

No More Mister Nice Blog: And no, there isn't even the slightest chance that this will lead to a serious discussion of whether guns are too easy to get in this country

The Hill: The leading GOP presidential candidates are causing 'angst' among 2nd Amendment organizations

DownWithTyranny! George Tenet's forthcoming book is bound to provoke his former BUSHCO pals

Happy 5th blogiversary to Atrios!

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: The Strange Death of Liberal America, Feminists Don't Bake Bread, chamblee5, War Czar

Isn't that his job?

At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.

I wonder if that person will have to be a graduate of Regent University? Where's Lieberman?

I heard this from the gaggle this morning and Duncan has the text: Rahm Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel reminds us that once upon a time the "war czar" was called the "Commander in Chief," that is until the boy king decided it was hard work.

The Washington Post reports that the White House wants to appoint a war czar to run the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but they can't find anyone to do it. Someone needs to tell Steve Hadley that position is filled, it's the Commander in Chief, unless the decider's become the delegator.

Shrillblog

I don't know if there are enough free beds in the Shoggoth Wing to hold the entire Weekly Standard staff: Fighting the Wrong War

COMMENTARY LOS ANGELES TIMES

Donald Rumsfeld, one of the chief opponents of investing real power over purse and personnel in a new national intelligence chief, told the 9/11 commission that an intelligence czar would do the nation "a great disservice." It is fair to ask what kind of service Rumsfeld provided on the day the nation was under catastrophic attack.

"Two planes hitting the twin towers did not rise to the level of Rumsfeld's leaving his office and going to the War Room? How can that be?" asked Mindy Kleinberg, one of the widows known as the Jersey Girls, whose efforts helped create and guide the 9/11 commission. The fact that the final report failed to offer an explanation is one of the infuriating holes in an otherwise praiseworthy accounting.

Rumsfeld was missing in action that morning — "out of the loop" by his own admission. The lead military officer that day, Brig. Gen. Montague Winfield, told the commission that the Pentagon's command center had been essentially leaderless: "For 30 minutes we couldn't find" Rumsfeld.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-sheehy13aug13,1,571727.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions