The Likelihood of Reform Hinges on the Ability to Uncover the Truth.

Like the driest of paper, the Penn State investigation was so close to bursting into flames that all it took was an infinitesimally small spark: one random message on a PSU football message board, to re-ignite it.  This message conveyed the idea that there might be a PSU coach who saw something, but wasn't talking, which led investigators to Mike McQueary, who finally opened up about what he knew about Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children.  Although, it's been suggested that the case was kept under wraps until after Joe Paterno broke the record for wins by a Division One coach; however, even if that is true, it goes way beyond Paterno. 


The circumstances surrounding this case - Sandusky's confession in 1998, Gricar’s dropping the case against Sandusky in 1998, the silence of all those powerful men at Penn State that knew of Sandusky’s perversion, Gricar’s disappearance and the Second Mile Foundation - leads those of us with inquiring minds to think that this may have been an open secret, a cover-up, but the very fact that PSU wants to investigate itself, will undoubtedly transform this possibility into probability in those inquiring minds. There needs to be an investigation by someone who has no association whatsoever with the PA political structure. There is no doubt that this went on thanks to the complicity of law enforcement and people in high places, in on the cover-up.

Moreover, Governor Corbett's decision to approve a $3 million dollar grant to the Second Mile charity,, while he knew about the Sandusky sex abuse investigation during his time as attorney general demands that an independent third party investigate this matter.

The problem is finding someone(s) with the appropriate credentials, without any affiliation to Penn State, and in my humble opinion, without any affiliation to Pennsylvania at all. Everyone will be satisfied once Sandusky gets what's coming to him without realizing that the organized abuse of children - elite pedophile rings - is a reality, that goes way beyond Sandusky.  And by the very nature of these rings, they are protected by a vast network of high profile people with an abundance of power. So, it appears that evil will prevail once again, and none will be the wiser.

Links:

Web of liability may extend far beyond Penn State University

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What About Murdoch's American Empire?

By now, everyone is familiar with the firestorm of controversy that surrounds the Murdoch media empire, and it's about time considering the News of World phone-hacking schemes has been unfolding for six-years. It was The Guardian's revelation that News of the World had hacked into a teenage murder victim - even erasing the victim's voice-mails, giving the family false hope that she was alive - that broke the story wide open. News of the World also hacked the voice-mail accounts of victims of the London subway terrorist bombings in 2007. However, up until this point, the focus has been on the other side of the Atlantic. Granted, Rupert Murdoch's incestuous relationship with the British government is no secret. In less than a year,  there were 125 major lunches between the Cameron government and the Murdoch people.  But what about Murdoch's American empire?

Ten years ago, Murdoch set his eyes on Floorgraphics (FGI), a company that sells advertising on the floor of supermarkets.  Murdoch sent Paul Carlucci, president of News America (media arm of US Murdoch empire), to meet with the owners of FGI to make them an offer they couldn't refuse, but the owners, George and Richard Rebh (brothers), did, in fact, refuse.  Carlucci, in typical mafioso form,  threatened to destroy them, and over the next few years, that's exactly what  happened: News America hacked into FGI's database, and used the information to steal away  their clients, such as Safeway.

FGI hired a computer expert who traced the hacking to News America.  In 2004,  FGI petitioned Chris Christie  - New Jersey’s large-and-in-charge governor - then a U.S. attorney, to launch a criminal investigation into the alleged hacking, but the future governor of New Jersey refused to file charges. The case went to trial in 2009, and after one week, it resulted in Murdoch purchasing FGI for  $29.5 million.

Trial brief

FGI v. News America Court Testimony

FGI's complaint against News America

Defendant's response

FGI was not the only victim of News Corp. Valassis Communications, Inc claimed Murdoch's tactics caused $1.5 billion in damages. They ended up settling for $500 million

Insignia Systems, Inc. was seeking triple damages on its antitrust claim, alleging that it lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of anti-competitive behavior by the News America Marketing unit. They ended up settling for $125 million.

Insignia claimed that News America entered into exclusive contracts with retailers, paid the stores to boycott Insignia and used predatory pricing and bundling of advertising and promotion products, in violation of U.S. antitrust law.

Insignia also claimed News America disparaged it to customers, telling the consumer-goods companies that they would be throwing their money away by contracting with Insignia.

Judge's order finalizing Valassis deal

Insignia Systems complaint.

Sadly, News of the World reporter, Sean Hoare, who broke the was found dead a week after the story broke and his death declared not suspicious before they even did an autopsy.  The heads of DOW and the Wall Street Journal have resigned, and 43-year old Andy Coulson,  editor of News of the World, who left the company under a cloud only to become the media spokesman for Prime Minister Cameron, was arrested. The head of Scotland Yard resigned.

This hacking scandal may be the tip of what could be a Titanic sized iceberg that could sink not only News Corp, but also the “British/American Empire”. How? Well, not only does this scandal  reveal an incestuous relationship that reaches into the highest corridors of power, it may expose the profoundly dark and sinister practices of some of the most powerful people on the planet. More about that later.

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The Overwhelming Foreclosure Swindle.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the top 35 financial institutions are set to pay a record $144 billion in compensation and benefits in 2010.

Meanwhile,  one in seven Americans exist in poverty; one in five American "homeowners" are in serious trouble, and 14 million Americans remain unemployed.  Not to mention, the foreclosure horror show that spans all 50 states, and includes almost every single lender, in particular, the largest banks and servicers. Flawed and lost paperwork, mishandled mortgages, foreclosure documents, and failure to follow proper procedure resulted in hundreds of thousands of improperly foreclosed on homes. Yet, as these large institutions claim, we're supposed to believe this is merely the result of  a bad case of "overwhelm"?

If this is true, why not take all that cash (thanks to we the taxpayers) they're sitting on and hire the overwhelming number of unemployed? People need jobs! Or haven't they heard? JPMorgan Chase third-quarter profit rose 23%! Yep, Wall Street swims in the money while we the people drown in debt.  At the same time that JPMorgan reported their windfall profits, they said that "it expanded its initial review from 23 states to 41, and to about 115,000 homes."

Here's the thing.  "Overwhelmed" does not lead to  fabricated and forged documents, thousands of cases of lost paperwork that would have revealed to investors that they had been scammed, several reports of a single employee signing off on 8-10,000 foreclosure papers a month without checking the information, signing off on two documents that stated conflicting amounts of mortgage, misrepresentations of fact (such as who actually owns the mortgage) ...all of this from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage, and more.

“In foreclosure controversy, problems run deeper than flawed paperwork...Millions of US mortgages have been shuttled around the global financial system – sold and resold by firms – without the documents (to) prove who legally owns” them. With millions now in default and homes seized, “judges around the country have increasingly ruled that lenders had no right to foreclose, because they lacked clear title.”

Once again, another "crisis" that punishes the "little" guy while lining the pockets of the banksters and the wealthy. Federal officials are not forcing the banks to clean up the paperwork. Instead, President Obama is backing state investigations while rejecting a nationwide freeze on such seizures because of potential “unintended consequences.”

What about cram-downs? Banks have no excuse but to agree to principal writedowns.

Over 20% of households are upside down on their loans. likely to require some sort of federal response.

“From the beginning, mass modifications would have been better and I still think they’d be cost-saving. Doing new paperwork and doing it right is still a better choice.” - Harvard Law School Professor, Katherine Porter, whose 2007 research examined practices of mortgage lenders and servicers foreclosing on bankrupt borrowers.

Links:

Confusion Roils HARP Program for Refinancing

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There is Venal Public Disgrace and Then There is Mortal Public Disgrace

As the Catholic Church categorizes sins as venal or mortal, we must decide which public disgrace deserves our time and effort and which ones do not.

NPR's gallery highlights nine separate men who have publicly "disgraced" themselves in front of a nation and the women who "chose" to stand by them. Did these women really choose or were they strongly encouraged? Did all of these men "disgrace" themselves or were some set up to take a fall?






Whatever the case may be, we have to ask ourselves:

Did the disgraceful person's behavior interfere with what we elected them to do?

If “victims" did result from the disgraceful person's actions, did those who were harmed, "consent" or were they innocent bystanders?

Hilary Clinton was the clear "victim" in the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, however she is an adult who consented to be in a relationship with a man whose charisma oozes from every pore, and flirtatious behavior is legend. Hilary is only a victim as far as any of us are victimized when we choose to engage in intimate relationships. In other words, the Clinton "scandal" was none of our business. On the other hand, the people who spent untold amounts of money and time to expose our President of the United States as a womanizer, something all of us already knew on some level, yet elected him anyway, intentionally put our country at risk.

As for Larry Craig, there is no doubt he was set up to take a fall by a police force that had nothing better to do, than to spy on adult men, urinate. Once again, his wife, although sad, is at most a gullible person or overly trusting, but not a victim in the true sense of the word. However, Larry Craig's case presents another problem, hypocrisy. As horrible as hypocrisy is, it's not enough to convict someone, in and of itself...if that were the case, we should all be sentenced to unemployment.

President Nixon's conduct clearly violated his public duties, the oath he took, the public trust and disrupted the function of government, a perfect example of "mortal" public disgrace. However, the answer is not always obvious, as in the case of Edward Kennedy and possibly Eliot Spitzer, as there has not been enough time to get all the facts; nevertheless, we must not group all ignominious behavior as if it is all the same. As sad as it must have been for Hilary and Larry Craig's wife, their husband's lack of self-control, cannot be compared to the conduct of someone, whose lack of ethics or disregard for human life, results the suffering of many, it’s almost impossible to quantify.

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