Beware of snake oil, of course. But this documentary is very inspiring. Also, it points to the evils of state sponsored medicine and science.
Bank of America Mortgage Fraud Case
More than 300 homebuyers accuse California Attorney General Kamala Harris of “doing Bank of America’s bidding” by seizing legal files from their attorney, Mitchell Stein, denying them the right to the legal counsel of their choice.
They say Harris “acted as the pawn of America’s most powerful banks, rather than in the interest of California homeowners,” to silence their attorney in lawsuits against mortgage lenders.
Similar complaints have been filed in Miami and New York. The allegations in this article come from the 54-page complaint in Los Angeles Federal Court.
The plaintiffs claim that Harris’ raid on their attorney’s law firm is an attempt to prevent homeowners from gaining ground in lawsuits against Bank of America and other banks which, they claim, “have committed various types of mortgage fraud and then stolen, or tried to steal, the homes of these plaintiffs in violation of state and federal laws.”
The plaintiffs include more than 300 homeowners from several states who hired Mitchell J. Stein’s law firm to represent them in lawsuits against Bank of America and 13 other financial institutions.
According to the complaint: “On Aug. 17, 2011, defendant Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General for defendant State of California, grossly violated plaintiffs’ civil rights by seizing plaintiffs’ legal files and denying plaintiffs the right to the legal counsel of their choice.
(Read more)
While Obama’s Thugs Raid Marijuana School, People Die
As I sit and watch video after video of Monday’s senseless federal raid of Oaksterdam University and other medical cannabis-related facilities managed by Richard Lee, the orchestrator of California’s historic Proposition 19, a few serious concerns come to mind.
I noticed agents from at least three federal agencies: the Drug Enforcement Administration, the US Marshals Service and the Internal Revenue Service. I’m not talking about two agents here and a couple more there. There were several dozen federal agents spending their day on the scene.
Meanwhile, just blocks away, a deadly shooting was taking place. While federal agents were using a battering ram, a sledgehammer and power saws to break into a business that complies with state and local law and pays taxes, a gunman was murdering seven people at Oikos University, just three-tenths of a mile away.
As a retired police officer who wore the badge for over 30 years, this is not how I want our law enforcers to be spending their time. (Read more)
Sweden Grants Religious Recognition To File-Sharing Church
The Swedish government has formally recognised a “church” whose main belief is the right to file-share, in a move that is unlikely to be well-received by the Hollywood studios.
The recognition of the Church of Kopimism as a religion by the state of Sweden was revealed in a statement on the Church’s Website, after more than a year of trying to gain formal recognition. (Read more)
France tightens grip on super rich
The French public are resoundingly in favour of tightening the grip on the mega-wealthy. François Hollande, the Socialist frontrunner who polls say would win the second-round vote in May, has promised a 75% tax bracket on earnings after €1m. More than six out of 10 French people approve. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the fire-brand leftist backed by the Communist party, has surged to third place in the polls with his promise to cap fat cat salaries at €360,000 (£300,000), after which income tax would be 100% and the state would “take it all”.
Even Sarkozy, known as “president of the rich” for his generous tax breaks to the wealthy, has restyled himself as “president of the people”, offering to cut tax loopholes and make French tax exiles who flee abroad pay back the difference to the French state.
The French people are more distrustful of capitalism than the Chinese, polls show. Two-thirds agree with the concept that the state should take from the rich to give to the poor. But many question whether the election rhetoric will succeed in rooting out a deeply unfair French system where the super-rich often manage to pay barely any tax at all, conducting startling tax dodges by hiring top accountants to pick through the myriad legal loopholes in their favour. (Read more)
Christopher McDougall: Are we born to run?
“Capitalism” vs. the Free Market
This is a really interesting lecture because it questions some libertarian sacred cows. It doesn’t disrupt libertarian theory, but it shows some biases generally accepted by libertarians.
For example, it acknowledges the violence behind capital ownership, and points to figures who used “socialist” to mean free market, and “capitalist” to mean statist.
I think the case for the modern use of the word stands, however, and not only because of Mises and Rand, whom Sheldon Richman acknowledges in his talk. But also because all the governments in history which exerted the most control called themselves “socialist” and condemned “capitalism” in the free market sense of the word.
French survey discovers far-right-wing voters have the most sex
The survey, conducted by the respected polling institute Ifop on behalf of the pornographic magazine Hot Video, measured the intensity and variety of the sex lives of various voting blocs using several criteria.
According to the results, voters for Sarkozy’s UMP make love on average 6.7 times a month, slightly less often than supporters of his main challenger, the Socialist Party’s Francois Hollande, on 7.6.
Followers of Marine Le Pen’s far-right anti-immigrant National Front top the frequency league, having sex eight times a month, while those of centrist Francois Bayrou manage only 5.9 trysts in the same period.
Right-wingers also report having had fewer partners over the course of their lives, with seven compared to nine on the left, but once again it was the extreme right on top, with Le Pen supporters claiming 10.
But these extra partners don’t seem to satisfy the far-right, as 31 per cent of them declare themselves unhappy with their sex life, compared to 26 per cent in the population as a whole and 21 per cent among Socialists. (Read more)
Britain’s Orwellian war against “tweetcrime”
If you thought it was only authoritarian states like China or Iran that imprisoned pesky bloggers and tweeters, think again.
This week, Britain became a fully paid-up member of that clique of illiberal intolerant, tweeter-harassing states.
On Tuesday, at Swansea Magistrates Court in Wales, Liam Stacey, a student, was imprisoned for 56 days for writing offensive tweets.
Fifty-six days. Two months. In an actual jail. For tweeting. It needs to be spelt out like that in order to show how shocking it is that in the 21st century, in a nation that gave us such great warriors for freedom as The Levellers and John Stuart Mill, a young man has now been banged up for expressing his thoughts.
Stacey’s thoughts were far from pleasant ones. In fact they were offensive and repugnant.
On March 17, Fabrice Muamba, a 23-year-old black football player for Bolton Wanderers, collapsed with cardiac arrest during a match against Tottenham Hotspurs. Many people were shocked, and before long a #PrayforMuamba hashtag took off on Twitter.
But Stacey, who claimed he was drunk at the time, didn’t fancy praying for Muamba, and so instead he tweeted:
“LOL. F**k Muamba. He’s dead.”
(Muamba did not die, though he remains critically ill in a London hospital.)
When other tweeters complained to Stacey about his off-colour comments, he started to use racist language. He told his detractors to “f**k off”, and hurled pretty much every racial slur under the sun at them.
The Twitterati reported him to the police. And sure enough he got a visit from the cops, was charged with committing a racially aggravated public order offence, and now finds himself in the clink alongside burglars and rapists. (Read more)
Cop’s ‘ear’ in your pocket: Cell phone tracking routine with US police
Keys, driver’s license, cell phone…off we go! While an officer can only get your personal details by prompting you to take out the ID, your phone could give you away at the police’s first request – a request neither you nor a court may ever learn of.
Cell phone tracking, previously associated with federal agents, now seems to have become routine for many police departments. A recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) shows that police have not only grown into the practice, but also drop the court warrant stage from the procedure.
Over 200 police departments nationwide responded to the ACLU’s pubic requests virtually acknowledging that they track cell phones. But only very few of the interviewed departments says they obtain a court warrant to tune in on a phone. (Read more)
JOHN LAW AND THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE — an early European bubble and the snake-oil saleman behind it
North Dakota Caucus Railroaded to Give Majority to Mitt Romney?
North Dakota Republican leaders force caucus goers to vote for pre-selected delegated on pre-printed ballot.
BRICS economies developing their own financial system
Tibet Self-Immolation Wave Among History’s Biggest
Dozens of Tibetans have set themselves on fire over the past year to protest Chinese rule, sometimes drinking kerosene to make the flames explode from within, in one of the biggest waves of political self-immolations in recent history.
But the stunning protests are going largely unnoticed in the wider world – due in part to a smothering Chinese security crackdown in the region that prevents journalists from covering them. (Read more)
IRS commissioner brags that most Americans get a tax refund
In an interview with NPR, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman insists most people have a positive experience with the IRS:
“When people hear the letters, ‘I-R-S,’ sometimes they have a negative connotation. But 80 percent of Americans get an average of a $3,000 refund. So most people actually have a very pleasant experience with us.”