RANDOM COMMENTS SUMMER 2012

THE FACEBOOK DEBACLE

The casino (Wall Street) opened for business. The gamblers (investors) placed their bets (purchased Facebook stock) and then watched the IPO price fall and fall. To add salt to their wounds it seems that the banks' high rollers (preferred investors) received inside info as to the real value of the Facebook stock price and consequently hedged their bets to avoid big losses. This story has the usual cast of questionable banking suspects and now we are in the finger pointing stage of events with lawsuits to follow. I appreciate consistent banking behavior. Remember the odds are always in favor of the house.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Sued Over Facebook Stock Sale

www.sfgate.com

PAKISTAN: FRIEND OR FOE

Is there any doubt that our alleged ally, Pakistan, was actively involved in providing sanctuary for bin Laden? It is time to say enough is enough and cut off the flow of ALL funds to Pakistan. Pakistan is not our ally but rather a stab you in the back, untrustworthy and deceitful foe. 

Doctor Who Helped Find Bin Laden Given Jail Term, Official Says

www.nytimes.com

A Pakistani doctor who helped the C.I.A. locate Osama Bin Laden with a fake vaccination campaign was convicted of treason and given 33 years in prison, a Pakistani official said. More radical Pakistani leaders are now calling for the doctor's death. And now we have Hawks like John McCain calling for our involvement in Syria. Remember the words of former President Gerald Ford. In a Time Magazine interview he said "And I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security."

MITT on TEACHERS' UNIONS

 

The Mitt is at it again. Exchanging his economic expertise hat for his mortar board & tassel. Mitt the mouth has identified teachers' unions as impediments to educational reform and labeled teachers' unions as special interest groups. I would agree that teachers' unions are indeed particularly and specifically interested in improving the quality of education for our public school students and in improving the working conditions for its members. However; I disagree that unions are impediments to improvements; but would offer that the wagon train of underfunded and non funded mandated programs, over emphasis on standardized testing, budget uncertainties, student behavior issues , poor attendance and a check list of other serious problems and concerns compromise the quality of our schools. The only thing different about Mitt's attack on public school teachers and public schools is that these attacks are usually made in September by pseudo power point experts. It is not September and the pseudo job creator is also a pseudo educational expert.

 MITT THE EXPERT ON CLASS SIZE

Mitt the job creator and self-appointed expert on the economy recently spoke in Philadelphia and shared his expertise on education. In a round table discussion with teachers and educational leaders, the likely Republican presidential nominee argued smaller classroom sizes do not lead to better learning in schools: "I came into office and talked to people and said, 'What can we do to improve our schools?' And a number of folks said well we need smaller classroom sizes, that'll make the biggest difference. So I gathered information, across our state. We had 351 cities and towns. I said let's compare the average classroom size from each school district with the performance of our students. Because we test our kids and we'll see if there's a relationship. And there was not. As a matter of fact, the school district with the smallest classrooms, Cambridge, had students performing at the bottom 10 percent. So just getting smaller classrooms didn't seem to be the key."

To the astonishment of those at the table with Mitt he added: "All other things being equal, smaller classes mean more teachers for the same pot of money, producing lower salaries and lower professional status. That may explain the paradox that, after primary school, there seems little or no relationship between class size and educational achievement." The man of business has spoken !!!

Mitt attended the exclusive Cranbrook School in Michigan where as we have recently learned he gave free haircuts to underclassman. This college prep school offers the following on its web site: "A 14-year-old student sits in a circle with fifteen other students. He discusses his interpretation of the book they are reading. Other students offer their insight. These students come from all over the world and throughout the country. We listen and learn. We talk and question. We understand and discover. This discussion is invaluable."

Seems the small class size that Mitt enjoyed is really not necessary or needed by the rest (the 99%) of us.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Up to 15 Percent of Students Chronically Skip School, Johns Hopkins Finds

www.nytimes.com

A study by researchers at John Hopkins University found that as many as 15 percent of students miss at least one school day in 10, and have gone undetected because of the way attendance is measured.

Administrators may look at average daily attendance but classroom teachers who are responsible for taking daily attendance in their classes have known for years that we have far too many students on a three and four day week when we teach a 5 day week. Now let's discuss achievement, test scores, grades and graduation rates !!! And of course somewhere there is a pseudo education expert (along with Mitt Romney) with a power point presentation ready to blame teachers for this problem.This study is a wake up call.

EVERYONE'S FAVORITE BANK

The majority of JP Morgan Chase Bank's shareholder (gamblers?) voted to retain alleged financial genius Jamie Dimon as the banks CEO and Chair of the Board and granted him his $23 mil salary in spite of the bank's $2 billion+ recent loss. Of course we are told not to worry as the SEC is investigating. The SEC .... "In November 2011, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court in Manhattan, threw out a settlement between the S.E.C. and Citigroup over a 2007 mortgage derivatives deal, saying that the S.E.C.’s policy of settling cases by allowing a company to neither admit nor deny the agency’s allegations did not satisfy the law." An appeals court subsequently threw out Rakoff's decision. The SEC, the agency with a growing reputation of being asleep at the wheel.

Mexico has its drug cartels and the US has its banking cartels and both do irreparable harm. The list of despicable US banking characters continues to grow. Late last year there was Jon Corzine the former CEO at Goldman Sachs and MF Global who lost one billion dollars of investors' money. When I write lost I mean lost ... he doesn't know where the hell the money is or went! Now we have that pompous prick Jamie Dimon who as CEO of JP Morgan Chase saw his bank lose two billion+ in bad trades in derivatives. Is there any doubt that Mr. Dimon should lose his seat on the NY Federal Reserve Banks Board of Directors?

WHAT'S GOING ON ?

Remember the song by Marvin Gaye "What's Going On?" It could be the theme song for this years political activities. We are still bogged down in the mid east and we pretend that Afghanistan and Pakistan are our friends ... very costly friends. We have economic problems from toxic mortgages to student loans and we worry about who can marry whom and birth control. The middle class continues to carry a disproportionate share of this country's financial burden and at the same time dealing with reduced services. Congress is and has been a bad joke and unfortunately the joke is on us. All the GOP can offer is Mitt the liar. Really, What the Hell is Going On ?????

BARACK OBAMA & THE DEMOCRATS

On far too many occasions when it was 4th down and one yards to go Obama punted rather than get down and dirty and gain the one yard and the first down. Obama needs to roll up his sleeves and risk getting dirty on occasions other than giving a speech. The GOP knows well the lessons of the Florida vote count and will replicate that fraud in more states in November. It is time for Obama to wake up his AG, Eric Holder, who seems to have been on vacation for the past three years and get the Justice Dept to work now before it is too late. We already know what the Supreme Court will do. Has the Obama campaign forgotten???

Dreaming of a Superhero

www.nytimes.com

As funnel clouds form over Washington, Obama still seems absorbed in his endless odyssey of self-discovery.

The voters of Wisconsin have spoken. They want to stay with Scott Walker even if he faces possible indictment. The DNC with its current laid back, don't worry about it attitude needs to re-evaluate its strategy. Its hands off policy led to the loss of Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in MA. and it happened again in Wisconsin where the DNC came in too late with too little. The GOP is serious about winning races on both the state and national level. When will the Democrats get serious ? November is just around the corner. The GOP's success in Florida in 2008 will more than likely be repeated in as many GOP controlled states as possible this year. If Obama, the Democrats and the DNC don't wake up are see the obvious writing on the wall then Mitt will be our next President, world leader and Commander-in-Chief. Now if that isn't a really scary thought then I don't know what is.

 The Democratic National Committee's Mascot --- Alfred E. Neuman "What me worry?"