After I read this new report, I officially lit my hair on fire, and started once again, chasing the cars (along with the neighborhood dogs) and just barking at them. BTW, we all had a lot of fun doing this, except for the neighborhood dogs kept telling me that I was barking too loud and 'not doing it right.'
The big St. Bernard that rules the neighborhood, told me: 'Just chase the cars and bark, don't run in front of the cars and slow down the traffic, and for gosh sakes put the fire out on your hair.'
Yes, I am pounding my head against the pavement over this story.
Prosecutors later charged him with one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. At Hood's one-day trial, the evidence presented by the prosecution included a digital scale and about a dozen bags that had contained marijuana before being seized from the house, testimony showed. Deputies also found $1,600 in cash and a student-loan application with Hood's name on it inside of a night stand.
Jurors deliberated for less than two hours and convicted Hood of a reduced charge, which usually carries no more than 15 years' imprisonment. Assistant District Attorney Nick Noriea Jr. then used Hood's past convictions on Thursday to argue that he was a career criminal worthy of a severe punishment.
Drug offenders in the state are subject to life imprisonment after being convicted three or more times of a crime that carries a sentence exceeding 10 years.
http://www.nola.com/...
Meanwhile, every single top criminal on Wall St. who completely ruined our national economy has gone free, after literally stealing billions and where in AG Eric Holder on this?
Yo President Obama, are you going to step up to the plate and nominate Elizabeth Warren for the Consumer Protection Agency?
4 ticking time bombs that will ignite the Wall Street revolution
1. Wealth gap: Super-Rich vs class wars, death of democracy
The gap: In one generation, America’s wealthiest 1% has exploded from 9% to 23% of America’s income, while middle-class income has stagnated. Even Buffett admits: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and winning.” But my rich friend tells the real story, of their social disconnect. The rich just don’t care. They live in a different world, live by a self-centered code lacking a moral compass. The public welfare is honored only if supported by tax benefits. The wealth gap is widening and soon something unpredictable will ignite a Wall Street revolution.
2. Wall Street’s doomsday capitalism vs rule by anarchy
A key Supreme Court decision accelerated and codified Wall Street’s ability to use billions stolen from taxpayers to lobby Washington and solidify its power, all for its own self-interest, through campaign payola, senators’ votes, presidential access, manipulation of regulators, grabbing tax benefits, etc. And it’s every man and woman for themselves. Don’t believe it? Know this, democracy is dead and you’re in denial. Wall Street CEOs and Forbes 400 billionaires are either engaged in a secret conspiracy, or a classic anarchy picking apart America, oblivious of the fact they are setting up the next big revolution.
3. Pentagon’s perpetual war machine vs America’s budget time bomb
The mathematics of our $75 trillion Social Security and Medicare deficits often seem insurmountable, but can be recalibrated. However, the war-loving mindset of America’s neocons — fueled by China’s military actions, the insatiable expansion of our military spending and a Pentagon prediction that global population growth — is putting more and more pressure on the world’s scarce resources, and will, in turn, increase global wars and the demand for more war spending, increasing the risk of sudden revolutions everywhere.
4. Global population explosion vs resources, jobs, better lifestyles
As the world population explodes from 7 billion to 10 billion in the next generation, the demand for more jobs and the pressure on scarce resources will increase, while expectations will fall as the ratio of haves to have-nots increases, making the world all around Wall Street a burning powder keg setting up a revolution. Bottom line: Forget jailing Wall Street’s dictators. It’s naïve and too late. We missed that opportunity. But a revolution will do the trick, give us a second chance to jail the crooks. Until then, remember, these four factors are building to a head, merging into a critical mass that will accelerate into a revolution and destroy Wall Street from within: The widening wealth gap, capitalism’s new rule-by-anarchy, the high cost of feeding the Pentagon’s costly war machine, and the huge global population explosion.
http://wallstreetpit.com/...
(I've been given permission by Mr. Farrell to put this article up). Thank you.
Meanwhile, guess who wants another $8.5 billion dollars? Our old friends at Fannie Mae:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae on Friday said it would ask for an additional $8.5 billion from taxpayers as it continues to suffer losses on loans made prior to 2009.
The largest U.S. residential mortgage funds provider reported a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $8.7 billion, or $1.52 per diluted share, in the first quarter.
Including the latest request, the firm has taken about $100 billion from the U.S. government since it was seized in 2008, though it has also paid about $12.4 billion to taxpayers in interest.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/...
Oh, I'm so shocked, that the 'bailouts are just continuing as usual.' But hey:
Remember: We were all saved !!!!!!!!
“People know that if they rob a bank they will go to jail,” Kaufman declared in an early speech. “Bankers should know that if they rob people, they will go to jail too.” Serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee, he helped get expanded funding and manpower for investigative agencies. In hearings, he politely prodded the Justice Department, the SEC and the FBI to be more aggressive.
“At the end of the day,” Senator Kaufman warned, “this is a test of whether we have one justice system in this country or two. If we do not treat a Wall Street firm that defrauded investors of millions of dollars the same way we treat someone who stole $500 from a cash register, then how can we expect our citizens to have any faith in the rule of law?” Kaufman, now retired, sounded slightly embarrassed when I reminded him of his question. “When you look at what we got, it ain’t very much,” he conceded. “I’m genuinely concerned there are a lot of guys walking around Wall Street, the bad apples, saying, ‘Hey, man, we got away with it. We’re going to do it again.’”
If the legal system cannot locate the villains in this story, then “the law is a ass—a idiot,” as Charles Dickens put it. The technical difficulties in making a case for criminal prosecutions are real enough, given the complexities of modern finance. But the government’s lack of response to enormous wrongdoing reflects a deeper conflict of values. Will society’s sense of right and wrong prevail, or will corporate capitalism’s amoral need to maximize profit? So far, the marketplace appears to be winning.
http://www.thenation.com/...
So today, this ass hat Prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Nick Noriea Jr. then used Hood's past convictions on Thursday to argue that he was a career criminal worthy of a severe punishment. Guess what?
A full LIFE TIME SENTENCE for this shit. When meanwhile, our own State AG's are making a 'deal with all the Bankers, most of all that total whore Tom Miller,' to sell our property rights down the drain.
So the government got played. What's the problem? For starters, all that bailout money didn't just fall from the sky. It came from our tax money. Sure, firms are paying back the bailout, but first they used all that cheap money to pad their saddlebags. Rather than going to some¬thing useful, like industry that builds tangible products or infrastructure that provides jobs and improves quality of life, it went to Wall Street's mul¬tinational institu¬tions that helped wreck economies worldwide.
That's nothing new--the government con¬stantly blows tax money like a cowpoke hitting the first watering hole in town--but there's also the more tangible hit of direct losses to Americans during the huge market downswing. Between mid-2008 to March 2009, stock holdings lost $7.4 trillion, or $66,200 per household, according to the report The Cost of the Financial Crisis by Georgetown University professor Phillip L. Swagel. With the stock market seemingly recovering, some of those losses could come back, but there are other losses that disappeared. According to the report mentioned above, in 2008 and 2009:
$650 billion in U.S. GDP was lost, $5,800 per American household
$360 billion worth was lost in wages, $3,250 per household
$1.6 trillion in real estate wealth was lost
5.5 million jobs were lost
395,000 more families fell into poverty
The numbers take your breath away. They should make you want to call the sheriff, raise a posse, and ride the bandits down. Where's the justice? We're paying, while Wall Street uses our money to rake in record revenues. Trillions of dollars and millions of jobs have been lost due to crooked Wall Street dealings. Economies around the world are in disrepair while huge firms make billions. There's no gun-slinging savior to ride in from parts unknown. It's up to us to stay riled up and demand regulation and investigation. After all, concerned citizens tamed the Wild West.
http://www.brassmagazine.com/...
Well, shit, ain't that America?
I hope you all will excuse me, but all the neighborhood dogs (10 of them) are standing at my front porch sliding glass doors, panting and drooling, and asking me to come back out and chase the cars with them. Wow, a real party for a change. I'm howling at moon knowing that American Justice has all been a done deal, and that Cornell Hood II, is now serving a life time sentence for selling some pot.
Rest easy Americans. Finally you can be assured that you are safe in your homes.
Thanks as always.
Ms. B.