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POPS Faces of Displaced Afghans “The beneficiaries of our winter aid programme in Afghanistan are a mix of vulnerable recently returned refugees and internally displaced people, as well as others at particular risk in the cold winter weather,” said Ewen Macleod, UNHCR's representative in Afghanistan.(20 images)
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POPSRita Mae Brown: New Book Adores Critters Steve Phillips Girlfriend: Rita Mae Brown prolific author, fox hunter, civil- and gay-rights activist, and, most of all apparently, animal lover, tells her life story through the furry creatures she's cherished, in "Animal Magnetism" (Ballantine Books, $25, ... Rita Mae Brown, Diane rehm show, zoopla.co.uk, diane rehm, countrywide residential lettings, upmystreet.
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POPSDodd, Conrad told deals were sweetened These join the ranks of Rangel and Jefferson among others. Oh! that our representatives were held to the same standards and ethics as the rest of us. If all were investigated, would any be left standing?
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POPSOur loss is BlackRock's gain Quoting federal banking officials, the Times reported, “They said it was important to do business with experienced mortgage operators like Mr. Kurland, who know how to creatively renegotiate delinquent loans.” Has our president never heard of recidivism?
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POPSLewis on the Hot Seat Shareholder activities are gunning to remove Bank of America's Ken Lewis from his job, angry about the acquisition of Merrill Lynch
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POPSWe have, sadly, been corrupted. I have to say, the worst allegation I've heard about Chris Dodd is not that he's in the pocket of banks and insurers--financial companies naturally seek to curry favor with the Senate Banking Committee, but I don't really see the case that he's sold us out for his benefit. No, the more damning case is that the Senate Banking Committee was basically non-functional in the early part of the crisis, because Dodd was running for president. Even if early action could have saved us money and pain later--and that's a big if--I recently heard a plausible case made that such action was made impossible by his presidential campaign. But somehow, no one finds that offensive, or even notable.
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POPSRules For Democrats Are Just Different… For Some Reason What happens if the Democrat President nominates you for Treasury Secretary (the guy in charge of the IRS), and you get caught not paying your taxes? You get confirmed, and your power is continually expanded. What happens if you’re the Democrat Governor of Kansas, and you get caught cheating on your taxes? You get named to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. What happens if the adult daughter of the Democrat vice president is videotaped snorting coke, or the adult son of a Democrat Vice president is busted for drug possession? The MSM suddenly decide that the “children” of politicians are off-limits. Sorry, Bristol, Jenna, and Barbara.
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POPS25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis
Rebubbacans and Ayn Rand disciples abound. Kathleen Corbet Corbet ran the largest agency, Standard & Poor's, during much of this decade, though the other two major players, Moody's and Fitch, played by similar rules. By slapping AAA seals of approval on large portions of even the riskiest pools of loans, rating agencies helped lure investors into loading on collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that are now unsellable. Dick Fuld steered Lehman deep into the business of subprime mortgages Lehman even made its own subprime loans. The firm took all those loans, whipped them into bonds and passed on to investors billions of dollars of what is now toxic debt. Marion and Herb Sandler In the early 1980s, became the first to sell a tricky home loan called the option ARM. And they pushed the mortgage, which offered several ways to back-load your loan and thereby reduce your early payments, over the next two decades. pocketed $2.3 billion when they sold their bank to Wac
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POPSThe Dirty Dozen Meet the bankers and brokers responsible for the financial crisis - and the official
The Maestro HENRY PAULSON WAS CEO of Goldman Sachs (1999-2006); Treasury secretary (2006-2009) WHAT HE DID Pushed for end to debt restrictions for banks like Goldman, then arranged big bailout for Goldman. WORST MOVE TARP proposal just three pages long; made his decisions "non-reviewable." NOW SAYS "I don't think we've made mistakes on the major decisions." The Big Loser DICK FULD WAS CEO of Lehman Brothers (1993-2008) WHAT HE DID Piloted Lehman to largest bankruptcy in U.S. history; earned $22 million the year firm went bust. WORST MOVE Tried to avoid lawsuits by selling his $13 million Florida home to his wife for $100. NOW SAYS Feels "horrible" about Lehman, but insists his management was "prudent and appropriate." Mr. Too Big KEN LEWIS IS CEO of Bank of America (2001-present) WHAT HE DID Created ultimate too-big-to-fail company, buying up Fleet, MBNA, Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. WORST MOVE Failed to catch a $15 billion loss at Merrill before buying the
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POPSTime to find corporate billions kept offshore
Tax evasion is basically theft and can be secondarily considered treason. The tax system is set up to benefit the general population through maintenance of infrastructure, paying the military, paying our politicians, etc. American corporations making a profit from doing business in the U.S. and conducting their business through overseas subsidiaries to avoid U.S. tax laws are in effect stealing from the American public. This leaves the bill for these government supported services to be footed by honest tax payers. This is also an issue of morality and ethics. Corporations take and use all the benefits of living and working in America but don’t pay for the privilege. These corporations need to step up and pay their fair share of being allowed to do business in America. Politicians will never force the issue because they are benefiting from these corporations doing business here. We all need to raise our voices high and boycott those corporations that are stealing from
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POPSCan Dodd be trusted? You can decide We asked readers this week if they had a question they’d like to ask Dodd. The response was strong — and so were the questions. We forwarded the questions to Dodd’s office, and offered to post his response to them on our Web page. But apparently they were never passed on to the senator. So when the senator came by for an editorial interview Friday, we began the discussion with that. The senator was given the 10-pages of questions readers submitted, and was asked if he’d like to take the opportunity to answer those questions now. We had the video camera rolling, and told him we’d put that on our Web site so he could answer directly to his constituents. You can view his response on www.NorwichBulletin.com, and decide for yourself if his answers are satisfactory to you, or if he answered them all.
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POPSFEC Investigation Confirms Obama Received Discount Mortgage The FEC's legal analysis dismissed O'Connell's admission. The FEC based its decision to exonerate Obama largely on the fact that Northern Trust claims it provided preferential terms to other "similarly situated borrowers" in addition to Obama. "Now we know for sure that Obama received a discounted mortgage. For the FEC to base its decision to excuse Obama on the fact that a few other unnamed borrowers also received sweetheart mortgages seems irresponsible. Look no further than Countrywide, which doled out corrupt mortgages to numerous public officials, to see the massive hole in that logic," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The fact is Northern Trust's president admitted Obama received the loan, in part, based upon his position. This is improper and almost certainly constitutes an illegal campaign contribution (or gift). The FEC's response is inadequate and does not serve the public's interest."
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POPSBlame the Victim: Poor People Broke the System The officials drawn from Wall Street who now control of the Treasury and Federal Reserve repeat the right-wing Big Lie: Poor “subprime families” have brought the system down, exploiting the rich by trying to ape their betters and live beyond their means.
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POPS Celebrating Life! In vitro isn’t exactly an accidental pregnancy. Who paid $10,000-odd in vitro bill, anyway? Grandad’s headed back to Iraq as a translator to help support the burgeoning Suleman brood. So many packed into a 1,550 s.f. ranch. So, what kind of moron fertility doc would implant eight, or any, in a bankrupt woman living at home with mom and dad with no husband and six kids. Hard to say. The doc(s) don’t seem to have surfaced yet. “I cannot see circumstances where any reasonable physician would transfer embryos into a woman under the age of 35 under any circumstance,” said Arthur Wisot, a fertility doctor in Redondo Beach and the author of “Conceptions and Misconceptions.” “I certainly think you can talk to her about it if you feel like she’s making a decision that’s not in her best interest or the interest of her children,” Wisot said. “You can send her for psychological evaluation, . . . ‘No, I won’t take care of you because you have too many children.’ ”
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POPSThose that helped cause this mess. Once again, UK media looks further than their advertisers to explain the truth. Interesting read. But, just like our "experts", totally ignoring the millions of good paying jobs off shored for higher tax revenues from mega-corporations and cheaper socks for sheeple.
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POPSChina cracks down on activists continues: However, Beijing has reacted by jailing some of Charter 08's public supporters. At least 70 of the original signatories have been summoned or interrogated by the police. Prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo has been put under house arrest. The writer Wen Kejian has been detained in the resort city of Hangzhou, close to Shanghai. Police have also ransacked the Beijing home of Zhang Zuhua, one of the main authors of the charter, confiscating his passport as well as his computers, books and notebooks.
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POPSTrue Crime Comix: The 'Most Ethical Congress Ever' Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Given this fact there is little reason to wonder why Senator Dodd blocked reform proposals for Fannie and Freddie, calling them "ill advised." Dodd's willingness to protect Fannie and Freddie would alone merit a spot on the "ten most corrupt list," but there is much more. Dodd was also nabbed for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial. The Connecticut Senator admitted earlier this year that he was told in 2003 when he refinanced two properties that he was being placed in Countrywide's "VIP Program," but said he believed this was simply a courtesy that had nothing to do with his position in the U.S. Senate. This is either a blatant lie or horribly naïve for a man who has served in the Senate for more than 25 years and currently chairs the Senate Banking Committee that regulates the mortgage industry. We're not buying it...
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POPSDebt Watchdogs If committee members are heavily invested in Countrywide securities, but of course through intermediaries, I don't believe that their analysis will be legitimate. And a system of checks and balances like having a committee full of "yes-men" is equivalent to a fox keeping watch over a chicken shack.
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POPSDebt Watchdogs:Tamed or caught napping? Money talks especially when given under the table. But no prove of such exists. Does that mean it's not true or only that there is no proof? So ask yourself why would analysts change their minds?
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