One of our own on under-reported stories in our media right now

From The Huffington Post just now:

From William K. Black, professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and author of the book,"The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One":


The things I think are critical and badly underreported are:

1. The astonishing amount of mortgage fraud (literally, millions of cases annually) and how it hyperinflated the bubble and led to the Great Recession.

2. The fact that these mortgage frauds were overwhelmingly due to consciously fraudulent lending practices in which the CEOs of seemingly legitimate entities used accounting tricks as their “weapon of choice" to report higher profits and get bigger bonuses. (George A. Akerlof and Paul R. Romer got it right in the title to their 1993 article: Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit.)

3. The disgraceful lack of prosecutions which has resulted from regulators virtually ending the practice of making criminal referrals and the pathetic March 2007 "partnership" that the FBI entered into with the Mortgage Bankers Association (the trade association of the "perps") that led the FBI and the Department of Justice to (implicitly) define out of existence fraud by the lenders (and to conceive of them as the "victim" -- which they are, but only of their controlling officers). Bush administration attorney general Michael Mukasey in June 2008 notoriously refused to create a national task force against mortgage fraud based on his claim that mortgage fraud was analogous to "white collar street crime."

4. The "echo" epidemics of fraud set off by the primary epidemic of accounting “control fraud". The fraud designed by CEOs in turn kicked off an epidemic of fraud among loan brokers and appraisers. Reporters should explore the concept of the Gresham's-style dynamic in which bad ethics were a competitive advantage and drove good ethics out of the marketplace.

5. The massive foreclosure fraud we are seeing now as another "echo" epidemic. To optimize their accounting control fraud, lenders gutted underwriting. That led to "fraud in the inducement" (vis a vis borrowers), endemic documentation problems, and an extraordinary numbers of defaults. The process required tens of thousands of real estate financing personnel to commit fraud on a daily basis as their core function. Some of these people are unemployed, but many are in the industry and are presently engaged in loan servicing. Now that their job is to foreclose on properties, there is no reason to expect that they would suddenly become honest, and they haven't.

6. The ongoing massive cover up of losses on bad assets, particularly by the “too big to fail” institutions, which I call “systemically dangerous institutions” (SDIs). Those institutions, along with Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Congress (at the behest of the Chamber of Commerce and with no opposition from the Obama administration) in April 2009 forced the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to change the rules so that the banks do not have to recognize their losses unless and until they sell the bad assets. The implications of this cover up are large (and rarely reported). At the very least, it means that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's propaganda campaign about TARP saving the world at virtually no cost (perhaps even a "profit") is nonsense -- despite its success in influencing the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. Consider:

A) The repayment of TARP funds does not mean the banks are healthy. Their asset values are often grossly inflated, which means their net worth is grossly inflated. That means that the claims that we have increased net worth requirements (and that Basel III will further increase net worth requirements) are false. Net worth requirements have meaning only if the accounting is honest

B) The repayment of TARP funds does mean that the banks are freed from any meaningful restraint on senior officer compensation. Note that absent the accounting lies the banks would often be reporting losses (and failure to meet required capital requirements, or outright insolvency) and could not pay their senior officers bonuses and would be subject to mandatory closure under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) law.

C) No commercial entity would have ever signed the TARP deals on the terms that the U.S. drafted for itself. The U.S. provided not only fresh money but an unlimitedde facto guarantee (along with permitting phony accounting). If the U.S. had negotiated competently it would have owned virtually all the shares of every TARP recipient (which, of course, was a political impossibility).

D) The accounting lies are stalling the recovery. Markets cannot clear promptly when one creates an incentive to hold massively overvalued assets for years.

E) The losses are still there, but the taxpayers are on the hook via Fannie and Freddie and the Fed (which has taken over a trillion dollars in toxic collateral at grossly inflated values).

7. The continued absence of effective regulation. It should be scandalous that President Obama left in charge, or even promoted, the anti-regulators who permitted the Great Recession. The (failed) anti-regulator of Fannie and Freddie, for example, remains FHFA's acting director. This is significantly insane as a matter of both economics and politics. (The administration doesn't even seem to realize the issue of integrity.)

8. The crises of state and local government and the lack of a rational basis for Republican and Blue Dog opposition to the proposed revenue sharing component of the stimulus bill. The compounding insanity of the administration failing to fight for its concept and failing to make explicit how badly its removal would harm the recovery, employment, and vital government services.

9. The insanity of accepting mass, long-term unemployment rather than having the government provide productive jobs for everyone willing to work (as the employer of last resort).

Links  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/20/nine-stories-the-media-is_n_769620.html;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/the-two-documents-everyon_b_169813.html

The Funky announcement

Okay, when I heard the Funks were going to have an announcement yesterday, naturally I hoped it was to say they quit, they were throwing in the towel and they knew there was no way they could either a) raise enough money to wage a campaign or b) get enough people to vote for them.


No such luck.


Imagine my surprise (because I really was surprised) when the co-mayors came out at their news conference yesterday and said they were, in fact, officially launching their campaign to win the mayor's office again.  Sheesh.


And check out that campaign slogan:  “Your money, your voice, your mayor.”  


"Our money"??


If it were truly our money, we wouldn't have lost hundreds of thousands of it in lawsuits because of "her honor's" (Gloria's) mouth, with her racism in the office.  Remember that?


I can't even count the number of times--or the amount of total dollars--those two cost us because of the way they ran that office these last several years.


So here it is--I'm not voting for these two, one more time, because they cost us all that money but more, I'm not voting for these two because THEY DON'T GET ALONG WITH ANYONE.  Hizzhonner, in particular.  I've said it before, if there were awards for getting along with others, he'd never get one.   Finally, as said on the Star's page today, these two haven't given us leadership at all these last several years.  They need to now get out of the way and let a true leader get in there.  I don't know who that is but it surely isn't either of them.


Link:  http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/19/2332665/funkhouser-kicks-off-re-election.html

Liberalism vs Libertarian philosopy

I just took this from a friend's Facebook page, frankly:


"...just swiped this from the comment section over at Truthout:
Genuine freedom includes two components:
1. Freedom to


and


2. Freedom from

Libertarian ideology only recognizes the first component--which is why it's inadequate.

The two often come into conflict.
Take smoking. Smokers' freedom to smoke in public conflicts with non-smokers' freedom from harm (cancer, etc.). Society initially supported the former but as evidence of harm mounted, shifted to the latter.
Take the environment. A company's freedom to pollute conflicts with citizens' freedom from harm (in various forms, including cancer and global warming). We've addressed this issue only in an adequate way to date.
The free market alone can only support "freedom to." It takes government regulation to support "freedom from."


That's why the liberal theory of freedom is much more powerful and ultimately beneficial than the libertarian theory of freedom.
Libertarianism = the greatest good for the rich & well-connected


Liberalism = the greatest good for the greatest number"

Food for thought, for sure.

Have a great day, y'all, and enjoy that terrific, continuing stretch of wonderful weather.

Naming no names

But Sarah Palin, Christine O'Donnell and Rand Paul certainly come to mind, at least, for starters.

Quote of the day--on the iPad

"Well, the iPad is clearly going to affect notebook computers. And I think the iPad proves it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. There's a lot of development and progress that will occur over the next few years, but we're already seeing tremendous interest in iPad from education and, much to my surprise, from business.

We haven't pushed it real hard in business and it's being grabbed out of our hands. I talk to people every day in all kinds of businesses that are using iPads... The more time that passes, the more I am convinced that we've got a tiger by the tail here and this is a new model of computing -- you know we've already got tens of millions of people trained on with the iPhone -- and that lends itself to lots of different aspects of life, personal, educational, and business. I see it as very general purpose and very big... One could argue about the timing endlessly, but I don't think you can argue it's going to happen."    --Steve Jobs

Quote of the day--man, I love these people

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senator John McCain's daughter said on Sunday that Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell of Delaware, a Tea Party favorite, is "seen as a nut job."


Side note:  So, technically, officially, are all relatives of politicians, politicians themselves or political scholars?  I'm thinking the Cheneys first, and now the McCains.  Of course, the Kennedys may have begun the whole mess, eh?  But at least they studied history and government.


Link:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101017/pl_nm/us_usa_election_mccain

R.E.M.--Losing our religion (and 2 other things)

No, not the band, though they're terrific, of course. I put this up because Glenn Beck represents three things we owe it to ourselves to get out of our politics. To wit:

The first is religion. We need to get it--all religion and religions--out of our politics and government. Before anyone gets started, I want to make perfectly clear that this absolutely doesn't mean morals. It just means everyone's "god" or "God" needs to be extracted. If you let one in, you have to let them all in and that's just not workable. We have to disconnect these two--organized religions and government--so we don't have theocracies and so we can get to defining and solving our problems without fighting, in the meantime, about whose god is correct and all that other nonsense.

The second thing we have to get out of politics and government is emotionalism. (See above). We need to logically, clearly and calmly, again, define our problems, prioritize them and then define and select solutions. If tears and crying and whining and other obfuscating emotions get thrown into the mix, we lose sight of where we are and what needs to be done. It's only an ugly distraction, at least. The one who is most sincere (e.g., crying or wailing, etc.) is not necessarily correct.

Finally, the last thing we need to get out of our government and politics is money, for sure. And we can do this, too, for those who don't think we can. Here's how it could happen: 1) Get true, stringent campaign finance reform so lobbyists, corporations and other "fat cats" can't give money to our politicians to run for office. We need to make this illegal, not condone it with laws giving ways it can be done; 2) Shorten the campaign season by law, as Britain did long ago (can we learn nothing?) so the big money isn't needed by politicians for these absurdly long, annoying and ridiculous campaigns that annoy the daylights out of us anyway.

It just wouldn't be that difficult. We'd have to demand that our representatives do this. It's possible. We can do this. But it will take work.

It likely won't happen but we could do this.

20 more American Soldier Casualties in Afghanistan this week

Military Deaths for Oct. 17, 2010

The latest U.S. Defense Department identifications of casualties in Afghanistan:

•Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph C. Lopez, 26, of Rosamond, Calif., was killed Oct. 14 in combat operations in Helmand province.

•Army Sgt. Carlos A. Benitez, 24, of Carrollton, Texas, was killed Oct. 14 when his unit was hit with an improvised explosive device between Moqur and Darreh-Ye-Bum.

•Army Spc. Rafael Martinez Jr., 36, of Spring Valley, Calif., also was killed in the Oct. 14 attack.

•Army Pfc. Tramaine J. Billingsley, 20, of Portsmouth, Va., also was killed in the Oct. 14 attack.

•Army Sgt. Eric C. Newman, 30, of Waynesboro, Miss., was killed Oct. 14 when his unit was hit with an improvised explosive device in Akatzai Kalay.

•Marine Lance Cpl. Alec E. Catherwood, 19, of Byron, Ill., was killed Oct. 14 in Helmand combat operations.

•Marine Lance Cpl. Irvin M. Ceniceros, 21, of Clarksville, Ark., was killed Oct. 14 in Helmand combat operations.

•Army Pfc. Jordan M. Byrd, 19, of Grantsville, Utah, was killed Oct. 13 by small-arms fire in Yahya Kheyl.

•Marine Cpl. Justin J. Cain, 22, of Manitowoc, Wis., was killed Oct. 13 in Helmand combat operations.

•Marine Lance Cpl. Phillip D. Vinnedge, 19, of St. Charles, Mo., was killed Oct. 13 in Helmand combat operations.

•Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph E. Rodewald, 21, of Albany, Ore., was killed Oct. 13 in Helmand combat operations.

•Marine Pfc. Victor A. Dew, 20, of Granite Bay, Calif., was killed Oct. 13 in Helmand combat operations.

•Marine Lance Cpl. Raymon L. A. Johnson, 22, of Midland, Ga., was killed Oct. 13 in Helmand combat operations.

•Army Spc. Matthew C. Powell, 20, of Slidell, La., died Oct. 12 at Kandahar Airfield of wounds from an improvised explosive device suffered at Ghunday Ghar.

•Marine Sgt. Frank R. Zaehringer III, 23, of Reno, Nev., was killed Oct. 11 in Helmand combat operations.

•Army Staff Sgt. Dave J. Weigle, 29, of Philadelphia, Pa., was killed Oct. 10 after his unit was hit by a hidden explosive in Zhari province.

•Army Spc. David A. Hess, 25, of Ruskin, Fla., also was killed in the Oct. 10 incident in Zhari.

•Marine Lance Cpl. John T. Sparks, 23, of Chicago, was killed Oct. 8 in Helmand combat operations.

•Navy Corpsman Edwin Gonzalez, 22, of North Miami Beach, Fla., was killed Oct. 8 by an improvised explosive in Helmand.

•Marine Cpl. Stephen C. Sockalosky, 21, of Cordele, Ga., was killed Oct. 6 in Helmand.

Link:  http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/16/2320693/military-deaths-for-oct-17-2010.html

Ike Skelton vs. Vicky Hartzler: a rock and a hard place

On the one hand, there's Democratic Representative Ike Skelton who is 80 years old, for pete's sake, and who has been in Congress for 17--count 'em--17 terms.  That's 34 years in Washington.

On the other hand, there's Republican Vicky Hartzler who, according to the Star this morning "...wrote the book on faith-centered campaigning."


Excuse me, I think I'm going to be sick.

Links:  http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/16/2321211/incumbent-congressman-ike-skelton.html;
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/16/2320807/former-home-ec-teachers-campaign.html

Where's all that Catholic "every life is sacred" stuff?

On the front page of The Kansas City Star today is an article about a man here in Missouri that's about to be executed for a murder he committed in 1989.

He doesn't deny it.  He was found guilty and he admits he did it so there's no issue there, about him saying he's innocent.

My point here isn't to plea for him because I'm some soft-headed liberal.  That's not it at all, no.

Roderick Nunley committed this murder and there's no getting around that.  It was ugly and it was brutal.

But Catholics and the Catholic Church have screamed for years that "every life is sacred", as I mention above and as I've railed on for some time, here and elsewhere.

And sure, they make people's lives miserable about their one issue--abortion--but where are all the Catholic protests against state after state taking lives execution-style like this?

The answer is--there aren't any. 

There aren't any Catholic protests and there aren't any Catholics organizing to stop this kind of thing from happening. 

I don't think they feel they can get any sympathy from their right-wing followers to go against this.  It's either that or they just don't care.  They have their one issue to organize and fight against and to draw them all together so when it comes to fighting for a convicted man's life--"every life sacred" or no--they let these  people be killed.

Maybe they don't want to sap any energy or emotion from their anti-abortion stance, I don't know.  It's quite possible that fund-raising to fight abortions works so well they don't want to upset that "money applecart", so to speak, by meddling in this issue.

And possibly saving a life.

So much for the 6th Commanndment, huh, Catholics?

For a refresher:

Various translations of the 6th Commandment:


'Thou shalt not kill any living thing,' for life is given to all by God, and that which God has given, let not man taketh it away. ~Jesus, Gospel of the Holy Twelve, (earliest known recorded words of Jesus)

"Thou shalt not kill." ~Exodus 20:13 Authorized version of King James

That not being a hypocrite is a bitch, isn't it?

Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/16/2321004/reflection-and-remorse-as-execution.html

http://www.thenazareneway.com/thou_shalt_not_kill.htm

How did we get here? And are we all really this stupid?

What I mean is, how did we get to the place we are now, where a wack-job like Sharron Angle, of all people, can say things like the following, as examples, and be in a tight race for a Senate seat out in Nevada against Harry Reid?

--"I hope that's not where we're going, but you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out." --interview with right-wing talk radio host Lars Larson in Portland, OR, January 2010

--"People ask me, 'What are you going to do to develop jobs in your state?' Well, that's not my job as a U.S. senator."  --May 14, 2010

--"We needed to have the press be our friend ... We wanted them to ask the questions we want to answer so that they report the news the way we want it to be reported." --during an interview with Fox News Channel's Carl Cameron, Aug. 2, 2010

--"You can make more money on unemployment than you can going down and getting one of those jobs that is an honest job, but it doesn't pay as much. And so that's what's happened to us is that we have put in so much entitlement into our government that we really have spoiled our citizenry and said you don't want the jobs that are available." --on unemployment benefits, interview with KRNO, July 14, 2010

--"The Federal Department of Education should be eliminated. The Department of Education is unconstitutional and should not be involved in education, at any level." --July 12, 2010

--"When I said privatize, that's what I meant. That I thought we would just have to go to the private sector for a template on how this is supposed to be done. However, I've since been studying and Chile has done this." --explaining why Social Security should be phased out in favor of a system resembling the one created in the 1980s by right-wing Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Aug. 12, 2010

"I think that two wrongs don't make a right. And I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade." --Sharron Angle, explaining why she is against abortion even in cases of rape or incest, July 8, 2010

"Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company. And I think you named it clearly: It's a slush fund." -- on the BP escrow account set up at President Obama's urging to pay out oil spill claims, Alan Stock Show, July 7, 2010

"They [Republicans] say, 'You're too conservative.' Was Thomas Jefferson too conservative? I'm tired of some people calling me wacky." --March 21, 2010

Okay, Harry Reid isn't perfect and he's no saint and Nevada can no doubt do better in their representation--you can always find someone "better", one way or another but at least he doesn't say patently stupid, outrageous things, rapid-fire, again and again on the record.

Then, here in Missouri, you've got someone like Roy Blunt, for pity's sake, who's been in Washington 14 years, and there's this huge anti-incumbent sentiment but he's ahead in the polls and he's been shown--factually--to be as dirty a politician as about there ever was. 

Why is Roy Blunt leading in the polls, people?  Are we really that stupid? 

Sure, he's got name recognition and there's the incumbency thing on his side to campaign, you can't deny that, and then the corporations and all his wealthy friends are backing him because they know if he gets back in there he'll take care of them all with his votes but really---are we all that dumb?

It surely seems so.

Links:  http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/republicanquotes/a/Sharron-Angle-Quotes.htm;
http://citizensforethics.org/crew-26-lawmakers-corrupting-halls-congress

UPDATE:  Mon 10/18/10:  LAS VEGAS – Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle told dozens of Hispanic high school students last week that "some of you look a little more Asian to me..."


Man, she's not very bright.  (I'm trying to be nice)

Have a beautiful weekend, everybody

Tightening up gun laws

From CNN today:  

New York (CNN) -- A handful of states with weak gun laws are the largest contributors to the U.S. market for illegally trafficked guns. That's the alarming finding of "Trace the Guns: The Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Gun Trafficking," a new groundbreaking report issued by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of more than 500 mayors that I co-chair with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

"Trace the Guns" examines troves of new data released to Mayors Against Illegal Guns by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and for the first time demonstrates the connection between laws designed to deter illegal trafficking and lower export rates for guns used in crimes.

Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada and Georgia were the 10 states that supplied guns used in crimes at the highest rates -- each of them supplying such guns at a rate more than twice the national average.

Okay, right off the bat, let me be clear here.  Neither these mayors nor am I talking about "gun control" here they--we-- are calling for making it more difficult to transfer guns from state to state--just tightening gun laws--decidedly not the wicked "gun control", no matter what the NRA, any of its members or anyone else says.  

Not only do they supply a disproportionate amount of crime guns, but these states are also more likely to be the source of guns recovered in crimes within two years of the original sale, which the ATF said is a key sign of illegal trafficking.


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is right:  "If one state ignores a gap in its laws, other states have to deal with the deadly consequences."

We need to tighten up these laws to prevent the move of illegal guns--not your gun, Mr. or Mrs. America.

It just makes sense.


And please don't tell me it's a "slippery slope."

Links:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/12/bloomberg.gun.laws/index.html?iref=obnetwork;

You can also see where guns are coming from in your state on the website:  

http://www.tracetheguns.org/#

More proof of George W Bush's lies to get us into war in Iraq

Lest you question my source for the following, please note that it's from and by Iraq Veterans Against the War:

General Accuses Bush Officials of "Deception"

On October 13, Thomas Ricks in Foreign Policy quoted former Joint Chiefs Chairman General Hugh Shelton from his book Without Hesitation:  The Odyssey of an American Warrior:

"President Bush and his team got us enmeshed in Iraq based on extraordinarily poor intelligence and a series of lies purporting that we had to protect America from Saddam's evil empire because it posed such a threat to our national security.

Spinning the possible possession of WMDs as a threat to the United States in the way they did is, in my opinion, tantamount to intentionally deceiving the American people."

So just so we're clear on this, Iraq Veterans against the Iraq War are quoting one of their own--a general in our own military and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for that matter--as saying this president--President George W. Bush and his administration (because I'm not leaving out Former Vice President Dick "Darth Vader" Cheney on this, for sure), et. al--mislead us at minimum, if they didn't outright lie to us in order to get our country into war with and in Iraq, for which we have paid and are paying, dearly.

But here, to me, is the beauty of their experience and of their writing now and what they ask:

Every American citizen at this point has access to enough evidence to substantiate allegations of a deliberate effort to deceive members of Congress into authorizing military force against Iraq.  The only thing lacking is an Attorney General with the moral courage to do what is right no matter how many of President Obama's political opponents or fellow party members pressure him not to.  Everyone who has worn the uniform or seen a family member off to war deserves to know the truth about how and why we got into Iraq.


The only thing lacking, other than the will of the American people.

Link to original post:  http://www.ivaw.org/blog/general-accuses-bush-officials-deception

Quote of the day II -- on the need for government regulations

Mines don't fall apart by accident. Neither do economies. They crumble from choices and policies that put profits ahead of people -- and leave working people in the rubble.

But we can -- and I believe we will -- rise from America's economic disaster just like those Chilean miners. They're strong. So are we.    --Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO, from The Huffington Post

Link to original post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-trumka/lets-cheer-the-chilean-mi_b_762509.html

Quote of the day--on The United States of America

"...the present election offers us a choice: not a choice among those who call themselves Republicans, Democrats, or Tea Partiers, but a choice between sustaining the paralyzing divisiveness that we have seen over the past two years and committing ourselves to co-operation, collaboration, and--yes--political compromise across ideological lines. Without such a commitment, I fear for the survival of these dis-United States. "  --James Herrenan


Link to original post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-heffernan/how-a-government-takeover_b_763017.html

Life in Kansas City and its environs

After the revelation last evening that Kansas City is number 3 on the "most dangerous cities in the nation" list from Forbes magazine, I found the following statistic, totally by chance, today on The Huffington Post:

 In one three-city study, suburban residents were 18% more likely to be killed or injured by traffic accidents or crime. If the entire U.S. shared New York’s traffic death rate, we would save more than 25,000 lives per year.

It seems more proof to me that Kansas City's sprawl and it's decision and commitments to sprawl, have lead us to where we are today, now, with this additional rating.  We waste gas and energy, we pollute more, we waste more time and energy in our cars, we have to use a car to get or do virtually anything, we don't know our neighbors too frequently and on and on.  It's no way to live.  A denser city is a smarter, safer city and one in which we leave the countryside to the countryside.  

It seems Malvina, above, was describing us, doesn't it?

Link to original post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-speck/10-worst-things-suburban-sprawl_b_761574.html#s155915

Quote of the day--on government and lessons we could learn

The private company that sent those men down thousands of feet to dig for copper and gold could not possibly have funded and organized the rescue operation. So it was taken over by the government of Chile.
--James Herrenan, The Huffington Post, "How a Government Takeover Saved 33 Lives"


Link to original post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-heffernan/how-a-government-takeover_b_763017.html

Live green, die green, right?

I think there's plenty of us out here who recycle and try to live "green" and not waste but reuse, etc., right?  And more and more of us realize, I think, too, that the way we live isn't sustainable.  Finally, combine that desire for not wasting along with wanting to be fiscally, financially conservative and it seems like a "green" burial is a natural, don't you?

Think about it.

Either no coffin or a leaner, less expensive pine coffin.  (You could be buried in a shroud).  No chemicals.  No ridiculous, absurd and unnecessary embalming.  Just put you right in the Earth.  What a beautiful way to go, I think.

And it's gone commercial, thankfully:


'Green' burials require no coffins or chemicals

By MANUEL VALDES (AP)

GOLDENDALE, Wash. — Steve Sall moved forward on uneven, rocky terrain in his motorized wheelchair and came to a stop at the edge of a sweeping vista of ponderosa pines and bright pockets of yellow wildflowers.

Before being stricken three years ago with Lou Gehrig's disease, the 61-year-old Oregon resident who was an avid hiker would have backpacked this canyon. Instead, he was there to pick out his grave site.

Three months later, Sall was laid to rest in the forest.

He would be among the small but growing number of Americans choosing environmentally friendly burials. The so-called "green burials" are a departure from the norm in that they don't use concrete vaults, metal coffins or any chemicals.

The Green Burial Council, an industry group that sets standards, now counts more than 300 approved providers in 40 states, while only a dozen existed as recently as the beginning of 2008.

So that's great news, I think.  It saves money, it's much more natural and it both wastes and costs less.  Additionally, you can be literally closer to nature.  Sure you're dead but still, I think it only makes sense.

If there's bad news to this, it's that there's only one provider for this service registered on the link below for Missouri.  So along with this bit of information is a possible business suggestion for you.  That is, open up a "green" burial service company here in Kansas City.

It's a thought.

Enjoy that beautiful weather out there in the meantime, folks.

Links:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101014/ap_on_re_us/us_green_burials;_ylt=AlfKvcpiKnR9tF1PSfGc6wSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFpZG01dWpmBHBvcwMzOARzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDZ3JlZW5idXJpYWxz;
http://www.greenburialcouncil.org/

Good news on cutting defense spending

From the Think Progress blog last evening:

The Sustainable Defense Task Force (SDTF) report released earlier this year... identified nearly $1 trillion in waste that can be cut from the defense budget over the next ten years simply by eliminating outdated Cold War-era programs.

Also, later, from an update to the article:

A defense consultant who was at a recent meeting about the defense budget at the Pentagon told Reuters that pressure from the president's deficit commission combined with the Tea Party mvovement may have a "significant impact in terms of accelerating the contraction in defense funding"...

That Tea Party may serve some good purposes yet, folks.

It's enough to give a person hope.

Link:  http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/13/kirk-reductions-defense-spending/

Los 33: short biographies of the 33 miners in Chile

Grupo 105

Leader: Raul Bustos, age 40, hydraulics engineer

Bustos was forced to leave his job at the Chilean shipbuilder Asmar, in the port city of Talcahuano, when an earthquake struck in February. Leaving his wife and two children, he found work at the San Jose mine, where he worked on the water supply system.

Juan Aguilar, age 49, supervisor

Aguilar’s wife Cristy Coronado has been camping above the mine every night since her husband became trapped underground, and says that he seems to be in good spirits when she speaks to him. The couple are from the mining town of Los Lagos.

Osman Araya, age 30, miner

Araya has a wife, Angelica Ancalipe, and baby daughter named Britany. Most of his letters have been addressed to them or to his mother. In one video message he said: “I’ll never leave you guys, I’ll fight to the end to be with you.”

Florencio Avalos, age 31, driver

Florencio is the older brother of fellow miner Renan Avalos, and in charge of filming the videos sent up to rescuers and relatives. His father, Alfonso, cried with joy after hearing that one of the three drilling rigs working on the rescue had reached the tunnel adjoining where the miners were trapped.

Renan Avalos, age 29, miner

The younger brother of fellow trapped miner Florencio, Renan decided to start work in the San Jose mine after his brother got a job there. His main contacts on the surface are his father Alfonso and his uncle Wilson Avalos.

Jorge Galleguillos, age 56, miner

Galleguillos’s main contact on the surface is friend Miguel Valenzuela, who had been due to enter the mine on the day it collapsed. Galleguillos is on medication for hypertension. He has asked Valenzuela to keep everything he sends to the surface safe as souvenirs for when he gets out.

Jose Henriquez, age 54, drill master

Henriquez is the group’s official “pastor” and organises the daily prayers at 7.30am and after lunch. He was an evangelical preacher, and has worked in mines for 33 years. His brother, Gaston, also a miner, was once trapped in a mine himself, and has been reassuring Jose from the surface.

Daniel Herrera, age 27, lorry driver

Herrera’s sister Calda told reporters of his plans to keep letters and clothes from the experience, to display in his house. But in letters to relatives, the paramedic’s assistant complained about a psychologist who was treating the men saying he had caused “hysteria” among his workmates.

Juan Illanes, age 52, miner

A former corporal in the Beagle border conflict between Chile and Argentina, Illanes became the first of the 33 men to celebrate his birthday underground. To celebrate turning 52, the authorities allowed Illanes to speak with his wife, Carmen Baeza, for five minutes by video.

Mario Sepulveda, age 39, electrical specialist

Sepulveda regularly presents the videos the miners send up. In one taken in late August he acted as the narrator, taking the viewer on a tour of the 600 square feet subterranean quarters, and the adjoining mile-long tunnel. His contact on the surface is relative Gilberto Espinace.

Luis Urzua, age 54, topographer

Officials claim Urzua has been picked as a leader by his peers, who have nicknamed him “Don Lucho”. In the first moments after the mine collapsed, Urzua ordered the men to huddle and took three miners to scout up the tunnel. He has used his topography training to make detailed maps of their environs.

Richard Villarroel, age 23, mechanic

Villarroel’s family members have been camping above the mine, where he has worked for two years. His mother, Antonia Godoy, said: “I really want to reach in and pull him out of the television screen.”

Grupo Rampa

Leader: Carlos Barrios, age 27, miner

Barrios has emerged as a leader in his group. His mother, Griselda Godoy, has been sending him packages of clothing labelled with his name. She told reporters he was not happy with the way a psychologist had been working with the men.

Claudio Acuna, age 56, miner

Acuna is one of the palomeros, who organise the packages to and from the miners. He became the second of the miners to celebrate a birthday when he turned 54 on 9 September. His wife’s gift was a signed T-shirt from the popular Chilean football club Colo Colo.

Samuel Avalos, age 43, miner

Avalos’s main contact on the surface has been his father, also named Samuel Avalos, aged 70. He had worked in the mine for five months, and now checks the mining area’s air quality.

Yonni Barrios, age 50, ‘the doctor’

Barrios learned first aid through helping his diabetic mother as a child. That secured the position of a general medical adviser to his colleagues. His wife, Marta Salinas, discovered he had a mistress when she came across another woman holding a vigil for him following the accident.

Jose Ojeda, age 46, master driller

Ojeda has been sending sketches to the surface showing how the three groups are divided and the areas where they are sleeping. He is on medication for diabetes, and has asked his niece to print T-shirts for his entire group – all bearing the words “Grupo Rampa”.

Alex Vega Salazar, age 31, heavy machinery mechanic

Salazar’s wife, Jessica Salgado, spoke to him on 4 September. She said: “He is worried about some of his debts. But I have told him not to worry, that I have cancelled them already. You can see his face has changed, that he’s better. I told him that I love him.”

Jimmy Sanchez, age 19, miner

As the youngest of the miners, working in the San Jose mine was Sanchez’s first job. He had been there for only five months before being trapped underground. Now, he checks the mine’s temperature and humidity daily. He has a wife, Helen Avalos, and a three-month-old baby.

Victor Segovia, age 48, electrician

Segovia has a wife and 11-year-old daughter Jocelyn. In a letter to them he wrote: “I try to be strong but when I sleep I dream we are in an oven and when I wake I find myself in eternal darkness. That wears you down…” His daily task is to explain the general situation in the mine to officials.

Claudio Yanez, age 34, drill operator

In August, Yanez’s long-term partner Cristina Nunez proposed to him via letter – the offer was accepted. The couple have two daughters. However, Yanez’s mother and Nunez have been squabbling over who should receive his August wages and donations to the family.

Victor Zamora, age 33, vehicle mechanic

Zamora had no work in the mine on the day of the accident, but went inside to repair a vehicle. Originally from Talcahuano, he began work at the San Jose mine when an earthquake in February hit the city. Zamora has a wife and a young son named Arturo.

Grupo Refugio

Leader: Omar Reygadas, age 56, bulldozer operator

Reygadas had been working at the mine for many years, but how many exactly is not known. He requested to speak first to his youngest son Lucio.

Carlos Bugueno, age 27, miner

Bugueno is a childhood friend of fellow trapped miner Pedro Cortez, who joined the mine at the same time as he did – it has not been reported exactly when. His mother and half-sister, Katharine Castillo, have been holding a vigil for him.

Pedro Cortez, age 24, miner

Cortez started working at the mine at the same time as childhood friend Carlos Bugueno. His main contact on the surface is his mother Doris Contreras, who has been reading the Bible at the San Jose mine since he became trapped underground.

Mario Gomez, age 63, miner

In July, Gomez had a meeting with mine managers to beg them to solve problems that made the mine unsafe. Following that meeting, he told his wife he was going to retire from mining as it was unsafe. He is the oldest of the miners, and has worked in mines since the age of 12.

Franklin Lobos, age 53, driver

When Barcelona player and miner’s son David Villa sent two signed T-shirts to the miners, Lobos received one of them. This could be due to Lobos having played professionally for a local league.

Carlos Mamani, age 23, heavy machinery operator

Bolivian Mamani’s main contact on the surface is his wife Monica Quispe. His father-in-law declared he had no intentions to work in a mine again, following the trauma of being trapped. Prior to the accident he had been working in the mine for only five days.

Edison Pena, age 34, miner

Pena has reportedly been running 10 kilometres a day underground, and it has been suggested he is the most physically fit of the miners. He is also a dedicated Elvis Presley fan, requesting Presley music compilations to be sent down.

Esteban Rojas, age 44, in charge of maintenance

Rojas has sent a letter to the surface asking girlfriend of 25 years, Jessica Ganiez, to marry him. Ganiez says she has already bought the wedding dress. They have three children together and two grandchildren. His brother is fellow miner Pablo Rojas.

Pablo Rojas, age 45, miner

Rojas worked in the mine for six months before the accident. His brother is fellow miner Esteban Rojas. He has a wife and son.

Dario Segovia, age 48, drill operator

Segovia’s father Dario Senior was also a miner, and has spent a week trapped in a mine. Dario’s sister, Maria, has been leading prayers at Camp Hope, where relatives of the miners wait. Others at the camp have nicknamed her “La Alcaldesa”, which translates as “the mayoress”.

Ariel Ticona, age 29, miner

Ticona’s wife, Elizabeth Segovia, gave birth to their first baby on 14 September. Authorities used a fibre-optic link to allow him to watch a video of his daughter’s birth. Ticona asked his wife to name their daughter Esperanza, the Spanish word for “hope”.

Link to original post:  http://coalmountain.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/los-33-short-biographies-of-the-33-miners-in-chile/