paulson, goldman sachs, the spivs, etc.

The Unacceptable Face Of Capitalism (extract)
Brian Cloughley, CounterPunch

[…] The recent collapse of Lehman Brothers caused concern among the rich and utter despair to countless thousands of ordinary people. It appeared amazing that such an enormous bank could suddenly go under, although to insiders it was no surprise, because the avaricious guttersnipes running it had been out of control for years. But not so far out of control that, just before it went bust, the greedheads awarded themselves a nice little present. It was reported that “staff [in New York] … of the bankrupt bank will share a bonus pool set aside for them that is worth $2.5b.” The head of Lehman, one Richard S Fuld, received a package of over $40m in 2007. He bought one of his houses, the one on the ocean-front in Florida, for $13m four years ago. And another of the former biggies of Lehman, Joe Gregory, wants to sell his house in New York. Anyone got $32m to spare? As the New York Times put it: “Bankers’ excessive risk-taking is a significant cause of this financial crisis … Mortgage lenders blithely lent enormous sums to those who could not afford to pay them back, dicing the loans and selling them off to the next financial institution along the chain.”

And it was these bookies who invented the license to print money that they called Credit Default Swaps. Contracts whizzed round the world and thousands of rich people made enormous sums. But when the mortgage market went belly-up so did all these gilded ‘investment banks’ which were shown to be tawdry casinos, only not so well run. AIG had to be bailed out with vast sums of taxpayers’ money because (so the economists say) if it had been allowed to crash there might have been appalling knock-on effects, not only in America but globally. But one wonders if it was coincidence, as noted by the Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, David Cay Johnston, that the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, was present when government officials made the decision to save the day for AIG’s executives. Johnston also pointed out that Goldman Sachs “has about $20b, half of its shareholder equity, at risk on AIG,” and, of equal relevance, that “Treasury Secretary Paulson is the immediate former CEO of Goldman.” He then asked why Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs’ competitor, had been allowed to collapse without a finger of assistance being raised. Good points. Awkward question. No answers. And then there is the matter of the committed Christian Scientist Paulson having stock in Goldman worth about $75m at the time of the bailout. […]

yes sir, no sir, three bags full

‘Sir’ Ian Blair is in line for a huge payout, a peerage — i.e., he would become ‘Lord’ Ian Blair — and possibly even a Government post, as a reward for his disastrous tenure as Britain’s most senior police officer. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner will stand down on Dec 1 after his shock resignation this week. He could pocket a tax-free lump sum of £600k, and his pension pot could give him around £150k a year for life. Gordon Brown is said to be considering handing ‘Sir’ Ian a peerage in the New Year, and even a ministerial role on security. A source close to No 10 said: “The Prime Minister thinks ‘Sir’ Ian has a great deal to offer in public life.” – Daily Express

hamechashefot: lehitorer baboker…

clearly “the greatest democracy in the world”

Complete CONTRIBUTION LIST

How much bribe money does it take to transfer $700b to Wall Street’s elite?

GOLDMAN SACHS CONTRIBUTIONS:
Obama, Barack (D-IL) $691,930
Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) $468,200
Romney, Mitt (R) $229,675
McCain, John (R-AZ) $208,395
Himes, Jim (D-CT) $114,748
Giuliani, Rudolph W (R) $111,750
Dodd, Christopher J (D-CT) $105,400
Edwards, John (D) $66,450
Specter, Arlen (R-PA) $47,600
Emanuel, Rahm (D-IL) $32,950
Reed, Jack (D-RI) $30,100

How much money did your Representative get from Big Bankers to look the other way and pass a bill that the American people clearly do not want?

HELP SPREAD THE WORD…

making sense of the sixties

3-day forum explores Kennedy, King slayings
Jason Cato, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Oct 2 2008

Four decades later, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. will be dissected this weekend at Duquesne University. Making Sense of the Sixties, a three-day symposium starting Friday and hosted by the Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law, will examine theories of cover-ups and conspiracies surrounding the slayings as well as ripple effects still felt today. “It’s a pretty weighty thing for people to confront,” said Isaac Farris Jr., King’s nephew and CEO of The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. “Who knows how their deaths impacted our trajectory? Who knows where our nation might have been? My God, we wiped out three of the greatest leaders of a generation.” John Kennedy was killed 45 years ago, and this is the 40th anniversary of the deaths of his brother and King. “The common denominators are the political assassinations of major figures, and their assassinations occurred at critical times,” said Wecht, a forensic pathologist and the former Allegheny County coroner.

Much of the conference will challenge the official conclusions that Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan and James Earl Ray acted alone in their deeds. In addition to Farris, a lawyer and a judge involved in Ray’s legal proceedings will speak at the conference. “James Earl Ray was decidedly innocent of murder,” said William Pepper, a King friend who represented Ray and later won a civil lawsuit for King’s family claiming others conspired in his death. He claims the federal government was involved. In 1998, Pepper filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Loyd Jowers and others accused of being involved in King’s death. Jowers owned a Memphis restaurant near the Lorraine Hotel where King was shot dead on April 4, 1968. Jowers claimed that the plot was hatched by the federal government and the Mafia, involved Tennessee and Memphis police, and that Ray was only a scapegoat. Jowers claimed a Memphis police officer was the actual triggerman. Pepper called some 70 witnesses during a three-week trial. The jury deliberated 59 minutes before finding Jowers and agents with the federal government, Tennessee and Memphis police guilty. King’s family sued for $100. The Department of Justice in 2000 released a report stating it found no reliable evidence of such a conspiracy. Judge Joe Brown, of afternoon television fame, presided over Ray’s final appeal and in 1997 ordered the alleged murder weapon be retested using modern science. “James Earl Ray is not the gunman,” Brown said. “He is what appears to be one of four scapegoats.” Ray died in prison in 1998.

While some say the retests were inconclusive, Brown said they showed the bullet that killed King was fired using one of 64 specialized barrels — all of which were in the military’s possession. “It was a classic abuse of power and crime in high places of the US government,” Brown said. “(Prosecutors) didn’t want to know if they had the truth.” Pepper represents Sirhan Sirhan, convicted of killing Robert Kennedy on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles. He said new acoustic analysis reveals at least 13 shots were fired. Kennedy was killed by a shot in the back of his head. Most witnesses placed Sirhan in front of the senator. “I have serious plans for that case,” Pepper said. Pepper, Brown and Farris will take part in Friday’s sessions. Pepper also will speak Saturday. The event runs through Sunday.

see also: http://www.duq.edu/makingsense/index.html

more wisdom from commentator qvh

[…] Georgia has become the New Khazaria. That is what this new resurgence in interest in the history of Judaic Khazaria that’s been going on in the media is about lately. Georgia is a strategically located nation. The Zionists want to gain control of this nation, like they did in the past, because its position is very advantageous for them. Centuries ago, this part of the world or Khazaria was where the trade passed through, and now the oil flows through it, from east to west. So the Israelis have gotten their talons deep into Georgia. It has become Judaized in effect all over again, this country caught between Christianity and Islam. History DOES repeat itself, and if things keep moving on as they have, Georgia will become a power in the region, under the tutelage of the Zionists. This time it will become a NUCLEAR power, and that automatically puts Georgia in the big boys’ club.

– from a comment to http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/177259