Re: [PDI] [Fwd: Obama: The Market Is Issuing You A WARNING]

That's about the size of it, but actually it is worse.

For one thing, I seriously doubt Obama has even a rudimentary economic education or the slightest idea of how the US financial structure functions.

His father was a Kenyan economist, to be sure, but he knew him only until two years old.

Perhaps his father should have been elected.

Last summer the US total debt of record was 53 trillion.

I have got no recent figures but it is my guess it may be 30 trillion more by now.  I know that sounds like science fiction but it is entirely possible in terms of "old" USD.

At this rate catastrophe is unavoidable.

The Fascists around and behind Obama are terminally incompetent and think that it all can be handled by "PR" and mass psychology.

I am still not ready to write off Obama completely.  There may be other factors in the mix.

But only time will tell.

L'observation consiste simplement
en l'intérêt jubilant montré par l'enfant
à la vue de sa propre image dans un miroir....

--- On Thu, 2/12/09, Geraldine Perry <healthadvantage@comcast.net> wrote:
From: Geraldine Perry <healthadvantage@comcast.net>
Subject: [PDI] [Fwd: Obama: The Market Is Issuing You A WARNING]
To: "Gene Costa" <costaeugene@yahoo.com>
Date: Thursday, February 12, 2009, 6:49 PM

Hi all,

In case you did not get the article below I am forwarding. It is long but well
worth the read.

You might also want to read my article which parallels but adds to the one
below (and note, I will be revising the first paragraph to make it more readable
before posting elsewhere): http://911awakening.com/?p=766

gerip

-------- Original Message --------

Tuesday, February 10. 2009

Posted by Karl Denninger
<http://market-ticker.org/authors/2-Karl-Denninger> at 06:56
<http://market-ticker.org/archives/783-Obama-The-Market-Is-Issuing-You-A-WARNING.html>

Obama: The Market Is Issuing You A WARNING

<http://market-ticker.org/archives/783-Obama-The-Market-Is-Issuing-You-A-WARNING.html>

Put the kids away - this is not going to be pleasant.

I'm done Mr. President.

You stood in front of the American Public *and lied through your damn teeth.
*You claim that America faces a "catastrophe" if we don't pass
*your bill* - but its not *YOUR BILL*, its Pelosi's and Reid's bill - a
bill full of PORK and BS.

I'm tired of the lies, America is tired of the lies, *and we the people are
not going to sit still for it any longer.*

You promised us change. This is what we got for "change":

Your Treasury Secretary, Geithner, cheated on his taxes. He was caught. He then
failed to pay *the other two years* of tax for the same thing he got caught
doing, until you told him you wanted him to be the tax *collector*. But
that's not the worst of it. No, the worst part is that when Bear Stearns
got in trouble *he, as the head of the NY Fed, knew full well that The Federal
Reserve intended to open the discount window to investment banks THE VERY NEXT
DAY and yet this fact was NOT disclosed to Bear Stearns, forcing them into a
merger they would not have otherwise consummated
<http://market-ticker.org/archives/73-Not-Durable-Durable-Goods,-And-More-Bear-Stearns.html>.
THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS LOST THEIR JOBS AS A DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF TIM
GEITHNER'S AND BEN BERNANKE'S INTENTIONAL CONCEALMENT OF THIS MATERIAL
FACT. Here is the quote
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/business/25sorkin.html?_r=1> from the
NY Times:*

"But the night that Bear signed the original bid, *the Fed opened
what's known as the discount window to companies like Goldman Sachs
and Lehman Brothers - oh, yes, and to Bear, too. Except that the Fed
didn't tell Bear that it planned to open the window when it was
signing its deal with JPMorgan. *

Had Bear known it might have access to the discount window - a
crucial source of liquidity - it might have been able to hold out
for a couple more days or at least had enough leverage to seek a
higher bid. But the Fed clearly preferred the original bid."

You *WISH* The Internet wasn't around to hold your butt over the pot of hot
oil and dunk you on this one. Sorry Mr. President, *_NO DICE_*.
*GEITHNER MUST RESIGN NOW; HE IS UNFIT TO HOLD THE OFFICE TO WHICH YOU
APPOINTED HIM. PERIOD.*

We dealt with George W. Bush playing "disaster capitalism" with us
for more than *_eighteen months_*. Now you're doing it. Nice try, no
donut. I have been writing for close to *_two years_* in /The Market Ticker/
about the *_fact_* that The Fed, Treasury and the former administration were
*directly responsible* for this mess through various machinations such as
"23A Exemption Letters", Paulson's entreaties to remove leverage
limits and the OCC's move (including asserting federal preemption in court!)
to preempt state regulation of subprime and ALT-A mortgages. You've put
forward plans to address *exactly none* of these frauds and yet they are *the
root of the problem*.

Further, you can't claim to "not know" because as a Senator your
office got copies of my petitions, faxes, and other communications. Your
constituents from Illinois asked me to send *_thousands_* of petition signatures
over those two years, and you *did* get them. Don't run a grand line of BS
on America that this all "came out of nowhere" and "it was all
Bush's fault." That's nice political theatre but it is also a
grand lie.

America has a *confidence problem* with the Capital Markets. So does the rest
of the world. That problem exists because of the *outright fraud* and *idiocy
*that has been undertaken and *permitted* by all levels of our government,
including the Executive. These frauds included knowingly using bad model data
to "rate" securities, shopping ratings, shorting securities you're
selling to your own customers in the next room (without telling them you think
they're overvalued, of course) and getting "23A Exemptions" so you
can lever up your exposure to *failing parts of your business, thereby creating
systemic risk where it did not already exist*. Go have a look Mr. Obama - there
are literally *dozens* of "23A Exemption" letters now on file with The
Fed. *Virtually all of these institutions, if not all, have either failed or
received public support, yet exemption from safety and soundness banking
regulation has made their plight worse and their drain on the taxpayer more
onerous.* You have done *_exactly nothing_* to address this outrage nor is
there any reason to believe you will.

These "exotic financing products" were not* bought* Mr. President -
*they were sold by so-called "professionals" who knew full well that
the borrower could _never_ complete the original term as contracted. * Yet the
firms who packaged up these securities and sold them *knowing this fact* remain
in business, their executives remain in the corner office and they siphoned off
*$70 billion in bonuses from the first half of the TARP. *You have done
*exactly nothing* to disgorge those funds nor have you directed the FBI to bring
indictments or brought pressure to remove these individuals from their
positions. You have not revoked one banking charter from any of these firms
despite the fact that these practices are *the precise reason we are here*.

These same firms have literal *trillions* in off-balance-sheet securitizations
that remain undisclosed and opaque. You have taken *no step* to force their
consolidation back onto the balance sheet, nor have you announced any intention
to do so. These conduits and SIVs are *_literal_* ticking financial nuclear
weapons and they *_will explode_* as defaults continue to increase.

You continue to pretend that these firms "need some help" and
"need a backstop." Increasingly it is becoming clear to market
observers such as Nouriel Roubini, FT's Wolf
<http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/172003/FT%27s-Wolf-U.S.-Too-%22Politically-Frightened%22-to-Admit-Truth-About-Banks-Part-I?tickers=XLF,C,RBS,LYG,BCS,FAZ,SKF>,
myself and others that the fact is that *these firms are and have been bankrupt
and you are conspiring with others to intentionally deceive the public by
refusing to demand that regulators and examiners to go in, do their jobs, and
report the _true_ capital levels of these companies - an act that would result
in their _immediate_ seizure by the FDIC.*

You believe you can pull the wool over Americans' eyes with your new
"TARP II" and "TALF" programs. *_The truth_* is that you
intend to use Treasury and Fed credit to allow *hedge funds* to make obscene
profits while *essentially all risk of loss is born by the taxpayer, shifting
off these bankrupt firm's liabilities _TO US_ while the executives and firms
continue to operate!*

This is yet *another outrage and is nothing more than an attempt to shift the
liabilities of _BANKRUPT_ institutions that have become insolvent _by their own
hand and acts_ to The American Taxpayer. *

Now let me explain what is almost certain to happen *_if_* you are foolish
enough to let Taxcheat Timmy pull this garbage.

See, these assets really are trash. Yeah, right now they are kicking off cash
flow. For now. But they're impaired and while their coupon will pay for a
while they will ultimately default on their face value and recovery is pennies
(and in the case of synthetics, zero) when they do.

So what happens here is that you provide 95% non-recourse financing. Sir Hedge
Fund buys a buttload of this garbage having only 5-10% of the face at risk, and
that's all they need to put up as well, since the government is going to
provide the financing - as a "no recourse" loan (presumably very
cheaply.) They get a 6-7% coupon which means that in one year they're
covered, and in two they're making money like a madman, up 200% or more on
their original risk capital.

But what happens when these instruments default?

Treasury is sitting on several *trillion* in backstops and financing of loans
to cover "assets" that are in fact worth zero. It winds up *_eating_*
the entire face value, while the Hedge Funds have made off with *_all_* of the
coupon money in the meantime!
The risk here is that Treasury is backed into a corner due to ramping yields
and perhaps even inability to roll over this debt at all and we find ourselves
forced into immediate cash accounting as a nation. This in turn causes the
instantaneous cessation *of Social Security and Medicare payments*, as that is
the only bucket big enough to cover the shortfall.

Do you *_really_* want to go down that road Mr. President, because that is
*precisely* what's at the end of it, and it may be only a year or two out!

If you think nobody beyond your vaunted administration has figured it out *_YOU
ARE WRONG_*.
If you think Americans will pay taxes to an institution that intends to
knowingly allow Hedge Funds to make hundreds of billions of dollars in profit
while sticking the taxpayer with upwards of $2 trillion in losses and destroying
all entitlements in a few years' time I suggest you have a mental
examination and get your lithium dose adjusted.

Your approval rating and in fact American's tolerance of this blatant
fraud, theft and chicanery is about to go straight down the toilet.

If you have an interest in having a successful Presidency (not to mention any
chance of a second term or even a stable, sound America to be President *of*)
you must immediately do all of the following:

* Revoke *_ALL_* of the so-called "23A Exemptions." Bernanke
issued
them, you need to direct him to revoke them. *Safety and
soundness of the banking system must come before any one firm or
group of firms. *There are literally hundreds of banks that are
perfectly sound. There are also a bunch of big campaign
contributing banks that are *_bankrupt_* and have been for the
last eighteen months. *Americans know this - the secret is out and
its time to quit LYING*.
* Send in the examiners. Yeah, I know, you're talking about
"stress
tests". Uh huh. Let's have those examinations now and
forevermore in the future be *public information*. If a bank
wants to operate under our laws and have the *privilege* of
fractional reserve banking, they can open their books and
examinations *at all times* to the public. Period.
* No more conduits, no more SIVs, no more games. If your "assets"
are worth 20 cents on the dollar today *that is their price*. If
that makes you insolvent *then you are* - period. We have an FDIC
and we have the authority to "cram down" failed institutions
*for
a reason*. Use it.
* Send in *the cops*. The actions of major institutions up and down
the line since this crisis began in mid 2007 and in the years
leading up to it is at best grossly negligent and at worst
felonious. We the people are *_done_* with being the patsies of a
handful of thieves and frauds enabled by the 535 crooks in our
Capitol. *_STOP IT NOW_* and start jailing the crooks or be
judged as *_one of the felons_*. Your choice.

We are approaching *_yet another_ market implosion just like the one in
September and October*.

While it may come today or tomorrow, I wouldn't take that bet. In fact I
expect that people will "rejoice" that you didn't wipe every
common stockholder's equity stake in firms like Citibank, Bank America and
Goldman Sachs - even though you should. Because I expected you to do the
*_wrong_* thing, I actually bought some Citibank stock a short while ago. Were
you to do the right thing my position would be worthless. It should be
worthless. I'll bet its not - at least not immediately (and that I'll
make a profit as a consequence of your idiocy.)

When and if this dislocation comes, however, it will *destroy* what is left of
the American Banking System, it will expose that Bernanke has *over one trillion
dollars of garbage on The Fed's Balance Sheet*, and that in turn will
destroy the international market for United States Treasury Debt.

In the best case we wind up like Japan and have a bunch of zombies sucking up
capital and doing nothing of value for our economy. In the worst case we get
much higher yields in the bond market and the near-immediate bankruptcy of
*_hundreds_* of midsize and larger firms, including *virtually all financial
firms in the S&P 500 and DOW, along with all major multinationals that have
a captive financing function.*

The Government *_cannot_* backstop it all. If you try the government fails
outright. The market is bigger than you, it is bigger than The Fed, it is
bigger than Treasury. You are subservient to The Market, not the other way
around. Go ask Bill Clinton about The Bond Market when he tried to ramrod his
Hillarycare plan through and what the reaction was. That's 1/100th of what
you're about to experience.

If Bernanke tries to "cap" yields into such a dislocation (he has
threatened to) he will cause *everyone *who owns Treasury debt to tender it to
him with the consequence that he will be forced to print *_five trillion
dollars_* in "new money". This will result in an *eighty percent
devaluation of the dollar almost instantaneously; *gasoline will go to
$10/gallon, Milk to $15/gallon, a loaf of bread to $10 and a hamburger at
McDonalds will likewise be $10. Due to global wage arbitrage *wages will not
increase*; this will as a consequence immediately render 50% or more of
Americans homeless, hungry and jobless. *What do you think happens next Mr.
President?*

The disease in our financial system is lying, too much leverage, outright fraud
and hidden bankruptcy - all of it perpetrated through and with the *_explicit_*
permission of government agencies including Congress, The Executive and The Fed.
We have lived beyond our means through fraud for nearly 20 years *and this is
no longer possible*. As a direct consequence trust has been destroyed and
private capital has fled our credit markets *and will not return* so long as
these diseases remain in the system.
*Hiding the facts cannot cure the disease*; the excessive debt must be
*defaulted*; you cannot fix it by transferring where the leverage goes, such as
to Treasury or The Fed. The liars and frauds must be *exposed, charged and
locked up*, not protected and bailed out. Standards of living *will contract*
and people must learn to live within their ability to earn, *including the
government*, irrespective of politicians that think they can promise to borrow
ever-increasing sums forever.

President Obama, this next crash in the markets, if it occurs, *is your sole
responsibility. *

*It will come as a consequence of _your policies_ where you intend to try to
shift the BANKRUPT institutions' losses to The Taxpayer - a debt that
America _cannot finance_ and which _foreign governments and investors WILL NOT_
cover.*

I'm well-aware of the Washington DC policy called "kick the can"
but the can is now full of cement and if you think you'll get through your
term before this all comes home to roost you are, to be polite, nuts.

You must stop the stupidity and you must stop it *_NOW_*.

The game of obfuscation and literally violating investors both foreign and
domestic as a consequence of fraud countenanced by our government is *_over_*/.
/

Both Americans and foreigners *know *about the lying and fraud; it is pointless
to continue to dissemble and obfuscate as you are merely making a fool of
yourself.

If you do not understand this and are being led by your "advisers",
many of whom are the very people who advocated the changes in policy over the
last 20 years that brought us here, you need new advisers, and you need them
today.

By tomorrow it may not matter, and it will *_certainly_* be your fault.

/Stephanie S. Jasky, /Founder, Director - FedUpUSA.org

/"/*/"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the
issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and
corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their
property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their
fathers conquered." /*-- Thomas Jefferson, Letter 1802 to Secretary of the
Treasury, Albert Gallatin

*Sick of the Lies?** Do Something NOW**! (click logo below):** *

<http://www.fedupusa.org/>

-

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[PDI] [Fwd: Obama: The Market Is Issuing You A WARNING]

Hi all,

In case you did not get the article below I am forwarding. It is long
but well worth the read.

You might also want to read my article which parallels but adds to the
one below (and note, I will be revising the first paragraph to make it
more readable before posting elsewhere): http://911awakening.com/?p=766

gerip

-------- Original Message --------

Tuesday, February 10. 2009

Posted by Karl Denninger
<http://market-ticker.org/authors/2-Karl-Denninger> at 06:56
<http://market-ticker.org/archives/783-Obama-The-Market-Is-Issuing-You-A-WARNING.html>

Obama: The Market Is Issuing You A WARNING
<http://market-ticker.org/archives/783-Obama-The-Market-Is-Issuing-You-A-WARNING.html>

Put the kids away - this is not going to be pleasant.

I'm done Mr. President.

You stood in front of the American Public *and lied through your damn
teeth. *You claim that America faces a "catastrophe" if we don't pass
*your bill* - but its not *YOUR BILL*, its Pelosi's and Reid's bill - a
bill full of PORK and BS.

I'm tired of the lies, America is tired of the lies, *and we the
people are not going to sit still for it any longer.*

You promised us change. This is what we got for "change":

Your Treasury Secretary, Geithner, cheated on his taxes. He was caught.
He then failed to pay *the other two years* of tax for the same thing he
got caught doing, until you told him you wanted him to be the tax
*collector*. But that's not the worst of it. No, the worst part is
that when Bear Stearns got in trouble *he, as the head of the NY Fed,
knew full well that The Federal Reserve intended to open the discount
window to investment banks THE VERY NEXT DAY and yet this fact was NOT
disclosed to Bear Stearns, forcing them into a merger they would not
have otherwise consummated
<http://market-ticker.org/archives/73-Not-Durable-Durable-Goods,-And-More-Bear-Stearns.html>.
THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS LOST THEIR JOBS AS A DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF TIM
GEITHNER'S AND BEN BERNANKE'S INTENTIONAL CONCEALMENT OF THIS MATERIAL
FACT. Here is the quote
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/business/25sorkin.html?_r=1> from the
NY Times:*

"But the night that Bear signed the original bid, *the Fed opened
what's known as the discount window to companies like Goldman Sachs
and Lehman Brothers - oh, yes, and to Bear, too. Except that the Fed
didn't tell Bear that it planned to open the window when it was
signing its deal with JPMorgan. *

Had Bear known it might have access to the discount window - a
crucial source of liquidity - it might have been able to hold out
for a couple more days or at least had enough leverage to seek a
higher bid. But the Fed clearly preferred the original bid."

You *WISH* The Internet wasn't around to hold your butt over the pot of
hot oil and dunk you on this one. Sorry Mr. President, *_NO DICE_*.

*GEITHNER MUST RESIGN NOW; HE IS UNFIT TO HOLD THE OFFICE TO WHICH YOU
APPOINTED HIM. PERIOD.*

We dealt with George W. Bush playing "disaster capitalism" with us for
more than *_eighteen months_*. Now you're doing it. Nice try, no
donut. I have been writing for close to *_two years_* in /The Market
Ticker/ about the *_fact_* that The Fed, Treasury and the former
administration were *directly responsible* for this mess through various
machinations such as "23A Exemption Letters", Paulson's entreaties to
remove leverage limits and the OCC's move (including asserting federal
preemption in court!) to preempt state regulation of subprime and ALT-A
mortgages. You've put forward plans to address *exactly none* of these
frauds and yet they are *the root of the problem*.

Further, you can't claim to "not know" because as a Senator your office
got copies of my petitions, faxes, and other communications. Your
constituents from Illinois asked me to send *_thousands_* of petition
signatures over those two years, and you *did* get them. Don't run a
grand line of BS on America that this all "came out of nowhere" and "it
was all Bush's fault." That's nice political theatre but it is also a
grand lie.

America has a *confidence problem* with the Capital Markets. So does
the rest of the world. That problem exists because of the *outright
fraud* and *idiocy *that has been undertaken and *permitted* by all
levels of our government, including the Executive. These frauds
included knowingly using bad model data to "rate" securities, shopping
ratings, shorting securities you're selling to your own customers in the
next room (without telling them you think they're overvalued, of course)
and getting "23A Exemptions" so you can lever up your exposure to
*failing parts of your business, thereby creating systemic risk where it
did not already exist*. Go have a look Mr. Obama - there are literally
*dozens* of "23A Exemption" letters now on file with The Fed.
*Virtually all of these institutions, if not all, have either failed or
received public support, yet exemption from safety and soundness banking
regulation has made their plight worse and their drain on the taxpayer
more onerous.* You have done *_exactly nothing_* to address this
outrage nor is there any reason to believe you will.

These "exotic financing products" were not* bought* Mr. President -
*they were sold by so-called "professionals" who knew full well that the
borrower could _never_ complete the original term as contracted. * Yet
the firms who packaged up these securities and sold them *knowing this
fact* remain in business, their executives remain in the corner office
and they siphoned off *$70 billion in bonuses from the first half of the
TARP. *You have done *exactly nothing* to disgorge those funds nor have
you directed the FBI to bring indictments or brought pressure to remove
these individuals from their positions. You have not revoked one
banking charter from any of these firms despite the fact that these
practices are *the precise reason we are here*.

These same firms have literal *trillions* in off-balance-sheet
securitizations that remain undisclosed and opaque. You have taken *no
step* to force their consolidation back onto the balance sheet, nor have
you announced any intention to do so. These conduits and SIVs are
*_literal_* ticking financial nuclear weapons and they *_will explode_*
as defaults continue to increase.

You continue to pretend that these firms "need some help" and "need a
backstop." Increasingly it is becoming clear to market observers such
as Nouriel Roubini, FT's Wolf
<http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/172003/FT%27s-Wolf-U.S.-Too-%22Politically-Frightened%22-to-Admit-Truth-About-Banks-Part-I?tickers=XLF,C,RBS,LYG,BCS,FAZ,SKF>,
myself and others that the fact is that *these firms are and have been
bankrupt and you are conspiring with others to intentionally deceive the
public by refusing to demand that regulators and examiners to go in, do
their jobs, and report the _true_ capital levels of these companies - an
act that would result in their _immediate_ seizure by the FDIC.*

You believe you can pull the wool over Americans' eyes with your new
"TARP II" and "TALF" programs. *_The truth_* is that you intend to use
Treasury and Fed credit to allow *hedge funds* to make obscene profits
while *essentially all risk of loss is born by the taxpayer, shifting
off these bankrupt firm's liabilities _TO US_ while the executives and
firms continue to operate!*

This is yet *another outrage and is nothing more than an attempt to
shift the liabilities of _BANKRUPT_ institutions that have become
insolvent _by their own hand and acts_ to The American Taxpayer. *

Now let me explain what is almost certain to happen *_if_* you are
foolish enough to let Taxcheat Timmy pull this garbage.

See, these assets really are trash. Yeah, right now they are kicking
off cash flow. For now. But they're impaired and while their coupon
will pay for a while they will ultimately default on their face value
and recovery is pennies (and in the case of synthetics, zero) when they do.

So what happens here is that you provide 95% non-recourse financing.
Sir Hedge Fund buys a buttload of this garbage having only 5-10% of the
face at risk, and that's all they need to put up as well, since the
government is going to provide the financing - as a "no recourse" loan
(presumably very cheaply.) They get a 6-7% coupon which means that in
one year they're covered, and in two they're making money like a madman,
up 200% or more on their original risk capital.

But what happens when these instruments default?

Treasury is sitting on several *trillion* in backstops and financing of
loans to cover "assets" that are in fact worth zero. It winds up
*_eating_* the entire face value, while the Hedge Funds have made off
with *_all_* of the coupon money in the meantime!

The risk here is that Treasury is backed into a corner due to ramping
yields and perhaps even inability to roll over this debt at all and we
find ourselves forced into immediate cash accounting as a nation. This
in turn causes the instantaneous cessation *of Social Security and
Medicare payments*, as that is the only bucket big enough to cover the
shortfall.

Do you *_really_* want to go down that road Mr. President, because that
is *precisely* what's at the end of it, and it may be only a year or two
out!

If you think nobody beyond your vaunted administration has figured it
out *_YOU ARE WRONG_*.

If you think Americans will pay taxes to an institution that intends to
knowingly allow Hedge Funds to make hundreds of billions of dollars in
profit while sticking the taxpayer with upwards of $2 trillion in losses
and destroying all entitlements in a few years' time I suggest you have
a mental examination and get your lithium dose adjusted.

Your approval rating and in fact American's tolerance of this blatant
fraud, theft and chicanery is about to go straight down the toilet.

If you have an interest in having a successful Presidency (not to
mention any chance of a second term or even a stable, sound America to
be President *of*) you must immediately do all of the following:

* Revoke *_ALL_* of the so-called "23A Exemptions." Bernanke issued
them, you need to direct him to revoke them. *Safety and
soundness of the banking system must come before any one firm or
group of firms. *There are literally hundreds of banks that are
perfectly sound. There are also a bunch of big campaign
contributing banks that are *_bankrupt_* and have been for the
last eighteen months. *Americans know this - the secret is out and
its time to quit LYING*.
* Send in the examiners. Yeah, I know, you're talking about "stress
tests". Uh huh. Let's have those examinations now and
forevermore in the future be *public information*. If a bank
wants to operate under our laws and have the *privilege* of
fractional reserve banking, they can open their books and
examinations *at all times* to the public. Period.
* No more conduits, no more SIVs, no more games. If your "assets"
are worth 20 cents on the dollar today *that is their price*. If
that makes you insolvent *then you are* - period. We have an FDIC
and we have the authority to "cram down" failed institutions *for
a reason*. Use it.
* Send in *the cops*. The actions of major institutions up and down
the line since this crisis began in mid 2007 and in the years
leading up to it is at best grossly negligent and at worst
felonious. We the people are *_done_* with being the patsies of a
handful of thieves and frauds enabled by the 535 crooks in our
Capitol. *_STOP IT NOW_* and start jailing the crooks or be
judged as *_one of the felons_*. Your choice.

We are approaching *_yet another_ market implosion just like the one in
September and October*.

While it may come today or tomorrow, I wouldn't take that bet. In fact
I expect that people will "rejoice" that you didn't wipe every common
stockholder's equity stake in firms like Citibank, Bank America and
Goldman Sachs - even though you should. Because I expected you to do
the *_wrong_* thing, I actually bought some Citibank stock a short while
ago. Were you to do the right thing my position would be worthless. It
should be worthless. I'll bet its not - at least not immediately (and
that I'll make a profit as a consequence of your idiocy.)

When and if this dislocation comes, however, it will *destroy* what is
left of the American Banking System, it will expose that Bernanke has
*over one trillion dollars of garbage on The Fed's Balance Sheet*, and
that in turn will destroy the international market for United States
Treasury Debt.

In the best case we wind up like Japan and have a bunch of zombies
sucking up capital and doing nothing of value for our economy. In the
worst case we get much higher yields in the bond market and the
near-immediate bankruptcy of *_hundreds_* of midsize and larger firms,
including *virtually all financial firms in the S&P 500 and DOW, along
with all major multinationals that have a captive financing function.*

The Government *_cannot_* backstop it all. If you try the government
fails outright. The market is bigger than you, it is bigger than The
Fed, it is bigger than Treasury. You are subservient to The Market, not
the other way around. Go ask Bill Clinton about The Bond Market when he
tried to ramrod his Hillarycare plan through and what the reaction was.
That's 1/100th of what you're about to experience.

If Bernanke tries to "cap" yields into such a dislocation (he has
threatened to) he will cause *everyone *who owns Treasury debt to tender
it to him with the consequence that he will be forced to print *_five
trillion dollars_* in "new money". This will result in an *eighty
percent devaluation of the dollar almost instantaneously; *gasoline will
go to $10/gallon, Milk to $15/gallon, a loaf of bread to $10 and a
hamburger at McDonalds will likewise be $10. Due to global wage
arbitrage *wages will not increase*; this will as a consequence
immediately render 50% or more of Americans homeless, hungry and
jobless. *What do you think happens next Mr. President?*

The disease in our financial system is lying, too much leverage,
outright fraud and hidden bankruptcy - all of it perpetrated through and
with the *_explicit_* permission of government agencies
including Congress, The Executive and The Fed. We have lived beyond our
means through fraud for nearly 20 years *and this is no longer
possible*. As a direct consequence trust has been destroyed and private
capital has fled our credit markets *and will not return* so long as
these diseases remain in the system.

*Hiding the facts cannot cure the disease*; the excessive debt must be
*defaulted*; you cannot fix it by transferring where the leverage goes,
such as to Treasury or The Fed. The liars and frauds must be *exposed,
charged and locked up*, not protected and bailed out. Standards of
living *will contract* and people must learn to live within their
ability to earn, *including the government*, irrespective of politicians
that think they can promise to borrow ever-increasing sums forever.

President Obama, this next crash in the markets, if it occurs, *is your
sole responsibility. *

*It will come as a consequence of _your policies_ where you intend to
try to shift the BANKRUPT institutions' losses to The Taxpayer - a debt
that America _cannot finance_ and which _foreign governments and
investors WILL NOT_ cover.*

I'm well-aware of the Washington DC policy called "kick the can" but the
can is now full of cement and if you think you'll get through your term
before this all comes home to roost you are, to be polite, nuts.

You must stop the stupidity and you must stop it *_NOW_*.

The game of obfuscation and literally violating investors both foreign
and domestic as a consequence of fraud countenanced by our government is
*_over_*/. /

Both Americans and foreigners *know *about the lying and fraud; it is
pointless to continue to dissemble and obfuscate as you are merely
making a fool of yourself.

If you do not understand this and are being led by your "advisers", many
of whom are the very people who advocated the changes in policy over the
last 20 years that brought us here, you need new advisers, and you need
them today.

By tomorrow it may not matter, and it will *_certainly_* be your fault.

/Stephanie S. Jasky, /Founder, Director - FedUpUSA.org

/"/*/"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the
issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the
banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the
people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on
the continent their fathers conquered." /*-- Thomas Jefferson, Letter
1802 to Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin

*Sick of the Lies?** Do Something NOW**! (click logo below):** *

<http://www.fedupusa.org/>

-

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[PDI] Power Grab at DuPage - Meeting Tuesday Feb 17th , please attend

Mark your calendar for Feb 17th!!
9:00 am ( check cod website to be sure on the time ) Room 2052 ( Boardroom, above cafeteria in SRC )
Be sure to read comments!
Daily Herald | Crowd watches College of DuPage candidates fight objections
from article...
"An estimated crowd reaching 100 turned out for the heated meeting. The majority supported the candidates and were critical of the two electoral boards' rules and procedures, which barred public comment.

In response, at one point, Atkinson called for order: "If this were a courtroom, everyone of you would be escorted from this room by a sheriff deputy."

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=271016&src=40<http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=271016&src=40>

Here's why we should all care about what's happening at College of DuPage, read on :
Power Grab at DuPage :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/24/dupage<http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/24/dupage>

PLEASE ATTEND THE MEETING
The two electoral boards overseeing the process will meet again Tuesday, Feb. 17. A final decision is expected Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Although the time is not yet posted on the site, the last board meeting took place starting at 9:00 am.

http://www.cod.edu/adminstr/board.htm<http://www.cod.edu/adminstr/board.htm>

Board policy regarding comment at meetings ( from COD website )

1. To encourage participation from District 502 citizens and College constituent groups, the Board will provide an opportunity for citizen and constituent input at all regular and special Board meetings and committee meetings of the Board, consistent with the current law.

2. A Board meeting is defined as a gathering of a majority of a quorum of a public body held for the purpose of discussing public business.

3. A committee of the Board is defined as a gathering of a majority of a quorum of the committee held for the purpose of discussing public business.
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[PDI] URGENT MEETING TUESDAY TO ATTEND AT COD

PLEASE ATTEND THIS MEETING TO SUPPORT THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN DUPAGE COUNTY
College of DuPage
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10th 9 A.M.
Student Resource Center (SRC) Room 2052 at the College of DuPage (map<http://www.cod.edu/Maps/Map_Camp.htm>)

We all take very seriously the news of alleged efforts to transform the board of trustees at College of DuPage into a puppet board. Candidacies of some who have chosen to run for the April election have been challenged in an effort, perhaps, to block the democratic process, and it is thought, to stack the board . Let's speak out.

Please attend the Electoral Board hearings to determine fitness of candidate petitions for Trustee races.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10th 9 A.M.

Student Resource Center (SRC) Room 2052 at the College of DuPage (map<http://www.cod.edu/Maps/Map_Camp.htm>)

Related article: ( be sure to read the comments)

Challenges aplenty to candidates in DuPage County
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=270266<http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=270266>

ISSUES IN BRIEF:

a.. Current COD Board Member Kory Atkinson filed challenges to petitions of almost all of the candidates of the opposition party.
b.. Objections will be heard by TWO electoral boards, one for each term of office, each headed by an incumbent running for the other term.
c.. The election code provides for an electoral board and clearly excludes anyone running for office from being on the electoral board, therefore the composition of the boards are unfair.

d.. Two incumbents are running for re-election and they have recruited other candidates to run for the other two vacancies in order to keep control of the board that is not working in the best interests of the community.
e.. The candidates (and objectors other than Kory Atkinson) have not received official notice of the hearings in a timely manner and some none at all.
f.. We need a public show of force to reject these tactics so WE NEED YOU TO BE THERE AND TO CALL OTHERS YOU KNOW TONIGHT TO BE THERE AS WELL. PLEASE.

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The 2009 Budget

Dear   Partner.   I have gone through your profile and I am optimistic that I can work with you. The president and the National assembly have conceded the 2009 budget of N2.87trillion, valued at $24billion for the fiscal year which was based on the Oil price of $47 per barrel. As the Senate Committee Chairman on Finance, before the approval of the budget, negotiations and settlements took place. Please we want to know if we can engage you with some agreeable financial transactions. I have given my boss your profile and he is interested in working with you. For more details, please get back to me.   Regards   MR.Ibe Douglas PA to Sen. Ahmed Makarfi Committee Chairman on Finance

[PDI] Women In Black vigil Feb 10th

We will be standing in vigil to protest the occupation of Iraq on TUESDAY morning, February 10th, from 7:15am to 8:30am, at the Metra train station in Elmhurst (York & 1st).

WomenInBlackWCS@yahoo.com

Please join us.

--
Kat
WomenInBlackWCS (@yahoo.com)
Public Google calendar: <http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=engageinactivism%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago>
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[PDI] Chinese Electric Car, etc.

Excerpts from financial columnist Richard Russell:
 
Brutal Competition -- Coming, the BYD electric plug-in car from China -- this as the US falls behind with GM's VOLT not due to appear until 2010.
 
Talk by the experts about the new Chinese plug-in.
Scott Tong: Well, the car doesn't look spectacular around the outside, I have to tell you. They unveiled it and it looks like a Corolla. But the magic is on the inside. This car has a plug-in battery that is said to be two years ahead of the competition, because it's on the mass market here. And it's superior to what the Japanese and to what GM are developing now. It goes longer, farther per charge, and it charges up faster than the competition's.
 
Jagow: OK, so where can I get one?
 
Tong: You can come join me in China, that would be the quickest way. Or you can move to Scandinavia, which is where they're going to export some of them next year. Or if you hang around, this Chinese company called BYD wants to export them within a couple years to these larger markets, like North America or Europe.
 
Jagow: Scott, what evidence do we have that this really will be a mass-market seller?
 
Tong: We have $230 million of evidence in the form of investment from Warren Buffett. So that's good enough for most of us. Earlier this year, he decided to invest this much money, and what it seems like is he believes this company is on the cutting edge of this battery technology. And what's interesting about this Chinese company BYD is it started out as a battery company, making mobile phone rechargeable batteries or making laptop rechargeable batteries. And some executives have actually come out and said, you know, making a mobile phone is really hard, making a car is easier.
On top of everything, China and India are now harnessing their talents -- India is planning to produce a laptop computer for the knockdown price of about $30. Having pioneered last year the Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, which will sell for $2,050 a vehicle. The laptop is intended to boost distance learning to help India fulfill its overwhelming educational needs.
 
Russell Comment -- China and India, the earth's two most populous nations, realize that their future lies with education, with the help of their enormous population's fierce desire to better themselves and compete with the West. This will not be good news for US employment as it's becoming obvious that the US is losing a large chunk of its manufacturing and creative abilities.
 
However, the cheap laptop may be a boon for democracy. For instance, countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia have huge populations below 25 years of age. These kids love the free US culture, they can't get enough of it. Cheap laptop computers will open the world to US culture, which has always been our most successful export. US pop culture has always been a menace and a danger to any stiff, restricted culture. The battle is on for the minds of the world's youth, but one problem, up to now, has been communications -- enter the new thirty dollar Indian computer!
................................................
 
Gold Problems -- An interesting article appeared in yesterday's Financial Times. The title of the piece was "I Don't Like the Big Shiny Crowds Around Gold" by John Dizard.

Russell comment: This sudden wide spread interest in gold has bothered me too. Ads for gold are appearing in the newspapers, articles about gold are now commonplace. Writes Dizard, "I don't like crowds, and the one around gold is just too big at the present. Let's say that Western civilization is coming to a bloody end. That won't happen for a few months at least. So why not wait until you don't have to pay an unjustifiable premium for something as common as a Krugerrand."

"Having said all this, I agree with the gold buyers that we are in a multi-year gold bull market that will eventually take the price to an integer multiple of where it is now, not a big integer multiple. But enough to approximate now much inflation must shrink the real burdens of debt to what the developed country taxpayer and consumer can afford."

"Gold is one of, if not the most, treacherous trading markets there is. Ian Shapolsky, a New York investor, who trades for his own account, and whose tactical gold trading strategy I described in his space a couple of years ago, has abandoned the metal after a reasonably successful run."

"As he says, 'The gold market is thinner than it was, and it seems that the larger players can push it around more than they could in the past. The larger traders are aware of the chart points (price targets) followed by the investing public; and there seems to be a lot of effort to push prices above breakout points or moving averages.'"

"So stay out of the deep end, average in. Don't buy in a panic."

"That key signal for the present buying frenzy came from Europe. Since the beginning of the winter, the perception of the euro in the eyes of skittish investors has changed from safe haven to mousetrap. They've become too scared. Wait for a better entry point in the next few months."
.............................................................

>From the New York Times, Feb. 3. "In a Tidal shift, Chinese are Spending More Money Overseas."

Christie Johnston for The New York Times
Some Chinese are so eager to turn their yuan into other assets that when an online real estate brokerage organized a tour of foreclosure auctions in the United States, it received so many applications that it had to turn away nearly 400 people.
 
In Shanghai, cash-rich Chinese companies are buying high-yield bonds issued by distressed American companies at a time when many Western investors are steering clear of bonds even from solid companies.
 
All over the world, Chinese companies are sending home fewer of the billions of dollars they earn from exports, parking them in overseas bank and brokerage accounts instead.
 
And in Hong Kong, wealthy mainlanders are turning up at jewelry stores in growing numbers seeking diamonds, big ones.
 
"They're looking for five-carat diamond rings and six-carat diamond earrings — three carats for each ear," said Yollanda Lam, the marketing manager for the King Fook jewelry store chain here.
 
Together, these trends represent a potentially tectonic shift. As Chinese citizens are starting to send more money out of the country, foreign investors are pulling money out too, and slowing the pace of new investment.
 
"There is a recognition for sure that China is slowing down, so why keep your money there?" said Henry Lee, a Hong Kong fund manager.
 
Nobody knows how long this trend will last. If China's series of economic stimulus measures are successful, then the Chinese economy could rebound later this year and start drawing back money on the same scale that it did over the last decade.
 
Total outflows in the fourth quarter were as much as $240 billion, but this is using the broadest possible definition and includes everything from capital flight to a slowdown in repatriation of overseas profits by Chinese companies. There is no good data assessing the motives of those moving money out of China.
 
Most troubling for China would be if a sizable portion of these disparate streams represented capital flight — people taking their money out because they worry about the stability of the country.
 
Though there are myriad reasons to move capital around, there is also cause for concern: Chinese authorities announced Monday that 20 million migrant workers had lost their jobs. If they do not find new work, these workers could form a volatile class of unemployed.
 
Even more crucial, Chinese individuals and companies placing more of their money outside China could affect one of the constants of international finance over the last five years: China's central role in bankrolling American trade and budget deficits.
 
To prevent China's currency, the yuan, from rising, the government has been buying up the dollars pouring into the country from trade and foreign investment, accumulating more foreign exchange reserves than Japan, Saudi Arabia and Russia put together. It has paid for the dollars by printing more yuan, and has invested at least two-thirds of the dollars in American securities, particularly Treasury securities.
 
If considerably fewer dollars come in, China will not have the yuan to continue buying vast amounts of Treasuries, assuming it wants to keep buying them.
Over the weekend, China's prime minister, Wen Jiabao, said, "Whether China will continue to buy, and how much to buy, should be in accordance with China's needs, and depend on the safety and protection of value of foreign exchange." The statement, reported by the semi-official China News Service, was taken by some analysts as official ambivalence.
 
Right now, the challenge for economists is figuring out why money is leaving China — and how long the trend will last. Torrents of cash are still pouring in from trade surpluses, as imports shrank faster than exports in the final months of last year. But that inflow has been nearly balanced in recent months by an outflow of private cash from the mainland and a slowing of investment.
 
The quarterly pace of accumulation in China's foreign exchange reserves plunged 74 percent over the course of last year. In the fourth quarter, it reached $40.45 billion, the lowest point since the spring of 2004.
 
Most economists say that actual capital flight seems the exception rather than the rule, and anecdotal evidence appears to bear that out.

Jewelry stores in Hong Kong are a barometer of trends on the mainland, because Hong Kong stores do not charge the luxury consumption taxes imposed on the mainland and have a reputation for not selling counterfeits. Daniel Chun, the manager of Gaily Jewelry here, said he had seen an influx since December, with mainland Chinese mainly buying diamonds, either set in jewelry or as loose stones.
 
Sales to mainlanders were 50 percent higher at Chinese New Year this year compared to a year ago, he said, but cautioned that it was impossible to determine how much of the increase represented worries about China's future.
 
Yet the Hong Kong government said on Monday that retail sales of jewelry, clocks and watches fell 9.8 percent in December. While this may reflect plunging demand from local residents as Hong Kong's economy slowed suddenly, it also indicates that demand from visitors, a big part of the market, could not have increased very quickly.
 
Hong Kong residents have been snapping up gold bars at a brisk pace in another sign of anxiety. Few mainlanders have been willing to take the risk of flouting the mainland's stringent gold import regulations, said Lin Tat Yin, a manager at Chow Tai Fook, a jewelry store chain.
 
Another motive for money coming out of China may be simply a perception, among individuals and companies, that better bargains are available elsewhere.
 
Soufin.com, an online real estate brokerage, is offering a tour for at least 40 people to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York City, starting on Feb. 24, and found that demand outstripped the spaces available. "The people in the group are obviously interested in diversifying their investments, and the United States certainly is a very attractive location since real estate prices there have dropped drastically," said Zhao Xingyu, a manager organizing the tour.
 
Chinese real estate industry executives say that there was considerable speculation here in recent years by overseas investors, especially overseas Chinese. Those purchases contributed to a bubble that peaked last spring and has gradually deflated since, removing the incentive for further real estate investments here.
 
"Beijing's slowing accumulations of Treasuries may be partly offset by Hong Kong's increased purchases of Treasuries, he said.
 
The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the American dollar, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority typically buys more Treasuries to offset strong inflows of money.
 
Another reason less money could be flowing into China is the government's decision to halt the rise of the yuan against the dollar last July, and even to allow a short-lived decline against the dollar in late November. This removed the incentive for investors to put money into China in pursuit of currency gains.
 
Russell Comment -- This is an important article, showing that the Chinese are very concerned with finding safe asset classes. Gold, diamonds and foreclosed US real estate seem to be the choices.
A few sites ago, I wondered where the big diamonds are going and why the ads for diamonds on page 2 of almost every issue of the NY Times. The big diamonds, it seems, are being bought and "put away" by wealthy Chinese and Russians.

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[PDI] Letter in Santa Barbara paper

* Unembedded Truth - a letter by Lindsay Quock, published in this week's Santa Barbara Independent.

It was with profound shame that I left the theater after the Film Festival showing of The Road to Fallujah -a hatred of myself for not having devoted every minute of my life these past six years to stopping this horrible war. For having gone about my life as if things were normal. For spending most of each day forgetting that a holocaust is being waged in my name on innocent people at this very moment.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." [Edmund Burke] Or not enough.

What could I have done? Witness filmmaker Mark Manning. A former Santa Barbara oil rig worker, Manning took a night class in documentary filmmaking, then headed off to the Middle East. There, he met an Iraqi woman and helped her smuggle medical supplies into a hospital in Fallujah, shortly after U.S. forces converged on and captured it in 2004.

Manning stayed on to film the destruction there and the stories of the Iraqis who had survived it, probably the only unembedded Westerner in the city. What he brought back was devastating, horrifying, shameful. Neighborhoods flattened. Blood-stained walls. Charred bodies and dismembered limbs. Mass burials. Traumatized children, wailing mothers. People who, except for their mustaches and scarves, look like us - only much, much sadder.

Where was the humanitarian aid, the rebuilding we promised the Iraqis? As one soldier said in the film, the military's "not really set up for that." I saw no reconstruction. Only utter destruction.

I hope it haunts us forever.

*******************************
Free screening of "The Road to Fallujah", 9pm Friday, Feb.6th at the Riviera Theatre, 2044 Alameda Padre Serra, Santa Barbara.

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Re: [PDI] trail cleanup flyer postings

KAT

Thank you for your help. Posting the flyer promoting the annual trail cleanup on any friendly bulletin boards you can find would be a big help and greatly appreciated.

Don Kirchenberg
630-853-7650 Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: Kat <KatDoyle@uscellular.blackberry.com>
To: D Kirchenberg <qualogistics@aol.com>
Sent: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 3:57 pm
Subject: Re: [PDI] Roland Burris email address is here

Don wrote:
<< Iemail address for Senator Burris: E-mail: senator_rolandburris@burris.senate.gov

And #2 I have attached the trail cleanup flyer for the annual Earth Day event to
be held on 4/25/09. >>

Thanks, Don.

I'll distribute the flyer at work and at the coffee shops.

--
Kat

Public Google Calendar:
<http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=engageinactivism%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago>
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Re: [PDI] Roland Burris email address is here

Don wrote:
<< Iemail address for Senator Burris: E-mail: senator_rolandburris@burris.senate.gov

And #2 I have attached the trail cleanup flyer for the annual Earth Day event to be held on 4/25/09. >>

Thanks, Don.

I'll distribute the flyer at work and at the coffee shops.

--
Kat

Public Google Calendar:
<http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=engageinactivism%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago>
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Re: [PDI] Roland Burris email address is here

I got this email address for Senator Burris: E-mail: senator_rolandburris@burris.senate.gov

And #2 I have attached the trail cleanup flyer for the annual Earth Day event to be held on 4/25/09. You help spreading the word or on the day of the cleanup would be appreciated. We start the publicity early because we need over 1,000 volunteers to get the trails in decent shape.

Feel free to pass along the flyer to anyone that uses the trails and is interested in helping the environment. More trail news can be found at the new web site for the Freinds of the Great Western Trails at http://www.friendsofthegreatwesterntrails.com/

Don Kirchenberg
630-853-7650 Mobile
For links to many excellent web sites in logistics go to site:
http://www.qualogistics.biz

-----Original Message-----
From: mayatoddbob@aim.com
To: D Kirchenberg <qualogistics@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 5:40 pm
Subject: Re: [PDI] Roland Burris email address?

I don't think it is set up yet.? It probably takes a week to get through the IS
group.?

Keep on?checking:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=IL

???? Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Weiner <ronweiner1@comcast.net>
To: Bob Mueller <mayatoddbob@aim.com>
Sent: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 12:47 am
Subject: Re: [PDI] Roland Burris email address?

Try the same sort of address I use to contact Durbin's website:
www.burris.senate.gov <http://www.burris.senate.gov/> .

-----Original Message-----
From: pdi-bounces@illinoisprogressives.org
[mailto:pdi-bounces@illinoisprogressives.org] On Behalf Of Kat
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 8:48 PM
To: ronweiner1@comcast.net
Subject: [PDI] Roland Burris email address?

Does anyone have an email address for Roland Burris? I haven't been able to
find it on my own.

--

Kat

Public Google Calendar:

<http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=engageinactivism%40gmail.com&ctz=A
merica/Chicago>

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Re: [PDI] Roland Burris email address?

I don't think it is set up yet.? It probably takes a week to get through the IS group.?

Keep on?checking:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=IL

???? Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Weiner <ronweiner1@comcast.net>
To: Bob Mueller <mayatoddbob@aim.com>
Sent: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 12:47 am
Subject: Re: [PDI] Roland Burris email address?

Try the same sort of address I use to contact Durbin's website:
www.burris.senate.gov <http://www.burris.senate.gov/> .

-----Original Message-----
From: pdi-bounces@illinoisprogressives.org
[mailto:pdi-bounces@illinoisprogressives.org] On Behalf Of Kat
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 8:48 PM
To: ronweiner1@comcast.net
Subject: [PDI] Roland Burris email address?

Does anyone have an email address for Roland Burris? I haven't been able to
find it on my own.

--

Kat

Public Google Calendar:

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merica/Chicago>

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Re: [PDI] Roland Burris email address?

Try the same sort of address I use to contact Durbin's website:
www.burris.senate.gov <http://www.burris.senate.gov/> .

-----Original Message-----
From: pdi-bounces@illinoisprogressives.org
[mailto:pdi-bounces@illinoisprogressives.org] On Behalf Of Kat
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 8:48 PM
To: ronweiner1@comcast.net
Subject: [PDI] Roland Burris email address?

Does anyone have an email address for Roland Burris? I haven't been able to
find it on my own.

--

Kat

Public Google Calendar:

<http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=engageinactivism%40gmail.com&ctz=A
merica/Chicago>

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Re: [PDI] Roland Burris email address?

(3) TJ says:
Will the senior senator from IL please help Senator Roland W. Burris
set up his public email account.

(4) janet says:
I agree!! Roland Burris needs to set up an account where his
constituents can contact him via the internet. And he needs to do it
ASAP!!!!!

How to Contact U.S. Senator Roland Burris (D-IL)
http://chicago.about.com/b/2009/01/16/how-to-contact-us-senator-roland-burris-d-il.htm
(amusing commentary but only leads to his phone number and placeholder
web page)

On Feb 3, 2009, at 8:48 PM, Kat wrote:

> Does anyone have an email address for Roland Burris? I haven't been
> able to find it on my own.

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[PDI] Roland Burris email address?

Does anyone have an email address for Roland Burris? I haven't been able to find it on my own.

--
Kat

Public Google Calendar:
<http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=engageinactivism%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago>
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[PDI] Forum for Clean Elections on March 2nd in Evanston

Here is more information on the upcoming forum for Clean Elections on
March 2nd in Evanston.

Representative Julie Hamos, Paul Froehlich, and other Illinois state
representatives will be our honored speakers for a panel discussion
regarding alternatives to the business-as-usual way of funding elections
in Illinois.

The necessity for clean elections could not be more urgent, given the
current political play-to-play culture in our state. Without reform,
the environment for corruption will long outlast the 15 minutes of
fame surrounding the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich in the local and
national media.

Luckily, the Illinois Clean Elections Act has been sponsored again in
the Illinois House. If enacted it would allow candidates to
voluntarily seek smaller donations from citizens rather than relying
on corporate contributions or large donations in exchange for
political favors or contracts. Such public financing has been
available in Maine and Arizona for years.

During the last legislative session, the Illinois Clean Elections bill
was unable to get out of the rules committee. With growing support
from the Illinois public and the need to stem the tide of corruption,
we are hoping it will pass during this legislative session.

Please join us to discuss the future of election and campaign finance
reform in Illinois:

Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Ave.
Evanston, Illinois
March 2, 2009

6:30 PM Meet and greet
7:00 PM Clean elections video (PBS production)
7:20 PM Panel discussion
8:00 PM Question and answer
9:00 PM Refreshments off site (less than one block away)

We are hoping that you will attend and spread the word to your
members! This is a great opportunity to have state representatives
hear from you -- voters, constituents, and concerned citizens -- to
make positive
changes in Illinois governance.

Melisa Urda
Illinois Ballot Integrity Project
630 357-0744

To read more about Clean Elections please visit our website:

http://www.ballot-integrity.net/CEC.htm

The forum is also sponsored by the Illinois Clean Elections
Foundation, and the Quick and Clean Foundation

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[PDI] Reminder *NO* PDI meeting until *3rd* Thursday of the month

Reminder *NO* PDI meeting until *3rd* Thursday of the month:

PDI is changing its meeting day to the 3rd Thursday of every month going
forward.

We will NOT be meeting this week.

Regards,

Dan

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[PDI] Looking for anyone who lives in Congressional District 11

PDA-Illinois is looking for CD-11 natives to help out with a campaign
to get that district's Congress person to commit to supporting the
national single-payer health care bill. If you live in 11, please
email laurelbault@gmail.com with your contact information. Thanks.

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[PDI] Top Russian Video

According to Google, one of the most-watched Internet videos is a documentary from Russia. Even if you don't understand Russian, as I don't, it is interesting to quickly scan through it to see what it is about. I had a friend look at it and he told me that it was in large part about Operation "Highjump," which was an invasion of Antarctica in 1947, right on the heels of WW2, led by Admiral Richard Byrd.
 
You can view this extremely popular Russian video here, and as I said, it is pretty interesting just to scan through it:
 
http://video-stats.video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6541755440775382831
 
 
And here is a seemingly well-documented commentary on Operation Highjump, which is pretty amazing (the endings of Admirals Byrd and Forrestal (then Secretary of Defense,) are surprising):
 
http://greyfalcon.us/restored/Operation.htm
 
If that is not enough, get the British, and maybe more amazing, version here:
 http://greyfalcon.us/Britain.htm

 
 
"I have lost faith, godammit! I put my faith in the People and that was a mistake! This is a shit people! They get stolen blind by their politicians and they lick their boots. They send their kids off to die for somebody's business deal and they celebrate it like they're doing something heroic! This great and glorious people! Lazy sacks of junk food and jingo!"
 
From: "The Army of the Republic"  by Stuart Archer Cohen
 

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[PDI] Ohio Rep: Foreclosed owners should squat in their own homes - offers strategy to beat banks in court

*Ohio Rep: Foreclosed owners should squat in their own homes - offers
strategy to beat banks in court*
David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster,
Published: Friday January 30, 2009

This is highly interesting, and a must-read for anyone struggling with a
troubled motgage.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Rep_Foreclosed_owners_should_squat_in_0130.html

If you're poor and the bank is coming for your home, Congresswoman Marcy
Kaptur has a plan for you.

Just squat, she says.

Yes, this Ohio Democrat is actually encouraging her financially
distressed constituents whose homes have been foreclosed upon, to simply
stay put.

In a Friday report, CNN's Drew Griffin explored the case of Ohioan
Andrea Geiss, whose home was foreclosed upon in April.

"Behind in payments, out of work, a husband sick, she had nowhere to
go," said Griffin. "So, she decided to follow the advice of her
Congresswoman and go nowhere."

In Lucas County, Ohio, over 4,000 properties were foreclosed upon in
2008, reports CNN.

"So I say to the American people, you be squatters in your own homes,"
said Congresswoman Kaptur before the House of Representatives. "Don't
you leave."

She's called on all of her foreclosed-upon constituents to stay in their
homes and refuse to leave without "an attorney and a fight," said CNN.

"If they've had no legal representation of a high quality, I tell them
stay in their homes," Kaptur told Griffin.

Kaptur is a high-profile advocate of an increasingly popular mode of
fighting foreclosures best known for it's key phrase: "Produce the note."

By telling a bank to "produce the note," a homeowner can delay
foreclosure by forcing the lender to prove the suing institution is
actually the same which owns the debt.

"During the lending boom, most mortgages were flipped and sold to
another lender or servicer or sliced up and sold to investors as
securitized packages on Wall Street," explains the Consumer Warning
Network
<http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/2008/06/19/produce-the-note-how-to/>.
"In the rush to turn these over as fast as possible to make the most
money, many of the new lenders did not get the proper paperwork to show
they own the note and mortgage. This is the key to the produce the note
strategy."

And Friday's segment on this growing foreclosure fighting "movement" was
not the network's first. Earlier in January, CNN explored one person's
strategy <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUZdANb6UaY> in demanding her
bank "produce the note," only to find that the lender had "lost or
destroyed" the evidence of debt ownership. Such a revelation can
significantly strengthen a homeowner's position when asking to
renegotiate a mortgage.

That these banks, many of which received billions of dollars in
government bailout funds, continue to boot defaulted owners from their
homes, makes them "vultures" says Kaptur.

"They prey on our property assets," she said. "I guess the reason I'm so
adamant on this is because I know property law and its power to protect
the individual homeowner. And I believe that 99.9 percent of our people
have not had good legal representation in this."

Video from CNN's /American Morning/, broadcast Jan. 30, 2009 - available
at story link under headline.

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[PDI] Clifford Stone:

 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2DNSEKx1aM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIZrwlOGSTk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W_3aneRPOg

 
 
"I have lost faith, godammit! I put my faith in the People and that was a mistake! This is a shit people! They get stolen blind by their politicians and they lick their boots. They send their kids off to die for somebody's business deal and they celebrate it like they're doing something heroic! This great and glorious people! Lazy sacks of junk food and jingo!"
 
From: "The Army of the Republic"  by Stuart Archer Cohen
 

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[PDI] Excellent article from Tree Hugger on local currencies - including current ones

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/print-your-own-money-build-community.php

Enjoy - Dan Stafford

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[PDI] Serious Materials

From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/15/BU7F159UIJ.DTL
 
Righteous capitalist: Remember that union sit-in early last month at a Chicago factory that rivaled "Norma Rae" for drama and working-class justice? It turns out that the Sunnyvale green building company,
Serious Materials, is doing more than applauding. It's negotiating to buy the factory and rehire the workers.
 
Serious Materials, which specializes in sustainable glass and other green building materials, is discussing the idea with creditors of the now-bankrupt firm, Republic Windows and Doors. Approximately 200 union workers occupied the plant for several days in December after being summarily fired just before Republic's bosses closed the place. The sit-in ended only after Republic's chief creditor, Bank of America, agreed to kick in the money for their unpaid severance and accrued vacation pay.
 
Serious Materials CEO Kevin Surace contacted the union, United Electrical Workers Local 1110, when he saw the story. Now with the union fully backing the proposed deal, Surace said, it's up to the judge handling Republic's bankruptcy - and Bank of America as the chief creditor - to allow it. "They could stall it, they could let the deal go through tomorrow," Surace said. "Hopefully we'll wrap it up soon."

 
 
"I have lost faith, godammit! I put my faith in the People and that was a mistake! This is a shit people! They get stolen blind by their politicians and they lick their boots. They send their kids off to die for somebody's business deal and they celebrate it like they're doing something heroic! This great and glorious people! Lazy sacks of junk food and jingo!"
 
From: "The Army of the Republic"  by Stuart Archer Cohen
 

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Re: [PDI] The "Duncan Doctrine" - or Will Public education be militarized (more than it already is?)

Hey, the kids aren't doing well on the achievement tests.

Change the tests, haha.

But Chicago is not unusual in this--the NY Regents did the same, as did the college boards.

Harvard had to institute a remedial and writing course for up to %25 of their incoming Freshman classes.

This is Kucinich's one major naivete--he has no idea how bad public and private education are in the US.

No wonder the country is flooded by Hindu professsionals, haha.

When I first taught at the University I was very naive. Twenty percent of my freshman seminar was functionally illiterate.

I went to the head of the department.

He said--that's just the way it is--"What can you do about it?".

I thought for a moment and said, that's easy, "Teach them to read."

He said--and I could not make this up if I tried--"That's not what you were hired to do."

Think about it.

Gene Costa

L'observation consiste simplement
en l'intérêt jubilant montré par l'enfant
à la vue de sa propre image dans un miroir....

--- On Fri, 1/23/09, Geraldine Perry <healthadvantage@comcast.net> wrote:
From: Geraldine Perry <healthadvantage@comcast.net>
Subject: [PDI] The "Duncan Doctrine" - or Will Public education be militarized (more than it already is?)
To: "Gene Costa" <costaeugene@yahoo.com>
Date: Friday, January 23, 2009, 3:54 PM

FYI:

You may be interested in the full scoop on Obama's choice for Secretary of
Education (maybe this is a good indication as to why we need to scale back big
government?):

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/tomdispatch/2009/01/wil-public-educatio-be-militarized.html

<SNIP> [Duncan] was described
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/us/politics/16educ.html> as /the/
compromise candidate between powerful teachers' unions and the advocates of
charter schools and merit pay. He was also regularly hailed
<http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=52587@wbbm.dayport.com&cid=28> as a
"reformer,"
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2008532391_edit18educa.html>
fearless when it came to challenging the educational /status quo/ and more than
willing to shake up hidebound, moribund public school systems.

Yet a closer investigation of Duncan's record in Chicago casts doubt on
that label. As he packs up for Washington, Duncan leaves behind a Windy City
legacy that's hardly cause for optimism, emphasizing as it does a
business-minded, market-driven model for education. If he is a
"reformer," his style of management is distinctly top-down, corporate,
and privatizing. It views teachers as expendable, unions as unnecessary, and
students as customers.

Disturbing as well is the prominence of Duncan's belief in offering a key
role in public education to the military. Chicago's school system is
currently the most militarized
<http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/oct/15/news/chi-military_15oct15>
in the country, boasting five military academies, nearly three dozen smaller
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs within existing high schools, and
numerous middle school Junior ROTC programs. More troubling yet, the military
academies he's started are nearly all located in low-income, minority
neighborhoods. This merging of military training and education naturally raises
concerns about whether such academies will be not just education centers, but
recruitment centers as well.<END SNIP>

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[PDI] The "Duncan Doctrine" - or Will Public education be militarized (more than it already is?)

FYI:

You may be interested in the full scoop on Obama's choice for Secretary
of Education (maybe this is a good indication as to why we need to scale
back big government?):

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/tomdispatch/2009/01/wil-public-educatio-be-militarized.html

<SNIP> [Duncan] was described
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/us/politics/16educ.html> as /the/
compromise candidate between powerful teachers' unions and the advocates
of charter schools and merit pay. He was also regularly hailed
<http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=52587@wbbm.dayport.com&cid=28> as a
"reformer,"
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2008532391_edit18educa.html>
fearless when it came to challenging the educational /status quo/ and
more than willing to shake up hidebound, moribund public school systems.

Yet a closer investigation of Duncan's record in Chicago casts doubt on
that label. As he packs up for Washington, Duncan leaves behind a Windy
City legacy that's hardly cause for optimism, emphasizing as it does a
business-minded, market-driven model for education. If he is a
"reformer," his style of management is distinctly top-down, corporate,
and privatizing. It views teachers as expendable, unions as unnecessary,
and students as customers.

Disturbing as well is the prominence of Duncan's belief in offering a
key role in public education to the military. Chicago's school system is
currently the most militarized
<http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/oct/15/news/chi-military_15oct15>
in the country, boasting five military academies, nearly three dozen
smaller Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs within existing
high schools, and numerous middle school Junior ROTC programs. More
troubling yet, the military academies he's started are nearly all
located in low-income, minority neighborhoods. This merging of military
training and education naturally raises concerns about whether such
academies will be not just education centers, but recruitment centers as
well.<END SNIP>

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[PDI] Single payer health care

PBS's Newshour aired a three-part series on health care issues facing the new congress and the Obama administration.

Part 1:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june09/healthcare_01-05.html

Part 2:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june09/doctors_01-06.html

Part 3:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june09/smallbiz_01-07.html

--
Kat

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