Proof our congress is corrupt!

You cannot read the description of the personal stock trading allegedly conducted by Rep. Spencer Bachus and other members of Congress during the financial crisis and conclude anything other than the following:

Our government is completely corrupt.

Yes, this behavior may be technically legal, because of an absurd loophole that makes insider-trading rules not apply to Congress.

Yes, this behavior may be widespread on Capitol Hill.

But there is no universe in which a reasonable person would consider this behavior ethical or okay. And for the 300+ million Americans who aren't members of Congress, it would be just plain illegal

Many members of Congress seem guilty here, including John Kerry, Dick Durbin, and Jim Moran. But Spencer Bachus takes the cake.

According to a new book called Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer, as relayed by Dave Weigel at Slate, Rep. Bachus made more than 40 trades in his personal account in the summer and fall of 2008, in the early months of the financial crisis.

The fact that Bachus personally traded on private information he received as a result of his job is bad enough. The fact that he was the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee at the time is simply outrageous.

In one case, the day after getting a private briefing on the collapsing economy and financial system from Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson, Rep. Bachus effectively shorted the market (by buying options that would rise if the market tanked.)

A few days later, after the market tanked, Bachus sold his position and nearly doubled his money.

If a corporate executive or Wall Street trader did this--cashed in personally after getting private, non-public information from his work--Rep. Bachus and every other member of Congress would be screaming from the rooftops about how the financial system is deeply corrupt and how the executive should be charged with insider trading.

And they would be right.

Rep. Bachus should return whatever money he made by betting on the direction of the markets (or anything else) in the fall of 2008. He should apologize for his behavior and jaw-dropping lack of judgement. He should urge his fellow members of Congress to immediately enact legislation that defends the fairness of the markets by holding Congress to the same insider trading laws as everyone else. He should then resign in disgrace.

Here's the passage from Throw Them All Out, as relayed by Slate's Dave Weigel. According to Weigel, it is only one of many examples of Bachus's insider trading:

On the evening of September 18, at 7 p.m., Bachus received [a] private briefing for congressional leaders by Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke about the current state of the economy. They sat around a long table in the office of Nancy Pelosi, then the Speaker of the House. These briefings were secretive. Often, cell phones and Blackberrys had to be surrendered outside the room to avoid leaks.

What Bachus and his colleagues heard behind closed doors was stunning. As Paulson recounts, "Ben [Bernanke] emphasized how the financial crisis could spill into the real economy. As stocks dropped perhaps a further 20 percent, General Motors would go bankrupt, and unemployment would rise . . . if we did nothing." The members of Congress around the table were, in Paulson's words, "ashen-faced."

Bernanke continued, "It is a matter of days before there is a meltdown in the global financial system." Bachus was among those who spoke. According to Paulson, he suggested recapitalizing the banks by buying shares.

The meeting broke up. The next day, September 19, Congressman Bachus bought contract options on Proshares Ultra-Short QQQ, an index fund that seeks results that are 200% of the inverse of the Nasdaq 100 index. In other words, he was shorting the market. It was an inexpensive way to bet that the market would fall. He bought options for $7,846 on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at 8,604. A few days later, on September 23, after the market had indeed fallen, he sold the options for over $13,000 and nearly doubled his money.

By Henry Blodget | Daily Ticker – Tue, Nov 15, 2011 7:23 AM EST

What happened to the right of free speech?

Dear Friends, 

An Iraq War veteran who survived two tours of duty gets his skull fractured in ... Oakland!
53 activists arrested in Atlanta. SWAT teams deployed to boot out peaceful protesters. 

Recent actions against Occupy protesters are irresponsible and tragic. They're an assault on our democracy. These protesters are bravely exercising their right to freedom of expression, to bring attention to a political and economic system that's rigged against most Americans. I stand with them; and, all Americans -- left and right -- should join me in protecting their freedom to non-violently create change. 

This isn't a Democratic or Republican movement. It's not about one party or one policy. It's about standing up to a financial system that's completely backwards. Wall Street banks get billions in bailouts and emerge with massive profits. Most Americans see a program of austerity in a painful economic climate -- benefit cuts, high unemployment, declining wages, and crumbling infrastructure. Congress moved swiftly to "save" banks (something I strongly opposed), and now Congress is paralyzed, unable to create jobs and to save our middle class.

It's no surprise Americans are standing up. Our country's economic policies have consolidated and accelerated wealth to the top. One percent of Americans now control 42% of our wealth. It's not radical to think this is out of balance or to demand a government that is of the people and for the people. I've been to these protests, and I can tell you they're filled with honest, hard working Americans who are concerned with the direction of our country and our economic future. 

I am deeply concerned. I'm concerned about an economic system which tethers job creation toChina and big banks. We shouldn't have to borrow money from China -- or Japan or South Korea -- to get out of this ditch. We should stop the Fed from giving billions to the big banks. We have to take back the power to manage our own economy, to regain control over our monetary system, consistent with the U.S. Constitution. That's why, one month ago, I introduced the National Emergency Employment Defense (NEED) Act. The legislation would put the Federal Reserve under the Department of the Treasury, and it would help us recapture control of our financial system. As part of the NEED Act, Congress would use its constitutional power to invest in America, creating millions of jobs by putting billions of dollars directly into circulation. And since this money is adding real, tangible value to our national wealth, it will not generate inflation. 

We need a financial system that is of the people and for the people. We need to take it back from the big banks. We need economic and social justice. I will continue to support the Occupy movement. I will continue to fight for legislation, including the NEED Act, that sets America on a path of jobs for all, health care for all, education for all, retirement security for all, and peace. 

Let's keep this movement alive. Let's keep fighting for economic and social justice. Keep occupying Wall Street. And, with your help, I'll keep occupying Congress. 

With respect, 

 
Dennis Kucinich 

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is a jackass!

Courtesy of Sarah Hodgdon  Sierra Club, Conservation Director 

I don't say this lightly: if House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) gets his way this fall by passing his TRAIN Act, there could be up to 657,000 more asthma attacks next year.¹ Majority Leader Cantor and his GOP allies are blinded by corporate polluter funders who have made destroying basic, life-saving protections their number one priority. 

Eric Cantor has raised $214,250 from dirty energy companies in the 2009-2010 fundraising cycle alone -- Dominion, a coal company, and Koch Industries, the oil brothers who have funded the political mess in Wisconsin, were the highest contributers.²

These dirty companies put destroying our clean air at the top of their to-do list -- not the health of our families. Send a message to your representatives letting them know that they represent us, not corporate polluters.

According to a Cantor memo that has recently been revealed, he and his colleagues will target 12 clean air common sense safeguards through the TRAIN Act and other methods.³  

Based on that memo, this what Cantor's plan to assault our air and water might look like in the first month of Congress's fall session :

Step 1: Gut health standards for smog, soot, and toxic air pollution from power plants.

Price Tag: 25,300 lives lost a year. 

Step 2:  Dismantle health standards for mercury and other toxic air pollution from incinerators and industrial boilers

Price Tag: 22,750 more premature deaths a year.

Step 3: Disable health standards for smog, soot, mercury, and toxic air pollution from cement plants

Price Tag: 2,500 premature deaths and 100,000 missed work days.

Cantor is going to be busy -- but we'll be there every step of the way to challenge him!  Let's get started right by sending a clear message to our representatives: When it comes to the health of our families, there can be no compromise!

Our lungs depend on it.

Sarah Hodgdon

Sierra Club, Conservation Director 

[1]"Public Health Protections Save Lives, Create Jobs," http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/09/blocking_safeguards.html Center for American Progress, September 2011.

[2]"Dirty Energy Money," Oil Change International.  http://dirtyenergymoney.com/overview.php?type=politician 

[3] "GOP's Dirty Air Hit List," NRDC, September 2011. http://www.grist.org/clean-air/2011-09-01-gops-dirty-air-hit-list-sacrifices-americans-health

Nobel Laureates ask President Obama to Stop the Pipeline!

Dear President Obama,

We—a group of Nobel Peace Laureates— are writing today to ask you to do the right thing for our environment and reject the proposal to build the Keystone XL, a 1700-mile pipeline that would stretch from Canada’s Alberta tar sands to the Texas Gulf Coast.

It is your decision to make.

The night you were nominated for president, you told the world that under your leadership—and working together—the rise of the oceans will begin to slow and the planet will begin to heal. You spoke of creating a clean energy economy. This is a critical moment to make good on that pledge, and make a lasting contribution to the health and well being of everyone of this planet.

In asking you to make this decision, we recognize the more than 1200 Americans who risked arrest to protest in front of the White House between August 20th and September 3rd. These brave individuals have spoken movingly about experiencing the power of nonviolence in facing authority. They represent millions of people whose lives and livelihoods will be affected by construction and operation of the pipeline in Alberta, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

All along its prospective route, the pipeline endangers farms, wildlife and precious water aquifers—including the Ogallala Aquifer, the US’ main source of freshwater for America’s heartland. We are aware that Nebraska’s Governor Dave Heineman—as well as two Nebraska Senators—has urged you to reconsider the pathway of the pipeline. In his letter

to you he clearly stated his concern about the threat to this crucial water source for Nebraska’s farmers and ranchers. The aquifer supplies drinking water to two million people in Nebraska and seven other states.

We know that another pipeline that covers some of the same route as the proposed pipeline, and built by the same company proposing to build Keystone XL, already leaked 14 times over its first year of operation.

Like you, we understand that strip-mining and drilling tar sands from under Alberta’s Boreal forests and then transporting thousands of barrels of oil a day from Canada through to Texas will not only hurt people in the US—but will also endanger the entire planet. After the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, the full development of the Alberta tar sands will create the world’s second largest potential source of global warming gases. As NASA climatologist James Hansen has said, this is “essentially game over for the climate.”

There is a better way.

Your rejection of the pipeline provides a tremendous opportunity to begin transition away from our dependence on oil, coal and gas and instead increase investments in renewable energies and energy efficiency.

We urge you to say ‘no’ to the plan proposed by the Canadian-based company TransCanada to build the Keystone XL, and to turn your attention back to supporting renewable sources of energy and clean transportation solutions. This will be your legacy to Americans and the global community: energy that sustains the lives and livelihoods of future generations.

Sincerely,

Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate (1976) – Ireland 

Betty Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate (1976) – Ireland

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Laureate (1980) – Argentina 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate (1984) – South Africa

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Laureate (1989)  – Tibet 

Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Laureate (1992)  – Guatemala 

President José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Laureate (1996) – East Timor 

Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate (1997) – USA 

Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate (2003) – Iran

ADD YOUR VOICE TO THEIRS: 

Tell President Obama to Stop the Pipeline! 

Go to www.StopTar.org

Males who wear pants around their thighs are idiots!

I am thrilled that Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong got booted from an airplane for refusing to hike up his low slung pants.  About time somebody started calling boys on this practice.  I say "boys" because I can't believe a REAL man would care to wear his waistband around this thighs.  It is one of the STUPIDEST practices I've ever seen and, since I worked in Hollywood for over twenty years, I've seen a lot.  I don't care if your white, black or green, pull up your damned pants.  I'd rather you walk around in no pants then to wear them like that.  What does it symbolize?  What does it accomplish?  Do you think you're going to score so quickly with a girl (can't believe a REAL woman would be attracted to that) that there is no time to unbutton your pants and pull them down?  


I think we should all step on the hems of all pants that are worn around someone's thighs or the bottom of their ass (not sure which they're trying to adhere to) when we walk behind them.  That way, their pants would fall and they would have to pull them back up.  A day of that would have them wearing them the way they were intended.


Who finds this attractive?  It looks like you can't manage to dress yourself.  It's amazing that guys spend all that money on clothes and shoes just to wear them half-assed.  Why bother to wear pants at all.  There's some guy in New York that stands on the corner in his BVDs.  Why not try that, at least it makes a commitment - on or off.  If I wanted to see your tidy-whities or your boxers - I'd date you.  But I wouldn't be seen, let alone go out - with a guy who couldn't manage to pull up his pants.  What's a matter?  Too many moving parts?  I'm just saying...

Keep the Arctic Wild!

Keep the Arctic Wild!

Antidepression drugs are killing us!

The following is from Marijah McCain a World Class Naturopath from Herbal Healer Academy:


I want to start out with the most alarming information that I know you are not aware of. This information is NEVER told to the public. Understand that the North American doctors have written prescriptions for over 50 million of these antidepressant drugs. Prozac is the first one in a long line of clones... ProzacTM, CelexaTM, PaxilTM, ZoloftTM, LuvoxTM... What in heaven's name is going on here... "This country has witnessed extreme increases in suicides, murder/suicides, domestic violence, mothers (parents) killing children, road rage, school shootings, bankruptcies, divorce, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, MS,& fibromyalgia, since these serotonergic drugs have become so popular."


"SOME of the cases you may be familiar with are: Mr. and Mrs. Phil Hartman (ZoloftTM); ProzacTM was found in the van of Mark Barton, the Atlanta day trader, who recently killed his family and others on a shooting spree before killing himself; Neal Furrow, the LA Jewish school shooting, was reported to have been court ordered to be on ProzacTM along with several other medications; the Salt Lake Family History Library shooting & school shootings in Littleton, Colorado 
(LuvoxTM); school shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, Springfield, Oregon and Caldwell Idaho (ProzacTM); another boy in Pocatello, ID in 1998 who in seizure activity from ZoloftTM had a stand off at the school;15 year old Chris Shanahan (PaxilTM) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman; the shooting at the lottery in Connecticut last spring by Mathew Beck (LuvoxTM) that left five dead in a
murder/suicide; the New York City Subway bombing by Edward Leary (ProzacTM); little 10 year old Timmy in southern Florida (ProzacTM); Nick Mansies (PaxilTM) in New Jersey who was convicted of killing a little boy who was selling cookies door to door; in Orange County, CA, Dana Sue Gray (PaxilTM) who co-workers described as a caring nurse killed several elderly people; Officer Stephen Christian (ProzacTM), one of the finest officers on the Dallas Police force, who ran into a 
police substation shooting fellow officers and was killed; 12 year old Chris Fetters (ProzacTM) in Iowa who killed her favorite aunt; David Rothman (ProzacTM) killed two co-workers and himself at the Dept. of Agriculture in Ingelwood, CA.; William Evans (ZoloftTM) shot one co-worker at the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services before shooting himself in Columbus, Ohio; Winatchee, WA where 43 people were wrongfully imprisoned in a false accusation of sexual abuse 'witch hunt' fury started by a child under the influence of ProzacTM and PaxilTM; Christopher Vasquez (ZoloftTM) killed Michael McMorrow in Central Park; Megan Hogg (ProzacTM) duct taped the mouths and noses of her three little girls and took a handful of pills; Vera Espinoza (ProzacTM) in Randolph, VT, shot her small son and daughter before shooting herself; and elderly man (ProzacTM) in Layton, UT axed his wife and daughter to death; Margaret Kastanis (ProzacTM) used a knife and hammer to kill her three children before stabbing herself to death; an elderly man (PaxilTM) in Dallas, TX. strangled his wife before shooting himself twice in the chest; Larramie Huntzinger (ZoloftTM) blacked out and ran his car into three young girls killing two in Salt Lake City, UT; Mary Hinkelman (ProzacTM) a nurse in Baroda, MI 
shot her two small daughters and her sister before shooting herself; Lisa Fox (ProzacTM) shot her small son and her dog before shooting herself in Brighton, MI; Debi Louselle (ZoloftTM) shot daughter and then herself in Salt Lake City; a father in Wyoming shot his wife, daughter and baby grand-daughter then himself after only days on PaxilTM... the list goes on and on.

A few additional famous victims: Princess Di (ProzacTM), Monica Lewinsky (ProzacTM, ZoloftTM, EffexorTM, SerzoneTM and Phen-FenTM), President Clinton's ex-partner Jim McDougal (ProzacTM) and more... The latest figures show that there have been 44,000 adverse reports filed with the FDA, and 2500 deaths mostly suicides and murders. The pharmaceutical manufactureres have been sued, but make huge, out of court settlements to keep this all out of the press. We have the entire 16 page report available for you on the Internet site.
http://www.rense.com/general/pro.htm

People, this is very scary stuff - 50 million North Americans on this crap! No wonder it isn't safe to go outside! The government is trying to make all these tragedies look like a gun control issue. In my opinion the Million Mom march should have been on this drug issue. How many of them are on these drugs and allow their children to be drugged with Ritalin and the likes... Why would a government want all its people drugged like zombies? Easier to control, I should think. 
Easier to get them into the "computer census system", easier to snow them with their lies on the news... People, stay awake and don't take this poison. Get a copy of the article and pass it out to people you know are on these medications. Do you want to leave your children in day care when the person in charge is taking this stuff? We as a people have got to stop this and how we stop it is to say NO and don't take the crap. Flush it down the commode. These medical people actually 
have the nerve to tell you these drugs are addicting and you have to take them for life. Addicting? I thought there was a war on addicting drugs in this country!!! Nice money maker for them, wouldn't you say... 

I know many people who have cold turkeyed these drugs. You can do that or you can reduce the dose a little each day, but no matter how you do it, or how you help your friends, neighbors and loved ones to do it, get them off this stuff. It is pure poison not just for the body but in my opinion it is deeper than that, it blackens the soul. These drugs can influence a person to do some terrible things that they would never have done on their own. Their soul will pay the price. 
It's time to rally America and get involved!