Mood:  chatty

Gov't Has Biggest Tax Receipt Month Ever

RUSH: This is from First Trust Portfolios. "The U.S. Treasury Department reported a gusher of tax revenue last week. Tuesday alone, the Treasury received $48.7 billion from individual taxpayers as their final tax payment for 2006, an all-time single-day record, and one-third higher than the same day last year." I don't know about that; I guess it could be. But anyway, "Based on information available through Friday, we estimate federal receipts at about $390 billion in April. This would be the largest tax take for any month in American history, up 25% versus last April, and up 18% versus the previous record high in April 2001. With incomes and profits growing rapidly, the U.S. budget deficit will fall to about $145 billion during the twelve months ending in April. To put this in perspective, the deficit was $455 billion as recently as three years ago (the twelve months through April 2004)," and they're projecting it to be $145 billion at the end of this year.

And not one "thank-you"! Not one "thank-you" from the government! They never thank us for what we pay. You ever get a thank-you note from the government? I don't. I just get another bill.

Revenue Blow Out   

Brian S. Wesbury; Chief Economist
Robert Stein: Senior Economist

The U.S. Treasury Department reported a gusher of tax revenue last week.  Tuesday alone, the Treasury received $48.7 billion from individual taxpayers as their final tax payment for 2006, an all-time single-day record, and one-third higher than the same day last year.

Based on information available through Friday, we estimate federal receipts at about $390 billion in April.  This would be the largest tax take for any month in American history, up 25% versus last April, and up 18% versus the previous record high in April 2001.

With incomes and profits growing rapidly, the U.S. budget deficit will fall to about $145 billion during the twelve months ending in April.  To put this in perspective, the deficit was $455 billion as recently as three years ago (the twelve months through April 2004).

These trends increase our confidence in the lonely forecast we made back in early February that the budget deficit would drop to $115 billion for the 2007 fiscal year, and disappear in Fiscal 2009, possibly before.  In contrast, the Congressional Budget Office estimates a deficit of $177 billion this year, with the White House at $244 billion.  Expect major revisions to these numbers.

Our budget forecasts are based on reasonable projections.  For example, on the revenue side, we have May receipts down 2.6% versus last May.  (Due to calendar quirks some of the April receipts this year would normally have arrived in May.)  Beyond that, we have revenue growing between 8.5 - 9% annually through 2009, consistent with our expectation of a strong economy and also with historical patterns from the expansions of the 1980s and 1990s.  Revenue grew at a 13.2% rate in Fiscal 2005 and 2006, and should grow at a 9.1% rate this year despite temporary "patches" for the Alternative Minimum Tax.  Our projections assume these AMT patches continue, so we are not relying on many more taxpayers being subject to the AMT to generate our revenue numbers.

On the spending side, so far this fiscal year outlays are up less than 3%.  We assume they accelerate to a 4.5 - 5% annual growth rate through 2009.

Our deficit projections show that the US is slightly ahead of the actual 1990s deficit path.  In 1996 - almost six years into recovery - the deficit was still 1.4% of GDP.  The first surplus arrived in 1998.  We expect the deficit to be just under 1% of GDP for Fiscal 2007 (almost six years into the recovery), with surpluses arriving in 2009 or earlier.

As in the 1990s, revenue is being lifted by a productivity-driven surge in incomes, profits, and rising equity prices.  As people earn higher incomes, a larger share of their income gets taxed at higher marginal rates - a tax hike without new legislation.  Those who argued that the tax cuts in 2001-03 would create deficits as far as the eye could see are being proven wrong.  And, unlike the 1990s, the budget will be balanced without the help of a post-Cold War "peace dividend."

Unfortunately, the surpluses we will achieve will not be permanent.  Social Security and Medicare are still problems.  Massive spending cuts or tax hikes (or both!) may hit us in a few decades.  But for the next several years, as long as spending is restrained, revenue growth will continue to surge and the budget picture will improve faster than conventional wisdom believes - this, in turn, will undercut the push by many politicians to hike tax rates back to pre-2001 levels.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This information contains forward-looking statements about various economic trends and strategies. You are cautioned that such forward-looking statements are subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and actual results could be materially different. There are no guarantees associated with any forecast and the opinions stated here are subject to change at any time and are the opinion of the individual strategist. Data comes from the following sources: Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Federal Reserve Board, and Haver Analytics. Data is taken from sources generally believed to be reliable but no guarantee is given to its accuracy.
First Trust Portfolios ~ Brian S. Wesbury, Robert Stein ** Revenue Blow Out

Posted by yaahoo_ at 1:29 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 2 May 2007 1:33 PM EDT

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Mood:  don't ask

Children at a Hamas rally >>>>>

Top Hamas official:
Kill all Americans
By Etgar Lefkovits

Sheik Ahmad Bahr, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, declared during a Friday sermon at a Sudan mosque that America and Israel will be annihilated and called upon Allah to kill Jews and Americans "to the very Last One." Following are excerpts from the sermon that took place last month, courtesy of MEMRI.

Ahmad Bahr began: "'You will be victorious' on the face of this planet. You are the masters of the world on the face of this planet. Yes, [the Koran says that] 'you will be victorious,' but only 'if you are believers.' Allah willing, 'you will be victorious,' while America and Israel will be annihilated. I guarantee you that the power of belief and faith is greater than the power of America and Israel. They are cowards who are eager for life, while we are eager for death for the sake of Allah. That is why America's nose was rubbed in the mud in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Somalia, and everywhere."

Bahr continued and said that America will be annihilated, while Islam will remain. The Muslims "'will be victorious, if you are believers.' Oh Muslims, I guarantee you that the power of Allah is greater than America, by whom many are blinded today. Some people are blinded by the power of America. We say to them that with the might of Allah, with the might of His Messenger, and with the power of Allah, we are stronger than America and Israel."

The Hamas spokesperson concluded with a prayer, saying: "Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet, defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them."

The Jerusalem Post ~ Etgar Lefkovits ** Top Hamas official: Kill all Americans
Related: EURABIA ~ Now Muslims get their own laws in Britain

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:27 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 7 May 2007 3:09 AM EDT

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NOW MUSLIMS GET THEIR OWN LAWS IN BRITAIN

MUSLIM radicals have established their own draconian court systems in Britain.

Controversial Sharia courts have been set up in major towns and cities to impose Islamic law and enable Muslims to shun the legitimate British legal system.

Last night religious leaders and politicians expressed outrage that Sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in our society.

Critics insisted that the Govern­ment is allowing a two-tier legal system to flourish in the name of political correctness and that the authority of UK justice is being undermined.

The Daily Express can reveal that one of the controversial courts has been set up in the home town of the 7/7 London bombings ringleader.

Mohammed Siddique Khan was responsible for the Edgware Road Circle Line explosion which killed six people and injured 120. Our investigation has found that the Sharia court system has been set up in the heart of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and that it is a model for others across the country which are operating outside the British legal process.

The Dewsbury court is called the Sharee Council – another term for Sharia – and operates as a Muslim judiciary making decisions by which attendees must abide.

In many countries, hard-line interpretations of the Islamic law allow people to be stoned to death, beheaded or have their limbs amputated.

Non-Muslims are excluded from the secretive court which is registered as a charity to receive British tax benefits.

Although the court has no official legal standing, scales of justice adorn a sign outside a former pub building which has been converted by the Islamic Institute of Great Britain.

Last night the Sharia courts were blasted by both Christian and Muslim groups for their non-democratic attempts to establish their legal system.

Mark Wallace, campaign man­ager of the Freedom Asso­ciation said: “British society must be one of free speech, free personal choice, democratic freedom and fairness.

“If individual Muslims wish to inform their decisions by the teachings of Sharia, that is fine, but they must do it within the structures of British law and they must understand that sharia will never be acceptable as the legal system of the UK.”

His views were echoed by the Muslim Council of Britain, whose spokesman Inayat Bunglawala said: “We believe one legal code should apply for all citizens of the UK. There is no place for multiple legal systems for people of different religious or ethnic backgrounds.”

Dewsbury councillor Imtiaz Ameen, a Muslim, said: “Some people advocate total Sharia law but you cannot have it being the case in any country that there is one law for one and one law for another.”

Critics say the Government has not done enough to stop radical Muslim groups establishing their brand of law.

Liberal thinkers in the Gov­ernment claim that the law enables full-face veil-wearing Muslim women who are afraid of British courts to gain justice the “traditional way”.

But one insider told the Daily Express that the Sharia court, which is run from the backroom of a Madrasa – an Islamic education centre – in Dewsbury is just one of “dozens” operating in Asian communities. And a leading Muslim commentator claimed similar courts exist in every major city across Britain.

The Madrasa – which is a former pub situated less than a mile from the one-time home of London bombing mastermind Khan – sits as a court every other weekend and hears up to 10 cases a day.

Four Muslim scholars, who have spent their life studying and preaching the Koran, sit in judgment on an array of cases alongside a Muslim solicitor whose role is to advise on the implications of their rulings in British law.

The operation is headed by prominent scholar Sheikh Yaqub Munshi. Accounts for the Dewsbury court’s parent company the Islamic Research Institute of Great Britain, show that it was registered in Dewsbury as a charity in 1996 with the ethos of promoting the advancement of Islamic religion and education in the United Kingdom.

Charitable status allows the organisation to claim tax relief and apply for government grants and trustee funding.

Between April 1999 and April 2004 its gross annual turnover rocketed from £2,500 to above £177,000. At the end of the last financial year it recorded total funds of £255,000 but it is not known if or how it charges for use of the service.

At the moment, the leaders insist they only deal with civil matters such as Muslim divorces, wedding dowries and asset sharing.

But the secretive Muslim-only nature of the dealings will provoke fears that radical Sharia law could be allowed to spread across the Muslim population. The source said: “These courts take the law into their own hands and dish out punishment for bad behaviour.

“I have not heard of physical punishments being used but those in the wrong are often ordered to pay compensation. Many who have no respect for British law are the most stringent observers of Sharia law.”

Sheikh Yaqub admitted that in­troducing Sharia law into the UK has been his goal since moving to Britain from Paki­stan in the 1960s.

But he insisted its main aim is to help repressed women who are trapped in bad or violent marriages and who dare not use British law.

He said: “Ever since I arrived here in the 1960s there has been a case of women being forced to get married, others forced to get married, but unhappy afterwards. Until now there was no organisation which could Islamically solve their problems.”

Sharia is derived from the Arabic translation Sariah and outlines Islamic law according to the Koran. The term means “way” or “path” and gives the Islamic framework within which people must regulate their lives according to the Muslim faith.

After the Sharia court has ruled in judgment, solicitors process matters officially through UK courts on their clients’ behalf.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, said: “Sharia courts now operate in most larger cities, with different sectarian and ethnic groups operating their own courts that cater to their specific needs according to their tradition.”

Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley, said: “I am ab­solutely appalled and find the prospect of such courts totally terrifying. Places like this should be closed down or else everybody will want to establish their own courts.

“How many more places like this are there in the UK? Who knows where it could all end? It simply cannot be tolerated.”

Comments
UK Daily Express ~ Paul Jeeves ** Now Muslims get their own laws in Britain
Related: LIBTARD "PEACE" ALERT ~
Top Palestinian legislator urges killing of all Jews and Americans

British society must be one of free speech, free personal choice, democratic freedom and fairness Mark Wallace

"WE DON'T NEED MORE ANTI-RACISM INITIATIVES...WE NEED ETHNIC MINORITIES TO WORK HARD"
CLICK HERE TO READ PATRICK O'FLYNN'S HARD-HITTING ANALYSIS OF MODERN BRITAIN

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:33 PM EDT

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Climate change hits Mars

Mars is being hit by rapid climate change and it is happening so fast that the red planet could lose its southern ice cap, writes Jonathan Leake.

Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.

Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena.

The mechanism at work on Mars appears, however, to be different from that on Earth. One of the researchers, Lori Fenton, believes variations in radiation and temperature across the surface of the Red Planet are generating strong winds.

In a paper published in the journal Nature, she suggests that such winds can stir up giant dust storms, trapping heat and raising the planet’s temperature.

Fenton’s team unearthed heat maps of the Martian surface from Nasa’s Viking mission in the 1970s and compared them with maps gathered more than two decades later by Mars Global Surveyor. They found there had been widespread changes, with some areas becoming darker.

When a surface darkens it absorbs more heat, eventually radiating that heat back to warm the thin Martian atmosphere: lighter surfaces have the opposite effect. The temperature differences between the two are thought to be stirring up more winds, and dust, creating a cycle that is warming the planet.

Comments
UK Times Online ~ UK Sunday Times ** Climate change hits Mars
Related: Hurricane forecaster: Oceans, not CO2, cause global warming

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:30 AM EDT

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SMILE: 1 CAMERA FOR EVERY 14 PEOPLE IN UK

Britain becoming a Big Brother society, says data watchdog

Britain is in danger of "committing slow social suicide" as such Big Brother techniques as surveillance cameras and recording equipment spread into every aspect of our lives, the nation's information watchdog will warn this week.

A new report from Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, will say that the public needs to be made more aware of the "creeping encroachment" on civil liberties created by email monitoring, CCTV and computer tracking of our buying habits.

It is understood that one of the concerns in Mr Thomas's report is the use of special listening devices which can be placed in lamp posts, street furniture and offices. These are already widely used in the Netherlands to combat crime and anti-social behaviour.

More than 300 of the cameras with built-in microphones have been fitted in benefit offices and city centres. The equipment can pick up aggressive tones on the basis of decibel level, pitch and speed at which words are spoken.

Westminster council has already started piloting the listening devices, but experts say the use of these microphones raises questions about how surveillance can be used to intrude into the private lives of citizens.

He will also call for greater regulation of companies that supply surveillance technology which provides "convenience or safety for the more affluent majority", but not for the vulnerable such as children, immigrants and the elderly.

His warning comes as MPs launch their first inquiry into the impact of surveillance in Britain. The Home Affairs Select Committee will investigate the use of video cameras to monitor high streets and residential areas as well as the holding of personal information on both government and commercial databases.

On Tuesday, Mr Thomas, who last year warned that Britain was "sleepwalking into a surveillance society", will tell the committee at its first hearing that new safeguards must be introduced to protect the public from the increasing intrusion of surveillance into their daily lives.

Civil liberty campaigners have already warned that Britain is becoming a Big Brother society where its citizens are increasingly being watched. There are more than four million CCTV cameras in this country, one for every 14 people, and the national DNA database which was set up by police to combat crime now holds 3.5 million profiles.

UK Independent ~ Sophie Goodchild ** Britain becoming a Big Brother society, says data watchdog

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:13 AM EDT

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Mood:  crushed out

I just had to blog some pics of the latest, greatest,

sweetest Fox News hottie... ♥ ♥ Julia Allison ♥ ♥

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:36 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 28 April 2007 7:33 AM EDT

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WASTE NOT! Dem Candidates Private Jet to Debate: 'No one pooled, no one took commercial flights to save money, fuel or emissions'

2008 Candidates Rely on Private Jets

WASHINGTON -- A flock of small jets took flight from Washington Thursday, each carrying a Democratic presidential candidate to South Carolina for the first debate of the political season.

For Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, it was wheels up shortly after they voted in favor of legislation requiring that U.S. troops begin returning home from Iraq in the fall.

No one jet pooled, no one took commercial flights to save money, fuel or emissions.

All but Biden, who flew on a private jet, chartered their flights -- a campaign expense of between $7,500 and $9,000.

Federal Election Commission rules allow candidates to pay only the equivalent of first-class fare to fly on private jets owned by corporations or other special interests. But a Senate ethics bill approved earlier this year would require senators flying on corporate jets to pay full charter rates. The legislation must still be reconciled with a House bill and has yet to become law.

Several senators running for president are abiding by it anyway, either paying charter cost or avoiding corporate jets altogether, as Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain have done. Dodd pays full charter rates when he flies on private planes. The Clinton and Biden campaigns did not immediately explain their policies.

Candidates who follow the more lenient FEC rules have a financial advantage.

Democrat John Edwards, for example, regularly uses a jet owned by Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron, who is also the finance chairman of his presidential campaign. His campaign pays first-class rate for those flights. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also flies on corporate jets and pays first-class rates.

Under FEC reimbursement regulations, a candidate flying in a corporate or union jet must pay the first-class rate unless the flight's destination does not have scheduled commercial service. In that case, the candidate must pay the cost of chartering the plane.

For candidates who are now eschewing corporate jets, the cost difference can be significant.

For example, a one-way first class ticket on United Airlines with four days advance notice is $694 per person. A typical one-way charter flight on a small Lear jet seating six people would cost about $9,000.

Critics of corporate jet flights for politicians say the difference in cost makes a private jet an extraordinary special benefit and can give corporate executives or union leaders unusual access to a candidate.

Thursday's debate, set on the campus of South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C., made for some whirlwind scheduling. Clinton, for instance, was scheduled to return to Washington Friday morning for an 8 a.m. address to the New York State United Teachers 35th Annual Representative Assembly, then fly back to South Carolina for an 11 a.m. event in Greenville.

Newsday ~ Associated Press - Jim Kuhnhenn ** 2008 Candidates Rely on Private Jets

Posted by yaahoo_ at 1:44 AM EDT

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Fraud probe sought after carbon offset industry found to suffer 'serious credibility concerns'

Industry caught in carbon ‘smokescreen’

Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on “carbon credit” projects that yield few if any environmental benefits.

A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place.

Others are meanwhile making big profits from carbon trading for very small expenditure and in some cases for clean-ups that they would have made anyway.

The growing political salience of environmental politics has sparked a “green gold rush”, which has seen a dramatic expansion in the number of businesses offering both companies and individuals the chance to go “carbon neutral”, offsetting their own energy use by buying carbon credits that cancel out their contribution to global warming.

The burgeoning regulated market for carbon credits is expected to more than double in size to about $68.2bn by 2010, with the unregulated voluntary sector rising to $4bn in the same period.

The FT investigation found:

Industrial companies profiting from doing very little – or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains from which they have already benefited substantially.

Brokers providing services of questionable or no value.

A shortage of verification, making it difficult for buyers to assess the true value of carbon credits.

Companies and individuals being charged over the odds for the private purchase of European Union carbon permits that have plummeted in value because they do not result in emissions cuts.

Francis Sullivan, environment adviser at HSBC, the UK’s biggest bank that went carbon-neutral in 2005, said he found “serious credibility concerns” in the offsetting market after evaluating it for several months.

“The police, the fraud squad and trading standards need to be looking into this. Otherwise people will lose faith in it,” he said.

These concerns led the bank to ignore the market and fund its own carbon reduction projects directly.

Some companies are benefiting by asking “green” consumers to pay them for cleaning up their own pollution. For instance, DuPont, the chemicals company, invites consumers to pay $4 to eliminate a tonne of carbon dioxide from its plant in Kentucky that produces a potent greenhouse gas called HFC-23. But the equipment required to reduce such gases is relatively cheap. DuPont refused to comment and declined to specify its earnings from the project, saying it was at too early a stage to discuss.

The FT has also found examples of companies setting up as carbon offsetters without appearing to have a clear idea of how the markets operate. In response to FT inquiries about its sourcing of carbon credits, one company, carbonvoucher.com, said it had not taken payments for offsets.

Blue Source, a US offsetting company, invites consumers to offset carbon emissions by investing in enhanced oil recovery, which pumps carbon dioxide into depleted oil wells to bring up the remaining oil. However, Blue Source said that because of the high price of oil, this process was often profitable in itself, meaning operators were making extra revenues from selling “carbon credits” for burying the carbon.

There is nothing illegal in these practices. However, some companies that are offsetting their emissions have avoided such projects because customers may find them controversial.

BP said it would not buy credits resulting from improvements in industrial efficiency or from most renewable energy projects in developed countries.

Additional reporting by Rebecca Bream
Financial Times ~ Fiona Harvey and Stephen Fidler in London ** Industry caught in carbon ‘smokescreen’

Posted by yaahoo_ at 8:23 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 26 April 2007 8:32 AM EDT

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Libtards have to hide their agenda from the media (and the American people)...

Coward Deanpeace: Bar Media and Candidates Will Talk

The head of the Democratic Party said Wednesday that the best way to get presidential candidates to talk frankly about issues is to lock out the media.

During the Mortgage Bankers Association conference, a banker expressed frustration with candidates who only talk in sound bites and wondered how that could be changed. Howard Dean, once a presidential candidate, offered a simple solution.

"I suggest you have candidates in to meetings like this and bar the press," Dean said.

The Democratic National Committee chairman criticized media coverage, arguing that networks such as CBS used to put content first and didn't mind losing money for the prestige of delivering a quality news report. Dean said the days of Walter Cronkite are gone and the corporatization of the media has led to a desire to boost profits.

"The media has been reduced to info-tainment," Dean said. "Info-tainment sells, the problem is they reach the lowest common denominator instead of forcing a little education down our throats, which we are probably in need of from time to time."

Dean was considered a strong contender for the 2004 Democratic nomination, but after finishing third in the Iowa caucuses, he gave a speech that included a rant punctuated by a scream. The clip was shown repeatedly on television and became the subject of late-night jokes.

Dean said politicians live in fear that their words will be twisted for the sake of headlines.

"Politicians are incredibly careful not to say anything if they can possibly help it, except if it is exactly scripted. And if you want to hear anybody's true views, you cannot do it in the same room as the press," Dean said. "If you want to hear the truth from them, you have to exclude the press."

Yahoo Asia News ~ Associated Press ** Dean: Bar Media and Candidates Will Talk

Posted by yaahoo_ at 8:05 AM EDT

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NOW THEY DON'T EVEN CHANGE THE SHEETS IN HOSPITAL

Hospital sheets are not being changed to save money

Cleaners at a failing NHS hospital criticised for its record on fighting superbugs have been told to keep used sheets on beds to save cash.

Horrified housekeeping staff were ordered to turn dirty bed sheets over, rather than use clean linen at Birmingham’s Good Hope Hospital.

Managers advised staff to “top and tail” sheets and pillow cases in a bid to slash the £500,000 laundry bill.

Posters plastered across the back of the linen cupboards and on doors leading into the Accident and Emergency and Maternity department asked staff not to swap sheets if they could avoid it.

It means new patients have been getting into beds with the same sheets as the previous sick occupant, it was claimed yesterday.

The revelations were branded “absolutely scandalous” by patients’ groups and “tantamount to murder”.

Katherine Murphy, spokeswoman for the Patients Association said finances were being put before the care of patients and their safety.

“Why do sick people have to suffer further when they have paid for the NHS?” she said. “It should be there for them when they need it.

“When somebody is admitted into hospital they don’t only need clean sheets but the whole bed should be washed down as well. This is doing nothing for infection-control.

“It is absolutely scandalous and down to financial mismanagement.”

An anonymous whistleblower leaked a photograph of the poster to expose the practice, which he claimed had been enforced over the past three years.

In bright red letters across the top, it says “Linen Costs!”. It is then followed by a notice that reads: “We spend over half a million a year. Every item including the pillowcase is 0.275p each!” Stacks of cash are lined up to show the cost of maintaining the high standards expected in NHS hospitals.

The whistleblower who smuggled the picture refused to be named but added: “This sign has been on the clean linen cupboard in A&E at Good Hope for at least 12 months. I am not sure how much this practice is going on, but it is clear the trust is encouraging staff to top and tail used sheets instead of replacing them between patients.”

Despite drafting in a Government hit squad to tackle the superbugs, Good Hope has seen an increase in  C.diff and MRSA. In less than a year, cases of deadly C.diff have more than doubled to 327 at the hospital.

Good Hope also recorded 36 cases of MRSA between April last year and January – more than double its target.

Tony Field, of charity MRSA Support, said: “Is that all the safety of a patient’s life is worth, 0.275p?

“It is utterly disgraceful. Hygiene – like changing sheets – is essential to protect patients. Their thinking on this is diabolical. Every sneeze and turn, which leaves skin scales on the sheets, leaves the risk of infection.

“There is an age old tradition among nurses that it is basic law to clean and re-make beds daily. For this to stop to save money and time is atrocious.” A spokesman for Good Hope said the posters will be pulled down immediately.

She also stressed that while bed sheets may not be changed every day for patients who have not soiled them, they are “categorically changed” between patients.

She said: “This member of staff has got things very confused. There is absolutely no way we would have the same sheets used on a bed from one patient to another. It just would not have happened. The posters were made two or three years ago and should have been taken down now.

“Any that have been seen recently will be removed as Good Hope takes infection control very seriously.”

Hospital Director Barbara Beal  insisted: “Good Hope has never undertaken such a practice for different patients.

“After taking appropriate advice from our Infection Control team and senior microbiologists, it was agreed that where the sheets were unsoiled and it was the same patient in the bed, it was acceptable practice to top and tail, and this of course had a beneficial effect on the cost of laundry.”

In a statement, Ms Beal added: “It has never been the practice at Good Hope for any patient, either on the ward or in A&E, to use the same sheets as another.”

Nationwide, C.diff claims more than 1,000 lives a year and is endemic throughout the NHS, with cases rising by 17 per cent in 2005.

Comments
Daily Express ~ Sarah Westcott ** Now They Don't Even Change the Sheets in Hospital
Related: New Zealand Herald ~ Reuters ** Morale 'Terrible" Among UK Doctors - Survey

Posted by yaahoo_ at 7:21 AM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 18 April 2007 7:26 AM EDT

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