Archive for the Perjury Category

Fukushima Daiichied (March 12, 2012)

Posted in Economics, Energy, Environment, Food, Gas/Fossil Fuel, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Japan, Peak Oil, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty on March 12, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

Cs          “They aren’t telling us anything.”

Sr          “They aren’t tellin’ us nothin’.”

Cs          “The great flotilla of death is floating east to the West Coast from the Far East.  The Pacific is now a polluted pond.”

Sr          “It’s in the air.  An air raid.  That’s the overriding problem.  Death from above.”

Cs          “The only thing the authorities can do is the only thing the authorities do.”

Sr          “Lie.  The official language of government and industry.  The problem is so overwhelming that there may be nothin’ that can be done.”

Cs          “What do you tell a populace that is already angry, broken, confused, desperate, enervated, and frustrated.”

Sr          “And bitter, cynical and distrustful.”

Cs          “The energy source designed to transition us from fossil fuels to renewable energy blew up on us in a day.”

Sr          “We are so Fukushima Daiichied.”

. . .

[http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/nuclear/2012/Fukushima/Lessons-from-Fukushima.pdf]

Bumper stickers of the week:

3/11

Fukushima Daiichied Again

Balls and Strikes and Perjury: America’s Pastimes (August 23, 2010)

Posted in Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Society, Supreme Court on August 23, 2010 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Hear about the perjury charges against the retired baseball pitcher Roger Clemens for lying before Congress?”

J          “Is that an offense or a sport?”

K          “His sport was throwing balls and strikes and pitching and batting.  As far back as 1998, I suspected that some if not most of the home run leaders were juiced on steroids.”

J          “Seems so.  A player who was not juiced may not have gotten off the bench.”

K          “Do you recall when John Roberts testified under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2005?  He swore to three duties – to tell the truth, to tell the whole truth, and to tell nothing but the truth.”

J          “When he was trying to get on the bench.”

K          “Right.  He told the Committee that his job is to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat.  He knew all along that he would be a tendentious ideological technician for the reactionary right and misled the Committee.”

J          “Sounds like perjury on steroids.”

K          “To say nothing of the tobacco company executives who lied before Congress.  Seems that everyone in power gets in power and stays in power by fibbing a little.”

J          “Roberts should be aware enough to realize that his decision to close the front doors of the Supreme Court says more about him that any of his written decisions to close the doors of the Supreme Court.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Roger lied, but no one died

Clemens?  What about the tobacco company executives?  What about Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Cheney, Bush et al.?

Rating The Rating Agencies And The Courts That Should Berate Them: FFF (May 3, 2010)

Posted in Bailout/Bribe, Conflicts of Interest, Courts, Crime/Punishment, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Rating Agencies on May 3, 2010 by e-commentary.org

. . .

NNN          “The ratings agencies such as Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch knew or should have known that third parties would and did reasonably rely on their ratings.”

OOO          “Exactly.  They intended for third parties to rely on their ratings.”

NNN          “Didn’t some court reach the preposterous conclusion that the ratings agencies are protected by the First Amendment?”

OOO          “The free speech rights of the rating agencies are protected against government interference.  The government did not interfere with their right to free speech.  That ends the First Amendment inquiry.  The ratings agencies are not immune from civil and criminal prosecution.”

NNN          “But the court used the First Amendment to provide complete immunity for the rating agencies.”

OOO          “Keep in mind that there are thousands and thousands of incompetent and marginally competent judges in America.  And thousands of dishonest ones.  The judge may have seen his stock portfolio decline and decided to take action.  In the end, if the decision is patently incorrect, do not follow it.  Disregard the decision as a perverse anomaly.  Law books are littered with dishonest decisions.”

NNN          “The ratings were patently false and fraudulent.  The rating agencies intended for others to rely on the ratings.  Ordinary citizens reasonably relied on the ratings.  Ordinary citizens were damaged by the fraudulent ratings.  So the only issues for an honest judge in a civil action are the amount of damages and the amount of punitive damages.”

OOO          “Exactly.  And the heads of the ratings agencies lied under oath before Congress.  They were advised by their attorneys not to ‘tell the whole truth’ to Congress and they did not ‘tell the whole truth’ to Congress.  That is perjury.  Except in the land of perjury.  Their attorneys suborned perjury.  Combine perjury and obstruction of justice and conspiracy and RICO charges.  The sentence for four felonies is much stiffer.  A summer law clerk could handle the prosecution.”

NNN          “The biggest question is also easily answered.  There are no prosecutions because the ratings agencies and their friends on Wall Street own the government and the prosecutors.”

OOO          “Talk about systemic failure.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” dated Jan. 14, 2008 titled “The ‘R’ Word, The ‘D’ Word or the ‘S’ Word?” on the rating agencies and the “e-ssay” dated May 2, 2005 titled “Ohio – Not Forgettin’ Ohio; The Battleground State Battles On.”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Better to know the judge and the prosecutor than to know the law.

Spill, baby, spill.

Talk About Housing (January 21, 2008)

Posted in Housing, Perjury, Society on January 21, 2008 by e-commentary.org

“It’s a no-brainer.  You can’t miss.  You don’t need a job and you don’t need any income.  Okay, so you already have two strikes going against you, but they really don’t care.  Just lie and tell them you are unemployed with no income.  Buy and ride it up and then sell.  You don’t even have to paint the place.”

“You have to heat it.”

“You can get one place and flip it and then get another one and flip it.”

“It will flop.  And you must insure it.  In my book, insurance is necessary but not productive.”

“Everyone’s doin’ in.  It can’t fail.”

“And more taxes.  They give you enticing tax breaks to acquire a bigger palace that is then subject to higher taxes.  My digs are already too big.”

“I shared one bathroom with three others and now I have four to myself.  I can shower in three different showers.  One is a steam bath.  Now, that’s livin’.”

“And buy more furniture.”

“I can sleep in one of five bedrooms.  I had to share a room with my brother.”

“Prices will collapse by 2006, 2007 at the latest.”

“No way.  This is America.”

“They take the bait and call in.  They are already hooked.  Operators standing by to assist you.  No one stands by to assist you.  I sold some old lady in Florida, some seventy-something widow, a loan for $44,000 on a property she owned free and clear.  She had enough income to cover her expenses, but I told her she needed more and told her she knew it because she called the number.  She can cover the early payments, and I’ll be gone before she realizes what hit her.”

“Seems sporting.”

“It was her decision.”

”Seems that someone in her seventies doesn’t always make sound decisions.”

“Look, this is America.  The land of the free.  The home of the brave.  Apple pie.  All that stuff.  She is free to make her own decisions.  And anyway, she’s old, she can eat dog food.”

Bumper sticker of the week:

Let Them Eat Dog Food

The “R” Word; The “D” Word or The “S” Word? (January 14, 2008)

Posted in Conflicts of Interest, Depression, Economics, Perjury, Rating Agencies, Recession on January 14, 2008 by e-commentary.org

“A recession occurs when your neighbor loses his job; a depression occurs when you lose your job.“  A recession is technically defined as two successive quarters of a downturn in the economy.  The traditional definition of a recession is backward looking.  Would you value being told that you were pregnant fifteen months ago?  Policy planning requires a more forward-looking perspective.  If you lose your job, is it a depression?  If you have less earning capacity despite working overtime and pay more for goods and services, is it stagflation?  (See the e-ssay dated August 7, 2006 entitled “The Fed: Deal With ‘Stag’; Deal With ‘Flation’?”).

The credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch suffered from the same grade inflation their employees suffered from in college.  Everyone in college gets As; their parents are spending too much to bestow anything less.  In the real world, the grade inflation is trebled.  The credit rating agencies gave the insurers of bonds the “AAA” ratings.  The insurers of bonds such as Ambac Financial Group and MBIA also suffered from grade inflation.  The insurers of bonds then gave everyone the “AAA” ratings.

The downturns in foreign markets today are a more accurate verdict on the state of and prospects for the American Economy.  In America, risk is not tied to reward whereas foreign investment professionals are more accountable for their performance.  And while the foreign kids were in college, they did not get As just for showing up.

[The recent incident in the Strait of Hormuz:  Gulf of Tonkin II or the USS Cole II?  The statements in English (not translated from a foreign language) from someone expressed a clear present intent to do harm.  The Navy responded in a professional and disciplined way and maintained their course and speed.  Someone can be provocative without provoking a response that is not in the nation’s interest.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

The Mortgage Meltdown continues.