From Atlantic Magazine biz page:
Former Bear Stearns mortgage executives who now run mortgage divisions of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Ally Financial have been accused of cheating and defrauding investors through the mortgage securities they created and sold while at Bear. According to e-mails and internal audits, JPMorgan had known about this fraud since the spring of 2008, but hid it from the public eye through legal maneuvering. Last week a lawsuit filed in 2008 by mortgage insurer Ambac Assurance Corp against Bear Stearns and JPMorgan was unsealed. The lawsuit's supporting e-mails, going back as far as 2005, highlight Bear traders telling their superiors they were selling investors like Ambac a "sack of shit."
Denninger has been on top of this all along, alleging that the frauds originate at the very beginning of the process--the creation of the individual mortgages themselves. Little wonder that so much of the paperwork has gone missing...
OS is no financial whiz, no economist.
But he does know this: If you bleach all the trust out of a culture, where no one has any idea whether or not he is dealing with an out-and-out crook--things grind to a halt. Perhaps slowly, but inevitably.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Clobbered In The Last Election? No Worries, Just Stop The Clock! Harry Reid Declares It's 5 January 2011
Really. In the Senate, it's January 5, 2011.
After a nearly three-week absence, the Senate is back in session Tuesday in a chamber where time has ground to a halt: It's the same legislative day there that began Jan. 5.
The ruling Democrats have effectively stopped the clock for a reason: They contend that on the Senate's first day in session, its rules can be changed with just 51 votes, rather than the 67 normally needed. And the rules they are trying to change all have to do with the minority's ultimate weapon: the filibuster.
In other words, they never adjourned the previous session of the Senate!
WTF?!
Mitch McConnell notes that it appears to be one more attempt to nullify the outcome of last November's election. Like that MotherOfAllSpendingBills that Harry Reid sprang on the Senate with less than two days' notice, demanding its passage in the December lame-duck session. The whole thing was so egregious that it didn't pass the smell test for even the Democrats--or at least for the ones who have to face the voters in 2012.
For OS's readers overseas, a few simple truths must be understood about the US Democrat party, in order to understand US politics:
Words have no meaning, being simply sounds one uses to get one's way today.
Rules are for suckers, and other guys.
Only power matters.
They exist to campaign for the next election, whenever that is. If they lose, then its the fault of the great unwashed pool of voters, and the Dems have the obligation to 'adjust' the outcomes for TheGreaterGood. They just thinkin' of us, ya'll.
Trotsky would be proud.
So, here we are, on January 25, 2011. The Senate is meeting today, on January 5, 2011. And if Harry Reid gets his way, then it will still be January 5, 2011 in November of 2012.
At which point, WeTheEnemy (that great unwashed pool of voters) get to remind him of the current date and time.
Again, OS sez it: Political violence is not an option. Once the genie is out of the bottle, and blood flows, Heaven only knows what tragedies await us. NO, NO, NO!
However, this sort of blatant abuse of power, repeated again and again, as we have experienced in the past two decades, sets the stage for just such a tragedy.
OS has children, and would like to have grandchildren some day. And hopes to have a stable, free, and peaceful America for their lifetimes. Lest the darkness fall, we must keep insisting that light prevail, while we still have time.
After a nearly three-week absence, the Senate is back in session Tuesday in a chamber where time has ground to a halt: It's the same legislative day there that began Jan. 5.
The ruling Democrats have effectively stopped the clock for a reason: They contend that on the Senate's first day in session, its rules can be changed with just 51 votes, rather than the 67 normally needed. And the rules they are trying to change all have to do with the minority's ultimate weapon: the filibuster.
In other words, they never adjourned the previous session of the Senate!
WTF?!
Mitch McConnell notes that it appears to be one more attempt to nullify the outcome of last November's election. Like that MotherOfAllSpendingBills that Harry Reid sprang on the Senate with less than two days' notice, demanding its passage in the December lame-duck session. The whole thing was so egregious that it didn't pass the smell test for even the Democrats--or at least for the ones who have to face the voters in 2012.
For OS's readers overseas, a few simple truths must be understood about the US Democrat party, in order to understand US politics:
Words have no meaning, being simply sounds one uses to get one's way today.
Rules are for suckers, and other guys.
Only power matters.
They exist to campaign for the next election, whenever that is. If they lose, then its the fault of the great unwashed pool of voters, and the Dems have the obligation to 'adjust' the outcomes for TheGreaterGood. They just thinkin' of us, ya'll.
Trotsky would be proud.
So, here we are, on January 25, 2011. The Senate is meeting today, on January 5, 2011. And if Harry Reid gets his way, then it will still be January 5, 2011 in November of 2012.
At which point, WeTheEnemy (that great unwashed pool of voters) get to remind him of the current date and time.
Again, OS sez it: Political violence is not an option. Once the genie is out of the bottle, and blood flows, Heaven only knows what tragedies await us. NO, NO, NO!
However, this sort of blatant abuse of power, repeated again and again, as we have experienced in the past two decades, sets the stage for just such a tragedy.
OS has children, and would like to have grandchildren some day. And hopes to have a stable, free, and peaceful America for their lifetimes. Lest the darkness fall, we must keep insisting that light prevail, while we still have time.
Amy Chua's 'Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother'--Just Arrived At OldSouth's House
...and he began reading as soon as he cleaned up the dinner dishes.
OS thinks the opening salvo of publicity could have been handled better. That WSJ article comes off very harsh-sounding, and the jeers were heard 'round the world.
Actually, the book is very very funny and self-deprecating. OS is about halfway through the tale, and as a fellow hard-charging parent, has had several belly-laughs along the way. He's in love with younger child Lulu, who appears to be dismantling Prof. Chua's entire universe, brick by brick.
Moh', lathuh, when the book is finished.
It is quite a read, not at all what OS expected.
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
OS thinks the opening salvo of publicity could have been handled better. That WSJ article comes off very harsh-sounding, and the jeers were heard 'round the world.
Actually, the book is very very funny and self-deprecating. OS is about halfway through the tale, and as a fellow hard-charging parent, has had several belly-laughs along the way. He's in love with younger child Lulu, who appears to be dismantling Prof. Chua's entire universe, brick by brick.
Moh', lathuh, when the book is finished.
It is quite a read, not at all what OS expected.
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Monday, January 24, 2011
Ruh-Roh: Rahm Emmanuel Declared Ineligible For Mayoral Candidacy By Illinois Court Of Appeals
HT Second City Cop
Here's the news, just in.
Early voting begins Jan. 31.
This will, of course, be fast-tracked to the Illinois Supreme Court.
If he loses there, be assured he will venue-shop at the Federal level. But, can any Federal judge realistically claim jurisdiction over a city election?
But then again, they've claimed jurisdiction over school districting for over forty years now...
Rahmbo can't claim it's about civil rights. His opponents include a Black Woman(check!), a black Hispanic guy(check!), and a white Hispanic guy(check!).
This could get interesting. What's he gonna do with alllll that money he's extorted--I mean gathered--for his mayoral candidacy?
The real issue is: Is Rahmbo a Chicago resident? Or is Chicago his own Rotten Borough?
The guy renting his house has an opinion:
Emanuel, a former North Side congressman, had served Obama in Washington from January 2009 until October. When he left for the White House, Emanuel rented his North Side home to Rob Halpin.
Halpin refused to move out when Emanuel returned to Chicago and briefly staged his own run for mayor.
Halpin applauded the ruling. “Now I feel vindicated by the court,” Halpin told WGN-AM radio.
Residency, Halpin said, is “one of the rights that goes with the rent payment.”
Halpin said “it’s very clear that only one resident” could be attached to a single residence, “unless it was some sort of hippie commune.”
(The wheels on the bus are coming off, coming off, coming off...)
Here's the news, just in.
Early voting begins Jan. 31.
This will, of course, be fast-tracked to the Illinois Supreme Court.
If he loses there, be assured he will venue-shop at the Federal level. But, can any Federal judge realistically claim jurisdiction over a city election?
But then again, they've claimed jurisdiction over school districting for over forty years now...
Rahmbo can't claim it's about civil rights. His opponents include a Black Woman(check!), a black Hispanic guy(check!), and a white Hispanic guy(check!).
This could get interesting. What's he gonna do with alllll that money he's extorted--I mean gathered--for his mayoral candidacy?
The real issue is: Is Rahmbo a Chicago resident? Or is Chicago his own Rotten Borough?
The guy renting his house has an opinion:
Emanuel, a former North Side congressman, had served Obama in Washington from January 2009 until October. When he left for the White House, Emanuel rented his North Side home to Rob Halpin.
Halpin refused to move out when Emanuel returned to Chicago and briefly staged his own run for mayor.
Halpin applauded the ruling. “Now I feel vindicated by the court,” Halpin told WGN-AM radio.
Residency, Halpin said, is “one of the rights that goes with the rent payment.”
Halpin said “it’s very clear that only one resident” could be attached to a single residence, “unless it was some sort of hippie commune.”
(The wheels on the bus are coming off, coming off, coming off...)
The Cold Comfort Of Being Correct: The School That Fired Katherine Birbalsingh Is Forced To Shut Its Doors And 'Recycle'
Cranmer shares the news.
And, further detail from the local paper.
CHILDREN at a struggling academy are to be sent to new schools so it can be demolished and redeveloped.
Around 150 Year 7 and 8 pupils at St Michael and All Angels CofE Academy in Wyndham Road, Camberwell, are to be sent to other schools in Southwark from September, it has emerged.
The school is to stop taking new pupils until 2013 as it goes through a major restructure.
The faith academy has struggled since it opened in 2007 and was judged to be inadequate by Ofsted inspectors in April last year.
The report said it needed to urgently address poor behaviour of pupils.
Which is precisely what Ms. Birbalsingh shared with the Conservative Party Conference last October 5. OS can't urge his readers strongly enough to take eight minutes and view this address, and then pass it along to friends.
For which candor, she was...well...sacked. For saying the unmentionable truth: 'The system is broken, because it keeps poor children poor.'
She just wasn't fired, she was publicly tarred and feathered by the board of the school and its headmaster. They attempted to make her 'radioactive', and poison her future career as a teacher.
Now, we learn, following that good day's work, they have been forced to admit, that, yes, the school is a shambles, and it has to be shut down. Then demolished. Then reopened under new management.
Hmmm....
Now, shouldn't the penalty fall upon the school head and board that drew the knife on the teacher that told the truth and appealed for sanity? Miss B wasn't even particularly singling out the school she taught in to be vilified, but offered it as an example of a much greater systemic failure.
But, being a realist, OS knows that there will be zero disruption experienced in the career of ‘Dr’ Irene Bishop, the 'Executive Head', and no fallout for the Bishop of Southwark (who could have come to Miss B's defense), or anyone else involved in her mistreatment.
Except Miss Birbalsingh. And the students. And their families. And the neighborhood.
That's ok, though. They're just the people who do the work and do the work and do the work, and pay and pay and pay the taxes, and try to survive the school, and try to better their kids lives. What matter they? They'jest the LittlePeople.
OS is soooooo grateful to live in Tennessee. The rest of the world thinks we don't wear shoes here, that we're rednecks and hillbillies chawin' 'baccy and playing banjos on the tailgates of our pick-em-up trucks. And we do have our share of failings, no doubt about it.
We, however, elected successive state legislatures that deliberately leave home-schoolers alone. That allows charter schools, and doesn't legislate private school start-ups out of existence.
We have a by-God choice! We can, and do, vote with our feet, to the eternal anger of the teachers unions and the bureaucrats in the Department of Edumahcation.
Go, Miss B!
By the way, ya'll: Her book, To Miss With Love, publishes in March.
Not at Amazon yet--OS just checked.
But wouldn't it be a joyful thing to see it arrive to opening day with about 25K in pre-orders?
Revenge, sweet sweet revenge, served cold.
At a distance.
And, further detail from the local paper.
CHILDREN at a struggling academy are to be sent to new schools so it can be demolished and redeveloped.
Around 150 Year 7 and 8 pupils at St Michael and All Angels CofE Academy in Wyndham Road, Camberwell, are to be sent to other schools in Southwark from September, it has emerged.
The school is to stop taking new pupils until 2013 as it goes through a major restructure.
The faith academy has struggled since it opened in 2007 and was judged to be inadequate by Ofsted inspectors in April last year.
The report said it needed to urgently address poor behaviour of pupils.
Which is precisely what Ms. Birbalsingh shared with the Conservative Party Conference last October 5. OS can't urge his readers strongly enough to take eight minutes and view this address, and then pass it along to friends.
For which candor, she was...well...sacked. For saying the unmentionable truth: 'The system is broken, because it keeps poor children poor.'
She just wasn't fired, she was publicly tarred and feathered by the board of the school and its headmaster. They attempted to make her 'radioactive', and poison her future career as a teacher.
Now, we learn, following that good day's work, they have been forced to admit, that, yes, the school is a shambles, and it has to be shut down. Then demolished. Then reopened under new management.
Hmmm....
Now, shouldn't the penalty fall upon the school head and board that drew the knife on the teacher that told the truth and appealed for sanity? Miss B wasn't even particularly singling out the school she taught in to be vilified, but offered it as an example of a much greater systemic failure.
But, being a realist, OS knows that there will be zero disruption experienced in the career of ‘Dr’ Irene Bishop, the 'Executive Head', and no fallout for the Bishop of Southwark (who could have come to Miss B's defense), or anyone else involved in her mistreatment.
Except Miss Birbalsingh. And the students. And their families. And the neighborhood.
That's ok, though. They're just the people who do the work and do the work and do the work, and pay and pay and pay the taxes, and try to survive the school, and try to better their kids lives. What matter they? They'jest the LittlePeople.
OS is soooooo grateful to live in Tennessee. The rest of the world thinks we don't wear shoes here, that we're rednecks and hillbillies chawin' 'baccy and playing banjos on the tailgates of our pick-em-up trucks. And we do have our share of failings, no doubt about it.
We, however, elected successive state legislatures that deliberately leave home-schoolers alone. That allows charter schools, and doesn't legislate private school start-ups out of existence.
We have a by-God choice! We can, and do, vote with our feet, to the eternal anger of the teachers unions and the bureaucrats in the Department of Edumahcation.
Go, Miss B!
By the way, ya'll: Her book, To Miss With Love, publishes in March.
Not at Amazon yet--OS just checked.
But wouldn't it be a joyful thing to see it arrive to opening day with about 25K in pre-orders?
Revenge, sweet sweet revenge, served cold.
At a distance.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Just Because It's Saturday, And Because OS Wants To: Morton Lauridsen's Ubi Caritas
We live in this world, where murdering dictators are hosted at White House state dinners, where nutjobs decide they can walk up to a supermarket and just begin killing people, and where people we should expect to act like grownups act like nutjobs and spout off despicable hateful nonsense on the floor of our House of Representatives.
And that's just the past two weeks, ya'll.
We also live in a world that produces the occasional composer like Morton Lauridsen, and conductors like JungPyo Hong, and choirs like Gloria Chorale of Seoul Jangshin University.
This is just utterly beautiful, and gives cause for hope. All is not lost, by any means. Those people referenced in the first paragraph most likely are, but we aren't obligated to follow them to Perdition.
OldSouth hopes his loyal readers will take about six minutes out of the day, and let this music do its work.
Happy Saturday, ya'll. Translation below.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ's love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
As we are gathered into one body,
Beware, lest we be divided in mind.
Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,
And may Christ our God be in our midst.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
And may we with the saints also,
See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages.
Amen.
And that's just the past two weeks, ya'll.
We also live in a world that produces the occasional composer like Morton Lauridsen, and conductors like JungPyo Hong, and choirs like Gloria Chorale of Seoul Jangshin University.
This is just utterly beautiful, and gives cause for hope. All is not lost, by any means. Those people referenced in the first paragraph most likely are, but we aren't obligated to follow them to Perdition.
OldSouth hopes his loyal readers will take about six minutes out of the day, and let this music do its work.
Happy Saturday, ya'll. Translation below.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ's love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
As we are gathered into one body,
Beware, lest we be divided in mind.
Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,
And may Christ our God be in our midst.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
And may we with the saints also,
See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages.
Amen.
Keith Olbermann, Truly One Of The Worst People In Journalism, Is FIRED
Just in at 9:00 pm Central US Time. OS was surfing, stopped off at CNN out of boredom, and Anderson Cooper makes the announcement.
He was fired tonight, said 'goodbye' tonight. And he's gone.
Comcast bought NBC, and has decided not to let MSNBC be a deserted island.
Plus, the man was just sooooooo obnoxious, hateful, spiteful, and constantly angry.
The sort of guy that chases viewers away.
Finally (at last?), is he gone?
He was fired tonight, said 'goodbye' tonight. And he's gone.
Comcast bought NBC, and has decided not to let MSNBC be a deserted island.
Plus, the man was just sooooooo obnoxious, hateful, spiteful, and constantly angry.
The sort of guy that chases viewers away.
Finally (at last?), is he gone?
The Fraudulent Warmists Find Themselves Defrauded: WhoWouldaThunkIt?
A true AlGore moment, courtesy of the UK foundation Civitas.
The European carbon market has been temporarily closed after fears that it has been the victim of fraud. Having lost £7 million’s worth of carbon credits, there could be a polluter somewhere in Europe happily belching out their fumes knowing that they won’t be paying for it. This isn’t the first crisis to hit the scheme and the EU should now take a step back and assess if its climate change policies are the optimum way to curb emissions.
The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) simply does not work. The EU’s own Law Enforcement Agency has estimated that in 2009, €5 billion of revenue was lost through fraudulent activity and in some countries this accounted for 90% of market activity! While the market cost of carbon credits was €12.5, they were being sold for €1.
OldSouth shares this with you, snowed in here in the South, in a year when AlGore predicted that we would have to explain to young children what snow used to be...
OS will drink an extra cup of hot chocolate in his honor this evening.
By the way, where is old Al, our fellow Tennessean? And why isn't he screaming bloody murder about fraud in these markets he such a hand in creating? One would think his fax machine would be blanketing the world! Perhaps this scam was pulled on scammers, and he doesn't care to bring up the subject?
(OS would use the phrase 'Sound of crickets chirping', but they're all frozen just now.)
Let's ask Tipper, and see what she thinks. She might be able to locate him. Or not.
The European carbon market has been temporarily closed after fears that it has been the victim of fraud. Having lost £7 million’s worth of carbon credits, there could be a polluter somewhere in Europe happily belching out their fumes knowing that they won’t be paying for it. This isn’t the first crisis to hit the scheme and the EU should now take a step back and assess if its climate change policies are the optimum way to curb emissions.
The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) simply does not work. The EU’s own Law Enforcement Agency has estimated that in 2009, €5 billion of revenue was lost through fraudulent activity and in some countries this accounted for 90% of market activity! While the market cost of carbon credits was €12.5, they were being sold for €1.
OldSouth shares this with you, snowed in here in the South, in a year when AlGore predicted that we would have to explain to young children what snow used to be...
OS will drink an extra cup of hot chocolate in his honor this evening.
By the way, where is old Al, our fellow Tennessean? And why isn't he screaming bloody murder about fraud in these markets he such a hand in creating? One would think his fax machine would be blanketing the world! Perhaps this scam was pulled on scammers, and he doesn't care to bring up the subject?
(OS would use the phrase 'Sound of crickets chirping', but they're all frozen just now.)
Let's ask Tipper, and see what she thinks. She might be able to locate him. Or not.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Steve Cohen And The Anti Defamation League, And Yet One More Opportunity To Backtrack On MSNBC--Fail!
The ADL was not impressed by Rep. Cohen's behaviour:
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
No matter how strong one's objections to any policy or to the tactics of political opponents, invoking the Holocaust and the Nazi effort to exterminate the Jewish people is offensive and has no place in a civil political discourse.
Using the Holocaust as an analogy to express frustration or comparing false information to the anti-Semitic blood libel or to Goebbels' genocidal propaganda is inappropriate and serves only to trivialize the dangers of anti-Semitism and the unique tragedy in human history that saw the murder of six million Jews and millions of others.
We respect Representative Cohen's right to engage in vigorous debate about health care policy. We hope he will reconsider his offensive statement and we urge all members of Congress to reject such odious comparisons.
At least, that may have gotten his attention. Still a thunderous silence from his fellow Dems--the ones who scream about civility...
So, he trundles hisself onto the Ed show...
..and Ed (a member of the Politburo Left, if there ever was one...) throws him softballs to see if he won't back down. And, Cohen begins to make noises that sound like he might regret what he said. Remember, in his world, words don't have meaning--they're just noises you make to get people to let you have your way today. He almost almost almost makes it over the hedge, almost gets it done, and then at the very very end, the RealSteveCohen comes charging back. He takes one final swipe at GOP Congressman Mike Pence:
I think Mike Pence said he often wants to be concise, careful, and consistent. Well that’s someone who I’ll never mention again who lived in the previous century who worked for bad people. That’s what he did.”
In the end, he never regrets a bit of it. So much for civility.
Where's Paul Krugman, who railed about civil discourse? Miz Nancy? Anyone out there amongst the Literati Of The Left? Anyone, save the ADL?
HT RedState
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
No matter how strong one's objections to any policy or to the tactics of political opponents, invoking the Holocaust and the Nazi effort to exterminate the Jewish people is offensive and has no place in a civil political discourse.
Using the Holocaust as an analogy to express frustration or comparing false information to the anti-Semitic blood libel or to Goebbels' genocidal propaganda is inappropriate and serves only to trivialize the dangers of anti-Semitism and the unique tragedy in human history that saw the murder of six million Jews and millions of others.
We respect Representative Cohen's right to engage in vigorous debate about health care policy. We hope he will reconsider his offensive statement and we urge all members of Congress to reject such odious comparisons.
At least, that may have gotten his attention. Still a thunderous silence from his fellow Dems--the ones who scream about civility...
So, he trundles hisself onto the Ed show...
..and Ed (a member of the Politburo Left, if there ever was one...) throws him softballs to see if he won't back down. And, Cohen begins to make noises that sound like he might regret what he said. Remember, in his world, words don't have meaning--they're just noises you make to get people to let you have your way today. He almost almost almost makes it over the hedge, almost gets it done, and then at the very very end, the RealSteveCohen comes charging back. He takes one final swipe at GOP Congressman Mike Pence:
I think Mike Pence said he often wants to be concise, careful, and consistent. Well that’s someone who I’ll never mention again who lived in the previous century who worked for bad people. That’s what he did.”
In the end, he never regrets a bit of it. So much for civility.
Where's Paul Krugman, who railed about civil discourse? Miz Nancy? Anyone out there amongst the Literati Of The Left? Anyone, save the ADL?
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
HT RedState
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