As Larry Summers makes his way through the evolving door, readying himself to promote the next great disaster, Obama is left to find someone equally as incompetent to fill his shoes. Sadly though, Obama has a lot of ready candidates who carry these same character traits and flaws. And Washington is, after all, an equal opportunity employer, which, in substance, means they hire the mentally challenged without regard to their station in life.
Summers career in Washington is filled with so many misjudgments that the “science” he professes can be summed up with just two words --“VooDoo Science.” His legacy will be an embarrassment for two presidents, Clinton and Obama. Hopefully, he will retire from politics permanently, although it is doubtful. In Washington, the inept are rewarded with promotions and longevity.
In the view of Summers, both unemployment insurance and welfare payments are major contributors to unemployment. His position was an advocacy for their reduction.
This view is held by many economists today. However, their view is narrow and nearsighted. Unemployment and welfare payments do not contribute to or create unemployment; they only support those who are unemployed. But then no one has ever claimed economists are very bright.
As a perfect example, with 17- plus million Americans out of work, does Summers presume to think that by eliminating unemployment insurance they will suddenly find work?
Summers background was a perfect match for a government position as he has never gotten it right. And, after all, isn’t that how government really works? While at the World Bank in December 1991, Summers proposed dumping toxic waste in third world countries for economic reasons. Jose Lutzenberger, a Brazilian environmentalist, wrote to Summers that his proposal was “perfectly logical but totally insane” and showed how out of touch with reality economists are.
Summers, while in the Clinton White House, argued against American leadership in greenhouse gas reductions and against U.S. participation in the Kyoto Protocol. Summers also supported the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which lifted more than six decades of restrictions against banks offering commercial banking, insurance, and investment services. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealed key provisions of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which has been acknowledged to have been the catalyst for the financial crisis.
Many critics, including President Obama, have suggested the subprime mortgage financial crisis of 2007 was caused by the partial repeal of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. Yet, Obama retained Summers in his White House staff. Even though Summers had discredited himself, Obama continued to use him as an advisor.
It was Summers, along with Arthur Levitt, (SEC) Chairman; Alan Greenspan, Fed Chairman, and Secretary Rubin, who together prevented all efforts to regulate the derivatives (Credit Default Swaps) that many blame for bringing the financial market down in Fall 2008. These derivatives are still wringing the financial necks of most U.S. Banks. So, to all these problems Summers has created, we now bid a fond ado. He will be sorely missed in Washington, but not by Main Street.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Why American Jobs are being outsourced
America once the epitome of the free enterprise system and capitalism has over the years fallen from grace, in fact over the past 10 years the fall has been substantial.
How did we decline so far so fast?
The beginning of the end really began as a part and parcel of Reaganomics, building an American empire, and the capitalist version of it. The idea was that business could prosper better in third world environments where laws were lax, and child labor protection was non existent, In short America prior to 1938.
During the early part of the 20th century states attempted to pass laws protecting children, however as we are finding today, the Supreme Court was out of step with the times. In each instance, the case brought before the Supreme Court was ruled against the state interest and the interest of the children. It wasn’t until 1941 that an act of the US congress passed in 1938 was found to be constitutional “The Fair Labor Standards Act”
For the next 40 years, manufacturers were required to hire children only over age of 16, and they were limited in the number of hours, and type of jobs they were allowed to work.
In addition environmental laws made it too expensive to operate some businesses in the States. So under Reagan a plan was developed which promoted outsourcing of American jobs, they went first to South America . Under Reagan more than 2200 businesses representing several million workers were displaced
Today in developing countries 250 million children age 5 to 14 are working without child labor law protections, and they are producing almost every product we purchase. With capitalism, there is a tremendous advantage and reason to move to these countries, it’s called profits!
As manufacturers began to move out of the United States there developed a worker backlash. Detroit began with its concept of planned obsolescence, as early as the 1920’s, to produce a product that would last for only a short time, then requiring new purchases.
This manufacture model allowed Japan to gain a real foothold on the American consumer and the auto industry began a decline in earnest in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Planned obsolescence was a concept that came about in the US as early as the 1920’s, and 30’s the real and secret logic behind it was to conceal the real cost of the object, by giving the consumer a product that had a limited life expectancy.
By the 1960’s and 1970’s American consumers were turning to Japanese automobiles which offered a longer life product use, and a cheaper price tag.
Today consumers still have no idea they are being abused by capitalist theories of profits. Just what it will take to wake us up is the all time question?
How did we decline so far so fast?
The beginning of the end really began as a part and parcel of Reaganomics, building an American empire, and the capitalist version of it. The idea was that business could prosper better in third world environments where laws were lax, and child labor protection was non existent, In short America prior to 1938.
During the early part of the 20th century states attempted to pass laws protecting children, however as we are finding today, the Supreme Court was out of step with the times. In each instance, the case brought before the Supreme Court was ruled against the state interest and the interest of the children. It wasn’t until 1941 that an act of the US congress passed in 1938 was found to be constitutional “The Fair Labor Standards Act”
For the next 40 years, manufacturers were required to hire children only over age of 16, and they were limited in the number of hours, and type of jobs they were allowed to work.
In addition environmental laws made it too expensive to operate some businesses in the States. So under Reagan a plan was developed which promoted outsourcing of American jobs, they went first to South America . Under Reagan more than 2200 businesses representing several million workers were displaced
Today in developing countries 250 million children age 5 to 14 are working without child labor law protections, and they are producing almost every product we purchase. With capitalism, there is a tremendous advantage and reason to move to these countries, it’s called profits!
As manufacturers began to move out of the United States there developed a worker backlash. Detroit began with its concept of planned obsolescence, as early as the 1920’s, to produce a product that would last for only a short time, then requiring new purchases.
This manufacture model allowed Japan to gain a real foothold on the American consumer and the auto industry began a decline in earnest in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Planned obsolescence was a concept that came about in the US as early as the 1920’s, and 30’s the real and secret logic behind it was to conceal the real cost of the object, by giving the consumer a product that had a limited life expectancy.
By the 1960’s and 1970’s American consumers were turning to Japanese automobiles which offered a longer life product use, and a cheaper price tag.
Today consumers still have no idea they are being abused by capitalist theories of profits. Just what it will take to wake us up is the all time question?
Friday, September 10, 2010
What we should have learned from 9-11?
Certainly 9-11 was a tragic event, and no doubt will go down in the annuals of history equal to that of Pearl Harbor .
But the times are very different, and the reasons are also very different.
Yet there is some commonality to both. The “facts” submitted by conspiracy theorists, and there are as many as the days of the year, present the same scenario with logic and common sense to both.
With the events of Pearl Harbor, theorists present evidence that the government knew about the pending Japanese attack, and even forced Japan ’s hand by threatening them to give up Manchuria .
They theorize with logic, that this was the only way to unite the American people to go to war!
That was December 7 1941…
Sixty years later September 11, 2001…
The world trade center is attacked allegedly by 12 men from Saudi Arabia , with suspicion, theorist’s question how the passports of four (4) alleged hijackers were found intact Satam al Suqami's passport was found slightly charred in rubble that had been completely reduced to dust.
Two passports were alleged to have been recovered from the crash site of UA93 in Pennsylvania and the fourth from the alleged hijacker on AA11
There is enough facts to warrant suspicion of the governments account.
All in all 9-11 has made American’s aware that their own government can’t be trusted, and if we achieve no other benefit from 9-11 that in itself is an important milestone.
Five (5) years after 9-11 Scripps Howard took a poll of America ’s belief about the attack, more than one third of America believes the Federal government is implicated, either assisting, or aiding in the events.
In support of this theory fingers are pointed to insider knowledge, there was an uncanny amount of money invested in put options placed for United Airlines 4,744 "put" option contracts and 4,516 “put” options for American airlines stocks. Somebody or group knew in advance and acted to reap the benefits.
Setting aside for the moment the potential issues those “found” Passports represent. What have we as a people learned? What could make men so willing to give up their lives for a cause, and what might that cause be?
Tyranny and oppression Reigns so freely around the world, with 1989 presenting a prime example. Tiananmen Square, China .
Tiananmen Square was a stand by an oppressed people seeking democracy, 3000 student protestors were killed by their own countrymen, because they wanted freedom.
And our counterpart, Kent State , May 4, 1970, the Ohio National guard opened fire on peaceful student demonstrators killing 4, and wounding scores. Why because of Vietnam , a war the people didn’t want.
But these are symbols of oppression; the reality is that any oppressed people will act out. The common dream of “all” humanity is freedom. Without freedom, there is only slavery, and in that case, what is a life worth?
When the most powerful, and most influential nation in the world supports governments which are viewed by their own people as tyrants and dictators, America is setting itself up to be a target. And we have done just that.
Unfortunately we seem to have lost the spirit necessary to remain a free and democratic society. And as we have lost the spirit, we have lost the will to remain what we once stood for.
When America supports a regime that is oppressive we give the world the wrong message. If you recall February 21, 1972, with the Chinese economy and very government on the verge of collapse, Nixon makes a seven (7) day visit and supports the communist’s government.
The Hungarian revolution of 1956-57, was also about the dream of freedom.
Yet when we dream of freedom today, it seems to take a back seat to survival, this leaves us with the standing question, are we being used for capitalists as pawns in an elaborate game of world domination, or have we as a nation just been unlucky in those we choose to lead us.
But the times are very different, and the reasons are also very different.
Yet there is some commonality to both. The “facts” submitted by conspiracy theorists, and there are as many as the days of the year, present the same scenario with logic and common sense to both.
With the events of Pearl Harbor, theorists present evidence that the government knew about the pending Japanese attack, and even forced Japan ’s hand by threatening them to give up Manchuria .
They theorize with logic, that this was the only way to unite the American people to go to war!
That was December 7 1941…
Sixty years later September 11, 2001…
The world trade center is attacked allegedly by 12 men from Saudi Arabia , with suspicion, theorist’s question how the passports of four (4) alleged hijackers were found intact Satam al Suqami's passport was found slightly charred in rubble that had been completely reduced to dust.
Two passports were alleged to have been recovered from the crash site of UA93 in Pennsylvania and the fourth from the alleged hijacker on AA11
There is enough facts to warrant suspicion of the governments account.
All in all 9-11 has made American’s aware that their own government can’t be trusted, and if we achieve no other benefit from 9-11 that in itself is an important milestone.
Five (5) years after 9-11 Scripps Howard took a poll of America ’s belief about the attack, more than one third of America believes the Federal government is implicated, either assisting, or aiding in the events.
In support of this theory fingers are pointed to insider knowledge, there was an uncanny amount of money invested in put options placed for United Airlines 4,744 "put" option contracts and 4,516 “put” options for American airlines stocks. Somebody or group knew in advance and acted to reap the benefits.
Setting aside for the moment the potential issues those “found” Passports represent. What have we as a people learned? What could make men so willing to give up their lives for a cause, and what might that cause be?
Tyranny and oppression Reigns so freely around the world, with 1989 presenting a prime example. Tiananmen Square, China .
Tiananmen Square was a stand by an oppressed people seeking democracy, 3000 student protestors were killed by their own countrymen, because they wanted freedom.
And our counterpart, Kent State , May 4, 1970, the Ohio National guard opened fire on peaceful student demonstrators killing 4, and wounding scores. Why because of Vietnam , a war the people didn’t want.
But these are symbols of oppression; the reality is that any oppressed people will act out. The common dream of “all” humanity is freedom. Without freedom, there is only slavery, and in that case, what is a life worth?
When the most powerful, and most influential nation in the world supports governments which are viewed by their own people as tyrants and dictators, America is setting itself up to be a target. And we have done just that.
Unfortunately we seem to have lost the spirit necessary to remain a free and democratic society. And as we have lost the spirit, we have lost the will to remain what we once stood for.
When America supports a regime that is oppressive we give the world the wrong message. If you recall February 21, 1972, with the Chinese economy and very government on the verge of collapse, Nixon makes a seven (7) day visit and supports the communist’s government.
The Hungarian revolution of 1956-57, was also about the dream of freedom.
Yet when we dream of freedom today, it seems to take a back seat to survival, this leaves us with the standing question, are we being used for capitalists as pawns in an elaborate game of world domination, or have we as a nation just been unlucky in those we choose to lead us.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Is This The Reason They Want All The Wild Horses Gone?!
Goldman Sachs behind major land grab in Nevada worth billions.
As the BLM removed the wild mustangs from their Northern Nevada Range land, and opened it up to solar energy companies, one that has NO experience in this area, Goldman Sachs, through one of its subsidiaries, grabbed up nearly half the land. Two GS subsidiaries filed 52 claims, obtaining the rights to more than 123,000 acres.
GS subsidiary, Cogentrix Solar Services LLC, which has NO solar experience, has a pending application for 13,440 acres on one site in northern Nevada and a second site claim for 22,400 acres in the same area.
GS holds a total of 10 out of 123 claims, which cover the 123,000 acres, half of the land the BLM plans to lease for solar energy production in the state. GS has not begun any of these projects. However, the BLM leases, although they cannot be sold outright, can be sold with a sale of the company, and that is where the scam is suspected. These claims could potentially be worth billions!
Is this some payback for the SEC fine levied against GS due to their fraud in dealing with their own investors? Or is this another fraud that has even pulled the wool over the eyes of an agency that already appears to be blind?. Stay Tuned!
As the BLM removed the wild mustangs from their Northern Nevada Range land, and opened it up to solar energy companies, one that has NO experience in this area, Goldman Sachs, through one of its subsidiaries, grabbed up nearly half the land. Two GS subsidiaries filed 52 claims, obtaining the rights to more than 123,000 acres.
GS subsidiary, Cogentrix Solar Services LLC, which has NO solar experience, has a pending application for 13,440 acres on one site in northern Nevada and a second site claim for 22,400 acres in the same area.
GS holds a total of 10 out of 123 claims, which cover the 123,000 acres, half of the land the BLM plans to lease for solar energy production in the state. GS has not begun any of these projects. However, the BLM leases, although they cannot be sold outright, can be sold with a sale of the company, and that is where the scam is suspected. These claims could potentially be worth billions!
Is this some payback for the SEC fine levied against GS due to their fraud in dealing with their own investors? Or is this another fraud that has even pulled the wool over the eyes of an agency that already appears to be blind?. Stay Tuned!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Ben Bernanke, The Man in the Mirror!
When most of us look in the mirror what we see is the reverse image of our self, but sometimes we even miss that reality.
And this is exactly the problem that Bernanke and the FED are experiencing, the illusion, that he can save the economy by taking the country further into debt. The more money the FED creates becomes a larger burden on us, the US taxpayers.
How much can we undertake while the economy languished on the edge of total collapse?
Psychiatrists agree that our government is actually insane, why? Because the very definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and to expect a different outcome, surely Ben Bernanke and the FED meet this standard.
Through the first quarter of this year, Bernanke printed $1.5 trillion of paper currency and promptly bought $1.5 trillion in mortgage bonds, government agency bonds, and Treasury bonds. Now these bonds are an obligation imposed on the US taxpayers, who by the way are mainly economically indisposed.
But even as the entire effort was a failure, Bernanke is at it again.
If Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke honestly believes what he said at Jackson Hole on Friday — that he can save the economy by printing more money and buying more bonds — he needs to see a psychiatrists, the indication of this attempt to bolster the economy by acquiring more of the banks products, hasn’t stimulated the economy one bit. In fact the opposite has actually occurred, and hiding the true numbers of America’s unemployed is like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. Unemployment doesn’t go away simply because of wishful thinking.
America needs jobs, real jobs to jump start the economy, and the illusion that jobs are being created won’t make the economy stronger. But where will these jobs come from?
One approach is to make it more expensive for companies that are outsourcing American jobs, through higher taxation, this is a real solution! Inflating the economy will have a dire consequence, higher prices and a deeper prolonged depression, that’s right depression!
Lessons were learned from the 1930’s but it takes an intellect to read what the government did to stimulate the economy, and after all what it took in the end hasn’t worked today, it took a world war… today our war efforts haven’t been able to stimulate the economy even though we have become a nation perpetually at war, why, because even our weapons and weaponry are outsourced, it appears even our own government has a greater interest in the world economy, lacking a real insight or concern for its own people!
Bernanke is a man that sees a different image in the mirror, and that image speaks a different language.
It will take a different administration to solve the problems facing America, doing the same thing over and over always results in the same outcome and Obama has yet to understand economics 101, but then, neither has our economist Bernanke.
And this is exactly the problem that Bernanke and the FED are experiencing, the illusion, that he can save the economy by taking the country further into debt. The more money the FED creates becomes a larger burden on us, the US taxpayers.
How much can we undertake while the economy languished on the edge of total collapse?
Psychiatrists agree that our government is actually insane, why? Because the very definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and to expect a different outcome, surely Ben Bernanke and the FED meet this standard.
Through the first quarter of this year, Bernanke printed $1.5 trillion of paper currency and promptly bought $1.5 trillion in mortgage bonds, government agency bonds, and Treasury bonds. Now these bonds are an obligation imposed on the US taxpayers, who by the way are mainly economically indisposed.
But even as the entire effort was a failure, Bernanke is at it again.
If Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke honestly believes what he said at Jackson Hole on Friday — that he can save the economy by printing more money and buying more bonds — he needs to see a psychiatrists, the indication of this attempt to bolster the economy by acquiring more of the banks products, hasn’t stimulated the economy one bit. In fact the opposite has actually occurred, and hiding the true numbers of America’s unemployed is like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. Unemployment doesn’t go away simply because of wishful thinking.
America needs jobs, real jobs to jump start the economy, and the illusion that jobs are being created won’t make the economy stronger. But where will these jobs come from?
One approach is to make it more expensive for companies that are outsourcing American jobs, through higher taxation, this is a real solution! Inflating the economy will have a dire consequence, higher prices and a deeper prolonged depression, that’s right depression!
Lessons were learned from the 1930’s but it takes an intellect to read what the government did to stimulate the economy, and after all what it took in the end hasn’t worked today, it took a world war… today our war efforts haven’t been able to stimulate the economy even though we have become a nation perpetually at war, why, because even our weapons and weaponry are outsourced, it appears even our own government has a greater interest in the world economy, lacking a real insight or concern for its own people!
Bernanke is a man that sees a different image in the mirror, and that image speaks a different language.
It will take a different administration to solve the problems facing America, doing the same thing over and over always results in the same outcome and Obama has yet to understand economics 101, but then, neither has our economist Bernanke.
Friday, August 13, 2010
NATO Alliance appears to be falling apart
The Netherlands has become the first country to actually end hostilities in Afghanistan , but they are not alone.
Canada is withdrawing troops next year, the UK has downsized its forces but is considering downsizing additional involvement, and Poland is pulling out by 2012. Germany is also considering scaling back their forces.
The NATO countries with the exception of the US no longer see the wisdom of a struggle that appears to be unwinnable. We are not winning the hearts and minds of the people, by killing them!
Civilian causalities in July alone number 270 and more than 600 wounded. And we are loosing the prime of America , our service men and women who are struggling to understand why they are there. Those that survive will carry the scars of war.
Afghanistan is no stranger to war, having achieved independence in 1919, yet while so many countries having invaded it; no country has been able to defeat it. With over two decades of wars, Afghanistan is left with a legacy of landmines that kill and maim Afghanistan civilians every month.
Countries that have tried and failed; The Persians, Greeks, Arabs, British, Mongols, Russians and now Americans have all in their turn tried to defeat these people, each has failed. But America has made the greatest mistake in failing to understand the resolve of these people. America was an invader, but more than that America has killed more than 20,000 civilians which are considered “collateral damage” a house could be considered collateral damage, but certainly we care more about humans, or at least we should.
America has made the grandest of mistakes, forging a war based on a lie, the so called War on Terror was not about 9-11 so much as the oil pipeline across the country. Now after civilian deaths are mounting and resentment is building among the people, other countries want out, but America has invested billions of dollars in Afghanistan infrastructure, with the view to remaining in the country indefinitely.
As Davis Petraeus, recently said of the Afghanistan struggle, "If we kill civilians or damage their property in the course of our operations, we will create more enemies than our operations eliminate,"
This we have done, we have created more terrorists than we have eliminated, and have been the best recruitment vehicle for the Taliban. Families are carrying photos of children maimed by US led NATO forces, chanting “Death to America ! Death to NATO”
Yes General Petraeus you are so right! What we have accomplished in the Mideast . We have made enemies that will last for two or more generations, and we have made the world less safe for Americans.
What’s left to accomplish?
It’s now time to bring our troops home!
Canada is withdrawing troops next year, the UK has downsized its forces but is considering downsizing additional involvement, and Poland is pulling out by 2012. Germany is also considering scaling back their forces.
The NATO countries with the exception of the US no longer see the wisdom of a struggle that appears to be unwinnable. We are not winning the hearts and minds of the people, by killing them!
Civilian causalities in July alone number 270 and more than 600 wounded. And we are loosing the prime of America , our service men and women who are struggling to understand why they are there. Those that survive will carry the scars of war.
Afghanistan is no stranger to war, having achieved independence in 1919, yet while so many countries having invaded it; no country has been able to defeat it. With over two decades of wars, Afghanistan is left with a legacy of landmines that kill and maim Afghanistan civilians every month.
Countries that have tried and failed; The Persians, Greeks, Arabs, British, Mongols, Russians and now Americans have all in their turn tried to defeat these people, each has failed. But America has made the greatest mistake in failing to understand the resolve of these people. America was an invader, but more than that America has killed more than 20,000 civilians which are considered “collateral damage” a house could be considered collateral damage, but certainly we care more about humans, or at least we should.
America has made the grandest of mistakes, forging a war based on a lie, the so called War on Terror was not about 9-11 so much as the oil pipeline across the country. Now after civilian deaths are mounting and resentment is building among the people, other countries want out, but America has invested billions of dollars in Afghanistan infrastructure, with the view to remaining in the country indefinitely.
As Davis Petraeus, recently said of the Afghanistan struggle, "If we kill civilians or damage their property in the course of our operations, we will create more enemies than our operations eliminate,"
This we have done, we have created more terrorists than we have eliminated, and have been the best recruitment vehicle for the Taliban. Families are carrying photos of children maimed by US led NATO forces, chanting “Death to America ! Death to NATO”
Yes General Petraeus you are so right! What we have accomplished in the Mideast . We have made enemies that will last for two or more generations, and we have made the world less safe for Americans.
What’s left to accomplish?
It’s now time to bring our troops home!
War is America’s greatest export
We have been at war almost every year since the founding of the republic. War has become our way of life, viewed in its greatest light from movies, to video games to the ROTC it is never out of our range of vision
But most of these wars have been illegal, like Korea - Vietnam - Cambodia - Granada - Panama - Kosovo - Afghanistan - and twice with Iraq, yet there were many more, the side excursions and support operations in a dozen other places around the globe.
American presidents have declared war in each instance or declared a “police Action” where America service personnel have been deployed to foreign places without congresses participation, yet to declare war is a function of congress and any attempt to pass that responsibility to the president is an act considered to be ultra vires, yet our people continue to go where they are sent and to die there! We ask for what cause?
Did we protect our freedom by invading Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Granada, Panama, Kosovo, Afghanistan, or Iraq? Or was there some ulterior motive for our wars of choice?
Like resources?
War has always been our way of life. War is our culture. War is our industry and our chief export. And as long as Americans are willing to fight and die for causes they don’t understand it will remain our heritage.
War simply, is about everything and yet about nothing, it is the essence of historical fabrication. War has always lacked honesty and integrity! War requires propaganda to incite the population, and that means that the Media Must be controlled!
War is for the large corporations who profit from our death, the banks that finance this travesty, and unconscionably for oil and drugs, the resource that draws us in.
War is a travesty that we force upon nation. It is a mockery of modern civilizations. War promotes no just end but brings suffering and spreads violence, because for every one America kills dozens will spring forth to revenge them, and so we are perpetually fighting a cause that we as a nation are too ignorant to understand. Violence will always be met with violence. Just as intellect will be met with speech!
Perhaps the way to peace is to have the leaders of the country’s embittered to stand against each other and spare the populations a needless letting of their blood.
Perhaps, just perhaps, we as a people will see through this charade and say, we have had enough, NO more!
But most of these wars have been illegal, like Korea - Vietnam - Cambodia - Granada - Panama - Kosovo - Afghanistan - and twice with Iraq, yet there were many more, the side excursions and support operations in a dozen other places around the globe.
American presidents have declared war in each instance or declared a “police Action” where America service personnel have been deployed to foreign places without congresses participation, yet to declare war is a function of congress and any attempt to pass that responsibility to the president is an act considered to be ultra vires, yet our people continue to go where they are sent and to die there! We ask for what cause?
Did we protect our freedom by invading Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Granada, Panama, Kosovo, Afghanistan, or Iraq? Or was there some ulterior motive for our wars of choice?
Like resources?
War has always been our way of life. War is our culture. War is our industry and our chief export. And as long as Americans are willing to fight and die for causes they don’t understand it will remain our heritage.
War simply, is about everything and yet about nothing, it is the essence of historical fabrication. War has always lacked honesty and integrity! War requires propaganda to incite the population, and that means that the Media Must be controlled!
War is for the large corporations who profit from our death, the banks that finance this travesty, and unconscionably for oil and drugs, the resource that draws us in.
War is a travesty that we force upon nation. It is a mockery of modern civilizations. War promotes no just end but brings suffering and spreads violence, because for every one America kills dozens will spring forth to revenge them, and so we are perpetually fighting a cause that we as a nation are too ignorant to understand. Violence will always be met with violence. Just as intellect will be met with speech!
Perhaps the way to peace is to have the leaders of the country’s embittered to stand against each other and spare the populations a needless letting of their blood.
Perhaps, just perhaps, we as a people will see through this charade and say, we have had enough, NO more!
Obama gives Due Process a new meaning
Since the founding of our republic due process has meant an established course for judicial proceedings or other governmental activities designed to safeguard the legal rights of the individual. These safeguards comport with our constitutional provisions regarding criminal procedure and are found in Amendments IV, V, VI, and VIII.
When an official of government becomes a judge, a jury and an executioner, there has been no justice, and therefore No Due Process.
This has now become the state of our law.
President Obama, who is himself an attorney, has authorized our CIA to assassinate an American citizen without providing this individual his day in court, indeed this is a very dangerous precedent.
Anwar al-Awlaki, is a Muslim cleric, born in New Mexico US, he is an American Citizen by birth. He stands accused of having ties to al-Qaeda in Yemen and links to two attacks inside the United States last year.
Awlaki may stand accused of these crimes but has not been convicted in any court of law, indeed he has not even been tried in absentia. The CIA has added Awlaki to a growing list of about two dozen people targeted for assassination. Several are Americans.
Both Bush and Obama have justified these lethal policies under what they perceive to be “the laws of war” which they premise allows them to use lethal force against enemy combatants. However, Enemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. But Awlaki has not been personally involved in attacks against either American’s or our interests, neither has he been involved in armed confrontations with US or NATO forces. So to apply this term against Awlaki may be an abuse of a political discretion and policy.
Of concern is that these death lists may be used to kill individuals far from any battlefield or when they are not presenting an immediate threat.
As for Awlaki, it is also unclear what intelligence exists that would justify CIA and military forces to hunt him down and kill him without any judicial review.
In February, constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, who has become a champion of Civil rights, offered his opinion, “American citizens have the same protections whether on US soil or not”, pointing to Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957),
This round of assassinations is yet another thorn prodding the American psyche. It is a dangerous precedent and should not be employed except as a last resort, and then only in an unusual circumstance with undisputed, verified and collaborated evidence.
The danger that emanates from this policy is that any American may be placed on this list even while living in the US, merely because he speaks out against government policy, this is not China or Russia, this is the United States, and so far we retain that right to descent.
As far as political expediency this is truly a step back through that portal leading to a medieval time, and the end result will be the creation of another Martyr eliciting more anger toward the US.
When an official of government becomes a judge, a jury and an executioner, there has been no justice, and therefore No Due Process.
This has now become the state of our law.
President Obama, who is himself an attorney, has authorized our CIA to assassinate an American citizen without providing this individual his day in court, indeed this is a very dangerous precedent.
Anwar al-Awlaki, is a Muslim cleric, born in New Mexico US, he is an American Citizen by birth. He stands accused of having ties to al-Qaeda in Yemen and links to two attacks inside the United States last year.
Awlaki may stand accused of these crimes but has not been convicted in any court of law, indeed he has not even been tried in absentia. The CIA has added Awlaki to a growing list of about two dozen people targeted for assassination. Several are Americans.
Both Bush and Obama have justified these lethal policies under what they perceive to be “the laws of war” which they premise allows them to use lethal force against enemy combatants. However, Enemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. But Awlaki has not been personally involved in attacks against either American’s or our interests, neither has he been involved in armed confrontations with US or NATO forces. So to apply this term against Awlaki may be an abuse of a political discretion and policy.
Of concern is that these death lists may be used to kill individuals far from any battlefield or when they are not presenting an immediate threat.
As for Awlaki, it is also unclear what intelligence exists that would justify CIA and military forces to hunt him down and kill him without any judicial review.
In February, constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, who has become a champion of Civil rights, offered his opinion, “American citizens have the same protections whether on US soil or not”, pointing to Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957),
This round of assassinations is yet another thorn prodding the American psyche. It is a dangerous precedent and should not be employed except as a last resort, and then only in an unusual circumstance with undisputed, verified and collaborated evidence.
The danger that emanates from this policy is that any American may be placed on this list even while living in the US, merely because he speaks out against government policy, this is not China or Russia, this is the United States, and so far we retain that right to descent.
As far as political expediency this is truly a step back through that portal leading to a medieval time, and the end result will be the creation of another Martyr eliciting more anger toward the US.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Wake Up People!
People just don’t get it!
A recent Rasmussen Poll shows that 58% of American consumers are against an Obama administration plan for partial mortgage forgiveness.
Their reasoning, which really escapes me, is that it will be unfair for those who are making their payments on time!
As Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz once said, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
People are way and afar upside down in their mortgages because banks like Countrywide scammed them into taking out loans that bank executives and their colleagues knew were for more than the properties were worth.
Appraisers were even in on the scams. They were paid by the banks to overvalue these properties, and why? Because the banks were making points based on the amounts of the loans they made.
Now, for the first time during the Obama administration, the President comes up with an idea that will really help the economy and the American people, in their insatiable need to profess ignorance, don’t get it.
Even the homeowners it would help don’t get it. It makes me wonder if perhaps the fluoride in America’s drinking water has really destroyed too many brain cells and America simply can’t think.
It was the banks that brought the mortgage value to its current low level, not the homeowners. You cannot continue to foreclose at the level the banks were without dropping the entire market. In Las Vegas alone, there were, at one point, 80,000 foreclosures pending and more than 1,000 occurring daily.
To add to the picture, the subprime loans made to prime borrowers had payments that reset higher -- in some cases, the mortgage payment actually doubled. Is this the borrowers fault? I think not, as evidenced by recent litigation proving that bank fraud was overwhelmingly evident with ALL banks. Yet, the government bailed out the financial institutions and consumers applauded. But now that Obama finally appears to have taken an interest in saving borrowers along with the economy, America can’t see the forest for the trees.
Please explain to me why the majority of Americans simply don’t understand that the massively high foreclosure rate has destroyed not only the mortgage values in the surrounding areas of these homes but the economy itself. How does it benefit society to have more than 4% of U.S. homes sitting vacant while families are forced to live in tent cities?
One of the major obstacles to sustained job growth is the lack of a semblance of stability in the economy. Keeping people in their homes would be a good beginning.
Foreclosures have dragged the economy to its current low. The subprime interest rate, with its variable teaser – which, by the way, was given to prime borrowers -- has drained society of money that could have sustained the economy without us ever having had to get into this crisis. This financial crisis has been based on greed, and we, the unassuming public, have been the pawns of an elite financial society that feeds on us.
Come on America. Wake up, the roses are dying!
As an interesting side note, I took a poll in an office with 32 employees and all were in favor of the President’s plan!
A recent Rasmussen Poll shows that 58% of American consumers are against an Obama administration plan for partial mortgage forgiveness.
Their reasoning, which really escapes me, is that it will be unfair for those who are making their payments on time!
As Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz once said, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
People are way and afar upside down in their mortgages because banks like Countrywide scammed them into taking out loans that bank executives and their colleagues knew were for more than the properties were worth.
Appraisers were even in on the scams. They were paid by the banks to overvalue these properties, and why? Because the banks were making points based on the amounts of the loans they made.
Now, for the first time during the Obama administration, the President comes up with an idea that will really help the economy and the American people, in their insatiable need to profess ignorance, don’t get it.
Even the homeowners it would help don’t get it. It makes me wonder if perhaps the fluoride in America’s drinking water has really destroyed too many brain cells and America simply can’t think.
It was the banks that brought the mortgage value to its current low level, not the homeowners. You cannot continue to foreclose at the level the banks were without dropping the entire market. In Las Vegas alone, there were, at one point, 80,000 foreclosures pending and more than 1,000 occurring daily.
To add to the picture, the subprime loans made to prime borrowers had payments that reset higher -- in some cases, the mortgage payment actually doubled. Is this the borrowers fault? I think not, as evidenced by recent litigation proving that bank fraud was overwhelmingly evident with ALL banks. Yet, the government bailed out the financial institutions and consumers applauded. But now that Obama finally appears to have taken an interest in saving borrowers along with the economy, America can’t see the forest for the trees.
Please explain to me why the majority of Americans simply don’t understand that the massively high foreclosure rate has destroyed not only the mortgage values in the surrounding areas of these homes but the economy itself. How does it benefit society to have more than 4% of U.S. homes sitting vacant while families are forced to live in tent cities?
One of the major obstacles to sustained job growth is the lack of a semblance of stability in the economy. Keeping people in their homes would be a good beginning.
Foreclosures have dragged the economy to its current low. The subprime interest rate, with its variable teaser – which, by the way, was given to prime borrowers -- has drained society of money that could have sustained the economy without us ever having had to get into this crisis. This financial crisis has been based on greed, and we, the unassuming public, have been the pawns of an elite financial society that feeds on us.
Come on America. Wake up, the roses are dying!
As an interesting side note, I took a poll in an office with 32 employees and all were in favor of the President’s plan!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Obama takes cronyism to a new level surpassing George W. Bush
In the midst of the worst “depression” since the 1930’s, President Obama, already considered a puppet of big business and discredited as a real president, has used $17,000,000 in stimulus money to create jobs. But not as you would expect!
It appears that the president’s wife has a brother.
The First Lady’s brother just happens to be Craig Robinson, basketball coach at Oregon State University. He is, of course, related to the President by marriage.
Obama’s Undersecretary of Education, Martha Kanter, upon learning of the termination of the President’s brother-in- law, was immediately dispatched by Obama to the University with a check in hand for $17,000,000 to give to the University’s Athletic Director, Bob DeCarolis, so that Robinson could retain his job!.
And, yes, the president’s brother-in -law is still employed.
It all goes to show that stimulus money can save jobs -- but only if you are related to the president!
It appears that the president’s wife has a brother.
The First Lady’s brother just happens to be Craig Robinson, basketball coach at Oregon State University. He is, of course, related to the President by marriage.
Obama’s Undersecretary of Education, Martha Kanter, upon learning of the termination of the President’s brother-in- law, was immediately dispatched by Obama to the University with a check in hand for $17,000,000 to give to the University’s Athletic Director, Bob DeCarolis, so that Robinson could retain his job!.
And, yes, the president’s brother-in -law is still employed.
It all goes to show that stimulus money can save jobs -- but only if you are related to the president!
Monday, August 2, 2010
NATO Alliance appears to be falling apart
The Netherlands has become the first country to actually end hostilities in Afghanistan , but they are not alone.
Canada is withdrawing troops next year, the UK has downsized its forces but is considering downsizing additional involvement, and Poland is pulling out by 2012. Germany is also considering scaling back their forces.
The NATO countries with the exception of the US no longer see the wisdom of a struggle that appears to be unwinnable. We are not winning the hearts and minds of the people, by killing them!
Civilian causalities in July alone number 270 and more than 600 wounded. And we are loosing the prime of America , our service men and women who are struggling to understand why they are there. Those that survive will carry the scars of war.
Afghanistan is no stranger to war, having achieved independence in 1919, yet while so many countries having invaded it; no country has been able to defeat it. With over two decades of wars, Afghanistan is left with a legacy of landmines that kill and maim Afghanistan civilians every month.
Countries that have tried and failed; The Persians, Greeks, Arabs, British, Mongols, Russians and now Americans have all in their turn tried to defeat these people, each has failed. But America has made the greatest mistake in failing to understand the resolve of these people. America was an invader, but more than that America has killed more than 20,000 civilians which are considered “collateral damage” a house could be considered collateral damage, but certainly we care more about humans, or at least we should. America has made the grandest of mistakes, forging a war based on a lie, the so called War on Terror was not about 9-11 so much as the oil pipeline across the country. Now after civilian deaths are mounting and resentment is building among the people, other countries want out, but America has invested billions of dollars in Afghanistan infrastructure, with the view to remaining in the country indefinitely.
As Davis Petraeus, recently said of the Afghanistan struggle, "If we kill civilians or damage their property in the course of our operations, we will create more enemies than our operations eliminate,"
This we have done, we have created more terrorists than we have eliminated, and have been the best recruitment vehicle for the Taliban. Families are carrying photos of children maimed by US led NATO forces, chanting “Death to America ! Death to NATO” Yes General Petraeus you are so right!
What we have accomplished in the Mideast . We have made enemies that will last for two or more generations, and we have made the world less safe for Americans. What’s left to accomplish? It’s now time to bring our troops home!
Canada is withdrawing troops next year, the UK has downsized its forces but is considering downsizing additional involvement, and Poland is pulling out by 2012. Germany is also considering scaling back their forces.
The NATO countries with the exception of the US no longer see the wisdom of a struggle that appears to be unwinnable. We are not winning the hearts and minds of the people, by killing them!
Civilian causalities in July alone number 270 and more than 600 wounded. And we are loosing the prime of America , our service men and women who are struggling to understand why they are there. Those that survive will carry the scars of war.
Afghanistan is no stranger to war, having achieved independence in 1919, yet while so many countries having invaded it; no country has been able to defeat it. With over two decades of wars, Afghanistan is left with a legacy of landmines that kill and maim Afghanistan civilians every month.
Countries that have tried and failed; The Persians, Greeks, Arabs, British, Mongols, Russians and now Americans have all in their turn tried to defeat these people, each has failed. But America has made the greatest mistake in failing to understand the resolve of these people. America was an invader, but more than that America has killed more than 20,000 civilians which are considered “collateral damage” a house could be considered collateral damage, but certainly we care more about humans, or at least we should. America has made the grandest of mistakes, forging a war based on a lie, the so called War on Terror was not about 9-11 so much as the oil pipeline across the country. Now after civilian deaths are mounting and resentment is building among the people, other countries want out, but America has invested billions of dollars in Afghanistan infrastructure, with the view to remaining in the country indefinitely.
As Davis Petraeus, recently said of the Afghanistan struggle, "If we kill civilians or damage their property in the course of our operations, we will create more enemies than our operations eliminate,"
This we have done, we have created more terrorists than we have eliminated, and have been the best recruitment vehicle for the Taliban. Families are carrying photos of children maimed by US led NATO forces, chanting “Death to America ! Death to NATO” Yes General Petraeus you are so right!
What we have accomplished in the Mideast . We have made enemies that will last for two or more generations, and we have made the world less safe for Americans. What’s left to accomplish? It’s now time to bring our troops home!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Every Five Minutes an American wild horse is slaughtered for Human consumption
" America 's horses are being beaten and dragged across the border into Mexico and Canada so that they can be inhumanely slaughtered for food.” Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., January 2010
“We need the tonic of wildness." Henry David Thoreau
In 2009 alone some 31,584 wild horses were sent to Mexico for slaughter and an additional 31,140 were transported to Canada to slaughter houses there.
In 2007 the last year the US allowed horses to be slaughtered domestically 29,761 wild horses were slaughtered for food, but an additional 45,609, were shipped to Mexico and slaughtered there, and to Canada for slaughter another 45,828
In 1989 slaughter houses in the US inhumanely slaughtered more than 348,000 wild horses and close to the same number in 1990.
During the period beginning in 1989 through 2007 the last year horses were slaughtered legally in the US we killed more than 2,434,373 horses, during 2006 and through this date in 2010 the slaughter houses of Mexico and Canada have taken over this cruel and inhumane destruction of America’s beautiful creatures, which they purchase from the BLM or state auctions, transport to their home country and slaughter these animals for food.
Congress and the Horse disgrace
On March 26, 2009 the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act was introduced in congress, it still has not passed Why?
On January 26 2010 At a press conference, representatives from The Humane Society of the United States, members of Congress, celebrities, and representatives from agriculture and the horse industry showed their support of the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503/S. 727), the federal bill stalled in congress which would prohibit the trafficking in horses for slaughter for human consumption in the United States and the export of horses for this purpose.
The group also called attention to the Bureau of Land Management's cruel and unnecessary wild horse roundups, calling on BLM to place a moratorium on these roundups until it has a plan in place for contraception and release or adoption of these horses.
While there are currently no operational horse slaughter plants in the United States , tens of thousands of healthy, young American horses are still being trucked thousands of miles without food, water or rest to plants across the border into Mexico and Canada . Former show horses, race horses, lesson ponies, even wild horses and heavily pregnant mares—meet this fate!
There is no humane way to slaughter horses for human consumption!
Horse slaughter is cruel, and is by no means humane: Horses suffer immensely while being transported in cramped carriers to foreign slaughterhouses, and, when they arrive, meet a grisly death unfit for these loyal and noble creatures.
Animals are the most defenseless creatures of out time, all need our support.
“We need the tonic of wildness." Henry David Thoreau
In 2009 alone some 31,584 wild horses were sent to Mexico for slaughter and an additional 31,140 were transported to Canada to slaughter houses there.
In 2007 the last year the US allowed horses to be slaughtered domestically 29,761 wild horses were slaughtered for food, but an additional 45,609, were shipped to Mexico and slaughtered there, and to Canada for slaughter another 45,828
In 1989 slaughter houses in the US inhumanely slaughtered more than 348,000 wild horses and close to the same number in 1990.
During the period beginning in 1989 through 2007 the last year horses were slaughtered legally in the US we killed more than 2,434,373 horses, during 2006 and through this date in 2010 the slaughter houses of Mexico and Canada have taken over this cruel and inhumane destruction of America’s beautiful creatures, which they purchase from the BLM or state auctions, transport to their home country and slaughter these animals for food.
Congress and the Horse disgrace
On March 26, 2009 the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act was introduced in congress, it still has not passed Why?
On January 26 2010 At a press conference, representatives from The Humane Society of the United States, members of Congress, celebrities, and representatives from agriculture and the horse industry showed their support of the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503/S. 727), the federal bill stalled in congress which would prohibit the trafficking in horses for slaughter for human consumption in the United States and the export of horses for this purpose.
The group also called attention to the Bureau of Land Management's cruel and unnecessary wild horse roundups, calling on BLM to place a moratorium on these roundups until it has a plan in place for contraception and release or adoption of these horses.
While there are currently no operational horse slaughter plants in the United States , tens of thousands of healthy, young American horses are still being trucked thousands of miles without food, water or rest to plants across the border into Mexico and Canada . Former show horses, race horses, lesson ponies, even wild horses and heavily pregnant mares—meet this fate!
There is no humane way to slaughter horses for human consumption!
Horse slaughter is cruel, and is by no means humane: Horses suffer immensely while being transported in cramped carriers to foreign slaughterhouses, and, when they arrive, meet a grisly death unfit for these loyal and noble creatures.
Animals are the most defenseless creatures of out time, all need our support.
And they say there is no Horse Saint!
California winery owners and Madeleine Pickens came through in time to save 174 wild mustangs headed for the slaughter house.
Wild Mustangs are a mixed lot of wild horses that have no ownership!
These horses were subject to being acquired by slaughter houses in Mexico and Canada . Before being put up for auction they were roaming free on the open range where they and their ancestors had survived for perhaps a century, yet the BLM did not consider them a protected species and were allowing slaughter houses to acquire them for meat. Today with the various breeds and mixes of wild horses the BLM does not consider any horse to be protected, but all are considered fair game for slaughter.
Stephanie Hoefener of the Lancaster, Calif.-based Livesavers Wild Horse Rescue group said activists purchased 172 horses for $31,415. The other two horses were acquired by private individuals for their personal use, she said
Excited that so many people came together to save the horses Hoefener said. "This is amazing, and we all feel joyful."
The horses were rounded up by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management last month with helicopters that scared many to death; this was near the Nevada-Utah line. The horses in the roundup were then turned over to the Nevada Department of Agriculture for disposal, with the operative word being disposal. Slaughter houses were provided a list of the horses and were welcomed to present their bids.
Agriculture department officials acknowledge the stray horses could have wound up at slaughterhouses because they did not have the federal protections afforded to wild-roaming horses, (even though they were ‘wild roaming horses’). In analyzing their statement, I feel like my head just did a 180 degree turn. It makes about as much sense as Snow White marrying Dopey.
The horses are believed to be strays or descendants of horses abandoned by private owners over the years in Pilot Valley north of West Wendover , which is how most horses became wild!
Many were set free by the Union army after the Civil War and another grouping were set free after WW1, now the mix is known as Wild Mustangs!
With the no child left behind act, a failure, we can fully understand the new government hiring practice!
Jill Starr, president of Lifesavers, said the purchase of the horses at the Fallon auction was made possible by the financial backing of Ellie Phipps Price, owner of Sand Hill Durell Vineyards in Sonoma , Calif. Madeleine Pickens, wife of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, also contributed financially to the rescue.
Starr said high bidders of such horses usually are representatives of slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada . The meat of the horses is processed for sale in Europe and Asia , where it fetches as much as $25 a pound, she added.
"We showed the BLM and the Nevada Department of Agriculture that we will not let them throw our wild horses away like yesterday's news," Starr said. "They are important to every American and hold high value as part of our country's history." This author adds their heritage beauty, grace and intelligence must be preserved and many are more intelligent that government workers.
BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said her agency didn't consider the 174 horses as federally protected mustangs because they came from a valley with more than 200 landowners. But her argument lacked intellectual balance where the heritage of these animals is considered.
The truth; The BLM has launched an effort to remove thousands of wild horses from the range across the West, saying the roundups are necessary because the mustang population is growing so rapidly that the animals are running out of food and damaging the range. How do you damage a range?
NOTE: BLM open ranges are used for cattle grazing, and there are currently more than 2,000,000 cattle grazing on BLM land in the Nevada Utah area, this is shared with some 30,000 wild horses!
The real truth is; Activists have sued over the roundups, contending the agency is removing the mustangs to make room for more than 2,000,000 head of cattle currently grazing on BLM land, and other interests such as the BP’s gas pipeline under construction.
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."; - Mahatma Gandhi; Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi [October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948] What more needs to be said?
The US government is determined to exterminate the mustang simply because they are in the way of the cattle barons, just as the sheep herders of a century ago.
We as a nation must take a stand to save our own heritage; the wild horse is a beautiful and graceful animal that must be preserved not exterminated!
Wild Mustangs are a mixed lot of wild horses that have no ownership!
These horses were subject to being acquired by slaughter houses in Mexico and Canada . Before being put up for auction they were roaming free on the open range where they and their ancestors had survived for perhaps a century, yet the BLM did not consider them a protected species and were allowing slaughter houses to acquire them for meat. Today with the various breeds and mixes of wild horses the BLM does not consider any horse to be protected, but all are considered fair game for slaughter.
Stephanie Hoefener of the Lancaster, Calif.-based Livesavers Wild Horse Rescue group said activists purchased 172 horses for $31,415. The other two horses were acquired by private individuals for their personal use, she said
Excited that so many people came together to save the horses Hoefener said. "This is amazing, and we all feel joyful."
The horses were rounded up by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management last month with helicopters that scared many to death; this was near the Nevada-Utah line. The horses in the roundup were then turned over to the Nevada Department of Agriculture for disposal, with the operative word being disposal. Slaughter houses were provided a list of the horses and were welcomed to present their bids.
Agriculture department officials acknowledge the stray horses could have wound up at slaughterhouses because they did not have the federal protections afforded to wild-roaming horses, (even though they were ‘wild roaming horses’). In analyzing their statement, I feel like my head just did a 180 degree turn. It makes about as much sense as Snow White marrying Dopey.
The horses are believed to be strays or descendants of horses abandoned by private owners over the years in Pilot Valley north of West Wendover , which is how most horses became wild!
Many were set free by the Union army after the Civil War and another grouping were set free after WW1, now the mix is known as Wild Mustangs!
With the no child left behind act, a failure, we can fully understand the new government hiring practice!
Jill Starr, president of Lifesavers, said the purchase of the horses at the Fallon auction was made possible by the financial backing of Ellie Phipps Price, owner of Sand Hill Durell Vineyards in Sonoma , Calif. Madeleine Pickens, wife of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, also contributed financially to the rescue.
Starr said high bidders of such horses usually are representatives of slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada . The meat of the horses is processed for sale in Europe and Asia , where it fetches as much as $25 a pound, she added.
"We showed the BLM and the Nevada Department of Agriculture that we will not let them throw our wild horses away like yesterday's news," Starr said. "They are important to every American and hold high value as part of our country's history." This author adds their heritage beauty, grace and intelligence must be preserved and many are more intelligent that government workers.
BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said her agency didn't consider the 174 horses as federally protected mustangs because they came from a valley with more than 200 landowners. But her argument lacked intellectual balance where the heritage of these animals is considered.
The truth; The BLM has launched an effort to remove thousands of wild horses from the range across the West, saying the roundups are necessary because the mustang population is growing so rapidly that the animals are running out of food and damaging the range. How do you damage a range?
NOTE: BLM open ranges are used for cattle grazing, and there are currently more than 2,000,000 cattle grazing on BLM land in the Nevada Utah area, this is shared with some 30,000 wild horses!
The real truth is; Activists have sued over the roundups, contending the agency is removing the mustangs to make room for more than 2,000,000 head of cattle currently grazing on BLM land, and other interests such as the BP’s gas pipeline under construction.
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."; - Mahatma Gandhi; Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi [October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948] What more needs to be said?
The US government is determined to exterminate the mustang simply because they are in the way of the cattle barons, just as the sheep herders of a century ago.
We as a nation must take a stand to save our own heritage; the wild horse is a beautiful and graceful animal that must be preserved not exterminated!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Where is the Humane Society when animals need protecting?
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” Mahatma Gandhi
If this saying is true, we are a nation lacking in moral progress, we lack care about ourselves, let alone our animals. Our food chain, cattle pigs and sheep are tortured as they are slaughtered in order that we can feed on their remains; ghoulish as this may sound it is appropriate. We have no compassion or conscience for ourselves let alone our chain of food, and the animals that we kill that we can be nourished.
Even as the Humane Society has gone international, it still lacks clout to make a difference, and animal abuse and suffering is on the rise world wide.
Whether it’s deer in Utah , wolves in Alaska or dogs in Iraq , or China a country that peddles cat and dog fur, or slaughters these animals for meat. Or Koreans who claim that eating dogs and cats is a cultural right or the several locations in Africa and Latin America who also report eating cats and dogs. We as a people interfere with the natural cycle of life and endanger our own environment. We allow species in some cases to overpopulate by removing the balance nature put in place. Then we answer the dilemma we ourselves created with violence.
In Alaska it was hunting wolves from helicopters, in Utah it’s an open season on deer hunting, and in Iraq is killing dogs with poisoned meat and shooting them almost like a sport. 58,000 stray dogs have been hunted down and killed in Iraq over the past three months with the approval of the US government.
But there is so much more to tell about a civilization that has become so out of touch with nature, in Northern Nevada right now Wild Mustangs are being rounded up and slaughtered with the aid of the BLM( Bureau of Land Management) and BP. They are being shipped off as horse meat, their numbers diminishing to less than 30,000 roaming free on the open range. Why is this happening? Because there is a cattle range war going on that we aren’t even aware of, it’s a remake of the 1880’s cattle sheep herder’s wars, being played out with more than 2,000,000 head of cattle roaming BLM land and there isn’t room for a mere 30,000 wild mustangs! So the mustangs must become extinct.
But add to this insult on reality that BP, remember them, that oil company that single handedly destroyed an entire ocean, BP is developing a pipeline for natural gas across 4 western states, over BLM controlled land including Nevada and Utah, so these majestic animals must go, and no one really cares where, apparently though BLM and BP believe the safest place for these beautiful intelligent animals is a slaughter house. The horses are rounded up and scared to death by helicopters. Many die as they are run for miles to a fenced off area where they are penned in, some are auctioned off; some are heading to a slaughter house.
And not the least important chickens.... they are killed in an inhumane manner .... and in Japan they slaughter dolphins and whales....In the quiet harbor town of Taiji, Japan , between early September and March each year, the fishermen and local community engage in a tradition that goes back centuries, the mass slaughter of up to twenty thousand small whales and dolphins ~intelligent creatures. The majority of the world is unaware this is happening. The cove is blocked off from public access. Press and cameras are not allowed inside and the local media does not cover the event.
The human race has been lost; we aren’t even in a second place. We have become the race of bullies where animals stand, while they are in tune with nature, we are not!
Where is the humane society when animals need protecting?
If this saying is true, we are a nation lacking in moral progress, we lack care about ourselves, let alone our animals. Our food chain, cattle pigs and sheep are tortured as they are slaughtered in order that we can feed on their remains; ghoulish as this may sound it is appropriate. We have no compassion or conscience for ourselves let alone our chain of food, and the animals that we kill that we can be nourished.
Even as the Humane Society has gone international, it still lacks clout to make a difference, and animal abuse and suffering is on the rise world wide.
Whether it’s deer in Utah , wolves in Alaska or dogs in Iraq , or China a country that peddles cat and dog fur, or slaughters these animals for meat. Or Koreans who claim that eating dogs and cats is a cultural right or the several locations in Africa and Latin America who also report eating cats and dogs. We as a people interfere with the natural cycle of life and endanger our own environment. We allow species in some cases to overpopulate by removing the balance nature put in place. Then we answer the dilemma we ourselves created with violence.
In Alaska it was hunting wolves from helicopters, in Utah it’s an open season on deer hunting, and in Iraq is killing dogs with poisoned meat and shooting them almost like a sport. 58,000 stray dogs have been hunted down and killed in Iraq over the past three months with the approval of the US government.
But there is so much more to tell about a civilization that has become so out of touch with nature, in Northern Nevada right now Wild Mustangs are being rounded up and slaughtered with the aid of the BLM( Bureau of Land Management) and BP. They are being shipped off as horse meat, their numbers diminishing to less than 30,000 roaming free on the open range. Why is this happening? Because there is a cattle range war going on that we aren’t even aware of, it’s a remake of the 1880’s cattle sheep herder’s wars, being played out with more than 2,000,000 head of cattle roaming BLM land and there isn’t room for a mere 30,000 wild mustangs! So the mustangs must become extinct.
But add to this insult on reality that BP, remember them, that oil company that single handedly destroyed an entire ocean, BP is developing a pipeline for natural gas across 4 western states, over BLM controlled land including Nevada and Utah, so these majestic animals must go, and no one really cares where, apparently though BLM and BP believe the safest place for these beautiful intelligent animals is a slaughter house. The horses are rounded up and scared to death by helicopters. Many die as they are run for miles to a fenced off area where they are penned in, some are auctioned off; some are heading to a slaughter house.
And not the least important chickens.... they are killed in an inhumane manner .... and in Japan they slaughter dolphins and whales....In the quiet harbor town of Taiji, Japan , between early September and March each year, the fishermen and local community engage in a tradition that goes back centuries, the mass slaughter of up to twenty thousand small whales and dolphins ~intelligent creatures. The majority of the world is unaware this is happening. The cove is blocked off from public access. Press and cameras are not allowed inside and the local media does not cover the event.
The human race has been lost; we aren’t even in a second place. We have become the race of bullies where animals stand, while they are in tune with nature, we are not!
Where is the humane society when animals need protecting?
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Going by the numbers it’s apparent; somebody is fibbing
If we accept the results of the labor department as true, their own numbers show that someone is fibbing. According to their figures: Employers cut 125,000 jobs last month; and businesses added a net total of 83,000 workers, but the unemployment rate dropped to 9.5%-- from 9.7% that’s an old Barnum and bailey trick!
And this was what President Obama also reported, perhaps that’s the problem with this administration, they don’t think for themselves, they leave the thinking to the banks, the insurance companies and to the military industrial complex, and guess who is expected to pay for their folly and blunders, us!
I’m sorry but if more people lost a job than were hired the unemployment rate would go up not down. What this says is we are being fed false numbers by the government, believing we don’t have the intelligence to catch their fibs. They skew the numbers by removing from the unemployment rolls anyone who is no longer collecting benefits, so we may really never know how badly our economy has been decimated by both Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue .
The drop in the unemployment rate was because more than 650,000 people last month gave up looking for jobs and according to the Labor Department they left the labor force. People who are no longer looking for work aren't counted as unemployed!!!!!!!
Even though they are unemployed, so what are the real numbers Mr. Obama! Have we reached 40% unemployed, looking around America , it sure feels as if we have!!!!!
Perhaps in the next 12 months as the 17 million the government acknowledges are unemployed give up looking for a job that doesn’t exist, we will be told we are at full employment of down to only 1% unemployment, its time we demanded to know the true numbers and some accountability
And this was what President Obama also reported, perhaps that’s the problem with this administration, they don’t think for themselves, they leave the thinking to the banks, the insurance companies and to the military industrial complex, and guess who is expected to pay for their folly and blunders, us!
I’m sorry but if more people lost a job than were hired the unemployment rate would go up not down. What this says is we are being fed false numbers by the government, believing we don’t have the intelligence to catch their fibs. They skew the numbers by removing from the unemployment rolls anyone who is no longer collecting benefits, so we may really never know how badly our economy has been decimated by both Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue .
The drop in the unemployment rate was because more than 650,000 people last month gave up looking for jobs and according to the Labor Department they left the labor force. People who are no longer looking for work aren't counted as unemployed!!!!!!!
Even though they are unemployed, so what are the real numbers Mr. Obama! Have we reached 40% unemployed, looking around America , it sure feels as if we have!!!!!
Perhaps in the next 12 months as the 17 million the government acknowledges are unemployed give up looking for a job that doesn’t exist, we will be told we are at full employment of down to only 1% unemployment, its time we demanded to know the true numbers and some accountability
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Second Amendment will it fall in face of the UN Small arms treaty?
Hillary Clinton signed the UN Small Arms Treaty on behalf of President Obama, but what does it really mean. The U.N. claims that guns used in armed conflicts cause 300,000 deaths worldwide every year, an inordinate number of which are the result of internal civil strife within individual nations. The solution proposed by transnationalists to keep rebels from getting guns is to make the global pool of weapons smaller through government action.
But there is an ever more stunning element to consider, the US government for example has caused more deaths than rebels. In Iraq alone the American Military has caused the death of at least 655,000 civilians; In Afghanistan in excess of 5,000; In Vietnam 316,000; and the Second World War, 45,000,000;
A vowed purpose of the UN Treaty; According to recent deliberations regarding the treaty, signatory countries would be required to "prevent, combat and eradicate" various classes of guns to undermine the alleged” illicit trade in small arms." Such a plan whether or not based on a valid concept would of necessity lead to confiscation of personal firearms.
But what about the safeguards against confiscation embedded in the US Constitution?
The Second Amendment to the US Constitution had a devout purpose; it was passed at a time when the new nation had an inherent distrust of government. This single Amendment was added to insure that the Federal Government, instituted for the colonies, would remain limited and as an assurance for the people that they would remain free. Weapons in the form of arms were the means allocated for that purpose.
Since the adoption of the Constitution there have been forces at work behind the scenes, intent to take control of America, however before they can achieve this monumental goal they had to eliminate what has been described as the most important safeguard for America, the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. This right has been under attack for scores of generations.
This UN Treaty signed now by the US represents a dangerous disregard for the safety and freedom of everybody. First of all, it mischaracterizes all insurgencies as bad. As U.S. history shows, one way to get rid of a despotic regime is to rise up against it. Our founding fathers were insurgents, and they laid the foundation and framework for what remains of our democracy.
That threat, the ability to over throw despotic governments, is why authoritarian regimes such as Syria, Cuba, Rwanda, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone endorsed gun control. Without weapons, the citizens become slaves to a government master, this is not what America stands for, but it is a road we transverse today.
Political scientist Rudy Rummel estimates that the 15 worst regimes during the 20th century killed 151 million of their own citizens, this amounts to 1.5 million victims per year. Even if all 300,000 annual deaths from armed conflicts can be blamed on the small-arms trade (which they cannot), governments are a bigger threat to their citizens than their neighbors.
The problem and real concern: American gun owners today are besieged by a government that fears for its own existence. Hillary Clinton on Behalf of President Obama signed the UN Small arms treaty, believing that the treaty effectively placed the right to keep and bear arms outside of the protective gambit of the second Amendments sweeping protection. Their view is historically invalid. Treaties do not supersede the Constitution.
The Constitution provides that they are "the supreme law of the land." That has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to give treaties the same status as federal law, not as the constitution.
Treaties are made under powers delegated to the President and Congress by the Constitution, such powers cannot overrule the Constitution from where that power emanates.
That is as long as we have a valid court system, which unfortunately has been placed in question by the Bush appointees.
See: Foster & Elam v. Neilson, 27 U.S. 2 Pet. 253 (1829), a treaty must "be regarded in courts...as equivalent to an act of the legislature" page 254
Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957) No treaty "can confer power on the Government, which is free from the restraints of the Constitution." page 16
But there is an ever more stunning element to consider, the US government for example has caused more deaths than rebels. In Iraq alone the American Military has caused the death of at least 655,000 civilians; In Afghanistan in excess of 5,000; In Vietnam 316,000; and the Second World War, 45,000,000;
A vowed purpose of the UN Treaty; According to recent deliberations regarding the treaty, signatory countries would be required to "prevent, combat and eradicate" various classes of guns to undermine the alleged” illicit trade in small arms." Such a plan whether or not based on a valid concept would of necessity lead to confiscation of personal firearms.
But what about the safeguards against confiscation embedded in the US Constitution?
The Second Amendment to the US Constitution had a devout purpose; it was passed at a time when the new nation had an inherent distrust of government. This single Amendment was added to insure that the Federal Government, instituted for the colonies, would remain limited and as an assurance for the people that they would remain free. Weapons in the form of arms were the means allocated for that purpose.
Since the adoption of the Constitution there have been forces at work behind the scenes, intent to take control of America, however before they can achieve this monumental goal they had to eliminate what has been described as the most important safeguard for America, the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. This right has been under attack for scores of generations.
This UN Treaty signed now by the US represents a dangerous disregard for the safety and freedom of everybody. First of all, it mischaracterizes all insurgencies as bad. As U.S. history shows, one way to get rid of a despotic regime is to rise up against it. Our founding fathers were insurgents, and they laid the foundation and framework for what remains of our democracy.
That threat, the ability to over throw despotic governments, is why authoritarian regimes such as Syria, Cuba, Rwanda, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone endorsed gun control. Without weapons, the citizens become slaves to a government master, this is not what America stands for, but it is a road we transverse today.
Political scientist Rudy Rummel estimates that the 15 worst regimes during the 20th century killed 151 million of their own citizens, this amounts to 1.5 million victims per year. Even if all 300,000 annual deaths from armed conflicts can be blamed on the small-arms trade (which they cannot), governments are a bigger threat to their citizens than their neighbors.
The problem and real concern: American gun owners today are besieged by a government that fears for its own existence. Hillary Clinton on Behalf of President Obama signed the UN Small arms treaty, believing that the treaty effectively placed the right to keep and bear arms outside of the protective gambit of the second Amendments sweeping protection. Their view is historically invalid. Treaties do not supersede the Constitution.
The Constitution provides that they are "the supreme law of the land." That has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to give treaties the same status as federal law, not as the constitution.
Treaties are made under powers delegated to the President and Congress by the Constitution, such powers cannot overrule the Constitution from where that power emanates.
That is as long as we have a valid court system, which unfortunately has been placed in question by the Bush appointees.
See: Foster & Elam v. Neilson, 27 U.S. 2 Pet. 253 (1829), a treaty must "be regarded in courts...as equivalent to an act of the legislature" page 254
Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957) No treaty "can confer power on the Government, which is free from the restraints of the Constitution." page 16
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Congress gives themselves a raise while denying one for SS recipients.
Congress and a double Standard:
It appears that congress is still stuck in that childhood ego, the ME syndrome. They make sure to take care of themselves in more ways than one, but as for the rest of us, it appears we are mere peasants, or as the attitude permeates around Washington, “let them eat cake” So it’s little wonder congress has an overall rating of only 22%, and the majority of Americans want to remove the existing congress of and start anew next term. Both the republicans and democrats have one agenda, it’s called the ME agenda, ME first, and it’s all about ME, a syndrome that most of us outgrow with age, but unfortunately politicians never seem to grow up.
The base salary for US Congressmen is $174,000 plus benefits, plus official expenses (such as for staff, travel, office equipment supplies, totaling around $1.5 million per year
The current salary (2010) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $174,000 per year.
Congress: Leadership Members' Salary (2010)
Leaders of the House and Senate are paid a higher salary than rank-and-file members.
Senate Leadership
Majority Party Leader - $193,400
Minority Party Leader - $193,400
House Leadership
Speaker of the House - $223,500 (Nancy Pelosi)
A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes to not accept it. They accepted it!
There is no reason they are paid any sum in excess of the $3,000 they were paid in 1855, they receive much more from speaking engagements, and outright graft.
It seems the more they are paid the worst they become as legislatures.
A backlash appears to be growing all across the country. But it is not based on their attitude about us their constituents. Instead it is a broad based dissent about the Democratic Party, which has given the impression of a wishy washy party, that even though they held control over both houses they were still unable to get their act together, that is except to give themselves more money.
Republican candidates now hold a 10-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, June 13. That ties the GOP's largest ever lead, first reached in April, since it first edged ahead of the Democrats a year ago.
While solid majorities of Democrats and Republicans support the candidates of their own party, the plurality (47%) of voters not affiliated with either major party prefer the Republican candidate, while 19% like the Democrat. These findings have remained fairly consistent for months now.
However what would be best for the country; remove them all and start over.
It appears that congress is still stuck in that childhood ego, the ME syndrome. They make sure to take care of themselves in more ways than one, but as for the rest of us, it appears we are mere peasants, or as the attitude permeates around Washington, “let them eat cake” So it’s little wonder congress has an overall rating of only 22%, and the majority of Americans want to remove the existing congress of and start anew next term. Both the republicans and democrats have one agenda, it’s called the ME agenda, ME first, and it’s all about ME, a syndrome that most of us outgrow with age, but unfortunately politicians never seem to grow up.
The base salary for US Congressmen is $174,000 plus benefits, plus official expenses (such as for staff, travel, office equipment supplies, totaling around $1.5 million per year
The current salary (2010) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $174,000 per year.
- Members are free to turn down pay increase and some choose to do so.
- In a complex system of calculations, administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, congressional pay rates also affect the salaries for federal judges and other senior government executives.
- During the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin considered proposing that elected government officials not be paid for their service. Other Founding Fathers, however, decided otherwise.
- From 1789 to 1855, members of Congress received only a per diem (daily payment) of $6.00 while in session, except for a period from December 1815 to March 1817, when they received $1,500 a year. Members began receiving an annual salary in 1855, when they were paid $3,000 per year.
Congress: Leadership Members' Salary (2010)
Leaders of the House and Senate are paid a higher salary than rank-and-file members.
Senate Leadership
Majority Party Leader - $193,400
Minority Party Leader - $193,400
House Leadership
Speaker of the House - $223,500 (Nancy Pelosi)
A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes to not accept it. They accepted it!
There is no reason they are paid any sum in excess of the $3,000 they were paid in 1855, they receive much more from speaking engagements, and outright graft.
It seems the more they are paid the worst they become as legislatures.
A backlash appears to be growing all across the country. But it is not based on their attitude about us their constituents. Instead it is a broad based dissent about the Democratic Party, which has given the impression of a wishy washy party, that even though they held control over both houses they were still unable to get their act together, that is except to give themselves more money.
Republican candidates now hold a 10-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, June 13. That ties the GOP's largest ever lead, first reached in April, since it first edged ahead of the Democrats a year ago.
While solid majorities of Democrats and Republicans support the candidates of their own party, the plurality (47%) of voters not affiliated with either major party prefer the Republican candidate, while 19% like the Democrat. These findings have remained fairly consistent for months now.
However what would be best for the country; remove them all and start over.
Monday, June 14, 2010
“The New Trend: Default On Your Mortgage And Stay In Your House”
I read Reuters Blogger Felix Salmon’s article entitled “The New Trend: Default On Your Mortgage And Stay In Your House” my comments follow!
I was truly amazed at the comments from his readers who simply don’t get it, and it is frightening to say the least about the level of unawareness that prevails among our culture.
As I stated in a similar article: “Living rent free and loving it”
“The Obama administration was more intent to save the banks, and did so against the very interest of the American family. Why do I say this, the government came to the rescue of the very culprit that caused the problem, (the Banks) with an astonishing $787 bn., and the insurance carrier that was allowing the foreclosures to continue, AIG with an additional $180bn.
“AIG was the guarantor of the Derivatives that paid the banks when a borrower defaulted. By providing AIG some 180 Billion dollars, the government not only allowed the banks to continue foreclosing on American borrowers, but promoted it, because when a default was reported to AIG, they paid the full amount of the loss, thanks to Timothy Geithner. If AIG would have been allowed to collapse, or paid to Wall Street insiders 25 cents on the dollar there would have been NO incentive to foreclose in the volume the banks pursued.
“Now another scenario presents itself in retrospect, the main problem facing borrowers today is the high interest rates, and over valuations of their property. In short most borrowers are under water, in some areas, like Nevada, this state of mortgage reality is as much as 80%. If the administration and indeed congress gave a rats hair about America rather that their beneficiaries, they would have made the money available to borrowers to pay to the banks for a loan modification and principal reduction. If they had Washington Mutual would still be around, as would Indymac. What congress in their ignorance have done, is to guarantee that the too big to fail got even larger.
“But they didn’t have the American public’s interest on their mind did they? And bank failures and consolidation is ongoing. If they had both the Banks and the public interest on their compass they would have been bailed out simultaneously, and then there would have been no depression. A much lower level of foreclosures, and sanity would have prevailed.
“As it now stands, millions of homes have already been foreclosed and millions more are waiting in the wings, the unemployment level is a real 63million representing 40% of the workforce. The economy is trudging along on one foot as those who have stopped making mortgage payments are actually, bless them, spending their money buying things they had put off to make instead their overpriced mortgage, and 30,000 good people are filing bankruptcy each and every week.
Now something to think about: what value did America have invested in Wall Street? And what advantage did America receive from Wall Street being bailed out for a second time?
And everyone knows it will happen again!”
Anyone who really believes that the public was wrong and the banks were the good guys, should read all the information that has been developed about the Banks and the FRAUD they perpetuated on an “unsuspecting” Public, the banks knew these loans would never be repaid, and they didn’t care as they sold these loans as securities and took out default insurance, think “CDS” consumers basically uneducated to the intricate mortgage loan documents relied on their bank or mortgage company, and a lot of seniors also did. And they were conned!
Countrywide and several other banks have already been sued by the Attorneys General of several states over “Fraudulent intent” and they are making modifications with principal reductions under court orders.
The Banks failed to explain the ramifications on such loans as option arms where the borrower only qualified for a payment less than his interest and the difference was added back increasing the principal of the loan. The Banks didn’t care as they planned this bubble to continue indefinitely and were looking already to a refinance where they made additional points.
For those who still side with the banks, try studying the history of banking, it has always been laden with unscrupulous individuals; perhaps it will enlighten you, or perhaps not!
I was truly amazed at the comments from his readers who simply don’t get it, and it is frightening to say the least about the level of unawareness that prevails among our culture.
As I stated in a similar article: “Living rent free and loving it”
“The Obama administration was more intent to save the banks, and did so against the very interest of the American family. Why do I say this, the government came to the rescue of the very culprit that caused the problem, (the Banks) with an astonishing $787 bn., and the insurance carrier that was allowing the foreclosures to continue, AIG with an additional $180bn.
“AIG was the guarantor of the Derivatives that paid the banks when a borrower defaulted. By providing AIG some 180 Billion dollars, the government not only allowed the banks to continue foreclosing on American borrowers, but promoted it, because when a default was reported to AIG, they paid the full amount of the loss, thanks to Timothy Geithner. If AIG would have been allowed to collapse, or paid to Wall Street insiders 25 cents on the dollar there would have been NO incentive to foreclose in the volume the banks pursued.
“Now another scenario presents itself in retrospect, the main problem facing borrowers today is the high interest rates, and over valuations of their property. In short most borrowers are under water, in some areas, like Nevada, this state of mortgage reality is as much as 80%. If the administration and indeed congress gave a rats hair about America rather that their beneficiaries, they would have made the money available to borrowers to pay to the banks for a loan modification and principal reduction. If they had Washington Mutual would still be around, as would Indymac. What congress in their ignorance have done, is to guarantee that the too big to fail got even larger.
“But they didn’t have the American public’s interest on their mind did they? And bank failures and consolidation is ongoing. If they had both the Banks and the public interest on their compass they would have been bailed out simultaneously, and then there would have been no depression. A much lower level of foreclosures, and sanity would have prevailed.
“As it now stands, millions of homes have already been foreclosed and millions more are waiting in the wings, the unemployment level is a real 63million representing 40% of the workforce. The economy is trudging along on one foot as those who have stopped making mortgage payments are actually, bless them, spending their money buying things they had put off to make instead their overpriced mortgage, and 30,000 good people are filing bankruptcy each and every week.
Now something to think about: what value did America have invested in Wall Street? And what advantage did America receive from Wall Street being bailed out for a second time?
And everyone knows it will happen again!”
Anyone who really believes that the public was wrong and the banks were the good guys, should read all the information that has been developed about the Banks and the FRAUD they perpetuated on an “unsuspecting” Public, the banks knew these loans would never be repaid, and they didn’t care as they sold these loans as securities and took out default insurance, think “CDS” consumers basically uneducated to the intricate mortgage loan documents relied on their bank or mortgage company, and a lot of seniors also did. And they were conned!
Countrywide and several other banks have already been sued by the Attorneys General of several states over “Fraudulent intent” and they are making modifications with principal reductions under court orders.
The Banks failed to explain the ramifications on such loans as option arms where the borrower only qualified for a payment less than his interest and the difference was added back increasing the principal of the loan. The Banks didn’t care as they planned this bubble to continue indefinitely and were looking already to a refinance where they made additional points.
For those who still side with the banks, try studying the history of banking, it has always been laden with unscrupulous individuals; perhaps it will enlighten you, or perhaps not!
Phil Angelides
Phil Angelides, crisis commission investigation, is centered on the cause of the financial crisis but in simple terms it boils down to one word “GREED”
Phil Angelides, chairs the panel, that opened the hearing into the credit rating agencies shortcomings, his first comments were critical of Moody's for bestowing thousands of high ratings on risky debt that later became unhinged.
The shortcomings of the Wall Street insiders and the rating agencies come down to this simply but understated term, Profits. Ratings were hyped in order to meet Wall Street’s primary motivation and objective, profits and more profits. Investors were the catalyst by which those profits were obtained and as such ratings had to be exploited to draw them in.
But unfortunately Greed is not legislate-able, nor is it a crime unless it involves fraud, and in the case of the financial crisis fraud may have been a big participant.
Eric Kolchinsky one time manager of Moody's Investors Service unit, the division that rated subprime collateralized debt obligations (CDO) is now a "whistleblower" he has testified about being intimidated by management to provide high ratings for these inferior debt obligations. In a prepared comment, former Moody's derivatives vice president Mark Froeba supporting Kolchinsky, said “management used intimidation to create a docile population of analysts afraid to upset investment bankers and ready to cooperate to the maximum extent possible."
Moody's Corp, McGraw-Hill Cos' Standard & Poor's and Fimalac SA's Fitch Ratings have been widely faulted for fueling the crisis by assigning unreasonably high ratings for too long, and then downgrading them too fast. The commission is looking into just how close to the Investment banks these ratings agencies really were.
There have been several class action lawsuits filed against the rating agencies over the financial collapse and their roll in investor related losses. Credit raters are now trying to fend off lawsuits including fraud claims brought by their own shareholders.
Many financial companies, including banks and lenders, have been sued following the housing market bust; but the cases against ratings agencies may be among the most closely watched.
That's because the three biggest agencies Moody's Corp , McGraw-Hill Cos Inc's Standard & Poor's division and Fitch Ratings, part of Fimalac SA, have drawn fire from politicians and investors for awarding top marks to subprime-linked securities that later disintegrated. They've also been criticized as being too close to issuers who foot the bill for their ratings.
Phil Angelides, chairs the panel, that opened the hearing into the credit rating agencies shortcomings, his first comments were critical of Moody's for bestowing thousands of high ratings on risky debt that later became unhinged.
The shortcomings of the Wall Street insiders and the rating agencies come down to this simply but understated term, Profits. Ratings were hyped in order to meet Wall Street’s primary motivation and objective, profits and more profits. Investors were the catalyst by which those profits were obtained and as such ratings had to be exploited to draw them in.
But unfortunately Greed is not legislate-able, nor is it a crime unless it involves fraud, and in the case of the financial crisis fraud may have been a big participant.
Eric Kolchinsky one time manager of Moody's Investors Service unit, the division that rated subprime collateralized debt obligations (CDO) is now a "whistleblower" he has testified about being intimidated by management to provide high ratings for these inferior debt obligations. In a prepared comment, former Moody's derivatives vice president Mark Froeba supporting Kolchinsky, said “management used intimidation to create a docile population of analysts afraid to upset investment bankers and ready to cooperate to the maximum extent possible."
Moody's Corp, McGraw-Hill Cos' Standard & Poor's and Fimalac SA's Fitch Ratings have been widely faulted for fueling the crisis by assigning unreasonably high ratings for too long, and then downgrading them too fast. The commission is looking into just how close to the Investment banks these ratings agencies really were.
There have been several class action lawsuits filed against the rating agencies over the financial collapse and their roll in investor related losses. Credit raters are now trying to fend off lawsuits including fraud claims brought by their own shareholders.
Many financial companies, including banks and lenders, have been sued following the housing market bust; but the cases against ratings agencies may be among the most closely watched.
That's because the three biggest agencies Moody's Corp , McGraw-Hill Cos Inc's Standard & Poor's division and Fitch Ratings, part of Fimalac SA, have drawn fire from politicians and investors for awarding top marks to subprime-linked securities that later disintegrated. They've also been criticized as being too close to issuers who foot the bill for their ratings.
Politicians and Bribery, go hand in hand
Arizona : In 1991 a scandal resulting from the government sting known as AzScam exposed the sewer of corruption and blind ambition that remains Arizona politics even today, but its not just Arizona , this sewer of corruption and blind ambition is part and parcel of the American political system; it’s really how Washington works at its best.
Joseph Stedino working with the Phoenix District Attorney's office set up Operation "Desert Sting." Stedino, an ex-Mafia crony and Las Vegas talk show host, became Tony Vincent, a flashy, free spending Mafia capo looking to ensure the passage of a bill to legalize gambling in Arizona . As word of Vincent's willingness to buy votes spread among Arizona politicians, they eagerly lined up to have him grease their palms. Some he bought for as little as $600. Others, like Representative Don Kenney, the conservative Mormon chairman of the Arizona House Judiciary Committee, exacted over $50,000 in bribes. Over seventeen months, Vincent doled out a total of more than $300,000 in bribes, while police and prosecutors recorded it all on tape, ensuring that this sting would be one of the most successful ever.
Ultimately, twenty legislators, lobbyists, and political insiders would be indicted as a result of Desert Sting.
But what did they do that was so different than what goes on every day in Washington ?
Capital Hill: In 2007 and 2008, charges were filed against several well-connected Washington D.C. lobbyists, including counts of conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion, most of them related to work performed for Native American-owned casinos.
In the center of the scandal were former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his colleagues. Former Ohio Republican congressman Robert W. Ney was sentenced to 30 months in prison for receiving gifts in exchange for deals with Abramoff.
Lobbying is a form of bribery that is promoted by the US Congress, this form of selling their votes is to obtain financial support, it goes on every day yet we don’t complain or insist it stop.
It’s called K Street : a line of sparkling office blocks and fancy restaurants north of the White House. It is the heart of the lobbying industry in Washington DC , servicing clients and politicians from all over America and one of the most powerful stretches of tarmac in the world.
It also might be said to be one of the most corrupt: how corrupt was revealed when the Abramoff scandal exploded through the halls of power exposing the ugly role of lobbying in US politics and threatened to bring down some of the biggest names in public life.
The Abramoff scandal had put a rare spotlight on the entire lobbying system and some of the most powerful men in Washington began running for cover. They stretched from President George Bush himself, to top Republican officials, to the heads of think tanks, to senior congressmen from both parties.
Some, including Bush, began giving back money they got from him or donating it to charity. It was a far cry from when Abramoff would wine and dine clients at top restaurants, take them on golfing trips to Scotland or give them tickets to sporting events.
But the fact remains that Abramoff was one man. The real story is that he represents how much of Washington works. That system is fuelled by two things: money and lobbyists, and they are both related. 'Make no mistake: Abramoff was a crook. But crooks like Abramoff can only flourish in an environment where lobbyists and their clients offer lawmakers campaign contributions and gifts,' There are over 30,000 Lobbyists in Washington they outnumber federal elected officials 60 to one. And their money is still sough after daily.
Selling votes is how Washington works, it’s always that back room deal, a hand shake and a roll of bills wrapped with a rubber band. This is the reason America has been for sale, and is often sold cheaper that we would believe, sometime its just an apartment with free rent, or tickets to a ball game, or financial support for an office, but there is always that expectation that the money or trip or tickets just bought that individual. And that expectation has always been warranted.
Joseph Stedino working with the Phoenix District Attorney's office set up Operation "Desert Sting." Stedino, an ex-Mafia crony and Las Vegas talk show host, became Tony Vincent, a flashy, free spending Mafia capo looking to ensure the passage of a bill to legalize gambling in Arizona . As word of Vincent's willingness to buy votes spread among Arizona politicians, they eagerly lined up to have him grease their palms. Some he bought for as little as $600. Others, like Representative Don Kenney, the conservative Mormon chairman of the Arizona House Judiciary Committee, exacted over $50,000 in bribes. Over seventeen months, Vincent doled out a total of more than $300,000 in bribes, while police and prosecutors recorded it all on tape, ensuring that this sting would be one of the most successful ever.
Ultimately, twenty legislators, lobbyists, and political insiders would be indicted as a result of Desert Sting.
But what did they do that was so different than what goes on every day in Washington ?
Capital Hill: In 2007 and 2008, charges were filed against several well-connected Washington D.C. lobbyists, including counts of conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion, most of them related to work performed for Native American-owned casinos.
In the center of the scandal were former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his colleagues. Former Ohio Republican congressman Robert W. Ney was sentenced to 30 months in prison for receiving gifts in exchange for deals with Abramoff.
Lobbying is a form of bribery that is promoted by the US Congress, this form of selling their votes is to obtain financial support, it goes on every day yet we don’t complain or insist it stop.
It’s called K Street : a line of sparkling office blocks and fancy restaurants north of the White House. It is the heart of the lobbying industry in Washington DC , servicing clients and politicians from all over America and one of the most powerful stretches of tarmac in the world.
It also might be said to be one of the most corrupt: how corrupt was revealed when the Abramoff scandal exploded through the halls of power exposing the ugly role of lobbying in US politics and threatened to bring down some of the biggest names in public life.
The Abramoff scandal had put a rare spotlight on the entire lobbying system and some of the most powerful men in Washington began running for cover. They stretched from President George Bush himself, to top Republican officials, to the heads of think tanks, to senior congressmen from both parties.
Some, including Bush, began giving back money they got from him or donating it to charity. It was a far cry from when Abramoff would wine and dine clients at top restaurants, take them on golfing trips to Scotland or give them tickets to sporting events.
But the fact remains that Abramoff was one man. The real story is that he represents how much of Washington works. That system is fuelled by two things: money and lobbyists, and they are both related. 'Make no mistake: Abramoff was a crook. But crooks like Abramoff can only flourish in an environment where lobbyists and their clients offer lawmakers campaign contributions and gifts,' There are over 30,000 Lobbyists in Washington they outnumber federal elected officials 60 to one. And their money is still sough after daily.
Selling votes is how Washington works, it’s always that back room deal, a hand shake and a roll of bills wrapped with a rubber band. This is the reason America has been for sale, and is often sold cheaper that we would believe, sometime its just an apartment with free rent, or tickets to a ball game, or financial support for an office, but there is always that expectation that the money or trip or tickets just bought that individual. And that expectation has always been warranted.
Economics 101 why America can’t get out of this depression
Economists are touting the great strides consumers are making in paying down their debt, but in prompting this illusion they have tuned to the wrong channel.
The real reason many Americans’ went into debt was because their wages didn't keep up with the costs of goods and services. The median wage (adjusted for inflation) dropped between 2001 and 2007, the last purported economic expansion. And that was one of the primary reasons America began borrowing the equity out of their homes, in many cases it was to be able to make the payments and retain some semblance of a purchasing power.
A recession had already begun in 2000, and by September 11, the economy came to an abrupt stand still. What brought us out of that bog was the ability to draw on our own assets. That is what actually maintained the appearance of a robust economy, but that was an appearance only!
As the bubble began to burst, most of the borrowers; that class between poverty and abundance all but threw in the towel
The common wisdom today among Wall Street’s elite is that excessive debt-financed spending was one of the causes of the recent recession; to the contrary, that was what brought America out of the last recession. It was when the ability of borrowers to refinance their assets in order to maintain the economy fell apart that we dropped right back into the fan.
So now Americans out of work and living with much less income from working fewer hours have no choice but to cut back their debt load and perhaps this is why millions have either stopping making their mortgage payments, and in some cases actually filed for bankruptcy.
Consumer spending is 70 percent of the economy. Since consumers had until the financial collapse traditionally lived with their credit cards outstretched, it helps explain why so few jobs are being created, aside from the fact that everything has been outsourced; and it explains why we can't escape the gravitational pull of this Depression without far more government spending. However should government continue to spend like a drunken sailor it will inevitable crush the US economy even further, it seems to be an impasse we are disaster-prone either way we go.
It's also a bad prophecy for the future.
The real reason many Americans’ went into debt was because their wages didn't keep up with the costs of goods and services. The median wage (adjusted for inflation) dropped between 2001 and 2007, the last purported economic expansion. And that was one of the primary reasons America began borrowing the equity out of their homes, in many cases it was to be able to make the payments and retain some semblance of a purchasing power.
A recession had already begun in 2000, and by September 11, the economy came to an abrupt stand still. What brought us out of that bog was the ability to draw on our own assets. That is what actually maintained the appearance of a robust economy, but that was an appearance only!
As the bubble began to burst, most of the borrowers; that class between poverty and abundance all but threw in the towel
The common wisdom today among Wall Street’s elite is that excessive debt-financed spending was one of the causes of the recent recession; to the contrary, that was what brought America out of the last recession. It was when the ability of borrowers to refinance their assets in order to maintain the economy fell apart that we dropped right back into the fan.
So now Americans out of work and living with much less income from working fewer hours have no choice but to cut back their debt load and perhaps this is why millions have either stopping making their mortgage payments, and in some cases actually filed for bankruptcy.
Consumer spending is 70 percent of the economy. Since consumers had until the financial collapse traditionally lived with their credit cards outstretched, it helps explain why so few jobs are being created, aside from the fact that everything has been outsourced; and it explains why we can't escape the gravitational pull of this Depression without far more government spending. However should government continue to spend like a drunken sailor it will inevitable crush the US economy even further, it seems to be an impasse we are disaster-prone either way we go.
It's also a bad prophecy for the future.
Friday, June 11, 2010
BP, the CIA, Whistle Blowers, the Alaska Pipeline, and political payoffs, make for a toxic mix.
BP who was involved in the free rent for political elitist Rahm Emanuel, has a history of “negligence” which is now primed to cause more than the deepwater horizon catastrophe, it has expanded to the Alaska pipeline, again!
BP owns the controlling interest in the trans-Alaska pipeline, and Tuesday it ruptured spilling over 100,000 gallons of crude. Now this is leaving us to wonder which one of BP’s projects will be next. The pipe was not properly maintained by BP, and there could be other fractured areas from the over 1000 miles the pipe line stretches also stressed and primed to burst.
As it now turns out, BP’s management of the trans-Alaska pipeline is more illusionary than real. It's corroded, it's undermanned and "basic maintenance" is completely lacking.
BP’s claim to fame has been to through money at politicians, and to use coercive tactics to intimidate anyone who would blow the whistle on what can only be characterized as the intentional mismanagement of their sites. Rather than actually maintain the sites, they have apparently skimped on expensive hardware, and failed to hire or pay for adequate supervision, all part of a company bottom line at the expense of us.
Most are afraid to cross swords with BP, who has a habit of hunting down and destroying the careers of those who attempt to warn of pipeline problems.
In one case, BP's CEO of Alaskan operations hired a former CIA expert to break into the home of a whistleblower, Chuck Hamel, who had complained of conditions at the pipe's tanker facility. BP tapped his phone calls with a US congressman and ran a surveillance and smear campaign against him. When caught, a US federal judge said BP's acts were "reminiscent of Nazi Germany."
On August 6 2006 questions were then raised about BP and the Alaska pipeline, and their skimping on the necessary additives.
“Did BP Purposefully Allow its Alaska Pipeline to Corrode in Order to Shut it Down and Boost Oil Prices?” until the shutdown, the Prudhoe Bay oilfield in northern Alaska produced 400,000 barrels of oil a day. Once it was shut the price of oil surged three percent. However the real issue may be are they merely skimping to save money for their bottom line or is there something more sinister going on?
Once shut down, North America’s largest oilfield remained shut for several months. BP closed the oilfield “allegedly” after discovering what it described as "unexpectedly severe corrosion" of the oil pipeline. Questions were then raised about whether BP purposely allowed the pipeline to become corroded as longtime oil industry watchdog, Chuck Hamel stated that BP had been warned and ignored those warnings.
It began even prior to 2004 but in 2004 Chuck Hamel warned BP about corrosion problems.
In 2004 he wrote a letter to the BP Board of Directors that said workers at Prudhoe Bay were concerned about safety, health and threats to the environment at the oilfield. Hamel wrote that the workers "seek to see the corrosion problem addressed and corrective action undertaken without further delay and before any of their colleagues at Prudhoe are harmed."
Since 1999 Hamel had been tracking the corrosion control program by BP for the thousands of miles of flow line that BP had. He found that they have been cutting corners, budget problems. And the first document that came to his hands from the workers was in 1999, that they were not injecting the sufficient amount of chemical inhibitors to prevent the rusting.
The pipeline is like a radiator in your car. You have to add antifreeze which has chemical components that prevent rusting. Just picture part of the months of the year you switch over to plain water. Your radiator’s going to rust. It’s not very complicated. There’s so much water in the system in the Alaska field that comes out of the ground formation with the oil and along the way it rusts the pipes unless anti corrosives are added.
BP has had a long-running series of problems, had been fined on several occasions, some very large fines for failing to properly keep up its lines, so why have we allowed them to continue in control? Who has been paid what? These are fundamental questions that lay at the doorstep of congress.
BP engineers, and BP corrosion experts, have left the company because they wouldn’t participate in BP’s look the other way corrosion program, and now we have to deal with the mess they have created.
Everyone who didn’t want to be part of it, those that didn’t, were independently coming to Hamel—he was their outlet—anonymous complaints were made through him, back to the company, and when BP didn’t do the right thing, he went public.
Chuck Hamel has had a long history watching BP, over, more than 15 years. In fact, he settled a case with BP, when they hired Wackenhut to investigate and discredit him
BP, engaged the Wackenhut Security Company, and five undercover women, and men, for surveillance of Hamel and his wife, they tried to discredit him, hidden cameras were placed in hotel rooms. Eventually all five of the ladies realized that he wasn’t the bad person BP tried to make him out to be, and they all came over to his side. 60 Minutes in a segment called them "Chucky’s Angels." When BP was discovered, they attacked him. $18 million invested by BP to destroy his credibility, including a van parked in front of his home, picking up phones conversations, and they even picked up his trash.
This was not an isolated case. Captain James Woodle, once in charge of the pipe's Valdez terminus, was blackmailed into resigning the post when he complained of disastrous conditions there. The weapon on Woodle was a file of faked evidence of marital infidelity.
And this is a company that is close to the Obama Administration and gave Obama some $77,000 for his presidential bid, and provided a rent free apartment for Rohm Emmanuel for 5 years. Who else in Washington do they control?
BP owns the controlling interest in the trans-Alaska pipeline, and Tuesday it ruptured spilling over 100,000 gallons of crude. Now this is leaving us to wonder which one of BP’s projects will be next. The pipe was not properly maintained by BP, and there could be other fractured areas from the over 1000 miles the pipe line stretches also stressed and primed to burst.
As it now turns out, BP’s management of the trans-Alaska pipeline is more illusionary than real. It's corroded, it's undermanned and "basic maintenance" is completely lacking.
BP’s claim to fame has been to through money at politicians, and to use coercive tactics to intimidate anyone who would blow the whistle on what can only be characterized as the intentional mismanagement of their sites. Rather than actually maintain the sites, they have apparently skimped on expensive hardware, and failed to hire or pay for adequate supervision, all part of a company bottom line at the expense of us.
Most are afraid to cross swords with BP, who has a habit of hunting down and destroying the careers of those who attempt to warn of pipeline problems.
In one case, BP's CEO of Alaskan operations hired a former CIA expert to break into the home of a whistleblower, Chuck Hamel, who had complained of conditions at the pipe's tanker facility. BP tapped his phone calls with a US congressman and ran a surveillance and smear campaign against him. When caught, a US federal judge said BP's acts were "reminiscent of Nazi Germany."
On August 6 2006 questions were then raised about BP and the Alaska pipeline, and their skimping on the necessary additives.
“Did BP Purposefully Allow its Alaska Pipeline to Corrode in Order to Shut it Down and Boost Oil Prices?” until the shutdown, the Prudhoe Bay oilfield in northern Alaska produced 400,000 barrels of oil a day. Once it was shut the price of oil surged three percent. However the real issue may be are they merely skimping to save money for their bottom line or is there something more sinister going on?
Once shut down, North America’s largest oilfield remained shut for several months. BP closed the oilfield “allegedly” after discovering what it described as "unexpectedly severe corrosion" of the oil pipeline. Questions were then raised about whether BP purposely allowed the pipeline to become corroded as longtime oil industry watchdog, Chuck Hamel stated that BP had been warned and ignored those warnings.
It began even prior to 2004 but in 2004 Chuck Hamel warned BP about corrosion problems.
In 2004 he wrote a letter to the BP Board of Directors that said workers at Prudhoe Bay were concerned about safety, health and threats to the environment at the oilfield. Hamel wrote that the workers "seek to see the corrosion problem addressed and corrective action undertaken without further delay and before any of their colleagues at Prudhoe are harmed."
Since 1999 Hamel had been tracking the corrosion control program by BP for the thousands of miles of flow line that BP had. He found that they have been cutting corners, budget problems. And the first document that came to his hands from the workers was in 1999, that they were not injecting the sufficient amount of chemical inhibitors to prevent the rusting.
The pipeline is like a radiator in your car. You have to add antifreeze which has chemical components that prevent rusting. Just picture part of the months of the year you switch over to plain water. Your radiator’s going to rust. It’s not very complicated. There’s so much water in the system in the Alaska field that comes out of the ground formation with the oil and along the way it rusts the pipes unless anti corrosives are added.
BP has had a long-running series of problems, had been fined on several occasions, some very large fines for failing to properly keep up its lines, so why have we allowed them to continue in control? Who has been paid what? These are fundamental questions that lay at the doorstep of congress.
BP engineers, and BP corrosion experts, have left the company because they wouldn’t participate in BP’s look the other way corrosion program, and now we have to deal with the mess they have created.
Everyone who didn’t want to be part of it, those that didn’t, were independently coming to Hamel—he was their outlet—anonymous complaints were made through him, back to the company, and when BP didn’t do the right thing, he went public.
Chuck Hamel has had a long history watching BP, over, more than 15 years. In fact, he settled a case with BP, when they hired Wackenhut to investigate and discredit him
BP, engaged the Wackenhut Security Company, and five undercover women, and men, for surveillance of Hamel and his wife, they tried to discredit him, hidden cameras were placed in hotel rooms. Eventually all five of the ladies realized that he wasn’t the bad person BP tried to make him out to be, and they all came over to his side. 60 Minutes in a segment called them "Chucky’s Angels." When BP was discovered, they attacked him. $18 million invested by BP to destroy his credibility, including a van parked in front of his home, picking up phones conversations, and they even picked up his trash.
This was not an isolated case. Captain James Woodle, once in charge of the pipe's Valdez terminus, was blackmailed into resigning the post when he complained of disastrous conditions there. The weapon on Woodle was a file of faked evidence of marital infidelity.
And this is a company that is close to the Obama Administration and gave Obama some $77,000 for his presidential bid, and provided a rent free apartment for Rohm Emmanuel for 5 years. Who else in Washington do they control?
The US Economy is on life support
The Commerce Department said today that retail sales fell by 1.2 percent in May. Although this was a surprise to many economists it has been no surprise to the millions of Americans who are looking for a job, or those that have already thrown in the towel and given up, or for the millions still facing foreclosure.
The US economy has been brought to its knees by the inevitable failure of any meaningful and insightful judgment coming from the Obama administration. Both the president and congress have thrown money in the wrong direction, wasting resources that may cause the US government to find itself in the same place as Greece within the next few years. Yes the banks were saved but at the expense of the US population.
Now after throwing trillions at the banks and a small token at the people, the Federal Reserve under Bernanke is completely lost in its own quagmire of confusion; the system is so completely over run by the bank elite that there is no place in this administration for common sense.
Five banks that set this collapse in motion each KNEW Obama would bring taxpayer aid to their survival. Those banks were Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Bear Stearns Cos, Citigroup Inc., and JP Morgan Chase & Co., traders from these banks actually met and devised the instruments to bet against the subprime securities they were themselves promoting, and by playing both sides of the table they couldn’t lose. It was a Las Vegas style Gamble and they took out insurance, literally, taking down AIG and a host of other smaller insurance companies.
Why then did they need a government bailout? Primarily because they actually bankrupted AIG which caused Timothy Geithner from the New York Fed to coerce AIG to pay the banks in full for their second party CDS’s, thus allowing these same banks to be made whole with the exception of Bear Stearns. Why was Bear allowed to fall when the others were not?
Former Bear Stearns chief executive James Cayne, the chairman and CEO said the firm became the first major victim of the financial crisis due to “unfounded rumors”, not because of risky exposures to mortgage-related products with free-falling values.
Bear Stearns in March 2008 experienced essentially a run on the bank as creditors and the markets lost confidence in the institution. Regulators scrambled to find a buyer for the collapsing firm, resulting in a sale to none other than JPMorgan Chase & Co for $10 a share.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence that Bear Stearns was brought to its knees by rumors and ended up in the hands of JP Morgan. In 1907 JP Morgan began a series of rumors that the New York Banks were insolvent causing a similar run which essentially gave Morgan control, and what was accomplished was that which Morgan sought the beginning of the Federal Reserve System where Wall Street actually took control of the US Government.
The belief is that J.P. Morgan actually wanted Bear Stearns. So they arranged it by rumors and a sale, just as they did with Washington Mutual.
On April 17, 2010 the former head of the chief banking regulatory agency that oversaw failed Washington Mutual told lawmakers that the giant savings and loan collapsed because of a run on the bank, not failures by him or other regulators.
Who started the rumors that cause a run on Washington Mutual? Another coincidence Washington Mutual was taken over by non other that JP Morgan Chase who bought it for $2 billion.
Phil Angelides (Crisis Commission) in January accused Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein of treating clients unfairly for creating -- and then betting against -- subprime mortgage-backed securities. And this is essentially what each of these banks did.
Could the US economy have been saved?
Absolutely if that were the real intent of the Obama Administration! But Obama and Congress were to focused on their financial backers to see the forest for the trees, they threw money at the banks, and AIG with the latter allowing the foreclosures to continue, thus giving the banks a twofold profit, the bail out money allowing them to loan it back to the government and the foreclosure where they were paid by AIG and the other institutions that were foolish enough to guarantee these insane investments.
Obama and Congress could have used the same money to bailout both the Banks and the Borrowers, they could have provided the money to the banks per each loan that was modified to reduce the principal and interest. Thereby stopping the onslaught of foreclosures and maintaining a jobs market because there would not have been the financial impact on the economy.
The US Government because they have been substantially absorbed by Wall Street, is now tinkering on the brink of financial collapse. And this collapse is what should have allowed of Wall Street.
The US economy has been brought to its knees by the inevitable failure of any meaningful and insightful judgment coming from the Obama administration. Both the president and congress have thrown money in the wrong direction, wasting resources that may cause the US government to find itself in the same place as Greece within the next few years. Yes the banks were saved but at the expense of the US population.
Now after throwing trillions at the banks and a small token at the people, the Federal Reserve under Bernanke is completely lost in its own quagmire of confusion; the system is so completely over run by the bank elite that there is no place in this administration for common sense.
Five banks that set this collapse in motion each KNEW Obama would bring taxpayer aid to their survival. Those banks were Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Bear Stearns Cos, Citigroup Inc., and JP Morgan Chase & Co., traders from these banks actually met and devised the instruments to bet against the subprime securities they were themselves promoting, and by playing both sides of the table they couldn’t lose. It was a Las Vegas style Gamble and they took out insurance, literally, taking down AIG and a host of other smaller insurance companies.
Why then did they need a government bailout? Primarily because they actually bankrupted AIG which caused Timothy Geithner from the New York Fed to coerce AIG to pay the banks in full for their second party CDS’s, thus allowing these same banks to be made whole with the exception of Bear Stearns. Why was Bear allowed to fall when the others were not?
Former Bear Stearns chief executive James Cayne, the chairman and CEO said the firm became the first major victim of the financial crisis due to “unfounded rumors”, not because of risky exposures to mortgage-related products with free-falling values.
Bear Stearns in March 2008 experienced essentially a run on the bank as creditors and the markets lost confidence in the institution. Regulators scrambled to find a buyer for the collapsing firm, resulting in a sale to none other than JPMorgan Chase & Co for $10 a share.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence that Bear Stearns was brought to its knees by rumors and ended up in the hands of JP Morgan. In 1907 JP Morgan began a series of rumors that the New York Banks were insolvent causing a similar run which essentially gave Morgan control, and what was accomplished was that which Morgan sought the beginning of the Federal Reserve System where Wall Street actually took control of the US Government.
The belief is that J.P. Morgan actually wanted Bear Stearns. So they arranged it by rumors and a sale, just as they did with Washington Mutual.
On April 17, 2010 the former head of the chief banking regulatory agency that oversaw failed Washington Mutual told lawmakers that the giant savings and loan collapsed because of a run on the bank, not failures by him or other regulators.
Who started the rumors that cause a run on Washington Mutual? Another coincidence Washington Mutual was taken over by non other that JP Morgan Chase who bought it for $2 billion.
Phil Angelides (Crisis Commission) in January accused Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein of treating clients unfairly for creating -- and then betting against -- subprime mortgage-backed securities. And this is essentially what each of these banks did.
Could the US economy have been saved?
Absolutely if that were the real intent of the Obama Administration! But Obama and Congress were to focused on their financial backers to see the forest for the trees, they threw money at the banks, and AIG with the latter allowing the foreclosures to continue, thus giving the banks a twofold profit, the bail out money allowing them to loan it back to the government and the foreclosure where they were paid by AIG and the other institutions that were foolish enough to guarantee these insane investments.
Obama and Congress could have used the same money to bailout both the Banks and the Borrowers, they could have provided the money to the banks per each loan that was modified to reduce the principal and interest. Thereby stopping the onslaught of foreclosures and maintaining a jobs market because there would not have been the financial impact on the economy.
The US Government because they have been substantially absorbed by Wall Street, is now tinkering on the brink of financial collapse. And this collapse is what should have allowed of Wall Street.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Living rent free and loving it, a tale of a Washington Insider
Never has an administration been so callous in hiding corruption as this one.
This is the first administration I have observed that Flaunts corruption in our face and has no concern for being outed. At least Bush tried to hide it!
Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama has a few skeletons in his closet. But then who in Washington doesn’t. For example he received free rent for his D.C. apartment from a BP advisor.
This little-known corporate political connection is the quiet way the inner political circles intersect, and protect one another, it’s not unusual, and it’s Washington at its finest.
BP and its executives were significant contributors to the record $750-million war chest of Barack Obama's 2007-08 campaign, and from previous experience we know Obama takes care of his financial supporters.
Now, we learn the inside details of a connection Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayoral wannabe, current Obama chief of staff, ex-representative, ex-Clinton money man and ex-Windy City political machine go-fer and BP.
Shortly after Obama's inauguration, eyebrows rose slightly upon word that, as a House member, Emanuel had lived the last five years rent-free in a D.C. apartment of Democratic colleague Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and her husband, Stanley Greenberg.
For an ordinary American, that would have raised some obvious questions and a potential tax liability, but not for Emanuel, the guy overseeing the Internal Revenue Service, and now an Obama insider.
Tim Geithner, who had his own outstanding tax problems skated through confirmation anyway by the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Greenberg's consulting firm was a prime architect of BP's recent rebranding drive as a green petroleum company, down to green signs and the slogan "Beyond Petroleum."
Greenberg's company is also closely tied to a sister Democratic outfit -- GCS, named for the last initials of Greenberg, James Carville, another Clinton advisor, and Bob Shrum, John Kerry's 2004 campaign manager.
According to published reports, GCS received hundreds of thousands of dollars in political polling contracts in recent years from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Probably just a crazy coincidence. But you'll never guess who was the chairman of that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dispensing those huge polling contracts to his kindly rent-free landlord.
Well consider this; BP's favorite politician, If you're just going by the numbers, it's none other than President Barack Obama, who leads BP's lifetime campaign donation list with $77,051. That puts him just ahead of reliable oilmen such as Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young, his retired colleague Sen. Ted Stevens, and George W. Bush.
According to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, BP and its employees have given more than $3.4 million to federal candidates since 1990, with much of their largesse going to these 20:
President Barack Obama (D)$77,051;
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) $73,300;
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska, ret.) $53,200;
President George W Bush $47,388;
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) $44,899;
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) $41,400;
Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio, ret.) $37,550;
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) $31,000;
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) $28,200;
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) $27,350;
Sen. Daniel Coats (R-Ind., ret.) $25,000;
Rep. Lynn Martin (R-Ill., ret.) $24,450;
Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) $24,000;
Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) $23,800;
Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla., ret.) $23,750;
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) $22,300;
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) $22,000;
Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) $21,100;
Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) $20,950;
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) $20,800
This is the first administration I have observed that Flaunts corruption in our face and has no concern for being outed. At least Bush tried to hide it!
Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama has a few skeletons in his closet. But then who in Washington doesn’t. For example he received free rent for his D.C. apartment from a BP advisor.
This little-known corporate political connection is the quiet way the inner political circles intersect, and protect one another, it’s not unusual, and it’s Washington at its finest.
BP and its executives were significant contributors to the record $750-million war chest of Barack Obama's 2007-08 campaign, and from previous experience we know Obama takes care of his financial supporters.
Now, we learn the inside details of a connection Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayoral wannabe, current Obama chief of staff, ex-representative, ex-Clinton money man and ex-Windy City political machine go-fer and BP.
Shortly after Obama's inauguration, eyebrows rose slightly upon word that, as a House member, Emanuel had lived the last five years rent-free in a D.C. apartment of Democratic colleague Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and her husband, Stanley Greenberg.
For an ordinary American, that would have raised some obvious questions and a potential tax liability, but not for Emanuel, the guy overseeing the Internal Revenue Service, and now an Obama insider.
Tim Geithner, who had his own outstanding tax problems skated through confirmation anyway by the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Greenberg's consulting firm was a prime architect of BP's recent rebranding drive as a green petroleum company, down to green signs and the slogan "Beyond Petroleum."
Greenberg's company is also closely tied to a sister Democratic outfit -- GCS, named for the last initials of Greenberg, James Carville, another Clinton advisor, and Bob Shrum, John Kerry's 2004 campaign manager.
According to published reports, GCS received hundreds of thousands of dollars in political polling contracts in recent years from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Probably just a crazy coincidence. But you'll never guess who was the chairman of that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dispensing those huge polling contracts to his kindly rent-free landlord.
Well consider this; BP's favorite politician, If you're just going by the numbers, it's none other than President Barack Obama, who leads BP's lifetime campaign donation list with $77,051. That puts him just ahead of reliable oilmen such as Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young, his retired colleague Sen. Ted Stevens, and George W. Bush.
According to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, BP and its employees have given more than $3.4 million to federal candidates since 1990, with much of their largesse going to these 20:
President Barack Obama (D)$77,051;
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) $73,300;
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska, ret.) $53,200;
President George W Bush $47,388;
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) $44,899;
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) $41,400;
Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio, ret.) $37,550;
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) $31,000;
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) $28,200;
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) $27,350;
Sen. Daniel Coats (R-Ind., ret.) $25,000;
Rep. Lynn Martin (R-Ill., ret.) $24,450;
Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) $24,000;
Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) $23,800;
Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla., ret.) $23,750;
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) $22,300;
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) $22,000;
Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) $21,100;
Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) $20,950;
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) $20,800
Moving out of a recession and into a recovery?
If you love a good story you’ll love the latest novelette published by the FED. It’s full of hope and optimism, and dreams and imaginings and its heart wrenching. If only it were true!
According to the latest vision of the FED who now claims to have conducted a poll, the FED found that we are moving out of a recession and into a recovery. What a great story and I only wish it was true, but as I am not an ostrich I don’t buy it.
Just like GM paid off their obligation to the US government was supposed to make us believe that GM had turned around, those who read my articles know I called the shot on what really occurred. GM paid back the government with the money it borrowed from the government.
Now the real polls taken in the past couple of days show a much different story, and it’s one that is much more pessimistic. Only 29% of Adults now believe the economy is getting better. That’s down from 34% before the jobs report last week. But these are the 10% at the top; a remarkable 71% of the population isn’t buying into the propaganda.
And it’s the same among investors, 36% believe the economy is getting better while 42% say it’s getting worse. Before Friday’s report, investors were more evenly divided with 41% thinking that the economy is getting better and 39% offering the more realistic and sadly pessimistic view.
On the night that Lehman Brothers collapsed to begin the financial industry meltdown, 43% of Americans rated their own personal finances as good or excellent. Just 31% of Americans are now that upbeat about their own financial situation.
Today, only 24% believe their personal finances are getting better while 46% say they are getting worse with 30% remaining constant fairly equal to those who currently believe the economy is improving. And the FED acknowledged, economic growth won't be strong enough to bring speedy relief to millions of out-of-work Americans. Growth in the early stages of economic recoveries is usually much stronger. That's not happening this time because consumers and businesses haven't shown signs that they are inclined to go on spending sprees. There continues to be one important element that remains elusive, it’s called JOBS!
Without them there can’t be a real and meaningful recovery, what the FED fails to mention in its work of fiction is that what economy there is has been created by what his Wall Street friends have characterized as “Strategic Defaulters” home mortgage borrowers who have intentionally made a decision to stop making their mortgage payments and are instead spending the money.
According to the latest vision of the FED who now claims to have conducted a poll, the FED found that we are moving out of a recession and into a recovery. What a great story and I only wish it was true, but as I am not an ostrich I don’t buy it.
Just like GM paid off their obligation to the US government was supposed to make us believe that GM had turned around, those who read my articles know I called the shot on what really occurred. GM paid back the government with the money it borrowed from the government.
Now the real polls taken in the past couple of days show a much different story, and it’s one that is much more pessimistic. Only 29% of Adults now believe the economy is getting better. That’s down from 34% before the jobs report last week. But these are the 10% at the top; a remarkable 71% of the population isn’t buying into the propaganda.
And it’s the same among investors, 36% believe the economy is getting better while 42% say it’s getting worse. Before Friday’s report, investors were more evenly divided with 41% thinking that the economy is getting better and 39% offering the more realistic and sadly pessimistic view.
On the night that Lehman Brothers collapsed to begin the financial industry meltdown, 43% of Americans rated their own personal finances as good or excellent. Just 31% of Americans are now that upbeat about their own financial situation.
Today, only 24% believe their personal finances are getting better while 46% say they are getting worse with 30% remaining constant fairly equal to those who currently believe the economy is improving. And the FED acknowledged, economic growth won't be strong enough to bring speedy relief to millions of out-of-work Americans. Growth in the early stages of economic recoveries is usually much stronger. That's not happening this time because consumers and businesses haven't shown signs that they are inclined to go on spending sprees. There continues to be one important element that remains elusive, it’s called JOBS!
Without them there can’t be a real and meaningful recovery, what the FED fails to mention in its work of fiction is that what economy there is has been created by what his Wall Street friends have characterized as “Strategic Defaulters” home mortgage borrowers who have intentionally made a decision to stop making their mortgage payments and are instead spending the money.
Friday, June 4, 2010
The Difference between Bribery and Lobbying; a conundrum
While shades of Jack Abramoff still cover the windows of congress what they fail to illustrate is just how far lobbyists can go. What remain still unaddressed are the ramifications of the money Wall Street pumps into the coffers of our legislators. A congressman or woman can enter Washington Politics with mediocre means and leave a multi millionaire.
But, Power, money, and politics always have the potential to mix into a toxic brew, and for those looking to gain the legislative edge; the rules leave enough loopholes to do so within the bounds of the law, a law designed specifically for that purpose.
Lobbying is a broad based concept, so broad, and ambiguous that lobbyists actually have the edge, including the ability to have their own attorneys draft legislation that becomes law.
And the rewards for our politically privileged are ominous, for example:
The American Bankers Association invested $1.8 million lobbying the federal government in the first quarter to prevent several key issues of sweeping legislation to overhaul financial institutions from being passed by the House and Senate.
The banking industry's biggest trade group lobbied Congress and federal agencies on the financial overhaul legislation as well as accounting rules, new requirements for credit card issuers, small business lending, bankruptcy legislation, insurance, retirement savings and taxes. In addition to the House and Senate, the bankers' group also had lobbying contacts with the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the White House, according to a disclosure form filed April 20 with the Senate's public records office.
Among the group's members are Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and U.S. Bancorp. The association represents major financial institutions as well as regional, community and small banks.
Paying someone for their vote even though it is considered lobbying is just another way to say Bribery even if no money is exchanged at the moment, but only a promise for future support.
Lobbyists are like insects, they multiply and there is no clear method to exterminate them.
But, Power, money, and politics always have the potential to mix into a toxic brew, and for those looking to gain the legislative edge; the rules leave enough loopholes to do so within the bounds of the law, a law designed specifically for that purpose.
Lobbying is a broad based concept, so broad, and ambiguous that lobbyists actually have the edge, including the ability to have their own attorneys draft legislation that becomes law.
And the rewards for our politically privileged are ominous, for example:
The American Bankers Association invested $1.8 million lobbying the federal government in the first quarter to prevent several key issues of sweeping legislation to overhaul financial institutions from being passed by the House and Senate.
The banking industry's biggest trade group lobbied Congress and federal agencies on the financial overhaul legislation as well as accounting rules, new requirements for credit card issuers, small business lending, bankruptcy legislation, insurance, retirement savings and taxes. In addition to the House and Senate, the bankers' group also had lobbying contacts with the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the White House, according to a disclosure form filed April 20 with the Senate's public records office.
Among the group's members are Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and U.S. Bancorp. The association represents major financial institutions as well as regional, community and small banks.
Paying someone for their vote even though it is considered lobbying is just another way to say Bribery even if no money is exchanged at the moment, but only a promise for future support.
Lobbyists are like insects, they multiply and there is no clear method to exterminate them.
Can the Strategic Defaulters save the US Economy?
The private sector remains in a catatonic state, searching for a bottom line to justify the reemployment of American workers. Yet even as the economy is temporarily jarred by strategic defaulters, the concern of economists has been, will they be enough to sustain the economy long term?
And as serious as this question is, it boils down once again to Wall Street. Whether these strategic defaulters can save the economy long term will depend on the banks, the longer they take to foreclose and evict the more than 8 million homeowners now in default, and those who come after them, the longer the temporary surge in retail sales will be sustained, although it has been flat for the past 3 months, it is sustaining some semblance of an economic recovery even without job growth.
The Banks are so over whelmed with the volume of defaults that the time to foreclose has been extended, now exceeding 14 and approaching 20 months. But as more homeowners make that decision to join in the movement and stop making their mortgage payments the time to foreclose will only be extended until Wall Street finally concedes.
And amid the volume of defaults banks like BoA have begun to rethink what they have done to us, and in an effort to make peach with their borrowers and avert a real back lash they are attempting to initiate a real loan modification program. They are reducing not only the interest rate, and the monthly payment but the principal to a more realistic valuation. If their program is successful, which every consideration says it should be BoA could be the first bank to actually help put America back to work.
Defaulting loans are placing a financial strain on all banks, and perhaps this is really sending a message to Wall Street. Meanwhile those who make that determination to simply stop making their mortgage payments have become the new American Heroes.
We need time, and the strategic defaulters may have just bought it for us.
And as serious as this question is, it boils down once again to Wall Street. Whether these strategic defaulters can save the economy long term will depend on the banks, the longer they take to foreclose and evict the more than 8 million homeowners now in default, and those who come after them, the longer the temporary surge in retail sales will be sustained, although it has been flat for the past 3 months, it is sustaining some semblance of an economic recovery even without job growth.
The Banks are so over whelmed with the volume of defaults that the time to foreclose has been extended, now exceeding 14 and approaching 20 months. But as more homeowners make that decision to join in the movement and stop making their mortgage payments the time to foreclose will only be extended until Wall Street finally concedes.
And amid the volume of defaults banks like BoA have begun to rethink what they have done to us, and in an effort to make peach with their borrowers and avert a real back lash they are attempting to initiate a real loan modification program. They are reducing not only the interest rate, and the monthly payment but the principal to a more realistic valuation. If their program is successful, which every consideration says it should be BoA could be the first bank to actually help put America back to work.
Defaulting loans are placing a financial strain on all banks, and perhaps this is really sending a message to Wall Street. Meanwhile those who make that determination to simply stop making their mortgage payments have become the new American Heroes.
We need time, and the strategic defaulters may have just bought it for us.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Scratch one whole ocean! Maybe?
I have really only one question, please someone tell me why we are drilling offshore when we don’t have a technology to stop disasters like BP, and its close relative Ixtoc 1?
Apparently we are destroying the oceans one well at a time, Ixtoc 1 was a disaster from a Mexican rig that eventually dumped 140 million gallons off the Yucatan Peninsula. It took nearly 10 months beginning in the summer of 1979 to plug that leak. Now 140 million gallons may not seem like a lot in an ocean, perhaps like a glass of coke in a swimming pool. But these continuing well disasters are polluting our oceans and our food chain. In fact it is contaminating potential drinking water, which is being desalinated off the California coast and the entire mid east for beginners.
Desalination is a process that removes dissolved minerals (including but not limited to salt) from seawater, brackish water, or treated wastewater. A number of technologies have been developed for desalination, including reverse osmosis (RO), distillation, electro dialysis, and vacuum freezing. So why is seawater such an attractive water resource?
Here are a few reasons why...Seawater provides an unlimited, reliable water supply for coastal populations worldwide; brackish water is a plentiful, relatively drought-proof water resource for inland populations and reduces dependency on imported water. And, of all the Earth's water, 97 percent is salt water, only 1 percent is fresh water available for humans to drink, and 2 percent is frozen. Of the more than 7,500 desalination plants in operation worldwide, 60% are located in the Middle East. The world's largest plant in Saudi Arabia produces 128 MGD of desalted water. In contrast, 12% of the world's capacity is produced in the Americas, with most of the plants located in the Caribbean and Florida.
You got it, the Gulf coast! And that is where Florida lays dead ahead waiting for the BP oil slick to destroy its desalination plants.
So far, the Gulf oil Spill has leaked about 43 million gallons, according to government estimates. But it could be much higher, and now stopping this leak could possibly take months if ever. These oil disasters could end our ability to obtain a needed food source, and needed drinking water, it poses a threat to all life forms.
It really is time to rethink off shore drilling.
Apparently we are destroying the oceans one well at a time, Ixtoc 1 was a disaster from a Mexican rig that eventually dumped 140 million gallons off the Yucatan Peninsula. It took nearly 10 months beginning in the summer of 1979 to plug that leak. Now 140 million gallons may not seem like a lot in an ocean, perhaps like a glass of coke in a swimming pool. But these continuing well disasters are polluting our oceans and our food chain. In fact it is contaminating potential drinking water, which is being desalinated off the California coast and the entire mid east for beginners.
Desalination is a process that removes dissolved minerals (including but not limited to salt) from seawater, brackish water, or treated wastewater. A number of technologies have been developed for desalination, including reverse osmosis (RO), distillation, electro dialysis, and vacuum freezing. So why is seawater such an attractive water resource?
Here are a few reasons why...Seawater provides an unlimited, reliable water supply for coastal populations worldwide; brackish water is a plentiful, relatively drought-proof water resource for inland populations and reduces dependency on imported water. And, of all the Earth's water, 97 percent is salt water, only 1 percent is fresh water available for humans to drink, and 2 percent is frozen. Of the more than 7,500 desalination plants in operation worldwide, 60% are located in the Middle East. The world's largest plant in Saudi Arabia produces 128 MGD of desalted water. In contrast, 12% of the world's capacity is produced in the Americas, with most of the plants located in the Caribbean and Florida.
You got it, the Gulf coast! And that is where Florida lays dead ahead waiting for the BP oil slick to destroy its desalination plants.
So far, the Gulf oil Spill has leaked about 43 million gallons, according to government estimates. But it could be much higher, and now stopping this leak could possibly take months if ever. These oil disasters could end our ability to obtain a needed food source, and needed drinking water, it poses a threat to all life forms.
It really is time to rethink off shore drilling.
The Federal Minerals Management Service
The Federal Minerals Management Service the Oil industry watchdog, was compromised which may have led to the BP disaster
The Federal agency overseeing the Oil industry looked the other way as BP and other off shore companies violated safety laws because of the $13bn in taxes the government receives annually. Because of this very tidy sum and what may be considered as bribes the agency allowed unsafe conditions to exist.
A report from the Federal Agency, the Minerals Management Service suggests that Washington Politicians allowed themselves to be seduced by the big oil companies because of tax money provided by BP and the rest of Big Oil. It seems to be the norm in Washington, money talks loud and clear, and federal employees look the other way.
Oversight was completely lacking, instead the department's acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, outlined how staff at the oil industry's chief safety watchdog, MMS, accepted tickets to sporting events, lunches and hunting trips from oil and gas firms. The question is what was expected of these employees in return?
According to Kendall, Pornography being viewed on government computers was a normal event and one of a number of violations at the Louisiana office of the MMS. But what is even more alarming is the fact that the multibillion dollar oil industry exercised a strong grip on MMS by way of their employees, MMS is the agency charged with an obligation to regulate oil company drilling and other operations.
There are examples of companies filling in their own safety forms and thwarting attempts by the MMS to tighten offshore regulations, but the agency was more compromised by conflicts of interest, looking after and balancing both safety and tax revenues at the same time.
And these gifts bestowed by Oil companies could be considered bribes.
The oil industry; like Banks control the White House and congress. Big Oil firms, like Big Banks, are too big to regulate or control, their money pays the way for congress to run elections. And where money is involved Washington will always look the other way.
The Federal agency overseeing the Oil industry looked the other way as BP and other off shore companies violated safety laws because of the $13bn in taxes the government receives annually. Because of this very tidy sum and what may be considered as bribes the agency allowed unsafe conditions to exist.
A report from the Federal Agency, the Minerals Management Service suggests that Washington Politicians allowed themselves to be seduced by the big oil companies because of tax money provided by BP and the rest of Big Oil. It seems to be the norm in Washington, money talks loud and clear, and federal employees look the other way.
Oversight was completely lacking, instead the department's acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, outlined how staff at the oil industry's chief safety watchdog, MMS, accepted tickets to sporting events, lunches and hunting trips from oil and gas firms. The question is what was expected of these employees in return?
According to Kendall, Pornography being viewed on government computers was a normal event and one of a number of violations at the Louisiana office of the MMS. But what is even more alarming is the fact that the multibillion dollar oil industry exercised a strong grip on MMS by way of their employees, MMS is the agency charged with an obligation to regulate oil company drilling and other operations.
There are examples of companies filling in their own safety forms and thwarting attempts by the MMS to tighten offshore regulations, but the agency was more compromised by conflicts of interest, looking after and balancing both safety and tax revenues at the same time.
And these gifts bestowed by Oil companies could be considered bribes.
The oil industry; like Banks control the White House and congress. Big Oil firms, like Big Banks, are too big to regulate or control, their money pays the way for congress to run elections. And where money is involved Washington will always look the other way.
BP Oil leak may destroy the world’s major source of food
BP Oil leak may destroy the world’s major source of food for more than 4.5 billion people
AS BP’S latest effort to stop the world’s worst environmental catastrophe fails, implications demand concern over the pending collapse of the world’s major food supply.
Fish is the staple of some 2.5 billion people on the planet!
There has been a global increase in fish consumption among both rural and city populations in the last few decades. The trend is because Nutritional standards have shown positive long-term trends, with worldwide increases in the average global calorie supply per person and in the quantity of proteins per person. However, many countries continue to face food shortages and nutrient inadequacies, and major inequalities exist in access to food, mainly owing to very weak economic growth and rapid population expansion, yet the majority of undernourished people in the world live in Asia and the Pacific, with the highest prevalence of undernourishment found in SSA, and to a large extent in the South of America
The global population in 2005 consumed over 107 million tonnes of fish, the latest date figures were available for this report.
Asia accounted for two-thirds of the total consumption, of which 36.9 million tons were consumed outside China (13.9 kg per capita), with 33.6 million tonnes in China alone (26.1 kg per capita). The corresponding per capita consumption figures for Oceania, North America, Europe, Central America and the Caribbean, and South America were 24.5, 24.1, 20.8, 9.5 and 8.4 kg, respectively.
It is estimated that fish contributes to at least 50 percent of total animal protein intake in some small island developing states, as well as in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, French Guiana, the Gambia, Ghana, Indonesia and Sierra Leone. The contribution of fish proteins to total world animal protein supplies rose from 13.7 percent in 1961 to a peak of 16.0 percent in 1996, before declining to 15.3 percent in 2005. Corresponding figures for the world, excluding China, show an increase from 12.9 percent in 1961 to 15.4 percent in 1989, then declining slightly to 14.7 percent in 2005. Figures for 2005 indicate that fish provided about 7.6 percent of animal protein in North and Central America and more than 11 percent in Europe. In Africa, it supplied about 19 percent, in Asia nearly 21 percent, in the LIFDCs including China about 19 percent and in the LIFDCs excluding China 20 percent. Globally, fish provides more than 1.5 billion people with almost 20 percent of their average per capita intake of animal protein, and nearly 3.0 billion people with 15 percent of such protein.
Many cultures rely on fish and other sea creatures for their survival, and this BP disaster has the potential to reduce many cultures to near starvation if not worse.
Because of our greed we have placed the earth in an untenable position, with a potential to destroy all life forms. Even if we as a race are lucky enough to get beyond this BP disaster, there will be another, and another, as long as we elect officials who cater to the moneyed monopoly, rather to their own survival and ours.
AS BP’S latest effort to stop the world’s worst environmental catastrophe fails, implications demand concern over the pending collapse of the world’s major food supply.
Fish is the staple of some 2.5 billion people on the planet!
There has been a global increase in fish consumption among both rural and city populations in the last few decades. The trend is because Nutritional standards have shown positive long-term trends, with worldwide increases in the average global calorie supply per person and in the quantity of proteins per person. However, many countries continue to face food shortages and nutrient inadequacies, and major inequalities exist in access to food, mainly owing to very weak economic growth and rapid population expansion, yet the majority of undernourished people in the world live in Asia and the Pacific, with the highest prevalence of undernourishment found in SSA, and to a large extent in the South of America
The global population in 2005 consumed over 107 million tonnes of fish, the latest date figures were available for this report.
Asia accounted for two-thirds of the total consumption, of which 36.9 million tons were consumed outside China (13.9 kg per capita), with 33.6 million tonnes in China alone (26.1 kg per capita). The corresponding per capita consumption figures for Oceania, North America, Europe, Central America and the Caribbean, and South America were 24.5, 24.1, 20.8, 9.5 and 8.4 kg, respectively.
It is estimated that fish contributes to at least 50 percent of total animal protein intake in some small island developing states, as well as in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, French Guiana, the Gambia, Ghana, Indonesia and Sierra Leone. The contribution of fish proteins to total world animal protein supplies rose from 13.7 percent in 1961 to a peak of 16.0 percent in 1996, before declining to 15.3 percent in 2005. Corresponding figures for the world, excluding China, show an increase from 12.9 percent in 1961 to 15.4 percent in 1989, then declining slightly to 14.7 percent in 2005. Figures for 2005 indicate that fish provided about 7.6 percent of animal protein in North and Central America and more than 11 percent in Europe. In Africa, it supplied about 19 percent, in Asia nearly 21 percent, in the LIFDCs including China about 19 percent and in the LIFDCs excluding China 20 percent. Globally, fish provides more than 1.5 billion people with almost 20 percent of their average per capita intake of animal protein, and nearly 3.0 billion people with 15 percent of such protein.
Many cultures rely on fish and other sea creatures for their survival, and this BP disaster has the potential to reduce many cultures to near starvation if not worse.
Because of our greed we have placed the earth in an untenable position, with a potential to destroy all life forms. Even if we as a race are lucky enough to get beyond this BP disaster, there will be another, and another, as long as we elect officials who cater to the moneyed monopoly, rather to their own survival and ours.
Friday, May 28, 2010
How do we define Courage?
Start with a 19 year old kid. It's November 11, 1967
He’s critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam LZ (landing zone) X-ray. His unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 yards away, that his CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.
He’s lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and he knows he’s not getting out. His family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and he'll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, he knows this is the day. Then, suddenly - over the machine gun noise - faintly heard is the sound of a helicopter. He looks up to see a Huey coming in. But ... It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in to take out the wounded. He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 wounded at a time on board. Then he flies this kid up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.
And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!! Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.
He took 29 wounded GI’s out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman,United States Air Force, died April 21, 2101 at the age of 70, in Boise , Idaho ..
Where was the Media Report?
Too busy I guess reporting on the important things, like Lindsey Lohen, or Paris Hilton!
He’s critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam LZ (landing zone) X-ray. His unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 yards away, that his CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.
He’s lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and he knows he’s not getting out. His family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and he'll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, he knows this is the day. Then, suddenly - over the machine gun noise - faintly heard is the sound of a helicopter. He looks up to see a Huey coming in. But ... It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in to take out the wounded. He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 wounded at a time on board. Then he flies this kid up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.
And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!! Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.
He took 29 wounded GI’s out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman,United States Air Force, died April 21, 2101 at the age of 70, in Boise , Idaho ..
Where was the Media Report?
Too busy I guess reporting on the important things, like Lindsey Lohen, or Paris Hilton!
China to teach Geithner business strategy.
Perhaps the Chinese government can teach Geithner a thing or two about how to support business.
While Washington and business groups have for some time expressed anxiety over Beijing's "indigenous innovation" policy, meant to promote “Chinese technology” by favoring domestically developed products in government procurement and other areas, which the US does not, Chinese citizens are working and US Citizens aren’t.
According to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) world factbook for 2010 China has a 4.30% unemployment rate compared to the US currently over 11.44%
Perhaps that’s the reason why so many American jobs have been lost since the mid 1980’s, our Bank bred Government economists, are lost as to how business should be supported by government because they are watching their bottom line, and not looking in the faces of Americas workers.
Government teaches that the economy is like war. And as such you never look in the face of the enemy, but the working poor in America aren’t the enemy! Those in government that support outsourcing are! Governments MUST support domestically manufactured products and technology, as China has set as a world example. By outsourcing even the weapons our service personnel use in day to day combat as well as the parts for military equipment, which is a part of the US Strategy, the government, creates a dead zone in the US economy, which has allowed a free fall in the US unemployment numbers.
All the talk in the world isn’t going to find jobs in America for Americans. And there will be no change in the US Economy until the government strategy, supported by big business, and their profit motivation, comes to grips with the reality that by sending jobs across the vast reaches of the globe, America is being reduced to yet another third world economy, while China once looked at as a back woods nation is strong enough today to financially support the US by buying our deficits financed through Bond sales.
While Washington and business groups have for some time expressed anxiety over Beijing's "indigenous innovation" policy, meant to promote “Chinese technology” by favoring domestically developed products in government procurement and other areas, which the US does not, Chinese citizens are working and US Citizens aren’t.
According to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) world factbook for 2010 China has a 4.30% unemployment rate compared to the US currently over 11.44%
Perhaps that’s the reason why so many American jobs have been lost since the mid 1980’s, our Bank bred Government economists, are lost as to how business should be supported by government because they are watching their bottom line, and not looking in the faces of Americas workers.
Government teaches that the economy is like war. And as such you never look in the face of the enemy, but the working poor in America aren’t the enemy! Those in government that support outsourcing are! Governments MUST support domestically manufactured products and technology, as China has set as a world example. By outsourcing even the weapons our service personnel use in day to day combat as well as the parts for military equipment, which is a part of the US Strategy, the government, creates a dead zone in the US economy, which has allowed a free fall in the US unemployment numbers.
All the talk in the world isn’t going to find jobs in America for Americans. And there will be no change in the US Economy until the government strategy, supported by big business, and their profit motivation, comes to grips with the reality that by sending jobs across the vast reaches of the globe, America is being reduced to yet another third world economy, while China once looked at as a back woods nation is strong enough today to financially support the US by buying our deficits financed through Bond sales.
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