SEC stonewalls congress, Madoff tipster fears for safety

The crooks are in charge.

“WASHINGTON – House lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of impeding their probe into how the agency failed to uncover the alleged $50 billion fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff.

The clash between lawmakers and high-ranking SEC officials came at a hearing after the whistleblower in the case, Harry Markopolos, said he had feared for his physical safety and would turn over new evidence to the agency showing the alleged Ponzi scheme mastermind had not acted alone. . . .

He plans to present his findings to the SEC’s inspector general on Thursday. If proven, they would substantiate the assertions of many analysts that the alleged fraud was far too large for Madoff to have conducted alone. . . .

In loud, angry exchanges, lawmakers threatened to issue subpoenas to SEC officials to compel their testimony.

[Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., the House Financial Services subcommittee’s chairman,] accused the agency of impeding the panel’s investigation, calling it an ‘abuse of authority.’

It was a blistering escalation of criticism of the SEC, which has been blasted by lawmakers and investor advocates over its failure to discover Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme, despite the credible allegations brought to it over years. Against the backdrop of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, lawmakers of both parties are calling for a shake-up of the agency.” (Read more from news.yahoo.com)

These stories are important in the argument against those who propose more government as a solution to our problems. The SEC worked hand-in-hand with Madoff. The best solution to the problem is to keep the money in our pockets and in our paychecks, instead of sending it to DC to fund criminal operations like the SEC.

Watch the shocking testimony of whistle-blower Harry Markopolos:

THE INFLUENCE GAME: Federal regulation worries UFC

“WASHINGTON Ultimate Fighting Championship has come to Washington to engage in the city’s ultimate sport: lobbying. . . .

The sport’s owners are concerned that it could come under federal regulation by a proposed new commission to regulate boxing that two senior lawmakers are pushing. To help head that off, the Las Vegas-based UFC spent $240,000 last year lobbying Congress.

Its biggest task, said lobbyist Makan Delrahim, is to convince Congress that the sport has cleaned up its act since the 1990s, when it drew the opposition of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. He once referred to it as ‘human cockfighting’ and called for it to be banned. . . .

In 2005, the Justice Department sent a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee, expressing “serious constitutional objections to several provisions of the bill,” such as one that would limit the president’s authority to remove members of the boxing commission. That letter was signed by William Moschella, an assistant attorney general; Moschella has since left the government and is now part of UFC’s lobbying team.

The new administration of President Barack Obama has yet to take a position on the bill.” (Read more from mmalinker.com)

Dear Washington: Please keep your greedy, power-hungry paws off my favorite sport. You’re already ruining my country. Leave my favorite sport alone.

Top Counter-Terrorism Experts Question 9/11

“Counter-terrorism experts presumably have some insight into terrorism, right?

In fact, numerous high-level counter-terrorism experts question the government’s investigation of – and explanation for – 9/11.

For example:

  • Terrell (Terry) E. Arnold was the number 2 counter-terrorism official at the U.S. State Department, and is one of the world’s leading experts on terror. Arnold served as the Deputy Director, Office of Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Planning, at the U.S. State Department. He is also the former Chairman of the Department of International Studies at the National War College. Arnold is skeptical of the government’s explanation for 9/11
  • Bogdan Dzakovic was a 14-year counter-terrorism expert in the Security Division of the Federal Aviation Administration. Dzakovic was Team Leader of the FAA’s Red (Terrorism) Team, which conducted undercover tests on airport security through simulated terrorist attacks. Dzakovic said about the 9/11 Commission:

    “The best I could say about it is they really botched the job by not really going into the real failures. … At worst, I think the 9/11 Commission Report is treasonous.”

  • John Loftus, former Federal Prosecutor, Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Department of Justice under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan; former U.S. Army Intelligence officer, and currently a widely-sought media commentator on terrorism and intelligence services questions the government’s version of 9/11

. . .” (Read more from George Washington’s Blog)

9/11 Truth on “Rescue Me” episode

A coming episode of the acclaimed FX drama “Rescue Me” will tackle what may sound like a far-fetched plot line: that the attacks of Sept. 11 were an “inside job.” The actor who espouses the theories on camera, it turns out, also subscribes to them in real life. Claims that Al Qaeda terrorists were not solely responsible for the attacks have a lively following on the Internet, including on YouTube, but the second episode of “Rescue Me’s” fifth season, starting in April, may represent the first fictional presentation of 9/11 conspiracy theories by a mainstream media company (FX is operated by the News Corporation). “They’re not discussed a lot in the press,” Daniel Sunjata, the actor who plays Franco Rivera on “Rescue Me,” told reporters at a television press tour last month. (Read more from CSPANjunkie.org)

Banksters ‘used corporate credit cards to pay for prostitutes’

“Kristin Davis who ran one of the city’s biggest escort agencies claims that prominent bankers and businessmen paid for her prostitutes with corporate credit cards. . . [She] alleges that prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office decided not to pursue any of them even though she provided evidence.

Davis, who admitted charges last year of running a prostitution business employing more than 100 women, told ABC News that the men included a senior executive of a top media company, a banker who spent $41,600 and the chief executive of one of America’s largest private equity firms.” (Read more from telegraph.co.uk)

Bail them out?

YES WE CAN!!!

Deflation Hoax

by Puru Saxena
Editor, Money Matters
November 14, 2008

“Central banks and governments are printing TRILLIONS of paper currencies around the world, the US has now become a socialist society and all this money-creation should result in a huge inflationary tsunami in the future. In my opinion, those who are forecasting deflation, don’t understand our monetary system. What we have seen in the recent past is not deflation but a contraction in asset prices due to liquidation.” (Read more from financialsense.com)

Obama repeating the cry of the tyrant: Crisis! Crisis! Crisis!

Have we forgotten how the Patriot Act was rushed through Congress?

“‘We don’t have a moment to spare,’ Obama declared at the White House as congressional allies hastened to do his bidding in the face of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” (from cnews.canoe.ca)

“‘A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession, a less robust recovery, and a more uncertain future,’ Obama said in his prepared remarks.” (from dailypaul.com)

“‘The time for talk is over. The time for action is now,’ declared Obama as the Senate plodded through a fourth day of debate on the legislation.” (from news.yahoo.com)

“WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says the recession will turn into a ‘catastrophe’ if the economic stimulus is not passed quickly. . . . Obama urged members of Congress ‘to act without delay.'” (from news.yahoo.com)

See Also:
Top 10 reasons to Oppose the Stimulus

New Organization: Committees of Safety

From CommitteesofSafety.org:

“Though we may come from a different political party, race or religion, we set these differences aside, and we stand united on the founding principles of freedom, set forth in our Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and the original intent of the Constitution for the united States of America.

The Committees are focusing on the things that will provide freedom and “Security of a free State” –

1. “Security of our money” – Hardly anyone will deny that the present fiat monetary system (the Federal Reserve System) is unstable, unsound and unsustainable as well as unConstitutional. . . .

2. “Security from natural and man-made disasters” – Most everyone will agree the way the Department of Homeland Security (using Blackwater, Army and National Guard troops) and FEMA handle a disaster (such as hurricane Katrina) was an absolute failure. . . .

3. “Security of our vote count”- Most Americans are aware now of the massive vote fraud taking place in our country today. According to the New York Times and L.A Times articles, as well as a HBO documentary “Hacking democracy” optical scan and touch screen voting machines can be remotely hacked into and the vote totals altered. . . .

4. “Security of our food and water” – . . . .

These security issues, and others can and should be dealt with at the Local community and State level, not the federal level.”

What the Heck is “Predatory” Lending?

by Wilt Alston: “Given all the press that ‘predatory lending’ has gotten recently, in light of the fact that legislation � specifically laws like the Community Reinvestment Act � resulted in many of the supposedly sub-prime mortgages and given that the percentage of people receiving these loans who were black, the issue interests me. The pejorative term “predatory lending” and how such scary descriptions are used to justify statist protection of black folk also sparked my interest.

According to the more-than-occasionally-correct Wikipedia: Predatory lending is a pejorative term used to describe practices of some lenders. There are no legal definitions in the United States for predatory lending, though there are laws against many of the specific practices commonly identified as predatory, and various federal agencies use the term as a catch-all term for many specific illegal activities in the loan industry.

One less contentious definition of the term is ‘the practice of a lender deceptively convincing borrowers to agree to unfair and abusive loan terms, or systematically violating those terms in ways that make it difficult for the borrower to defend against.’ . . .

I have no real dispute with much of this. What troubles me, however, is the presumption that the State must protect certain people from taking out a loan that they themselves are seeking in the first place! I rather think predatory lending is when the taxpayer lends the government money to finance the clean-up of a malady that government policy caused. (Actually, in that case lending is a bogus description. That scenario sounds more like theft.)

. . . .

While the [Community Reinvestment Act] (and related statist meddling) did result in many people, some of them minorities, obtaining mortgages for which they otherwise could not have qualified, the meltdown included a bunch of homes bought by people who were not the target of the government’s market meddling. Ain’t that always the case? The State starts passing out free lunches and people who aren’t really hungry get to eat too. . . . Everyone pays for it.

. . . People who bought more home than they could afford, or with a much lower down payment than a truly free market would likely have warranted, are just as much to blame as speculators for the mortgage meltdown. However, both they and the speculators simply responded to incentives as any Austrian [economist] worth his salt would predict. . . . When the government seeks to circumvent the market with noble goals financed with other people’s money, the result is always a trail of tears. . . .

So-called predatory lending practices cannot bring the market to foreclosure. Economically, this is specious, nearing idiotic, political rhetoric. If a bank preys on people who cannot pay by, for instance, originating loans to them at higher-than-reasonable rates or with unfavorable terms, only one of two outcomes is possible. One, those people will pay that interest, making the bank a healthy profit. Two, those people will not be able to pay and the bank will lose money. In the case of outcome one, other banks will seek to woo those customers to them, and (you guessed it) competition will drive the loan rates, and the related components of the loan packages in a direction that benefits the people seeking the loans. . . .

Even a “predatory lender” can’t make money when people fail to perform. . . . Without [government] guarantees, banks have to take care of business while they take care of the prospective borrower. Ergo, so-called predatory lending is primarily a result of way too much government involvement in the lending market, plain and simple.” (Read more from campaignforliberty.com)

Eight States Declaring Sovereignty Under 10th Amendment!

Feb 2nd: New Hampshire Legislature Takes On Federal Gov’t
“The New Hampshire state legislature took an unbelievably bold step today by introducing a resolution to declare certain actions by the federal government to completely totally void and warning that certain future acts will be viewed as a “breach of peace” with the states themselves that risks “nullifying the Constitution. ” This act by New Hampshire is a clear warning to the federal government that they could face being stripped of their power by the States (presumably through civil war!) The remarkable document outlines with perfect clarity, some basics long forgotten. For instance, it reminds Congress “That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever;. . . . . therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force;” Federal gun crime laws? Void. Federal drug crime laws? Void. The gazzillion other federal criminal laws that deal with anything other than the specific enumerated crimes? ALL VOID.” (Read more from dailypaul.com)

Me: Live Free or Die, baby!!! I ought to move to New Hampshire.

Feb 5th: Eight States Declare Sovereignty
“Several states have recently appealed to the 10th and/or the 9th Amendments to assert their state rights over federal government. These amendments state:

Amendment 9 – Construction of Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10 – Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

1. Washington (click here)

2. New Hampshire (click here)

3. Arizona (click here)

4. Montana (click here)

5. Michigan (click here)

6. Missouri (click here)

7. Oklahoma (click here)

8. Hawaii (click here)

Are we seeing a trend?” (Read more from taxtruth4u.com)

Book: Taxpayers in Revolt: Tax Resistance During the Great Depression

“Many taxpayers just couldn’t pay at the depth of the depression and others wouldn’t pay for ideological reasons, believing that government should suffer along with taxpayers. The tax revolt movement attracted 30,000 members in Chicago alone and the Windy City’s government was faced with financial collapse as property owners stopped paying.

The movement had such momentum that the federal government resorted to a national “pay your taxes campaign.” Chicago teachers were even enlisted to chant “Pay Your Taxes!” at rallies around the city. Municipal and government workers, along with academics tried to sell the virtues of a more active state on the radio in a nationwide series called “You and Your Government” that ran from 1932 to 1936.” (Read more from nalert.blogspot.com)