Archive for category How and Why We Get Screwed

Senator Shelby: Now Can You & Allah Bama Stop Giving Aid and Assistance to the Enemy?

Senator Richard Shelby and Saddam Hussein [holding hands]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SENATOR RICHARD SHELBY HOLDING HANDS WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN [circa 1990

  

Dear Senator Shelby:

As noted in this author’s previous post, you were playing politics with the lives of young American soldiers in order to get your way over the issue of awarding Northrop Grumman a contract to build a refueling tanker plane in your home state of Allah Bama.

Now Northrop Grumman has withdrawn it’s bid to build the planes, and will not file a formal protest because, in the words of Northrop’s chief executive, Wesley G. Bush, “service men and women have been forced to wait too long for new tankers.”

Senator Shelby:  Service men and women have also been forced to wait too long for Senate confirmation of Obama’s appointee who is designated to become top Department of Defense point-man for readiness and managing deployments to Afghanistan, all because of you

They are still waiting . . .

P.S.  The picture in the caption was taken in 1990 during a Congressional junket to Iraq by Senator Shelby and Senator Arlen Spector.  The authenticity of this trip can be confirmed right here on Senator Spector’s website.

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Harry Markopolos’ $50 Billion Dollar Failure

3stooges dumb and dumber [2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 beavis-butthead

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S.E.C. LAWYERS’ GRADUATION CLASSES: 1999-2008

 

If you hired a security guard to watch your house, and it kept getting burglarized – even after someone told him countless times who the thief was – would you let him keep his job?

Stupid question, you say?  Really? 

So why do we keep the same morons on our government payroll to watch the financial markets?  Now that is a good question.  And there really is a simple answer.  The foxes make sure to instruct their under-lords to have those dumb sharecropper farmers whom they pay beggars wages to for working their land, to keep that same old deaf and blind dog guarding the chicken coop.  This metaphor should not be lost on anyone.

Bernie Madoff may be a household word – and one of Time magazines 2009 Top 100 people who affected the world.  But Harry Markopolus is just another quiet hero in a global financial market run by pimps and whores.  Markopolus has a new book coming out today called, “No One Would Listen“.  The book chronicles the story of how Markopolus doggedly pursued a fraud case against Bernie Madoff from 1999 through 2008 by trying to get the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawyers to investigate Madoff’s House of Cards.  All to no avail. 

WTF you might ask?  At least that’s what I have been saying since this story first broke in early 2009 when Markopolus testified before Congress (you can read his testimony right here), and then was interviewed by CBS’s 60 Minutes. 

 This is beyond a comedy of errors.  This is Dumb and Dumber, The Three Stooges, and Beevis and Butthead all working in concert to unwittingly thwart one another while the criminals continued to steal from us with unbridled impunity.  Now is that not a terrifying image?  Meet your S.E.C., America.  Wall Street owns these guys.

Starting in 1999, Markopolus made several attempts to give the most fundamental proof of Madoff’s fraud to numerous investigators at the S.E.C. - all of which was either willfully or woefully ignored (Markopolus calls them “idiots” – that is too kind, don’t you think, Sarah Palin? I would have called them retards).  By 2007, he was fed up with their wanton stupidity, and decided to document it by submitting a nineteen (19) page memorandum to the S.E.C. outlining the basis for his claim.  That too, was ignored.

View the complete 60 Minutes interview with Markopolos - or just watch the real BOMBSHELL from minute 7:25 to 8:18 of the interview.  That brief one minute segment is incomprehensible.   And you wonder why so many investors were “Madoffed” by Bernie?

So after all this, has anything changed?

Hell no! 

Harry Markopolus is still trying to settle his first big whistle-blower case, he has spent years living in fear, and yet he remains undeterred in his dogged pursuit of financial racketeers and corporate fraudsters.  Of course, his new book should help keep his wife and young boys fed until payday comes.  Ironically, Markopolus refers to himself as a “$50 Billion dollar failure”- because he could not get the S.E.C. to listen.  One might conclude that he is being flippant, since he all but beat them over the head with his evidence.  However, he is serious about characterizing this as his “failure” - he honestly takes it very personally that all these people were hurt by Madoff’s fraud in the face of the S.E.C.’s utter incompetence.  

You just have to love this man.  After all this, the crooks and the “police” shirk responsibility, and the hero feels guilty?  And you wonder why it seems the world has started spinning in the other direction?

Meanwhile, back at the S.E.C., they are still re-disorganizing the deck chairs on the U.S.S. Financial Titanic, and there should be smooth sailing on the calm seas of Neo-Capitalism all the way back to port.  No need to worry.  They have their securities regulation minions fast asleep on night watch while the next massive financial iceberg awaits in the darkness.  And brace yourself, because this next one’s really going to be a doozy folks. 

In the meantime, bring them some Dom Perignon, the exquisite pate’, and that rare Russian escargot they just had imported, all paid for with your financial bailouts.  And don’t forget to put that on a silver platter. 

Oh, they almost forgot to mention it.  You can ignore the water rising on the Italian marble dining room floor.  That’s just from the watered-down financial regulation reform we are about to get from Wall Street’s wholly-owned public subsidiary, Congress.  They have the S.E.C working on that minor leak down in the hull right now. 

One Final Note: please do not bother counting the number of lifeboats.  Those seats have all been reserved.

Enjoy the cruise.  :)

P.S.  They saved several seats in the lifeboats for the S.E.C. lawyers.  You didn’t really think the Financial Terrorists were going to row those things themselves, did you?

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A Government Health Care Bureaucrat Sure Beats This Freakin’ Nightmare Any Day of the Week

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So you don’t want some government bureaucrat giving you the runaround about your health care coverage, or choice of doctors and hospitals?  Or wasting taxpayer money with an inefficient bureaucratic nightmare where nothing gets done right or on time?  Nor get caught in this eternal loop of incompetent faceless idiots who keep asking you the same questions over and over again, day after day, while your affliction goes untreated and grows worse with each passing week?

Thank Goodness, you can now have your own private health care insurance Hell.  At no additional cost, Sarah Palin.  And have no choice regarding which company will provide your coverage since your employer is the one who gets to decide who that carrier will be.  Damn!  In hindsight, that public option sure would have been a nice fallback position.

And because a majority of you voters opposed Health Care Reform . . .   

 Welcome to the machine.

P.S.  No bitching, please.  Just remember to say you were wrong when it all goes to Hell in a hand-basket, thank you!

P.S.S.  If you happen to be a glutton for more freakin’ private health insurance nightmares just click here, here, here, and here.    SWEET DREAMS . . .

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Federal Judge Jed S. Rakoff: A Lonely Soldier in the War Against Wall Street’s Financial Terrorists?

Judge Jed Rakoff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE ONE MAN WITH BIG ENOUGH BALLS TO TAKE ON WALL STREET

 

Calling the Security and Exchange Commission’s legal settlement with Bank of America (BoA) “half-baked justice at best“, U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff reluctantly signed-off on the agreement between the two parties on Monday, writing in his order that “[t]his court, while shaking its head, grants the S.E.C.’s motion and approves the proposed consent judgment.”

 Judge Rakoff is a true American Maverick, and a champion for American public shareholders.  

I am not talking about some half-baked Sarah “Pretender” Palin maverick.  This man is the real deal – and you can take that to the bank.  Just don’t deposit it with Bank of America.  Because when it comes to the truth, BoA  – like the rest of the Wall Street Financial Terrorists – has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it simply cannot be trusted.  

On several occasions this author has commented, here and here regarding the ongoing feud between that  limp-dicked, impotent icon of American investor protection - the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) - and Judge Rakoff, over this settlement of Bank of America’s failure to disclose critical information in it’s SEC stock disclosure filings regarding the Merrill Lynch merger. 

BoA shareholders were entitled to know the scale of Merrill Lynch’s liabilities, as well as the size of the bonuses that were to be paid to Merrill’s top executives, before approving the merger.  However, none of that was disclosed in the filing, and BoA is blaming it’s former top legal counsel for it’s ostensibly innocent error in judgment. 

During one of those previous court hearings, the Judge voiced his utter contempt for claims by both BoA and the SEC that none of the BoA executives were culpable for the material non-disclosure.  He was further incensed over the irony that it would be BoA’s shareholders who would ultimately be the ones who were financially punished because the bank would have to pay the fines out of it’s profits, thus further diminishing the value of the shareholders stock.  The judge lamented this fact, having preferred that BoA’s top executives pay the fines.   Nonetheless, he begrudgingly approved the settlement.

Judge Rakoff is also currently presiding over a pending civil matter against J.P. Morgan Chase.  In the order he issued on January 28, 2010 in that case, the Judge wrote that “JP Morgan thereby violated, at a minimum, the covenant of good faith and fair dealing” when it obviously attempted to structure a deal with one client in an effort to position itself so as to benefit another client in the same industry – a clear conflict of interest.  The judge noted that “such an end run, if not a down right sham , is not permissable . . .”, insinuating J.P. Morgan committed fraud.

Felix Salmon, a well respected business writer and blogger, wrote a good analysis of Morgan’s corrupt business dealings in the matter titled How J.P. Morgan treats its clients: scandalously and in bad faith.  As another writer so eloquently put it, “[w]e have entered a period of grotesque decadence in the financial and business dealings of those who brought us the great financial calamities.”

In the final irony in the BoA case, both the S.E.C. and Bank of America expressed just how pleased they were with the settlement.  I’ll bet they were.  Now the question becomes, when will the S.E.C. lawyers who worked on this case retire from “government service”, and take jobs with BoA or one of the other of the Wall Street Terrorist Organizations ?  Anyone want to take a bet that this doesn’t happen? 

I welcome any and all takers.  And I will be laughing all the way to the bank when I win that bet.  Just hope you were smart enough to hedge that wager Goldman Sachs-style by betting that I won’t be depositing my winnings in BoA.  Because I won’t.  Judge Rakoff would be disgusted with me, and rightfully so.

Thank Goodness We Have At Least One Man With Balls On Our Side! 

Now the rest of you government weenies and politicians - grow some freakin’ testicles.

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Why Good Non-partisan Politicians Like Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Dennis Moore (D-KS) Throw in the Towel

 Evan Bayh 

                                          dennis_moore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two men are the “poster children” for what’s really wrong with Congress and American Politics

You only need to look at their recently announced retirements – Bayh’s came yesterday and Moore’s was back in November 2009 - in order to divine that something is seriously amiss. 

They are NOT Liberal Democrats.  These are both very mainstream Centrists, at times even leaning a bit to the Conservative side.  Moreover, it is highly unlikely either one of them would have lost their seats in the next election cycle.  They were both very popular – especially with independents and Republican moderates – and they both have huge campaign war chests.

So why quit?

Evan Bayh’s stated reasons given at the press conference for his retirement announcement yesterday speaks volumes:

There is too much partisanship and not enough progress — too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving,” he said yesterday. “Even at a time of enormous challenge, the peoples’ business is not being done.”

And although Dennis Moore has not stated the same sentiments publicly – and I have known Dennis for a number of years – I have a very strong visceral instinct that such is the case.  If so, we are witnessing the disappearance of the political Centrists/Moderates, and an even greater polarization of the political spectrum. 

Moreover, the inexplicable hatred of President Obama by the Right Wing - and blanket criticism of everything he does (or does not do) – defies logic and reason.  Because of this insane hatred and the incendiary punditry, we are now treading down a very dangerous pathway;  it does not bode well for the future of our country, or the security of this nation.

Are you listening America?

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Corporate American is a Non-sensical Legal Fantasy

Corporate American [Tom Tomorrow]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE RISE OF THE CORPORATE-AMERICAN [from TOM TOMORROW'S "MODERN WORLD" - published at Salon.com]

 

Here are the clones your U.S. Supreme Court truly elevated to the status of human beings in order to finally ensure that justice prevails – in other words, that Freedom of Speech and the political system can be bought and owned by the highest bidders

Now how soon do the other four seats on the court go up for sale?  Our corporations deserve to speak with one voice, and they now have the right ($$$) to make sure it’s the only voice heard!

Enjoy your democracy while it lasts, America.

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Wizards of Moronic Destruction (WMD) in Louisiana Watergate Have Assured Senator Landrieu’s Re-election

James O'Keefe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well if you are too young to remember the Watergate scandal, it almost tore America apart at the seams.  In fact, our country has never been as close to a Constitutional crisis as it was back in 1974, when President Richard Nixon was serving his second term in office.  With impeachment proceedings looming, Nixon was forced to resign as President of the United States for his participation in the Whitehouse’s cover-up of a burglary of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) offices in the Watergate office building in Washington, D. C. by Republican operatives at the direction of staff members of the Nixon Administration.

This is certainly not to insinuate that anything as remotely sinister as the Watergate scandal crimes against the country took place down in Louisiana near the end of January.  However, there are some very strange similarities that cannot be overlooked in respect to the Watergate burglars and the perpetrators of this political criminal escapade in Louisiana.

First, in both cases at least one of the men had a relatively cozy relationship to a U.S. intelligence agency.   E. Howard Hunt was a former C.I.A. officer, and one of the Whitehouse operatives who planned and helped execute the break-in of the offices of the DNC.  In the present case, it was reported today that Stanley Dai was the assistant director of the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence program at Trinity Washington University, a small Catholic college in Washington D.C.,  – a program completely funded by the National Intelligence Agency.  Moreover, Dai was listed as the principle contact  for a symposium that featured officials of the National Intelligence Council, the National Counterterrorism Center, and the C.I.A. 

Second, in both cases one of the participants has a “relationship” to a federal law enforcement agency.  In Watergate, it was the still-infamous G. Gordon Liddy, a former F.B.I. agent who assisted Hunt in the planning and execution of the burglary.  In the Louisiana case, one of the participants is Robert Flanagan, the son of Shreveport-based acting U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan.

Third, it should come as no irony that in each of these cases the actors were low-level political hacks obviously trying to infiltrate offices of Democratic party members and engage in politically-motivated espionage in order to win an election.  It should not be lost on anyone that for these petty criminals, democracy is far too dangerous to be left in the hands of the your political opponents.

Finally, the participation in the Louisiana case by one of the principles in the political “sting operation” to discredit ACORN - a molehill that looks bigger than a mountain to Glenn Beck’s deranged mind – should give a whole new meaning to political karma.

To James O’Keefe:  a word of advice - acting like a big pimp when you are just a little political whore will eventually catch up with you.

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Allah Bama is Holding America Hostage For a Whole Side of Pork – Isn’t That Against Their Religion?

vulcan monument 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allah Bama’s Monument to Pork Barrel Spending

Are Republicans really serious about pork-barrel spending?  What about national security?  How about the War in Afghanistan that they have been paying so much lip service to since 9/11 – as in 2001? 

One has to wonder as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the rest of the party stands silent, and defenseless (or so they act), as fellow Republican Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) just hung a whole side of pork around the necks of his own party members.  Believe it or not, Shelby contends it’s all done in the name of critical national security, when it’s really for the sake his home state – Allah Bama. 

Since when did building tanker refueling planes constitute a critical national security issue when compared to personally holding up the appointment of seventy – count them, 70 – presidential nominees to various government positions.  What is most glaring is that one of these appointees is designated to become the top Department of Defense point-man for managing deployments to Afghanistan

Is Senator Shelby providing comfort and support to the terrorists?  After all, isn’t that the standard moniker Republicans try to hang around the Democrats’ necks everytime they delay anything regarding national security?

Let’s see?  Building refueling tankers in the next five years or ensuring proper deployment of soldiers to Afghanistan in the next five months?  The choice is not exactly rocket science.  Anyone want to argue this one with young American soldiers’ lives on the line? 

Go ahead . . . make my day.

Even Conservative writers and bloggers have weighed-in against Shelby’s political grandstanding, pointing out that there is no legitimate basis for holding up the business of the whole Senate confirmation process over pork-barrel spending.  Daniel Larison of The American Conservative magazine said it best:

What I find most irritating about Shelby’s tactic is that he pretends that his home-state projects are vital to national security . . . [and is] compelled to pretend that this is some high-minded fight over principle and national security. This is cynical nonsense.”

With this kind of irrational thinking, Shelby could probably even make a case for the critical national security aspect of his $819,000 Catfish Genome Project down there in the bayou that was awarded in 2009.  You know, they have to serve those tanker refueling plane pilots something while they are up in the air for those long overseas flights to Afghanistan.

Wunder if dat der Vulcan feller is feedin’ dem catfish  pork rinds:)

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Obama Does Not Begrudge Wall Street Terrorists’ Robbing the National Treasury to make a Profit?

obama-wall-street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Obama – you cannot be serious?!?

These Titans of Socialist Capitalism take the money we bailed them out with – including “rigging” the system with the help of Paulson and Geithner so that AIG’s TARP money was re-directed to them – go on to make an enormous profit by trading with that money (which was not the purpose of the bailouts), and you call them savvy businessmen?  

Now almost a year ago  to the day, you gave the following remarks at the White House:

“This is America. We don’t disparage wealth. We don’t begrudge anybody for achieving success. And we believe that success should be rewarded. But what gets people upset – and rightfully so – are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.”

So are they failures?  Or savvy businessmen?  Or both? 

 This author recently pondered your failure to immediately regulate and reign-in Wall Street after your election when they were still on the ropes.  Here is the bottom line:  They screwed up, then they screwed us, and then you screwed up?

Do you see the problem here, Mr. President.  The cognitive dissonance regarding your words and deeds towards Wall Street is deeply disturbing to those who supported you in 2008, especially when you had the perfect combination of opportunity, power, and the political capital to reign in these financial terrorists right after you took an oath to protect the American people.  You did nothing, and now it is too late.  Was it intentional?  Or are you being obtuse?

When political rhetoric collides with inaction, people become dismayed.  Maybe the young voters who are stepping to the sidelines  are correct?   

Disillusionment is too mild a word for such a betrayal if it was just the “same old wine in a brand new bottle“, President Obama.

Meet the new Boss . . . Same as the Old Boss . . .We Won’t Get Fooled Again!”

Shame on us for ever having the audacity to hope?  I hope not.

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