OWS Protests Turning Violent

[kalm]

Again, I agree that GS wouldn't solve all the problems and I agree that regs are only as good as enforcement - look at Sarbannes-Oxley. I obviously agree that there are additional fundamental problems that need to be addressed. Now, ask yourself this question: if we have some regs in place and they are not being enforced, why? And if GS wasn't successful, why was $5 billion spent in lobbying to repeal it? And what has happened to the banking system in countries like Canada where the wall between investment banking and lending remain intact?

(sent from my wife's hot pink iPhone using my big fat fingers)

Huh? Canda doesn't have a wall between investment banking and lending - they don't have anything resembling Glass-Steagall. Heck, one of the reasons for the repeal of Glass-Steagall was that American banks couldn't compete on the international market against other banks, like Canadian banks, that didn't have the same restrictions. The $5B that was spent on repealing it was to convince people it wasn't needed. The amount of money spent on lobbying in no way indicates the correctness or the suitability of whatever is being lobbied for or against - that's just crazy. The banking system in Canada survived better than the US system because it was more conservative (not politically speaking) in its risk taking whereas American banks put a lot of their capital reserves in risky ventures. Canada also doesn't allow deductions for mortgage interest and banks tend to hold onto mortgages they create so that's a pretty big difference too. But there is no equivalent of Glass-Steagall in Canada - that's an important detail.

OK, so I could be wrong about Canada and Glass-Steagal. I've read way too many articles over the last several years.

But I'm guessing that the canadian system hasn't suffered as much do to a lack of regulation.

[89Hen]

OK, so I could be wrong about Canada and Glass-Steagal. I've relied on Rolling Stone to provide me with all of my knowledge on politics and goverment over the last several years.

FIFY

[kalm]

OK, so I could be wrong about Canada and Glass-Steagal. I've relied on Rolling Stone to provide me with all of my knowledge on politics and goverment over the last several years.

FIFY

Good one!

Yeah, I continue shooting the messenger too. It's not as if anyone really disputes Taibbi's work or thoughts on the issues or like I didn't start an entire new thread of financial services insiders and economists who completely agree with him.

[Grizalltheway]

OK, so I could be wrong about Canada and Glass-Steagal. I've relied on Rolling Stone to provide me with all of my knowledge on politics and goverment over the last several years.

FIFY

Whereas 89 relies on the Catholic Voters' Guide.

[89Hen]

FIFY

Whereas 89 relies on the Catholic Voters' Guide.

Is there one and where can I find it?!

[89Hen]

It's not as if anyone really disputes Taibbi's work or thoughts on the issues

Not at Rolling Stone. Maybe you should read more publications.

[kalm]

It's not as if anyone really disputes Taibbi's work or thoughts on the issues

Not at Rolling Stone. Maybe you should read more publications.

Be my guest.

[kalm]

5500 criminal cases were opened as a result of the S&L crisis, there were 1100 criminal prosecutions, and over 800 convictions.

Yes, with financial fraud, criminal intent is difficult to prove, especially when a defendant relied on professional advice from accountants and lawyers (and in some cases may even have been acting with the knowledge of the bank's regulator, who was apparently more concerned about the bank's financial soundness than about full disclosure to investors). But we shouldn't outsource the interpretation of fraud laws to a potential defendant's accountant and lawyers. And why haven't prosecutors used provisions in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which put in place tough criminal sanctions in the wake of Enron and other cases of massive corporate frauds? In the absence of an aggressive, targeted effort by the Justice Department, we'll never know whether crimes may have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Why didn't this happen? I wish I knew. At the Senate oversight hearings, Justice Department officials assured the Judiciary Committee that every lead was being pursued and every rock turned over. Doubtless they'll continue to claim this. Yet in Ron Suskind's book, Confidence Men, he quotes Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as saying, "The confidence in the system is so fragile still... a disclosure of a fraud... could result in a run, just like Lehman." The Obama Administration is pushing hard for a 50-state settlement with the major banks for their fraudulent foreclosure practices, even though several state attorneys general have rejected this approach because, in their view, it would shield too much wrongdoing. Regrettably, Obama's top officials and lawyers seem more eager to restore the financial sector to health than establish criminal accountability among the executives who were in charge.

In 1986, speaking about the failure of another president's Justice Department to vigorously prosecute white-collar crime, former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and current Vice President Joseph Biden said that "people believe that our system of law and those who manage it have failed, and may not even have tried, to deal effectively with unethical and possibly illegal misconduct in high places." Until this president stops calling Wall Street's deleterious actions "not illegal," he's failing to deter -- and therefore effectively encouraging -- future financial fraud. And until he gives a clear and full explanation of the inadequate response of his Justice Department and S.E.C., he and his appointees are helping to undermine the public's faith in equal justice under the law.

Jeff Connaughton is the former chief of staff to former U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE), who chaired two Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearings on financial fraud prosecutions in 2009 and 2010.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-conn ... mail_share" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kalm]

It's not as if anyone really disputes Taibbi's work or thoughts on the issues

Not at Rolling Stone. Maybe you should read more publications.

Still waiting for your response 89hen.

While you're thinking about how to rebut anything Taibbi has posted, here's another non-Rolling Stone article from The Atlantic that references a WSJ piece on how hedge funds are basically buying stock tips from members of congress about upcoming legislation and leveraging that information to make 100's of millions. But rest assured Gannon Fan it's all legal. and you and I could gain the exact same access if we wanted too.

Sure, it doesn't seem like Congress can agree on much at the moment, but when decisions like the 2009 healthcare compromise was reached, it was the hedge funds that knew first--hours before the public announcement. "The news was potentially worth millions of dollars to the investors, though none would publicly divulge how they used the information," report The Wall Street Journal's Brody Mullins and Susan Pulliam. "They belong to a select group who pay for early, firsthand reports on Capitol Hill" who are, as one lawyer puts it, "buying information from members of Congress in a perfectly legal way." This "select group" of hedge funds get meetings with lawmakers and their aides through financial firms like JNK Securities who then gather commission on the subsequent deals it brokers. If that all sounds a bit shady, that's because it is. In October, The Journal reported on just how much (and it is plenty) hedge funds were willing to pay for Washington insider information. And just last month, we found out about (and were outraged) congresspersons getting rich off of business deals with their valuable information

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business ... ess/46438/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kalm]

[89Hen]

Is anyone still occupying?

[AZGrizFan]

Is anyone still occupying?

Was down at the PHoenix courthouse last Friday....there were some diehards there.

[kalm]

Is anyone still occupying?

They need to occupy some Patagonia jackets and tukes and get their soft asses back out there in the cold.

[89Hen]

100,000+ down in DC for the March For Life rally today. Only press it got was road closures for the afternoon commute.

[bluehenbillk]

100,000+ down in DC for the March For Life rally today. Only press it got was road closures for the afternoon commute.

Wow. If that's all they got those numbers are way down from years past. They barely made mention of it at our church, in years past they took buses down.

[89Hen]

100,000+ down in DC for the March For Life rally today. Only press it got was road closures for the afternoon commute.

Wow. If that's all they got those numbers are way down from years past. They barely made mention of it at our church, in years past they took buses down.

Not really. 100-200k is the norm and it will end up somewhere in the middle today. Rain certainly doesn't help.

[Bronco]

-




How many of those violent Tea Party folks have been arrested?

[AshevilleApp]

-




How many of those violent Tea Party folks have been arrested?

How many of the Occupy folks were arrested for violent crimes?

[AZGrizFan]

-




How many of those violent Tea Party folks have been arrested?

How many of the Occupy folks were arrested for violent crimes?

If the # is > 1 (and it is, I assure you), it's higher than the # of violent Tea Party folks arrested.

[89Hen]

How many of the Occupy folks were arrested for violent crimes?

Ignore the fringe source, it's just a repository for articles from mostly legit sources.

http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspo ... -date.html

[BDKJMU]

"300 arrested at Occupy protests in Oakland

.....Saturday's protests -- the most turbulent since Oakland police forcefully dismantled an Occupy encampment in November -- came just days after the group said it planned to use a vacant building as a social center and political hub and threatened to try to shut down the port, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.....

...........Protesters clashed with police throughout the day, at times throwing rocks, bottles and other objects at officers. Police responded by deploying smoke, tear gas and bean bag rounds, City Administrator Deanna Santanta said.

Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said about 300 arrests were made.

"These demonstrators stated their intention was to provoke officers and engage in illegal activity and that's exactly what has occurred today," Santana said.

The group assembled outside City Hall late Saturday morning and marched through the streets, disrupting traffic as they threatened to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center.

The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and "destroying construction equipment" shortly before 3 p.m., police said.

Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.

The number of demonstrators swelled as the day wore on, with afternoon estimates ranging from about 1,000 to 2,000 people.

A majority of the arrests came after police took scores of protesters into custody as they marched through the city's downtown, with some entering a YMCA building, said Sgt. Jeff Thomason, a police spokesman.

Quan said that at one point, many protesters forced their way into City Hall, where they burned flags, broke an electrical box and damaged several art structures, including a recycled art exhibit created by children.......

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 0529.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

GD hippies...

[BDKJMU]

Don't Tase Me Bro

Ed. Note: The video in this story contains graphic and disturbing language and content.

WASHINGTON - An Occupy D.C. protester was tased Sunday afternoon at McPherson Square, as Park Police were handing out fliers about the upcoming Monday deadline on overnight camping.

Park Police Sergeant David Schlosser tells WTOP the man got angry about the fliers and confronted officers about the ban.

Schlosser says officers used a taser on the man when he wouldn't comply with police orders.

Police arrested him and took him to the hospital, after he informed them about a previous medical condition.

The man was taken to George Washington Hospital where he refused treatment and was charged with disturbing the peace.

Starting noon Monday, Park Police will enforce a ban on overnight camping in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza.

The amateur video was uploaded to YouTube Sunday afternoon by user "MrFr0zak."
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=109&sid=2726772" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kalm]

One Marine, thirty cops:

[youtube][/youtube]

United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, NY went toe to toe with the New York Police Department. An activist in the Occupy Wall Street movement, Thomas voiced his opinions of the NYPD police brutality that had and has been plaguing the #OWS movement.

Thomas comes from a long line of people who sacrifice for their country: Mother, Army Veteran (Iraq), Step father, Army, active duty (Afghanistan), Grand father, Air Force veteran (Vietnam), Great Grand Father Navy veteran (World War II).

[89Hen]

One Marine, thirty cops:

Was the last 2:30 different than the first three minutes of babble?

[89Hen]

Starting noon Monday, Park Police will enforce a ban on overnight camping in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza.

I can't camp on the national mall.