After my last post, if you're looking for something to "do," here's a thought for you. A woman has started a petition on Change.org to demand the USDA stop the purchase of pink slime (see the post, It's What's for Dinner) for American kids' school lunches.
So, if you think it's a bad idea to use taxpayer money to fund the practice of feeding children garbage treated with ammonia for lunch, go here and sign the petition.
See? Wasn't that easy?
Saturday, March 10, 2012
An Invitation
When I started this blog, I openly--perhaps foolishly idealistically--stated that my intention was to help make the world a better place, in the same manner as one would eat an elephant--one bite at a time.
For months now, I've been writing, pointing out ways that the old is not serving us, but rather holding us down. I've (rather politely, I think) tried to point out that WE, not some faceless THEY are responsible for the mess in which we find this world. I've suggested things that we can all do to make it better.
I've talked about ways that our "reality" has been skewed through dishonest accounts of what's going on in the world, by fake conflicts between 'choices' that all lead to the same destination, and by systems that spend a lot of time convincing us that we are powerless to change anything. My response to all of these things has been pretty consistently, "HOOEY."
Some of the time, I've talked about the bad stuff--about the unfair, unkind, bloodthirsty, money-hungry, selfish mentality that drives many of our institutions, customs, and practices. And I've done so not to tell you to hoard food, buy a gun, put a watchtower up in your yard, install a safe room, or put your head between your legs and kiss your heiney goodbye. I've pointed out the bad stuff to 1) inform people that the bad stuff exists and may not be exactly as portrayed by the powers that be; 2) try to overcome the forces of human inertia that cause people to ignore bad stuff until it arrives on your front porch; and 3) to inspire people to do something.
The last several days, my travels on the web, many of my personal conversations, and lots of circumstances are showing me that many people, even my readers, are still not 'getting it.' It seems that, in the face of lots of stuff that can be done, lots of good that can be worked, and lots of reason to believe that things can get better, many people are spending their time worrying about how the sky is falling in some way or another, or trying their best to ignore it all and cross their fingers that things will just go back to the "way they used to be." To be clear: these are not the preferred activities.
In my family, when you were dawdling about doing some task you were supposed to do, my mother would sarcastically ask, "are you waiting for an engraved invitation?" So, just in case you are, I'm issuing one, right here, right now.
You are cordially invited to help create a better world
Your invitation includes the following.
First and foremost-Let Go. I've avoided talking much about one aspect of my past because of it's inherent tendency to become cheesy, but today, what the heck. I'm an alcoholic. I've been sober (this time) for over fifteen years. When I got sober, one of the things I learned very clearly was that you can't do something new while you're still hanging on to the old. It is as if we are carrying around broken shards of pottery, and even though we pass by priceless Ming vases every day, we're too scared and stupid to drop the broken bits of our old lives and pick up the treasures.
In a conversation some weeks ago, an acquaintance and I were talking about the financial situation in the US. After we'd observed that the country is so far in debt it can never be repaid in the current format, the government so corrupted as to be irretrievable, and the financial system a mix of smoke, mirrors and BS, she said, in total seriousness, "well, we just need them to stop messing around and get stuff back to normal before they wreck my 401(k)" Hello? Are you kidding me? We are just emerging from a period which has shown us the complete and utter unworkability of the current model of financial thievery and she wants to go back to it for the sake of a 401(k)? This kind of thinking makes a mud puddle look deep as the Marianas Trench.
We need to release our attachments to old institutions that are clearly dysfunctional. Some of these are the fake left-right, D-R conflict that keeps us busy arguing about health insurance for birth control pills and Rush-freaking-Limbaugh while the fat cats pick our pockets and steal our souls in the back room; the "my ___ is better than your ___" thinking that is used to justify wars, genocides, and hatred of all kinds; and the fear-based thinking that so totally pervades our society that we're willing to stand stupidly idle while power- and profit-hungry sociopaths take our freedom, our dignity, our privacy, and our health to fight an amorphous enemy conjured up mostly in our minds (e.g., the Cold War, the Red Stain, the War on Drugs, and the War on Terror.) For God's sake, what are we holding on to? Butchery, hatred, want, spiritual bankruptcy, and a 401(k). We are capable of so much better, if we just put down the damn broken pot.
Second, we need to think independently, and stop acting like third graders or Congressmen, who have to parrot back the party line thinking in order to get our reward. We need to gather information from all kinds of sources, think it through, and adopt only those parts that strike our hearts right and make sense. For example, I know people who won't look at news anywhere but Fox, or MSNBC. I also know people who think something can't be true if it didn't appear in the mainstream media,even though it's been shown conclusively that the mainstream news is totally controlled by the same people who are stealing our wealth, buying our government, and ruining our world in the name of profit. Finally, I know people, friends of mine, who won't read my blog because they don't want to know some of the stuff I post--it depresses them. Yeah, it's better to not know--ignorance has always saved people from harm, right? It's time to grow the hell up, people! The world doesn't fit into neat, black and white boxes. And bad stuff doesn't go away because you ignore it. Get a grip, inform yourself and THINK.
Third, once you know something, DO SOMETHING. When you learn that something's wrong, tell people, write letters, call your Congressman, etc. Bitch, yell, scream, protest and demand something better. To sit silently in the face of wrong is the classic recipe for disaster. Remember all the "good Germans" who watched their neighbors taken off by the Nazis?
And it's not just refusing to go along with the bad. Everyone--and I mean everyone--can do something to make stuff better. Every small act of kindness or loving intention is a candle in the dark. Back at Christmas time, my family and I decided we didn't really need a raft of new junk, so we minimized our buying, and instead we got some fairly substantial gift cards and we went out on Christmas Eve and gave them away to strangers--a soldier home on leave, an Hispanic family out doing their Christmas shopping, and a couple baristas at a Starbucks. After an initial moment of shock, each and every one acted like we'd handed them a million dollars. I don't know what they did with their windfalls, and I don't know if they ever 'paid it forward,' but I do know that at least for a moment, they felt good. A good day's work. And maybe just as important, it changed us and the way we think. Both my kids have asked to do it again, just for the heck of it. Being irrationally nice is actually addictive.
So, hold a door for someone, let somebody go ahead in line, pay for the guy's order behind you at the drive-through, pick up a piece of litter, send someone an unexpected letter or card or gift, or just say something nice to someone. Just look up from your little, preoccupied world for one moment every day and do something good, expecting nothing in return. Pretty soon, it could become cool to be nice again.
Now, the final challenge. I know some of you read that last paragraph and concluded that it's Pollyanna-ism. Doing little nice stuff can't change the world. My response: The greatest obstacle to progress is the belief that it can't happen. And as someone once said, you're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem.
Which one do you want to be? Your RSVP is requested.
For months now, I've been writing, pointing out ways that the old is not serving us, but rather holding us down. I've (rather politely, I think) tried to point out that WE, not some faceless THEY are responsible for the mess in which we find this world. I've suggested things that we can all do to make it better.
I've talked about ways that our "reality" has been skewed through dishonest accounts of what's going on in the world, by fake conflicts between 'choices' that all lead to the same destination, and by systems that spend a lot of time convincing us that we are powerless to change anything. My response to all of these things has been pretty consistently, "HOOEY."
Some of the time, I've talked about the bad stuff--about the unfair, unkind, bloodthirsty, money-hungry, selfish mentality that drives many of our institutions, customs, and practices. And I've done so not to tell you to hoard food, buy a gun, put a watchtower up in your yard, install a safe room, or put your head between your legs and kiss your heiney goodbye. I've pointed out the bad stuff to 1) inform people that the bad stuff exists and may not be exactly as portrayed by the powers that be; 2) try to overcome the forces of human inertia that cause people to ignore bad stuff until it arrives on your front porch; and 3) to inspire people to do something.
The last several days, my travels on the web, many of my personal conversations, and lots of circumstances are showing me that many people, even my readers, are still not 'getting it.' It seems that, in the face of lots of stuff that can be done, lots of good that can be worked, and lots of reason to believe that things can get better, many people are spending their time worrying about how the sky is falling in some way or another, or trying their best to ignore it all and cross their fingers that things will just go back to the "way they used to be." To be clear: these are not the preferred activities.
In my family, when you were dawdling about doing some task you were supposed to do, my mother would sarcastically ask, "are you waiting for an engraved invitation?" So, just in case you are, I'm issuing one, right here, right now.
Your invitation includes the following.
First and foremost-Let Go. I've avoided talking much about one aspect of my past because of it's inherent tendency to become cheesy, but today, what the heck. I'm an alcoholic. I've been sober (this time) for over fifteen years. When I got sober, one of the things I learned very clearly was that you can't do something new while you're still hanging on to the old. It is as if we are carrying around broken shards of pottery, and even though we pass by priceless Ming vases every day, we're too scared and stupid to drop the broken bits of our old lives and pick up the treasures.
In a conversation some weeks ago, an acquaintance and I were talking about the financial situation in the US. After we'd observed that the country is so far in debt it can never be repaid in the current format, the government so corrupted as to be irretrievable, and the financial system a mix of smoke, mirrors and BS, she said, in total seriousness, "well, we just need them to stop messing around and get stuff back to normal before they wreck my 401(k)" Hello? Are you kidding me? We are just emerging from a period which has shown us the complete and utter unworkability of the current model of financial thievery and she wants to go back to it for the sake of a 401(k)? This kind of thinking makes a mud puddle look deep as the Marianas Trench.
We need to release our attachments to old institutions that are clearly dysfunctional. Some of these are the fake left-right, D-R conflict that keeps us busy arguing about health insurance for birth control pills and Rush-freaking-Limbaugh while the fat cats pick our pockets and steal our souls in the back room; the "my ___ is better than your ___" thinking that is used to justify wars, genocides, and hatred of all kinds; and the fear-based thinking that so totally pervades our society that we're willing to stand stupidly idle while power- and profit-hungry sociopaths take our freedom, our dignity, our privacy, and our health to fight an amorphous enemy conjured up mostly in our minds (e.g., the Cold War, the Red Stain, the War on Drugs, and the War on Terror.) For God's sake, what are we holding on to? Butchery, hatred, want, spiritual bankruptcy, and a 401(k). We are capable of so much better, if we just put down the damn broken pot.
Second, we need to think independently, and stop acting like third graders or Congressmen, who have to parrot back the party line thinking in order to get our reward. We need to gather information from all kinds of sources, think it through, and adopt only those parts that strike our hearts right and make sense. For example, I know people who won't look at news anywhere but Fox, or MSNBC. I also know people who think something can't be true if it didn't appear in the mainstream media,even though it's been shown conclusively that the mainstream news is totally controlled by the same people who are stealing our wealth, buying our government, and ruining our world in the name of profit. Finally, I know people, friends of mine, who won't read my blog because they don't want to know some of the stuff I post--it depresses them. Yeah, it's better to not know--ignorance has always saved people from harm, right? It's time to grow the hell up, people! The world doesn't fit into neat, black and white boxes. And bad stuff doesn't go away because you ignore it. Get a grip, inform yourself and THINK.
Third, once you know something, DO SOMETHING. When you learn that something's wrong, tell people, write letters, call your Congressman, etc. Bitch, yell, scream, protest and demand something better. To sit silently in the face of wrong is the classic recipe for disaster. Remember all the "good Germans" who watched their neighbors taken off by the Nazis?
And it's not just refusing to go along with the bad. Everyone--and I mean everyone--can do something to make stuff better. Every small act of kindness or loving intention is a candle in the dark. Back at Christmas time, my family and I decided we didn't really need a raft of new junk, so we minimized our buying, and instead we got some fairly substantial gift cards and we went out on Christmas Eve and gave them away to strangers--a soldier home on leave, an Hispanic family out doing their Christmas shopping, and a couple baristas at a Starbucks. After an initial moment of shock, each and every one acted like we'd handed them a million dollars. I don't know what they did with their windfalls, and I don't know if they ever 'paid it forward,' but I do know that at least for a moment, they felt good. A good day's work. And maybe just as important, it changed us and the way we think. Both my kids have asked to do it again, just for the heck of it. Being irrationally nice is actually addictive.
So, hold a door for someone, let somebody go ahead in line, pay for the guy's order behind you at the drive-through, pick up a piece of litter, send someone an unexpected letter or card or gift, or just say something nice to someone. Just look up from your little, preoccupied world for one moment every day and do something good, expecting nothing in return. Pretty soon, it could become cool to be nice again.
Now, the final challenge. I know some of you read that last paragraph and concluded that it's Pollyanna-ism. Doing little nice stuff can't change the world. My response: The greatest obstacle to progress is the belief that it can't happen. And as someone once said, you're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem.
Which one do you want to be? Your RSVP is requested.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Spring "Planting"
It seems that the "mainstream media" has been caught out again. Syrian resistance poster youth, "Syria Danny" Abdul Dayem, let some damaging video get loose, and he may pay for it with his meal ticket.
Dayem has appeared regularly for months on CNN and other mainstream media 'news' begging for intervention by NATO, the US, Israel, and Great Aunt Sally, to stop Syrian ruler Bashar Assad's very own slaughter of the innocents in Syria. In early reports, Danny was portrayed as a 22-year-old "activist" opposing the Syrian regime. Last month, it was disclosed that our boy Danny is actually a British citizen, born in Cambridge. And this week, video surfaced of Danny waiting to be connected for a phone interview with Anderson Cooper.
The video of Danny's wait for a phone connection includes footage where he seems strikingly calm for someone who moments later breathlessly tells Cooper on air that 200 people have been killed by shelling in the last three hours, and that "an hour ago" he had helped pull people off the roof of a burning house that had been shelled "right over there," only 400 meters (less than a quarter mile) away. Yet before the interview, he's calm. Calm as in, at one point, joking that he needs someone to bring him a mattress.
Most damning, in the video outtake, Danny says to an unknown person off-camera, "Did you tell him to get the gunfire ready?" (HUH?)
All this and more have led Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars.com to conclude that Danny was staging gunfire and hyping the violence of the situation to propagandize the CNN interview and heighten drama backing Danny's customary pleas for help to protect the poor activists fighting the brutal Assad government.
Following these accusations, Anderson Cooper apparently wasn't content to merely look the fool. He could easily have written off the situation as Danny pulling a fast one without his knowledge. But Cooper had to swan dive from the frying pan straight into the fire. He put Danny on an in-person segment on his show to 'refute' the allegations of fakery. Apparently Danny's commitment to the Syrian 'grassroots' isn't so strong that he can't jet out to visit Anderson in his studio.
In that second segment, available here, after insisting that the incriminating video "should have been deleted," Danny offers several explanations that may do more harm than good. For example, he says that the fighting he was referring to was in a different area, 15 kilometers away (almost 9 miles), even though he said on the air that he'd just helped pull victims out a bombed house 400 meters away. And although he's supposed to just be some young idealist in Syria trying to free the people from a repressive dictator, at one point in his refutation, he refers to himself as a "journalist" when trying to explain why the cameraman is prompting him to say they are pulling bodies out of rubble. And finally, while Anderson and Danny go to pains to say that Danny is not paid by CNN for his segments on air, I found it interesting that they didn't even try to say he wasn't paid by someone.
He also didn't explain the quote, "did you tell him to get the gunfire ready?"
Dayem has appeared regularly for months on CNN and other mainstream media 'news' begging for intervention by NATO, the US, Israel, and Great Aunt Sally, to stop Syrian ruler Bashar Assad's very own slaughter of the innocents in Syria. In early reports, Danny was portrayed as a 22-year-old "activist" opposing the Syrian regime. Last month, it was disclosed that our boy Danny is actually a British citizen, born in Cambridge. And this week, video surfaced of Danny waiting to be connected for a phone interview with Anderson Cooper.
The video of Danny's wait for a phone connection includes footage where he seems strikingly calm for someone who moments later breathlessly tells Cooper on air that 200 people have been killed by shelling in the last three hours, and that "an hour ago" he had helped pull people off the roof of a burning house that had been shelled "right over there," only 400 meters (less than a quarter mile) away. Yet before the interview, he's calm. Calm as in, at one point, joking that he needs someone to bring him a mattress.
Most damning, in the video outtake, Danny says to an unknown person off-camera, "Did you tell him to get the gunfire ready?" (HUH?)
All this and more have led Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars.com to conclude that Danny was staging gunfire and hyping the violence of the situation to propagandize the CNN interview and heighten drama backing Danny's customary pleas for help to protect the poor activists fighting the brutal Assad government.
Following these accusations, Anderson Cooper apparently wasn't content to merely look the fool. He could easily have written off the situation as Danny pulling a fast one without his knowledge. But Cooper had to swan dive from the frying pan straight into the fire. He put Danny on an in-person segment on his show to 'refute' the allegations of fakery. Apparently Danny's commitment to the Syrian 'grassroots' isn't so strong that he can't jet out to visit Anderson in his studio.
In that second segment, available here, after insisting that the incriminating video "should have been deleted," Danny offers several explanations that may do more harm than good. For example, he says that the fighting he was referring to was in a different area, 15 kilometers away (almost 9 miles), even though he said on the air that he'd just helped pull victims out a bombed house 400 meters away. And although he's supposed to just be some young idealist in Syria trying to free the people from a repressive dictator, at one point in his refutation, he refers to himself as a "journalist" when trying to explain why the cameraman is prompting him to say they are pulling bodies out of rubble. And finally, while Anderson and Danny go to pains to say that Danny is not paid by CNN for his segments on air, I found it interesting that they didn't even try to say he wasn't paid by someone.
He also didn't explain the quote, "did you tell him to get the gunfire ready?"
Thursday, March 8, 2012
It's What's for Dinner!
What's for dinner tonight, honey? If the answer is beef, you might want to think twice. Seems that even the mainstream news whores have finally had to report on the widespread practice of making garbage into food.
This article and video by ABC News is offering its mainstream imprimatur to the knowledge common in good food circles for years about the disgusting practice of using so-called "pink slime" in ground beef.
Pink slime, which is called by food companies "lean, finely-textured beef" is made by taking beef "trimmings" (translation: crap they swept up off the floor that used to only be used for dog food), simmering them slowly until they break into workable goo, running the goo through a centrifuge to separate out the "lean meat," and then spraying it with ammonia to kill enough of the bacteria in the slime so that it won't make you immediately sick to eat it. Nummy.
No one at these food companies seems to notice that ammonia isn't really very good for you. Really. Look under your sink at the bottle lurking there--it says to call poison control immediately if you ingest any. Unless it's in your quarter pound patty, anyway.
According to ABCNews, 70 percent of ground beef in stores contains "pink slime." And you don't get to know whether yours does or not, because the USDA (through an official who is a pink slime industry insider) ruled that they don't have to label ground beef as containing pink slime. Thanks, USDA.
They'll have to change their posters. Slime...It's what's for dinner.
This article and video by ABC News is offering its mainstream imprimatur to the knowledge common in good food circles for years about the disgusting practice of using so-called "pink slime" in ground beef.
Pink slime, which is called by food companies "lean, finely-textured beef" is made by taking beef "trimmings" (translation: crap they swept up off the floor that used to only be used for dog food), simmering them slowly until they break into workable goo, running the goo through a centrifuge to separate out the "lean meat," and then spraying it with ammonia to kill enough of the bacteria in the slime so that it won't make you immediately sick to eat it. Nummy.
No one at these food companies seems to notice that ammonia isn't really very good for you. Really. Look under your sink at the bottle lurking there--it says to call poison control immediately if you ingest any. Unless it's in your quarter pound patty, anyway.
According to ABCNews, 70 percent of ground beef in stores contains "pink slime." And you don't get to know whether yours does or not, because the USDA (through an official who is a pink slime industry insider) ruled that they don't have to label ground beef as containing pink slime. Thanks, USDA.
They'll have to change their posters. Slime...It's what's for dinner.
Chickens, Chickens Everywhere
On the theme of chickens coming home to roost, I've been following the growing number of bankster types who are suddenly deciding to spend a little more time with their families.
All told, as of yesterday, there have been 153 banksters who have resigned, or announced their intention to resign, from their positions of power and thievery. Seventeen of the charmers took a powder just yesterday. Kind of makes one wonder whether the poo is about to hit the air circulation device.
Here's the list, shamelessly heisted from, and with thanks to, American Kabuki (http://americankabuki.blogspot.com) and KP (kauilapele.wordpress.com) and their readers:
Buh-Bye, and good riddance, Resuming public happy dance.
All told, as of yesterday, there have been 153 banksters who have resigned, or announced their intention to resign, from their positions of power and thievery. Seventeen of the charmers took a powder just yesterday. Kind of makes one wonder whether the poo is about to hit the air circulation device.
Here's the list, shamelessly heisted from, and with thanks to, American Kabuki (http://americankabuki.blogspot.com) and KP (kauilapele.wordpress.com) and their readers:
- 9/01/11 (USA NY) Bank of New York Mellon Chief Robert P. Kelly Resigns in a Shake-UP
http://goo.gl/NdW7q - 09/20/11 (SCOTLAND) SCOTTISH WIDOWS (RETIREMENT INVESTMENT SAVINGS FUND) There could be no Scottish representative on the board of Lloyds Banking Group, owner of Bank of Scotland, in future after it announced the departure of Lord Sandy Leitch, the chairman of Scottish Widows and group deputy chairman.
http://goo.gl/Dx8qs - 9/25/11 (SWITZERLAND) UBS CEO Oswald Gruebel quits over £1.5bn rogue trader crisis
http://goo.gl/WCeqB - 9/28/11 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Bank Council: Fritz Studer resigns as per end-April 2012
http://goo.gl/7dNiD - 10/29/11 (CHINA) China Construction Bank Corp Chairman Guo Shuqing resigns
http://goo.gl/fdd9v - 10/29/11 (CHINA) Agricultural Bank of China Ltd Chairman Xiang Junbo resigns
http://goo.gl/yWX9R - 11/01/11 (INDIA) More directors of the Beed district bank resign
http://goo.gl/HD8BQ - 11/02/11 (UK) Lloyds Banking Group chief executive, António Horta-Osório, is to take leave of absence on health grounds for six to eight weeks, the BBC has reported. (STILL OUT AS OF 2/24/12 - DEFACTO RESIGNATION)
http://goo.gl/3L9gE - 11/4/11 (USA) MF Global, Jon Corzine, stepped down as chairman and CEO, hired criminal attorney to represent him.
http://goo.gl/tUaVY - 11/21/11 (JAPAN) UBS’s Japan Investment Banking Chairman Matsui to Resign
http://goo.gl/OiDiq - 11/29/11 (USA) R. David Land Submits Resignation from the Boards of Directors of Peoples Bancorp. and Seneca National Bank
http://goo.gl/XncOc - 12/15/11 (UK) Senior private banker James Fleming resigns from Coutts [private bank]
http://goo.gl/ANN5B - 12/23/11 (USA VA) Bank feud: Chairman Mark Giles quits VNB
http://goo.gl/dFDpH - 12/23/11 (USA VA) Bank feud: Board Member Claire Gargalli quits VNB
http://goo.gl/kowkW - 12/23/11 (USA VA) Bank feud: Board Member Leslie Disharoon quits VNB
http://goo.gl/kstLp - 12/23/11 (USA VA) Bank feud: Board Member Neal Kassell quits VNB
http://goo.gl/NrrPZ - 1/01/12 (NIGERIA) United Bank for Africa Plc Victor Osadolor resigns
http://goo.gl/b6AoA - 1/01/12 (ISRAEL) Israel’s Bank Leumi CEO Galia Maor steps down after 16 years
http://goo.gl/xwlFt - 1/03/12 (USA VA) Suffolk Bancorp president and CEO J. Gordon Huszagh steps down
http://goo.gl/joExI - 1/03/12 (UK) Arbuthnot Banking Group: Neil Kirton resigned from the Board
http://goo.gl/SKE7j - 1/03/12 (UK) Arbuthnot Banking Group: Atholl Turrell left the Board.
http://goo.gl/bzZtQ - 1/05/12 (UK) Saunderson House [Private Bank] CEO Nick Fletcher steps down
http://goo.gl/zvo1L - 1/09/12 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Chairman Philipp Hildebrand resigns
http://goo.gl/5qsUu - 1/19/12 (SPAIN) Spanish bank Santander’s Americas chief Francisco Luzon quits
http://goo.gl/jEY7Y - 1/30/12 (UK) Butterfield Private Bank head Danny Dixon Steps Down
http://goo.gl/sdY1p - 1/20/12 (JAPAN) Normura’s head of wholesale banking Jasjit Bhattai quits
http://goo.gl/6FuWe - 1/21/12 (Greece) Institute of International Finance negotiator Charles Dallara quits
http://goo.gl/NbPlt - 1/21/12 (Greece) Institute of International Finance negotiator Jean Lemierre quits
http://goo.gl/E3AkE - 1/29/12 (NEW ZEALAND) New Zealand Reserve Bank Gov Alan Bollard to Step Down
http://goo.gl/BwUgv - 1/30/12 (UK) British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) COO Andrew Graham steps down
http://goo.gl/4SDW8 - 1/31/12 (SCOTLAND) Royal Bank of Scotland former CEO Fred Goodwin Stripped of Knighthood
http://goo.gl/CoLVS - 2/01/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) ABSA [Barclay's Bank] deputy CEO Louis von Zeuner resigns
http://goo.gl/IP8nH - 2/01/12 (UK) Lloyds Bankging Group head of wholesaleTruett Tate quits
http://goo.gl/OqRVo - 2/01/12 (UK) Llyods Banking Group Tim Tookey leaving end of February
http://goo.gl/vjO5M - 2/02/12 (VENEZUELA) Banking Crisis Arne Chacon arrested for Banking Corruption
http://goo.gl/bb5sh - 2/05/12 (USA – NY) Morgan’s investment banking chairman Joseph Perella quit
http://goo.gl/pG2jF - 2/05/12 (USA – NY) Morgan Stanley investment banking Tarek Abdel-Meguid quit
http://goo.gl/bRv9K - 2/06/12 (INDIA) Dhanlaxmi Bank CEO Amitabh Chaturvedi quits:
http://goo.gl/OhCEb - 2/7/12 (USA) Bank Of America’s Mortgage Business Chief Barbara Desoer Retires
http://goo.gl/i7AUY - 2/07/12 (INDIA) Kotak Mahindra Bank Falguni Nayar quits
http://goo.gl/fP03J - 2/07/12 (IRAN) Iran denies central bank resignation rumor (don’t believe until its denied?)
http://goo.gl/PiQSy - 2/09/12 (VATICAN) Four Priests Charged In Vatican Banking Scandal (names not known)
http://goo.gl/tW8Sj - 2/9/12 (UKRAINE) National Bank of Ukraine deputy governor Volodymyr Krotiuk quits
http://goo.gl/8BuXy - 2/10/12 (KOREA) Korea Exchange Bank chief Larry Klane steps down
http://goo.gl/DBKdc - 2/10/12 (INDIA) Tamilnad Mercantile Bank CEO A K Jagannathan resigns
http://goo.gl/wMl5g - 2/13/12 (KUWAIT) Kuwait Central Bank CEO Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al Sabbah resigns
http://goo.gl/GFvIy - 2/14/12 (NICARAQUA) Nicaraqua Central Bank President Antenor Rosales resigns
http://goo.gl/iQ0n8 - 2/14/12 (UK) Social finance pioneer Malcolm Hayday quits Charity Bank
http://goo.gl/uHp6C - 2/14/12 (PAKISTAN) National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) chairman Syed Ali Raza resigned
http://goo.gl/scexo - 2/15/12 (WORLD) World Bank CEO Zoellick resigns
http://goo.gl/dHDSm
Did the White House tell the World Bank president that he’s out?
http://goo.gl/wUOgb - 2/15/12 (SLOVENIA) Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor CEO Andrej Plos resigns
http://goo.gl/SNsVI - 2/15/12 (SLOVENIA) Nova Ljubljanska Banka d.d. CEO Bozo Jasovic resigns
http://goo.gl/TyYiJ - 2/16/12 (UK) The Financial Services Authority Margaret Cole is to step down
http://goo.gl/yT6rS - 2/16/12 (GHANA) Databank Group Executive Chair Ken Ofori-Atta steps down
http://goo.gl/c7PtU - 2/16/12 (SAUDI ARABIA) Saudi Hollandi Banks Managing Director Geoffrey Calvert Quits
http://goo.gl/CtmOU - 2/16/12 (AUSTRALIA) ANZ Bank Australia CFO Peter Marriott resigns
http://goo.gl/I7Alo - 2/16/12 (UK) Royal Bank of Scotland Sr Equities Trader Jason Edinburgh Arrested
http://goo.gl/WczHh - 2/16/12 (UK) Royal Bank of Scotland director equities bus. Vincent Walsh director Arrested
http://goo.gl/I7Alo - 2/16/12 (UK) Marex Spectron senior trader Michael Elsom Arrested
http://goo.gl/I7Alo - 2/16/12 (AUSTRALIA) Royal Bank of Scotland Austrailan CEO Stephen Williams resigns
http://goo.gl/4r16D - 2/17/12 (USA) Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein out as by summer
http://goo.gl/UjpzD - 2/17/12 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Council President Hansueli Raggenbass resigns
http://goo.gl/1n1Nr - 2/18/12 (PAKISTAN) The Bank of Azad Jammu & Kashmir executive Zulfiqar Abbasi resigns http://goo.gl/G0woP
- 2/20/12 (RUSSIA) Head of Russian Bank Regulator Gennady Melikyan Steps Down
http://goo.gl/Unuez - 2/20/12 (SWITZERLAND) Credit Suisse Chief Joseph Tan resigns
http://goo.gl/F5twL - 2/20/12 (ISRAEL) Bank Leumi le-Israel Ltd: Zvi Itskovitch resigns
http://goo.gl/aA0RW - 2/20/12 (USA WA) First Financial Northwest Director Spencer Schneider Quits
http://goo.gl/6Dj0i - 2/21/12 (ARGENTINA) Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) Gen Mgr Benigno Velez, resigns
http://goo.gl/DuMrm - 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Nitol Insurance Co. Ltd director Abdul Matlub resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank
http://goo.gl/aEmwB - 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Nitol Insurance Co. Ltd director Selima Ahmad resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank
http://goo.gl/aEmwB - 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Nitol Insurance Co. Ltd director Abdul Musabbir Ahmad resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank
http://goo.gl/aEmwB - 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) City General Insurance Co. Ltd director Geasuddin Ahmad resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank
http://goo.gl/aEmwB - 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Social Islami Bank Limited director Taslima Akter resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on Eastland Insurance Company Limited
http://goo.gl/aEmwB - 2/21/12 (JAPAN) CITIBANK JAPAN: Bakhshi is taking over duties from Brian Mccappin, who the bank said in December would resign after the unit was banned for two weeks from trading tied to the London and Tokyo interbank offered rates.
http://goo.gl/Z1rnw - 2/22/12 (HONG KONG) DZ BANK project finance head Tim Meaney quits
http://goo.gl/ppKno - 2/22/12 (USA) Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Group Chief Howard Wietschner to Retire
http://goo.gl/x4Zsr - 2/23/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) Richard Gush resigns from Standard Bank
http://goo.gl/DTL5S - 2/23/12 (SCOTLAND) Royal Bank of Scotland Group director John McFarlane resigns.
http://goo.gl/KoEUI - 2/24/12 (INDIA) Breaking: ICICI Bank GC Pramod Rao resigns
http://goo.gl/5eUqU - 2/24/12 (HONG KONG) Citigroup Pvt Bank Global Real Estate Kwang Meng Quek Resigns
http://goo.gl/JIC9A - 2/24/12 (NEW ZEALAND) FSF Executive Director Kirk Hope resigns
http://goo.gl/6UJau - 2/24/12 (USA) Evercore Partners Head Eduardo Mestre steps down
http://goo.gl/n5RLY - 2/25/12 (AUSTRALIA AND NZ) Goldman Sachs Chairman Stephen Fitzgerald quits
http://goo.gl/nMTLW - 2/27/12 (GERMANY) Deutsche Bank Americas chief Seth Waugh steps down
http://goo.gl/8lxSw - 2/27/12 (BAHRAIN) Khaleeji Commercial Bank CEO Ebrahim Ebrahim quits
http://goo.gl/yKjzL - 2/27/12 (FRANCE) Societe Generale’s Investment Banking Chief Michel Péretié Steps Down
http://goo.gl/IJ5Lw - 2/27/12 (MALAYSIA) Elaf Bank CEO Dr El Jaroudi resigns
http://goo.gl/eVCS5 - 2/27/12 (INDIA) Kotak Mahindra Bank Ms Falguni Nayar Quits
http://goo.gl/pTbII - 2/27/12 (GERMANY) Equiduct chairman Artur Fischersteps down
http://goo.gl/Q0dWR - 2/27/12 (BAHRAIN) – Mumtalakat Holding [Sovereign Wealth Fund] CEO Al Zain resigns
http://goo.gl/hhHSm - 2/27/12 (IRAN) Bank Melli CEO Mahmoud Reza Khaavari Resigns – Flees to Canada!
http://goo.gl/DDEUk - 2/27/12 (IRAN) Bank Saderat CEO Mohammad Jahromi resigns
http://goo.gl/ZD0mc - 2/27/12 (UK) Lloyds Banking Group Glen Moreno steps down
http://goo.gl/dsXcE - 2/28/12 (HONG KONG) Hang Seng Bank CEO Margaret Leung Ko May-yee quits
http://goo.gl/Uo800 - 2/28/12 (CHINA) Bank of China International ECM global head Marshall Nicholson quits
http://goo.gl/26MYq - 2/28/12 (SINGAPORE) DBS security head Jim Pasqurell quits, cites health reasons
http://goo.gl/NDJze - 2/28/12 (HONG KONG) Bank of America’s Asia-Pac. mrkts Brian Canniffe quits
http://goo.gl/cRkCP - 2/28/12 (BELGIUM) KBC’s CEO Jan Vanhevel is to retire after a career spanning 41 years.
http://goo.gl/1rCWd - 2/28/12 (CANADA) Ontario Securities Commission chairwoman Peggy-Anne Brown quits
http://goo.gl/HIYXv - 2/28/12 (AUSTRALIA) Bank manager Colin John Carleton jailed nine years for $3m theft
http://goo.gl/ggPvq - 2/28/12 (SRI LANKA) Sri Lanka Com Bank CEO Amitha Gooneratne retires
http://goo.gl/YxvNA - 2/28/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) REDEFINE INCOME FUND director Gerald Leissner resigns
http://goo.gl/F0UgN - 2/28/12 (ITALY) UNICREDIT: Chairman Dieter Rampl not available for a new mandate
http://goo.gl/7aLRU - 2/28/12 (UK) Bank of England Sir David Lees re-appointed Chair of Bank of England and gives notice of resignation at end of 2013
http://goo.gl/LkJhV - 2/28/12 (IRELAND) State Street Global Advisors Cash Funds plc Director Keith Walsh resigns http://goo.gl/n6uoM
- 2/29/12 (AUSTRALIA) Perpetual portfolio manager Matt Williams steps down
http://goo.gl/Jh9jd - 2/29/12 (UK) Honister Capital CEO Richard Pearson steps down
http://goo.gl/014or - 2/29/12 (GUYANA) National Investment and Commercial Investments Ltd. (NICIL), Executive Director Winston Brassington resigns, “We feel that (Winston) Brassington knows everything…A to Z about all the transactions,” said Chairman of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, as he sounded a warning that controversial figure could be subpoenaed to appear before the Parliamentary Economic Sector Committee.
http:// goo.gl/L7I35 - 3/1/12 (MALAYSIA) RHB Bank Bhd deputy managing director Renzo Viegas quits
http://goo.gl/wACrI - 3/1/12 (ITALY) Italian Banking Association Chairman Giuseppe Mussari talks to reporters in Rome after he and seven other executives offered to resign in protest over new banking-fee rules included in the government’s legislation on boosting competition.
http://goo.gl/3llyT - 3/1/12 (USA FL) Florida Venture Forum [Venture Capital] Exec Dir Robin Lester quits
http://goo.gl/nA8g9 - 3/1/12 (USA) PineBridge Investments said Win Neuger has resigned as chief executive. Neuger helped build AIG’s third party asset management business, PineBridge still manages AIG assets http://goo.gl/SI7kT
- 3/1/12 (SINGAPORE) UBS Singapore – James Tulley is leaving Switzerland’s largest bank, it is not clear where he is going.
http://goo.gl/BGugF - 3/1/12 (USA NH) Piscataqua Savings Bank CEO Jay Gibson retires
http://goo.gl/uEqDV - 3/1/12 (ICELAND) Iceland’s Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) fired its director Gunnar Andersen
http://goo.gl/VG9q5 - 3/2/12 (CHINA) China Construction Bank Corp, the assistant general manager and head of corporate banking Mickey Mehta quits
http://goo.gl/B9dR0 - 3/2/12 (USA) Deutsche Bank Student Loan CEOJohn Hupalo quits to start student loan counseling firm.
http://goo.gl/8kZuc - 3/2/12 (UK) Bank of England Sir Mervin King resigns in June, Lord Sassoon tipped as replacement.
http://goo.gl/ZEUwf - 3/2/12 (BOTSWANA) Barclays Bank Botswana managing director Wilfred Mpai forced to resign
http://goo.gl/npBe2 - 3/2/12 (HONG KONG) New Century Group Hong Kong Ltd [investment house and leisure group] Wilson Ng resigns
http://goo.gl/wFSV8 - 3/2/12 (USA) Citigroup Richard Parsons to step down as chairman
http://goo.gl/BhZ0F - 3/3/12 (AUSTRIA) Volksbank AG (VBAG) The contract of CEO Gerald Wenzel will not be extended
http://goo.gl/w99tD - 3/3/12 (ETHIOPIA) Dashen Bank’s board dismisses president Leulseged Teferi
http://goo.gl/Y801M - 3/3/12 (RUSSIA) Enza Capital KK, Wealthy British banker Philip Townsend (Baron Townsend of Rathmore) and his wife
killed at Estonia holiday home
http://goo.gl/GSOUN and http://goo.gl/x94ID and http://goo.gl/gGgLP - 3/4/12 (KOREA) Hana Financial Group Inc, prominent figure in the history of South Korean finance Kim Seung-yu , resigns
http://goo.gl/fmNxY - 3/4/12 (USA) JP Morgan prop trading chief Mike Stewart quits
http://goo.gl/gubPj - 3/5/12 ( SAUDI ARABIA) Al Rajhi Bank CEO Abdullah bin Sulaiman Al Rajhi has resigned
http://goo.gl/pNx0l - 3/5/12 (UK) Jupiter fund co-manager Tony Nutt steps down
http://goo.gl/RPqOp - 3/5/12 (UK) Jupiter fund co-manager John Hamilton steps down
http://goo.gl/RPqOp - 3/5/12 (NEW ZEALAND) Insured Group Bill Jeffries has resigned as chairman and director
http://goo.gl/gX7wu - 3/5/12 (USA) Reliance Bancshares chairman Patrick Gideon resigned
http://goo.gl/u6BT4 - 3/6/12 (FRANCE) Blackstone Group’s Paris office leader Jean-Michel Steg will step down
http://goo.gl/w3Ca5 - 3/6/12 (JAMAICA) Jamaica Money Market Brokers Limited, Patricia Sutherland has resigned as Executive Director
http://goo.gl/oMwv6 - 3/6/12 (JAMAICA) Jamaica’s Financial Services Commission (FSC), Executive director Rohan Barnett, has resigned the position, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and the Public Service announced this afternoon.
http://goo.gl/FBwFo - 3/6/12 (USA) USA Technologies Inc Bradley M. Tirpak, a nominee of Shareholder Advocates for Value Enhancement, has resigned from its board subsequent to a settlement agreement with the investing group, according to an SEC filing.
http://goo.gl/8oi7C - 3/6/12 (UK) Sterling Green Group has announced that Philip Kanas, a non-executive director, has decided to resign
Sterling Green Group PLC became a cash shell following the disposal of their subsidiaries Taxdebts Ltd, Sterling Green (Mortgages) Ltd and the back books of the clients of Sterling Green Ltd. during December 2011.
http://goo.gl/qc3jB - 3/7/12 (GERMANY) Deutsche Bank AG’s (DB) Chief Risk Officer Hugo Baenzigeri to resign
http://goo.gl/MWqsH - 3/7/12 (GERMANY) Deutsche Bank AG’s (DB) Chief Operating Officer Hermann-Josef Lamberti to resign
http://goo.gl/MWqsH - 3/7/12 (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES) Dubai Mercantile Exchange announced Thomas Leaver will step down as CEO
http://goo.gl/rfhWN - 3/7/12 (SCOTLAND) Macfarlane Group Chairman Archie Hunter to step down after 8 years of service
http://goo.gl/RHllr - 3/7/12 (USA) BlackRock Emerging Markets Fund co-head Daniel Tubbs, has left the group to pursue other opportunities.
http://goo.gl/CpEzZ - 3/7/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) Christopher French resigns from board
http://goo.gl/3yQDS - 3/7/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) David Wildermuth resigns from board
http://goo.gl/3yQDS - 3/7/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) Matthew Westerman resigns from board
http://goo.gl/3yQDS - 3/7/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) co-head of global mergers and acquisitions Yoel Zaoui resigns
http://goo.gl/3yQDS - 3/7/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) Phil Beatty resigned as head of European power and natural-gas trading
http://goo.gl/jqbYY - 3/7/12 (SINGAPORE) Nikko Asset Management Timothy McCarthy is retiring as chairman and CEO at the end of the month
http://goo.gl/v8tcT - 3/7/12 (HONG KONG) UBS Senior Asia Economist Jonathan Anderson Departs
http://goo.gl/09VqT - 3/7/12 (HAITI) FORMER DIRECTOR HAITI CENTRAL BANK SLAIN!
http://goo.gl/UtVz3 - 3/7/12 (FRANCE) Société Générale Private Banking, Daniel Truchi is to step down as head of Société Générale Private Banking http://goo.gl/XhgJ9
- 3/7/12 (AUSTRALIA) Customers Ltd, Tim Wildash has cashed himself out as chief executive of Australia’s largest ATM operator
http://goo.gl/eZJMb - 3/7/12 (USA CA) CALSTRS, Pascal Villiger, senior private equity portfolio manager at the $145 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System resigns
http://goo.gl/ub0ke - 3/7/12 (USA) Astaire quits Bank of America Merrill to dance to Barclays Capital’s tune
http://goo.gl/Zv6Ny
Buh-Bye, and good riddance, Resuming public happy dance.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Another Chicken, Another Roost
Looks as if some more poultry has swooped in to a new domicile. Internet sources are reporting that our illustrious Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, was arrested, questioned and released last week due to his involvement with the AIG and Goldman Sachs transactions in the financial bailouts. Makes one wonder on whom he dropped the dime to get his walking papers so quickly--I'm guessing we'll be hearing soon how far up the food chain Mr. Geithner placed the blame. Update: The video, which I originally imbedded believing it to have been recent, turns out to be taped long ago. Interesting nonetheless, and the internet sources cite Pentagon officials for the report of last week's arrest.
Looks like perhaps the first wheel has just come off the corrupt bus that is our Federal government. May I be the first to publicly do the happy dance.
Looks like perhaps the first wheel has just come off the corrupt bus that is our Federal government. May I be the first to publicly do the happy dance.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
A Big Idea
I was working today on another post, yet to come, when I ran across this. This video discusses a series of experiments and experiences about how people are motivated to do their best. The results are nothing short of revolutionary. They show that money really DOESN'T make the world go around. In fact, it seems it actually stands in the way of progress. Watch.
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