US-China Currency Rap Battle. China's In The House! (Video)

Great animated video explaining the effects of the currency valuation dispute between the US and China

Rich Vail Fund Manager Hits Cyclist And Runs, Gets Off Because Charges Might "Jeopardize His Job"

Still Think Rich Wall Street Bankers Aren't Just About Getting Away With Murder? Think Again!

The rich are different from you and me; they get to hit and run, almost killing a cyclist, but get off without serious charges because it is hard to be money manager for Smith Barney if you have a record. District Attorney Mark Hurlbert is not charging Martin Joel Erzinger with a felony, because 

"Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession," which is managing billions for rich people.

Dr. Steven Milo, the victim, is not impressed.

"Mr. Erzinger struck me, fled and left me for dead on the highway," Milo wrote. "Neither his financial prominence nor my financial situation should be factors in your prosecution of this case."

Dr Milo's lawyer notes that the accident had some pretty serious job implications for his client:

"He will have lifetime pain,' his lawyer Harold Haddon told the court. His ability to deal with the physical challenges of his profession - liver transplant surgery - has been seriously jeopardized.'

According to the Vail Daily story,

Milo was bicycling eastbound on Highway 6 just east of Miller Ranch Road, when Erzinger allegedly hit him with the black 2010 Mercedes Benz sedan he was driving. Erzinger fled the scene and was arrested later, police say. Erzinger allegedly veered onto the side of the road and hit Milo from behind. Milo was thrown to the pavement, while Erzinger struck a culvert and kept driving, according to court documents.
Erzinger drove all the way through Avon, the town's roundabouts, under I-70 and stopped in the Pizza Hut parking lot where he called the Mercedes auto assistance service to report damage to his vehicle, and asked that his car be towed, records show. He did not ask for law enforcement assistance, according to court records.

At Cyclelicious, Richard Masoner is organizing a boycott of a race in Vail next August.

At Change.org, a petition has been started, asking DA Hurlburt "Don't drop felony charges against hit-and-run wealth manager."

Traffic laws exist to motivate all drivers to act in a manner that is safe for other users of the road, including pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers. To those of us who rely on bicycles for transportation and recreation, enforcement of laws that ensure our safety on the road is vital.

The enforcement of traffic laws should not differ depending on a driver's ability to write a check, but rather on the ability of the law to motivate drivers to drive safely. What Martin Joel Erzinger is accused of doing is clearly criminal, but dropping felony charges will set a message to drivers that the penalties for neglecting the welfare of others on the road, causing life-altering injury, and showing no concern for the victim might not be as serious as the law indicates.

Read the petition here.

A hundred years ago, Author Anatole France wrote that "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread." The rich have always been treated differently in the courts. But this is just so blatant; you or I would not have "job implications" taken into account if we did a hit and run.

In the New York Times today, Nicolas Kristof says that America is turning into a banana republic with its extremes of distribution of wealth. Now it also appears to have become a kangaroo court for the same reason.

Article by Lloyd Alter, TreeHugger.com

Dr. Janda Explains Healthcare Rationing Under Obamacare (Video)

Dr. David Janda from Ann Arbor is a nationally known health care expert who spoke on Sunday, Oct. 10th in Saline, Michigan. 

Dr. Janda, as he states in the video, testified before congress and relates what he was told. This is what is going to happen in this country if Obamacare is not repealed. A very frightening scenario indeed. 

Wake up America!

The Fate of America? (Video)

Wake Up Americans or You Will Find Yourself Kow-Towing To a New Master!

Mom Upset Over Son's Assignment to Recite Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish

Melissa Taggart says she was delighted that her son was learning a foreign language in the eighth grade -- until she learned he was expected to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish. 

And that he'd receive a zero if he didn't!

Taggart, of Edmond, Okla., said the Pledge should be recited in English -- and English only.

“English is our language…and I just feel it’s wrong that he would have to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America in Spanish. It’s just wrong,” a frustrated Taggart told KFOR.

She said she couldn't begin to understand why her son's teacher would choose the Pledge for her class. And she was upset that her son was told he would receive a zero if he did not complete the assignment.

"There are poems, lyrics, and great writes that she could have chosen that emphasize the Spanish culture and to teach our children," Taggart said. "Why the Pledge of Allegiance?"
 

She said she and her husband were appalled by the assignment and that they “don't believe in it, and I do not want my child doing it."

"I just feel that it's wrong," she told KFOR, "that he'll have to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America in Spanish. That's not how it should be taught. That has nothing to do with the Spanish language."

But Brenda Lyons, associate superintendent and public information officer for the Edmond School District, defended the class assignment, saying the school's language curriculum calls for students to translate and recite something that they are familiar with.

“The Pledge assignment has been in place for years.” Lyons told FoxNews.com. “It is written in the curriculum for Spanish that students need to learn something they are familiar with, like short phrases in the foreign language.”

She said students and parents were made aware of the assignment at the beginning of the school year, and added: “If a parent has an issue with an assignment and calls in advance of that assignment being given, then the student can be given an alternative assignment.”  

Lyons said the Taggarts did not call the school to complain prior to the assignment, “so her son was given a zero for a test grade because he failed to complete the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish.”

But after hearing Taggart's complaint, the school is bending a bit in this case. The boy's teacher, after giving him a zero, is now allowing him to complete another assignment to replace the Pledge.

Courtesy of FoxNews

Hail Hail The Wicked Witch (Pelosi) is "Dead"! (Video)

 
Let this be a lesson to future "Witches" and "Warlocks" who dare to oppose the will of the American People

Bank Fraud: The Perfect No-Prosecution Crime

   

US: State Attorney Generals are investigating 'Foreclosuregate' but no prosecutions for wrongdoing are being considered. The focus, instead, is on how to keep homeowners in their homes and how to keep the banks in business.  

In the aftermath of the S&L fraud of the 1980s, there were over a thousand felony convictions. The recent mortgage fraud is 40 times greater but NO convictions, not even investigations. The above cartoon explains it all.

Did you know that in the aftermath of the Savings and Loan (Thrifts) scandal there were more than a thousand felony convictions of financial elites?  The cost of the wrongdoing associated with the rip-off and closure of nearly 800 Thrifts cost taxpayers more than $160 billion.  

The current sub-prime/mortgage-backed security scandal is 40 times bigger according to Economics professor William Black.  That means the size of the crime is $6.4 trillion by my calculation.  Can you guess how many indictments there have been on financial elites who created this enormous mortgage crisis mess?  Zero, none, nada, zip.  Yes, not one single prosecution or conviction has been started of achieved.

That is simply outrageous considering the width and breadth of the many crimes committed.  There was “rampant” mortgage fraud in the loan application process according to the FBI as far back as 2004.  (Click here to see one of many stories of the FBI warning of mortgage fraud) is being used to wrongfully remove homeowners from their property.  That is foreclosure fraud. 

There was real estate document fraud when the original Promissory Notes and loan documents were “lost.”  The Promissory Notes were required to create tens of thousands of mortgage-backed securities (MBS).  No “note,” no security.  That is security fraud.  No security means the special IRS tax treatments for the MBS’s were fraudulently obtained.  That is IRS tax fraud.  Because there were no documents, the rating agencies fraudulently made up triple “A” ratings for the securities.  When the whole mess blew up, big banks hired foreclosure mill law firms to create forged documents. That phony paperwork was and is being used to wrongfully remove homeowners from their property.  That is foreclosure fraud.

It appears the entire mortgage/securitization industry is one giant criminal enterprise.  And yet, last Wednesday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said, “We have not found any evidence at this point of systemic issues in the underlying legal or other documents that have been reviewed.”  

What!  Well, look a little harder Mr. HUD Secretary.  (Click here for the complete Reuters story with Donovan’s quote.) Donovan did say the foreclosure fiasco is “shameful,” but that is not the same as a criminal prosecution now is it?  Where is U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in all of this?  

I guess he’s busy planning a lawsuit to stop California from making pot smoking a misdemeanor.  Holder is probably also very busy with continuing legal actions against Arizona’s immigration law.  I guess trillions of dollars in mortgage and securities fraud is just not enough of a legal priority for America!

All 50 State Attorneys General are looking into what is now being called “Foreclosuregate.”  Iowa AG, Tom Miller, is leading the investigation for the 50 states.  His focus, according to a recent Washington Post story, is “preventable foreclosures“–ones in which small changes might keep the homeowners in their home – benefits all parties involved. The borrower keeps the house. The servicer continues to collect fees, and the investors receive more income than a foreclosure would bring. The community has one less deserted home.” Miller’s office also says, “This is a public policy issue.”  (Click here to see the complete Wa Po story.)

When did State AG’s become public policy negotiators for the banks?  Where are the criminal prosecutions?  This is a sham and an outrage perpetrated by state governments.  Who are they protecting?  I say it’s really the banks’ and investors’ income stream.

It sure doesn’t look like the FBI is going to prosecute any of the “rampant” mortgage fraud any time soon, according to Professor Black.  At the end of September on the Dylan Ratigan Show, he said, “We know that the FBI has formed what it calls a partnership with the Mortgage Bankers Association.  Now, that’s a trade association of the perps, and guess what the trade association said: ‘Hey we’re the victims.  You know none of the bad stuff happened because the lenders wanted to engage in this fraud,’ and the FBI believed them if you can believe that!”

Black is not just some angry academic.  Besides being a Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri KC, he is also a former bank regulator and an expert in crimes committed by CEO’s.  He thinks Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Attorney General Eric Holder should be fired so real regulators can get to work on prosecutions of crime throughout the entire industry.  And get this, just last week, Black adamantly claimed that “major frauds continue,” at all the big banks.  

Again, Black said, “80% of the loans were fraudulent.” He also said in this segment (but wasn’t included in the clip) that, “securitized mortgage instruments are all fraudulent.” That means trillions of dollars in MBS’s are worthless!  Foreclosuregate is a gargantuan financial mess, and federal and state regulators have not found a single crime in all of this to prosecute?  Clearly, the U.S. government and both political parties are shielding the perpetrators.  

Oh wait!  The SEC did fine Angelo Mozilo, the former head of Countrywide Financial Corp., $67.5 million in penalties to settle civil fraud and insider-trading charges.  Mozilo ripped-off hundreds of millions of dollars, and he pays a fine that amounts to a parking ticket for a man of his wealth?   Is that the same as a criminal prosecution?  I don’t think so!!  (Click here for more on the Mozilo story from The WSJ.)

So, if you are or have been committing document, tax, security, rating or foreclosure fraud, you don’t have a thing to worry about.  Keep doing what you’ve been doing because you are committing “the perfect no prosecution crime.”  

According to the financial elites, these crimes are essential to keep the American economy running smoothly. 

Courtesy of USAWatchdog.com