Herman Cain, I want to hear you but unless you go on the Michael Savage show I never will

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Who is advising Herman Cain not to go on the Michael Savage show where he'd be speaking to people who might vote for him, non-establishment right of center voters and independents? Why is Herman Cain going on outlets that are hostile to him to begin with and provide viewers who'll only vote for a democrat anyway? Fox News home of parasite Karl Rove isn't necessarily a good bet either. Michael Savage said if he were advising Mr. Cain, he'd recommend going on talk radio only, nothing else, and I agree. With the exception that I'd think twice about going on Sean Hannity's radio show-he's in the tank for Gingrich.


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St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial says roving gangs injuring and killing innocents no more depraved than unpaid mortgages being foreclosed

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""You don't know them, so why care about hurting them?"" Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, ongoing brutal physical attacks only reflect a society that would cruelly foreclose on a person's unpaid mortgage.

11/1/11, "Editorial: The 'knockout game' and the spirit of the times," St. Louis Post Dispatch Editorial

"It's hard to judge how bad a problem the so-called "knockout game" really is. But because it has resulted in the death of 72-year-old man, left at least a half a dozen other people injured and reinforced fears about the safety of city neighborhoods, it's bad enough.

Roving bands of teenagers slugging people just for the hell of it? That takes us into "A Clockwork Orange" territory.

Then you've got the city's mayor and his police bodyguard happening upon one victim lying on a sidewalk outside a public library branch and the mayor suggesting that 13- and 14-year-old kids arrested for the crime be charged as adults.

You've got a police captain talking about a "trend of sub-human behavior [that] defies predictive analysis because the attacks happen in different places, on different days and at different times."

In the last 15 months, police said, seven such attacks have taken place in neighborhoods around Tower Grove Park and South Grand. There were incidents in 2006 and 2007 in Carr Square and Dutchtown. There may well have been

• other assaults not tagged as "knockout" incidents or that went unreported.

It has reached the point that it has triggered an all-out response by the St. Louis Police Department. Top investigators and a special police squad have been assigned. A prosecutor has been designated to focus on the cases.

Predictably, some people who work with young people point to a lack of recreational opportunities and quality education programs. Mayor Francis Slay, who rolled up on one victim on Oct. 21 just in time to see his attackers saunter away, is enraged at the thought.

"You can provide all the recreational programs and quality educational programs every day," he said, "but ultimately each and every individual has a personal responsibility to respect each other and saying they're bored is not an excuse,

• it's a cop-out, and that's a problem in and of itself."

Police have arrested six kids, five boys and a girl, aged 13 and 14, in the Oct. 21 incident. The mayor said he'd like to see them charged as adults. This seems a tad excessive. One of the few things that Missouri does better than most states is juvenile justice. The kids, and society as a whole, probably would be better off in the long run if Juvenile Court Judge Jimmie Edwards keeps jurisdiction.

Reporter Denise Hollinshed of the Post-Dispatch talked to some kids outside of Roosevelt High School, one of whom acknowledged

• that he'd taken part in the "knockout king" game.

"Knockout king is a thrill," the kid told her. "It makes you want to keep doing it every day."

Sure, the kid said, he knew he could hurt somebody. But he added, "You don't know them,

• so why care about hurting them?"

That's a chilling statement. It reflects an almost sociopathic lack of empathy.

On the other hand, the more you think about it, it perfectly captures today's zeitgeist,

• the spirit of the times.

Why not foreclose on homes without giving the homeowners a chance to work out their mortgages? Why not let 50 million people go without health insurance? Why not tilt the table so all the money runs down to one end?

• You don't know them, so why care about hurting them?

It's not like you punched them in the head."

via Gateway Pundit

With rotting corpse of EU in plain sight, US democrats propose EU type 'Robin Hood tax' claiming they're the good guys, they know best

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Billions of US tax dollars are wasted via lax and corrupt government functions. No one ever wants to get that money, they only want more tax money.

11/1/11, "Lawmakers to Propose Transaction Tax for Financial Firms Modeled on Europe," Bloomberg

"Two U.S. lawmakers will introduce measures to impose a transaction tax on financial firms that resembles a proposal released by the European Union....

The lawmakers have the backing of union groups and associations that fought for tighter regulations in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The AFL-CIO and National Nurses United, a professional association and union for nurses, have scheduled a rally in front of the Treasury Department on Nov. 3 in support of the fee.

Americans for Financial Reform, an umbrella group of unions, civil rights lawyers and consumer advocates, is circulating petitions in support of the measure."...

-----------------

9/28/11, "Osborne expected to oppose EU's proposal for Tobin tax on banks," UK Guardian, Treanor

"Chancellor's office indicates that he will not support European commission's proposals for EU-wide financial transaction tax"

"The proposed EU tax on financial transactions, which could raise €57bn a year and force banks to make a "contribution back to society", is expected to face fierce opposition from George Osborne.

Within minutes of José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, setting out plans for a transaction tax – often known as a Tobin tax or Robin Hood tax – the chancellor's office made it clear that

• the City would not tolerate an EU-wide tax on transactions."...

via Drudge

Oakland Mayor says all city workers can take day off to support Occupy city strike

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10/31/11, "Occupy Oakland plans general strike," UPI

"Sue Piper, a spokeswoman for Mayor Nancy Quan, said city employees who want to support the strike can ask their supervisors for permission to use leave time,

• a floating unpaid furlough day, or a day off without pay on Wednesday."...(parag. 7)

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Obama re-elect bundler Jon Corzine company MF broke law 'bundling' customer cash, Corzine, ex Goldman Sachs, said among Obama picks for Treas. Sec.

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11/1/11, "MF Global violated customer cash rules," AP, USA Today

"MF Global, the securities firm led by former Goldman Sachs chief Jon Corzine, admitted using clients' money as its financial troubles mounted, a federal official says. ...

It is not clear where the money ended up or what it might have been used for, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss an investigation by federal regulators....

MF Global was one of the biggest players in the derivatives market....

Corzine, a former New Jersey governor, took over MF Global last year. He led MF Global to make more trades for the company's own profits, a practice known as proprietary trading. Proprietary trading helped turn Goldman into a trading powerhouse in recent years.

Under Corzine's leadership, It bet $6.3 billion on debt issued by Italy, Spain and other European nations with troubled economies. Those bonds have lost value in recent weeks. as fears have intensified that some European countries might default.

----------------

7/15/11, "Katzenberg, Corzine and Wintour top Obama's bundler list," The Hill, D. Strauss

------------------

8/11/11, "Jon Corzine's name linked to the U.S. Department of Treasury," Newark Independent Examiner, Covin

----------------

11/1/2009, "Barack Obama puts prestige on line for Jon Corzine," Politico


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Did Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times object when Rep. Andre Carson said Tea Party wants to see blacks 'hanging on a tree'?

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10/31/11, "As Herman Cain answers sexual harassment story can this black man ask: Enough with lynching talk?" Eric Deggans, St. Petersburg Times

The origin of the 'lynching' comparison originated with another black man, Clarence Thomas in a somewhat analogous situation to that of Herman Cain.

Political pundits did not dream up the term or its usage.

If you don't want such terms to be trivialized or misappropriated, did you object to what Indiana

• US Rep. Andre Carson said in August of this year?

8/31/11, "Rep. Andre Carson: Tea Party Wants To See Blacks ‘Hanging On A Tree’," ABC News, A. Bingham

"While Republican presidential candidates arrange and re-arrange their schedules in an attempt to court Tea Partiers, one House Democratic member of the Congressional Black Caucus is blasting the conservative group for trying to take America back to the days of Jim Crow.

In a video circulated Tuesday by conservative commentator Glen Beck’s website The Blaze, Indiana Rep. Andre Carson said the Tea Party was preventing African Americans from making progress toward equality.

“This is the effort that we are seeing of Jim Crow. Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me… hanging on a tree,” Carson said at a Aug. 22 Congressional Black Caucus Job Tour event in Miami."...

----------------

The left of center person can say anything but the right of center person can't. They're "overheated." Especially about media treatment. If someone observed and commented on media treatment of Obama, they're not allowed to notice Herman Cain isn't receiving the same treatment? Tom Brokaw, a very big guy in presidential politics, 5 days before Obama's election said he knew nothing about him except that he went to Harvard. One of many frightening examples of the media giving Obama a free pass.

-----------------------

10/30/2008, "Brokaw and Rose Admit They Don't Know Much About Obama."

Tom Brokaw and Charlie Rose, video posted 11/1/2008, taped 10/30/08:

Charlie Rose notes we're coming into "what may be the most historic election of our time." He says what we know about Obama is primarily from his autobiography and 2 speeches. Rose asks esteemed journalist/opinion leader Tom Brokaw,

• "What do you make of Barack Obama?"

• Brokaw: "Barack Obama went to Harvard Law School"...

Charlies Rose says, we've not have a real in depth discussion about foreign policy,

• we don't know a lot about the universe of this thinking.

Brokaw: "We don't know a lot about Barack Obama and the universe of his thinking. China has not been examined at all,

• which is astonishing."...

Brokaw: "I don't know what books he's read."...

--------------------------

The media said to silence objection to Obama, "just call them racists:"

7/20/10, "JournoList: ‘Call Them Racists’ Is the Least Shocking Revelation," Big Journalism,

• During the Obama campaign, they said the way
  

• to silence Republicans was just "call them racists."

Althouse Journolist links
-----------------------

Did Deggans object when Obama himself called the Tea Party racist? Without substantiation? Thereby making the label official and slandering millions of innocent people who would have no opportunity to defend themselves. Many of whom voted for this person now calling them racist:

3/10/11, "Obama Calling Tea Party Racist Reveals A Far More Disturbing Reality," American Thinker, Lloyd Marcus

via Poynter.org/Romenesko

Calls for end to biofuel subsidies, disastrous consequences of UK and EU 'climate' policy on poor African countries-Guardian

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EU biofuel mandates 'worse for environment than petrol,' exploit world's poorest, take their land, make promises under guise of 'doing good,' then go bankrupt and leave worse devastation. A former Goldman Sachs exec. is involved, 'climate' being a popular 'investment.' Similar bankrupt Dutch, Swedish, and Norwegian projects also mentioned in article.

10/28/11, "UK firm's failed biofuel dream wrecks lives of Tanzania villagers," UK Guardian, Damian Carrington

"The collapse of Sun Biofuels has left hundreds of Tanzanians landless, jobless, and in despair for the future"

""People feel this is like the return of colonialism," says Athumani Mkambala, chairman of Mhaga village in rural Tanzania. "Colonialism in the form of investment."

A quarter of the village's land in Kisarawe district was acquired by a British biofuels company in 2008, with the promise of financial compensation, 700 jobs, water wells, improved schools, health clinics and roads. But the company has gone bust, leaving villagers not just jobless but landless as well. The same story is playing out across Africa, as

• foreign investors buy up land but leave some of

• the poorest people on Earth worse off when their plans fail.

The tale of London-based Sun Biofuels's misadventure in Kisarawe links the broken hopes of the villagers to offshore tax havens and mysterious new owners, tracked down by the Observer, and ultimately to petrol pumps in the UK and across Europe. The final link results from the mandatory blending of biofuels into European petrol and diesel. The aim is to reduce carbon emissions, but many say biofuels actually increase pollution. The G20 meeting next week will discuss the issue, following a stark report it received in June from the

• World Bank, World Trade Organisation, UN and others
  

• calling for biofuels subsidies to be abandoned.

"The situation in Kisarawe is heartbreaking, but the real tragedy is that it is far from unique. Communities across Africa and beyond are losing their land as a result of the massive biofuel targets set by our government," said Josie Cohen at development group ActionAid, which works in Kisarawe. "Like it or not, everyone who drives a car or catches a bus is involved in this problem,

• as all UK petrol and diesel is mixed with biofuels."

It was the promise of this lucrative export market that led Sun Biofuels to Africa to plant jatropha, the seeds of which can be processed into biodiesel. Mkambala's first contact with the company was in 2006 through the former Kisarawe MP, Athumani Janguo. "People trusted him. We thought all our problems would be solved," Mkambala told the Observer. He says no compensation has been paid for the land, on which villagers used to hunt animals, gather firewood, wild mushrooms and honey.

Mhaga has no electricity, and water has to be carried each day from a well several kilometres away, back to the small mud or concrete-block houses in which 1,000 people live. "Water is everything," says local activist Halima Ali, sitting with three of her children on the earth floor of their home. "Because they promised there would be water available, everyone was happy." There would be more time for farming and more time for her children to go to school, she says. But the company drilled only a 6in-wide hole in the village, despite having sunk a 100m well on the plantation. "We thought something very good had come to the village, to lift our standard of life,

• but now we are only crying," she says.

Sun Biofuels was the first company to come to the area and about 50 people in Mhaga rushed to take jobs at its plantation, some queueing for days for the £42-a-month salary. Saidi Abasi was one, but he was soon unhappy. He asked his employer why a promised pay rise failed to materialise. "The reply was 'if you want to work, work. If you don't, get out'," he says.

Abasi's job was spraying pesticides, but he claims he was initially given no protective equipment. "During spraying, we became like drunk people," he says. When his contract was terminated after Sun Biofuels went into administration, he says he was not paid the full severance pay due for his 18 months of service.

Mhaga's crowded school teaches 257 children and was promised new classrooms, books and materials, says teacher Rhamadani Lwinde, but all that appeared were a few portable blackboards. In addition to the village land, the company also took 670 hectares of Lwinde's family land, he says. He was offered 13m Tanzanian shillings (£4,835), which he says was not a good price, "but we were advised to accept it by the district authorities. If we had problems we would sort it out later, they said."

• In the end he says he was paid for just 85 hectares.

In the nearby village of Mtamba, villagers tell the same stories of broken promises and unpaid compensation. Tabu Koba says he was one of 11 people to lose land and one of nine who received no money at all. "We are very angry," he says. "My children have now left school but have nowhere to farm."

Sun Biofuels and two related companies went into administration in August, but their shares in a Tanzanian subsidiary – Sun Biofuels Tanzania, which did not go bust – were sold. The insolvency company directed the Observer to Christopher Egerton-Warburton and a company called Thirty Degrees East, based in the tax haven of Mauritius. Egerton-Warburton is a former Goldman Sachs banker and now a partner at the London-based merchant bank Lion's Head Global Partners. "We are part of a consortium that purchased the shares of Sun Biofuels Tanzania," he said. "Given that we are currently in the process of raising additional funds, I am not at liberty to discuss publicly or off the record about our long-term plans."

Egerton-Warburton said a site visit was not possible, but when the Observer went to the plantation it was able to interview farm manager Ambilikile Mwenisongole, who has worked there for four years and lives on site. He confirmed that fewer than 50 of the 700 workers remained and that the plantation was not operating due to the change of ownership. Mwenisongole said the progress on the water wells and other social services were "not on target because of the transition", but he denied that workers lacked tools or protective equipment and rejected claims that access to an ancestral graveyard had been blocked. He blamed the complaints on rumours spread by "lazy" villagers.

It was not possible for the villagers to get their land back, Mwenisongole said. "It is now owned by the government. The government was meant to compensate the land owners." In Tanzania, large land deals are done through the district government, which acquires the land and then leases it to companies. District officials have told villagers that Sun Biofuels did not pay all the money due, but refused to see the Observer.

Mwenisongole named Kenyan Alan Mayers as the new chief executive of Sun Biofuels Tanzania. Mayers said he could not comment on the previous owners' failure to provide wells and classrooms, but added: "We are looking into the matter and our community relations officer is in constant contact with the villages."

• Villagers say that there has been just one recent meeting.

Mayers said all compensation for land and all due severance pay had been paid, and that he was unaware of claims by ex-workers that national insurance payments were missing. He added: "We are focused on a positive, collaborative relationship with local people."

Yet Kisarawe MP Selemani Saidi Jafo said: "I am the MP and I am not yet informed there is a new owner. What is the secret behind it? I need investors to come to my district, especially to help bring employment for many people. I prefer a win-win project, but this is not a win-win." Why Sun Biofuels went bust is unknown, as attempts to contact the previous owners were unsuccessful. Whatever the reason, the company is far from alone. A large jatropha plantation

• created by a Dutch firm called Bioshape in the southern Tanzanian district of Kilwa has also gone bankrupt,
  

leaving locals complaining of missing land payments. Also in Tanzania,

• a large ethanol biofuel project set up by Swedish company Sekab went bust.
  

In both cases, the land has not been returned to its owners.

• Further afield, in Ghana, a Norwegian-backed jatropha project has collapsed,
  

while in Mozambique a UK-linked company called Procana, behind a huge ethanol project, has folded in acrimony. The Observer's investigations and those of journalist Stefano Valentino have

• identified at least 30 abandoned biofuels projects in 15 African countries.

The thirst for biofuels to meet the UK and EU's rising targets has led British companies to lead the charge into Africa. Half the 3.2m hectares of biofuel land identified is linked to 11 British companies, the biggest proportion of any country. ActionAid's estimate suggests that up to 6m hectares has been acquired. But with landowners frequently

• illiterate and unaware of their rights,
  

• the potential for exploitation is high.

In Kisarawe, the villagers do not know if the promises will ever be kept. They feel deeply betrayed and are increasingly angry as time passes without answers. "If we have not got our rights by December, we will slash the jatropha plants," says Mkambala. "That will be the clearest sign that we do not need this company here....

What's the problem (with biofuels)?

Many studies have now shown that existing biofuels, such as petrol substitutes produced from corn or diesel replacements from soya or palm oil, are actually worse for the environment than petrol, once you have factored in all the fertilisers, processing and transport. Furthermore,

• converting food into fuels has been widely linked to the
  

• rising food prices which have driven
  
• millions around the world into hunger."

via Tom Nelson

US home prices headed for for triple dip, new defaults up 14% 3Q 2011, massive inventory still in pipeline-CNN

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Naples, Miami, Las Vegas head list of bad news.

10/31/11, "Home prices heading for triple-dip," CNN, Les Christie

"The besieged housing market has even further to fall before home prices really hit rock bottom.

According to Fiserv (FISV), a financial analytics company, home values are expected to fall another 3.6% by next June, pushing them to a new low of 35% below the peak reached in early 2006

• and marking a triple dip in prices.

Several factors will be working against the housing market in the upcoming months, including an increase in foreclosure activity and sustained high unemployment, explained David Stiff, Fiserv's chief economist.

Should home values meet Fiserv's expectations, it would make it the third (and lowest) trough for home prices since the housing bubble burst.

The first post-bubble bottom was hit in 2009, when prices fell to 31% below peak. The First-Time Homebuyer Credit helped perk prices up by mid-2010, but by the time

• the credit expired, prices fell again.

In the second dip, which was reached last winter, prices were down 33%before staging a mild rally that was artificially spurred as banks slowed the processing of foreclosures following the robo-signing scandal, which found that loan servicers were rapidly signing foreclosures without properly vetting them.

Now that the scandal is mostly resolved, lenders are speeding more cases through the foreclosure pipeline and

• back onto the market,
  

• weighing on home prices even further.

Earlier this month, RealtyTrac reported the first quarterly increase in foreclosure filings in three quarters. Even more discouraging:

• new default notices were up 14%.

There's also a "shadow inventory" of homes in foreclosure that have yet to go back onto the market.

The specter that those foreclosed homes could flood the market at any time and drive prices significantly lower is a huge concern, said Mark Dotzour, an economist for Texas A&M University. "That's the elephant in the room," he said, noting that there are 6 million home currently in shadow inventory.

Many of the regions that will be hardest hit were already beaten up during the previous two dips.

Naples, Fla., for example, is expected to take the biggest hit of any metro area, a price drop of another 18.9% by the end of next June, according to Fiserv.

• Home prices in the area have already fallen 61% from the peak.

Other cities expected to be hit hard include the not-so-lucky Las Vegas, which is expected to see home prices fall another 15.9% for a total loss of 66%; Riverside, Calif., is projected to fall another 14.8% (for a total decline of 61%);

• Miami is expected to decline by 13.2% (total loss: 57%), and
  

• Salinas, Calif. could drop by another 13% (for a total loss of 66%)....

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.'s forecast is for a 9.2% drop through next June and another 6.7% the 12 months after that. Its neighbor,

• Miami, will endure 13.5% and 5.2% declines, respectively."

via Drudge