Open Letter

So today Pvt Manning appeared before a kangaroo  court today.  I’ve had a period in my life where I TOLD a judge to recuse himself and actually had to contact someone to make sure he did as he was participating in a really horrible scheme.  This situation isn’t that much different from this one unfortunately.  News has been streaming in and here’s the first video I was able to see:

For a complete rundown of today’s events, please click here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/dec/16/bradley-manning-hearing-live-updates

The news isn’t surprising but still upsetting and I have a funny feeling this is just getting started.  Mark my words, this will make the US Government look stupid, inept, and corrupted.  It’s almost like I can tell the future!

The judge is only allowing the defense to present two witnesses out of 48 yet all 20 of the prosecution’s witnesses are allowed.  Gee that doesn’t seem prejudicial at all does it?

I personally pondered what it would mean if this judge was accused of being prejudiced, proceeding anyway, having an unfair trial, resulting in a very unfair verdict.  Could it mean a retrial?  The judge needs to recuse himself before he’s excusing himself.

And what about PJ Crowley?  Wasn’t that something that he got fired over his opinion?  We don’t have freedom of speech, we don’t have freedom of privacy (thanks Department of Homeland Security), and pretty soon we may live in a prison state if certain people (John McCain, namely) get their way.

In anticipating the worst I’ve been working on an open letter to communities on the internet in hopes of garnering some further support and artwork.  Here’s that note:

I would like to request just a bit of your time to discuss something.  From time to time, politics comes up inevitably as much as people may not like discussing such things.  These are one of those times.  There have been victories but still a lot of fights out there to be won, and this is why I’m contacting you.

As you may know already, Bradley Manning has been in pretrial confinement for 17 months and was denied access to basic human needs such as clothing in his time at Quantico.  I know there may be mixed feelings regarding Wikileaks but the conditions of confinement should trouble everyone.  This goes further and deeper than that, however.

According to this Gawker article, there were certain phrases that led someone in the know to understand that Bradley Manning is on her way to becoming a woman.  Does the phrase “The CPU is not made for this motherboard” mean anything to anyone?  You can read about it here:

http://gawker.com/5568351/is-wikileaker-bradley-manning-pre+transition-transgendered

If you’re generally unfamiliar with the case or have questions about how this relates to the Armed Services treatment of persons in the LGBT community, please read this article:

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/people/capitalcomment/15881.html

If you are unfamiliar with how transgendered persons are treated in the military, please read this if you have time:

http://transequality.org/Issues/military.html

It shouldn’t go without saying that Bradley was betrayed by her father on national television in addition to being “recycled” in the military after being deemed unfit to serve.

Adrian Lamo is someone I feel needs to be brought up.  No one should be able to con someone into giving up valuable information under the guise of journalism or as a religious worker bound by confidentiality.  No more little Judas characters running around with the ability to deceive people and legally get away with it.  If his betrayal is allowed to stand then it could happen to anyone.

So, knowing all this information, what can we do to help Bradley?  As an artist, art comes to mind and that’s where you great people come in.  I recently founded a group for Bradley and I wanted to run a contest but don’t know how. Maybe you could even run a contest in your group?  If you know of anyone that could make the group a button I’d be eternally grateful.  There is a Tumblr account that’s been made for Pvt Manning that you can contribute your art to as well.  www.opmanning.tumblr.com

 You may be wondering what kind of art would be helpful.  My answer?  Any!  There’s a project, http://iam.bradleymanning.org/ that accepts self-portraits.  There’s so many websites.  What’s out there already are a lot of photo manipulations, a few watercolors by myself, some drawn pictures.  There’s some on the Bradley Manning Support Network, which can be found here:

www.bradleymanning.org

Thanks sincerely for your time and I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend.

Warm regards,

Jessica Winifred

Also, if you happen to live in LA there is a candle lit vigil you can attend this weekend if ya like:

http://www.facebook.com/events/207190282693655/

And for all other events click this link:

http://events.bradleymanning.org/

Thanks for reading.

 

December 17th and Onward

“One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.”

-Michael Korda

The past four days it’s been snowing (two of those days it wasn’t even in the forecast).  If you live where it snows, then you know that it provides a solitary quietness fitted for contemplation.  One of the things I’ve had on my mind is an idea someone put to me, stringing banners on overpasses where it’s legal to drum up support for Bradley Manning on December 17th.

The biggest and foremost question that comes to my mind and surely others is where we can do this legally (expression seems like a silly reason to get arrested but it still happens).  Banner drops have been popular and effective forms of protest and expression so imagine my elation when the idea was brought up.  From what I understand, there are many overpasses and bridges where banners have already been dropped with few arrests and even fewer convictions.

This website answers a lot of the particulars, like what you should bring and how banners should be hung.  If you like the idea and would like to put it into action, please read this first:

http://www.farmunderground.org/getactive/bannerdrops.html

One might ask why this is important.  I’ve explained the reasons why it’s important to me and don’t feel the need to reiterate.  If you haven’t read those entries I will make it short and sweet for you; if the chat between Adrian Lamo and Bradley Manning was truthful, then I feel I owe him.  We wouldn’t have seen Collateral Murder or the cables if it weren’t for him.

I also think this idea is important because this would provide momentum for much-needed public scrutiny and support.  Momentum is an important force of nature, it dictates whether something is a snowball or an avalanche.  This should be particularly important for Americans, as this pertains to all of us.  We’re not very far away from becoming a prison state.  Some would argue that we are already there, as people have been detained for longer periods of time without being charged with crimes.  It’s the opinion of many that the Department of Homeland Security is not only a farce but a detriment to our society.  I comprehend the need for security but over-reaching is still over-reaching no matter who is doing it or why.  If this is allowed to persist, no matter what your political beliefs you ascribe to, this could happen to you.

So, you might be wondering what we’re supposed to do about all this.  Aside from the banner idea, there’s multitudes of other ideas and ways you can participate.  Here’s a video from Anonymous explaining further:

Short term goals are good, they build that all-important momentum.   Long term goals are also important, as to finish what one starts.

If you’re like me and don’t live in a big city or near an overpass that gets substantial traffic, there’s OTHER things you can do or things that could be done thereafter.  Personally, I think it would be advantageous to contact law makers and let them know Manning’s treatment, the treatment of Occupy Protesters by police, and dishonest government in any part of the world will no longer suffice.

Here’s the contact information for every elected state official:

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

One thing I personally considered was writing hand-written letters to my local representatives and establishing a line of communication or even protesting outside their office to get their attention.  Emails are effective but not very personal.    Solidarity marches and protests have changed our country for the better in times before and they will again.  An easy way of getting what you want is just simply doing what works.  Protesting is an important part of being an American if you consider yourself to be patriotic in any way.  Protests against the Vietnam War, the protest at Wounded Knee in the 1970′s, the Boston Tea Party, Unions, Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party, the Million Man March are all part of our heritage.  This is who we are.

The importance of solidarity on December 17th with Occupy protesters is another thing.  I imagine it’s not easy being out in the cold, rain, in a tent, cops with hundreds of cans of pepper spray at the ready.  They’ve been arrested, beaten, sprayed, rights violated, personal affects destroyed, all by the police and it should make everyone upset.  To camp out as a protester is an extreme measure, not something that’s pleasant or fun.  It’s not something freeloaders do and is not for the faint of heart.  If you value your rights then you also value the rights of others!  If you’re an honest person and even if you disagree with Occupy Wall Street’s message you should still respect their right to express their opinion.

Part of what is dividing this country is a VERY imaginary line drawn by the worst kinds of people.  Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and all their ilk are driving America apart with extreme politics, propaganda, and misleading news stories.   Americans have lost sight of what’s really important; the health of this nation and the well-being of the people in it.  We’ve all been consumed by right versus left and I’m sick of it.  I don’t give a damn what political party you’re in or what your religious beliefs are, it is inconsequential to the issues at hand.  I think inciting people against each other with those sorts of hangups is actually a great way to manipulate people into being distracted from critical issues.  Individual liberties are being taken away such as rights to speedy trials and privacy.  It’s a slippery slope and once THAT ball gets rolling it’ll be difficult to stop.

Speaking of slippery slopes, if you’ve not heard about the Senate vote for a set of crazy new laws, you need to.  The Huffington Post wrote a great article about it here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/senate-votes-to-let-military-detain-americans-indefinitely_n_1119473.html?ref=congress

And what shall I say to the people abroad?  Pretty much the same thing.  I’m noticing liberties being snatched away in Europe and freedom consistently denied in the Middle East.  The good people of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and points beyond all have my support and admiration.

And  I can go on and on and on…  but who cares?  I think I’ve said enough.

I’m just gonna do what I can when I can and see what happens next.  How does that sound?

OpBradley: How You Can Help

This was originally posted to DeviantArt, but not everyone is a deviant.  So, for everyone else, here’s what’s happening.

As you may or may not know, I’m a very political person.  Law and justice matter very much to me and have since I was a kid.  These last few years, I’ve come to understand that law and justice don’t always prevail, and in actuality they seem to fail on a regular basis.  One thing that’s really got under my skin was the treatment of whistleblower Bradley Manning.  Americans have no right torturing another human being and if any of us did the same that was done to him, we’d be in jail.  I’ve made art about it, wrote about it, and have had numerous conversations on the subjects of his treatment and the validity of the charges against him.

Adrian Lamo coerced a confession out of him which may or may not be false.  It’s called a “false pretense”.  People lie and brag on the internet all the time.  Adrian is a great example of this, stating that he was ordained as a minister and that conversations would be “protected”.  Well, that was about as useful as a broken condom on prom night.

All the facts of this case are not known to me.  Such as, did Manning report his concerns through the appropriate channel and was ignored?  What was his mental condition and should he have been sent home prior to all this happening?

Other than a coerced confession that may not be admissible in a court of law, not one appreciable piece of evidence has connected Bradley Manning to Julian Assange.  Yet and still he’s been held in prison for 17 months pending trial.  The state has a shoddy case and they’re stalling an inevitable fiasco.  They know they will look like fools.

For all these reasons and plenty more, I’m hoping for some help.  I know doing a lot of things can be cumbersome, so even one thing would be greatly appreciated.  As an example, there’s call ins this week:

http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/national-call-in-for-bradley

Also, there’s an Op for Bradley Manning as well.  You can read about it here:

http://pastebin.com/hr5NgUP4

ANY art helps.  Shooped images, paintings, drawings, musings, photographs.  All will be accepted in the group on DeviantArt or can be linked in the blog section.  http://supportbradmanning.deviantart.com/
If you don’t want to post something here but still help, there’s a campaign that’s on-going for pictures.  That can be found here:   http://iam.bradleymanning.org/

As I always say, if you don’t agree argue with me intelligently or don’t bother.  Thanks for stopping by.

Yours Truly,

Jessica Winifred

Remember, Remember

“An army of asses led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by an ass.”
George Washington

“An army is a nation within a nation; it is one of the vices of our age.”
Alfred de Vigny

The fifth of November is upon us and I see people are using their Guy Fawkes avatars, which is great to see.

Over the years, my opinions about politics, religion, and morality have greatly changed.  3 years ago I didn’t think I was an anarchist at all.  I hadn’t seen V for Vendetta and I didn’t believe people could change the world anymore.  I thought that the hippies had a monopoly on change and that my generation was deeply disinterested in trying to do anything.  To those of you who have contributed, I thank you for changing my mind and proving me wrong.

Some of you that do know me may wonder why I would claim to be an anarchist.  I point to Immanuel Kant’s societal categories to reinforce my opinion.  Simply put:

A Law And Freedom without Violence (Anarchy)
B Law And Violence without Freedom (Despotism)
C Violence without Freedom And Law (Barbarism)
D Violence with Freedom And Law (Republic)

I question authority constantly.  In the beginning, no one had to pay to live on the Earth.  It wasn’t against the law to be homeless, to be penalized for being down on your luck or mentally ill.  In the beginning, things were not like this.   Now we have every country in the world trying to take what belongs to everyone.  The oceans, the water tables, pockets of natural gas, ore are all being exploited by people who have no divine right to do so.  Speaking of violence, doesn’t it seem violent that all these things are being ripped out from underneath our feet without so much of a question of whether we even want these things done let alone understand the implications of everything being “owned”?

We live in a Republic here in the States, there’s no denying that.  We are violent people.  We invade foreign lands with no respect to the inhabitants welfare, under the guise that either a small band of nutcases from a cult MIGHT try to hurt Americans or that weapons of mass destruction are in the hands of someone (which turned out to be an enormous lie).  Our police officers shoot canisters of tear gas at people trying to help a wounded protester.  These protesters were not violent, there’s plenty of video to prove that.  As a society, I don’t think we’ve come as far as we could have and should have.

That being said, this fifth of November I will be thinking of soldiers who do not want violence.  If you have a moment, please watch this:

Why do we need violence?  What is the real necessity?  How often do you question the need for all this?

“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. “

Thomas Edison

So, now that you know what I think of violence it shouldn’t be so hard to understand why I want to remember soldiers that don’t want war.  Bradley Manning wanted to change the world by his own admission, he saw something that was wrong and wanted to try to make it right.  The Collateral Murder video wouldn’t have been seen by the world and America’s politicians wouldn’t have been embarrassed by it.

As the Man In Black points out, what’s done in the dark will be brought to the light.  People like Brad exist in all walks of life and all manners of working environments.   Whistleblowers are the most noble of the worker, because they want people to know the truth and are willing to risk their professional and personal lives to convey that truth.  In our country, we see fit to violently stamp out any attempt at getting the truth to the people.  This should not be.

I’m not just mad at American politicians for this injustice, but I’m mad at Adrian Lamo too.  People lie on the internet all the time, that much we’ve established.  However, nothing justifies telling someone you’re a journalist when you don’t have a press pass and you’re not a member of clergy if you don’t have a ministerial license.

I’m not an internet lawyer by any stretch of the imagination, but I see some interesting legal implications that could have a lasting effect on how the government deals with it’s whistleblowers.  As an example, PFC Manning could use the Public Interest Defense at his trial.  It could also be surmised that Adrian Lamo coerced the confession by deceit.  It may not be admissible in court because the communication was supposedly protected.  No other connection has been established between Manning and Wikileaks, so the US Government really doesn’t have a solid case.  That would probably explain why they tortured him and have denied him his right to a speedy trial.  Cowards.

Other people I’ll be thinking of would be Veterans Against the War.  Like Bradley, they say uncomfortable things that no politicians want to hear that support the wars.  In my opinion, there is no grey area when supporting our troops.  Either you do or you don’t.

The numbers on PTSD as a result of multiple tours are astonishing.  The violence of soldiers who have come after home is unprecedented.  The rate at which soldiers are killing themselves are hitting records and percentages that have not seen before.  People are coming home missing limbs and one guy is missing one-third of his brain.  Should it be any surprise that veterans are against the wars?

And what about all these controversies that have also been exposed?

If you would like to express your support in any way, here’s their official website:

http://ivaw.org/

And of course, I’ll be thinking of all Anons and what the future holds.  With OpCartel, I feel it could possibly be a bloodbath and go very badly.  I know that horrifying carnage has taken place in Mexico.  If this situation hasn’t emotionally moved you in any way, you may want to check and see if you have any emotions at all.   If it’s followed through with, the intel would provide a hit list for people that have no problem with killing, maiming, dismembering, raping, or torturing .  It’s like taking a little diabetic kid into a candy shop.  You know they’ll dig their little hands in the candy until they go into a diabetic coma before they stop.  I pondered, asking myself in some capacity could literally telling all on the cartels hurt them in some unforeseeable happenstance?  The current President of Mexico would have to take action and arrest the people that are identified.  This could save the state a lot of money, work, time, and end violence.  I don’t know the political climate of Mexico or how things even work there.  That kind of thing would happen in an ideal world but we don’t live in one.

For anyone leading people into thinking this is a good idea, I would encourage you to reassess your position based on risk versus benefit.  Are you prepared to die for this Op?  Are you prepared to let someone else die for this Op?  If not, then don’t.

All the Occupies are spreading like wildfire, so much so I was able to attend something.  Different ideas are emerging and adding into other ideas.  Of course, Fox News and it’s unholy child Glenn Beck will tell you they’re all a bunch of Canadian Joo Hating Nazi Communist Robots because nothing they say makes sense or is really relevant.

So, there was this great pastebin about how Tor was used to get info on Pedobears.  I loved reading it and was impressed by the knowledge/intelligence it took to carry out something like that.  The thing that might bother people is that Pedobears will commit suicide.  Well, that’s a personal choice someone makes.  If you find children to be sexually stimulating you need to get to a mental hospital or see someone because those thoughts are not right.  If you don’t seek help, then whatever happens to you just happens.  There’s chemical castration and other things you can do.  There’s no justification for what pedophiles do.

This judge that beat the hell out of his child over a computer game is going to be destroyed for what he did.  Looking at the video, I say this guy has anger management problems, control issues, and an unhealthy appetite for violence.  Beating a 16-year-old disabled girl with a belt is quite queer (as in strange).  What kind of person does that?

http://anoncentral.tumblr.com/post/12319566892/anonymous-operation-doxthejudge-therefore

Scientology is destroyed, literally ripped asunder.  Their credibility has been annihilated, their numbers are so low DM can’t get enough “religious volunteers” for gardening at INT, they are continuously embarrassed by their own actions, and they are poised to lose tax exemptions.  The battle has been won, all the beast has to do is now is die.  With that success under their belt, who knows what could happen with any Op.  Revolution, it seems, has arrived.

In closing, I hope you all have a happy and safe weekend.  Definitely enjoy, life’s short.

Well, it’s day 46 of Occupy Wall Street and I’m still arguing with a friend (and have been since the beginning) over the issues at hand, how it all started (like it really matters all that much), and everything else in between.  I like these kinds of things because it makes me question my own beliefs.  Writing things out can either shatter everything I know or reinforce it with steel beams.

Sam Blumenfeld isn’t a disrespectful schmuck, he wrote an interesting article about the Occupy Movement and it’s relation to AdBusters:

http://www.thenewamerican.com/opinion/sam-blumenfeld/9480-the-revolution-she-is-here

In the first paragraph, I see a problem.  I’m sorry Mr. Blumenfeld, but I haven’t heard anything about re-electing Barack Obama and in fact I’ve heard some unpleasant sentiments (and have seen signs) about POTUS.  I’ve noticed sentiments to the contrary on a personal level.

Also, I’d like to pose a question to Mr. Blumenfeld.  What bothers you so much about anti-consumerism?  Isn’t that at least a small part of how we got into this mess to begin with?  We’ve consumed far too much and produced nothing but things for ourselves.  And what the heck did we expect?  If you were trying to make a case against AdBusters it didn’t work as far as I’m concerned.  One article written seven years ago isn’t making a strong case for me.

Mr. Blumenfeld made a funny assessment too, that this movement was partially galvanized by the success of the Tea Party.  I think that’s partly right, I mean someone has to oppose those who pollute our waters, pay next to nothing in taxes, and exploit natural resources for their own benefit.  If we don’t, who will?

Further in the article, Mr. Blumenfeld explains that Moveon.org has been mobilizing people.  What he doesn’t address or acknowledge is that this is a movement anyone can join.   I attended a MoveOn event and it was strikingly unpolitical.  There were a few speakers; a priest and a professor.  The priest expressed that this wasn’t a political movement, but a movement for the people that anyone with any kind of politics could join.  This highlights a problem for me with the Tea Party, not everyone is invited.   Pictures related.

 

There are other problems I have with the Tea Party.  It wasn’t that they are exclusively funded by AFP, it’s not that their protesters were kind of silly at times, but it’s the general messages of paranoia and hypocrisy.  It’s the Red Scare and McCarthyism all over again.  It’s hard to imagine, but back in those days conservatives fought child labor laws, women’s suffrage, and the New Deal (which ultimately got our economy back up and running, for the record).  It’s not surprising we find conservatives throwing up roadblocks in the way of progress all these years later.

I say hypocrisy because someone said that the protesters were “self-absorbed”.  Well, gee I’m sorry if the Tea Party is jealous of our awesome movement and for the record I didn’t see any of you feeding the homeless.  Even if people at any Occupy Movement complained about it, they still fed them which is more charitable than any Tea Party protest I’ve seen.

The conservative articles I’ve read thus far fail to address the demands of the Wall Street Protesters.  In fact, none of them I’ve read have even mentioned the demands specifically.  How do conservatives expect me or anyone else to take them seriously if they don’t address any issues whatsoever?  Do you guys exist to merely point fingers like a bunch of school yard children?

And hey, do you think those 1% have an attitude problem?  Anyone else reminded of Marie Antoinette?

Could it be possible that these kinds of actions only galvanize people?

Let’s also remember incidences with the cops, or don’t they show those on Fox News?  I will show them to you!

Occupiers in Oakland have my respect.

The mistreatment of veterans by police in Boston and Oakland should infuriate even the most devout conservative in America.  In my opinion, you’re for veterans or you’re not.  Their opinions shouldn’t matter because in the end they all would have given everything for this country so they should have your utmost respect.

Furthermore, I think it’s irresponsible, dirty, disrespectful actions of New York cops shouldn’t be ignored.  Sending drunks, homeless, and druggies to the protest site.  Don’t believe me?  Read about it here:

http://gawker.com/5854870/is-nypd-sending-drunk-homeless-people-to-occupy-wall-street

Some Americans seem to have forgotten who they are.  Here’s a short video to remind you:

What makes this movement and my friend so meaningful is that I am reminded of something important.  Perspective determines how we all see things and that there is no real enemy other than the one we think there is.  This applies to both sides.  Don’t get angry, snooty, or self-righteous about your message otherwise no one will want to hear it or won’t take you seriously.

Those who are protesting peacefully have my respect.  Even if tents are empty, it doesn’t matter.  If the message is lost on you, I suggest you write about it and explore your own reasoning.  Turn off the Fox News, Glenn Beck, and just listen to the people.  You don’t need those middlemen to make up your mind for you.

With all that said, I feel more galvanized than when I started.

 

 

 

 

Banks To Boycott

Banks are an almost irresistible attraction for that element of our society which seeks unearned money.
J. Edgar Hoover

Someone said that funds should be pulled from the banks.  In my opinion, not all banks are dishonest and not all banks need to have funds removed from them.  What I would like to point out and highlight are banks that do business dishonestly, are greedy (by definition, will hurt people to make their money as opposed to just making money like normal businesses), and who have a part to play in our current economic situation.

In respect to our present predicament in America, I thought it would be worthwhile to see if my bank got a bailout and the answer is no.  I live in a very rural area so I doubted it anyway.  Thanks to CNN, I have a complete list of banks that got bailouts that can be found here:

http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/storysupplement/bankbailout/

Looking at this list, there’s a lot more bailout funds than I personally anticipated.  These are very large sums of money and I can’t recall hearing about all this.

The first bank I would like to have a closer look at is Wells Fargo.  They received $25 billion in bailout money, so I’m left to wonder did they have any part of the financial crisis, do they do business ethically?  Unfortunately, my answer has to be no.  I thought they might be a little dishonest, that’s expected.  I didn’t expect them to be blatantly  racist.  Two loan officers  recently gave affidavits detailing the bank efforts to needlessly steer minority Baltimore families into subprime loans. The banks shady dealings include setting up a special unit to target “mud people” with outrageously expensive “ghetto loans;” targeting black churches leaders because they “had a lot of influence and could convince congregants to take out subprime loans;” and offering cash bounties to loan officers who issued subprime loans to minority communities.   I’m appalled and it gets worse than that, to read more click here:

http://consumerist.com/2009/06/loan-officers-detail-wells-fargos-blatantly-racist-subprime-loans.html

On February 4, 2009, Wells Fargo announced it was canceling a four-day business meeting and employee recognition event in Las Vegas. There had been negative allegations from the media, members of Congress and other public officials that the trip was a “pricey Las Vegas casino junket” and that the company was misusing taxpayers’ money, since Wells Fargo had been one of the banks that received “bailout” funds from the government a few months earlier.  At least they stopped themselves due to public outcry.

In August 2010, Wells Fargo was fined by U.S. District Judge William Alsup for overdraft practices designed to gouge consumers and profiteer at their expense, and for misleading consumers about how the bank processed transactions and assessed overdraft fees.

In the subprime mortgage scandal, Wells Fargo was not the worst of the worst but definitively did business unethically and refuses to admit they did anything wrong.  This is just the kind of attitude I find unsettling among the top 1% who depend on the 99% for their income.   They were fined $85 million dollars and ordered to repay 4,000 to 10,000 of their customers, which you can read about here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5cf02966-b306-11e0-86b8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ZvinYV00

JPMorgan Chase is next on the list with a net worth of $2 trillion which makes me wonder why the hell they needed $25 billion from the tax payers and how they intend on paying that back.  As a side note, I think all banks who got funds from the US Government should pay the loans back WITH interest like 99% of us do!  That being said, I again find myself wondering if they did business ethically.  Again, the answer is a emphatic no.

Did you know JP Morgan Chase almost bankrupted an entire county in Alabama?!  Until today, I sure didn’t!  In November 2009, JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to a $722 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to end a probe into sales of derivatives that helped push Alabama’s most populous county to the brink of bankruptcy. The settlement came a week after Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Larry Langford was convicted on 60 counts of bribery, money laundering, and tax evasion related to bond swaps for Jefferson County, Alabama. The SEC alleged that J.P. Morgan, which had been chosen by the county commissioners to underwrite the floating-rate sewer bond deals and provide interest-rate swaps, had made undisclosed payments to close friends of the commissioners in exchange for the deal. J.P. Morgan then allegedly made up for the costs by charging higher interest rates on the swaps.  Wow.

In January 2011, JPMorgan Chase admitted that it wrongly overcharged several thousand military families for their mortgages, including active duty personnel in Afghanistan. The bank also admitted it improperly foreclosed on more than a dozen military families; both actions were in clear violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act which automatically lowers mortgage rates to 6 percent, and bars foreclosure proceedings of active duty personnel.  Chase has acknowledged that as many as 6,000 active duty military personnel were illegally overcharged, and more than 18 military families homes were wrongly foreclosed. In April, Chase agreed to pay a total of $27 million in compensation to settle the class-action suit.  The greed of the 1% seems to know no boundaries, anyone and anything is fair game to these people.

JPMorgan Chase had a hand in the worst of the subprime lending excesses, providing financing to the nation’s two largest subprime lenders, Countrywide and Ameriquest. This financing provided the companies with the capital they needed to originate subprime mortgages. JPMorgan Chase also owned a major subprime lender, Chase Home Finance, and has acquired two banks with large subprime operations: Washington Mutual (which owned #5 Long Beach Mortgage Co.) and Bear Stearns (which owned #17 Encore Credit Corp.). Together, these five firms issued over $295.3 billion in subprime loans from 2005-2007.   That’s a lot of money to make off of bad loans.  To see more information, click here:

http://www.seiu.org/a/profilechase.php

Next on the list is Marshall and Ilsley Bank (aka M&I for my fellow Wisconsinites) with $63.5 billion in assets.  On the outset, they don’t seem controversial or all that greedy.  In terms of the bailout, they got $1.715 billion from the government.

For my fellow Wisconsinites, I have some information you may find interesting.   In mid-August 2009 the bank was named as one of the biggest of more than 150 U.S. lenders which own nonperforming loans that equal 5 percent or more of their holdings. 5 percent is a threshold that former regulators have stated can wipe out a bank’s equity and threaten its survival.  In other words, it’s going under anyway.  Guess the bailout on their part was kind of pointless and they shouldn’t have asked for money from anyone.

To further my point, their net income is actually in the red to nearly equal what the government gave them!  How the heck did that even happen? To see more, click here:

sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Marshall_and_Ilsley_Bank#Controversies_and_Lender_Problems

They were fined $150,000 for failure to disclose all information about securities they sold to investors.   Also, according to the aforementioned article, the bank was accused of racism.  All banks should know the real color that matters is green. M&I is worse off than I thought.  They aren’t ethical either.  How disappointing.

This is where I would normally put a conclusion, but I have a funny feeling this isn’t over for me.  I think further review of banks unethical practices are merited.

OccupyWallSt: Plenty of Reasons

When you’re in a pit, the first thing to do is to stop digging. – James Ellman, Seacliffe Capital

Capitalism without financial failure is not capitalism at all, but a kind of socialism for the rich. - James Grant, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer

Yesterday, I laid my forlorn eyes on an article written by a guy who has a PhD.  in Sports Psychology or something (see how unimpressed I am?) and I wanted to issue him a rebuttal.  He wrote the article for Forbes.  He kept talking about himself and how great he is, which really didn’t interest me as a reader so I have to wonder how some of his other articles read.  If you would like to see what I’m talking about, please click here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/doughirschhorn/2011/10/03/occupy-wall-street-do-you-even-understand-wall-street/

Some of the comments are priceless.

Wall Street, since my birth in 1981, has had it’s fair share of controversies and initially that’s why I found myself supporting the street’s occupation by default.  This guy said people in my generation and younger don’t understand Wall Street and how important it is.  I know it’s the financial center of America, I don’t think anyone is that ignorant.  Let’s explore some of the news stories from my memory and maybe it can be a refresher for the sports psychologist too!

Insider trading it something I’ve heard about often.  Martha Stewart, Dennis Levine (yes I vaguely remember that!),  R. Foster Winans, George Soros (although convicted in France he’s still an American), and then there’s Jeff Skilling.  Everyone in my generation knows what Enron is, not for some great product they produced either.  In the scandal, 20,000 people lost their jobs and folks at Arthur Anderson lost 28,000 jobs.  Many people lost their retirement savings, savings they would never be able to recover.  That’s burned in my memory pretty deeply and I know I’m not the only one.  I don’t have to understand the intricacies of Wall Street or trading to understand it’s not regulated very well and that kind of greed protesters are talking about cost 99% of the population more than it costs those in the 1%.

And this guy went on and on and on about how we don’t understand Wall Street.  Who the hell would want to?  It’s so boring, I’m trying to stay awake writing this.  And it’s not that I’m not intelligent or that other people are not intelligent, it’s just that this information isn’t interesting to most people.  I’m interested in medicine, religion, and art.  Does that make me less intelligent or make any argument I make about Wall Street less meaningful?  I doubt it.

And what about the white collar prisons these great guys get to go to when they are caught?  White collar prison and the reason we, the American people, are told is that because they are non-violent offenders.   To me that’s kind of a farce because you can put them in minimum security, which these folks would belong in by definition of their crimes.  They don’t need Club Fed.  I don’t think they deserve  sweat lodges they get at Elgin, air conditioning or pool tables at Nellis,  commercial photography lessons at Morgantown, or special privileges at Otisville.

I should personally thank Forbes for putting an interesting list together of the white collar prisons some of the aforementioned folks go to.  Here’s their article:

http://www.forbes.com/2003/07/23/cx_pp_0723prisons.html

Let’s get back to the criminality, which I find to be the most interesting.  As recently as March 2010, former IBM executive Robert Moffat admitted he gave inside information to New Castle Funds consultant Danielle Chiesi, with whom he allegedly had an intimate relationship. The crime also implicated 12 other people, including Raj Rajaratnam. The founder of hedge fund Galleon Group, Rajaratnam has been indicted for securities fraud and using stock tips to earn millions of dollars from illegal trades of tech company stocks including Intel, Google, IBM and AMD. Moffat was sentenced to six months in jail and charged a $50,000 fine; Chiesi and Rajaratnam await trial next year.  You see the problem I am having?  Even if someone does get caught cooking the books, committing fraud, or insider trading, they don’t have to worry about going to Federal Prison like the rest of us (you know, the 99% you keep hearing about!), they have places where they get special treatment.  So to me, there’s nothing holding these folks back from committing crimes.  This is a great inequality, a social injustice.  Wall Street is a great place to protest about a number of class-related inequalities.

I’m not the only one who noticed this injustice,  Matt Taibbi noticed too.

Bailouts are something I mentioned in my last essay, so let’s go back to that.  If Wall Street is the epicenter of America’s financial world, why did they even need money to begin with?  Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are financial institutions which depended on subprime mortgages, which were doomed to fail.  Some people who did not have a job or identification were given loans in some circumstances.  If someone does business badly, why would they be entitled to some of our money?  The federal government knew there was a problem yet congress failed to act.  So the Treasury had to give them $200 billion to keep the doors open and the lights on or did they?!  Over 98 percent of Fannie’s loans were paying timely during 2008.   Both Fannie and Freddie had positive net worth as of the date of the takeover, meaning the value of their assets exceeded their liabilities.

This is something to be upset over, because again someone who has money has more rights and more doors open for them simply because of that money.  No small businesses in America have access to that kind of bailout if their business is facing hard times.  There you go, another inequality due to classicism.  In fact, I feel like a victim.  I didn’t vote for this, I didn’t want this.  One could say the American tax payers had their taxes raped.  Someone else felt the same way and made a nifty video about it, which can be seen here:

Bank of America is another one I’ve been hearing about on the news.  Why?  Because they got bailouts too!  I do beg your pardon, but if my personal bank goes out of business that’s it for them.  They don’t get money as a reward for doing business badly.  Does Bank of America’s CEO really need to be paid $20 million a year?  If their employees on the lower scale have to tighten their belts, why doesn’t this guy do the same?  Does he really need a personal jet?  Why doesn’t he fly first class with other normal executives?  These folks who ask for bailouts shouldn’t be asking if they are going to deposit the money into their pocket anyway and cut 35,000 jobs after the fact.

If this parody commercial were run on regular tv, I bet you people would start pulling their money out of Bank of America faster than anyone can say “Can I have another bailout please?”

To conclude yet another segment of why I’m angry, I’d like to tell the snarky sports psychologists and a few other reporters that I understand all that I need to.  Class inequality is one of my biggest gripes and if you can’t comprehend that, I don’t know what else to tell you other than maybe you’re not quite as smart as you think you are.