The Biggest Swindle ever is happening behind closed doors!

It appears that our entire Congress is standing by silently while Ben Bernanke works his magic for the 1%. IF you thought the first Bank Bail out with less than 1 trillion dollars in TARP funds was bad...and then thought it was egregious when Senator Bernie Sanders audit of the Federal Reserved uncovered 15 trillion dollars in no interest loans to bail out the banks...

Then sit down and buckle your seat belt. If this doesn't get your blood boiling then get yourself to the doctor you might be dead.

It appears that Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve has come up with a totally new way to bail out the banks. Facilitate the transfer of risky derivatives to a FDIC branch of the bank. Who is set up to benefit? The Bank of America--Bofa--has been given the green light from Ben Bernanke to transfer 75 TRILLION dollars worth of risky derivatives from one subsidary holding company to an FDIC insured bank that is "flush with deposits."

Bloomberg reports that BOFA Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson believes such transfer is “the normal course of dealings that we’ve had with counterparties since Merrill Lynch and BofA came together.”

According to Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi:

It,’ Matt Taibbi noted:

“(BY) shifting… derivatives contracts onto its own federally-insured balance sheet… an irresponsible debtor, Bank of America, is keeping a loan shark from breaking its legs by getting his rich parents to co-sign his loan. The parents in this metaphor would be the FDIC. The FDIC naturally is not pleased with this development, but the Fed, the supreme banking regulator, is apparently encouraging this move. Here’s how Bloomberg characterized this move: ‘ In short, the Fed’s priorities seem to lie with protecting the bank-holding company from losses at Merrill, even if that means greater risks for the FDIC’s insurance fund.’
“AGAIN and again, the Fed proves it has no appetite for allowing Wall Street to eat its own pain, and continually encourages banks to stick the government with its losses and bad assets. This move will allow Bank of America to keep a Band-Aid over its disastrous financial situation far longer than it would be able to in a genuinely free market. People should be outraged at this development.”

Cenk Uygur explains the situation:



It sounds like the Senate needs to rein in the Federal Reserve asap. Contact your Senator and hopefully your Senator will not be representing the 1% and simply being silent and going along with this outrageous new way for taxpayers to bail out the risky investments by Banks.

You might also ask Obama why he doesn't fire Timothy Geithner who appears to once again be protecting fake people (corporations) and promoting the Bankster's agenda instead of protecting real people.

This is a five alarm Buzz....Buzz.....

Civil Discourse should be the norm.

I posted a comment on another Virginia blog--Bearing Drift--today and encountered someone named Little David. I really like his approach and am hopeful of more civil dialogue among greater numbers of people in Virginia with more attitudes like his cropping up everyday along the entire political spectrum.

I don't know about others but I'm tired of the name calling and labeling that corporations and their mainstream corporate media tries to make as the only way to hold a dialogue in this country.

How about all of us recognizing that we are all people (except of course those corporations that only the Corporate US Supreme Court recognizes as living breathing human beings) and let us have dialogues about ideas, facts, and various solutions to problems and let's leave the name calling out of our public discourse?

I believe this will help our democratic process. It is not in the people's interest to be so split and divisive. But it has served the banksters and Wall Street agenda which has basically been shoved down all of our throats.

I love Virginia and have lots of faith that Virginians can rise up and speak out in a democratic and civil discourse that will serve us and our communities well. I hope others will join in and create a vibrant civil dialogue about issues that impact us all.

Another Broken Obama Promise

Obama should have ended the war on drugs....however, he did promise not to allow the feds to interfere with medical marijuana in states that voted to allow this.

Shame on you Obama shame on you!

Maybe this is tied to the fact that corporations are still calling the shots in America and not the people? "...The Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest company devoted to locking people up, informs investors that liberalization of sentencing or drug prohibition laws could damage its share price. "The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws. For instance, any changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them."

So let's think about this. When we privatize government functions, like prisons, then the goal becomes to make harsher laws and lock up more citizens for profit. I like the old way when we had a voice in our government policies and we wanted to spend less money and use our taxes wisely versus spending more money so that corporations can make larger profits.

But since Obama and the others have to raise money for their campaigns watch for privatization on all levels. When roads, tunnels, prisons and schools are privatized then the "private sector's" main goal is to make money and they will use their profits to lobby the government to lock up more citizens so they can make more profits so the people of America are going to continue to see their taxes rise and they will receive nothing but higher bills as a result.

Wake up America. Government privatization is the worst thing that can happen to your household budgets. The middle class is disappearing. Who is going to stand up for democracy in America?

We can start with the states rights and Medical Marijuana. Let Obama know you want him to be a man of his word. He needs to keep his promise and tell the Justice Department to stop harassing sick people using medical marijuana and the support system that supplies them and take those resources and do something good for the American people.

Why not go after those greedy thugs in fancy suits walking around Wall Street who are waging war on the middle class and breaking laws with impunity? Restore justice in America (which was another of your campaign promises) and show the world that the law applies to everyone in America not just the disappearing middle class and the poor.

What is money buying in VA?

It seems that Virginia's Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli have been busy meeting with the infamous Koch Brothers. Money can't buy you love but I wonder what it's buying in VA? The Koch Brothers and their money is currently considered the driving force for both the Tea Party and the Republican Party. When you're that wealthy why not own two political parties?

Eric Cantor has a serious conflict of interest

Eric Cantor has a serious conflict of interest. It appears that he stands to make money if the debt ceiling is not raised. This is beyond outrageous and un-ethical.

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The Nuclear Safety Myth

Nuclear proponents always downplay the risks in the name of profits the safety myth propaganda becomes the irrational bought and paid for "new corporate science." This safety myth leads us all down the path to another Fukushima (and the current Fukushima disaster is still spewing radioactive particles around the globe.) The scientific fact is that no radiation is safe and that's no myth!

Senator Wagner is not representing Virginia Beach citizens

This is another good reason to have someone un-seat the incumbent Senator Wagner from Virginia Beach. He's costing his citizens a lot of money as Virginia Beach is fighting the uranium mining that Senator Wagner is helping get through the General Assembly.

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Some governments listen to their people.

It's refreshing to see that some governments are not corporate controlled and these governments actually listen to their people. Germany is shutting down their dirty, dangerous nuclear power plants and choosing clean, green energy of the future.

Finally they tells us...It's meltdown in Japan....

So Japan is now going to switch to wind power for it's future energy needs....

Virginia needs to wake up and keep the ban on uranium mining.

We can take advantage of our incredible wind resources off our coast that are safe and won't end up killing us.

Plus wind will bring more jobs to Virginia without the billion dollar clean up bill.

Contact your state delegate and state senator today. Tell them to stop the nuclear madness and keep the ban!!

Uranium threatens the Roanoke River

Uranium mining is so dangerous that you don't have to actually do it to have an important tributary placed on the top ten list of America's most endangered river. Virginian's need to rise up quickly to protect our families, communities and state.

This is truly nuclear madness!

KEEP THE BAN COALITION NEWS

For Immediate Release
May 12, 2011 (corrected May 17, 2011)

Coalition to Keep the Ban on Uranium Mining in Virginia Growing Statewide

Coalition announces dozens of supporting localities and groups, launches petition drive and website

Contact:

Cale Jaffe, Southern Environmental Law Center, 434-977-4090

Mary Rafferty, Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, 804-225-9113, ext 105

Naomi Hodge-Muse, President of the Martinsville/Henry County NAACP, 276-632-9674

RICHMOND, VA – The Keep the Ban Coalition today announced 41 localities and organizations that have taken action—writing letters, adopting resolutions, etc.—that support keeping in place the state’s longstanding ban on uranium mining. This is evidence of a growing statewide movement. Local governments that have passed resolutions or otherwise taken action include the City of Virginia Beach, and civic groups include the Reston-based National Wildlife Federation, whose membership passed a national resolution of support in April.

The coalition today also launched a statewide petition drive, starting with 1,000 signatures of Virginians who support keeping the ban on uranium mining, and launched a new website, www.keeptheban.org, aimed at raising awareness of the health, environmental and socio-economic impacts associated with uranium mining, milling and waste disposal. Uranium has never been mined commercially in the East, nor in a predominantly wet-climate region of the U.S., like Virginia.

“Virginia has had a ban in place on mining uranium for nearly 30 years, and for good reason,” said Naomi Hodge-Muse, president of the Martinsville-Henry County NAACP and leader of the Sierra Club Keep the Ban Team, Martinsville. “There are just too many questions and potential risks of radioactive and toxic materials contaminating our streams, rivers and drinking water. With all the storms and hurricanes we get, this is the worst possible place you could put a uranium operation.”

The uranium industry is lobbying to lift the ban and begin mining uranium in Virginia, starting at a major deposit at a Pittsylvania County site called Coles Hill, first discovered in the late 1970s. The industry also secured leases on other suspected deposits in Culpeper, Fauquier, Floyd, Henry, Madison, Orange, Patrick, and Pittsylvania counties. Potential uranium deposits were also detected in Franklin and Nelson counties. Recently, Virginia Uranium, Inc. told Wall Street investors that it plans to introduce legislation lifting the uranium mining ban in the 2012 session of the General Assembly.

Coalition partners note the well-documented links between exposure to uranium waste and myriad health problems, including bone, liver and breast cancer, lung and kidney diseases, and birth defects. Another concern is the severity and frequency of storms in the region, which could damage uranium facilities and potentially wash contaminated storm water and uranium waste into nearby water resources. In the last 40 years, nine hurricanes and countless other major storms have deluged Virginia. In 1969, Hurricane Camille dumped 31 inches of rain on central Virginia. This April, at least 30 tornadoes were recorded in Virginia, including one in Halifax County about 20 miles from the Coles Hill site.

Virginia Beach, which gets its drinking water from Lake Gaston, downstream of the Coles Hill site, recently released the findings of its $437,000 study which concluded that a catastrophic failure of a uranium waste containment structure at the site could contaminate the city’s drinking water for as long as two years. Roughly 1.2 million people in Virginia and North Carolina rely on the Roanoke River system downstream of the Coles Hill site for drinking water.

Mary Rafferty with the Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter said that nine local groups have formed around the state in recent months to campaign for keeping the ban on uranium mining in Virginia (see list below).

“I’m fielding calls every week from concerned citizens across the state with requests for more information and for ways to get more involved. Mining proponents think this issue will be won behind closed doors in Richmond, but the people of Virginia are demanding it be debated in town halls and onfront porches,” said Rafferty.

“If the ban is lifted, it will be lifted statewide, which means Virginians throughout the state could potentially be affected by uranium mining, milling and waste disposal in their communities, or miles upstream,” said Cale Jaffe, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The coalition website is designed to educate the public on the risks posed by lifting the ban on uranium mining, milling and waste disposal in Virginia. The site has fact sheets and press coverage on the issue, and visitors can sign a petition in favor of the ban and join a local volunteer group.

Government entities that have taken action related to keeping the ban within the last four years

City of Creedmor, NC

City of Henderson, NC

City of Virginia Beach, VA

Floyd County, VA

Halifax County, NC

Granville County, NC

Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments

Mecklenburg County, VA

Orange County, VA

Rappahannock County, VA

Town of Halifax, VA

Town of Hurt, VA

Town of Franklinton, NC

Town of Warrenton, NC

Vance County, NC

Warren County, NC

Organizations in support of the ban that are not members of the Keep the Ban Coalition

Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

- Piedmont Residents in Defense of the Environment (PRIDE)

Buggs Island Striper Club

Halifax County Chamber of Commerce (VA)

Martinsville-Henry County Chapter of the NAACP

National Wildlife Federation
North Carolina Roanoke River Basin Advisory Committee

North Carolina Wildlife Federation

Southside Concerned Citizens

Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts

Volunteer groups organized with assistance from the Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter:

- Keep the Ban, Chesapeake

- Keep the Ban, Norfolk

- UBAN, Floyd County (VA)

- Roanoke Group of the Sierra Club

- Sierra Club Keep the Ban Team, Martinsville

Members of the Keep the Ban Coalition

Dan River Basin Association

League of Individuals for the Environment, Inc.

Roanoke River Basin Association

Piedmont Environmental Council

Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter

Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project

Southern Environmental Law Center

Virginia Bass Federation

Virginia Conservation Network

Virginia League of Conservation Voters

"Why Are We Playing Russian Roulette With the American People?": Longtime Nuclear Critic Ralph Nader Advocates Phasing Out Nuclear Power Industry

"Why Are We Playing Russian Roulette With the American People?": Longtime Nuclear Critic Ralph Nader Advocates Phasing Out Nuclear Power Industry

Why is President Obama saying "we" are committed to a nuclear renaissance? There should be no royal "we" in the USA. It appears that President Obama has sold his soul for nuclear industry money.

We the people deserve a national moratorium on nuclear energy while we discuss what is "our" best course forward for achieving our energy needs is a safe, sustainable, manner.

Why are we setting up a scenario where private investors will only invest IF the taxpayers are on the hook for the costs? This corporate welfare needs to stop. If another nuclear plant won't be built unless the taxpayer is on the hook then it should NOT be built! No more corporate welfare for this nuclear industry that has never been able to exit in 60 years unless it's feeding at the public trough!

Uranium Quote of the Day

According to Sarah Fields:

Uranium mining is still a dirty, polluting , hazardous, and environmentally destructive industry. State and federal regulatory programs are still back in the 1980s. Some kinds of emissions are not regulated (same story at uranium mills), and there are no clean up standards for the mines after decommissioning. There are still many uranium mining areas in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah that have never been cleaned up. A federal staff person recently described an area on public land in Utah with historical uranium mining impacts and 2 small proposed mines as a "War Zone."