Texas and other states seek new Reality production of The Scarlet Letter

I think a lot of people just don't realize that the Texas sonogram requirement included one for the transvaginal probe....I'm not kidding. Especially for the earliest abortions. You would think that the earliest stages would be best but folks-any abortion for any reason-and even birth control would be outlawed. Women who are victims of rape and incest must attest to such in writing. Thus, they have a list. Almost like the Scarlet Letter-(free on Kindle) and you thought we were past that. Eighteen other states have laws regarding the requirement on sonograms. 


Judge Sparks noted that he was especially disturbed by the provision that women could avoid the fetal heartbeat requirement only if they signed a statement saying they were victims of rape or incest. Overall, as he stated in his ruling, he found it "difficult to avoid the troubling conclusion that the Texas Legislature either wants to permanently brand women who choose to get abortions, or views these certifications as potential evidence to be used against physicians and women."


If I were in Texas or one of the other states, I'd require Dr. certification that the prospective male partner has zero sperm count-or become a a lesbian.  Perhaps The Handmaid's Tale is not far off at all.

Yes, the Obama administration IS going after the financial fraudsters...and there's a New sheriff in Town

Not a day passes that I don't see comments like these:  "Why has NO ONE been arrested?" or "Eric Holder doesn't do ANYTHING" or "Why haven't I seen ANY CEOs in prison jumpsuits?' 


Here's one:  Nice photo-Farkas in his prison garb. Gone are his houses and toys...From June 2011,  "A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Lee B. Farkas, a former mortgage industry executive accused of masterminding one of the largest bank fraud schemes in history, to 30 years in prison. "


"As chairman of Taylor Bean, Mr. Farkas orchestrated a plot that caused the demise of Colonial Bank and cheated investors and the government out of billions of dollars, prosecutors say." 


Then the story goes on say "Still, Taylor Bean was a minor financial firm based in Florida, and the crimes of Mr. Farkas began well before the crisis struck.. "  This is where I wish they'd done their homework. Exploring a little more we find  that Taylor Bean Whitaker was the largest "private" lending corporation in the USA. From Forbes (certainly not a liberal publication)


Lee Farkas, former chairman of Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., was found guilty of all charges after a two week trial that had Farkas testifying on his own behalf."

In an unusual move by a defense team in a white-collar crime, they allowed Farkas to take the stand.  His testimony was that he was only trying to help keep his company stay afloat and that he did not believe that what he was doing was wrong.  What he was doing was essentially bundling and selling the same mortgages that his firm had originated twice.  Well the jury helped Farkas understand that what he did was wrong and found him guilty on all charges presented by the prosecution.  When sentenced on July 1^st, Farkas (58), who was taken into custody after the verdict, could be in prison for the remainder of his life.  His lawyers have asked for a hearing next week to allow Farkas to be out until his sentencing.

Lee Farkas built TBW from a small mortgage brokerage firm in 1991 into one of the biggest players in mortgages in the country. "

He also had to turn over $38 million in assets....the forfeiture of about eight properties in Florida, Maine and Georgia properties and nearly a dozen luxury cars as a substitute in partial payment for the money judgment against the convicted mortgage lender. He brought down TCW and Colonial bank-at one time, TBW was one of the largest privately held mortgage lending companies in the United States and Colonial Bank was one of the 25 largest banks in the United States.  

The fraud began in 2002, when Taylor Bean overdrew its main account with Colonial by several million dollars. Midlevel executives at Colonial agreed to transfer money into Taylor Bean's accounts at the end of each day to avoid generating overdraft notices, a process known as "sweeping."

As the hole grew to well over $100 million, Taylor Bean and a handful of Colonial executives concocted a scheme in which Taylor Bean sold hundreds of millions in worthless mortgages to Colonial - mortgages that had already been sold to other investors. More than $1 billion in such phony mortgages were eventually sold to Colonial, which listed them on its books and on its quarterly reports as legitimate assets, prosecutors alleged.

Six others have also pleaded guilty in the fraud scheme. As I see it, the mortgage and bank fraudsters are just like the mafia. And Eric Holder is using the same tactics as Eliot Ness. You catch the little ones and then the bigger ones. We are far from finished with this as more connections are made.

 The first sign of what would ultimately become a $3 billion fraud surfaced Jan. 11, 2000, when Fannie Mae executive Samuel Smith discovered Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. sold him a loan owned by someone else. Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise which issues almost half of all mortgage-backed securities, determined over the next two years that more than 200 loans acquired from Taylor Bean were bogus, non-performing or lacked critical components such as mortgage insurance.

Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd received $12.2 million in total compensation last year, down 15 percent from 2006, the government-sponsored enterprise said on Wednesday. Mudd's pay included his $990,000 salary, a $2.23 million bonus and a $9 million "long-term incentive" award, the company said.

And Fannie Mae is a private corporation. They knew and said nothing....but Lee Farkas is proof that even if you resign, the Eric Holder Justice Department may be on your trail...

He who fights with monsters might take care....

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you . -Friedrich Nietzsche 


Why do I love that quote and think it's the perfect quote for much of what is happening in politics today? Because, quite frankly there are some leftists who look a lot like the tea party. Anything that President Obama and the democrats in congress do, I know will soon be attacked by certain parties on the left in minutes, no doubt. I agree with much of what they are saying...but they tend to speak and write before they have the facts. They have fought with monsters and the abyss is gazing back. Their responses are emotional and they are battle worn and have lost hope. I want to write about facts and hope and why the emotional responses from far left are too much like the emotional responses from the tea party-and both sides lose the facts in the process. 


The debt ceiling compromise is a perfect example. I'm sure you've heard that the Democrats "caved" to the Republicans-that there are big cuts in medicare and social security. 


But it's simply not true. 


"Barack Obama ate John Boehner's lunch, and then he turned Boehner out to go preach to his conservative colleagues that this eating of the lunch by Obama is actually politically good for them.."  as the Peoplesview stated.   


Here's a summary:  

• A down payment on deficit reduction with historic long-term spending restraint: Nearly $1 trillion in spending cuts -- done in a way to not harm the economic recovery, are balanced between domestic and pentagon spending, and protects critical initiatives like aid for college students;
• Expedited process for balanced deficit reduction: Puts in place a longer term process for additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction through a committee structure that will put everything on the table, including tax and entitlement reform. To prevent either side from using procedural tricks to prevent Congress from acting, the committee’s recommendations will receive fast track authority, which means they can’t be amended or filibustered.   
• Sets the stage for a balanced package, including revenues: The American people and a growing number of Republicans agree that any deficit reduction package must be balanced and included revenue.
  • If the Committee does not succeed in meaningful balanced deficit reduction with revenue-raising tax reform on the most well-off by the end of 2012, the President can use his veto pen to raise nearly $1 trillion from the most well-off by vetoing any extension of the Bush high income tax cuts.
• A proven enforcement mechanism: An enforcement mechanism that will compel painful enough cuts to both sides that it will force congress to act. Enforcement mechanisms by their very nature should include measures that neither side supports so as to ensure action.
  
  
  Here's the important part:
  • If Congress fails to act, beginning in 2013 there will be $1.2 trillion in spending cuts through 2021 – 50 percent from domestic spending and 50 percent from defense spending.  Low income programs, including Medicaid, and Social Security and Medicare benefits would be exempted.  Medicare cuts would be capped, limited to the provider side. 

    
    

    Exempted except for the provider side. People like Marcus Bachmann are worried. Those "non-profit" hospitals are worried. But you should not be. Leftists, Democrats should not be. I did run over to a right wing site just to see what they were saying. 

    
    

    They hate it that there will defense cuts...They say things like "The 'joint commission' is one of the worst ideas to come down the pike in a while."  They hate the super committee...because they know they can't agree and if they don't, there will be deep defense cuts which are equally divided with domestic programs-and "entitlement programs are exempt.  Remember the last Republican debate when all the candidates were asked if they would accept a deficit reduction deal that favored spending cuts over raising tax revenue by 10-1 and were asked to raise their hand if 10-1 was unacceptable. All eight raised their hands.  Of course they hate the triggers and the deficit committee....

    
    

    Even Kissinger said Obama is like a chess player....and so have others. I agree. So, my leftist and moderate friends, be careful fighting with monsters, lest you become one.