It's So Cold in the 'D'

Thousands of people showed up at Cobo Arena and outside neighborhood centers in Detroit Tuesday to get free stimulus money being offered to only 3,500 of the city's recently or soon to be homeless. The line around the downtown convention center started forming well before daybreak. Anger flared within a few hours as more people sought out a dwindling number of applications for the program. Members of the Detroit Police Department's Gang Squad and other tactical units were called in for crowd control. Check the news clip for details...

I'd like 16 Slim Jims, 2 liters of hand sanitizer, a pair of Jordans, a crate of toilet paper, a mega Axe body wash and a case of Now and Laters...

Government sent 3,900 economic stimulus checks to prison inmates -- 2,200 got to keep them

The federal government sent about 3,900 economic stimulus payments of $250 each this spring to people who were in no position to use the money to help stimulate the economy: prison inmates.

The checks were part of the massive economic recovery package approved by Congress and President Barack Obama in February. About 52 million Social Security recipients, railroad retirees and those receiving Supplemental Security Income were eligible for the one-time checks.

Prison inmates are generally ineligible for federal benefits. However, 2,200 of the inmates who received checks got to keep them because, under the law, they were eligible, said Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration. They were eligible because they weren't incarcerated in any one of the three months before the recovery package was enacted. "The law specified that any beneficiary eligible for a Social Security benefit during one of those months was eligible for the recovery payment," Lassiter said.

The other 1,700 checks? That was a mistake.

Checks were sent to those inmates because government records didn't accurately show they were in prison, Lassiter said. He said most of those checks were returned by the prisons.

Only in Florida: Jesus Himself Couldn't Get His Clunker Traded

A woman in the picture above came into the Coggin Pontiac dealership in Jacksonville, Fla a few weeks back looking to buy a car. How she tried to pay for the car is what caught the salesman's attention.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says Emma Harrison, 25, wrote the dealership a check for $67,768 for the purchase of a car, with the names Jesus Christ and Emma Christ on the account. The check was handed over to the financial manager for verification.

But when the funds didn't check out, he called police.

Reports show that Harrison would sign the checks as Emma Christ, or even sometimes sign both Jesus Christ and Emma Christ.

Emma told police Harrison was her maiden name, and she was married to Jesus Christ, and Jesus was coming in next week to sign the paperwork for the car. Somebody told me that once when I did they taxes, this Jesus was in jail at the time.

She also said the dealership called the wrong company to verify the funds. Police looked into Harrison's accounts, and found that she had no money in any of her accounts, so she could not purchase the car. (I wonder what kind of Pontiac she was buying? You know Jesus loves him some Pontiacs.)

When asked about work, Harrison told police she does not work, but she has a traveling website that people deposit money into.

She had three active credit cards in the name of Emma Christ.

Harrison was arrested on three fraud-related counts, meanwhile, we're all still waiting on Jesus to show up.

Next, Cash Fo' Yo' Raggedy Fridge

A $300 million cash-for-clunkers-type federal program to boost sales of energy-efficient home appliances provides a glimmer of hope for beleaguered makers of washing machines and dishwashers, but it's probably not enough to lift companies such as Whirlpool, Electrolux and Kenmore (Sears) out of the worst down cycle in the sector's history.

Beginning late this fall, the program authorizes rebates of $50 to $200 for purchases of high-efficiency household appliances. The money is part of the broader economic stimulus bill passed earlier this year. Program details will vary by state, and the Energy Dept. has set a deadline of Oct. 15 for states to file formal applications. The Energy Dept. expects the bulk of the $300 million to be awarded by the end of November. (Unlike the clunkers auto program, consumers won't have to trade in their old appliances cause they already know you just gonna put in in your garage.) Get one for your wife as a Christmas present. (maybe not)