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TBR News February 25, 2010
The Slaughterhouse Informer

A Compendiium of Various Official Lies, Business Scandals, Small Murders, Frauds, and Other Gross Defects of Our Current Political, Business and Religious Moral Lepers.

Presenting a new magazine that contains material that is not found elsewhere and is very difficult to post on the Internet. The ‘Voice of the White House’ will appear in each issue containing material not found on TBR News for very obvious reasons.This publication will appear once a week, on Wednesday, every week, will be ten pages in length and is available by subscription only. The price is $5.00 a month and can be paid via PayPal or by check. If you don’t like it, and Bush supporters can read the Drudge Report for free, you can cancel at any time.




TBR Ebooks
Civil insurrection in America and government countermeasures: The official papers

By Bradley Moscrip

An in-depth study of official American plans to construct FEMA detention centers in America and specific recent U.S. Army domestic counterinsurgency plans. Here is a sampling of the ebook contents:


Gun Control by Confiscation

As the American general population is known to be the most heavily armed in the world, immediately upon the declaration of Martial Law and the execution by the military of counterinsurgency programs, it has been determined that the BATF, will begin the process of rounding up all rifles, pistols and so-called assault weaponry from the civil population. Lists of gun collectors obtained from firearms dealers, gun magazine subscription lists and other sources will be the basis for these mass confiscations. Gun owners will be supplied documentation by the BATF showing which pieces have been confiscated so that in the future, they will be told, they can recover their weapons when the state of emergency has passed. In actuality, weapons that do not have a high value or are not suitable for arming loyalist police forces, will be destroyed by order

This study is available from tbrnews at $5.00 by PayPal











The Voice of the White House



Washington, D.C., February 24, 2010: “Although only bankers are aware of it, there is a second wave of economic disaster starting to build up that will make the earlier one pale into insignificance. Let us start out with MERS, shall we?


MERS = Mortgage Electronic Registration Inc.holds approximately 60 million Amerrican mortgages and is a Delaware corporation whose sole shareholder is Mers Corp. MersCorp and its specified members have agreed to include the MERS corporate name on any mortgage that was executed in conjunction with any mortgage loan made by any member of MersCorp. Thus in place of the original lender being named as the mortgagee on the mortgage that is supposed to secure their loan, MERS is named as the “nominee” for the lender who actually loaned the money to the borrower. In other words MERS is really nothing more than a name that is used on the mortgage instrument in place of the actual lender. MERS’ primary function, therefore, is to act as a document custodian. MERS was created solely to simplify the process of transferring mortgages by avoiding the need to re-record liens – and pay county recorder filing fees – each time a loan is assigned. Instead, servicers record loans only once and MERS’ electronic system monitors transfers and facilitates the trading of notes. It has very conserbatively estimated that as of February, 2010, over half of all new residential mortgage loans in the United States are registered with MERS and recorded in county recording offices in MERS’ name

MersCorp was the created in the early 1990’s by the former C.E.O.’s of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Indy Mac, Countrywide, Stewart Title Insurance and the American Land Title Association. The executives of these companies lined their pockets with billions of dollars of unearned bonuses and free stock by creating so-called mortgage backed securities using bogus mortgage loans to unqualified borrowers thereby creating a huge false demand for residential homes and thereby falsely inflating the value of those homes. MERS marketing claims that its “paperless systems fit within the legal framework of the laws of all fifty states” are now being vetted by courts and legal commentators throughout the country.

The MERS paperless system is the type of crooked rip-off scheme that is has been seen for generations past in the crooked financial world. In this present case, MERS was created in the boardrooms of the most powerful and controlling members of the American financial institutions. This gigantic scheme completely ignored long standing law of commerce relating to mortgage lending and did so for its own prsonal gain. That the inevitable collapse of the crooked mortgage swindles would lead to terrible national reprecussions was a matter of little or no interest to the upper levels of America’s banking and financial world because the only interest of these entities was to grab the money of suckers, keep it in the form of ficticious bonuses, real estate and very large accounts in foreign banks.. The effect of this system has led to catastrophic metldown on both the American and global economy.

MERS, it has clearly been proven in many civil cases, does not hold any promissory notes of any kind.. A party must have possession of a promissory note in order to have standing to enforce and/or otherwise collect a debt that is owed to another party. Given this clear-cut legal definition, MERS does not have legal standing to enforce or collect on the over 60 million mortgages it controls and no member of MERS has any standing in an American civil court.

MERS has been taken to civil courts across the country and charged with a lack of standing in reprossion issues. When the mortgage debacle initially, and invevitably, began, MERS always rotinely broght actions against defauilting mortgage holders purporting to represent the owners of the defaulted mortgages but once the courts discovered that MERS was only a front organization that did not hold any deed nor was aware of who or what agencies might hold a deed, they have been routinely been denied in their attempts to force foreclosure. In the past, persons alleging they were officials of MERS in foreclosure motions, purported to be the holders of the mortgage, when, in fact, they nor only were not the holder of the mortgage but, under a court order, could not produce the identity of the actual holder. These so-called MERS officers have usually been just employees of entities who are servicing the loan for the actual lender. MERS, it is now widely acknowledged by the courty, has no legal right to foreclose or otherwise collect debt which are evidenced by promissory notes held by someone else.

The American media routinely identifies MERS as a mortgage lender, creditor, and mortgage company, when in point of fact MERS has never loaned so much as a dollar to anyone, is not a creditor and is not a mortgage company. MERS is merely a name that is printed on mortgages, purporting to give MERS some sort of legal status, in the matter of a loan made by a completely different and almost always,a totally unknown enitity.

The infamous collapse of the American housing bubble originated, in the main, with one Angelo Mozilo, CEO of the later failed Countrywide Mortgage.

Mozilo started working in his father’s butcher shop, in the Bronx, when he was ten years old. He graduated from Fordham in 1960, and that year he met David Loeb.. In 1968, Mozilo and Loeb created a new mortgage company, Countrywide, together. Mozilo believed the company should make special efforts to lower the barrier for minorities and others who had been excluded from homeownership. Loeb died in 2003

In 1996, Countrywide created a new subsidiary for subprime loans.

Countrywide Financial's former management
Angelo R. Mozilo, cofounder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer
David S. Loeb, cofounder, President and Chairman from 1969 to 2000
David Sambol, president, chief operating officer, director
Eric P. Sieracki, chief financial officer, executive managing director
Jack Schakett, executive managing director, chief operating officer
Kevin Bartlett, executive managing director, chief investment officer
Andrew Gissinger, executive managing director, chief production officer, Countrywide Home Loans[14]
Sandor E. Samuels, executive managing director, chief legal officer and assistant secretary
Ranjit Kripalani, executive managing director and president, Capital Markets
Laura K. Milleman, senior managing director, chief accounting officer
Marshall Gates, senior managing director, chief administrative officer
Timothy H. Wennes, senior managing director, president and chief operating officer, Countrywide Bank FSB
Anne D. McCallion, senior managing director, chief of financial operations and planning
Steve Bailey, senior managing director of loan administration, Countrywide Home Loans
The standard Countrywide procedure was to openly solicit persons who either had no credit or could not obtain it, and, by the use of false credit reports drawn up in their offices, arrange mortgages. The new home owners were barely able to meet the minimum interest only payments and when, as always happens, the mortgage payments are increased to far, far more than could be paid, defaults and repossessions were inevitable. Countrywide sold these mortgages to lower-tier banks which in turn, put them together in packages and sold them to the large American banks. These so-called “bundled mortgages” were quickly sold these major banking houses to many foreign investors with the comments that when the payments increased, so also would the income from the original mortgage. In 1996, Countrywide created a new subsidiary for subprime loans..



At one point in time,Countrywide Financial Corporation was regarded with awe in the business world. In 2003, Fortune observed that Countrywide was expected to write $400 billion in home loans and earn $1.9 billion. Countrywide’s chairman and C.E.O., Angelo Mozilo, did rather well himself. In 2003, he received nearly $33 million in compensation. By that same year, Wall Street had become addicted to home loans, which bankers used to create immensely lucrative mortgage-backed securities and, later, collateralized debt obligations, or C.D.O.s—and Countrywide was their biggest supplier. Under Mozilo’s leadership, Countrywide’s growth had been astonishing.



He was aiming to achieve a market share—thirty to forty per cent—that was far greater than anyone in the financial-services industry had ever attained. For several years, Countrywide continued to thrive. Then, inevitably, in 2007, subprime defaults began to rocket upwards , forcing the top American bankers to abandoned the mortgage-backed securities they had previously prized. It was obvious to them that the fraudulent mortgages engendered by Countrywide had been highly suceessful as a marketinig program but it was obvious to eveyone concerned, at all levels, that the mortgages based entirely on false and misleading credit information were bound to eventually default. In August of 2007, the top American bankers cut off



Countrywide’s short-term funding, which seriously hindered its ability to operate, and in just a few months following this abandonment, Mozilo was forced to choose between bankruptcy orselling out to the best bidder.. In January, 2008, Bank of America announced that it would buy the company for a fraction of what Countrywide was worth at its peak. Mozilo was subsequently named a defendant in more than a hundred civil lawsuits and a target of a criminal investigation. On June 4th, 2007 the S.E.C., in a civil suit, charged Mozilo, David Sambol, and Eric Sieracki with securities fraud; Mozilo was also charged with insider trading. The complaint formalized a public indictment of Mozilo as an icon of corporate malfeasance and greed.


In essence, not only bad credit risks were used to create and sell mortgages on American homes that were essentially worthless. By grouping all of these together and selling them abroad, the banks all made huge profits. When the kissing had to stop, there were two major groups holding the financial bag. The first were the investors and the second were, not those with weak credit, but those who had excellent credit and who were able, and willing to pay off their mortgages.

Unfortunately, as no one knows who owns the title to any home, when the legitimate mortgage holder finally pays off his mortgage, or tries to sell his house, a clear title to said house or property cannot ever be found so, in essence, the innocent mortgage payer can never own or sell his house. This is a terrible economic time bomb quietly ticking away under the feet of the Bank of America and if, and when, it explodes, another bank is but a fond memory.

Readers wishing to find out if their title is secure should write to Vermont Trotter, an investigative reporter whose own mortgage ended up in the courts. Mr. Trotter is embarking on a series of articles on this subject and is able, and willing, to forward requests for information to attorneys specializing in the subject.
Vermont Trotter: wordpress@chinkinthearmor.net If you want to know how to get in touch w/ Mr. Trotter or how to find the pre-eminent lawyer on this subject, go to: www.ChinkintheArmor.net, leave a comment on any article and he will respond.



Countrywide's Mozilo accused of fraud

SEC: Countrywide founder and 2 others misled investors about mortgage lender's health - Mozilo pocketed $140 million from insider trades.

by Tami Luhby,

CNNMoney.com senior writer



NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday filed securities fraud charges against former Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo and two other former executives.

The trio was charged with deliberately misleading investors by telling them the company was a quality lender of mostly prime mortgages and had prudent underwriting standards, while it actually was engaging in very risky lending practices in order to build and maintain market share.

Mozilo was also charged with insider trading for selling his Countrywide stock for nearly $140 million in profits while knowing that Countrywide's business model was deteriorating.

Along with Mozilo, the SEC charged former Chief Operating Officer and President David Sambol and former Chief Financial Officer Eric Sieracki with hiding the company's true practices and condition from shareholders.

"This is the tale of two companies," said Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "Countrywide portrayed itself as underwriting mainly prime quality mortgages using high underwriting standards. But concealed from shareholders was the true Countrywide, an increasingly reckless lender assuming greater and greater risk."

From 2005 to 2007, Countrywide engaged in an unprecedented expansion of its underwriting guidelines and was writing riskier and riskier loans, according to the SEC. The senior executives knew that defaults and delinquencies would rise.

In particular, the SEC pointed to Countrywide's increased origination of pay-option mortgages, which allow borrowers to choose their monthly payments even if they don't cover the entire interest amount. While the lender maintained they were being prudently underwritten, the SEC says, Mozilo wrote in an email that there was evidence that borrowers were lying on their applications and many would be unable to handle the eventual higher payments.

Also, Mozilo was very concerned about the lender's 80-20 mortgage product, which allowed borrowers to take out two loans to cover the entire cost of the house. He called it "the most dangerous product in existence."


"In all my years in the business I have never seen a more toxic prduct[sic]," he wrote in an email to Sambol, according to the SEC.

By the end of 2006, Countrywide's underwriting guidelines were as wide as they had ever been, the SEC said. Countrywide made an increasing number of loans based on exceptions to those already wide guidelines, even though these mortgages had a higher rate of default.

The SEC's civil action seeks financial penalties and the return of ill-gotten gains.




An attorney for Mozilo called the SEC's allegations "baseless."

"Mr. Mozilo acted properly and lawfully at all times as the CEO of Countrywide," said David Siegel. "Those sales were entirely lawful, complied with applicable laws and regulations, and were made under the terms of a series of written sales plans which were reviewed and approved by responsible professionals."

Siegel said it is "demonstrably false" that Mozilo knew about risky lending practices at Countrywide and refused to disclose them. "The mix and risks of Countrywide's loan portfolio and its underwriting standards were well disclosed to and understood by the marketplace."

Sambol's attorney said the SEC has no case against his client.

"Indeed, Dave's own statements during investor presentations and earnings calls demonstrate that he provided the detailed, accurate information the SEC now falsely asserts was absent from Countrywide's public filings," said Walter Brown.

Sieracki's attorney said her client did not violate any securities laws.

"The Company provided robust, timely information concerning the risks affecting its business and monthly information on loan delinquencies," said attorney Shirli Weiss.

Mozilo has clearly become the poster boy for the subprime crisis. He stood to collect a windfall of $115 million in the $4 billion sale of a sinking Countrywide to Bank of America But after facing heavy criticism from lawmakers, Mozilo later stated that he would forfeit $37.5 million in payments tied to the takeover deal.



BAD NEWS AHEAD FOR COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Congressional Oversight Panel –



Over the next few years, a wave of commercial real estate loan failures could threaten America’s already-weakened financial system. The Congressional Oversight Panel is deeply concerned that commercial loan losses could jeopardize the stability of many banks, particularly the nation’s mid-size and smaller banks, and that as the damage spreads beyond individual banks that it will contribute to prolonged weakness throughout the economy.

Between 2010 and 2014, about $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans will reach the end of their terms. Nearly half are at present “underwater’- that is, the borrower owes more than the underlying property is currently worth. Commercial property values have fallen more than 40 percent since the beginning of 2007. Increased vacancy rates, which now range from eight percent for multifamily housing to 18 percent for office buildings, and falling rents, which have declined 40 percent for office space and 33 percent for retail space, have exerted a powerful downward pressure on the value of commercial properties.

The largest commercial real estate loan losses are projected for 2011 and beyond; losses at banks alone could range as high as $200-$300 billion. The stress tests conducted last year for 19 major financial institutions examined their capital reserves only through the end of 2010.

Even more significantly, small and mid-sized banks were never subjected to any exercise comparable to the stress tests, despite the fact that small and mid-sized banks are proportionately even more exposed than their larger counterparts to commercial real estate loan losses.

A significant wave of commercial mortgage defaults would trigger economic damage that could touch the lives of nearly every American. Empty office complexes, hotels, and retail stores could lead directly to lost jobs. Foreclosures on apartment complexes could push families out of their residences, even if they had never missed a rent payment. Banks that suffer, or are afraid of suffering, commercial mortgage losses could grow even more reluctant to lend, which could in turn further reduce access to credit for more businesses and families and accelerate a negative economic cycle.

It is difficult to predict either the number of foreclosures to come or who will be most immediately affected. In the worst case scenario, hundreds more community and mid-sized banks could face insolvency. Because these banks play a critical role in financing the small businesses that could help the American economy create new jobs, their widespread failure could disrupt local communities, undermine the economic recovery, and extend an already painful recession.


Goldman's golden sunset moment
February 25, 2010
by Julian Delasantellis
Asia Times

You may think yourself in a particularly unfortunate pickle should your business take you to Seattle for the next few months, especially as you absolutely hate the people in Seattle. Fear not. There is one place in the city where you can absolutely, positively be guaranteed not to run into any Seattleites - the Pike's Place Market, specifically, the Fresh Fish Market that anchors Pike Place's southern selling space.

Originally it was an actual seafood market for the local young professional and student neighborhoods nearby. By the mid-1990s, the proprietors came to the conclusion that they couldn't stay in business as a fish market just by selling fish - they had to provide some manner of value added for the customer as well.

This they did with entertainment, specifically a borderline shtick act consisting of fishmongers removing the customer's desired fish from the ice then flinging it around the establishment like baseball infielders executing a double play, until it reaches the fish cutter behind the display. This they do with comedy and pizzaz, as with a customer specific routine that goes something on the order of "Coho for Cleveland!" or "Swordfish for Seoul" The tourists love it; "What a cute, quaint city Seattle is!" The purchased fish are usually left behind in the hotel rooms to be enjoyed by the families of the immigrant cleaning staff.

Lately, the financial news makes one wonder if there is a new offering lying there, lifeless and conquered, upon the tonnes of ice - perhaps it's the "great vampire squid" wrapped around the face of humanity - Matt Taibbi's famous description in Rolling Stone magazine of the American brokerage house Goldman Sachs. Is last year's "miracle of evolution" destined to be seen this year on plates stuffed with onions and tomatoes because of its overweening pride and hubris.

It sure was different a year ago for the Wall Street powerhouse that comedienne Tracy Ullman refers to as "Golden Sacks". For most of 2008 and early 2009, the firm carried the reputation of The Seer, the company that, instead of being broken and humiliated by the subprime mortgage meltdown, saw it coming, and put on a grand global short position on the subprime sector that paid off like gangbusters. Back then, many people believed that Goldman did not need, but was forced to accept, billions in Federal assistance offered by the US Treasury. Now we know better than that.

In midsummer 2009, Taibbi accused the firm of being at the center of everything nefarious over the past century. Then, in early August, came reports of Goldman's lead in a technologically savvy but morally sleazy bit of market manipulation called high frequency trading (HFT) It almost seemed that Goldman's ability to make money had totally superseded the material world itself, and that it was now filling its coffers through something resembling non-corporeal financial telekinesis.

So, as summer faded to autumn, Goldman was still unquestionably the primus inter pares of the international banking cabal that had kidnapped Barack Obama in order to attack puppet strings to the president's arms and legs. Then this year, the Greek financial crisis broke out among the world's overleveraged, and we found out about a new way Goldman made money - to paraphrase the late John Houseman in a TV commercial for a long-gone US brokerage: "They made money the old fashioned way - they lied about it."

As the disparate economies of Europe coalesced into what we now know as the European Union, formalized by the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, they all knew one thing. Without Germany on board the effort would be pointless, since only Germany and its Bundesbank possessed sufficient inflation fighting credibility to convince the markets that a countervailing force existed to lean against all those inflationary socialists, especially in France, on the rest of the Continent. Maastricht was designed very simply - whatever the Germans wanted, the Germans got. In 1999, the guard dog got some bite to go along with the bark.

The last thing that the Germans wanted was to continue to run their accounts properly, with hard-earned budget and trade surpluses, while still having the good Bavarian burghers having to write big checks to those countries, mainly in Southern Europe, who didn't. New rules, with attendant sanctions, were established that declared those countries with excessive budget or trade deficits "out of compliance" with Maastricht.

Of course, even with penalties on the books, everyone knew that Germany was never going to be given a pfennig from countries in violation of the rules; these countries did not join the EU in order to be treated like errant schoolchildren subject to the stick of the strict Prussian schoolmaster.

Sixteen centuries ago, St Augustine entreated the Lord to "make me good, but not just yet". When Greece had similar sentiments at the turn of the millennium, they asked for assistance not from Providence, but from Goldman Sachs.

The concept of what we now know as the financial market swap is sometimes included by those with only a cursory knowledge of the operation as being one of the Wall Street perfidies, but that is not necessarily true. Like most tools, swaps can be used for either good or bad. Good use of swaps may be by a company that has debts tied to variable interest rate financing but assets payable in fixed-rate financing. A swap, in essence a trade, could equalize the debt/income stream.

Then again, there's what Goldman did for Greece. From a recent piece in Der Spiegel:
Greece's debt managers agreed a huge deal with the savvy bankers of US investment bank Goldman Sachs at the start of 2002. The deal involved so-called cross-currency swaps in which government debt issued in dollars and yen was swapped for euro debt for a certain period - to be exchanged back into the original currencies at a later date. Such transactions are part of normal government refinancing. Europe's governments obtain funds from investors around the world by issuing bonds in yen, dollar or Swiss francs. But they need euros to pay their daily bills. Years later, the bonds are repaid in the original foreign denominations. But in the Greek case, the US bankers devised a special kind of swap with fictional exchange rates. That enabled Greece to receive a far higher sum than the actual euro market value of 10 billion dollars or yen. In that way, Goldman Sachs secretly arranged additional credit of up to $1 billion for the Greeks. This credit disguised as a swap didn't show up in the Greek debt statistics ... At some point Greece will have to pay up for its swap transactions, and that will impact its deficit. The bond maturities range between 10 and 15 years. Goldman Sachs charged a hefty commission for the deal and sold the swaps on to a Greek bank in 2005.

"Hey!" Mr European Central Bank asks Mr Greek Finance Ministry. "Where's all that euro debt you used to have, you know, the stuff we were about to penalize you for?"
"Dang if I know - we've looked in every shoebox in the building. Still can't find 'em. "

Today, Goldmanite E Gerald Corrigan (and former head of the New York Federal Reserve) tries to assuage an angry European Community by saying that "with the benefit of hindsight ... the standards of transparency could have been and probably should have been higher", but there was no self-abasement or contrition back when the swaps were put on. Then, there was just the audacity and insolence of an institution that thought it could stick its thumb in the eye of the new world monetary superpower, the European Central Bank, on behalf of Greece and not get caught doing so.

I title my lectures on the great fin de siecle of macroeconomic liberalism, from the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall to the crash of Lehman Brothers, the "Era of strong markets and weak governments". Few examples illustrate this sociopathy better than this. In the manner that the strong have been wont to do to the weak from time immemorial on the back pages of American muscle magazines, Goldman apparently thought it was none other than its evolutionary privilege to be able to kick sand in the face of the European regulators.

But that was a long time ago, during those long ago joyous tidings of overleverage and excessive debt; now the world is cautious and poor; Goldman is even paring senior partner bonuses to the seven-figure range - can you believe such penury?

The 2008 crises of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, in March and September respectively, were the birth pangs of the new order. An old adage, probably dating back to the time of Napoleon, advises an investor to keep cool, to keep one's powder dry so as to be able to buy "when there's blood in the streets".

If Goldman really was the superhuman world ubermenschen that last year's media implied, you might have expected that the company and its people rode out the two birthing crises of the new era with steely eyed cold determination and patience. Nothing could be further from the truth. New government reports are out on trading in the company's stock during the crisis; for many Goldmanites, manic depressives in their up phase would have shown a steadier hand on the stock tiller.

Take the aforementioned Goldman managing director E Gerald Corrigan, who sold US$2.65 million of Goldman stock on March 19, 2008. Edward Eisler, named as co-head of the firm's securities division that February, sold $3.7 million in the stock the same day. Taking the prize for the most nervous nelly for that day was the firm's mergers and acquisitions specialist, Jack Levy, seller of over $5 million in Goldman stock.

It was much the same after Lehman's fall on September 17, 2008. Then, Goldman managing director Edward Berlinski sold over $12 million of Goldman common stock; the next day, another $6.8 million. The above-mentioned Levy, another $6 million on the 17th, a further $4 million on the 18th. The selling prize for that day seemed to have gone to Masanori Mochida, Goldman's Salt Lake City Utah chief, who, according to the records, sold $55 million in stock that day.

In all this, I'm leaning against the wind in opposition to those who last year said that Goldman ruled the world, and equally against those who this year say you'd be better off with darts and the stock page rather than listening to advice from Goldman. Goldman is comprised of humans, which makes it a human organization, subject to all the mortality and error that anything the species undertakes. Last year was glorious, but this year one wonders whether the firm is heading gently into that good night.

No human organization stays at the pinnacle of the greasy pole forever. In the '90s it was Salomon Brothers, the famed bond trading house made famous in Michael Lewis' 1989 book, Liar's Poker. Salomon eventually was consumed and digested by Robert Rubin's Citigroup, with the once-proud titan now sharing Citi's fate as a poor fallen ward of the state.

What firm could be the next Goldman? I'd look to the private equity and real estate powerhouse, the Blackstone Group. Quietly, almost surreptitiously, it's become one of the largest financial institutions in the world. Perhaps most importantly, the firm's CEO, Steven Schwarzman, in a recent interview with Bloomberg, cautioned the proletarian class in the US Congress to stop criticizing the financial industry, saying:

My biggest concern is that ... financial institutions are going to feel under siege and that they're going to retreat in terms of extension of credit ... We've now increased the uncertainty from the political environment directed at the banks ... The uncertainty and the tone against them is so difficult that they may lack the confidence to start doing their normal function. And the danger of that is that that could really start to impact an economic recovery."

Meaning that, like a society scion who seemingly comes out of the womb with pristine table manners, Schwarzman already knows how to order the servants around.

Of course, the bricks that these great houses of money are built on are not made of brick and mortar, but of the tax cuts the Anglo-Saxon world gave to its richest citizens, starting in the late 1970s and early 1980s. (For a review of the the income distribution factor in money management, see Hedge funds: playing dice with the universe, Asia Times Online, July 6, 2006).

Where once a society's wealth was distributed widely among tens of millions of families, it's now concentrated and centralized among far fewer actors, each with a whole lot more interest and incentive in finding a top-notch brokerage house that will make their money grow - a 5% return is a lot more important to a guy whose $100 million is being managed by Goldman than to the guy who is daytrading a $1,000 nest egg away at the brokerage inside the local Sears while his wife shops for pantyhose.

To tell the truth, I'd rather get hit with a flying fish than some of the atrocious research reports being peddled as "revelation" at many brokerage houses. The smell will wash off quickly, far more quickly than the overpowering sweat and Hugo Boss bouquet of a fetid stock recommendation.

Julian Delasantellis is a management consultant, private investor and educator in international business in the US state of Washington. He can be reached at juliandelasantellis@yahoo.com.

CI A briefed 68 lawmakers on interrogation program
February 23, 2010
by David Alexander

Reuters


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA officials briefed at least 68 U.S. lawmakers between 2001 and 2007 on enhanced interrogation methods like simulated drowning that were being considered or used against captured al Qaeda members, according to declassified documents released on Tuesday

The once-secret CIA papers, obtained in a lawsuit by the conservative legal foundation Judicial Watch, shed new light on which lawmakers knew the details of the controversial interrogation program and when.

Human rights groups have argued the harsh interrogation methods were forms of torture and violated U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions on treatment of war prisoners. President Barack Obama banned the techniques shortly after taking office in January 2009.

The declassified memos show the program began after the capture of al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Palestinian who was the group's operations director, in the city of Faisalabad in central Pakistan in March 2002.

In a statement to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence dated April 12, 2007, then-CIA director Michael Hayden said the agency decided new "techniques" were needed because "Abu Zubaydah was withholding information that could help us track down al Qaeda leaders and prevent attacks."
The CIA briefed lawmakers as it began seeking expanded authority for the interrogation program. Current House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then minority whip, attended a briefing on Abu Zubaydah's interrogation April 24, 2002, along with seven other members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the documents show.

The CIA did not begin using the interrogation techniques until after receiving legal guidance from the Department of Justice in August 2002.

Pelosi, who became House Democratic leader in late 2002, said at a news conference in April last year that she was never told at the time that simulated drowning -- or waterboarding -- and other harsh interrogation techniques were being used. She said she was only told the CIA had legal opinions that approved harsh interrogation methods.

Hayden, in his 2007 statement for the Senate Select Committee, said as the CIA began implementing the interrogation program in 2002 "the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the speaker, and the minority leader of the House, and the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence committees were fully briefed on the interrogation procedures."

INFORMATION CHAIN

Documents obtained by Judicial Watch indicate 68 lawmakers were briefed on the interrogation program between 2001 and 2007.

After the interrogation program began, Abu Zubaydah become "one of our most important sources of intelligence on al Qaeda," helping U.S. authorities identify alleged al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla and others, according to Hayden's statement, marked "TOP SECRET."

Early in his detention, Abu Zubaydah identified Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Hayden's statement says. Until that time, it says, Mohammed "did not even appear in our chart of key al Qaeda members and associates."

According to the statement, Sheikh Mohammed also provided information about another al Qaeda operative, Majid Khan, who, in turn, identified another operative named "Zubair" who was captured in June 2003.

Zubair later provided information that led to the arrest of Jamaah Islamiya leader and al Qaeda's South Asia representative Hambali, Hayden said.

The memos show that lawmakers were told as far back as July 13, 2004, that Mohammed had been subjected to waterboarding 183 times.

CIA Inspector General John Helgerson, briefing Reps. Porter Goss and Jane Harman, said "three people had been interrogated with the waterboard," a CIA memo on the meeting states.

"On one, the IG felt that it had been used excessively, beyond what the IG thought was the agreement with DOJ (Department of Justice). Khalid Sheikh Mohammed got 183 applications (redacted)," it says.
(Additional reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Doina Chiacu)


Code Pink protester: Blackwater official threatened to kill me

February 25th, 2010
by David Edwards
Raw Story

A Code Pink protester claimed a high-ranking Blackwater official threatened his life during a break of a Senate Armed Services hearing focused on the military contractor’s actions in Afghanistan.

Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin reported that the threat was made by Johnny Walker, a program manager with one of Blackwater’s subsidiaries. Walker testified at the hearing about the role his company, Paravant, played during its mercenary deployments to the Middle East.

Shortly after the break was announced, Tighe Barry criticized the US military’s use of Blackwater to the court and the CNN camera. As Walker brushed past on his way out of the courtroom, Barry claims Walker said “I’m gonna kill you.”

“This is how they run their business,” Barry said to the camera after Walker left the room. “They are trained murderers. They will threaten you at any moment and they’ll be in our communities soon.”

During its six-month investigation of Blackwater, the Senate Armed Services Committee has shown that the company is riddled with problems and frequently violated the terms of its contract with the US military. Blackwater’s actions sound like “a cartoon parody of war,” as one journalist put it.

In some cases, this is literally true.

According to the investigation, more than 200 AK-47s were taken from a bunker in September 2008 and signed for by a Paravant/Blackwater employee named “Eric Cartman.” Many of the weapons remained unaccounted for months later.

Michigan Democrat and committee chairman Carl Levin said “failures of government oversight” were partly responsible for the contractor’s poor conduct in Afghanistan.

“Blackwater operated in Afghanistan without sufficient oversight or supervision and with almost no consideration of the rules it was legally obligated to follow,” Levin said in a statement. “The means by which Blackwater acquired weapons for its contractor personnel in Afghanistan showed just how little regard company personnel had for those rules.”






Police escort student out of class after refusal to recite Pledge of Allegiance
February 25th, 2010
by Daniel Tencer
Raw Story

A middle school teacher in Montgomery County, Maryland, will have to apologize to a 13-year-old student after yelling at her and having her escorted out of class by school police when the student refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

According to the ACLU of Maryland, a 13-year-old female student at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance on Jan. 27. The teacher reportedly ordered the girl out into the hallway, where he threatened the girl with detention and then sent her to the school counselor’s office.

The next day, when the student again refused to stand for the pledge, the teacher called school officers to remove her from the classroom and take her to the counselor’s office once again.

“When the student’s mother reached out to an assistant principal for help in dealing with the teacher’s abusive and improper actions, the official said her daughter should instead apologize for her ‘defiance.’ The student did apologize, twice,” the ACLU states.

The right to sit silently during the Pledge of Allegiance has been held up by the US Supreme Court, and is enshrined in Maryland state law and Mongtomery County Public Schools’ own policies, reports the Washington Post. No one will be permitted to intentionally embarrass you if you choose not to participate,” says the school district’s handbook, according to TheGazette.net in Maryland.

The ACLU and the girl’s mother declined to identify the girl. They say the student, now 14, has been “traumatized” by the experience, including taunting from fellow students, and has not returned to the school since the incident.

Neither the ACLU nor the school district would identify the teacher involved.

The girl’s mother says the way the teacher “bellowed” at her daughter was inappropriate and the school should take disciplinary action against the teacher, reports TheGazette.net.

“It’s an even bigger problem because he did it to a child in front of a group of other children,” the mother said. “On top of that, the school didn’t protect her. I thought they would protect her, and that’s why I let her go to that school. I was disappointed.”

The turning point evidently came when the ACLU of Maryland sent a letter (PDF) to the school district asking for an apology.

“Expression of patriotism in unsettling times certainly is a worthy and understandable emotion,” the letter stated. “But, as the Supreme Court recognizes, that expression is best honored by venerating the civil liberties and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution and not by losing patience with those whose views or actions do not conform to those of the majority.”

The teacher’s actions were “a violation of our regulations, and we’re in the process of rectifying the situation,” Montgomery Public Schools spokesperson Dana Tofig told TheGazette.net. Tofig said the teacher would apologize to the student, but would not say if any disciplinary action would be taken against the teacher.

The president of the county’s teachers’ union, Doug Prouty, told the Washington Examiner that he supports the move to have the teacher apologize.

“My initial thought is yes, but we would need to know all of the details,” Prouty said.

School officials say several conflicts involving the Pledge of Allegiance arise every year in Maryland, but most are resolved quietly.