Obama omnibus mortgage settlement sets cost of doing business at $2,000 per loan – if the business is fraud, forgery, looting, bailouts and worthless ‘legal’ contracts
[Note: Before the advent of modern contract law, justification of contractual obligation was derived from appraisal of “the inherent justice or fairness of the exchange”, (http://tinyurl.com/79hnxkw) so if business and government are going to enable by inaction and ‘moral hazard’ widespread conduct that undermines contract law as the foundation of the US legal system, then we should adopt new standards:http://tinyurl.com/833c5sh]
We’ve now set a price for forgeries and fabricating documents. It’s $2000 per loan. This is a rounding error compared to the chain of title problem these systematic practices were designed to circumvent. The cost is also trivial in comparison to the average loan, which is roughly $180k, so the settlement represents about 1% of loan balances. It is less than the price of the title insurance that banks failed to get when they transferred the loans to the trust. It is a fraction of the cost of the legal expenses when foreclosures are challenged. It’s a great deal for the banks because no one is at any of the servicers going to jail for forgery and the banks have set the upper bound of the cost of riding roughshod over 300 years of real estate law.
Mortgage settlement is too little, too late for many
To underwater homeowners such as Samuel Guzman, whose three-bedroom Westminster home was foreclosed in August, it’s all “too little too late.”
“It’s not going to solve the problem,” said the hairdresser, who along with four family members is trying to avoid eviction. “It’s not going to make things right.”
The sentiment was echoed outside a downtown Los Angeles building where California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris announced the state’s role in the settlement. About 100 Occupy L.A. activists assembled to deride the deal, calling the government a “sell-out” that lets banks “off the hook.”
http://tinyurl.com/83zvtlu
Occupy Seattle vows counter-protest against Westboro Baptist church followers who will picket funeral for murdered children
A notoriously anti-gay church plans to picket Saturday’s funeral for Charlie and Braden Powell and will be counterprotested by Occupy Seattle.
Margie Phelps, daughter of the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church’s founder, tweeted Wednesday night that the church will attend the boys’ memorial service. The protest is to “remind” Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire “they died because of her rebellion,” a reference to her support of same-sex marriages.
Charlie Powell, 7, and Braden Powell, 5, were killed Sunday after their father, Josh Powell, blew up his house when they were dropped off for a supervised visit.
Word of Westboro’s plans spread quickly online and Occupy Seattle sounded a call for its members to counterprotest the church. The group’s Facebook page said the church “has decided to capitalize on these sad events by bringing their unique brand of hate to Washington.”
Occupy Seattle said its members don’t intend to disrupt the funeral, but want to “protect it from Westboro’s abhorrent message.”
Conservative activists claim to have ‘infiltrated’ Occupy DC for weeks to spy out their plans for the CPAC conference
If liberal demonstrators try to crash this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, the largest annual gathering of conservatives, attendees here say they’ll be ready.
For weeks before the conference, conservative activists donned old jeans and hooded sweatshirts and went “undercover” at Occupy DC’s downtown encampment. They sat in on meetings where Occupiers discussed plans to disrupt CPAC. Each day, the infiltrators posted what they heard to a private Google group of CPAC attendees and bloggers. Those who attended the meetings said they heard plans to cause “mayhem” at the upcoming conference and even threats of physical violence. Lachlan Markay of the conservative Heritage Foundation documented the reports and now conference attendees and organizers say they have made preparations to absorb any demonstrations.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell calls Obama ‘president of the Occupy Wall Street Fan Club’ [lol]
Throwing red meat to the conservative base gathered in Washington this week for a national conference, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday blasted President Obama for dividing the nation, accusing him of favoring his political allies over other Americans.
“The president needs to remember he was elected to be president of the United Staets, not the Occupy Wall Street fan club,” he said at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
http://tinyurl.com/84ud3c6
Protesters Prepare to Occupy CPAC ‘anger fest’
In the past, CPAC has been criticized for its vitriolic style. Matthew Albright, a journalist for the award-winning Louisiana State University Daily Reveille, once described the youth presence at CPAC as “disturbing, but only because CPAC itself is disturbing.”
Albright continues:
The event is a riotous and self-congratulatory anger festival showcasing the many faults of the most militant, reactionary and dangerous wings of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. The prime speakers at the event included Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter – a veritable laundry list of exactly who should not be in charge of steering a movement, let alone a political party.
It was CPAC’s embrace of James O’Keefe, who is currently serving a three-year probationary sentence after pleading to a misdemeanour in court (reduced from an initial FBI felony charge of maliciously interfering with the telephones at U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu’s office) that led Albright to write, “Instead of being shunned, this thug — who may well be a felon before the year is out — was given a hero’s welcome at the party, including an open bar tab, VIP spots and all the cigars he could smoke.”
Screaming, shouting, whistles and air horns: Students, parents and Occupy activists attempt to shut down NYC school board meeting
There were parents, students and members of “Occupy the Department of Education” at the school. They said Mayor Michael Bloomberg should be fixing the city’s schools, not closing them.
Rowdy protesters shouted and screamed while using whistles and air horns. They also tried to outshout members of the panel, 1010 WINS’ Eileen Lehpamer reported.
The public portion of the meeting was expected to go on until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. Friday before a vote is taken.
Teachers Union, “Occupy” Protesters Rally Against School Closures At PEP Meeting
An estimated 2,000 people, including disruptive groups of competing protesters, are packed into a Brooklyn auditorium tonight for a meeting that will decide the fates of nearly two dozen city schools.
The Panel for Educational Policy is set to vote on 23 proposed school closures, but while the meeting at Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene officially started at 6 p.m., few voices could initially be heard over the shouts of protesters.
A splinter group of Occupy Wall Street called “Occupy the DOE,” referring to the Department of Education, is attempting to disrupt the meeting in an effort to cancel the vote.
http://tinyurl.com/7xblllr
Divestment movement grows: Another city – Portland – about to start transferring funds from TBTF banks to community banks and or credit unions
Mayor Sam Adams’ proposal to steer more of the city’s money to small banks and credit unions is generating an overwhelmingly positive response, including from Occupy Portland.
Last Friday, the mayor posted a draft proposal to steer $250,000 – the insurable maximum -to 10 credit unions or community banks. The proposal calls for depositing more than $250,000 in one credit union, provided it meets certain criteria.
Interview With Chris Hedges About Black Bloc
Chris Hedges’ syndicated Truthdig column “Black Bloc: The Cancer in Occupy,” printed Tuesday at Truthout and elsewhere, created quite a stir among members of Occupy Wall Street (OWS). Some endorsed the sentiment. Among others, including some central organizers who helped plan the action over the summer, the column raised eyebrows and hackles. I compiled what I considered to be the best critiques of the piece that I came across (as well as my own questions) and interviewed Hedges over the phone.
I explained at the outset that I, too, had written in Truthout to urge doctrinal nonviolence and that I am enormously fond of Hedges’ prodigious body of work. Nevertheless, I explained, there was a lot about the column that confounded me and many people I’d heard from, and I asked him to let me push for clarification on a number of points. Here is the transcript of that recorded interview, edited very minimally for clarity.
http://tinyurl.com/86ochy8
It’s Time To Occupy Mainstream Media
Enter Occupy Wall Street. The movement has set its sights on corporations and the elite who continue without apology to commodify health care, public education, and other vital necessities, and has subsequently kicked issues like income inequality and corporate greed back into the national conversation. Some even argue that President Obama’s recent State of the Union speech carried a hint of the spirit of the movement, which isn’t surprising in an election year.
How would corporate media respond to civil disobedience in their lobbies? What would happen if a group of protesters went to a news station and demanded a revoking of that outlet’s license? This is what happened in the WLBT case, when civil rights activists challenged a racist broadcaster and ultimately forced a judge to pull the station’s license for not serving the public interest.
If the people are going to stand up to big banks and corporations for wrecking our economy and destroying our environment, the theft of our airwaves and newspapers must not be ignored. As each occupation tackles issues local to their cities and towns – such as police brutality in minority communities – directly challenging broadcasters and newspapers through sit-ins or other creative tactics to cover issues that aren’t properly covered by major media could be a good start. But that would just be the beginning.
A Plutocrat Takes On the Plutocracy
It doesn’t exactly ring like “I am Spartacus” (and crucifixion will almost certainly not be involved), but this identification with Occupy Wall Street is worth noting. The disclosure appeared in The Financial Times earlier this week, and it was written by a 1 percenter through and through – the famed investor Jeremy Grantham, whose firm G.M.O. has $100 billion or so in assets under management. In his Financial Times opinion piece, Grantham went on to declare, “In the U.S. our corporate and governmental system backed surprisingly by the Supreme Court has become a plutocracy, designed to prolong, protect and intensify the wealth and influence of those who already have the wealth and influence.”
http://tinyurl.com/7a6cb7n
Unilever-owned Ben & Jerry’s corporation reaffirms its backing of the Occupy movement
Two people who spent much of last year rallying against corporate greed visited Vermont’s most famous company Thursday.
“I think corporations have a lot of power to do good,” said Sam Corbin, one of the early members of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Sam Corbin and Matt Smucker spent weeks agitating for change in Zuccotti Park in New York City as part of Occupy Wall Street. “We have been in the streets. We have been pushing the envelope,” Smucker said.
Their trip to Vermont featured quiet cooperation, meeting with top managers at Ben & Jerry’s. The board of directors of the super-premium ice cream company has come out as an ally of the Occupy movement. Both, for example, denounce unlimited corporate spending on behalf of politicians.
http://tinyurl.com/7r63pgo
Unilever scientist who helped develop Slimfast drinks throws himself from roof of work HQ after being made redundant
A top food scientist jumped to his death from the roof of his work laboratory just hours after being made redundant, an inquest has heard.
Dr Clive Blackburn – who developed products for big brand names including Slimfast and Lipton Tea – could not cope with losing his position at food giant Unilever, so meticulously planned his death.
He had not been able to handle being made redundant and saw his GP on several occasions leading up to his death complaining of depression.
Unions in talks with Unilever
Consumer goods giant Unilever has agreed to negotiate with unions over attacks on its workers’ pensions. It had previously refused talks through the Acas conciliation service unless unions accepted that the final salary pensions scheme would be scrapped.
Workers in the Unite, GMB and Usdaw unions struck twice against the attacks, in December and again in January.
Unilever is one of the most profitable corporations in Britain. Workers should not accept any attempt to rob them of their pension scheme.
http://tinyurl.com/87aqmx3
Utah Newest Front In GOP Battle Against Unions
Utah is already a right to work state, which means unions have pretty limited role in government. But the labor organizations still get a seat at the table to discuss pay, benefits and working conditions.
The Utah bill has some things in common with a broader series of measures currently making their way through the Arizona legislature and believed to be the most sweeping in the nation. Both affect public unions at the city, county and state levels. And neither provides an exemption for public safety unions like for police and firefighters.
King said the Utah bill has a good chance of passing since Republicans have dominant control over both the state House and Senate. But he said there’s also the possibility that some of the state’s moderate Republicans will join their Democratic colleagues to block the measure.
http://tinyurl.com/7fuabjg
Editorial: Occupy is making a difference
Our movement started when a small group of people got together in public and decided what regular people need is more important than what those in power want. Occupy’s greatest contribution thus far has been to teach another generation that real change doesn’t come from candidates or corporations. Change comes only when citizens get together to empower themselves. This lesson, and the millions who have recently learned it, will not soon be forgotten.
The occupations spread like wildfire across the country because they tapped into a widespread belief that our democracy is in crisis. Recent history has shown that our leaders and the institutions they embody are incapable of representing our interests.
http://tinyurl.com/7rotqn4
Response to previous editorial: ‘Occupy’ movement fading out in a whimper
The demographics of the Occupy movement skew young. And young people have an abysmal track record of voting. Even in 2008, when the youth vote surged, it lagged the overall turnout. Then, in 2010, it fell off again, with just 21% of eligible voters ages 18 to 24 showing up, compared with more than 60% for voters 65 and older. That helps explain why Congress caters to seniors, as well as the wealthy interests that underwrite campaigns.
http://tinyurl.com/7gsft3a
Occupiers ‘dangerous’ and ‘unsavory’: Tennessee Lt. Gov. warns teachers not to bring children on field trips to the state capitol
[Ron Ramsey] made it clear he believes fervently in the Bill of Rights-except for all those dirty hippies camping at the Capitol. (Also on Ramsey’s list of exceptions are Muslims building terrorist training camps disguised as innocent community centers, but that’s another story.) You see, the occupiers are such a lawless gang of cutthroats, Ramsey is saddened to report, that Tennessee’s schoolchildren no longer are safe at their Capitol.
http://tinyurl.com/7gsft3a
In New Jersey, Sovereign Bank branch to host ‘Occupy Hoboken’ art show
An ‘occupy’ movement is heading toward a big bank in Hoboken, but it’s not what you might think. Carla Cubit, a North Bergen resident and artist, will bring a collection of multimedia art to a gallery at Sovereign Bank, 84 River St., for a solo show from now until March 17.
The irony of an occupy-themed art show at a bank – when recent protests have been opposed to Wall Street – is not lost on Cubit. She said she originally had her doubts about putting the show in the bank for fear of stirring up too much controversy, and even considered changing the show’s name.
“I was going to use ‘Recycled Works’ as a different title,” Cubit said. “I was concerned the title could be too controversial, and I proposed using Recycled Works, but I was told the bank was okay with ‘Occupy Hoboken.’ ”
http://tinyurl.com/7ng6rfe
Dispute over signs roils residents in Minn. Town
Robin Hensel says it’s only fair that since the city of Little Falls ordered her to take down signs in her yard supporting the Occupy Wall Street and peace movements, the city should have to remove its “We Support Our Troops” banner from a downtown bank.
Helsel tells the Brainerd Dispatch the issue is not what her signs or the banner say – it’s about the central Minnesota city following its own ordinance.
She also says she’s received death threats for pressing the issue._Supporters of the “We Support Our Troops” banner are urging the city council to keep it up.
http://tinyurl.com/7c8o5so
Americans 20 to 30 years old: The screwed generation
“Young workers are on the bottom of the ladder, and during a recession like we’ve had, it’s often hard for them to hold on,” Kim Parker, associate director of Pew’s Social & Demographic Trends project told the AP.
Parker acknowledges that these younger Americans have no real outlet to express their outrage and have found refuge in the Occupy movement.
Even though Occupy’s push for financial reform has been anything but a bust, this same demographic has suffered bigger revenue losses than any other age group and according to the Associated Press, “are less likely to be employed than at any time since World War II.”
http://tinyurl.com/754wca6
Canadian Occupiers rally against MP affiliated with conservative government planning attack on that country’s version of Social Security
Bearing signs reading “Harper Government: The Democracy that Money Can Buy” and “Occupy Phil,” they formed a line outside the office building on St. George Street. Six went into the office, hoping to arrange a telephone conversation with McColeman, who was in Ottawa.
“We are outraged that Harper is musing about increasing the age at which seniors may collect OAS and we are outraged that there may be changes implemented that would increase the clawback of OAS,” Garry Mac Donald, president of the Brantford and District Labour Council, said in a prepared statement at reception desk.
“We are dismayed that your government is scapegoating current and future seniors by suggesting that OAS is unsustainable. This is simply false.”
http://tinyurl.com/74kvmss
One Response to “The OB Media Rundown for 2/10/12”
Video from previous counter protest in Seattle: https://vimeo.com/23386228