State Sanctioned Shake Down

According to a recent New York Times article there seems to be a blurring of the line between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" when it comes to debt collectors and local district attorneys.

Over three hundred local district attorneys are climbing into bed with collection agency schemers where the attorneys are participating in, and profiting from a shakedown operation. DA's are allowing debt collectors to use their letter heads in an attempt to scare the crap out of  people who bounce checks.

These "official" looking letters sent to check-bouncers threaten them with not only jail time, but tacks on an "additional fee" of $150-$200 to take a "financial accountability" course where the DA's office takes a kick-back.The DA and debt collectors call these shady arrangements "partnerships" as in partners in plunder.

The Times points out that the premise of this government-sponsored shakedown is that the people passing bum checks are shysters. But the focus of the course belies that:

Some officials in district attorneys’ offices have quietly raised concerns that the programs are misleading. A November 2009 county audit of Deschutes County, Ore., titled “District Attorney’s Office-Cash handling over revenues,” wondered whether elements of the program could be “disingenuous…

Ms. Yartz (who mistakenly wrote a check on an account she was closing) also questioned the need for a class on budgeting and financial accountability: “If I meant to bounce this check like a criminal, why do I need a class on budgeting?”

The so-called justification for this scam according to the dirty district attorneys offices is that they have been swamped with merchant requests to go after bounced checks that merchants were unable to collect. These "bad checks" are being hoisted onto the district attorneys as evidence of "fraud" only the holders of these checks don't have evidence to back up their claim, and the the DA's offices are simply taking their word for it. Without concrete evidence of fraud, many first time check- bouncers are being treated as criminals, and  forced to comply without a day in court.

Just shell out $200 bucks.......and the charges go away.

Consumer attorneys did succeed in getting one debt collector that engaged in this practice, American Corrective Counseling Services, to file for Chapter 11 in the face of class action suits. But its successor Corrective Solutions carries on with the same dubious practices and has “partnerships” with more than 140 district attorneys’ offices.

Why haven’t the D.A.’s banded together to go after the “looters”? Oh that’s right, the looters get a free pass because of their largess, while the lowly taxpayer is an easy target. The rot of corruption/collusion has spread so deeply, that we are figuratively up to our ears in a racketeering stink.

Whatever financial shortfalls the DA’s offices are having are a direct consequence of the finance-sector chicaneries that crashed Everything in 2008, and their budgets are being starved on purpose by elected officials who are pushing the agenda of the New World Order Public-Private Partnerships (shorter: privatize all public functions and assets).

This is another example of how the corporate structure charges and collects the “poverty penalty”.all these charges, higher interest rates, installment fees, and every other thing people pay who don’t have enough cash to pay in full every time. It is just all these mega corporate trends and now, municipal trends too, that preys on those who can least afford it, and who everyone knows, can’t hire the legal guns to defend themselves…..and now, the state is part of the shakedown……

Just another sorry sign of the times we live in? Fraud is difficult to prove without evidence proving the act of fraud was done intentionally. That's why the banksters are still walking around free to continue their crime-spree.

“Catch-22 says they can do anything we can’t stop them from doing.”

But wait -- there is hope.

The anniversary of Occupy Wall Street is September 17, and they have are coming out fighting.

The release of the Debt Resistors’ Manual suggests that the movement is still alive, if much less visible, and is developing new avenues for having impact. This guide is designed not only to give individuals advice for how to be more effective in dealing with lenders but also sets forth some larger-scale ideas. This is a project of a new OWS group, Strike Debt. Fighting for debt renegotiation and restructuring, something that the bank-boosting legacy parties have refused to do, is becoming a new focus for OWS efforts.

Read it HERE

The middle classes live in abject fear of the creditor, debt collector, credit rating agency, and stigma of bankruptcy because people simply have not had access to the kind of information.

Occupy is working constructively to help all those who think they are trapped in debt to realize that the trap is to a large extent comprised simply of intimidation. This manual, if it can be disseminated widely enough, can help many people take back their power and fight back against the criminal banking, collection, and ratings agency mafioso.
In other words;

VIVE LA DEFAULT!

ickenittle

You Were My September 11

Tuesday was the anniversary of 911. The day the Twin Towers came to theirs knees leaving thousands dead, and millions of Americans groundless.Words could not be found to describe the unfolding nightmare that spread out before us, covering us like the dust and debris with a profound sense of dread.

Suddenly everything ended. Nothing would be the same again. 

I know how they feel- is all I can say, as I watched my love die on another day.

 Suddenly everything ended. Nothing would be the same again. 

There once was a time in history when the word suicide had not been used to describe such an act of destruction. In those days suicide was called self murder. Which, when you think about it is closer to the truth than not. It might seem too harsh for some in our politically correct time where terms are softened to be more palatable for a polite society. Terms like "rape" become sexual assault, torture becomes "rendition" and "self-murder" suicide.

But some acts of ugliness aren't meant to be polished or refined. Some acts need to remain tarnished. Suicide is one of them. To murder one's self is an act most cruel, because the murderer is not qualified to lead the execution. The self-murderer is not a jury, or judge, or the criminal justice system. The self executioner is both the victim and the perpetrator who happen to be wearing the same clothes.

Like the 911 victims and the countless families and friends left behind, we the survivors of the self murderer are breathless and wordless for a time. We too, understand the sensation of shock and awe. We know all too well the feeling of emptiness that will never be filled, where our loved ones lived, and understand that the void in our souls- sometimes expanding- sometimes contracting, will remain with us forever.

 It never gets better-- it just gets different.

For a time we become the lost children hiding under the cloak of Death and Pestilence in Dickens story, A Christmas Carol. We stare out, hollow eyed into the void of nothingness, our expressions fixed in grim countenance, until time works its way in, like mornings light creeping in under a door. For a time we live in Dante's Inferno, until eventually we are able to see the path that leads us out of our day- to -day living hell.

I miss my James, who became his own murderer. He was a man who met himself at the cross-road of life's journey, only to take the wrong turn. On that road he met his killer. They stood face to face for a time. One man unsure of how to get past the familiar stranger, the other seeking destruction.

One man has a gun, and the other does nothing to defend himself . When the murderer pulls the trigger they both die, and I am there as a silent witness- just like so many who watched the Towers fall. Silent in a rage of destruction, unable to breath, to move, or feel. We are plunged underwater, where we sink, fighting to breath but willing to drown. We drift and drift, until life pulls us out of that ocean of grief.

We hear the explosion, and our own deafening scream. We howl in rage and bone crushing emotional pain, our minds howl, our hearts howl, but no one can hear us from the outside world. The sky has opened up and the stars like our souls are being sucked into empty black space. The ground below trembles, gives way, leaving us groundless, separating us from our day to day sense of security.

Like the 911 survivors we wonder why we are still alive. Our reason for living as been torn away leaving us without direction. Our path has been forever altered and for a very long time we can't find our way home. We have invested our life's currency into our loved ones only to find ourselves suddenly bankrupt by a power greater than ourselves. Time is the only medication for this kind of madness.

You were my September, 11th  James. You became my waking nightmare. You were both my greatest love, and greatest pain. You weren't qualified to be your own executioner. You were neither a criminal or a saint, and none of your past transgression were worth the cost of your life.

When someone we love is suddenly taken from us, in time we begin to realize that we weren't meant to have them forever, but they were meant to have us for the rest of their lives.

However short those lives may be.

All we can do is move forward one painful step at a time, in very slow motion.

ickenittle

Bad Cop-Bad Cop



" But wait! You gave me the idea!"

 When police vow to protect and serve, who exactly are they serving? It used to be you and me, but now-a-days it seems the police are serving and "preserving" their jobs by becoming complicit in the very crimes they are pretending to fight.

The Austin Occupy movement fell victim to these bad cop-bad-cop tactics when several officers were assigned to infiltrate the group and gather information on potentially illegal activity.

According to the Austin Statesman, court documents and interviews show that the infiltrators “camped with other participants in the movement, marched in rallies and attended strategy meetings.”

They may also have gone further, acting as provocateurs to encourage the use of lockboxes or “sleeping dragons” — lengths of PVC pipe into which protesters insert their arms to make it harder for police to remove them during a demonstration.
Seven protesters who used the devices while blocking a port entrance in Houston last December 12 have been charged with a felony and face jail terms of from two to ten years under what the Statesman calls “an obscure statute that prohibits using a device that is manufactured or adapted for the purpose of participating in a crime.”

The question of the lockboxes came up during a district court hearing in Harris County this week at which one of those seven, Ronnie Garza, sought to have the charge against him dropped. It was disclosed at the hearing that Austin Police Detective Shannon Dowell — known to Occupiers as “Butch” — had purchased the necessary pipe and other materials using funds supplied by Occupy Austin, constructed the devices himself, and provided them to demonstrators.

According to Occupy Austin supporter Kit O'Connell, the occupiers figured out “Butch’s” true identity after their encampment was evicted last winter. Affidavits from Occupy Austin members have pointed to Dowell as the person who pushed for the use of the lockboxes and allege that he would regularly pull participants aside “in order to express his frustration with debate and eagerness for more aggressive and provocative actions.”

Garza’s attorney, Greg Gladden of the National Lawyer’s Guild, has accused the police of entrapment and possible misconduct. Judge Joan Campbell, who had initially dismissed the case until prosecutors obtained indictments from a grand jury, says she will decide next week whether to allow the proceeding to go forward.

Austin Police Chief Sean Mannix said that his department had begun receiving reports from confidential informants that the occupiers might be planning illegal protests. “We obviously had an interest in ensuring people didn’t step it up to criminal activity,” he said. “There is obviously a vested public interest to make sure that we didn’t allow civil unrest, violent actions to occur.”

This sounds a lot how the FBI operates when they catch suspected terrorists. First they find someone to match the particular terrorist meme. Brown skinned, of middle-eastern descent, Muslim to be sure, who rants too much on face book. Then they contact him, convince him to go forward with his crazy ideas, and supply the fake bombs with cell phone detonators to ramp up the charges. Once the poor sucker actually makes that call-- they then bust his ass. 

Job well done-- gratuitous back slapping all round -- keeping America safe!

Infiltration is as old a trick as there is but acting as provocateurs is criminal. Imagine if our law enforcement didn't infiltrate and incite? It is quite a racket to create the crime to justify the existence of more law enforcement personnel and hardware.



Rest In Peace Harley

 Dead Dogs wag no tales-- especially dead police dogs killed by his idiot master.

Officials in Iowa are investigating the cause of death of a police dog that was left in a patrol car on a hot Wednesday afternoon.The Labrador retriever, named Harley, was a 7-year veteran of the Des Moines Police Department

Officials were unsure whether the car's air conditioning was on, if any windows were rolled down or how long the yellow lab was in the car, The Des Moines Register reported.
The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon. Des Moines' recorded high temperature Wednesday was 95 degrees.

Police say Harley was paired with Officer Brian Mathis on the department's vice and narcotics unit.
"What we know is that when he came back to the car, his partner of seven years had died," Des Moines Police Sgt. Chris Scott told the Register.

Such a high cost for the price of coffee and a doughnut.

Officials said Mathis had no history of handling the dog poorly, according to the Register, and Des Moines police have eight other K-9s.

There had better be an autopsy on this poor dog, because we all know well if you or I had left our dog in a hot 95% day we'd be cooling our heels in jail facing animal abuse charges.

Will officer stupid get a slap on the wrist-- or will the Des Moines Police Dept. let this one slip by? For Harley it doesn't matter if his master hasn't had a history of frying a dog in a hot car. Once time was enough for him.

Rest in peace Harley, and let's hope that all good dogs do go to heaven, and when officer Dim-Wit gets there he finds out that dogs are in charge.

ickenittle

Austerity Comes To Kansas

Things are looking gloomy in Kansas, as Democrats are fighting tooth and nail against austerity-like budget cuts that will leave the state hanging by a thread.

Following Gov. Sam Brownback's (R) instructions to state agency heads to cut 10 percent from their budgets to prepare for problems "beyond our control," state Democrats are warning of a drastic impact throughout the state. The debate comes as the state prepares for the implementation of a tax plan adopted this year, which includes dramatic personal income tax cuts and the elimination of most business taxes.

Remember; cutting taxes create jobs.

Brownback's office told the Lawrence Journal-World that the agency-cut proposal was preparation for a potential economic catastrophe from outside of the state and not due to the tax plan.

“However, there are things agencies can do to reduce costs and streamline their offices without impacting services," Brownback spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag told the Journal-World. "The governor has asked state agencies to prepare contingency budget plans should something happen to the country and world economies that are beyond our control.”

Economic collapse anyone?

Brownback and GOP legislators have said the tax cuts will generate new jobs, which will grow the economy. The governor, who was advised by supply-side economics guru Art Laffer in designing the plan, said the state's economy is in a position to handle the cuts.

So slashing good jobs in order to create crappy jobs will fix everything- sound familiar?

Brownback's move comes a week after the state legislature's conservative Republican faction-- which was backed by the Koch brothers and supports the governor -- scored a big win in GOP primaries for state Senate seats, seizing control of the chamber from moderate Republicans who had been working with Democrats.

Hensley painted a picture of dramatic cuts in services across state government under the potential 10-percent budget cut, and future cuts if the $2.5 billion shortfall is realized. Brownback has said in the past that he wants to preserve education, public safety and social services. But the state's transportation department stands to lose 500 employees under the 10-percent cuts just as a new transportation construction program is due to start. The transportation plan is funded by both the state's capital and general fund budgets.

The Republicans continue to listen to and follow the "supply side" economic voodoo that is one of the main reasons the country is in such dire straits today. Cutting services that have been installed to assist and ensure that everyone will be taken care of regardless of circumstance are always to first to be cut from the life boats.

Well Dorothy, unfortunately you are in Kansas, and it's quickly turning into a shit-hole.

But the Republican flying-monkey's will fix everything -  by turning America into the land of OZ.

We know what hides behind that curtain.


ickenittle

Everything you Need To Know About Paul Ryan's Hero.



Young Paul Ryan

 Just in case you haven't heard, Mitt Romney picked the fresh-faced poster-boy for the Tea-party, Paul Ryan as his second in command. Though Ryan may look all scrubbed-up and innocent to the non-discriminating eye -  with those puppy-dog baby blues - and deeply furrowed Shar-pei brows- he is anything but the common man's best friend.

Under that nicely pressed suit lays the dark heart of a sociopath whose Ryan Budget Plan includes switching Medicare into a voucher system. As a young lad, Ryan all but worshiped at the feet of her Majesty, Ayn Rand, the Queen of Sociopaths.

If you don't know someone personally, look at the company they keep, (or worship) and you get an illuminating perspective.

Read the whole creepy story for yourself.

ickenittle