I read this great article. The person who wrote it asked a simple question. If people running the state government pensions system, CalPers, are being charged with fraud (as is Mr. Villalobos), why aren't the politicians outraged. Good question. I think it deserves a little extra investigation.
Firstly, Elliot Broidy, here is a map showing some of his connections. Mr. Broidy plead guilty to bribing pension officials in New York and immediately resigned from the Los Angeles Police and Fire Pension Board. His company, Markstone, said it didn't expect his plea to impact their investments. LOL. Now Markstone has an ongoing relationship with CalPers. Hmmm
Broidy, pensions and unions
Here is where it gets interesting kids. Mr. Broidy was questioned in New York regarding all his connections to, Mr. Villalobos. Mr. Broidy was appointed to the Police and Fire Pension by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. At the end of the article it mentions the CIM Group. Broidy voted to allow the pension to invest $30 million in the CIM group. Hmmm. Wait and CIM was an investor in his company, Markstone.
Don't worry about getting all the detail, watch the connections. Now CIM was working with a man named Ari Swiller. Mr. Swiller is good friends with Villaraigosa. CIM and Swiller bought land in Kern with the intent of selling it to the City of Los Angeles DWP to make a wind farm and get the water rights.
At the time, Villaraigosa had a Deputy Mayor named David Freedman. Mr. Freedman had helped Mr. Swiller start a green energy company from 2004 to 2005. Mr. Freedman became the head of DWP. Oh, on an aside. During the energy rate hike controversy, Mr. Freedman was vacationing in Israel. He was replaced. Word in the City is that he was instructed not to return. How interesting.
Do you notice anything screwy about any of this? Unions, politicians, pensions, green energy and water. Oh year, and lots of money. Now CIM received over $200 million in investments from CalPers. How do you figure Villalobos voted on that investment? LOL.
Let me expand upon the question put forth by the author of the first article I mentioned. Why aren't the unions up in arms and screaming about the pension fraud and misdoings, why aren't the Governor and the Mayor of Los Angeles making this an issue, why isn't the City Council holding hearings? Why isn't this front page news every day when both the governor and mayor are saying that the pension system is too generous and is in jeopardy of failing?
By the way. Whatever happened to Andrew Adelman, perhaps he is visiting his brother and some Israelis. ROFL. He should not be too hard to find if anyone cares. I forgot, CIM also invested in loft conversions in Los Angeles. Even gave some units to people who had been on pension boards. Mr. Adelman was in charge of Building and Safety and it has been alleged he allowed asbestos removals without the proper protections. Alleged.
The Governor, the Mayor and President Obama attended the Copenhagen Climate Conference together. Heck, the Mayor is in D.C. right now. The Copenhagen Climate Conference was all about green technology and restricting your carbon emissions. All three are big supporters.
In my travels throughout the City I like to bring up CIM Group and see the reactions I get, they are quite fascinating. Most know nothing of the company, others cringe and say nothing. Some get very uncomfortable when I bring up CIM. Piss on them all.
Lets go back to Broidy for a second. Mr. Broidy invested $300,000 in a movie called, "Chooch". That was part of the bribe money he admitted to. The movie was made to benefit the girlfriend of Jack Chartier, an official in New York implicated in the scandal. The movie was distributed by a company founded by Steve Ratner. Who is Mr. Ratner you may ask, why he is the former head of the Obama administrations auto task force. And Markstone is now run by the former UN Ambassador from Israel.
It should begin to make sense to even the slowest person. I should also mention that Broidy was a big contributor to the Republican party in California and a major fundraiser for George W. Bush, the traitor. Well, they all are, I shouldn't single him out.
I grow bored with this. How the heck much can I post before people realize how bad it is and how obvious. Why isn't anyone screaming about these things, there are enough know facts out there as evidenced by the articles I have been linking to for the past year. Pensions are being used as the scapegoat for the failure of the criminals that benefited from their investments, not the pensioners, not the retirees, nope the politicians and insiders who skimmed hundreds of millions from the pensions by paying off and making promises to union officials. That is reality and we all get screwed because of it.
I beg the readers to at least let me know that you read this. I want to know that someone knows. Be well.
Some words from the great Hunter S. Thompson, lighten up kids.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
A Sad Update
More attacks on school kids in China
So what is going on? The popular belief is that these are all copycat killers. That is an incomplete and weak explanation at best. Why haven't we heard what the killers have said their reasons were?
People who commit mass murder, as opposed to serial killers, generally snap over something fairly specific in their lives. Unlike serial killers, who are driven by an urge to kill and not get caught, mass murderers expect to get caught. It is usually tied to suicidal feelings.
Mass murderers tend to go after people who fit a profile of someone who the murderer felt wronged them. The question becomes, were they going after the children, the school system or parents? What is the real target.
So what is going on? The popular belief is that these are all copycat killers. That is an incomplete and weak explanation at best. Why haven't we heard what the killers have said their reasons were?
People who commit mass murder, as opposed to serial killers, generally snap over something fairly specific in their lives. Unlike serial killers, who are driven by an urge to kill and not get caught, mass murderers expect to get caught. It is usually tied to suicidal feelings.
Mass murderers tend to go after people who fit a profile of someone who the murderer felt wronged them. The question becomes, were they going after the children, the school system or parents? What is the real target.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Excuse me, may I fart in your face?
The City of Los Angeles, Department of Water and Power is selling their Western District Yard so a developer can build a shopping center. Hmmmm. If you own something outright you don't have to pay annually. This reduces operating costs.
Sorry, I lost my choo choo, my train of thought. Happens that way sometimes. Was I talking about pensions, maybe not. Oh no, I remember, I was talking about DWP selling some land. They will have to pay to have a new building built. Why should we attempt to break even when we don't have to?
Maybe the developer is a good developer, he is Israeli and I bet he got money from government pensions. Perhaps someone should look and see.
Sorry, I lost my choo choo, my train of thought. Happens that way sometimes. Was I talking about pensions, maybe not. Oh no, I remember, I was talking about DWP selling some land. They will have to pay to have a new building built. Why should we attempt to break even when we don't have to?
Maybe the developer is a good developer, he is Israeli and I bet he got money from government pensions. Perhaps someone should look and see.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Ramblings on being
Thought I might get a bit off subject, not that there is a subject; but, off subject none the less. We tend to focus on things, sometimes this is good, sometimes we need to step back and focus less, that is where impressionism comes from.
We live in the trappings of a material world. As we "grow up" (the few of us who choose to) we begin to self define. Some of us never move past the material, intellect and spiritual and philosophical are ignored by them. I dated a woman, a very nice woman, and she detested philosophy. She was completely material, not greedy, not selfish, not corrupt, just material. If she could not see it, she did not wish to think about it.
Oh, I should mention, the woman grew up in communist Russia. Russia taught its people to be only about the here and now. Russian children, in Soviet Russia, were taught that there was no right or wrong morally; but, that right and wrong were physical things. I did not explain that well.
Bill Maher is a perfect example of the philosophy. We are born and we die. He claims what comes next simply does not matter to him. He would say that we cannot know, so it does not matter and he does not care. Actually, he has said just that.
Wish such a belief set, what type of life would one live? Simple, get what you can, don't worry about later and morals are whatever is convenient. They would wonder why they should have any restrictions except those for safety from others. A "you only go around once, grab all the gusto you can" alcoholic type of philosophy.
I cannot understand the intellectual laziness that is behind such beliefs. I exist, you exist and what our lives mean is important. We are important even if we only live for a moment. We have value and our experience and others experience has value. In the end, whether we live for a minute or eternity, our self definition is unique and beautiful and ours. It is the only thing we have that we can create, ourselves. If we choose to be meaningless than we are.
Some choose to attempt to understand their own existence. This would be a prerequisite to understanding anything in this world. How can we understand anything, if we do not understand it's context to us and of us? As long as we are alive, isn't the question of why and of it's value of some worth and effort?
I choose to question whether or not we have meaning and then attempt to determine and define what my meaning is. On the most fundamental level we are a collection of changing emotions. Some are pleasant and some are painful. Both prove that we exist and have meaning. At a minimum we have meaning to ourselves. If we grow, we can look at what that meaning is.
Many would say that the most fundamental aspect that can be known is pleasure and pain. I would disagree, the most fundamental aspect is that we can know both, experience anything whether perceived or real, we still experience. That is powerful and something that rocks and the earth cannot do.
The fact that we can experience makes us the most important things in the universe, more important than the universe itself for if there is no sentient being to experience the universe than the universe cannot have meaning. A flower than can never be seen may have beauty but it does not matter. You see, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and if there is no beholder than there is no beauty.
We create beauty by being capable of observing beauty. Pretty powerful. Our interaction and understanding of the world brings out what could not exist without us, meaning and beauty. We, at our most basic, are meaning generators, each of us individually is a meaning generator.
As we exist and understand we are meaningful, we can begin to attempt to put our lives in context. To see ourselves as part of something larger. We can begin to see that the material is merely a representation of reality, our awareness attempting to experience whatever is. Our ability to see does not change objects, merely our awareness of what we perceive.
If I am color blind, it does not change the object, merely my ability to fully perceive what is around me. Helen Keller could not see; however, she felt the tables and chairs she bumped into. The unseen chairs were still there. Refusal to see what is around us does not stop it from existing.
See, I have gone from the "real" (stock market, pensions, corruption) to the "real" (our experience). Some would say that just because we exist does not mean that anything has meaning. I disagree, I have meaning, at a minimum I have meaning to me and you have meaning to you. We have meaning, rocks do not.
Because my experience has meaning, I have the right to define myself, by defining myself, I increase the meaning of my life, I have that power and right. We define ourselves by determining what choices we will make and for what purpose we will make them. That becomes the definition of what we truly are.
I am not defined by my experiences, I am defined by my choices. I do not give up control over my choices or my reasons for them. My choices evolve overtime. My self-definition also evolves as I learn from my experiences. I do not have to make the same mistakes for eternity, I can find new ones.
That is the beginning of context. Growth, I can evolve, rocks cannot. Computers cannot attain sentience, they lack the ability to be aware. That is a problem for technology, it has no meaning outside of us. If a tree falls in the woods and no sentient being hears it then no sound was made, only sound vibrations. Sound requires an observer.
So, once again, we return to the issue of context. If I exist, which I am pretty sure I do, and I have meaning (which I do because I choose to) then the question of context becomes critical to growing in my understanding of my meaning and myself.
I can choose to ignore the God question and eternity, I can choose to believe that I am all that exists, which is insanity or I can choose to believe that my experience which is equally insane or I can choose to attempt to understand and define my context.
If I recognize I exist, hard to avoid that one, then I must, if I have any sense, attempt to determine what I am and why I am here. Some would argue I just am, that is rather childish and lazy. I am and I can choose a reason for being therefore I can choose to be here for a reason. I create reason, the universe cannot, and so can you.
Oh, this particular post if for a friend of mine named Chris. I hope he enjoys it, others are welcome to get from it whatever they choose. I do not have to be materialistic, realistic or any istic. I can choose to go from the "real" to the "really important".
A week ago I said the market would crash and get volatile. It did and that was a fairly "material", "physical" type of prediction. Sometimes I wish to talk about what has real meaning, you know our lives, our existence, our emotions, us.
If the only thing that I can be absolutely sure exists is me then how can I begin to believe that I can stop existing? Based on what? For the Bill Maher's of the world, I ask this question. What possible fricking proof can anyone provide me that I do not continue to exist? None. Based on their weak and flawed logic they cannot prove anything and accept anything. I can prove to myself that I exist, that is a starting point. They have none.
I shall simplify the argument for learning, understanding and growth. Prove to me that you do not exist. If you can do that then belief sets based on nonsense can be proven to me. Enjoy.
We live in the trappings of a material world. As we "grow up" (the few of us who choose to) we begin to self define. Some of us never move past the material, intellect and spiritual and philosophical are ignored by them. I dated a woman, a very nice woman, and she detested philosophy. She was completely material, not greedy, not selfish, not corrupt, just material. If she could not see it, she did not wish to think about it.
Oh, I should mention, the woman grew up in communist Russia. Russia taught its people to be only about the here and now. Russian children, in Soviet Russia, were taught that there was no right or wrong morally; but, that right and wrong were physical things. I did not explain that well.
Bill Maher is a perfect example of the philosophy. We are born and we die. He claims what comes next simply does not matter to him. He would say that we cannot know, so it does not matter and he does not care. Actually, he has said just that.
Wish such a belief set, what type of life would one live? Simple, get what you can, don't worry about later and morals are whatever is convenient. They would wonder why they should have any restrictions except those for safety from others. A "you only go around once, grab all the gusto you can" alcoholic type of philosophy.
I cannot understand the intellectual laziness that is behind such beliefs. I exist, you exist and what our lives mean is important. We are important even if we only live for a moment. We have value and our experience and others experience has value. In the end, whether we live for a minute or eternity, our self definition is unique and beautiful and ours. It is the only thing we have that we can create, ourselves. If we choose to be meaningless than we are.
Some choose to attempt to understand their own existence. This would be a prerequisite to understanding anything in this world. How can we understand anything, if we do not understand it's context to us and of us? As long as we are alive, isn't the question of why and of it's value of some worth and effort?
I choose to question whether or not we have meaning and then attempt to determine and define what my meaning is. On the most fundamental level we are a collection of changing emotions. Some are pleasant and some are painful. Both prove that we exist and have meaning. At a minimum we have meaning to ourselves. If we grow, we can look at what that meaning is.
Many would say that the most fundamental aspect that can be known is pleasure and pain. I would disagree, the most fundamental aspect is that we can know both, experience anything whether perceived or real, we still experience. That is powerful and something that rocks and the earth cannot do.
The fact that we can experience makes us the most important things in the universe, more important than the universe itself for if there is no sentient being to experience the universe than the universe cannot have meaning. A flower than can never be seen may have beauty but it does not matter. You see, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and if there is no beholder than there is no beauty.
We create beauty by being capable of observing beauty. Pretty powerful. Our interaction and understanding of the world brings out what could not exist without us, meaning and beauty. We, at our most basic, are meaning generators, each of us individually is a meaning generator.
As we exist and understand we are meaningful, we can begin to attempt to put our lives in context. To see ourselves as part of something larger. We can begin to see that the material is merely a representation of reality, our awareness attempting to experience whatever is. Our ability to see does not change objects, merely our awareness of what we perceive.
If I am color blind, it does not change the object, merely my ability to fully perceive what is around me. Helen Keller could not see; however, she felt the tables and chairs she bumped into. The unseen chairs were still there. Refusal to see what is around us does not stop it from existing.
See, I have gone from the "real" (stock market, pensions, corruption) to the "real" (our experience). Some would say that just because we exist does not mean that anything has meaning. I disagree, I have meaning, at a minimum I have meaning to me and you have meaning to you. We have meaning, rocks do not.
Because my experience has meaning, I have the right to define myself, by defining myself, I increase the meaning of my life, I have that power and right. We define ourselves by determining what choices we will make and for what purpose we will make them. That becomes the definition of what we truly are.
I am not defined by my experiences, I am defined by my choices. I do not give up control over my choices or my reasons for them. My choices evolve overtime. My self-definition also evolves as I learn from my experiences. I do not have to make the same mistakes for eternity, I can find new ones.
That is the beginning of context. Growth, I can evolve, rocks cannot. Computers cannot attain sentience, they lack the ability to be aware. That is a problem for technology, it has no meaning outside of us. If a tree falls in the woods and no sentient being hears it then no sound was made, only sound vibrations. Sound requires an observer.
So, once again, we return to the issue of context. If I exist, which I am pretty sure I do, and I have meaning (which I do because I choose to) then the question of context becomes critical to growing in my understanding of my meaning and myself.
I can choose to ignore the God question and eternity, I can choose to believe that I am all that exists, which is insanity or I can choose to believe that my experience which is equally insane or I can choose to attempt to understand and define my context.
If I recognize I exist, hard to avoid that one, then I must, if I have any sense, attempt to determine what I am and why I am here. Some would argue I just am, that is rather childish and lazy. I am and I can choose a reason for being therefore I can choose to be here for a reason. I create reason, the universe cannot, and so can you.
Oh, this particular post if for a friend of mine named Chris. I hope he enjoys it, others are welcome to get from it whatever they choose. I do not have to be materialistic, realistic or any istic. I can choose to go from the "real" to the "really important".
A week ago I said the market would crash and get volatile. It did and that was a fairly "material", "physical" type of prediction. Sometimes I wish to talk about what has real meaning, you know our lives, our existence, our emotions, us.
If the only thing that I can be absolutely sure exists is me then how can I begin to believe that I can stop existing? Based on what? For the Bill Maher's of the world, I ask this question. What possible fricking proof can anyone provide me that I do not continue to exist? None. Based on their weak and flawed logic they cannot prove anything and accept anything. I can prove to myself that I exist, that is a starting point. They have none.
I shall simplify the argument for learning, understanding and growth. Prove to me that you do not exist. If you can do that then belief sets based on nonsense can be proven to me. Enjoy.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
NATO in Russia
On the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, NATO forces joined Russian forces in a parade in Red Square. This is highly unusual and upset many in Russia. Imagine having 11,000 Russian and Chinese troops marching in front of the White House to celebrate the defeat of Germany. That is a lot of foreign troops.
March in Russia
March in Russia
New Currency
You might find this video interesting. It has the Russian president discussing and showing a new one world currency to be used in addition to regional currencies.
Ooohhh, new money
Now, you might not understand what the impact of a single currency is. I will attempt to explain. It allows an international body, such as the UN or the World Trade Organization or most likely the World Bank to set the rate for certain goods and services. You might want to investigate the concept of a Value Added Tax.
If we have a single international monetary standard then the question of valuation is critical. Is one hour of physical labor by an American equivalent to that of an Argentinian? We don't get paid the same. What occurs when you have an international minimum wage?
I hope you begin to understand what the impacts of a "standardized" currency are. It will redistribute wealth. It leads towards making all live by the same standards, brings down the west and up the third world. On one level this is probably the right thing to do; but, not in this manner.
A standardized currency does not result in a standardized price for goods. The cost of production is not the same for all countries because of technology, transportation and availability of resources. This is to say that countries with higher technology and more resources will be able to build products cheaper; but, the workers will get the same pay. The extra goes to the companies and governments. Get it?
This may all be too abstract for most people. I apologize and will attempt to simplify. A standardized valuation of all currencies means that everyone loses unless they are the people who own everything already.
You will see a major push for a new "reserve currency", it has already begun. It will be an international currency and regional currencies values will be determined by it. The new currencies will be needed to stabilize the international monetary crisis. In creating their valuation, international debt will be lessened, this is the cookie. Sort of like starting over with a clean slate. America will love it because of our multi-trillion dollars of debt and so will every other country because of theirs.
UPDATE
After writing the above I was reading a newspaper from Tokyo. In the opinion section was an interesting article regarding the Euro. It said that in order to have a successful shared currency, they should have a shared policy on taxes and closer coordination of police. LOL. Read the article and understand the next step after having a regional currency.
The real Greek crisis
It is all so amusingly intended to prod people into riots. Worked on the Greeks, consider the tea party movement here. The news is fed to you, you think you get it and instead find out that the choice of moves you thought you had was wrong. We are fed our choices and want to be on the winning side rather than do right. If we make our choices based on what we want more rather than doing right, we will always do wrong.
Ooohhh, new money
Now, you might not understand what the impact of a single currency is. I will attempt to explain. It allows an international body, such as the UN or the World Trade Organization or most likely the World Bank to set the rate for certain goods and services. You might want to investigate the concept of a Value Added Tax.
If we have a single international monetary standard then the question of valuation is critical. Is one hour of physical labor by an American equivalent to that of an Argentinian? We don't get paid the same. What occurs when you have an international minimum wage?
I hope you begin to understand what the impacts of a "standardized" currency are. It will redistribute wealth. It leads towards making all live by the same standards, brings down the west and up the third world. On one level this is probably the right thing to do; but, not in this manner.
A standardized currency does not result in a standardized price for goods. The cost of production is not the same for all countries because of technology, transportation and availability of resources. This is to say that countries with higher technology and more resources will be able to build products cheaper; but, the workers will get the same pay. The extra goes to the companies and governments. Get it?
This may all be too abstract for most people. I apologize and will attempt to simplify. A standardized valuation of all currencies means that everyone loses unless they are the people who own everything already.
You will see a major push for a new "reserve currency", it has already begun. It will be an international currency and regional currencies values will be determined by it. The new currencies will be needed to stabilize the international monetary crisis. In creating their valuation, international debt will be lessened, this is the cookie. Sort of like starting over with a clean slate. America will love it because of our multi-trillion dollars of debt and so will every other country because of theirs.
UPDATE
After writing the above I was reading a newspaper from Tokyo. In the opinion section was an interesting article regarding the Euro. It said that in order to have a successful shared currency, they should have a shared policy on taxes and closer coordination of police. LOL. Read the article and understand the next step after having a regional currency.
The real Greek crisis
It is all so amusingly intended to prod people into riots. Worked on the Greeks, consider the tea party movement here. The news is fed to you, you think you get it and instead find out that the choice of moves you thought you had was wrong. We are fed our choices and want to be on the winning side rather than do right. If we make our choices based on what we want more rather than doing right, we will always do wrong.
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