“HUD spent 16 months investigatiing the foreclosure practices of Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial over a two-year span from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2010. These banks were found to have foreclosed on numerous homes prematurely, often without contacting homeowners to discuss options to avoid foreclosure, HUD concluded.
Today, the inspector general’s office reports that these banks hampered an early HUD investigation with shoddy paperwork, and restraints on the ability for investigators to interview bank employees.” Common Dreams
To read, click here.
The International Criminal Court was established about ten years ago to confront war crimes and genocide. It has just found a Congolese warlord guilty of recruiting child soldiers. Without the support of China or the US the court is severly limited in it ability to protect the world’s population. This is the court’s first verdict ever, but it is working on other cases all of which are in Africa.
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According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Secretary Clinton contacted a Russian official asking them to bring Iran to the bargaining table if they want to avoid a military strike within months.
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Greg Smith has written an editorial in the NY Times describing the Goldman Sachs he came to work for 12 years ago, and what it has become, and why his conscience tells him it is time to go. Clearly he wouldn’t have stayed through the scandals if he really understood the problem, but setting aside questions like, why it took him so long, there is some very helpful information in his article.
a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=1&hp”>To read, click here
I’ve run across several strange stories from the world of religion today. This may be the strangest. While the Mormon Church allows for postumous baptisms, it specifically bans doing so for Holocaust victims out of respect for the fact that they died for their faith. The National LDS leadership has vowed it would discipline a local temple that has baptized Anne Frank. Even so, the whole practise of baptizing another religion’s dead is pretty insulting. I wonder if there are any Rabbis out there willing to do posthumous circumcisions to start taking people back? Fair is fair. To read story, click here.
At some point every citizen will have to choose between the American Dream and the American Empire. The American dream was about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for everyone not just Americans. When we say the American dream is about money or that it was just for us, we have lost the dream for ourselves, and turned it into a nightmare for everyone else.
This President has not been kind to whistle blowers. Like those before it, this administration seems less concerned about preventing war crimes than about keeping such actions out of the light of day. This is the story of a young reporter named Shaye who may have tripped across a covert bombing by the US. At that point, his life became a living hell.
To read the story, click here.
Rev. Harold Camping became a national joke last year when he predicted that the world would end in May. Usually, when the nation finishes laughing at such people we never hear from them again. In this case, it is hearting to realize that Rev. Camping was humbled by the experience, and that his ministry has changed as a result. Much in the same way that Jim Bakker learned from his own humilation not to judge others, this story wasn’t over when the cameras were turned off. Whether one loves religion or hates it, we should all remember that there are real people underneath such stories as this. The lesson of these stories is not to make the same mistake these religious people made, by writing them off when they try to change.
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Stop defending the church! A church born on the cross will not die from criticism or even persecution. What will kill the church is holding on to wealth and power. What will kill the church is when we become more concerned with our reputation than with our virtue.
Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church defending priests from charges of sexual abuse are trying to compel the advocacy group representing victims to disclose two decades of emails from whistle-blowers, victims and witnessess. It is understandable that lawyers would want their defendants to face the their accuser, but it is also understandable that advocacy groups would need to be able to provide confidentiality. One unfortunate quote from the article: “The bishops have come together collectively. I can’t give you the names, but there’s a growing consensus on the part of the bishops that they had better toughen up and go out and buy some good lawyers to get tough. We don’t need altar boys.”
To read, click here.