Progressive Calendar 11.19.11 /2 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001umn.edu) | |
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:42:53 -0800 (PST) |
P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 11.19.11 1.OWS/grow notDem 11.19 7pm 2. Party 11.19 7pm 3.Matt Taibbi - Jail for food-stamp fraud; Wall Street fraudsters get bailouts --------1 of 3-------- From: "Tom Dooley" <fellowcommoditydooley [at] gmail.com> Subject: OWS/grow notDem 11.19 7pm Working Democracy for Sat Nov 5th 7 pm at Mayday Bookstore EXPLOITATION AND THE OCCUPY MOVEMENTS. How to expand OWS movement/NOT be co-opted by Democratic party, where to go from here The usual good food and drink. 7 pm Sat Nov 19 MAY DAY BOOKS 301 Cedar Ave.S. basment of HUB Bicycle, door frwy side of bldg, WEST BANK, Minneapolis (612)333-4719 NOTE: Parking in lot next to bookstore NOT available this weekend dueto Midwest Mountaineering event. Must use parking meters or UM ramp. --------2 of 3-------- Party 11.19 7pm The Ninth AnnualNonpartisan Party From: Carleton Crawford (R) Elizabeth Dickinson (Green) Dan McConnell (DFL) Brian Melendez (DFL) Loren Olson (DFL) Gregg Sougstad (R) You and your friends are cordially invited to the ninth annual “Nonpartisan Party” on Saturday 19 November 2011, from 7 p.m. until Whenever, at Brian Melendez’s home, 1777 Dupont Avenue South, Minneapolis. (Please see below for directions.) The Concept The inaugural Nonpartisan Party was held in 2003, when — for the first time in many years — there were neither federal, state, legislative, nor municipal elections scheduled in Minneapolis. The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November came and went without a general election. (This year, for only the second time since the inaugural party in 2003, that alignment will recur.) The co-hosts — then as now — were volunteer activists in different political parties. We spend practically all our volunteer time around politics, helping get our candidates elected. But some of the most decent and interesting folks that we have met in local politics are not necessarily members of the same party as we are. Unfortunately, those folks seldom deal with each other outside the partisan political context, so building relationships and actual friendships with each other is tough. But politics would be much more civil, and perhaps focused more on issues and less on personalities, if there were more opportunities for building relationships and friendships among volunteers across party lines. To that end, we threw the first Nonpartisan Party as an opportunity for volunteer leaders in all the political parties to meet and mingle outside partisan politics. The event was a success, so we have turned it into an annual event — a chance for coming together after an actual election, taking off our hats as partisans for a moment and looking at the candidates and at each other as neighbors and fellow citizens. The Rules There are a few ground rules: 1. The party is a private event, hosted by individuals and not by political parties, organizations, or titles. Everyone who cares about local politics, regardless of partisan affiliation (or lack of affiliation), is welcome. 2. No agenda or program. 3. No handouts, leaflets, or other propaganda. It’s a party, ya know? 4. The party is mostly in honor of volunteer activists. Publicly elected officers are more than welcome. So are candidates for those offices. But nobody gets a soapbox or a formal introduction. 5. No campaigning allowed. (Gossip and speculation are okay.) 6. No speeches! We will supply some beverages and munchies. You don’t need to bring anything. But if you do want to bring something, you can bring a favorite beverage or snack for sharing. The Directions Brian’s house, 1777 Dupont Avenue, is a red-brick house with white and green trim in Lowry Hill, three blocks west of Hennepin Avenue, between Summit and Douglas (three blocks north of Franklin). You can park on the street. --------3 of 3-------- Woman Gets Jail for Food-Stamp Fraud; Wall Street Fraudsters Get Bailouts By Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone 18 November 11 Had a quick piece of news I wanted to call attention to, in light of the recent developments at Zuccotti Park. For all of those who say the protesters have it wrong, and don't really have a cause worth causing public unrest over, consider this story, sent to me by a friend on the Hill. Last week, a federal judge in Mississippi sentenced a mother of two named Anita McLemore to three years in federal prison for lying on a government application in order to obtain food stamps. Apparently in this country you become ineligible to eat if you have a record of criminal drug offenses. States have the option of opting out of that federal ban, but Mississippi is not one of those states. Since McLemore had four drug convictions in her past, she was ineligible to receive food stamps, so she lied about her past in order to feed her two children. The total "cost" of her fraud was $4,367. She has paid the money back. But paying the money back was not enough for federal Judge Henry Wingate. Wingate had the option of sentencing McLemore according to federal guidelines, which would have left her with a term of two months to eight months, followed by probation. Not good enough! Wingate was so outraged by McLemore's fraud that he decided to serve her up the deluxe vacation, using another federal statute that permitted him to give her up to five years. He ultimately gave her three years, saying, "The defendant's criminal record is simply abominable.... She has been the beneficiary of government generosity in state court." Compare this court decision to the fraud settlements on Wall Street. Like McLemore, fraud defendants like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank have "been the beneficiary of government generosity." Goldman got $12.9 billion just through the AIG bailout. Citigroup got $45 billion, plus hundreds of billions in government guarantees. All of these companies have been repeatedly dragged into court for fraud, and not one individual defendant has ever been forced to give back anything like a significant portion of his ill-gotten gains. The closest we've come is in a fraud case involving Citi, in which a pair of executives, Gary Crittenden and Arthur Tildesley, were fined the token amounts of $100,000 and $80,000, respectively, for lying to shareholders about the extent of Citi's debt. Neither man was forced to admit to intentional fraud. Both got to keep their jobs. Anita McLemore, meanwhile, lied to feed her children, gave back every penny of her "fraud" when she got caught, and is now going to do three years in prison. Explain that, Eric Holder! Here's another thing that boggles my mind: You get busted for drugs in this country, and it turns out you can make yourself ineligible to receive food stamps. But you can be a serial fraud offender like Citigroup, which has repeatedly been dragged into court for the same offenses and has repeatedly ignored court injunctions to abstain from fraud, and this does not make you ineligible to receive $45 billion in bailouts and other forms of federal assistance. This is the reason why all of these settlements allowing banks to walk away without "admissions of wrongdoing" are particularly insidious. A normal person, once he gets a felony conviction, immediately begins to lose his rights as a citizen. But white-collar criminals of the type we've seen in recent years on Wall Street - both the individuals and the corporate "citizens" - do not suffer these ramifications. They commit crimes without real consequence, allowing them to retain access to the full smorgasbord of subsidies and financial welfare programs that, let's face it, are the source of most of their profits. Why, I wonder, does a bank that has committed fraud multiple times get to retain access to the Federal Reserve discount window? Why should Citigroup and Goldman Sachs get to keep their status as Primary Dealers of US government debt? Are there not enough banks without extensive histories of fraud and malfeasance that can be awarded these de facto subsidies? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shove Jove
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