Friday, March 20, 2009

THE MOB VS. THE MOB

"I feel like I'm watching Star Wars and the destruction of the Evil Empire. This banking industry is like the mob and the mob is after them."

GOOD THINGS HAPPENING BENEATH THE SURFACE. Read more below...

SCANDAL UPDATES: CAN YOU BELIEVE THE NERVE?

But PLEASE STOP THE DEATH THREATS against the AIG employees who received bonues. I have received death threats from Ann Coulter fans, and believe me, it is quite scary — especially when you have children. It can ruin your life. This is a media lynching, and since the blame is with the designers of these credit default swaps and complicated financial products, people should behave like civilized human beings.

A.I.G. Sues U.S. for Return of $306 Million in Tax Payments
While the American International Group comes under fire from Congress over executive bonuses, it is quietly fighting the federal government for the return of $306 million in tax payments, some related to deals that were conducted through offshore tax havens.

A.I.G. sued the government last month in a bid to force it to return the payments, which stemmed in large part from its use of aggressive tax deals, some involving entities controlled by the company’s financial products unit in the Cayman Islands, Ireland, the Dutch Antilles and other offshore havens.

A.I.G. is effectively suing its majority owner, the government, which has an 80 percent stake and has poured nearly $200 billion into the insurer in a bid to avert its collapse and avoid troubling the global financial markets. The company is in effect asking for even more money, in the form of tax refunds. The suit also suggests that A.I.G. is spending taxpayer money to pursue its case, something it is legally entitled to do. Its initial claim was denied by the Internal Revenue Service last year.
CNBC HOST: WALL STREET FIRMS CAN'T 'BE RUN WELL' BY THOSE MAKING UNDER $250K

HAINES: Let’s get back to what I regard as a fundamental issue here. I know it’s politically unpopular, politically incorrect. I know it goes against all of the populist indignation that’s out there right now. But you can’t really, it seems to me, expect that these Wall Street companies are going to be run well by a bunch of people who don’t make more than $250,000.

Of course, Wall Street has been run so smoothly under millionaire CEOs. Haines also seems to be criticizing the management ability of America’s small business owners, the vast majority of whom do not earn over $250,000 in gross income per year.

UPDATE The Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo notes that today Haines also compared Wall Street to Nazi Germany in arguing that AIG should keep its bonuses:

"It’s just like when the Allies were victorious over Nazi Germany in World War II, when we occupied the country, we left a lot of Nazis in place because they were the ones who made the trains run on time and the bureaucracy function properly, etc. And it was distasteful, but you needed them." (!!!!???)

SUZE ORMAN TO BUSH: You Owe The American People Every Penny Of Your Fortune And Your Family's Fortune

MIRACLES HAPPEN... THE GOOD NEWS

This AIG bonus scandal is a gift in disguise. It is exposing the ugly underbelly of massive banking fraud and elitism. This is a good thing. The liars can whine all they want, but the truth is that deregulation caused this and pleas to regulate were ignored for the past 8 years on George W. Bush's watch. So -- let's look at the good happening now: Transparency! So much greed occurred in the past 8 years, including mortgage banking fraud, contractor fraud in Iraq, war profiteering and Big Oil tax loopholes. Everything will come out now. This is encouraging.
You attract to yourself riches or poverty, peace of mind or fear — entirely in accordance with the thoughts you think. You make your own conditions, and you can unmake them.
"You know how when you’re in a room with a serial killer – or someone who is extremely angry – you can just feel the tension coming off the person? Well the opposite is true too. It’s been scientifically proven that enthusiasm and courage actually change your brain waves, changing the molecular structure around you. This means you can be attractive even if you’re not good looking — because when you radiate love, you attract people. - Lydia from the comedy "Venus Conspiracy"

Science has now proven that there is no solid matter. What looks like a table is really vibrational energy. Love is a powerful molecular energy, a transformative force. Imagine if joy and love were tangible, physical. What would they look like? A joyous, loving spirit actually has a calming effect on others.

THINGS FALL APART... BUT IT'S ALL GOOD

Chaos theory says that right where there appears to be chaos, from a higher view, a beautiful pattern is developing and emerging. If a business doesn't pay attention to changes going on, it is going to be in trouble. But if this troubled business embraces the change - there will be a period that appears to be "chaos" for a while, but in reality a beautiful solution is developing. This good intention of "embracing change and acting on the side of good" acts as a magnet that brings everything into order. A higher order, the next stage of development.

VIKTOR FRANKL
Viktor Frankl, the Austrian Holocaust survivor who overcame concentration camp torture with the power of his mind, is one of my heroes. He literally transcended hell on earth with his thoughts, and somehow the torturers left him alone. He rose above his grisly fate by dwelling on love. He thought non-stop of his wife's face, the love they shared. He filled his mind with so much love, the prison guards never abused him. He was untouchable and of course, was one of the few who survived.
Even in the degradation and abject misery of a concentration camp, Frankl was able to exercise the most important freedom of all - the freedom to determine one's own attitude and spiritual well-being. No sadistic Nazi SS guard was able to take that away from him or control the inner-life of Frankl's soul. One of the ways he found the strength to fight to stay alive and not lose hope was to think of his wife. Frankl clearly saw that it was those who had nothing to live for who died quickest in the concentration camp.

From "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl: "A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth--that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.

I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world may still know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when a man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way--an honorable way--in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life, I was able to understand the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory."

_____________________

MIRACLES HAPPEN ... they are natural laws

A very wise man said that each time he lost a job or client, the door opened to a better one. The minute he put too much importance on a particular job, project or relationship, it mysteriously self-destructed. . .because you cannot get your self-esteem from material things. It’s an inside job. The minute you put all your focus on money, pleasure or material goods you will lose those things – because nothing in the material world is stable. Stock markets drop, banks fail, houses can burn down. But as long as you "wear the world as a loose garment" you can be okay during any crisis.

All you have to do is to take care of one moment at a time and commit 100% to getting your inner life right before anything else.

The man I'm referring to now has a successful career on his own terms, doing work that he loves; but he had to let go of needing that one job to fix him. He had to stop putting his focus on MONEY, PROPERTY OR PRESTIGE.

** If you are very worried and confused, now is the time to “lie down among the poppies” mentally and pray. But prayer is not what you think it is. It is walking surrendering the fight. Stop worrying about your problems, walk away from intellectual manipulation. Try it for one week.

"It is by self-forgetting that we find..." As contrary to your nature and as hard as it sounds, you must completely put your worries aside for one week or so — enjoy the beauty in life, find ways to help others — get your mind off yourself and your worries. You can only fix things so far by human manipulation. When you are deeply confused there is only one way to go: DROP IT ALL TOGETHER and replace your negative obsessions with thoughts of joy, truth, love and beauty. These are all synonyms of "God." This is true prayer: the invisible transfer of love to another, and to yourself.

Emmet Fox writes: "A woman in London, whose affairs seemed to have got into a hopeless tangle that meant utter ruin, was persuaded to drop the whole burden mentally and “let the worst happen,” while he spent two or three days browsing spiritual books, and praying for peace and happiness. He was forbidden to worry or look again at his problems. Everything cleared up like magic within a week without having to take any material action."


If you have a problem or a worry, do not indulge in blaming the past, or dwelling on the problem — whether it’s your job or a tragedy or a difficult person or someone who hurt you. Do not look back and blame yourself either. It’s a complete waste of time. Do not indulge in grumbling, psychoanalyzing, self-pity, recriminations, or how you could have done it better. The past will tyrannize you; the future will terrorize you. All you can do is live this one moment and train your thoughts. TRAIN YOUR THOUGHTS to think only of good things; and if you can’t come up with any good thoughts, don’t think at all, empty your mind out. Stop the chatter, meditate -- take a walk in a forest. If you can't stand the quiet— go to the movies, ride a roller coaster, help at the Mission, eat ice-cream, go dancing, play music, create art, express joy, have fun, clean house.

As Einstein said, "No problem can be solved on the level it was created on."

DON’T THINK, DON’T DWELL ON YOUR WORRIES; DWELL ON GOOD, BEAUTY TRUTH, LIGHT, JOY. If you really do this, your problem will go away because your thoughts create your reality.

If you dwell on your worries they will get bigger. This is what is meant by "don't fight your enemies." You thought your problem into existence, now unthink it. Shakespeare said, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Wash it away by substituting it with a thought of Love, Truth, Beauty Wisdon. You will be amazed at the power of prayer; it completely changes things — even sickness and material conditions. This is a secret few people know until they really want it. Give it a try and see what happens.

Love by Emmet Fox

“There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer; no disease that enough love will not heal; no door that enough love will not open; no gulf that enough love will not bridge; no wall that enough love will not throw down; no sin that enough love will not redeem.

It makes no difference how deeply seated the trouble, how hopeless the outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake; a sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.”

Forget mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it now. Today is your lucky day!

35 comments:

  1. "MIRACLES HAPPEN"

    yes the neo-cons no longer have power

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  2. Thank you Clif! I was looking for that clip of Keith's Special Comment tonight.
    Brilliant!

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  3. Is everybody twittering? I have to start soon.

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  4. "MIRACLES HAPPEN"

    At the Pentagon.

    Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that, over two years, he would all but eliminate an unpopular practice that has prevented tens of thousands of active-duty soldiers and reservists from leaving military service on time if they were scheduled to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

    For the troops

    At the Justice Department.


    Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday outlined a shift in the enforcement of federal drug laws, saying the administration would effectively end the Bush administration's frequent raids on distributors of medical marijuana.

    For severely ill people

    In Congress.

    The House voted Wednesday to approve the largest expansion of government-sponsored service programs since President John F. Kennedy first called for the creation of a national community service corps in 1963.

    For giving back to the democracy you were blessed to be born into ....

    "MIRACLES HAPPEN"


    Oh yea, and elections do have consequences.

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  5. Sometimes CONTEXT is everything.

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  6. Thank you Clif!! And Obama was brilliant on Leno tonight.

    He is astoundingly smart, humble and reassuring. I really have faith in America again.

    The Bush-Cheney-Limbaugh pro-greed, pro-death, Oil-War-Banking industry had come to resemble the Evil Empire.

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  7. Holder rescinds Ashcroft-era FOIA guidelines

    "A presumption of openness," is now supposed to guide federal agencies' responses to Freedom of Information Act requests.

    Attorney General Eric Holder today sent a memo to agency heads that reverses FOIA guidelines that have been in place since Oct. 12, 2001. The Bush-era presumption, established by then-attorney general John Ashcroft, was that agencies should first assume that information should not be released -- and put most of the burden on the requester to prove otherwise.

    "Any discretionary decision by your agency to disclose information protected under the FOIA should be made only after full and deliberate consideration of the institutional, commercial, and personal privacy interests that could be implicated by disclosure of the information," Ashcroft wrote in that 2001 memo.

    In a statement, Holder says that:

    "By restoring the presumption of disclosure that is at the heart of the Freedom of Information Act, we are making a critical change that will restore the public's ability to access information in a timely manner. The American people have the right to information about their government's activities, and these new guidelines will ensure they are able to obtain that information under principles of openness and transparency."


    Now that is change we all can believe in;

    Upholding the ORIGINAL INTENT of the FOIA instead the paranoid delusions of the reich-wing neo-con cabal which afflicted the US from Jan 20th 2001 to Jan 20th 2009

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  8. KY Election Officials Arrested, Charged With 'Changing Votes at E-Voting Machines'

    Circuit court judge, county clerk and election officials among eight indicted for gaming elections in 2002, 2004, 2006

    County uses popular, unverifiable ES&S touch-screen voting systems...

    Over the years, we've detailed the arrests and other unsavory behavior of many of the not-so-good election officials who, we were told, should simply have been trusted (our "favorite" has always been the case of Monterey CA's Tony Anchundo, who told us on air we should "trust" him, just a month or two before being arrested on 43 counts).

    Well, now we've got a whole passel of still more crooked officials to add to the list. Moreover: The Kentucky officials arrested and indicted today, "including the circuit court judge, the county clerk, and election officers" of Clay County, have been charged with "chang[ing] votes at the voting machine" and showing others how to do it!

    Hello?!...

    FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7001

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  9. Lydia Cornell said...


    And Obama was brilliant on Leno tonight.

    He is astoundingly smart, humble and reassuring. I really have faith in America again.


    Yea did you see that? He was cool as a cucumber. Jay tried to trip him up a little when he kept badgering him on the financial crisis but the President was calm, cool and collected and much better informed than Jay expected.

    He sat there explaining the crisis to everyone like a financial analyst on a news show.

    Could you imagine Bush trying to do that? lol

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  10. Bush would have made it look like an episode of Jerry Springer.

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  11. Hey Lydia,

    Better bury that story, and tell your friends too as well.
    (The guilty are DEMOCRATS!)

    ReplyDelete
  12. No they are not, both the republican and democratic election officials were charged.

    The county judge executive has NO party designation showing.

    However he received votes in line with, Bush-Cheney in 2004, 5431, to 5725, the democratic ticket was around 1000 votes or less.

    The county is HEAVILY republican in each of the years these officials are under indictment for Voltron, so you might be a wee bit off.

    Especially since the republican candidate got many many more votes in each of the elections in questioned.

    Don't believe me, check it out for your self;

    Election Results

    Click on the election cycle you want IE 2002 primary, then click on Clay County.

    If the democratic party was cheating why did the republicans win EVERY election?


    Facts Volt, remember facts?

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  13. Don't believe me Volt,

    Here are the registered voters numbers from the state election website;

    2002

    democratic REG VOTERS 2,044

    republican REG VOTERS 13,977

    2004

    democratic REG VOTERS 2,005

    republican REG VOTERS 13,663

    2006

    democratic REG VOTERS 1,749

    republican REG VOTERS 13,222


    Wanna tell me again how it is just the democratic party cheating in a county they are in a small minority?

    How could they get the control to set up elections if they haven't the power?

    Wanna try some more twisted logic?


    Like they committed election fraud so the republicans always win?

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  14. BTW Volt, A statement from the U.S. Attorney's office claims the officials tried to rig federal, state and local elections in 2002, 2004 and 2006 in Clay County.

    BUT the state and federal elections ONLY republicans won.

    Check the state website


    BUT you claim they AL were democratic party members.


    Funny how REAL facts sort of under cut your reich-wing spin again son.

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  15. BTW Volt if the republicans hold a 7 to 1 edge in registration do you think they all voted for the democratic candidate for county wide office?

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  16. Mike, Bartlebee, Lydia, etc., you want to see what Clif, the honorable veteran, does in his spare time? Check him out in all his splendor at my site. He actually accused (anonymously, of course) my mother of blanking my father and then killing him. Nice, huh? I have NO idea what you guys see in him, period. Yeah, and all because I objected to John McCain being called a traitor.

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  17. Maybe that's WHY they were cheating Cliffy. To try to change the fact that Republicans were winning.

    Story

    "Those charged with Maricle are Doug Adams, school superintendent in Clay County; county Clerk Freddy W. Thompson; Charles Wayne Jones, the county's Democratic election commissioner; William E. Stivers, who has been an election officer and is chairman of the county Democratic Party; Paul E. Bishop; and William and Debra Morris."

    Why would a "Republican" judge, school superintendant and a county clerk conspire with a Dem election commissioner and the chairman of the county Dem party?

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  18. Sorry but it was BOTH the republican and democratic election judges Volt try the whole truth.

    The whole story says they cheated in state and federal elections which ONLY republicans won.

    Sorry but you can try to spin it but the FACTS beg to differ.

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  19. Will got proof THIS time or are you making more accusations with no proof?

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  20. Last time you accused me, I had NO electricity when somebody spammed your waste of bandwidth with comments like you accused me of.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Why don't you take Voltron advise and turn off the anonymous comments and that would probably stop it.

    You admitted you turned them off, and the spam stopped.

    However you turned them ON for some reason.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Also, SOME Dems change their party affiliation to run for office.

    Like say, Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg...

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  23. Sorry BUT the voters in a small county know that volt, I know I live in one.

    Changing party affiliation when most people know you and your neighbors don't work so well.

    But nice try at spin again.

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  24. Clif -- great research!!

    Volt - Do you remember the Republicans who went to jail for "voter fraud" and for jamming the election information phone lines in Vermont -- so senior citizens couldn't get handicapped access to the polls?

    You probably never heard about it because the media is not liberal, nor is it democratic. It is the opposite.

    Can you explain why the Republicans won? What is the truth, from unbiased sources.

    None of it is a good thing. I hate it when people we think are supposed to do public good -- are so corrupt.

    I actually believe that the decline and fall of the Empire is because of materialism, and the extreme wrong doing of the people who believe in profit at all cost.

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  25. You're wasting your time on that Frakkin skin job people.


    ...should've blown him out a frakkin air lock a long time ago.

    ReplyDelete
  26. clif said...

    Why don't you take Voltron advise and turn off the anonymous comments and that would probably stop it.

    You admitted you turned them off, and the spam stopped.

    However you turned them ON for some reason.


    Cause he's another frakkin skin job.

    He just looks more like us.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I am from Clay County, Kentucky and know each of the people arrested. I also knew the officials previously convicted who are in prison now (former mayor Daugh White, former county Clerk Jennings White, former Asst. Chief of Police Todd Roberts, former 911 Director Vernon Hacker, former Manchester Fire Dept. Chief Charles "Dobber" Weaver, and former city councilman Darnell Hipshire). There will likely be more to follow the current group arrested. Clay County is roughly 90 percent Republican, including ALL of the eight arrested this week. They registered as Democrat and took leadership roles in the local party to control precinct officer seats, ensuring all officers at the precinct were hand picked. Notice that all of the elections in question are PRIMARY elections. It's common knowledge that if you win the Republican primary in Clay County you will win the general election. If you want just check the political registration of the county and the party affiliation of current and former elected officials. I can't attest to the guilt or innocence of any of those most recently arrested but I know for a fact that Clay County is very much a Republican county. By the way, Jennings White's attorney prior to his guilty plea was David Williams, the Republican President of the Kentucky Senate. Look it up. It's all public record.

    COMMENT #37 [Permalink]
    ... eatmyass said on 3/20/2009 @ 6:49 pm PT...

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  28. Read the above comment from Bradblog.

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  29. Wow...this reminds of the mess that we have down here in Hillsbourough County. In 2003, Governor Jeb Bush, the former presidents brother, appointed Buddy Johnson as Supervisor of Elections. This began a five year saga of corruption and incompetence that ended last November when I along with a whole lot of other folks here in the Bay area voted his butt out of office.
    The new Supervisor, Phyllis Busansky, a Democrat, has the herculean task of cleaning up this mess.
    Check out www.tampabay.org and just search for the name Buddy Johnson. It's mind boggling and it's not over yet.

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  30. Take a break from politics and check out the new blog thread. And the article on Anne Rice.

    This blog is undergoing major changes soon. I am sorry for the wacky formatting.

    Have a great Sunday!

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  31. Lydia Said,

    KY Election Officials Arrested, Charged With 'Changing Votes at E-Voting Machines'


    Lydia, I have relatives in that area-I myself am from an area not too far to the south. If you want the hair to stand up on the back of your neck, check out who the people involved are and what they did to get there.

    ReplyDelete
  32. dolty lied (as always)

    Hey Lydia,

    Better bury that story, and tell your friends too as well.
    (The guilty are DEMOCRATS!)


    Try again, dolty. There is a mix of people there. One of them got his house shot up in a Gopper primary back in 2004.

    Do ANY of you wingtards ever vet ANYTHING? Palin sure picked the right ticket to run on.

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  33. Also, SOME Dems change their party affiliation to run for office.

    Like say, Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg.


    Yeah, that's it. Every lying, thieving, and murderous Gopper is really a dem who switched affiliations.

    How could you sound more stupid, really? Is there a way?

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete