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Volume 10 Issue 34…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…August 24 2007
Venue for an Artist
George W. Bush is a Saint
By Victor Forsythe
Bush was scheduled to visit the
Episcopal Church in NW Washington as part of his campaign to restore
is 28% approval rating in the polls.
Karl Rove made a visit to the Bishop and said, "We've been getting a lot
of bad publicity because of the President's position on stem cell research, the
Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, and the VA Hospitals. But, we'll make a $500,000
contribution to your church if during your sermon you will say that the President
is a saint. The Bishop thought it over for a few moments and finally said,
"The Church could really use the money - I'll do it."
The following Sunday, President
Bush showed up for the sermon, and the Bishop began: "I'd like to speak to
all of you this morning about our President, George Bush. He is a liar, a
cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel. He took the tragedy of September 11 and
used it to frighten and manipulate the American people. He lied about weapons
of mass destruction and invaded Iraq for oil and money, causing the deaths of
hundreds of thousands and making the United States the most hated nation on
earth. He appointed cronies to positions of power and influence, leading to
widespread death and destruction during Hurricane Katrina.
He awarded contracts and tax cuts to his rich friends so that we now have more
poverty in this country and a greater gap between rich and poor than we've had
since the Depression. He has headed the most corrupt, bribe-inducing political
party since the Teapot Dome Scandal. The national surplus has turned into a
staggering national debt of 77.6 trillion dollars, gas prices are up 185%,
which the people of America cannot afford, and vital research into global
warming and stem cells is stopped cold because he's afraid to lose votes from
the religious right. He is the worst example of a true Christian I've ever
known. But compared to Dick Cheney, George W. Bush is a saint."
About Me: Victor Forsythe is the author
Birth of an Angel --A futuristic vision of Eden...A total tantric
union with the divine. "Let it birth the vision within you. The more we
are as angels, the closer we are to heaven." For more about Forsythe's
work, see www.birthofanangel.com. Forward comments to angelman24@sprintmail.com.
Disgruntled says:
In July, William Wise, a Cobb County, Georgia police officer, fatally shot Tyciris Jordan, a thirty-year old black man, after trailing
him from Cobb to Douglas County. Routinely, the officer was placed on paid
administrative leave. While the police department's public statements support
the officer's murder of an unarmed man, because "he felt threatened,"
they have not released the video recording from the patrol car's camera. The
release, ostensibly, is pending further investigation; Jordan's family is not
buying any of this. It has happened too many times; it is the modern-day
lynching of the black man in the USA.
Disgruntled
wants to know: Every day, the impeachment movement grows. The Internet
is full of sites that provide lists of the crimes and misdemeanors committed by
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The question many people are asking is, what has the possibility of Democrats losing their
majority control of Congress and/or failing to recapture the White House have
to do with holding the Bush administration accountable for its actions?
Disgruntled
feels: Greedy! The housing bubble is the result of unbridled greed. And,
despite the momentary lull created by the liquidity the Fed is pumping into
financial markets, eventually, we will have to pay the piper. Let us hope the
greedy people and not their victims do the paying.
Deception
By John Burl Smith
A fiery voice thundered as an angry God spoke,
"Wake up my son!
Edifying thoughts are being delivered on the wings of fate."
Desperados wearing faces of angels speak
with tongues that beguile the faithful.
Besieged by fear and guilt, the intellect builds its prison.
Not an innocent child crying in the night,
but a thief stealthily hiding in the mind.
A well-protected bushwhacker lies in wait
to steal tomorrow's joy by killing today's promise.
Whose face does this gnome wear but my own?
Disguising deception with good intentions,
He turns golden
dreams into ash gray nightmares!
Taught by circumstances the purity of the spirit,
underlying greed paints life's actual reflection.
Given a saint's zeal for righteousness,
the desperate nature of men impales them on a crucifix of deception.
Although wise beyond his years,
self-indulgence deludes heavenly schemes consumed by pride's self-adulation.
In the end undone by self-betrayal,
man's
prison of passion is a dark den of lust and envy.
Convinced of the good in what he does,
he does not see evil in his choices.
Championing honorable causes is the claim
to justify the means employed and victims uncounted.
Drawn to these depths not by an invisible hand,
but by slavish devotion to those demons that command the man.
Maybe not as profound for the world as for me,
a prisoner in a mental dungeon,
a captive of greed, muses,
will
humans learn the lessons of the mustard seed?
Wells Fargo Sued
Earlier this month, black homeowners Nancy and Johnny Jeffries filed a
discrimination lawsuit against San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co, the
second-largest US mortgage lender and fifth-largest U.S. bank. Court documents
show, Mortgage Direct Inc, an Elmhurst, Illinois mortgage broker, is also named
as a defendant.
According to the complaint, the southwest Chicago couple refinanced their home
twice last year, not knowing that the interest rates they were paying were
"a combination of an objective, risk-based calculation and a totally
subjective, discretionary component." When Wells Fargo marked up the
mortgage interest rates or added fees to loans for black borrowers after
agreeing to lend based on objective criteria such as credit histories and home
values, it violated the federal Fair Housing and Equal Credit Opportunity Acts.
In July, a similar lawsuit was filed in a Massachusetts federal court against
Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender. According to
Robert Rothman, a partner at Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins
LLP, the plaintiffs' attorney in both cases, "A black applicant is almost
five times more likely to get a high-rate loan than a white applicant at Wells.
This is because of the discretionary pricing policy that results in loan
officers adding points and fees to black borrowers."
The plaintiffs want Wells Fargo to halt all race-biased lending practices,
improve employee training, reimburse unfair charges and pay punitive damages.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status, so if you have a Wells Fargo mortgage
and feel you were charged an excessively high interest rate and/or points,
complete the form at www.lawyersandsettlements.com/submit_form.html?label=wells-fargo-race-mortgage&forward=319246.
The lawsuits against Wells Fargo and Countrywide differ from those targeting
"predatory" lenders accused of charging excessive rates or fees on subprime home loans made to low income borrowers with weaker
credit histories. A 2006 study conducted by the Center for Responsible Lending
found that when creditworthiness and credit risk were equal, blacks were more
than 30 percent more likely to receive higher rate, more expensive sub-prime
loans than whites. In addition, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition
revealed that lenders on average made high-cost sub-prime loans to
higher-qualified blacks 54% of the time, compared to 23% of the time for
whites, even when the white applicants were less qualified. For more on
mortgage companies accused of predatory lending, see www.mortgagedaily.com/Predatory2004.asp.
(Note:
On-line community activist James Neusom provided
links and empirical information for this article.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872 -1970)
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and
fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser
people so full of doubts....Not to be absolutely certain is, I think,
one of the essential things in rationality." Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell was born on May 18, 1872 at Trellech,
Monmouthshire, Wales into an
aristocratic family. His father, John Russell, Viscount Amberley,
and his mother Catherine were quite radical for their times; they had an open
marriage and Russell's father was an atheist.
Russell's mother died in 1874 and his father died in 1876. Bertrand and his
older brother Frank were placed in the care of their grandparents. John
Russell, 1st Earl Russell, his grandfather, died in 1878. As a result, the
Countess Russell, their grandmother, became the dominant family figure for the
rest of Russell's childhood and youth. A religious conservative, her influence
on Russell's outlook on social justice and standing up for principle remained
with him throughout his life. Her favorite Bible verse, 'Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.' (Exodus 23:2),
became his mantra.
Home-schooled by tutors, Russell won a scholarship to Trinity College (1890). Having
distinguished himself in mathematics and philosophy, Russell graduated with a
B.A. in 1893. He earned a fellowship at Trinity in 1895.
In 1896, Russell published German
Social Democracy and taught at the London School of Economics.
Initially subscribing to idealism, by 1898 Russell had become an empiricist.
Some of his most important works related to logic and mathematics (Principles
of Mathematics, 1903)
A politically active member of the Fabian Society, he unsuccessfully ran for
Parliament. At age 36, he became a fellow of the Royal Society. After his
conviction under the Defence of the Realm Act (1916)
for engaging in pacifist activities during WWI, he was dismissed from Trinity
College. On a later conviction involving his opposition to conscription, he was
sentenced to prison.
After the war, Russell traveled
to Russia as part of a British government delegation to investigate the effects
of the Russian Revolution. He met Lenin and left Russian with the impression
that Lenin was similar to a religious zealot, cold and possessed of "no
love of liberty." Later that year he published The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism and gave a
series of lectures in Beijing, China. On his return to Great Britain, Russell
wrote The Problem with China
(1922)
Russell supported himself during this time by writing popular books explaining
matters of physics, ethics and education to the layman. He wrote On Education (1926) and with his
second wife Dora Black, he founded the experimental Beacon Hill School (1927),
where he put some of his ideas on the subject into practice.
After WWII, Russell taught at the
University of Chicago (1938) and lectured at the University of California, Los
Angeles (1939). He was appointed to a professorship at the City College of New
York (1940), but a public outcry over his opinions, especially those on sexual
morality in Marriage and Morals
(1929), led to its withdrawal. He lectured as a fellow with the Barnes
Foundation until his relationship with Albert C. Barnes soured. Russell
returned to Britain (1944) to rejoin the faculty of Trinity College.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Russell participated in many broadcasts over the
BBC. His work A History of Western
Philosophy (1945) became a best-seller. In 1949, he was awarded the
Order of Merit, and the following year he was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
A prolific writer, Russell wrote some forty books. Vigorous proponent of
nuclear disarmament and anti-war activist, he was an outspoken critic of US
military intervention in Vietnam. In 1963, he became the inaugural recipient of
the Jerusalem Prize, an award for writers concerned with the freedom of the
individual in society. On January 31, 1970 he condemned "Israeli
aggression in the Middle East," saying that "We are frequently told
that we must sympathize with Israel because of the suffering of the Jews in
Europe at the hands of the Nazis. ... What Israel is doing today cannot be
condoned, and to invoke the horrors of the past to justify those of the present
is gross hypocrisy."
Philosopher, historian, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform and
pacifist, Russell was born at the height of Britain's economic and political
ascendancy; when he died on February 2, 1970, the British Empire had all but
vanished, its power dissipated by two world wars and the end of the imperial
system. As directed by his will, Russell's ashes were scattered after his
cremation three days later. (Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org,
www.quotationspage.com and www.geocities.com)
Subprime Loans = Primetime for Vampire Lenders
By Jim Hightower
One of the most dramatic stories
from the New Testament is of the time that Jesus encountered money changers in
the temple. Enraged by their usury and sacrilege, he went on a tear --
overturning their tables, physically driving them out and chastising them for
converting the temple into a "den of robbers." The Bible doesn't say where
these bloodsucking lenders went, but now we know: They have re-emerged in
recent years to set up their tables right here in
America, working a dark alley of homeowner financing called the "subprime mortgage market." The what? Don't be deterred
by the finance industry's jargon (which is intended to numb your brain and keep
regular folks from even trying to figure out what's going on). At its core,
this is a classically simple story of banker greed and outright sleaze. And the
astonishing part is that nearly all of the rank injustice perpetrated by
today's money changers is considered legal and is practiced by supposedly
reputable financial firms.
That's when avaricious mortgage hucksters and high-finance manipulators looked
upon this broad pool of needy, vulnerable castoffs and suddenly shouted,
"Eureka, GOLD!" With interest rates remarkably low, housing prices
seemingly on a nonstop rise, and (this is the Big One) practically no
regulation of this low-income market, the money changers promptly began to
devise clever, Enronian schemes to entice such "subprime" borrowers into high-interest, high-fee
loans. Never mind that these families really could not afford
(and mostly did not understand) the level of debt being piled on their backs.
That was a matter for manana. Today was for raking in
profits from the poor.
The subprime schemes are run through an intricate,
intertwined system of loan brokers, mortgage lenders, Wall Street trusts, hedge
funds, offshore tax havens and other predators. To entrap borrowers, the industry
created an arsenal of arcane financial devices and maneuvers known by such
exotic names as "exploding ARMs," YSPs, teaser rates, low-doc mortgages, loan flipping and
equity stripping. Ultimately, these schemes are scams, extracting high payments
from the families, sucking out any equity they might build up and stealing
their homes.
This is one of those economic stories, like the savings-and-loan scam of the
1980s, that are usually buried back in the business section of newspapers. But,
just as with the S&L collapse, this debacle is growing too big to contain,
and all of us need to be paying attention. The built-in traps of the subprime mortgage market have already taken the homes of
more than a million people in just the past year, and the dangers are quickly
rising for millions more. This collapse in homeownership for the working poor
has begun seeping into the rest of the economy, causing thousands of job
losses, shaking the soundness and reputations of some major Wall Street firms,
and slowly -- ever so sloooowly -- forcing
lackadaisical bank regulators and clueless politicians out of their
laissez-faire stupor. (Note: For the complete article, which explains how the subprime business works, see www.alternet.org/story/60183/.
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Email www.apwire.com
Lending industry job cuts grow.... Capital One Financial Corp. shut down its GreenPoint mortgage business, which specialized in making
loans to people who did not fully document their income and assets. And
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based 1st National Bank Holding Co. closed its wholesale
mortgage unit and cut 541 jobs. Last week, Arizona mortgage lender First Magnus
Financial Corp. shut down its operations and laid off
nearly 6,000 workers. Since the start of the year, more than 37,000 workers
have lost their jobs at mortgage lending institutions, according to recent
company layoff announcements and data compiled by global outplacement firm
Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Meanwhile, construction companies have
announced nearly 20,000 job cuts this year, while the National Association of
Realtors expects membership rolls to decline this year for the first time in a
decade.
Email slazarus@majestic13.com ..The Crash of 1929: Are We on the Verge of a Repeat?...By Scott Thill...[A senior
adviser to President Bush] said that guys like me were "in what we call
the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe
that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I
nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He
cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he
continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own
reality. And while you're studying that reality - judiciously, as you will -
we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and
that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of
you, will be left to just study what we do." - Ron Suskind,
"Without a Doubt," New York Times] News flash: The American economy
is a hyperreality engineered by Ph.D.s working hand-in-hand
with colluding media multinationals, political officials and some of the
biggest names in business - and the banks that invest in them. In other news,
greed is still good.
Email lrprice@snet.net ...Iraq's unions say the draft oil law is a threat and threaten
"mutiny" if Parliament approves the bill. "This law cancels the
great achievements of the Iraq people," Subhi
al-Badri, head of the Iraqi Federation of Union
Councils, told the al-Sharqiyah TV station. He
referred specifically to laws that nationalized Iraq's oil sector. "If the
Iraqi Parliament approves this law, we will resort to mutiny," he said.
"This law is a bomb that may kill everyone. Iraqi oil does not belong to
any certain side. It belongs to all future generations."
Email www.legitgov.org Key Exxon Mobil benchmark for Iraq in jeopardy: Secret Report: No Iraq Oil Deal by September 20 Jul 2007 A confidential intelligence report prepared for U.S. officials this week concludes a key U.S. benchmark of progress in Iraq, a law to divide oil revenues equitably among the provinces [Yeah, right!], "will not be agreed by September, even if cosmetic legislation is put in place."
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