Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

*No Wonder the World Is Terrified of America -- We're the Biggest Threat
AlterNet | Noam Chomsky | 02/05/14

As the year 2013 drew to an end, the BBC reported on the results of the WIN/Gallup International poll on the question: "Which country do you think is the greatest threat to peace in the world today?"

The United States was the champion by a substantial margin, winning three times the votes of second-place Pakistan.   By contrast, the debate in American scholarly and media circles is about whether Iran can be contained, and whether the huge NSA surveillance system is needed to protect U.S. security. ... Read more

Now Even AIPAC Says It's Not The Right Time To Advance Iran Sanctions Bill
HP | Ashley Alman | 02/06/14

American Israel Public Affairs Committee changed course on Thursday, coming out against an immediate Senate vote on new Iran sanctions, according to a statement obtained by The Hill.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the predominantly Republican-backed sanctions bill, took to the Senate floor Thursday to encourage his colleagues not to let partisan politics drive a vote on the matter. AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, expressed support for Menendez in a statement several hours later: ... Read more

A Whistle-Blower From the Banking Industry
NYT or TRNN | Bill Black | 02/26/14

Erika Brown is not well known, which helps explain why we have seen our most elite banks' leaders produce the greatest financial crime spree in history without a single conviction of the Wall Street elites who drove the crisis. Erika Brown is a whistle-blower. She revealed Bank of America's orders that its employees lie to homeowners to encourage foreclosures rather than loan modifications that could help the borrowers keep their homes.

The sick irony is that this occurred in the context of the Home Affordable Modification Program, which was designed to help save homes and gave the banks a financial incentive to do so. Brown and her colleagues revealed that their orders were to squeeze as much cash as possible out of financially troubled homeowners and then default.

If President Obama invited Erika Brown to be his guest at the State of the Union, he would signal an end to the administration's hostility toward whistle-blowers. The president should use his address to praise her courage and to encourage others to follow her lead -- and he should create a new website and phone bank so that whistle-blowers can come forward with evidence of fraud. He should announce that he has directed the attorney general to make prosecutions of elite frauds a much higher priority, and that he will submit an emergency supplemental budget bill to fully fund the financial regulatory agencies and hire 1,000 new white-collar-crime specialists at the F.B.I.

*California Dries Up as Brown Pushes $15 Billion Tunnel
Bloomberg | Michael B. Marois | 02/03/14

California's worsening drought is raising the stakes for a $15 billion plan endorsed by Governor Jerry Brown to build two 30-mile (48-kilometer) water tunnels under an ecologically sensitive river delta east of San Francisco Bay.

The tunnels, each as wide as a two-lane interstate highway, would ship water more reliably from northern California to thirsty farms and cities in the south. They would also bolster the ecosystem of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which is on the verge of collapse from feeding water to 25 million people and 750,000 acres (304,000 hectares) of farmland. ... Read more
ABC | California Governor Warns Residents of Serious Drought (01/31/14) [2:05]

A Deepening Drought in the West (slideshow) (02/02/14)