"What did you learn in school today? To think or believe?"
Father of Marginalized Consumer Advocate

"And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand philistines therewith." Judges 15:15

A thousand people are killed by politicians with the same weapon everyday.


Friday, December 18, 2009

Old Postings Scattered About

I decided to do something constructive over the short winter break. Collect up my scattered writing (attempts) from other blog sites. These posts go back awhile. On other sites, I often tailored content to the readers of the blog. If you ventured out of a blog's subject zone, you are often afforded little tolerance for the transgression and some times harsh critique. Was that a polite enough description? I hope to update things weekly on subjects I view as important.

The Crushing of the Republic

I run down my blog roll daily. Most are independent sources, some foundations and such. Though I am careful about think tank type non profits. I do view the blogosphere as extremely crucial and beneficial to disseminating information outside of the control of the Corporate Owned News Propaganda Media (CONPM).

The Financial blogs in particular have played a crucial and outstanding role of critiquing the fabrications straight out of the government and Wall Street. The Financial blogs have uncovered information and punched holes in the worthless corporate financial press that has been an embarrassment to the old world propaganda machines like NYT, WSJ and CNBC. They were first ignored, then ridiculed and now patronized and attacked. Did not some peace guy say something about that?

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Wall Street Banks Walking Away From Under Water Mortgages: Tells US Public Not To

Originally Posted on TPM--Dec 17, 2009--15:32:06

PhotobucketPhoto: Courtesy Bloomberg

Morgan Stanley, long time Wall Street investment house with a history of regulatory fines and fraudulent activity, is walking away from mortgages on 5 San Francisco commercial properties. Morgan Stanley owes $8 billion on the five office buildings purchased at the top of the market in 2007 in the highly overpriced real estate market of bubble central, California. This latest Morgan Stanley act of borrower irresponsibility is in addition to a walk away default on a $6.5 billion 17 million square feet of office buildings to Barclays Capital. The reason: The mortgages are 50% underwater.

According to Bloomberg:
Morgan Stanley to Give Up 5 San Francisco Towers Bought at Peak
Alyson Barnes a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman, said yesterday, "This isn't a default or foreclosure situation. We are going to give them the properties to get out of the loan obligation."
Morgan Stanley: TARP Bailout-ee
Morgan Stanley bled US tax payers for $10 billion in TARP money in 2008. Morgan Stanley, like the infamous Goldman Sachs, are hedge funds that bellied up to the Fed's deposit bank discount window by fraudulently claiming to be deposit banks. The Fed approved the regulatory change September 21, 2008, for "Friends of Hank Paulson and Lloyd "Doin' God's Work" Blankfein" while denying the same status to Goldman competitor Lehman Brothers.

Wall Street has tried to lay the blame for the financial fiasco of securitization and Wall Street MBS fraud continually on "irresponsible people who took out mortgages they could not afford."
The hypocrisy of Wall Street banks shirking their loan obligations and walking away simply "to get out of the loan obligation" is undeniable to anyone, even the tone deaf Obama administration's "No Wall Street banker Left Behind" crowd.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Evo Morales: The REAL 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Originally posted on TPM-- Dec 12, 2009 -- 12:17 PM

Photobucket
Photo: Courtesy Wiki

President Evo Morales of Bolivia, we are honored to have you here to accept the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace. As the first person of indigenous decent to occupy the democratically elected position of President of Bolivia, your tireless work on behalf the poorest citizens in your country for equality, fighting poverty, pushing for economic fairness and land reform initially brought your nomination before this committee.

President Morales it was your opposition to repression, your outspoken criticism of militarism and violence, your unwavering support of the democratically elected President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya in the face of the illegal, heinous coup and your efforts for peace that have inspired the world. These are the actions, President Morales that have brought you here tonight.

At great personal risk, you have time and time again battled military juntas and European descendant oligarchies within your own country and militarily and covert assaults from the centralized security apparatus of the world's corporate hegemonic power. You have been a long time farmer and union farm activist highly respected among your peers.

You have answered the call of your people time and again to public service. In that public service, you have remained true to your principles and held a moral compass by implementing the very policies to your people that you have campaigned upon. Promises of "change," duplicity, bait and switch politics and Faustian bargains for power know not Evo Morales.

There was a sign by a member of the public at the recent summit in Copenhagen, "Politicians talk, Leaders act." While others are lauded for their fine speeches, you President Morales are a leader who not only speaks with wisdom but acts with wisdom.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Mr. Slick Goes to Washington -- Wall Street Reform

Originally posted at TPM --September 20, 2009, 11:19AM
Mr Change 1
Photo: Courtesy Truthdig.com

Robert Scheer:    Obama'sPresidency Isn't Too Big to Fail
"He has blundered into a deepening quagmire in Afghanistan, has continued the Bush policy of buying off Wall Street hustlers instead of confronting them and is now on the cusp of bargaining  away the so-called public option, the reform component of his health care program."
The New Democrat is the Old Republican. Just as the Old Republicans devolve into some sort of deranged regional Confederate Party full of Michael Douglas' "Falling Down" character, taking the perceived demise of the white male in society as some sort of personal attack on their world.

The religious fanatics populating the Old Republicans are an angry unintelligible mass of screamers without logic. Raised by not sparing the rod, these beaten little Christers are now lashing out in the anger as the adults of abused children. The abused become the abusers in Max Blumenthal's well researched analysis of the angry white mobs of the Christian right... the New Confederate Party.

The New Democrat is really the old Rubin-McAuliffe corporate Democrat. McAuliffe whose guiding political philosophy is "Hey pal, payola for me not the other guy's party..." witnessed for the first time in 2006 Democrats receiving more campaign bribes from corporations than the Republicans by 60% to 40% advantage. Pelosi and Reid behaved like it. Not able to find the votes to stop anything or for any traditional Democrats populace position promised in the elections. From 2006 to 2008, Reid and Pelosi's marching orders came from their corporate owners whose bidding was carefully followed with excuses to the public.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Immigration Reform on the 4th: The People They Will Let into America These Days

Cockburn Becomes US Citizen
Originally posted on TPM -- July, 4, 2009
Photobucket
From the Nation:
Alexander Cockburn... columnist and one of America's best-known radical journalists, was born in Scotland and grew up in Ireland.
Wait, they are letting radicals into this country? Radical journalists no less? Dick Cheney is right... This current administration is failing to protect America from these radicals.