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CORRUPTION UPDATES 133 California Page III Posted: November 24, 2007, Previous Page: Page 132 All Archives Next page: Page 134 Contact Us: Committeefordemocracy.org 1) The Articles linked below were Abstracted from the sources cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms. California's Fiscal Outlook: LAO Projections 2007-08 Through 2012-13 Elizabeth Hill, Legislative Analyst, November 14, 2007
Summary Deterioration of the 2007–08 Budget
http://www.lao.ca.gov/2007/fiscal_outlook/fiscal_outlook_07.aspx
At the time the 2007–08 Budget Act was enacted in August 2007, the budget plan focused on closing the gap between General Fund revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year and maintaining a $4.1 billion reserve. Since that time, the 2007–08 budget situation has deteriorated by almost $6 billion. Under our forecast, absent corrective action, the state would end the current fiscal year with a $1.9 billion deficit. State Also Faces $8 Billion Shortfall in 2008–09 In addition to a negative carry–in balance from 2007–08, we project the state will face an $8 billion operating shortfall in 2008–09. Revenues are projected to grow by 4.6 percent, hampered by the ongoing effects of the weakened economy. On the expenditure side, spending is projected to grow by 7 percent—reflecting both cost increases in most state programs and the end of many 2007–08 one–time budget solutions. Multibillion Dollar Shortfalls Through 2012–13 Like in 2008–09, we project state costs will exceed revenues by $8 billion in 2009–10. After that, the shortfall will drop to the range of $3 billion each year. The primary factor responsible for this drop between 2009–10 and 2010–11 is that $11.3 billion in previously issued deficit–financing borrowing would be fully paid off in the spring of 2010. This will free up over $3 billion in annual debt service payments beginning in 2010–11. 1b) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. $9.8 billion hole seen in state budget By Judy Lin - jlin@sacbee.com
November 15, 2007 http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/story/493147.html
State leaders on Wednesday called for "an honest dialogue" about closing California's spending gap amid news that next year's budget will contain nearly a $10 billion deficit. That figure is more than the state spent this year on the University of California and California State University systems combined. In releasing her five-year fiscal outlook Wednesday, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said lawmakers face tough decisions for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
"All the easy solutions are gone," she said.
Hill, the state's top budget analyst, called for immediate cuts to "double up" savings for the current and upcoming fiscal years. She also offered solutions certain to meet political opposition, including raising taxes. Her projections were worse than previously stated by the Schwarzenegger administration, which pegged the shortfall at $6 billion. Hill said the deficit has increased due to growing government expenses that have outpaced revenues in an economy weakened by the real estate slump. Hill's forecast predicted the state will be $1.8 billion in the hole by next June. Absent change, the gap between revenues and expenses will increase by $8 billion in the 2008-09 fiscal year, bringing the total deficit to $9.8 billion. 1c) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. State tax revenue down across the board By Judy Lin - jlin@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Friday, November 23, 2007 Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/story/512202.html
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., July 7th, 2007 revised 12-4-07 The failures of our bribery soaked big headed egomaniacs in Sacramento are so dense, they have to be peeled in layers. Let's start with the basics: Schools, Prisons, and our other pieces of public infrastructure. The Schools have failed, and the vast majority of schools are no more than state subsidized daycare for our impoverished foreign labor force. The response from Sacramento? Silence. Except they all are "for" education, but will not address the causes or solutions for our broken schools. In the meantime, at least a million crimigrants have slipped into California this year, and have used our school system as free day care. I must say, "fuck those worthless, corrupted pieces of shit." Sorry, but it needs to be said. The prisons have not just failed, but prison conditions have deteriorated to the level where the politicians should be charged for crimes against humanity. Federal courts are considering releasing 35,000 prisoners from our state sponsored hells. 30% of federal prison and 17% of state prison inmates are crimigrants. Although it has been exceeding difficult for me to find the stats on crimigrants in Ca. State prisons, it is apparent that hispanics are well represented, making up 37.4% of California's inmates, compared to 28.7 and 28.2 for black and whites, respectively. (P.35 of the dept. of Corrections Stats for 2005) The response from Sacramento? The only one they are capable of; awarding big contracts to their big money contractor buddies to build a few billions worth of new prisons. In the meantime, let the prisons eat cake. Our water system, levies, our supposed health care "system," and our electrical grid are all insufficient for our already overpopulated state, while our worthless politicians in Sacramento continue to subsidize a massive crimigration into California. Looking at the condition of our state, it should come as no surprise that the corrupt incompetents in Sacramento cannot come up with a budget. They have already destroyed all the things they are charged with protecting, starting with our schools, and ending with our democracy. These vile tools of wealth, power, and corruption; our legislature, must be replaced with democratically elected representatives, if we want to reverse the collapse of our democracy, and rescue our social institutions. California Budget Crisis: The Corruption Quagmire (latest news at the bottom of this list)
Summary; Deterioration of the 2007–08 Budget, Elizabeth Hill, Legislative Analyst, Nov 14, 2007 10 Bil Deficit Looms, Bee, Nov 15, 2007
State Tax Revenues Plunging, Bee, Nov 23, 2007
Budget Cuts for Education on the way bee 12-10 Arnie predicts 14bil budget Shortfall, bee, December 12, 2007
California: from bad to worse: 14 bil shortfall, bee, 12-12-07 Arnie declares Fiscal Emergency, ap, 12-14-07 Legislators respond by punishing themselves with heavy raises, bee, 12-3-07
Elite unions collected pensions we can't afford in return for years of political bribes, NYT, December 19, 2007 SEIU ready to defend elite state worker's penisons with millions in bribes for democrats: the rest of us get to pay for it, bee, January 2, 2008
Schools face steep cuts, bee, 12-10-07 State's already failed edu instutions ready to tear each other up over budget, bee, 1-2-08
Mortgage crisis defunding cities and states for years to come, lat, December 31, 2007 Subprime woes just getting started, NYT, 1-2-08
CA Elite union health costs 118 bil., bee, 1-8-08 Ca creating health care monster, bee, 1-7-08
econ slowing, market tanking, nyt, 1-9-08
Education, social services, parks severely cut, sf chron, 1-11-08 Gov plans massive prison release, bee, 1-11-08
Leg analyst: Arnie's idiot budget, lat, 1-14-08
Consumer spending drops like a rock, nyt, January 14, 2008
Schwarzenegger Budget Cuts everything, cbs, ap, bcn, 1-11-08 Moron Gov tries accounting trick to lessen deficit, sf gate, 1-15-08 Gov budget loses billon in matching fed funds, bee, 1-15-08
Group calls for probe of Núñez, bee, 1-23-08
Ca Legislators defend junkets, luxury paid by corporations, sf chron, 2-11-08 budget cuts expected to pass, $14.5 billion projected deficit unaffected, bee, 2-15-08
Market rotten at the core: Credit and Bond insurers under severe pressure, new homes sales drop 26% in 2007, nyt 2-17-08
politicians holding bribe-fest in Sacramento, bee, 2-23-08 regulating bribery in california? what a farce: lat, 2-27-08
CA schools cut $4.8 billion, lat, 3-3-08 credit crisis strains local govts, bee, 3-3-08
california coalition forming to fight budget cuts, bee, 3-8-08 top legislative staff high on salary list, bee, 3-15-08
big dem donor to clean up on moth spraying, sf chron, 3-8-08
bay area lawmakers suck up bribes, contra costa times, 3-30-08 san diego lawmakers suck up bribes, san diego union tribune, 3-30-08
migden sues fppc, bee, 3-5-08 migden,(pigden) busted for corruption, fined $350,000, bee, 3-21-08 crazy migden sued by FPPC for being a lying corrupt politician, bee, 3-26-08 lying thieves in congress ok earmarks to pay off political bribery, ap 3-31-08 judge rules migden can use old bribes in new election, bee, 4-2-08
crazy migden can't even get dems to endorse her crazy ass, bee april 1, 08
LA city and county face $994 million shortfall, lat, 4-21-08
CA. Budget deficit now put at $10 billion, bee, 4-25-08
california's population swells to 38 million, bay area 7.3 million, sf chron, 5-2-08 california faces water crisis, endless irresponsible growth brings on ecological crisis, sf chron, 5-2-08
California may run out of cash by august, bee, may 6, 2008
Karen Bass sworn as new Ca Speaker, and sells herself to special interests: faces change, corporate democracy rolls on, lat, 5-14-08 (see the last lines of the story)
Economy pointing straight down record decline in US national housing prices, lat, 5-27-08 record decline in US national housing prices, ft, 5-27-08 background: essay: Markets ready to kill economy. links: economics.
Think the Economy Is Bad? Wait Till the States Cut Back, jyt, 6-1-08
CAPITOL CORPORATE CORRUPTION CHAOS: AN ABSENCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY, sf chron, 6-8-08
Budget train wreck? san diego news tribune, 6-12-08
California's Quagmire of Corruption: the true source of the Budget Crisis Redistricting plan on ballot, bee, 6-18-08 background: 3 articles on redistricting. 3 more articles.
State records biggest jump in unemployment, sf chron, 6-21-08 background; essay: Poverty Hidden Behind Cooked Stats. Links: econ links.
Dems live on Blood Money: Health Industry bribes Former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe Appearance as Paid Speaker at Health Insurance Convention in San Francisco, ca progress report, 6-13-08 Don't let the Dems fool you: Despite what the DNC says, The 76 million dollars of bribes the Health Industry has showered Congress with are currently split 55% to 45%, with Dems receiving the higher sum. The sole difference between the parties is the Repugnants admit they are bought by industrial bribes, while the Dems lie, and say they represent the people. The final dem lie: "we are the lesser evil." Fuck that! Evil is Evil. The Dem's dependence on bribery marks them as only superficially different from the repugnant party traitors. See Open Secrets, Congressional Bribes by economic sector.
State records biggest jump in unemployment, sf chron, 6-21-08
Regressive Fees to pay to Costs of Subsidizing Cheap Labor for BusinessFlurry of state fees - new or higher - pushed as budget boost, bee, 6-23-08 Special interests avoid limits, and taxes, bee, 6-22-08 background; essay: Not A Democracy. links: arnie! links: nunez
Dan Walters: Could California budget gap get wider? bee, 6-25-08
Budget standoff: That's it for cuts, Dems say, sacbee, 7-10-08 Dan Walters: Fantasies and error abound on state budget, sacbee, 7-14-08
California Politicians lead Nation in Incompentence, CorruptionCalifornia's fiscal woes largely of its own making, lat, 7-7-08 Most Californians, especially lawmakers, won't feel impact of budget delay, bee, 7-7-08 The Buzz: Eyes on holiday getaway, not budget, bee, 7-7-08 Most Assembly members will take next week off; still no state budget deal, bee, 7-4-08 (why are we paying these people?) background: analysis: Budget Crisis, Term limit fraud highlights the need for serious redistricting/reestablishment of democracy. 3 database links: redistricting. 3 database links: redistricting. links: redistricting. links: budget crisis. links: Dems are throughly CORRUPTED.
Perata aid angers some Dems, bee, 7-9-08
Highly paid Nuñez aide gets $100,000 more for 'campaign consulting,' lat, 7-10-08 Nunez gets $600,000 in new campaign cash, capitol weekly, 7-8-08 background; article: Nunez, ASSEMBLY STEALS LIKE CORPORATIONS. links: Dems are throughly CORRUPTED. links: nunez.
Assembly goes on vacation amid California budget deadlock, sacbee, 7-16-08
Truth on budget numbers hard to come by, bee 7-20-08
gov to cut state worker salaries to min wage: Analysis: Thursday's outcry from state workers over pay may be just what governor wanted, bee, 7-25-08 I suggest doing to them what they've done to us: REPLACE THEM WITH ILLEGALS
Rumors of a California Budget Deal in the Works, ca progress report, 8-12-08
California legislators set record for budget delay, bee, 8-31-08
Backlog: Lawmakers holding back hundreds of bills, bee, 9-4-08
Budget standoff delays billions in state payments, bee, 9-3-08 Governor blasts lawmakers' per diem during budget impasse, bee, 9-4-08
State worker unions sue to halt furloughs by Schwarzenegger, sbee 12-22 Governor orders state worker furlough sbee 12-20
12-27-08: The California Budget Disgrace Continues Background of latest moves: Dems try end-run around GOP to close budget hole, cap week, 12-18-08 Today Democrats say deal is 'very close' bee We Get The Budget We Deserve, The Policy Report Voters may get chance to settle issue of Democrats' revenue gambit cocotimes
The real situation: analysis This is a Corruption Crisis, not a Budget Crisis We've been ROBBED, alex, 8-15-08 We've been Robbed II, alex, 3-16-08
2009The Corporate Press is beginning to focus in on Crimigrants Illegal immigrants are a factor in California's budget math, Capitol Journal, February 2, 2009 Wage stagnation is the real problem, marketplace radio, 1-21-08
State credit rating the worst among the 50 states, capitol weekly, 2-5-09 Judges tentatively order Calif. inmate release, bee, 2-9-09
State budget: silence — and secrecy — on the Capitol, ocr, 2-9-09 Steinberg still committed to vote this week, bee, 2-9-09
California Government a Crime against Democracy Budget vote to come during bike race (sat), bee, 2-12-09 Votes For Budget Deal Do Not Appear To Be There, cal prog report, 2-12-09 Final Budget Deal Emerging, cal prog report, 2-12-09 what bribing our democracy into submission costs Interest groups’ lobbying tally tops $500 million, cap week, 2-12-09
The Latest from CaliforniaCalifornia is broke, with or without a budget, but...late report: Wed, 7:19 pm pst Democrats considering firm offer for budget deal, sac bee, 2-19-09late Update: Thursday California Legislature finally approves new budget, lat, 2-19-09New Budget is/was a FARCE:Budget analyst sees new $8 billion deficit, sac bee, 3-13-09
California is BankruptCalifornia asks feds to back its IOUs, sacbee, 4-15-09 Governor lobbies for ballot measures in S.F., sfchron, 3-13-09 Budget Ballot Measures Face Uphill Fight, ca public policy institute, 3-26-09
Scroll upward for The Latest Posting
AnalysisThe Way in, The Way outHow we got here, alex April 6, 2008How we crawl out of here, The Death of the Mother of all Financial Bubbles, at the Heart of Wall Street, draft document, 7-13-08Housing-credit crisis exposing the rotten core of American Markets and Economy, november 24, '07
The real situation in California:This is a Corruption Crisis, not a Budget CrisisWe've been ROBBED, alex, 8-15-08We've been Robbed II, alex, 3-16-08private bribery, not the voters, running ca elections, bee, 2-15-08
background: Lying Statistics Poverty Hidden Behind Cooked Stats, september 22, 2007 The Consumer Price Index, Walter J. "John" Williams, Shadow Government Statistics, 10-1-06 All of Inflation’s Little Parts, nyt, May 3, 2008: Interactive Chart
More Links: Economics Must Scan this list: All Econ essays/analysis
Search the Corruption Database Arnie Budget
Please limit comments to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number on the page. Example: (82_1.)
2) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Poizner pledges $1.5 million to block term-limits measure The state insurance commissioner pledges $1.5 million to help defeat a ballot initiative he called a 'power grab.' By Nancy Vogel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 7, 2007
SACRAMENTO -- Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner committed his personal wealth Tuesday to defeating a Feb. 5 term limits ballot initiative that would allow current legislators to stick around a few more years. Poizner called the initiative a "naked power grab" by sitting Democratic legislators and said he would spend at least $1.5 million to educate voters against it. A national group called U.S. Term Limits also donated $1.5 million Tuesday, suddenly enriching an opposition movement that until now had struggled, gathering less than $200,000 in contributions. Poizner, a Republican who made a fortune as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur before he entered politics, said he would be chief spokesman for the campaign and spend more than $1.5 million if necessary. "Proposition 93 has been written very cleverly by the authors, mainly the legislative leaders, to fool voters into thinking that Proposition 93 will actually shrink -- tighten -- term limits when in fact Proposition 93 will do exactly the opposite for the vast majority of people in the Legislature," he said. It would allow Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) to stay six years beyond 2008, when he would otherwise be forced out by term limits. Senate President Don Perata (D-Oakland) could stay an additional four years if Proposition 93 passed. Proponents have raised $3.2 million since January, most of it from unions, corporations and others with business before the Legislature. At least seven Assembly Democrats have donated a total of $260,000 from their political committees. Raising money to defeat Proposition 93 won't be easy, Poizner said, because those seeking favor in the Legislature will be reluctant to anger lawmakers. "Frankly there's nothing more important than having competitive elections in this state, and Proposition 93 is going exactly the opposite direction," he said. DON'T BE FOOLED: This "Term Limits" measure does not impose term limits, it LOOSTENS TERM LIMITS. The Plan is to Allow The Corporate Politicians to maintain their political monopoly by INCREASING the TIME THEY MAY SPEND in each BRANCH of the LEGISLATUE. This is a cheap trick to make their power grab look like "reform."
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca. We passed term limits to end the reign of Willie Brown, and prevent any such dynasty from every being established in the heart of our democracy again. And along came Nunez. Now the Dem leadership, Nunez, is trying to recreate the Wille era by foisting this misnamed "term limit" ballot measure onto the ballot. The Dems have been upset ever since term limits were imposed, as it ended lifetime tenure in the California legislatue by members of both parties, who have mutally crafted our legislative districts into the personal property of one or the other parties. You are being decieved by the Democrats. This is not term limits, but rather, this is a power grab by the Dem leadership, funded by the some of the biggest special interests in the state, to reimpose the heart of dynasty politics in our legislature. Thus the big bribers are contributing heavily to end term limits. It will maintain and extend the reach and power of their bribed politicians. This is yet another attempt to undermine our democracy by the leaders of the democratic party and their corporate sponsors. They should rename themselves the Undemocratic party. Nunez and Perata are trying to turn California politics on its head to serve their personal ambitions. Arnie rejects Nunez's Fake Term Limit measure, Bee, September 17, 2007 Term Limit measure is a FAKE, another Deception by the Democrats to damage our democracy, Bee, September 12, 2007 Will "Term Limit" Measure return Willie Brown to Sacramento? scumbag nunez screwing calif for personal/party ambitions, Bee, October 30, 2007 Good analysis of Term Limit/Redisticting proposals, Bee, September 12, 2007 Term limit measure lures health care donors, Bee, 7-16-07
Search the Corruption Database under Term Limits (6 Abstracts) Nunez Please limit comments to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number on the page. Example: (82_1.)
3) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Voters' views of Pelosi, Congress have dimmed By John Hill - jhill@sacbee.com BEE, October 27, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/456858.html
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's own party is turning on her, apparently because of a perception among California Democrats that she has not done enough to shake up the status quo in Washington, D.C., according to a Field Poll released Friday. Congress overall is doing even worse with California voters, with an approval rating sagging to 30 percent or below for only the seventh time in the past 15 years, the poll of 1,201 registered voters found. Both Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat who became speaker this year, and Congress as a whole have fallen short of voter expectations since taking over both houses, poll director Mark DiCamillo said. "I think the reason for her decline and the low ratings Congress is getting is that voters here are not seeing any change," DiCamillo said. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's approval rating of 51 percent is down 10 percentage points since March, but consistent with her average over the years. Sen. Barbara Boxer's rating also has slumped, from 54 percent in March to 44 percent. Both Boxer and Feinstein, however, still enjoy the approval of more voters than disapproval of them. For Pelosi, it was the first time the poll showed more people disapproving than approving of her performance – 40 percent to 35 percent, with 25 percent having no opinion. Only 22 percent of voters approve of the job Congress is doing, the poll found, while 64 percent disapprove. ...the Democrats now in charge of Congress fared better than Republicans, with a 34 percent approval rating compared to 20 percent for the GOP. California Republicans are more critical of their own party, the poll found, with only 29 percent approving of the performance of congressional Republicans.
What's Really Going on Here?The Democraps are thoroughly Corrupted by Corporate Wealth and Power Alex Wierbinski, october 27, 2007. Berkeley, Ca. The politicians will continue to say they represent us while they are working as paid agents of the various special interests, as long as the money of the special interests continues to exceed the contributions of the voters. It's that simple. Pelosi, fiendstien, Clinton, Bush, and the rest of the republicratic duopoly of political power only have loyalty to those who keep them in power, and neither is based on voters. Both parties are corporate frankenstiens, and are no more than different snakes on Medusa's ugly corporate head. The Evidence: Corruption Updates 3, “Media Reports: Both Parties Corrupt” Corruption Updates 19, 1st article on page, “TOP RECIPEINTS OF LOBBYISTS BRIBES ARE LEADERSHIP OF BOTH PARTIES”
Lobbyist' Donate When Legislation Pending: SFChron. Blatant Bribery as special interests contribute to politicians voting on their measures. 8-9-06
Micro-Macro: The same game in your own “small” town. LATimes. Small town graft mirrors state and national pattern of corruption. 8-31-06
Raw, Oct. 23, 2006: "Pelosi: Impeachment 'off the table;' Just a Reminder of why Bush is Out of Control
CORRUPTION FAILS AS CAMPAIGN ISSUE: BOTH PARTIES EQUALLY CORRUPT: LATimes. Dems unable and unwilling to make corruption an issue: they would have to change too much. 9-2-06
SPECIAL INTERESTS/DEMS RUSH LAST MINUTE BILLS THROUGH ASSEMBLY: LATimes. This article soft pedals the rush of last minute corruption that just ended any pretense of ethics in our Assembly. 9-2-06
Voters sick of corrupt parties, parties don't care: AP in the Bee. It's easier to remove a tick than the corrupt party monopoly. 9-11-06
AMERICANS IDENTIFY CONGRESSIONAL STUPIDITY. AP. Narrow questions by media try to limit impact of citizens discontent. 9-29-06
AMERICAN POLITICAL LEADERS DEVOID OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPAL: TANGLED WEB OF CORRUPTION AT CENTERS OF POWER. NYT. These criminals must be throughly investigated and prosecuted as necessary. 9-29-06
LATIMES, 10-20-06: PARTIES AND THEIR BRIBERS WORK TO CIRCUMNAVIGATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE RESTRICTION THIS IS WHY INDEPENDENT CAMPAIGN COMMITTEESS MUST BE PROHIBITED FROM BRIBING POLITICIANS
Corruption Updates 20, 1st article on page, 10-25-06, PELOSI FUNRAISING FRENZY ASSURES SPECIAL INTEREST DOMINATION OF GOVERNMENT INDEPENDENT OF WHICH SIDE WINS IN NOV Corruption Updates 20, 6th article on page, DEMS RECEIVE SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBES ANTICIPATING VICTORY IN NOV
Pelosi: Impeachment 'off the table, Oct 23, 2006, RAW story Pelosi: Pelosi Kills Impeachment Resolution, Nov 6, 2007, AP
NY Times, 10-2-06: Trading Votes for Pork Across the House Aisle This article puts Rep. Murtha at the center of Democratic party corruption, trading our democracy for personal and factional gain.
AP, 10-5-06: ASSOCIATED PRESS DEFENDS ETHICS COMMITTEE THAT HAS NO ETHICS AP BUILDS CREDIBILITY FOR COMMITTEE THAT HAS NONE
Corruption Updates 21, 2nd article on page, 10-30-06: “SHADOW PARTIES (527S) INFUSE MILLIONS IN BRIBE MONEY INTO ELECTION SPECIAL INTERESTS SKIRT CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS TO MAINTAIN THEIR ILLIGIMATE AUTHORITY THROUGH POLITICAL BRIBERY” Corruption Updates 21, 8fh article on page, 11-1-06: “DEMS BIG CHANCE TO REAP THE REWARDS OF CORRUPTION POLITICAL VICTORY OPENS DOORS OF LOBBYING FIRMS TO DEMO INSIDERS: IT'S THE DEMS TURN TO ROB THE PUBLIC BLIND, AND BETRAY OUR DEMOCRACY” LATIMES, 11-9-06: MONEY WINS IN ALMOST EVERY POLITICAL RACE POLITICAL VICTORY GOES TO THE BIGGEST SPENDER. BIG SPENDERS CLEAN UP. DEMOCRACY A JOKE. BIG SURPRIZE
After the Election: SFCHRON, 12-6-06, DEMS PRETEND TO RESIST WAR: LACK OF ANY UNIFYING POLICY/PLATFORM ASSURES DEMS WILL TALK, BUT NOT ACT, AGAINST CRIMINAL PRESIDENT AND CRIMINAL WAR
Corruption Updates 26, 1st article on page, 12-8-06, “LOBBYISTS SEE NO CHANGE UNDER DEMS CORRUPTION PRESENTED AS FORCE OF NATURE, DEM CORRUPTION NATURAL” Corruption Updates 28, 1st article on page, 1-2-07: LOBBYISTS HIRING-BRIBING DEMS SHIFTING FUNDS AND PERSONELL TO DEMS ASSURES NO REAL CHANGES Corruption Updates 33, 4th article on page, “Lobbyists find new Congress is open for business” WASHINGTON POST, 12-10-06: HOW SPECIAL INTERESTS MAKE MILK EXPENSIVE 1.5 BIL A YEAR STOLEN THROUGH INDUSTRY BRIBERY WASHPOST, 12-12-06: DEM LEADERS TO REFORM CONGRESS
LATIMES, 1-4-07: HOUSE DEMS PRETEND EARMARK REFORM DEMS TARGET EARMARKS, BUT NOT THE SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBERY THAT TRIGGERS THEM AP, 1-5-07: SENATE DEMS PRETEND EARMARK REFORM AGAIN, DEMS TARGET THE PAYOFFS, BUT NOT THE BRIBERY LATIMES, 1-4-07: FED PROSECUTORS CHECK EARMARK PAYOFFS IN 3 HOUSE COMMITTEES WILL HOUSE ALLOW REAL INVESTIGATION, OR LEAVE IT TO THE “ETHICS” COMMITTEE?
AP, 1-10-07: SENATE IMPROVES BRIBERY REPORTING SENATE INCREASED PENALTIES FOR NOT REPORTING BRIBES, DOES NOTHING TO STOP SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBES
LA TIMES, 1-12-07: REID TRIES TO KILL REAL EARMARK REFORMS RENEGADE SENATORS EXPOSE DEMS FAKE EARMARK REFORM BY GIVING IT REAL TEETH, DEMS FIGHT TO KILL REFORM, AND PRESERVE EARMARK CORRUPTION AP, 1-17-07: FAKE EARMARK REFORM IN SENATE CONTINUES: EARMARKS NOT RECOGNIZED AS CORRUPTION ITSELF
LA Times, 1-20-07: SPECIAL INTEREST DEMOCRACY, OR DEMOCRACY? Supreme Court About to Unleash Unlimited Corporate Political Propaganda
LA Times, 1-22-07: Corporate Democrats of the Democratic Leadership Council Laughs at democracy: We're as Rich as Republicans and the “Lesser Evil”
LA TIMES, 1-22-07: DEMOCRATS PROVE THEIR CORPORATE BASIS AND LOYALTY: DEMS PROTECT CORRUPTION AND THIEVERY OF BIG MONEY SPECIAL INTERESTS AFTER PROMISING TO END CORRUPTION
AP, 1-31-07: SHAME OF CONGRESS: HABIUS AND JUDICIAL REVIEW CURBED: JUDICIAL REVIEW DENIED TO “DETAINEES:” KIDNAPP-TORTURE VICTIMS HAVE NO RECOURSE
LA TIMES, 2-1-07: BIG MONEY WINS, AND HILLARY HAS SOLD HESELF TO THE HIGEST BIDDERS IN THE LAND: SECRET TATOO ON HER ASS: PROPERTY OF “CORPORATE AMERICAN ANGELES”
BBC, 3-6-07: Bangladesh Jails Political Elite: We Should follow their Example
ASSOCIATED PRESS, 3-7-07: DEMOCRATS LIE: WAR FUNDING FILLED WITH PORK. PELOSI TRADES ANTI-PORK PROMISE, PORK, FOR VOTES NECESSARY TO CONTINUE WAR
BEE 3-12-07: VOTING IRRELEVENT IN CORPORATE DEMOCRACY WASHINGTON POST, 3-12-07: Businesses Prepare to Mount a Concerted Attack on Regulation: BUSINESS STILL RUNS THE SHOW, DEMS JUST WANT MONEY
LA TIMES, 3-12-07: Senate Approved Gonzales After he Proposed Unlimited President, Torture, Illegal Searches, And More! Is Any of this Illegal Behavior Anything But Consistant? Predictable? What the Hell was Wrong with the Democrats in the Senate when they approved Gonzales
NY TIMES, 3-19-07: CONGRESS KNEW THEY WERE GIVING AWAY OUR RIGHTS& FREEDOMS WITH THE “PATRIOT” ACT:SHOULD BE CALLED TRAITOR ACT, and The TRAITORS ARE ACTING SURPRISED AT POLICE STATE POWERS THEY CREATED
NY TIMES, 3-19-07: MEMPHIS POLITICAL MAFIA BUSTED: POLITICAL PULL PAYS POWER BILL
Washington Post, 3-20-07: Lawmakers Seek Clarity on Earmarks:PORK ALLOTMENTS IN DOUBT Washington Post, 3-27-07: Lobbying Is Lucrative. Sometimes Very, Very Lucrative: Fake Reforms of Democrats: No Change in Who Runs Washington
LA Times, 3-29-07: 'Calm down' on Iraq, Pelosi tells Bush: Pelosi Threatens Bush with Funding the War
AP, 5-8-07: House endorses renewal of some tax cuts: Dems Represent Same Interests as Repugs: The Irresponsible Reich, Rich
The Congressional Record of April 25, 2007: Dick Durban, Senate Intel Committee: " I Knew the Public Was Being Mislead into the Iraq War
Washington Post, 4-12-07: House Hesitates on Ethics Changes: Corruption Pays Dems Too Well E , 4-10-07: Ethics challenge to Feinstein: Feinstein-Blum Clean Up in Politics
NY Times, 5-25-07: Documents From Sallie Mae Add to Questions About Timing of $18 Million Stock Sale
LA Times, 5-25-07: House tightens rules for lobbyists: Dem Reforms Fall Far Short of Democracy
LA Times, 5-20-07: Democrats scramble to prevent Florida primary election fiasco: Party Control of Elections Revealed: States, Voters, and Constitution irrelevant in face of Monolopy of Politics by Parties
Washington Post, 5-24-07: In the Democratic Congress, Pork Still Gets Served: Dem Pigs as Voracious with Earmarks as were Republicans LA Times, 5-23-07: Earmarks debate turned around on Democrats in Congress: We Warned You About The Dems, and Especially Murtha
AP, 5-17-07: House Panel Rejects Lobbying Proposal: Theives Game Continues Under Democrats: Revolving Door and Endless Bribes Maintain Corporate Grip on Throat of Democracy
BEE, 5-19-07: Medicare audits spark protest that nudges Feinstein: How Feinstien Got Rich:Her Husband makes Billions denying Medicine and Manufacturing Arms with Govt Contracts while Feinstien did "Oversight
Chron, 6-5-07: Dems drafting bill that could derail state warming law, EPA Regulation of CO2
LA Times, 6-5-07: Jefferson indicted on graft charges
SF Chronicle, June 19, 2007: Watchdog lists 64 in the House paying kin out campaign funds: Insiders, Wives, Friends Clean Up with Commissions on Political Bribery
NY Times, June 15, 2007: House Agreement Ends Impasse Over Lawmakers’ Pet Projects: Deal to Preserve and Share Earmarks reached between Dems and Repubs Chron, June 14, 2007: House grinds to a halt in rift over earmarks: Dems and Republicans play HOT POTATO over Earmarks: Both want them, but Neither wants Oversight or Responsibility
NY Times, 6-12-07: Top Democrat Plans Advance List of Earmarks: Earmark List, or a Threat Sufficient to Silence Republicans
NY Times, 6-12-07: Congress Turns to Energy, and Lobbyists Arrive: Bribery Convention in Washington:Crooked Energy Policy will Damage America
LA Times, 6-12-07: Approval of Congress lowest in a decade: Americans Right on Target: Congress Sucks
Washington Post, June 7, 2007: Lobbyists press Congress to ease tough ethics rules: Criminal Congressional "Reforms" allow lobbyist "Friends" to give Congressmen Gifts
LA Times, June 10, 2007: Nevada's gambling industry raises its presidential ante: No Gamble Here: Bribery Pays off for Gambling Industry
Washington Post, June 7, 2007: Lobbyists press Congress to ease tough ethics rules: Lobbyists Whine about Superficial Reforms: The Big Bucks Still move from Special Interests to PACs and Campaigns
AP, July 24, 2007; House Backs Barring Political Spouses From Pay Campaign: House Ends Family Gravy Train?Only for Show: Senate will Kill it
NY Times, July 21, 2007; Veteran House Democrat Guards Turf on Energy: Dem Whores Encourage Massive Growth, avoid Paying Growth Costs NY Times, June 25, 2007; For Lobbyists, This Campaign Is Personal: Don't Stop Lobbying, Just Stop Lobbyists from Bribing Politicians
SF Chron, July 27, 2007; Dem leaders shield farm bill: Dems Preserve Subsidies to Corporate Agriculture
LA Times, July 29, 2007; Executive privilege touchy for presidential hopefuls: Just a Reminder of why Bush is Out of Control
LAT, July 31, 2007; House approves sweeping ethics bill: House does Everything EXCEPT DEMOCRACY
Corruption Updates 68, 1st article on page, "Dems drafting bill that could derail state warming law" AP, August 1, 2007; House Drops Tougher Auto Fuel Economy: Dems Suck Corporate Cocks: Told you So
AP, August 3, 2007; Bush, Democrats Struggle for Spy Deal: Dems fail to defend Constitution against Bush Terror Attack
Bee, August 3, 2007; Fiendstien: Auditor (Husband) under fire reaps big profits: Feinstein Robs Elderly of HealthCare, and Profits Handsomely SF Chron, August 4, 2007; Feinstein draws fire over vote for judge: Fiendstien was Never more that a Tool of Wealth and Power
Chron, August 5, 2007; House passes energy bill: Chronicle Covers Dems Asses Oil Subsidies in the Dock, cato, from the national review, 1-17-08 whoops! dems fail to tax big oil, npr, 6-22-07 ethanol fraud, slate, july 19, 2005 Food Crisis expands. ethanol: starving people to fill your car, iht, 12-17-07
Washington Post, August 5, 2007; House Approves Wiretap Measure: Pelosi, Dems, Betray Constitution Again Washington Post, August 12, 2007; How the Fight for Vast New Spying Powers Was Won: Dems-Repug Traitors Pass Illegal Spy Bill in Defiance of Constitution
NY Times, August 29, 2007; Democrats Say They Will Press Gonzales Inquiries: Dems Claims to Defend Constitution Suspect
NY Times, August 12, 2007; Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years: Dems Still Voting for Iraq War
NY Times, August 19, 2007; New law may go far beyond wiretapping: Dem Traitors Fully Join Bush's Attack on Civil and Constitutional Rights
Los Angeles Times, September 18, 2007; Mukasey is drawn into an old fight: Dems Ready to Confirm AG who will Protect Bush's Crimes
NYT, September 20, 2007; Senate Blocks Detainees’ Rights Bill: Can Crooked Congress Put Pandora back in the Box?
NYT, October 16, 2007: Democratic Candidates Keep Outraising Republicans: Corporate Democrats Surpass Republicans as Corporate Bitches, Billery Cleaning Up in Corporate Whore-Fest 2008
NY Times, Oct 17, 2007; An Ex-Leader in Congress Is Now Turkey’s Man in the Lobbies of Capitol Hill: Dem Congress Sells Ethics to Turks: This is how it Works NYT, October 18, 2007; Accused Law Firm Continues Giving to Democrats: Dems Sell Themselves, Our Government, to Anyone with Two-Cents to rub together
Washington Post, October 18, 2007; Senate and Bush Agree On Terms of Spying Bill: Dem Traitors Roll Over to Criminal President Yet Again Washington Post, October 18, 2007; Mukasey Endorses Expansive Presidential Authority: Who Will Defend the President's Crimes Now? Mukasey and the Dems.
Five Articles: Nunez's Life of Luxury at the Public Trough Corruption Update 128_1
Big money getting bigger, shifting to Democrats, nov 15, 2007 Democrats Surpass Republicans in Fund-Raising, nyt, 10-2-07
Donors poured millions into state parties, Bee, Oct 3, 2007: Corruption Update 128_6
Senate and Bush Agree On Terms of Spying Bill: Dem Traitors Roll Over to Criminal President Yet Again, Washington Post, October 18, 2007 Mukasey Endorses Expansive Presidential Authority: Who Will Defend the President's Crimes Now? Mukasey and the Dems, Washington Post, October 18, 2007
Accused Law Firm Continues Giving to Democrats: Dems Sell Themselves, Our Government, to Anyone with Two-Cents to rub together, NYT, October 18, 2007
AP, October 20, 2007; Edwards Warns of 'Corporate Democrats:' All the Dems are Corporate Democrats
Dems Giving criminal telecoms the same immunity as torturers: Welcome to the Corporate Fascist State, WP, October 22, 2007 Harmon the Traitor sponsors police state act outlawing our revolutionary forefathers, Status: Passed House (Bipartisan support.) Oct 23, 2007
Poll: Pelosi Hated by Californians, Bee Oct 27, 2007
Corporations bought the politicians, now they're buying the judges, wp, 10-28-07
NYT, October 29, 2007; Health Sector Puts Its Money on Democrats: Billery Bought to the Hilt by Corporate Medicine: Expect all Medical Costs to Continue Rising after Election
Dem Senate pretending to "protect our rights." They are locking the barn after the cow got out, AP, October 31, 2007
Fiendstien working to protect telecoms from criminal and civil consequences of stealing our rights, WP, November 1, 2007 ATT tech Klein testifies that ATT assisted criminal govt to capture all domestic american communications, NYT, November 7, 2007 Fiendstien is Liberman, NYT, 11-4-07
Big Tobacco buys and Sells Politicians, Policy, californiaprogressreport.com
Pelosi pushed hard to avoid openly defending cheney's crimes on the floor of congress, AP, November 6, 2007 Dems confirm unitary president, torture, and and all of Bush's crimes through Mukasey Confirmation, Washington Post, November 9, 2007
Pelosi congress, again, affirms illegal search powers for King George, AP, November 15, 2007
Corporate Lobbyists killing safety regs as fast as possible under bush, hiring and bribing dems , lat, 12-2-07 Anthrax antidote: Corporate lobbyists and Corrupt Congress presents a serious danger to our general welfare and security, lat, 12-2-07
Corporate dems protect expanding core sources of co2 Boxer, Senate Dems forming worthless Co2 Bill, McClatchy, Dec 3, 2007 Essay: Boxer's liar's Game: Maintain growth and Pollution while looking "Green" Boxer says she'll back corporate agriculture, sf chron, December 4, 2007 Industry Flexes Muscle, Dems Swallow Weaker Energy Bill Passes, NYT, December 14, 2007
US Planning to Stay in Iraq until 2018, nyt, 1-15-08 We're never leaving iraq, mcclatchy, 1-17-08
essay: why bush is out of control.
Dems confirmed supporter of Dictatorial Powers as Attorney General mukasey rules torture legal, reuters, 1-30-08 Mukasey's rulings predictable before confirmation, committee, 8-28-07 It's 1984 in America: Up is Down, Torture an open tool of State, committee, 10-31-07
Dems are enemies of our Rights House, Senate pass extension of illegal spying, cnn, 1-30-08 the original repugnant "law," wp, 8-5-07 illegal spying in the USA: links
Dems assist bush domestic crimes Dem traitors in Senate Vote to Expand Spy Powers, nyt, 2-13-08 bush demands illegal search powers from congress, bbc, 2-13-08
Union of Concerned Scientists: campaign to free scientists from corporate government manipulation, feb 14, '08
California's Corporate Bitch traitor Democrats Ca Legislators defend junkets, luxury paid by corporations, sf chron, 2-11-08 politicians holding bribe-fest in Sacramento, bee, 2-23-08 regulating bribery in california? what a farce: lat, 2-27-08 private bribery, not the voters, running ca elections, bee, 2-15-08
Pelosi's fake earmark ban killed by corrupted senate and house, ap, March 31, 2008
Housing foreclosure crisis gives politicians/lobbyists excuse to steal, nyt, 4-16-08
dems want iraq to pay costs of american destruction, occupation of iraq, nyt, April 19, 2008
arnie junkets nunez junkets
dems want iraq to pay costs of american destruction, occupation of iraq, nyt, April 19, 2008 BACKFILL LIST HERE ... DiFi Tries To Hand Corporations A Giveaway In The Stimulus, calitics, 2-12-09 ... pma scandalThe Appropriate Culture of Corruption, sunlight foundation, 3-30-09 As PMA Group closes, concerns increase about where the federal investigation will lead, Crew, 3-30-09 Lawmaker Said to Surface in Lobbying Inquiry, nyt, 4-3-09 (Peter J. Visclosky, D-Indiana, PMA scandal
... The Dems took bribes, stole our money, and now the Democrats have crossed the rubicon of tyranny and corruption by openly joining the Corporate Republicans in Running a Corporate Fascist State that Recognizes no power but wealth Dems Betray Constitution, American Rights, in Support ofBush CrimesRaw, Oct. 23, 2006: "Pelosi: Impeachment 'off the table;' Just a Reminder of why Bush is Out of Control Pelosi: Pelosi Kills Impeachment Resolution, Nov 6, 2007, AP
SFCHRON, 12-6-06, DEMS PRETEND TO RESIST WAR: LACK OF ANY UNIFYING POLICY/PLATFORM ASSURES DEMS WILL TALK, BUT NOT ACT, AGAINST CRIMINAL PRESIDENT AND CRIMINAL WAR
Corruption Updates 26, 1st article on page, 12-8-06, “LOBBYISTS SEE NO CHANGE UNDER DEMS CORRUPTION PRESENTED AS FORCE OF NATURE, DEM CORRUPTION NATURAL”
AP, 1-31-07: SHAME OF CONGRESS: HABIUS AND JUDICIAL REVIEW CURBED: JUDICIAL REVIEW DENIED TO “DETAINEES:” KIDNAPP-TORTURE VICTIMS HAVE NO RECOURSE
LA TIMES, 3-12-07: Senate Approved Gonzales After he Proposed Unlimited President, Torture, Illegal Searches, And More! Is Any of this Illegal Behavior Anything But Consistant? Predictable? What the Hell was Wrong with the Democrats in the Senate when they approved Gonzales
NY TIMES, 3-19-07: CONGRESS KNEW THEY WERE GIVING AWAY OUR RIGHTS& FREEDOMS WITH THE “PATRIOT” ACT:SHOULD BE CALLED TRAITOR ACT, and The TRAITORS ARE ACTING SURPRISED AT POLICE STATE POWERS THEY CREATED
LA Times, 3-29-07: 'Calm down' on Iraq, Pelosi tells Bush: Pelosi Threatens Bush with Funding the War
The Congressional Record of April 25, 2007: Dick Durban, Senate Intel Committee: " I Knew the Public Was Being Mislead into the Iraq War
LA Times, July 29, 2007; Executive privilege touchy for presidential hopefuls: Just a Reminder of why Bush is Out of Control
... Dems Support Bush Illegal Searches AP, August 3, 2007; Bush, Democrats Struggle for Spy Deal: Dems fail to defend Constitution against Bush Terror Attack Washington Post, August 5, 2007; House Approves Wiretap Measure: Pelosi, Dems, Betray Constitution Again Washington Post, August 12, 2007; How the Fight for Vast New Spying Powers Was Won: Dems-Repug Traitors Pass Illegal Spy Bill in Defiance of Constitution NY Times, August 19, 2007; New law may go far beyond wiretapping: Dem Traitors Fully Join Bush's Attack on Civil and Constitutional Rights Washington Post, October 18, 2007; Senate and Bush Agree On Terms of Spying Bill: Dem Traitors Roll Over to Criminal President Yet Again Dems Giving criminal telecoms the same immunity as torturers: Welcome to the Corporate Fascist State, WP, October 22, 2007 Fiendstien working to protect telecoms from criminal and civil consequences of stealing our rights, WP, November 1, 2007 ATT tech Klein testifies that ATT assisted criminal govt to capture all domestic american communications, NYT, November 7, 2007 Fiendstien is Liberman, NYT, 11-4-07 Pelosi congress, again, affirms illegal search powers for King George, AP, November 15, 2007
Dems are enemies of our Rights House, Senate pass extension of illegal spying, cnn, 1-30-08 the original repugnant "law," wp, 8-5-07 illegal spying in the USA: links
Dems assist bush domestic crimes Dem traitors in Senate Vote to Expand Spy Powers, nyt, 2-13-08 bush demands illegal search powers from congress, bbc, 2-13-08
...
NY Times, August 29, 2007; Democrats Say They Will Press Gonzales Inquiries: Dems Claims to Defend Constitution Suspect
NY Times, August 12, 2007; Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years: Dems Still Voting for Criminal Iraq War
... Dems Confirmed MukaseyLos Angeles Times, September 18, 2007; Mukasey is drawn into an old fight: Dems Ready to Confirm AG who will Protect Bush's Crimes Washington Post, October 18, 2007; Mukasey Endorses Expansive Presidential Authority: Who Will Defend the President's Crimes Now? Mukasey and the Dems.
Dems confirm unitary president, torture, and and all of Bush's crimes through Mukasey Confirmation, Washington Post, November 9, 2007
Dems confirmed supporter of Dictatorial Powers as Attorney General mukasey rules torture legal, reuters, 1-30-08 Mukasey's rulings predictable before confirmation, committee, 8-28-07 It's 1984 in America: Up is Down, Torture an open tool of State, committee, 10-31-07
... Dems Giving criminal telecoms the same immunity as torturers: Welcome to the Corporate Fascist State, WP, October 22, 2007
Harmon the Traitor sponsors police state act outlawing our revolutionary forefathers, Status: Passed House (Bipartisan support.) Oct 23, 2007
NYT, September 20, 2007; Senate Blocks Detainees’ Rights Bill: Can Crooked Congress Put Pandora back in the Box?
Dem Senate pretending to "protect our rights." They are locking the barn after the cow got out, AP, October 31, 2007
Pelosi pushed hard to avoid openly defending cheney's crimes on the floor of congress, AP, November 6, 2007
US Planning to Stay in Iraq until 2018, nyt, 1-15-08 We're never leaving iraq, mcclatchy, 1-17-08
essay: why bush is out of control.
barak obamaIs barak a black male billery?(Ie, a corporate tool)
go to bottom of list LA TIMES, 3-2-07: OBAMA-MCCAIN PLAY LIARS GAME: NEITHER CANDIDATE WILL TAKE PUBLIC FUNDS. ALL WILL PRETEND ITS THE OTHER GUY'S FAULT Let's ask matt gonzales: The Obama Craze: Count Me Out, matt gonzales, beyond chron, 2-27-08
barak sucking up bundler's corporate bribes, lat, 6-6-07 essay: Barak's Bright Shiney new Corporate Fascist State, committee, 6-6-07
NY Times, June 14, 2007: An Obama Patron and Friend Until an Indictment: Chicago Political Mafia's Favorite Son: Barak Obama
Poll: Politicians are untrustworthy, latest on Presidential Auction, WP, November 4, 2007
Oprah & Obama: Corporate Marketing for a Corporate Campaign, black agenda reporter, 12-12-07 LA Times, July 2, 2007; Obama raises record $32.5 million: A Lot of Money, but still No Message obama donor faces trial, ap, 1-23-08 Our "savior" is owned by the Corporations; Barack Obama Inc.: The birth of a Washington machine, harpers, 11-06
obama the lawyer, lat, 4-6-08 Why some conservatives are backing Obama, sf chron, 7-7-08
Obama’s Money: Will his big donors top Bush’s Pioneers and Rangers? harper's, 8-5-08 lobbyists in the Obama CampaignObama softens ban on hiring lobbyists, boston globe, 11-12-08 Campaign Skirts Obama Lobbyist Ban, newser, 9-18-08
... Obama the traitor bows down to israel, motherjones, transcrip of Osama at AIPAC Obama’s Zionist Wannabe Veep, meo, 9-2-08 Biden: Israel's decisions must be made in Jerusalem, not D.C. haaretz, 9-4-08 The Criminal "State" ... The Genesis of the Freddie and Fannie Meltdown is Corruption ’08 Rivals Have Ties to Loan Giants, nyt, 9-9-08 The same is true of the political-economic policies that are folding up right now
Prosecution of Crimes?Senator seeks Bush-era "truth commission", reuters, 2-9-09 Obama signals he isn't interested in 'truth commission' to investigate Bush abuses, raw story, 2-9-09
Torture Repudiated?Obama sends a message: the United States will not torture, mcclatchy, 1-22-09 no, we will once again have proxies do it. Torture, the UK, and Obama: A chance for "Torture we can Believe in?" alex wierbinski, 2-4-09
Rendition, and the related torturePanetta: Obama won't OK 'extraordinary rendition,' ap, 2-5-09 (unless the president orders it. Really, the same exact thing bush said and did) Obama's Justice Department backs Bush secrecy on renditions suit, raw story, 2-9-09
Secret "Loopholes?"Sources: Obama ready to ban harsh interrogations, ap, 1-16-09 (other links for the above: Kansan, News42) ...Secret Prisons Closed?Obama’s first big moves, csm, 1-22-09 Obama orders end to torture and Guantanamo closure, belfast telegraph, 1-23-09 What really happened to the CIA Secret Prisons?Spanish judge asks US, Pak for info on Qaeda leader, dawn, 5-15-09 Bagram detainees win court ruling, aljazeera, 4-2-09
Secret Prisons Closed? Then Account for everyone Kidnapped and Secretly held. I believe the secret prisons/torture centers were turned over to the states allied with us lock, stock, and barrel. The stock that the states who provided the sites for our secret torture centers received is composed of thousands of individuals kidnapped around the world by the CIA and our various Proxies. The CIA and USA have merely stepped back, and now act through these proxies, as they have done under every previous administration.
...Kangaroo courts stopped?President Obama Officially Halts GITMO Show Trials, emptywheel, 1-20-09 ... Gitmo closing?Reprieve is delighted to learn that President Barack Obama will close Guantánamo Bay, but urges that time is of the essence, reprieve, 1-22-09
Obama Bans Lobbying?Obama lobbying ban hits DC reality, swamp, 1-22-09
lobbyists in the Obama CampaignSpousal Ties to Lobbying Test a Vow From Obama, NYT, 12-14-08 Obama softens ban on hiring lobbyists, boston globe, 11-12-08 Campaign Skirts Obama Lobbyist Ban, newser, 9-18-08
The Same old Bush ShitObama keeps Bush policies on faith-based groups, mcclatchy, 2-5-09
secret government Obama adopts Bush's Secret Criminal GovernmentHolder: Limits to openness, politico, 4-15-09 Obama's Justice Department backs Bush secrecy on renditions suit, raw story, 2-9-09
The bottom line Obama maintains power to Kidnap, ("Render") Torture, and hide crimes as "state secrets."
Obama Committes New "Bush" Crimes, and Defends the Old "Bush" CrimesOfficials Say U.S. Wiretaps Exceeded Law, nyt, 4-16-09
Obamanomics Barack Obama to lift America with upbeat message on economy, telegraph, 2-25-09FT Economist lays out the Numbers: FT, 2-26-09The Fed and Politicians have gone "all-in" with our money to cover their Briber's DebtsAl's Corner of Clarity: How to Fix the Economy
Obama's Bills are nothing but huge earmarks: Senators vote to preserve back-home pet projects, ap, 3-9-09earlier Stimulus plan could be mother of all 'Christmas tree' bills Mcclatchy, 12-19-08
Obama foreign policyFreedom Rider: Phony Nuclear Disarmament, blackagendareport, 4-8-09 Barack Obama Administration Continues US Military Global Dominance, project Censored, 2-19-'09
Obamanomics: Bank Subsidies, Offshoring, and CrimigrantsJust say what you are really doing, Barak: "I'm Fucking American Citizens and their democracy." (just like Regan, Clinton, and Bush)Obama to Push Immigration Bill Despite the Risks, nyt, 4-9-09
Scroll up for latest Obama posting Scroll down for Analysis go to top of Obama Postings ...What Changed with the election of Obama? NOTHING!Oh, now I'm supposed to be optimistic, rather than realistic. I'm supposed to celebrate how the diversity of corporate facism justifies destroying our Constitution to defend and preserve our Corporate Elite.Now, I have the pleasure of being led by a black corporate fascist, rather than a Yellow one, such as john Yoo, or a brown fascist, like alberto Gonzales, or a black female corporate fascist, represented by Condi, or a white female corporate fascist whore, such as Billery Clinton, Pelosi, or bitches such as Fiendstein.And who can ever forget those white brothers in treachery, Clinton and the Bushes?What a pleasure to serve in a Diverse Evil Empire, where all can serve the power of greed and corruption that has destroyed our democratic republic, and replaced it with a Corporate Fascist Empire....Here's the Real DealTorture, the UK, and Obama: A chance for "Change we can Believe in?" alex wierbinski, 2-4-09Panetta: Obama won't OK 'extraordinary rendition,' ap, 2-5-09 (except when the president orders it: NO CHANGE) Obama maintains power to Kidnap, ("Render") Torture, and hide crimes as "state secrets."
essay: Barak' Bright Shiney new Corporate Fascist State, committee, 6-6-07
OUR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC IS THREATENED MORE BY INTERNAL TRAITORS THAN FOREIGN “TERRORISTS,” alex, 12-30-06
The Fed and Politicians have gone "all-in" with our money to cover their Briber's DebtsAl's Corner of Clarity: How to Fix the Economy
...Scorecard: Presidential Campaign Bribes Source: OpenSecrets.org Presidential Campaign Bribes: Sources and Sums, open secrets, through may Bribes, by economic sector, to Presidential Candidates, open secrets, through may Bribes, by Industry, to Presidential Candidates, open secrets, through may Party fundraising, state by state, open secrets, through may
Dems live on Blood Money: Health Industry bribes Former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe Appearance as Paid Speaker at Health Insurance Convention in San Francisco, ca progress report, 6-13-08 Don't let the Dems fool you: Despite what the DNC says, The 76 million dollars of bribes the Health Industry has showered Congress with are currently split 55% to 45%, with Dems receiving the higher sum. The sole difference between the parties is the Repugnants admit they are bought by industrial bribes, while the Dems lie, and say they represent the people. The final dem lie: "we are the lesser evil." Fuck that! Evil is Evil. The Dem's dependence on bribery marks them as only superficially different from the repugnant party traitors. See Open Secrets, Congressional Bribes by economic sector. essay: billery; corporate whore for private health industry. article: health puts it's money on dems, 10-28-07. essay: OCT 06: Dems absorbing Massive Corporate Bribe-Shift anticipating victory. essay: dem victory reveals loss of democracy, nov, '06.
Traitor Dems approve bush illegal spying, give criminal telecoms immunity: House OKs Warrantless Wiretapping Bill, cbs 6-20-08 background: essay: dems approve bush's criminal powers. essay: dems approve bush's criminal powers, II. links: criminal searches Dems: The War PartyDemocrats: US House approves massive war funds bill, bbc, 6-20-08
essay: why bush is out of control. Billery Clinton Corruption Updates 59, 2nd article on the page, At Wal-Mart, Clinton didn't upset any carts
Dec. 19, 1996, NY Times, "Money From Private Sources Helps Clinton and Associates With Bad Times and Good"
LA TIMES, 2-1-07: BIG MONEY WINS, AND HILLARY HAS SOLD HESELF TO THE HIGEST BIDDERS IN THE LAND: SECRET TATOO ON HER ASS: PROPERTY OF “CORPORATE AMERICAN ANGELES”
Corruption Updates 62, 10th article on the page, Clinton: Pakistani businessman, donor to Dems, returns to U.S. to face charges
LA Times, June 17, 2007: A Democrat in '08! But not that one: Everybody Hates Billery
A fine list of NY Times Articles detailing the scummy relationships between the Clintons and Foreign Theives
Corruption Updates 76, 4th article on the page, Clinton: Fundraiser allegedly demanded stock
Corruption Updates 78, 6th article on the page, Poll: Dem Voters Hate Canididates
Corruption Updates 93, 7th article on the page, He backs Clinton; her backers help him
Corruption Updates 97, 2nd article on the page, Executive privilege touchy for presidential hopefuls: Just a Reminder of why Bush is out of Control
Corruption Updates 109, 8th article on the page, Clinton-Hsu: Yet Another Criminal Foreign Donor Los Angeles Times, September 6, 2007; HSU: Democratic donor skips day in court: Dem Traitors at it Again: Selling Influence to, and Accepting Bribes From Foreigners. Links Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2007; Wealth, mystery surround Clinton donor Hsu: Globalism Profits Democrats: Foreign Bribery Welcome
Albion Monitor, Monitor Wire Services, 2-18-97, "More Questions About Clinton's Asian Donations" March 30, 1998: Clinton's Asian superfunds - '96 campaign funds - Senate probe reports
Corruption Updates 33, Corporate Democrats of the Democratic Leadership Council Laughs at democracy
Los Angeles Times, September 10, 2007; FBI looks into disgraced donor's business: Investigating a pyramid scheme from within a pyramid scheme. The House of Mirrors. Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2007; Clinton to Hsu: Your Money is hot now. Please take it back Hsu the Billery bundler, lat, 9-14-07 Hsu fraud supercharged by clinton connection, lat, December 3, 2007
Clinton sets up fake soft-ball questions at public rallies: Just like bush, Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2007
Corruption Updates 127, 9th article on the page, Billery and Corporate Democrats thoroughly Bribed by Corporate Medicine
Billery Supports Musharraf Dictatorship, Dawn, 12-31-07
Clinton rolls a sizable pork barrel, LAT, 12-12-07 Hsu, bundler to billery, Democrats Is sentenced in California, NYT, January 5, 2008
Hillary's secrets, megaphone, 2-4-08
billery admits she lied, er, "misspoke," about being under fire, sf chron, 3-25-08 Billery forget that she was not under fire in bosnia, but it was a good story, ap, March 25, 2008 new video demonstrates billery did not "misspeak," she actually won the war in bosnia, committee, 3-26-08
clinton cannot stop lying, nyt, 4-5-08 americans think billery a liar, mcclatchy, 4-5-08 clintons richer than nazis, sf chron, 4-5-08
BIG OIL: Another Clinton fundraiser has a suspect past, mcclatchy, 4-3-08
Bill Clinton, China linked via his foundation, lat, 4-13-08
Billery regrets admitting she waits for obama's death, lat, 5-24-08 "Et tu brutus"
The Lying BitchHillary Phones Zadari; "US Supports Democracy"Hillary Clinton discusses Pakistan situation with Zardari, Nawaz F.P. Report, frontier post, 3-15-09background Billery Supports Musharraf Dictatorship, Dawn, 12-31-0
The Real Deal:Democracy threatens US influence in Pakistan, alex, 3-24-08
See Right Web for an interesting profile of the DLC and its Corporate backers Search the Corruption Database under Pelosi Clinton Democrats
Please limit comments to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number on the page. Example: (82_1.)
4) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Matier & Ross: Golden parachutes galore for departing UC prezSF Chron, August 20, 2007 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/08/20/BAFDRKMES.DTL&type=printable
One thing departing University of California President Robert Dynes won't have to worry about is money. It turns out that Dynes - who was nudged out as UC's top dog after a string of embarrassing stories about the university's liberal pay and perk packages for top managers - is in for a few goodbye goodies himself. Goodie No. 1: A year off with pay. Under his contract, if Dynes does go back to the classroom, first he will be entitled to a full year's paid leave to brush up on his studies. UC spokesman Brad Hayward said Dynes plans to take the leave, during which he will be paid his $405,000 president's salary. Goodie No. 2: Now that he has to vacate the UC-provided president's mansion in Kensington, Dynes - like all senior administrators - is eligible for a low-interest home loan to help him relocate. Hayward said it's uncertain whether Dynes will take advantage of the benefit. Finally, there's the pension. Upshot: Calculations show that if he were to stop working next June, he could either cash out for $1.6 million or get $145,524 a year in retirement pay. Politicians-Political appointees vie to raise each other's wages and benefits Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., November , 2007 If you work for a living, you are paid at the lowest wage established by the masses of crimigrants who are serving wealth in this state. If you are a boss, especially a politician, political appointee, or a member of a government union, then you get paid MORE than you could ever be worth, as demonstrated by Dynes' pay and perk package. The practice of raising wages is shared among the executive classes that have stolen our democracy: While they push each other's wages up, they will do anything to lower the wages of those below them, including flooding the country with peasants, or offshoring all our quality jobs to dictatorial countries that have no labor, wage, health, education, or environmental law. As masses of foreigners plunge wages, the extra profits don't go into paying for the education or any other costs the crimigrants generate. All of these irresponsible profits end up in the pockets of people like Dynes. In this massive scam, Americans not only have lost fair wages, but we are deprived of the chance to get an education at all, let alone in the prestigious UC system that generations of Native Californians built and paid for. But it gets worse: working Americans are denied the chance to get a decent paying job, denied any benefits at all, and finally, have had their political influence and interests swept aside by politician's who are more intent on giving access to the state's educational, medical, and social infrastructures to crimigrants in exchange for their future votes, after the politicians transform these obedient crimigrants into so-called "citizens." A crimigrant, a legal immigrant, and especially a native citizen who accepts the power and authority of this illigitimate government is a traitor to our country and constitution, and certainly not a citizen. Obedient consumers who obey and serve our our global corporate empire are just as cupable for the crimes of our government as the government itself. This is working out very well for the corporations, who have no intention of allowing their politicians to either deny them cheap labor, a massively growing consumer base, or paying andy of the educational, medical, and incarceration costs that this mass of crimigrants generates. That cost will be paid by denying service, education, and medicine to the American working class. Or better yet, this has provided an oppertunity to privitize the diminishing supplies of electricity, water, prisons, and education so that even greater profits can be generated during times of pain than during times of plenty. This is how and why the salaries of CEO's has climbed through the roof. This is how the corporations concentrated enough money to buy our whole political structure, and both the parties, lock, stock and barrel. Pay your taxes. Dynes, nunez, and perata need their massive paychecks, and millions of Juans need us to subsidize the crappy day care for cheap labor that we call our educational system. Nunez: ASSEMBLY STEALS LIKE CORPORATIONS: Citizens told state must pay Corporate-level CEO SALARIES to staff, Bee, 1-9-07 Arnie: Agency execs get pay hikes, Staff Steals Like Corporate America, Bee, 3-28-07 CORPORATE-DEMOCRAT IMMIGRATION POLICY SUCCESSFUL: Poverty, McClatch, 3-1-07 RACIST LIAR PRESENTS LOSS OF WORKER DIGNITY AND PAY AS “PROMOTION,” Bee, 2-28-07 HONEST STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ONLY SHOWS MONETARY COST OF IMMIGRATION, Harvard, 3-13-07 Income Gap Is Widening, Data Shows:US MAIN PRODUCTS: Luxury based on Poverty, NYT, 3-29-07 Study: Schools need billions, CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS IN A DEATH SPRIAL, Bee, 3-16-07 The Costs of irresponsible Profits Grow faster, are larger, than the Profits: U.S. Data Show Rapid Minority Growth in School Rolls, NY Times, 6-1-07 Who gains and who pays; Crimigrants bleed poor for elite profits, Heritage Foundation, 6-18-07 Schools: Illegals drain Public Services while Enriching Private Interests, LA Times, 6-25-07 Search the Corruption Database under Schools Crimigrants Please limit comments to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number on the page. Example: (82_1.)
5) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Corruption Charges Dog Calif. Sheriff By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer 7:48 PM PDT, October 31, 2007
SANTA ANA, Calif. -- The sheriff of Orange County turned himself in to federal authorities and made a brief court appearance wearing handcuffs on Wednesday to face charges that the once-rising Republican star took cash and gifts in exchange for political favors. Michael S. Carona heard the charges against him but did not enter a plea, although his attorney said outside court he would plead not guilty to seven counts of conspiracy, mail fraud and witness tampering on Monday. Prosecutors accuse Carona and others of collecting $350,000 in everything from payments, loans, a boat, vacation expenses, watches, ringside boxing tickets and luxury box seats to the World Series playoffs. Also charged are his wife and his alleged mistress, who is an attorney; both appeared in handcuffs with Carona on Wednesday. Carona; his wife, Deborah; and Debra Victoria Hoffman, identified as Carona's mistress in court papers, face counts of conspiracy. Carona and Hoffman face four counts of mail fraud; Carona also is charged with two counts of witness tampering, and Hoffman faces three counts of bankruptcy fraud. Two former assistant sheriffs already pleaded guilty to lesser counts in exchange for their help building a case against Carona. Carona, who has vowed to remain in office, was held in a cell several hours before he was released later on $20,000 bond. He and his wife held hands as they raced to a waiting SUV and sped off without comment. He has turned over his passport, but the magistrate denied a prosecution request to confiscate his firearm. Local Republican activists were immediately enamored of Carona, a handsome, tough-on-crime bodybuilder and Mensa member who spoke publicly of his deep Christian faith and family values. In 2002, photos surfaced of the sheriff canoodling with a young woman during a trip to Moscow -- with her wearing his sheriff's jacket. Two more women would later accuse Carona of sexual harassment, claims that Carona has denied and ultimately went nowhere. Three years later, the Los Angeles Times reported that Carona had issued badges and concealed-weapons permits to campaign contributors without proper training or background checks. The Biggest Criminals are at at the TOP of our economic, political, legal, educational, and medical industries Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., November , 2007 The Whole ugly Mess: Suppression of gang rape investigation against the son of an assistant chief and friend under Carona. Jaramillo, another asst. chief under Carona imprisoned for bribery, links Carona to Gabbard, a prolific briber of sheriffs. Chronology in OC Register, 10-30-07 IS EVERYBODY IN OC CORRUPT? CORRUPTION CASE PRESENT OC SHERIFFS DEPT as Corrupt, LAT, 11-29-06 OC ASSIST SHERIFF JAILED FOR YEAR, LAT, 1-31-07 OC Sheriff's wife and mistress, LAT, 12-28-07
Search the Corruption Database under Orange County Police
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6) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Bay Area foreclosure activity skyrockets
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/19/BUH1S8PSN.DTL In the Bay Area, the number of houses scheduled to be sold on the courthouse steps quadrupled compared with a year ago... In the nine-county region, 1,280 households were notified they were going on the block compared with 301 last August. By far the highest incidence of auction notices was in Contra Costa County, with 699 notices. The number of homeowners behind on their payments hit 5,705 in the Bay Area, almost triple the 2,104 from last August. The number of properties in the Bay Area that had reverted to the lender after foreclosure skyrocketed to 1,190 in August from 26 last year. Again, Contra Costa was most affected, with 574 bank-owned properties. Nationally, foreclosure filings more than doubled since last August, with 243,947 households in some stage of the foreclosure process in August, versus 113,300 a year ago, RealtyTrac said. The number was a 36 percent jump from 179,599 such filings in July. "We're definitely at the beginning of a cycle (of foreclosures)," said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at RealtyTrac. "There are three more periods where a lot of these very problematic subprime adjustable-rate mortgages are going to reset in massive numbers. We're entering one of those periods that will take us through the fall. There will be another one in early 2008 and another one in the fall of 2008." A huge number of subprime ARMs issued in 2005 and 2006 came with low rates for the first two or three years, after which they go sharply higher. Nevada had the nation's highest foreclosure rate, with one filing for every 165 households. California was second with one filing for every 224 households, more than double the national average of one filing for every 510 households. The state's foreclosure activity jumped 364 percent from last August and 48 percent from July to August, RealtyTrac said. Notices of default Notices of trustee sale County Aug 2007 Aug 2006 Aug 2007 Aug 2006 Alameda 1,451 543 207 97 Contra Costa 1,712 575 699 69 Marin 49 17 8 2 Napa 64 10 8 2 San Francisco 84 100 7 22 San Mateo 182 143 21 16 Santa Clara 821 360 127 30 Solano 985 288 166 53 Sonoma 357 68 37 10 Bay Area 5,705 2,104 1,280 301
Housing-credit crisis exposing the rotten core of American Markets and Economy Originally written August 17. Updated Nov 24, for grammer, punctuation, and highlighting of my awsome predictions accuratly identifying the impending meltdown. The recent downturn in housing and the accompanying mortgage security crisis are merely the exposed tip of the deep irresponsibility at the center of our financial and political markets. The housing downturn is a superficial crisis that has exposed the fundamental financial imbalances produced by the incompentence and greed at the center of our economy. These imbalances are threatening to trigger a global crisis. Although the fed's recent reductions in the Overnight and Discount Rates are large, rate reductions alone can not solve the underlying problems below the housing and mortgate security downturns. The rate reductions are a bone that the fed threw to the stock market. The recent fed rate reductions have accelerated, not diminished the actual crisis. In normal times, these fed moves might work. Wall Street will not know what the mortgage securities are worth until the real estate market stabilizes, and that will not happen for at least 18 months. Sales in the real estate market depend on mortgage securities to fund their loans. The interest rates on real estate depend on the perceived risks and relative values of the mortgage securities. The fed reductions would normally reduce risk to all of the players in this chain of market relationships. If times were normal. Rate reductions would be ok, if the US were alone in world and lived in a bubble. But at least 20% of American debt has foreign funding sources. China, England, and Saudi Arabia are holding trillions of dollars in their national reserves that are plunging in value. The fed's rate reductions, while propping up domestic credit, are accelerating fall of American securities, and American credit-worthiness across global markets. The real problem, below our domestic and foreign credit crisis, is that the fundamental engine of American profitability is based on rates of growth that have proven to be unsustainable in the present, let alone into the future. These unsustainable growth rates have been fueled and funded by low-wage foreign labor, low interest foreign loans, and economic trickery with our retirement money. It appears that our citizens are rejecting the unlimited movement of foreign labor into the US, and our foreign lenders are looking to reduce their exposure in dollars. During the last 20 years housing prices have been rising rapidly on a spiraling updraft of housing prices. To the forces of demographic growth and cheap money, another key source of funds behind this economic updraft is the massive amounts of liquidity injected into the equities market when Congress deferred taxes on stock investments made for retirement purposes. This alone pumped 40 billion a month into equities during the height of the dot-com boom. Rising housing prices have been supported by this ever-expanding supply of market liquidity and credit to maintain upward pressure on prices. Between 1989 and now, this combination of economic tricks was sufficient to steadily push housing prices up. The 401k mutual fund money has also distorted the value of stocks, pushing equity prices higher than honest valuation merits, and contributing significantly to the dot-com bubble. This monthly flow of tens of billions of 401k money into equities has also contribuited significantly to the speculative character of today's market. Despite this massive liquidity, the upper limit of housing price growth has been reached. At this point it appears that there is not enough liquidity nor credit in the US, or any will in global market, to maintain upward pressure on housing prices. The housing market reached the size where there was not enough buyers, nor credit, to continue further expansion. This rise in housing prices has been going on for decades, but was supercharged after the dot-com bust. It was after the bust that the housing bubble was initiated to carry the economy across the down time of the dot-com bust. After starting the housing bubble, Greenspan had five years to bring rates up sufficiently to quash the radical speculation in housing, defend the international value of the dollar, and build a sufficient rate cushion to allow future rate cuts in a downturn like the one we are now facing. Greenspan failed to respond. The reason we are in this crisis now is that Greenspan did not raise interest rates enough as the economy rose out of the dot-com bust, but instead kept rates low, and ran the housing bubble through the roof. This allowed speculation to seriously distort housing and housing securities while simultanously weakening the dollar. By not raising rates during the housing run-up, the fed now finds itself poised between a weak dollar and a weak market while maintaining historically low interest rates. This position neutralizes the ability of rate cuts to productively stimulate markets without seriously damaging the value of the dollar. This means that housing prices for the last 20 years have had nothing to do with actual demand or value. Prices were established and driven upward by debt-based speculation, rather than responsible investment. The housing run-up was based on naked speculation fueled by cheap money. We are experiencing an rather rapid reversion of prices in the housing market from speculation back to prices based on the level of sales that can be supported by the actual wealth of average individuals in society, and what they can responsibly purchase. Unfortunately for our housing market, the middle and lower classes have been stripped of their share of the national wealth during the last 30 years, and are incapable of restarting the housing market, let alone maintain consumer consumption on their diminished share of the nation's wealth without a fat line of cheap credit. The reversion of prices to normal market conditions has not only exposed millions of homeowners to foreclosure and made the value of all mortgage based securities uncertain, but it has triggered a global "moment," a global realization that the American markets and financial system are not properly valuing assets, or responsibly structuring credit and growth. This has made it vitally important to every player in the global economy, including nations, global investors, and global business interests, to immediately ascertain the actual value of all American assets, especially the dollar. This realization has exposed all american assets, especially the dollar, to a radical reevaluation across global markets. Although the Fed's recent rate reductions have marginally shored up domestic credit markets, they have destabilized the international institutions holding mortgage securities by significantly undermining the value of their dollar holdings. This has damaged global confidence in the dollar, and has intensified the necessity for international financial institutions to reassess not just the value of the dollar, but the centrality of its role in international transactions. This does not matter as much to domestic financial institutions, but it puts international holders of dollar-denominated securities in a position of getting screwed by either outcome: If the securities fail, they are screwed, and if the securities are preserved by devaluing the dollar, they are also screwed. The fed's rate reductions were the final trigger that caused global markets to finally seriously reassess the value of the dollar, after over a decade of weakness. This reevaluation has in turn exposed the fact that the massive US corporate profits taken during the last 10 years have been made in an economy that is drowning itself in debt. The recent massive downturn in the dollar signals the world has had a change in their perception of not just the dollar, but of the American economy itself. This has caused such a precipitous drop in the dollar that major players can no longer just reevaluate the value of the dollar, but are now reassessing the dollar's central position in global markets.
Why we are here The American expansion during the last 30 years can be characterized as a frenzy of consumer consumption married to a frenzy of corporate profits. The consumer and corporate elements of the expansion are connected at the hip, both in economic, as well as psychological terms. Each side requires the greed, ignorance, and justification of the other side to maintain its own position. Consumption and profit are, in fact, different manifestations of the same selfish irresponsibility. The consumer mentality expresses lower class selfishness by exposing that "our" working class has accepted debt shopping and "consumption," as the nature and goal of life. Simultaneously, our massive expansion has revealed that our elite and business classes consider the nature and goal of life to be the pursuit of unbridled growth, profit, and power. Both sides of our great expansion, the worker and the businessman, are dependent on gross consumption, debt, and irresponsible "profits" for their mutual existence. Both sides of this sick equation have been based on nothing more than irresponsible growth, fueled by massive demographic expansion, funded by irresponsible speculation. This irresponsible expansion has created a vast American private debt that exceeds our ability to repay, either today, or out of projected future profits. The bursting of the housing bubble has made this very clear to all disinterested observers. In other words, our expansion, and the profits generated by the corporations for the last 20 years, have been funded by expanding consumer debt, which until recently was collateralized by the speculative growth in the value of the housing and equities markets, not by actual economic growth and expansion of the wealth of consumers. Although our population growth is very real, the real growth in the overall wealth of our country has been a mirage funded by sub-prime loans and cheap money. The last 30 years of massive demographic and economic growth has been used as cover by our corporate aristocracy to put aside our democratic practices, and loot our economy, drain our infrastructure, and move the bulk of the wealth of our country from the bottom and middle to the top. That is the real root of our housing, credit, and currency crisis. Our country has plunged itself into an unsustainable downward spiral of massive debt to fuel this 30 year upward spiral of profit and physical expansion that pushed corporate profits and consumer consumption to historical levels. Now the world is going to balance the books, because we have refused to. The result is that the housing bubble is triggering a cascading collapse that is traveling through our set of nested economic imbalances. The bursting of the housing bubble has sparked a mortgage crisis which has initiated a credit crisis which is triggering a reevaluation of all dollar-denominated assets in the world. At the end of this cycle, we are going to find that our inability to face our housing, mortgage, and credit bubbles has significantly diminished the willingness of foreigners to finance American consumer credit. It started in housing, moved into credit, and is now collapsing the value of the dollar. This in turn has exposed the world to the sad fact that American corporate profits are being sucked out of an economy that is, and has been, losing money. So, independent of the vastly expanding profits of the corporations, the ultimate basis of American profit has been exposed as a pyramid scheme based on the availability of ever-expanding debt to payback previous debt. This is now common knowledge among global investors. The inevitable result, which we are now experiencing, is that the value of the dollar is shrinking faster than corporations can increase their profits to offset the actual loss of value. The Fed's infusions of cash and lowering of the discount rate will do nothing to re inflate the speculative bubble in housing, nor will it give the market clarity as to the actual value of the mortgage securities. But it will accelerate the dollar's loss of value, which will have the overall effect of tightening, rather than loosening, credit. The only thing that will save millions of families from foreclosure and mortgage securities from collapsing, is for housing prices to continue rising in value. That's not going to happen. The real estate market can no longer depend on the middle-class to pull up the nation by its own bootstraps, as the middle-class has been robbed of their share of the national wealth. Credit for the real estate market is no longer based on national or local conditions. American credit is now subject to, and dependent upon, the changing global estimation of the value of the dollar, and the risks associated with dealing in dollars, to obtain funds for consumer credit. The world is not only demanding America pay more for the credit necessary to maintain our consumer spending, but they are making much less money available to fund American debt. These dollars, which would normally loaned back to the US by our dependent trading partners, are now being invested in better, more secure opportunities. It appears that the big holders of dollars are dumping them on the market, not by selling dollars, but by buying huge amounts of global commodities with their excess dollars. I believe that the recent large price movements in global commodities indicate that the big global players are offloading massive amounts of dollars into commodities such as oil, copper, wheat, gold, and a range of other commodities. It looks to me like the Brits, Arabs, and Chinese are selling dollars without going through the foreign exchange markets by buying commodities that they will later sell for anything but dollars. These radical increases in all global commodities prices are working through the markets as I write, and are a direct indication in the global loss of confidence in the dollar. Long before housing could stabilize, in a couple of years from now, the shocks from the housing and credit markets on the global economy pose a significant likelihood that the value of the dollar will drop sufficiently to limiting the credit available to restart housing, thereby stifiling any housing recovery, and putting significant downward pressure on our economy for years to come. The net result of all this will be a significant decline in American economic activity accompanied by a significant upturn in prices. This portends a long downturn, not just for the American housing market, but of American consumption itself. It appears to me that we are heading into a significant downturn that will be followed by an extended period of stagflation. We are entering a very dangerous situation where it is highly possible that the world will retract a significant amount of our credit until our economy, rather than our corporations, actually becomes profitable. The fed's hands are effectively tied. If the fed raises rates, the dollar will proportionally stabilize, but the housing speculators will scream in pain. If the fed drops rates, the dollar will plunge, and our domestic party will continue for a bit longer, as the world burns dollars around us. The fed is damned if they do, and damned if they don't, raise rates. At this time two things are clear: Housing will continue to fall for 18 months to 2 years, and the credit crisis will deepen in response to the fall in value of both housing and the dollar. At this point no amount of Fed intervention will prevent the various markets from falling precipitously. The failures of the housing, auto, credit markets and the collaspe of the dollar will eventually pull the dow down to between 6800 and 7200. I see this as the market level that our actual economic activity will support. I see us hitting this low by June of 2008. American economic weakness presents a significant risk of bringing down unstable foreign economies, such as China, and likewise, economic disruptions in China could cause even greater disruptions in our housing, credit, and currency markets that would make our present imbalances seem insignificant. Our indebtedness and economic trickery is exposing the whole world to a significant risk of a sustained global downturn in economic activity, if not an outright global depression. But nobody really knows just how these massive American debt imbalances will work out. The disturbing fact is that the US is not doing a damn thing to address or change the fundamental causes of our dangerous position: Irresponsible growth based on speculation. That's where we are right now, between a rock and a hard place. Uncertainty and instability will characterize the markets until the US stops buying on credit and moves the basis of consumption off debt. This is why the Fed's pumping the financial markets with cash, and dropping the interest rates are so disturbing. Rather than paying the bills, and only growing responsibly from now on, the fed is trying to grow our way out of this jam with cheap money, when it was our irresponsible growth based on cheap money that brought us to this crisis. Unfortunately for our corporate devils and their consumer minions, we have run out of the money, energy and water with which to grow out of the hole our previous growth has put us in. We are tapped out, and this era of irresponsible speculative growth is officially over. It's time to pay the bills
The Fed cannot stop the global markets from reevaluating American housing, American credit-worthiness, the dollar, and ultimately the global role of the dollar. Consequently, the value of all assets based on the dollar are now uncertain. This reevaluation is now reverberating around the all of world's interdependent markets. It will only slowdown and stabilize when the repayment rate on our debt exceeds the rate at which we are borrowing. And that's not going to happen voluntarily. Hang on tight, this is going to be a crazy ride.
next essay in series: The rotten core of the American Economy: Our Corrupted Democracy previous essay; Markets will not settle until all assets are revalued, and housing reestablishes price and volume, August 17, 2007 the beginning of the crisis; Markets about to kill economy, Aug 4, 2007 Bear Stearns Staves Off Collapse of 2 Hedge Funds, NYT June 21, 2007 Expect more woes with prime home-equity loans, SF Chron, Tuesday, July 31, 2007 krauts taking a beating in mortgage securities, where will it end? NY Times, August 8, 2007
Grandfather Debt: summary page Grandfather Debt: index of reports A couple of notes on the "Grandfather debt" website and the underlying libertarian theory that it extolls: This grandfather guy confuses economic freedom with political freedom. He, like many other modern citizens, cannot see that our Constitution creates political freedom for citizens, and puts the power to regulate commerce into the hands of the people. It gives no power to the corporations to participate in politics, only to the citizens. According to many moderns, such as this grandfather guy, money, power, and brutal economic theories are the just rulers of our polity, and not the democratic rights of our citizens. I disagree. Legitimate government is not dependent on adherence to any particular economic, religious, or political theory, but is based on adherence to our Constitution. Our Constitution specifies that only our citizens, united under democratic elections, can form legitimate government. The terms of Constitutional legitimacy also require that governmental power be prohibited from interefering with the rights of citizens to conduct their personal lives, and sufficient to regulate the public relations between citizens, specifically granting the power to regulate commerece. Today, too many of our citizens have abandoned their democracy, and the rights of their fellow citizens, to break our Constitutional requirment of democracy in order to impose some crazy commie, capitalist, religious, or libertarian theory on the rest of us. Using our Constitutional government to impose one group's values on society is common today. This type of behavior is exelempified by the actions of the dems and repug parties running up to elections, as each vies with the other to impose their anti gun or anti abortion views on the rest of us. (I am neither "pro-gun," or "pro-abortion," but I will take nothing away from either group, nor would I support any reduction of anyone's civil liberties because of my personal prejiduces.) These criminal acts by both parties fly in the face of our most sacred democratic values and are direct violations of the individual rights our constitution was designed to protect. So much for various "crusades" of the dems and 'pugs. Nobody can legitimately define for another citizen the "proper" pursuit of life liberty and happiness. The Constitution created political forms designed to deny the rich, the well-born, the religious, and the powerful the ability to control politics and impose their will on the less powerful members of our society. Our corporate aristocracy and their paid political pimps, in both parties, have broken this limitation and must be removed from office. Until our democracy and rights are restored, all the rules, policies, possessions and wealth held in this country are suspect, if not illegitimate. Only a politically legitimate government can legitimize the wealth of this country. Too many thieves and traitors hold too much power and wealth today. As for our "grandfather debt" dude, he must be educated that Capitalism is an economic theory that is sufficient to run an economy, but has no place at the center of our political democracy. At the center of our polity is our Constitution, and death to any who subvert our Constitution to impose their religious, political, or economic beliefs on the rest of us, be it capitalism and christianity, or socialism and godlessness. Neither capitalist nor christian have the right to impose their values on the rest of society, while both have the right to privately practice their beliefs among themselves, and guide their pubic acts by their private beliefs, as does every citizen. No government or group in government has any right to impose belief or practice on our citizens, or use their beliefs to subvert our Constitutional rights. Until we remove capatialism from the center of our democratic republic, and push it back into the economic sphere, where it belongs, not only is our govenment illigitimate, but so too is all wealth collected under this illigitimate government. Gramps' facts and figures on our national debt are powerful statistics, even if his underlying theory seems to be ass-backwards, and an insult to our revolutionary Constitution. Our Constitution defined legitimate power as that that eminated from the people, not a corporate aristocracy or the economic theory they base their position on. Search the Corruption Database under credit crisis Economics
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7) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Popcorn chemical bill halted in cliffhanger By Shane Goldmacher - Bee Capitol Bureau Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, September 18, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/384705.html
State legislation to ban the butter-flavored chemical used in microwavable popcorn certainly seemed to have the necessary votes to pass out of the state Senate last Tuesday. For eight minutes, the bill had received a majority of support in both the state Assembly and Senate. It was all but headed for the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The chemical in question, diacetyl, has been linked to lung disease in popcorn plant workers. In recent weeks, the first report surfaced of a consumer potentially contracting bronchiolitis obliterans, better known as "popcorn lung," from the fumes of microwaving popcorn. Powerful business interests, including the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Grocers Association, the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, and the Grocery Manufacturers/Food Products Association, opposed Lieber's measure, peeling off the support of a half-dozen more moderate, pro-business Democrats. The state Senate first voted on Lieber's measure last Tuesday morning, when the bill fell five votes short of passage. Bribery Dominates our Legislative, Regulatory, and Electoral sysems Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., November , 2007 The public health is the second victim of the power of special interest bribery in politics. The first victim was our democracy. When we lost our democracy we lost our most fundamental defense not only of our health, but we lost the ability to provide for our children's educations, and most importantly, we lost our right to our identity. All of these things, our health, education, and identity are now no more than the prizes our politicians auction off to the highest bidders. To defend the health of our democracy we must break the battleship chains of bribery and corruption that have wrapped themselves around our politicians and our polity itself. Until we break the unholy relationship that the power and wealth of the corporate interests, private interests, and the special interests have forged with our politicians, our health, our knowledge, and our identities will continue to be sacrificed as the first costs of our loss of democracy. Contribute to Win, Big Contribs try to Trump State Safety Laws, AP, 9-20-06 Parties-Special Interests Divide Political and Economic Ownership of California, Bee, 8-21-06 How to Corrupt Democracy: The Insurance Industry and the Governor, LAT, 9-24-06 Governor, PGE, Set Up Political Slush Fund, Bee, 10-29-06 POLITICIANS WHO BRIBE POLITICIANS ARE LEADERS, SF Chron, 12-4-06 Arnie sells influence to Corporations, Bee, 3-15-07 Insurance Industry Battle Plan: Combined Business assualt on Democracy, LAT, 9-24-06 Political Incompentence and Corruption Soft Peddled...Drug and Telecom Bill Signed, LAT, 9-30-06
Search the Corruption Database under California (183 Abstracts of California Corruption) Killing safety regulations (37 abstracts)
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Today's Headlines
1) California: We failed to pay the costs of profit during Boom years: The Party is Over. 1b) California: 10 Bil Deficit Looms, who will subsidize profits of corporations now? The Crimigrants? HA-HA 1c) California: State Tax Revenues Plunging 2) California: Poisner pledges fortune to defeat Nunez "Term Limits" FRAUD 3) CA Poll: Voters discover Pelosi is a corporate whore 4) University of California: another elite leech sucks the system dry (govt vs. corps: who steals more?) 5) OC Sheriff charged with corruption, appears in Handcuffs before federal judge with wife and girlfriend 6) Bay area foreclosures skyrocket: Local version of impending Global fiscal meltdown How thing work in Sacramento 7) Bribery and Special interests power kills public health and safety legislation
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