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U.S. Out Now! From Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and all U.S. bases around the world; End all U.S. Aid to Israel; Get the military out of our schools and our communities; Demand Equal Rights and Justice for ALL!
TAX THE RICH NOT THE POOR! MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Table of Contents:
A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
B. SPECIAL APPEALS, VIDEOS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
C. ARTICLES IN FULL
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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
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KEVIN COOPER: INNOCENT MAN ON DEATH ROW
COMMITTEE TO END THE DEATH PENALTY TEACH IN:
TUESDAY, JULY 21, 7:00 P.M.
900 ALICE STREET, OAKLAND
(Corner of 9th Street and Alice Street
two blocks from Lake Merritt BART Station)
Kevin Cooper is an innocent man on death row. In 2004, he came within hours of execution. Recently, he was denied by the federal courts. But many judges disagreed. One judge began his opposing opinion by saying, "The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man."
Kevin's case is an example of everything that is wrong with the death penalty--it's racist, it targets the poor, it kills innocent people. Join us for a discussion about Kevin Cooper and find out how you can help stop this injustice.
For more information, visit www.savekevincooper.org or contact the Campaign to End the Death Penalty: phone: 510-394-8625; email: california@nodeathpenalty.org
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PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!
FAX OR CALL JERRY BROWN - ALL DAY, MONDAY JULY 27TH
DEMAND ALL CHARGES BE DROPPED AGAINST FRANCISCO TORRES!
FREE THE SF8!
Dear friends,
We are asking that you phone and fax CA Attorney General Jerry Brown on Monday, July 27th demanding that he drop the charges against Francisco Torres, the last of the SF8 still facing prosecution. Brown knows there is no case against Francisco, but he needs to get the message from people all over the country.
**In order for this phone/fax campaign to be a success, we need you to help spread the word and take a few minutes to make the call and send the fax. Please send as many individual faxes as possible. We want to flood his office! And please also send us an email when you have done so at FreetheSF8@riseup.net
**You can print out and use the attached letter to fax and/or use the phone
script below, all to Jerry Brown's office.
TO CALL:
916-322-3360 #7 for comments
I am calling to demand that Attorney General Jerry Brown drop all charges against Francisco Torres of the San Francisco 8. The state of California recognized that there was insufficient evidence to move forward with the case and dropped charges against four of the men. There is clearly no basis to prosecute Francisco Torres, the only remaining person facing charges in connection with this 38-year old case which is based on torture-coerced evidence. It is an incredible waste of money in this time of severe budget crisis to proceed with this case, and is a huge injustice to Mr. Torres and his family. Drop all charges immediately!
TO FAX: 916-323-5341
Dear Attorney General Jerry Brown:
Thousands of people around the U.S. and the world have joined the call to drop all charges against the San Francisco 8. On July 6th the state of California recognized that there was insufficient evidence to move forward with the case and dropped charges against four of the men. There is clearly no basis to prosecute Francisco Torres, the only remaining person facing charges in connection with this 38-year old case which is based on torture-coerced evidence. It would be an unconscionable waste of tax payer money and an egregious injustice to Mr. Torres and his family to proceed with this case. I urge you in the strongest possible terms to drop the charges against Francisco Torres immediately!
Sincerely,
Name
Address
For updates on the SF8, including information regarding Cisco's August 10th hearing and Herman and Jalil's fight for parole in New York state, please go to www.freethesf8.org or call 415-226-1120.
Thank you,
The Committee for the Defense of the San Francisco 8
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
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NATIONAL MARCH FOR EQUALITY
WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 10-11, 2009
Sign up here and spread the word:
http://www.nationalequalitymarch.com/
On October 10-11, 2009, we will gather in Washington DC from all across
America to let our elected leaders know that *now is the time for full equal
rights for LGBT people.* We will gather. We will march. And we will leave
energized and empowered to do the work that needs to be done in every
community across the nation.
This site will be updated as more information is available. We will organize
grassroots, from the bottom-up, and details will be shared on this website.
Our single demand:
Equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.
Our philosophy:
As members of every race, class, faith, and community, we see the struggle
for LGBT equality as part of a larger movement for peace and social justice.
Our strategy:
Decentralized organizing for this march in every one of the 435
Congressional districts will build a network to continue organizing beyond
October.
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B. SPECIAL APPEALS, VIDEOS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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Condemn Honduran Coup and Restore Honduran President Zelaya NOW!
Sign the Emergency Petition!
http://www.iacenter.org/honduraspetition/
To: President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
CC: Vice President Joe Biden, Congressional leaders, U.N. General Assembly President d'Escoto-Brockmann, U.N. Secretary General Ban, and major media representatives including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and Reuters.
I demand that the Barack Obama administration and the U.S. Congress unequivocally condemn the unconstitutional and anti-democratic military coup in Honduras and insist that the military regime and the newly appointed but illegitimate president of Honduras restore President Zelaya to office, free all the imprisoned popular leaders and remove the curfew. I further demand that the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras be recalled immediately until such time as President Zelaya is restored to office.
Sincerely,
(Your signature will be appended here based on the contact information you enter in the form)
Sign the Petition Online
http://www.iacenter.org/honduraspetition/
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URGENT ACTION ALERT: HAITI ACTION COMMITTEE
PROTEST THE UNITED NATIONS ATTACK ON HAITIAN MOURNERS
AT THE FUNERAL OF FATHER GERARD JEAN-JUSTE.
July 6th was the fourth anniversary of the United Nations deadly
assault on the community of Cite Soleil. Now, four years later, the
same type of UN violence continues. Enough is enough. Far from
“peacekeepingâ€, the UN occupation of Haiti is terrorizing the popular
movement and the poorest communities in Haiti.
On Wednesday, June 17th, United Nations troops from Brazil opened fire
on mourners in Port-au-Prince who had attended the funeral of Father
Gerard Jean-Juste. One young man was killed in the attack.
Father Jean-Juste was a beloved Haitian priest and human rights
advocate whose whole life was dedicated to the poor. He died on May
27th in Miami after battling leukemia that he had contracted while
being incarcerated in Haiti as a political prisoner, from October â€"
November, 2004 and then again from July 2005 â€" January 2006. He was
jailed for his vocal opposition to the 2004 kidnapping/coup d’etat
against the democratically elected government of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the subsequent violent repression against
supporters of Fanmi Lavalas, the majority party inHaiti.
The Haiti Information Project reported, “UN troops on the scene began
shooting indiscriminately at the crowd killing a young man identified
only as "Junior" from the neighborhood of Solino. Hundreds more
protestors then took the body of the victim to the front of Haiti's
National Palace.â€
This is not the first time that UN forces have murdered unarmed
civilians in Haiti. On July 6, 2005, for example, UN troops shot over
20,000 rounds of ammunition in the crowded, poor neighborhood of Cite
Soleil, a stronghold of support for the Lavalas movement, killing
dozens. In the early morning of December 22, 2006, 400 Brazilian-led
UN troops again carried out a massive assault in Cite Soleil in
Port-au-Prince. This operation took the lives of dozens of
Port-au-Prince residents. Similar operations by UN troops have taken
the lives of innocent women, men and children on other occasions, most
notably in February 2007.
This latest killing takes place in the context of the Préval
government’s denying the right of Fanmi Lavalas, the main political
party in Haiti, to participate in recent Senatorial elections. Lavalas
activists who called for an electoral boycott were ordered arrested.
Former President Bill Clinton is now the UN Special Envoy to Haiti.
Please phone or fax Mr. Clinton to protest this latest murder by UN troops. Help
honor the memory of Father Jean-Juste by continuing to demand real democracy
in Haiti.
Phone: 212-348-8882
Fax: 212-348-9245
END THE UN OCCUPATION OF HAITI
JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES
RETURN PRESIDENT ARISTIDE
www.haitisolidarity.net
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"RESOLUTION: The Torture Song" By David Ippolito
http://www.thatguitarman.com/MP3/resolution.mp3
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Update on Ward Churchill:
In a stunning and incomprehensible decision, the judge in the Ward Churchill case has ruled that the fired professor will get neither money nor reinstatement. He ruled that since the jury awarded Churchill only a token damage, he could not ignore the jury's presumed wishes (this is false since jury members said after the trial that all but one favored a large money award). And he ruled that since the relationship between the university and Churchill was beyond repair he could not order reinstatement. Plus Churchill did not make a good faith effort to obtain comparable employment since his firing.
See article:
Court Upholds Dismissal of Colorado Professor
By DAN FROSCH
July 8, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/us/08churchill.html?scp=1&sq=Ward%20Churchill%20reinstatement%20decision&st=cse
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Troy Anthony Davis is an African American man who has spent the last 18 years on death row for a murder he did not commit. There is no physical evidence tying him to the crime and seven out of nine witnesses have recanted. New evidence and new testimony have been presented to the Georgia courts, but the justice system refuses to consider this evidence, which would prove Troy Davis' innocence once and for all.
Sign the petition and join the NAACP, Amnesty International USA, and other partners in demanding justice for Troy Davis!
http://www.iamtroy.com/
For Now, High Court Punts on Troy Davis, on Death Row for 18 Years
By Ashby Jones
Wall Street Journal Law Blog
June 30, 2009
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/06/30/for-now-high-court-punts-on-troy-davis-on-death-row-for-18-years/
Take action now:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&aid=12361&ICID=A0906A01&tr=y&auid=5030305
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Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
New videos from April 24 Oakland Mumia event
http://abu-jamal-news.com/article?name=jlboak
Donations for Mumia's Legal Defense in the U.S. Our legal effort is the front line of the battle for Mumia's freedom and life. His legal defense needs help. The costs are substantial for our litigation in the U.S. Supreme Court and at the state level. To help, please make your checks payable to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation (indicate "Mumia" on the bottom left). All donations are tax deductible under the Internal Revenue Code, section 501(c)(3), and should be mailed to:
It is outrageous and a violation of human rights that Mumia remains in prison and on death row. His life hangs in the balance. My career has been marked by successfully representing people facing death in murder cases. I will not rest until we win Mumia's case. Justice requires no less.
With best wishes,
Robert R. Bryan
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
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IVAW Member Victor Agosto Refuses Deployment to Afghanistan
Sign our Petition in Support of Victor's Resistance Today:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5966/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=383
Support Victor by making a donation to his legal defense fund:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=27370
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Short Video About Al-Awda's Work
The following link is to a short video which provides an overview of Al-Awda's work since the founding of our organization in 2000. This video was first shown on Saturday May 23, 2009 at the fundraising banquet of the 7th Annual Int'l Al-Awda Convention in Anaheim California. It was produced from footage collected over the past nine years.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiAkbB5uC0&eurl
Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, depends on your financial support to carry out its work.
To submit your tax-deductible donation to support our work, go to
http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the simple instructions.
Thank you for your generosity!
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KEVIN COOPER IS INNOCENT!
FLASHPOINTS Interview with Innocent San Quentin Death Row Inmate
Kevin Cooper -- Aired Monday, May 18,2009
http://www.flashpoints.net/#GOOGLE_SEARCH_ENGINE
To learn more about Kevin Cooper go to:
savekevincooper.org
LINKS
San Francisco Chronicle article on the recent ruling:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/13/BAM517J8T3.DTL
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling and dissent:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/05/11/05-99004o.pdf
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COURAGE TO RESIST!
Support the troops who refuse to fight!
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/
Donate:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/21/57/
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PETITION IN SUPPORT OF PAROLE OF LEONARD PELTIER
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/parole2008/
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C. ARTICLES IN FULL
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1) Mich. minister wins appeal on free-speech grounds
By ED WHITE, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/07/15/national/a114024D50.DTL
2) A Strong Health Reform Bill
Editorial
July 16, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/opinion/16thu1.html
3) French Workers Ratchet Up Threats
By DAVID JOLLY
July 16, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/business/global/16explode.html?ref=world
4) BOYCOTT EVERYTHING IN ST. JOE UNTIL THE LAND IS GIVEN BACK
By K.T. Schmidt
Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO)
July 17, 2009
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/
5) BREAKING! NAACP Passes Resolution for Mumia Abu-Jamal and other prisoners
By Hans Bennett
July 16, 2009
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/breaking-naacp-passes-resolution-mumia-abu-jamal-and-other-prisoners
6) State Tax Revenues at Record Low, Rockefeller Institute Finds
By MICHAEL COOPER
July 18, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/us/18states.html?ref=us
7) Jobless Rate Passes 10% in 15 States
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 18, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/business/economy/18jobless.html?ref=business
8) Goldman Executive Named as Obama Adviser
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
Business Briefing | People
July 18, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/business/18bizbriefs-GOLDMANEXECU_BRF.html?ref=business
9) Group sues Philadelphia police over Web site
Black officers want to shut down forum over alleged racist comments
July 16, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31946836/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Pennsylvania: Officers Sue Over Site
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
National Briefing | Mid-Atlantic
July 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/us/17brfs-OFFICERSSUEO_BRF.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
10) If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise?
By The Editors
July 19, 2009
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/if-marijuana-is-legal-will-addiction-rise/
11) Subprime Brokers Resurface as Dubious Loan Fixers
By PETER S. GOODMAN
Back to Business
July 20, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/business/20modify.html?hp
12) A Lesson From Vietnam for Obama’s War in Afghanistan
By Joe Galloway
July 17, 2009
http://original.antiwar.com/galloway/2009/07/17/a-lesson-from-vietnam-for-obamas-war-in-afghanistan/
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1) Mich. minister wins appeal on free-speech grounds
By ED WHITE, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/07/15/national/a114024D50.DTL
A Michigan appeals court overturned a ruling on Wednesday that had sent a minister to prison for six months after warning a judge that he could be tortured by God.
The Rev. Edward Pinkney was convicted in 2007 of paying people $5 to vote in a recall election in the southwestern Michigan city of Benton Harbor and was sentenced to probation.
Months later, Pinkney wrote a commentary in a Chicago-based populist newspaper that said Judge Alfred Butzbaugh could be punished by God with curses, fever and "extreme burning" unless he repented, a reference to an Old Testament passage. The black minister also described Butzbaugh, a white judge who presided over his case, as dumb, racist and corrupt.
In June 2008, another Berrien County judge sent Pinkney to prison for three to 10 years for violating probation with his words. Pinkney appealed saying his free-speech rights were trampled.
In a 3-0 ruling, the Michigan Court of Appeals agreed.
Judges can restrict First Amendment rights as a condition of probation, but the order must be "narrowly drawn to protect the public from a situation that might lead to a repetition of the same crime," the court said.
In Pinkney's case, the court said, a probation rule barring defamatory or demeaning statements against anyone went too far.
"This is a thrilling victory, one for the people," Pinkney said from his home in Benton Harbor. "I'm so happy I don't even know what to tell you."
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Pinkney on appeal, also welcomed the decision.
"To our knowledge, this case marks the first time in modern history that a preacher has been thrown in prison for predicting what God might do," said Michael Steinberg, legal director at the ACLU of Michigan.
Separately, but in the same decision, the appeals court upheld Pinkney's election fraud conviction, rejecting his claim that Butzbaugh made wrong rulings on evidence.
Berrien County Prosecutor Arthur Cotter was pleased that Pinkney's conviction was affirmed. He said the dispute over the probation violation was a "much closer case." He does not plan to appeal.
Pinkney has been on house arrest with an electronic tether since December when the appeals court released him while considering his case. While in prison in 2008, he received 3,500 votes as the Green Party candidate for Congress in Michigan's 6th District.
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2) A Strong Health Reform Bill
Editorial
July 16, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/opinion/16thu1.html
While the Senate continues to struggle over its approach to health care reform, House Democratic leaders have unveiled a bill that would go a long way toward solving the nation’s health insurance problems without driving up the deficit. It is already drawing fierce opposition from business groups and many Republicans. This is a bill worth fighting for.
The bill would require virtually all Americans to carry health insurance or pay a penalty. And it would require all but the smallest businesses to provide health insurance for their workers or pay a substantial fee. It would also expand Medicaid to cover many more poor people, and it would create new exchanges through which millions of middle-class Americans could buy health insurance with the help of government subsidies. The result would be near-universal coverage at a surprisingly manageable cost to the federal government.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2015, 97 percent of all residents, excluding illegal immigrants, would have health insurance. The price tag for this near-universal coverage was pegged by the budget office at just more than $1 trillion over 10 years â€" at the low-end of the estimates we’ve heard in recent weeks.
The legislation would pay for half that cost by reducing spending on Medicare, a staple of all reform plans. It would pay for the other half by raising $544 billion over the next decade with a graduated income surtax on the wealthiest Americans: families with adjusted gross incomes exceeding $350,000 and individuals making more than $280,000.
Predictably, the idea of raising taxes this way has critics outraged, with some charging that it is unfair to require a small sliver of the population to bear the brunt of the cost.
The wealthy have benefited greatly from Bush-era tax cuts, and their incomes have risen disproportionately in recent years. It seems proper that they should contribute heavily to an effort that is vital to hard-pressed Americans and to the long-term health of the economy.
The legislation also includes some sound ideas for slowing the inexorable rise in health care costs. Such savings are also essential for the nation’s economic health. It adjusts Medicare reimbursements to encourage health care providers to improve productivity, reduce costly hospital readmissions and spend more time on primary care that can head off the need for costly specialists. It expands prevention and wellness activities.
And it establishes a center to compare the effectiveness of various drugs, devices and procedures. Unfortunately, it prohibits the government from requiring public or private insurers to set reimbursement policies based on the findings. These steps may not produce big savings quickly but could lower costs in future years.
The bill makes a mockery of Republican claims that the Democrats are pushing a hugely costly government takeover of medicine.
This bill is clearly not hugely costly. It would expand the government’s role in financing and regulating coverage but would also bolster private coverage. It would increase employer-based coverage, mostly by requiring employers to participate. And it would send more clients to the private insurance industry. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that perhaps 10 million people might enroll in a new public plan, while twice that number might enroll in competing private policies.
The Senate health committee has approved, by a party-line vote, a bill that in many respects parallels the House bill. The Senate Finance Committee, hoping to win over Republicans and conservative Democrats, is balking at a public plan and raising taxes on the wealthy. If there is a deal to be had, it is worth discussing. But the House has set a clear standard for health care reform: It must cover all Americans without driving up the deficit.
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3) French Workers Ratchet Up Threats
By DAVID JOLLY
July 16, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/business/global/16explode.html?ref=world
First the bosses were taken hostage. Now, workers facing layoffs in France have threatened â€" twice this week â€" to blow up their factories unless they receive more severance pay. Although the threats have so far turned out to be less than serious, the theatrics are increasing the level of labor tension as the economy shrinks.
Workers at a Nortel Networks research center that is being closed in Châteaufort, near Paris, said on Tuesday that they were prepared to detonate gas canisters around the building. But once government and company officials agreed to talk, the strikers acknowledged Wednesday that it was a hoax.
“The gas canisters, that was just a ploy,†Denis Vinçon, a union member, told Le Parisien. “What we want is for our claims to be heard.â€
The Nortel workers took their cue from a situation that began Sunday at a factory owned by New Fabris, a failed auto parts maker in Châtellerault, about 165 miles southwest of Paris. Workers have threatened to destroy their plant and equipment â€" also by detonating gas canisters â€" if the carmakers Renault and PSA Peugeot Citröen did not agree by the end of the month to pay each employee 30,000 euros ($42,000) in additional severance. The automakers argue that they have no legal obligation to New Fabris because they were clients, not owners.
The workers have a previously scheduled meeting next Monday with the French industry minister, Christian Estrosi.
The French labor minister, Xavier Darcos, said the government would help find nonviolent solutions. He also warned that more corporate reorganizations, with additional jobs losses, were probable this summer.
“Often the workers in these companies have made enormous efforts,†Mr. Darcos said on LCI television, referring to this week’s cases. “I understand their anger, I understand that their efforts, coming to naught, have caused them great frustration.
“On the other hand, I don’t see how we’re going to fix the situation with desperado tactics.â€
The bomb threats come after a spring wave of “bossnapping†situations, in which workers took their bosses hostage. In one case, workers at a Caterpillar factory in the city of Grenoble held company officials for 24 hours, releasing them only after President Nicolas Sarkozy promised he would “save the site.â€
“Today, the French don’t take these threats too seriously,†said Guy Groux, a specialist on French unions at the Institut d’Études Politiques in Paris. Not only would blowing up the plants carry the risk of legal action, he said, it would also probably turn the public against the unions.
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4) BOYCOTT EVERYTHING IN ST. JOE UNTIL THE LAND IS GIVEN BACK
By K.T. Schmidt
Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO)
July 17, 2009
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/
There is no comparison anywhere in the Midwest to the relationship of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan. History will reveal the crimes that exist there today. A desperate State of Michigan will do desperate things to please the stakeholders. Benton Harbor is again the victim of desperate acts on the part of the State. The greed of land developers coupled with a major international corporation has created a truly immoral act: the theft of public Lake Michigan shore land dedicated to the people of Benton Harbor. The people’s land is becoming a golf course for the elite. Someday history will reveal the true lack of morality of corporate greed. The perpetrators in this case are the infamous Whirlpool Corporation in conjunction with land developers. The victims are again, the Benton Harbor citizens.
Benton Harbor actually stood up and rioted a few years ago. We all remember the outrage after police brutality put the town over the edge. National attention was brought to Benton Harbor and the Governor spent time there promising jobs and grants. The nation looked on and wondered why a town in the 1990s rioted; nobody rioted. Benton Harbor was and is uniquely oppressed. The downtrodden state of Michigan has allowed corporations such as Whirlpool to take whatever they need to stay in a state losing jobs, gaining unemployment, and experience a gigantic shift. Whirlpool has been provided with tax breaks, national representation via a congressman (Fred Upton), and has been able to pull off a “Jim Crow†agenda in St. Joe. Police are on many street corners of both cities giving signs of an odd and almost third world presence, as evidenced also by posters in St. Joe warning of surveillance. Enlightened people will not set foot in St. Joe. It is a town of frightening whiteness as designed by Whirlpool.
The promises made by the original Upton family, the founders of Whirlpool have become a distant echo. Their fraternity heir, Fred Upton, continues to parade his false face while voting against the stimulus package, against the environmental bill, against policies that would benefit the poor. He disguises himself by occasionally working on a program for children. Most people in his district are fed up with him and he was seriously challenged in the last election by a last minute candidate. Only the elite like him.
The Governor of Michigan has lost credibility due to her allegiance with corporations, her promises to create jobs in Benton Harbor by buddying up with Whirlpool, and the recent acceptance of the people’s park land (Jean Klock Park) going to Whirlpool developers. NO one has been hired from Benton Harbor for this heinous project. NO Benton Harbor resident has been hired despite excessive promises made by the governor/developers. The Jack Nicklaus golf course is an insult even if it were not on public land. The lack of morality in this case will make history books. The people involved will be viewed like those who were against Brown v. Board of Education. There is no justice in Benton Harbor and it is high time everyone knew what is really going on there.
Setting foot in St. Joe or playing on this new golf course is like giving money to a corrupt and immoral system. Those educated Chicago residents who like to visit the area will be informed. Those citizens who enjoy the downtown, the restaurants, the huge public shoreline park in St. Joe, the Box Factory, the Children’s Museum, etc., will be informed. Boycott St. Joe, Boycott the Jack Nicklaus Golf Course, Boycott all Whirlpool products until the land is given back to the people of Benton Harbor. Pass the word on, e-mail the word and let justice rise. BOYCOTT EVERYTHING IN ST. JOE UNTIL THE LAND IS GIVEN BACK. --K.T. Schmidt
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5) BREAKING! NAACP Passes Resolution for Mumia Abu-Jamal and other prisoners
By Hans Bennett
July 16, 2009
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/breaking-naacp-passes-resolution-mumia-abu-jamal-and-other-prisoners
Great News! After all of the agitation and organizing these last few months, the NAACP just passed a resolution for Mumia (and several other prisoners), asking Eric Holder to review the case!
Below are statement from organizers Pam Africa and Suzanne Ross.
For more background on the campaign, please link here to the main page:
http://freemumia.com/civilrights.html
And for more background on why the federal investigation is needed, here is the article I wrote detailing five pieces of withheld evidence, that the jury was never able to hear about:
http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/citing-withheld-evidence-supporters-of-mum...
EMAIL RELEASE:
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Note from Pam Africa: The NY Free Mumia Coalition and ICFFMAJ spearheaded weeklong mass demos, tabling and lots of on the ground work in support of this tremendous effort, and the Baltimore Chapter of the NAACP is to be commended for making Political Prisoners a large part of this convention! Stay tuned for more updates ...
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via: Mumia NYC
A new resolution on Mumia, which also included Troy Davis, Marshall Eddie Conway, and Reggie Clemons, was just passed at the NAACP convention as an emergency resolution. It was addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder and called on him to review these cases!!!
More on our work over this past week at the NAACP convention both inside and outside the convention later, and its many impressive results, THOUGH MUMIA HAS NOT BEEN FREED ... when we can catch our breath.
RALLY TODAY FROM 4 PM TO 8 PM AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF 55TH STREET AND 6TH AVENUE. OBAMA IS SPEAKING AT 7 PM SO IT MAY BE A LITTLE CRAZY DOWN THERE. LOOK FOR OUR BANNER AND SIGNS. IF IT'S RAINING WE WILL ONLY HAVE OUR BANNER.
SEE YOU THERE!
Suzanne
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Dear Friends,
This is our last call to those who might want to join us for an exciting day of being with Mumia supporters who have just come off a very productive week at the NAACP convention in NYC, and convincing Congressional Black Caucus members and others who have shown any sign of supporting a civil rights investigation for Mumia to join our campaign. Pam Africa and others will be coming from Philadelphia.
The bus is free BUT is only available to those who have participated in the required training, scheduled for FRIDAY NIGHT, FROM 6 PM TO 9M, AND COORDINATED BY ESPERANZA MARTELL in conjunction with the Coalition. We will be holding the training at St. Mary's Church, 521 West 126th Street, either in the basement or the sanctuary. Look forward to seeing you there and working with you on Wednesday the 22nd. Ona Move!
Suzanne, for the Coalition
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6) State Tax Revenues at Record Low, Rockefeller Institute Finds
By MICHAEL COOPER
July 18, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/us/18states.html?ref=us
The anemic economy decimated state tax collections during the first three months of the year, according to a report released Friday by the Rockefeller Institute of Government. The drop in revenues was the steepest in the 46 years that quarterly data has been available.
The blow to state coffers, which the report said appeared to worsen in the second quarter of the year, reflects the gravity of the recession and suggests the extent to which many states will probably have to resort to more spending cuts or tax increases to balance their budgets.
Over all, the report found that state tax collections dropped 11.7 percent in the first three months of 2009, compared with the same period last year. After adjusting for inflation, new changes in tax rates and other anomalies, the report found that tax revenues had declined in 47 of the 50 states in the quarter.
All the major sources of state tax revenue â€" sales taxes, personal income taxes and corporate income taxes â€" took serious blows, the report found.
As more people lost their jobs, took pay cuts or worked fewer hours, personal income tax collections fell 17.5 percent in the quarter. Weak retail sales sent sales tax collections down 8.3 percent. Corporate income tax collections, which are often highly variable, declined 18.8 percent.
States in the Far West had the largest declines in tax revenue, the report found. Arizona reported the largest drop in personal income tax collections, at 56.1 percent. Alaska experienced the largest overall drop in tax collections, 72 percent in the first quarter, and that was attributed to the state’s unusually high revenue collections in recent years because of high oil prices.
Local governments have fared better during the downturn. The report found that local tax collections rose 3.9 percent in the first quarter, largely because of increased property tax collections, which tend to be relatively stable and which are often based on assessments of value that do not keep pace with true market conditions.
As bad as the first quarter was, the second quarter is shaping up to be even worse, the report said. Preliminary data for the first two months of the quarter, April and May, collected from 45 states, indicated that tax revenues declined by 20 percent compared with the same period last year.
That will force states â€" many of which are already raising taxes or fees, resorting to layoffs or furloughing employees â€" to come up with more ways to raise or save money.
“The continuing sharp decline in revenues will likely force more unwanted choices for states in the months ahead,†wrote the report’s authors, Donald J. Boyd and Lucy Dadayan.
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7) Jobless Rate Passes 10% in 15 States
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 18, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/business/economy/18jobless.html?ref=business
WASHINGTON (AP) â€" Unemployment topped 10 percent in 15 states and the District of Columbia last month, according to federal data released Friday. The rate in Michigan surpassed 15 percent, the first time any state hit that mark since 1984.
The Federal Reserve this week projected that the national unemployment rate, currently at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, would pass 10 percent by the end of the year. Most Fed policy makers said it could take “five or six years†for the economy and the labor market to get back on a path of long-term health.
To get there, consumers must return to a regular spending groove and housing prices need to start rising again. [Exactly how do you do this without a job?????]
Home to the nation’s struggling automakers, Michigan has been clobbered by lost factory jobs. Its jobless rate of 15.2 percent in June was the highest in the country.
The Labor Department said it was the first time in 25 years that any state had suffered an unemployment rate of at least 15 percent. In 1984, it was West Virginia.
The other 14 states where unemployment topped 10 percent in June were Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The states with the lowest unemployment rates in June were: North Dakota at 4.2 percent, Nebraska at 5 percent and South Dakota at 5.1 percent.
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8) Goldman Executive Named as Obama Adviser
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
Business Briefing | People
July 18, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/business/18bizbriefs-GOLDMANEXECU_BRF.html?ref=business
President Obama said Friday he would nominate Robert Hormats, a vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, to a top economic position at the State Department. Mr. Hormats, 66, will be under secretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs. He was deputy trade representative from 1979 through 1981 and held other posts at the State Department throughout his career. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, said in a speech on Wednesday that she hoped to make economic policy and trade a larger part of United States diplomacy.
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9) Group sues Philadelphia police over Web site
Black officers want to shut down forum over alleged racist comments
July 16, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31946836/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Pennsylvania: Officers Sue Over Site
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
National Briefing | Mid-Atlantic
July 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/us/17brfs-OFFICERSSUEO_BRF.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
PHILADELPHIA - A group of black police officers is suing the Philadelphia Police Department over an Internet discussion board on which officers have allegedly posted hundreds of racist comments.
The Guardian Civic League filed the federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday.
The league, along with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wants the department to have the site shut down. The suit also seeks to have those behind it disciplined.
The 10-year-old Web forum, Domelights.com, is not run by the department. But the suit says officers often make postings from department computers.
The lawsuit cites racially derogatory commentary on the site, including one posting that says: "Guns don't kill people ... Dangerous minorities do."
Messages left for a police department spokesman and the Fraternal Order of Police were not immediately returned.
Pennsylvania: Officers Sue Over Site
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
National Briefing | Mid-Atlantic
July 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/us/17brfs-OFFICERSSUEO_BRF.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
A group of black police officers has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Philadelphia Police Department over an Internet discussion forum on which officers are accused of posting hundreds of racist comments. The Guardian Civic League filed the lawsuit in federal court. The league, along with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, wants the department to have the site shut down. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and discipline for those behind the 10-year-old Web forum, Domelights.com, which is not run by the department. The suit maintains that officers often make postings from department computers. Though postings are anonymous, the site’s founder and moderator, who uses the screen name McQ, is known to be a sergeant in the department, the suit says.
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10) If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise?
By The Editors
July 19, 2009
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/if-marijuana-is-legal-will-addiction-rise/
A New York Times article on Sunday discussed the debate over whether more and more potent types of cannabis affect the levels of addiction to the drug. This particular issue has become part of the larger debate over whether marijuana should be legalized or decriminalized.
Antidrug activists say that if the drug is legalized, more people will use it and addiction levels, made worse by the increased potency, will rise too. Legalization advocates note that pot addiction is not nearly as destructive as, say, abuse of alcohol. What would be the effect of legalization or decriminalization on marijuana abuse and addiction?
* Roger Roffman, professor of social work
* Wayne Hall, professor of public health policy
* Mark A.R. Kleiman, professor of public policy and author
* Peter Reuter, University of Maryland professor
* Norm Stamper, former Seattle police chief
More Honesty Needed
Roger Roffman
Roger Roffman is a professor of social work at the University of Washington.
Marijuana dependence occurs in 9 percent of Americans who have ever used the drug, and between 33 percent and 50 percent of those who smoke it daily. Approximately 3.6 million Americans are daily or near daily users. In 20 years of marijuana dependence counseling studies at the University of Washington, those who’ve sought help averaged 10 years of daily or near daily use and had unsuccessfully tried to quit more than six times.
There might be a big difference between legalization and decriminalization when it comes to the dependence issue.
Surveys indicate increasingly positive attitudes in the U.S. for liberalizing marijuana policies. Two ways of doing this are: (1) legalization, which would involve lawful cultivation and sale of marijuana, and (2) decriminalization, which would retain criminal penalties for cultivation and sale while removing them for possession of small amounts.
Will more people use marijuana and become dependent if marijuana is decriminalized? Probably not. A number of U.S. studies tell us decriminalization would not likely have an effect on the rates of marijuana use by adults or adolescents.
What if marijuana is legalized? No one can say for certain. Using one country’s reform example to estimate what would happen in another is very risky. How countries differ (cultural, social, political, economic) makes a big difference.
However, the Dutch “coffee shops†example might give us a little insight. The de facto legalization policy in the Netherlands did not, in itself, affect rates of marijuana use among adults or young people. But rates of use among young people increased when the number of coffee shops increased and the age of legal access was 16. Then these rates declined when the numbers of coffee shops was reduced and the age of legal access became 18.
A cautious conclusion, as I see it, is that any consideration of legalization should include careful planning for how those who are most vulnerable to harm from marijuana use, children and adolescents, can be protected.
I support finding alternatives to criminal penalties for marijuana possession. Those penalties have costs (being jailed, having a criminal record, barriers to employment, loss of scholarships, to name a few) and may accomplish little in deterring use.
However, our debates need more honesty. Those favoring liberalizing marijuana policy ought to stop inferring that marijuana is harmless; it is not. Those who believe possession should remain a crime need to acknowledge that most adult occasional users are not harmed, and should be prepared to defend with data the belief that criminalizing possession is the best way to avoid harm.
Mitigating Dependence
Wayne Hall
Wayne Hall is a professor of public health policy at the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland in Australia.
What effect would marijuana legalization have on dependence?
Some people remain skeptical about whether marijuana dependence exists but let’s assume that it does and that it affects around 1 in 10 of those who use marijuana. The effects that legalization has on marijuana dependence depend critically on what we mean by the term.
Marijuana use increased in the Netherlands in the 1990s, but this was also the case in the rest of Europe.
If we mean replacing imprisonment with a fine as the penalty for using marijuana then legalization would have little effect on dependence. Evaluations of this policy in 11 U.S. states in the 1970s and 1980s found little or no effect on rates of use among adolescents and adults.
There is more debate about the effects of allowing a de facto legal marijuana market as the Netherlands has done since 1983 in tolerating the sale of small amounts of marijuana in coffee shops. Marijuana use increased in the Netherlands in the 1990s, but this was also the case in the rest of Europe, and policy analysts disagree about whether rates of use increased faster in the Netherlands than elsewhere.
If by legalization we mean making it legal to use, grow and sell marijuana then our task becomes more speculative because no modern country has adopted this policy. It seems common sense that legalizing marijuana use and sales would lead to more people using it regularly and this would probably mean more marijuana dependence.
Nonetheless it is difficult to say how much use may increase because there are options for reducing use under a legal market that are not now available. For example, we could tax marijuana to set the price at a level that discourages casual use, regulate its THC content, restrict sales to minors, include a health warning on packs and advise users on ways to reduce dependence risks (e.g. by using less than weekly). These possibilities make it difficult to predict the effect that a legal market would have on rates of marijuana dependence.
Marijuana dependence should be taken into account in considering whether we should legalize marijuana in any of these ways. But this concern also needs to be weighed against the costs of current policy, that is, the creation of perverse incentives to produce more potent marijuana, the widespread disregard of legal prohibition on marijuana use that could contribute to a decline in respect for law and policing; the unregulated access of minors to marijuana; and the social and economic costs of a large marijuana black market.
Not Your Grandfather’s Pot?
Mark A.R. Kleiman
Mark A.R. Kleiman is a professor of public policy at U.C.L.A., the editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis and the author of “Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results.†His new book, “When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment,†will be published later this summer.
One of the standard arguments against the legalization of cannabis is that “this is not your grandfather’s potâ€: cannabis, say the drug warriors, is much stronger now than it was a generation ago. It is, therefore, much more dangerous, and must remain prohibited.
Whatever we do about cannabis will leave us with most of the nation’s drug-related problems.
That argument is a few bricks shy of a full load. Here are some of those bricks.
1. The average gram of cannabis sold today contains much more Î"-9-trahydrocannabinol (THC) than the average gram sold in 1970, though there has always been some highly potent product available.
2. Emergency-room visits and treatment admissions related to cannabis have increased, though the number of self-reported cannabis users hasn’t.
3. If the only change were in potency as measured by THC content, users could (and do) compensate by smoking smaller quantities.
4. But contemporary cannabis also has a much higher ratio of THC (which tends to induce anxiety) to cannabidiol (CBD, which tends to relieve anxiety). That would be expected to create a higher rate of panic attacks.
5. Whether high-THC, high-ratio pot is also more habit-forming than other pot remains unknown. Increased treatment admissions might come from increased enforcement pressure against users. Or perhaps a cannabis habit is harder to live with than it used to be because the cannabis experience is more disturbing.
6. If cannabis were made legal, restrictions could be put both on potency and on the THC/CBD ratio. So rising potency makes no sense as an anti-legalization argument; if anything, less-potent legal pot would be expected to substitute for the more-potent pot that would remain illegal.
7. Any sort of flat-out legalization would risk a large increase in the number of very heavy users. A legal cannabis industry, like the legal alcohol industry, would derive more than half its revenue from people with diagnosable substance abuse disorders. Telling marketers they can get rich by creating disease is dangerous.
8. Instead we could choose a “grow your own†policy that would allow production for personal use or by small nonprofit cooperatives, but forbid commercial sales.
Cannabis policy is fascinating because so many people smoke the stuff, but whatever we do about cannabis will leave us with most of the nation’s drug abuse problems, which center on alcohol, and most of the nation’s drug-market and drug-enforcement problems, which center on cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin.
Lessons From the Dutch
Peter Reuter
Peter Reuter is a professor at the School of Public Policy and the Department of Criminology at the University of Maryland.
Experimenting with marijuana has long been a normal part of growing up in the U.S.; about half of the population born since 1960 has tried the drug by age 21. Perhaps one out of six has used it for a year or more. This statement is increasingly true of other Western countries such as Australia and Britain.
Over the last decade most of these countries have seen three trends; sharp increases in the number of marijuana users seeking treatment, in the potency of the marijuana consumed and in the number of arrests. For example, in the European Union the number of people entering treatment programs for marijuana dependence tripled between 1999 and 2005. In the U.S., the potency of seized marijuana has steadily increased since the late 1970s, while arrests for simple possession have tripled since 1991 to 750,000.
Legalization in the U.S. might be a much more commercial matter than in pragmatic Holland.
Are these trends connected? Given that marijuana research is almost as scarce as drug-free communities, all that is available is moderately informed speculation. A recent book that I co-authored, “Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond the Stalemate,†identifies five other factors that may play an influence in this. There is also no direct evidence that potency makes a difference to how much the drug hurts users’ health; most users titrate their dose with higher THC.
What would happen if the drug were legalized? The Dutch de facto legalization of sale through coffee shops is the closest available experience. The most striking observation is that marijuana use in that country is lower than in many other European countries and a lot lower than in the United States; 6 percent of 15- to 64-year-olds in Holland had used marijuana in the past year, compared to 11 percent in the U.S.
Legalization in the U.S. might be a much more commercial matter than in pragmatic Holland, where the government created a legally ambiguous regulatory system with minimal court oversight. The U.S. might find it hard to prevent producers from using their First Amendment rights to actively promote the drug. A way of avoiding this would be to remove prohibitions on growing for your own use and for gifts to others. No doubt there would still be a black market but it would allow access to marijuana without creating a full commercialization. Probably this would lead to a modest increase in the number of people who use the drug, which needs to be weighed against the elimination of 750,000 arrests for simple possession.
The Tobacco Precedent
Norm Stamper
Norm Stamper was Seattle’s police chief from 1994 to 2000. He is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and the author of “Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing.â€
Any law disobeyed by more than 100 million Americans, the number who’ve tried marijuana at least once, is bad public policy. As a 34-year police veteran, I’ve seen how marijuana prohibition breeds disrespect for the law, and contempt for those who enforce it.
Let’s examine arguments against legalizing marijuana: use and abuse would skyrocket; the increased potency of today’s marijuana would exacerbate social and medical problems; and legalization would send the wrong message to our children.
Stronger strains of marijuana are already out there, unregulated by anything other than market forces.
It’s reasonable to expect a certain percentage of adults, respectful or fearful of the current prohibition, would give pot a first try if it were made legal. But, given that the U.S. is already the world’s leading per capita marijuana consumer (despite our relatively harsh penalties), it’s hard to imagine a large and lasting surge in consumption. Further, under a system of regulated legalization and taxation, the government would be in a position to offer both prevention programs and medical treatment and counseling for those currently abusing the drug. It’s even possible we’d see an actual reduction in use and abuse, just as we’ve halved tobacco consumption through public education â€" without a single arrest.
Potency? Users, benefiting from the immutable law of supply and demand, have created huge market pressure for “quality†marijuana over the past few decades. Legalization opponents are correct that “today’s weed is not your old man’s weed.†But the fear-mongers miss the point, namely that stronger strains of marijuana are already out there, unregulated by anything other than market forces. It’s good that responsible consumers know to calibrate their consumption; they simply smoke less of the more powerful stuff. But how about a little help from their government? Purchase booze and you have access, by law, to information on the alcoholic content of your beverage, whether it’s .05 percent near-beer or 151-proof Everclear.
Perhaps the biggest objection to legalization is the “message†it would send to our kids. Bulletin: Our children have never had greater access to marijuana; it’s easier for them to score pot than a six-pack of Coors. No system of regulated legalization would be complete without rigorous enforcement of criminal laws banning the furnishing of any drug to a minor.
Let’s make policy that helps, not handcuffs, those who suffer ill effects of marijuana or other drugs, a policy that crushes the illegal market â€" the cause of so much violence and harm to users and non-users alike.
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11) Subprime Brokers Resurface as Dubious Loan Fixers
By PETER S. GOODMAN
Back to Business
July 20, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/business/20modify.html?hp
LOS ANGELES â€" From the ninth floor of a downtown office building on Wilshire Boulevard, Jack Soussana delivered staggering numbers of mortgages to homeowners during the real estate boom, amassing a fortune.
By Mr. Soussana’s own account, his customers fared less happily. He specialized in the exotic mortgages that have proved most prone to sliding into foreclosure, leaving many now scrambling to save their homes.
Yet the dangers assailing Mr. Soussana’s clients have yielded fresh business for him: Late last year, he and his team â€" ensconced in the same office where they used to broker mortgages â€" began working for a loan modification company. For fees reaching $3,495, with most of the money collected upfront, they promised to negotiate with lenders to lower payments on the now-delinquent mortgages they and their counterparts had sprinkled liberally across Southern California.
“We just changed the script and changed the product we were selling,†said Mr. Soussana, who ran the Los Angeles sales office of Federal Loan Modification Law Center. The new script: You got a raw deal, and “Now, we’re able to help you out because we understand your lender.â€
Mr. Soussana’s partners at FedMod, as the company is known, were also products of the formerly lucrative world of high-risk lending. The managing partner, Nabile Anz, known as Bill, previously co-owned Mortgage Link, a California subprime lender, now defunct, that once sold $30 million worth of loans a month.
Jeffrey Broughton, one of FedMod’s initial partners, served as director of business development at Pacific First Mortgage, a lender that extended so-called Alt-A mortgages for borrowers with tarnished credit for Countrywide Financial, which lost billions of dollars on bad mortgages before being rescued in an acquisition.
FedMod is but one example of how many of the same people who dispensed risky mortgages during the real estate bubble have reconstituted themselves into a new industry focused on selling loan modifications.
Despite making promises of relief to homeowners desperate to keep their homes, FedMod and other profit making loan modification firms often fail to deliver, according to a New York Times investigation based on interviews with scores of former employees and customers, more than 650 complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau, and documents filed by the Federal Trade Commission in a lawsuit against the company.
The suit, filed in California federal court, asserts that FedMod frequently exaggerated its rates of success, advised clients to stop making their mortgage payments, did little or nothing to modify loans and failed to promptly refund fees. The suit seeks an end to FedMod’s practices, and compensation for customers.
“Our job was to get the money in and then we’re done,†said Paul Pejman, a former sales agent who worked out of FedMod’s two-story headquarters in Irvine, Calif. He recounted his experience, he said, because “I really feel bad.â€
“I had people calling me crying, and we were telling them, ‘You can pay me or you can lose your house,’ †Mr. Pejman said. “People were giving me every dime they had, opening credit cards. But I never saw one client come out of it with a successful loan modification.â€
Mr. Anz, who is challenging the F.T.C. lawsuit, acknowledged that FedMod’s business went “horribly wrong,†but he maintains the company made genuine efforts to help delinquent borrowers. He said FedMod has refunded fees to 3,000 dissatisfied customers, while modifying 1,500 mortgages.
A New Mission
FedMod is among dozens of similar companies that have been accused by state and federal authorities of fraudulent business practices. On the same day in April that the F.T.C. sued FedMod, it brought action against four similar companies and sent letters of warning to 71 others. Last week, the commission brought lawsuits against four more loan modification companies, advancing an enforcement campaign involving 23 states.
Many of the companies formerly operated as mortgage brokers, The Times found. Since October, the California Department of Real Estate has ordered 210 businesses and individuals to stop offering loan modification or foreclosure prevention services, because they lacked a real estate license, as required by the state. In fact, nearly half the people have roots in the mortgage industry or other areas of real estate, according to public records.
Debt Barter Inc. is among them. A loan modification company based in Irvine that was cited by the state in January for collecting upfront fees without a license, it is owned by Sean R. Roberts, who formerly headed Instafi, a mortgage broker that closed $2 billion worth of loans a year at its peak. Since February, customers have filed 17 complaints against Debt Barter with the Better Business Bureau. Most accused the company of charging upfront fees, then failing to lower their payments.
“We can’t please everyone all the time,†said Mr. Roberts, who added that the company had modified loans for nearly 300 of its roughly 500 clients.
In Aliso Viejo, Calif., the Citywide Mortgage Corporation, which previously brokered Alt-A and subprime loans, last year became a loan modification company, USMAC. The company has not received a cease and desist order, but complaints on numerous consumer Web sites assert that it fails to deliver.
“I’m saving homes,†said the company’s president, Scott Gimbel, who claimed a success rate above 70 percent.
Chris Mozilo, nephew of Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial â€" a name synonymous with the subprime disaster â€" recently started a new business, eModifyMyLoan. It sells software that homeowners can use to apply for loan modifications.
Chris Mozilo worked at Countrywide for 16 years. “I’m very proud of my career in mortgage lending,†he said. “We helped millions of people achieve the goal of homeownership.â€
From its inception in the middle of 2008, FedMod aimed to dominate the loan modification industry, growing swiftly with the aid of a national advertising campaign.
Mr. Broughton, 49, had worked in the mortgage industry since the mid-1980s. As the market ground to a halt in 2008, he founded FedMod with two Los Angeles entrepreneurs, Steven Oscherowitz and Boaz Minitzer.
Mr. Broughton sought to distinguish his company from the unscrupulous ventures that dominate the industry.
“You had a lot of these modification companies that were subprime guys,†he said. “All they cared about was making quick dollars.â€
But the partners behind FedMod had their own questionable backgrounds. In the mid-1990s, Mr. Oscherowitz settled an F.T.C. lawsuit that accused his company, Universal Merchants, of falsely marketing the weight-loss benefits of a dietary supplement.
The partners entrusted Mr. Soussana with FedMod’s Los Angeles sales office precisely because he had proved adept at selling the sorts of loans that now required modification. In 2006, Mr. Soussana, then 30, was listed as the nation’s sixth most prolific mortgage broker by Mortgage Originator, a trade magazine, brokering $318 million worth of loans. The same year, he paid $1.8 million for a house near Beverly Hills.
“He was one of the biggest guys in subprime mortgages,†Mr. Minitzer said. “He basically wanted to get back to his old days of 50, 60, 70 guys in his office, and we could help because we were basically taking over the market.â€
Bringing in the Law
The three original partners brought in Mr. Anz to gain a crucial asset: his law license. Having a lawyer in charge enabled them to market their venture as a law firm and thus collect upfront payments under California rules.
“Jeff asked me how I could, for lack of a better word, legitimize it,†Mr. Anz said.
The California Department of Real Estate warns consumers that many dubious loan modification companies have organized themselves as law firms solely to allow them to collect upfront fees, even though the lawyers have little, if anything, to do with the services provided. The department cautions consumers against hiring such companies.
In its lawsuit against FedMod, the F.T.C. contends that the company’s advertisements implied it had the backing of the federal government. “If you’re like the millions of Americans out there who are struggling to pay a mortgage, you may be eligible for the Federal Loan Modification Program,†radio ads beckoned.
Aggressive marketing ensured that Mr. Pejman, 22, never lacked for calls when he started at the Irvine sales office in January. He had worked at three wholesale mortgage brokerages. Now, a trainer emphasized he was at a law center.
“Our big sales pitch was that an attorney could do a better job with your loan modification,†Mr. Pejman said. “If you told them these were basically washed-up people from the mortgage industry, or just people sending in paperwork, they would say, ‘Well, why bother? I might as well do this myself.’ â€
He went on: “It was misleading to the client. Attorneys never touched those files.â€
Among the 700-plus full-time employees who worked for FedMod this spring, only nine were lawyers, Mr. Anz said, though the company retained a lawyer in every state.
Mr. Pejman and his fellow agents urged homeowners to send FedMod $3,495; the agents were promised a 30 percent commission for fees they took in. Most clients could not come up with more than $1,000 and agreed to a payment schedule for the rest. Assurances of relief from a homeowner’s loan terms were typically extravagant, Mr. Pejman said.
“A big grabber was that your loan will be reduced to 2.5 percent to 5 percent on a 30-year fixed rate loan,†he said. “They’d print out all these mythical success stories for us to read over the phone.â€
Under FedMod’s policies, agents were prohibited from making false claims, counseling clients not to pay their mortgages or providing success rates, Mr. Anz said. New clients received follow-up compliance calls to ensure they understood nothing was guaranteed.
But sales agents were told of such policies with a wink, Mr. Pejman said.
“They basically told us, ‘Do whatever you need to do,’ †he said. “ ‘It’s a sales floor. You’re here to sell.’ People would quote success rates and just pull them out of thin air. People would say 60 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent. To the average Joe in Kansas, that sounded great. But the reality is that 50 percent were immediately declined by the lender.â€
What shocked Mr. Pejman was how readily customers handed over their credit card numbers. Sales agents tapped into a deep vein of anxiety.
“I’d hear people say, ‘Would you pay $1,000 to save your home? To save your marriage? Your kids’ education?’ †he recalled. “I’d hear people say, ‘Yeah, we’re the federal government.’ There were a lot of corrupt people working there.â€
In Charlotte, N.C., Joshua Garland telephoned FedMod in March after seeing one of its television commercials. Mr. Garland’s wife had been laid off from her hospital job. He had lost his job as a chef and was now bartending. Their monthly income had plunged from $3,200 to less than $1,000. They were already three months behind on their mortgage.
A FedMod agent confidently described how his company could cut their monthly payments from $1,200 to $532, Mr. Garland recalled. But first, he had to pay a $995 “retainer fee.â€
This was nearly as much as Mr. Garland earned in two weeks. Dental bills were piling up for his three children. He was behind on his utilities.
“I told him, ‘We have $1,200 left to make our mortgage payment, and if we give that money to you, we’re going to get further behind,’ †Mr. Garland recalled. “He said, ‘Go ahead and make the $995 payment, because once you’re under our plan, the bank can’t foreclose on you.’ â€
After several follow-up calls from the agent, Mr. Garland paid. Then, months passed with no contact from FedMod, he said. He left countless messages seeking updates, demanding a refund. His lender foreclosed on his house, scheduling a sale for Aug. 26.
“This guy hounds me for the $1,000, and then as soon as I pay him he disappears,†Mr. Garland said. “I usually don’t fall for stuff like this. I can usually tell if it’s a scam. But this guy, I mean he came with his guns loaded.â€
Overwhelmed by Cases
FedMod was drowning in cases. The pipeline swelled by 8,000 clients from December to March, according to Mr. Anz.
Once sales agents took in applications, they passed files on to the processing department, where case managers were supposed to assemble documents and submit them to lenders. But their offices were hopelessly underequipped.
“The owners didn’t want to invest in software, so everything was tracked manually,†said Rachelle Cochems, who took over as operations manager on Jan. 19 and left the company in May after FedMod stopped paying her. “We couldn’t handle the volume we were taking in. The system was broken.â€
Each case manager was responsible for as many as 200 files at a time, Ms. Cochems said, making it impossible to keep in regular touch with customers. Some files floated in limbo, because sales agent did not bother handing them over.
“You’re paying the sales agent upfront,†Ms. Cochems said. “So what motivation does he have to get it closed?â€
In February, Mr. Anz shut the Los Angeles sales office, uncomfortable with reports that Mr. Soussana had filled it with “unsavory types†from the mortgage industry, he said.
“I’m not a shady person,†Mr. Soussana said.
By March, sales agents were inundated by calls from furious clients who had paid long ago, but not heard from anyone. Some called from motels, their belongings piled in boxes, weeping as they recounted losing their homes.
The agents let most calls go to voicemail, playing the most dramatic messages over speakerphones for communal amusement, Mr. Pejman said.
“Guys would sit there and laugh,†he said. “ ‘This lady’s going crazy,’ that sort of thing.â€
The next month, Mr. Anz took full control of the company, banishing his partners and blaming them for “a train wreck.†He ceased marketing, he said, and concentrated on processing the backlog of files.
In April, the F.T.C. filed its lawsuit, prompting credit card companies to freeze their accounts with FedMod. The court imposed a temporary restraining order, barring FedMod from acquiring new customers.
By the time Rana Hajjar began working there on April 13 as a client representative, she found the company utterly chaotic.
“They just handed me 70 files and told me to call these people because they’re very upset,†Ms. Hajjar recalled. “The majority of them had paid three or four months earlier and had never heard from anyone. I was yelled at from today until tomorrow.â€
Several times a week, clients called to report that the police were at their door, ordering them out for foreclosure sales, Ms. Hajjar said. When she alerted negotiators, they sometimes called banks and postponed sales, but usually they ignored her messages, she said.
When Ms. Hajjar cashed her first paycheck, it bounced, she said. Over the next three weeks, she never received payment. On Monday, May 11, her manager told her and dozens of other employees to take the rest of the week off because the company had no money for payroll.
She was never called back, later adding her name to a file of more than 120 wage disputes leveled against FedMod with the California Labor Commissioner.
Today, FedMod has only 40 employees, said Mr. Anz, pledging to plow through the company’s 4,200 remaining files.
“We’re doing what we can,†he said. “I’m the bad boy of loan mods.â€
Yet as television advertisements attest, many other companies remain aggressive in what amounts to perhaps the last growth industry left in American real estate.
Toby Lyles and Jack Styczynski contributed research from New York, and Rebecca Cathcart contributed reporting from Los Angeles.
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12) A Lesson From Vietnam for Obama’s War in Afghanistan
By Joe Galloway
July 17, 2009
http://original.antiwar.com/galloway/2009/07/17/a-lesson-from-vietnam-for-obamas-war-in-afghanistan/
It was half a century ago, on the night of July 8, 1959, that the first two American soldiers to die in the Vietnam War were slain when guerrillas surrounded and shot up a small mess hall where half a dozen advisers were watching a movie after dinner.
Master Sgt. Chester Ovnand of Copperas Cove, Texas, and Maj. Dale Buis of Imperial Beach, Calif., would become the first two names chiseled on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial â€" the first of 58,261 Americans who died in Vietnam during the next 16 years.
The deaths of Ovnand and Buis went largely unnoticed at the time, simply a small beginning of what would become a huge national tragedy.
Presidents from Harry Truman to Dwight Eisenhower to John F. Kennedy to Lyndon B. Johnson to Richard M. Nixon to Gerald R. Ford made decisions â€" some small and incremental, some large and disastrous â€" in building us so costly and tragic a war.
The national security handmaidens of those presidents, especially those who served Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford, were supposedly the best and brightest that Harvard and Yale and Princeton could contribute.
Presidents right up to today’s like to surround themselves with such self-assured and certain men, men whose eagerness to find war the answer to most problems often grows in direct proportion to their lack of experience in uniform or combat.
This small history lesson can be read as a cautionary tale to President Barack Obama’s team as they oversee an excruciating slow-motion end of one war, Iraq, and a pell-mell rush to wade ever deeper into another one in the mountains and deserts of remote and tribal Afghanistan.
The story grows out of a battle in the very beginning of the American takeover of the war in South Vietnam in the fall of 1965 when a defense secretary, Robert S. McNamara, counted the bodies and the beans and offered his president two directly opposing options.
In the wake of the Ia Drang Valley battles of November 1965 â€" the first major collision between an experimental airmobile division of the U.S. Army and regular soldiers in division strength from the People’s Army of North Vietnam â€" President Johnson ordered McNamara to rush to Vietnam and assess what had happened and what was going to happen.
Up till then, just more than 1,000 Americans, mostly advisers and pilots, had been killed in Vietnam since Ovnand and Buis. Then, in just five days 234 more Americans had been killed and hundreds wounded in the Ia Drang. There weren’t even enough military coffins in the country to handle the dead.
McNamara took briefings from Gen. William Westmoreland, the top U.S. commander in Vietnam, and from Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge and assorted spy chiefs and diplomats. Then he flew to An Khe in the Central Highlands and was briefed on the Ia Drang battles by then Lt. Col. Hal Moore, who had commanded on the ground in Landing Zone XRAY in the Ia Drang.
On the plane home to Washington, McNamara dictated a Top Secret/Eyes Only memo to President Johnson dated Nov. 30, 1965. In that report he stated that the enemy had not only met but had exceeded our escalation of the war and we had reached a decision point. In his view there were two options:
â€"Option One: We could arrange whatever diplomatic cover we could arrange and pull out of South Vietnam.
â€"Option Two: We could give Gen. Westmoreland the 200,000 more U.S. troops he was asking for, in which case by early 1967 we would have more than 500,000 Americans on the ground and they would be dying at the rate of 1,000 a month. (He was wrong; the death toll would reach more than 3,000 a month at the height of the war). "All we can possibly achieve (by this) is a military stalemate at a much higher level of violence," McNamara wrote.
On Dec. 15, 1965, the president assembled what he called the "wise men" for a brainstorming session on Vietnam. He entered the Cabinet room holding McNamara’s memo. He shook it at McNamara and asked: "Bob, you mean to tell me no matter what I do I can’t win in Vietnam?" McNamara nodded yes; that was precisely what he meant.
The wise men sat in session for two days. Participants say there was no real discussion of McNamara’s Option One â€" it would have sent the wrong message to our Cold War allies â€" and at the end there was a unanimous vote in favor of Option Two â€" escalating and continuing a war that our leaders now knew we could not win.
Remember. This was 1965, 10 years before the last helicopter lifted off that roof in Saigon. It’s a hell of a lot easier to get sucked into a war or jump feet first into a war than it is to get out of a war.
There’s no question that President Obama inherited these two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, from the Bush/Cheney administration. But the buildup in Afghanistan and the change in strategy belong to Obama and his version of the best and brightest.
The new administration has dictated an escalation from 30,000 U.S. troops to more than 60,000, and even before most of them have actually arrived commanders on the ground are already back asking for more, and why not? When you are a hammer everything around you looks like a nail.
Some smart veterans of both Iraq and Afghanistan, on the ground now or just back, say that at this rate we will inevitably lose the war in Afghanistan; that the situation on the ground now is far worse than Iraq was at its lowest point in 2006 and early 2007. They talk of a costly effort both in lives and national treasure that will stretch out past the Obama administration and maybe the two administrations after that.
President Obama needs to call in the "wise men and women" for a fish-or-cut-bait meeting on his two ongoing wars. Let’s hope that this time around, there’s an absence of the arrogance and certainty of previous generations of advisers.
Let’s hope that they choose to speed up the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq and get out before the Iraqi people and leaders order us to leave.
Let’s hope, too, that they weigh very carefully all the costs of another decade or two of war in Afghanistan.
Failing that, they should at the very least begin an immediate drive to increase the number of available beds in military and Veterans Administration hospitals, and expand Arlington National Cemetery and the national military cemeteries nationwide.
â€"Antiwar.com, July 17, 2009
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