Patch_W_Adams's St Louis Blog

I was surfing and Found some very interesting Office Pranks....

Golf Anyone?

Post Its....To Help You Remember

Extra, Extra....

Just Wow.

Peanuts, Get Your Peanuts here!

Rats!

Cheetos, Everyone Likes Cheetos...Right?

From Cubicals..To Santa's Village!

These are only a Few...What ones have you seen...Or Done?

FHA-Backed Loans: The New Subprime

 The same people whose reckless practices triggered the global financial crisis are onto a similar scheme that could cost taxpayers tons more

By Chad Terhune and Robert Berner

Matt Mahurin

As if they haven't done enough damage. Thousands of subprime mortgage lenders and brokers—many of them the very sorts of firms that helped create the current financial crisis—are going strong. Their new strategy: taking advantage of a long-standing federal program designed to encourage homeownership by insuring mortgages for buyers of modest means.

You read that correctly. Some of the same people who propelled us toward the housing market calamity are now seeking to profit by exploiting billions in federally insured mortgages. Washington, meanwhile, has vastly expanded the availability of such taxpayer-backed loans as part of the emergency campaign to rescue the country's swooning economy.

For generations, these loans, backed by the Federal Housing Administration, have offered working-class families a legitimate means to purchase their own homes. But now there's a severe danger that aggressive lenders and brokers schooled in the rash ways of the subprime industry will overwhelm the FHA with loans for people unlikely to make their payments. Exacerbating matters, FHA officials seem oblivious to what's happening—or incapable of stopping it. They're giving mortgage firms licenses to dole out 100%-insured loans despite lender records blotted by state sanctions, bankruptcy filings, civil lawsuits, and even criminal convictions.

As a result, the nation could soon suffer a fresh wave of defaults and foreclosures, with Washington obliged to respond with yet another gargantuan bailout. Inside Mortgage Finance, a research and newsletter firm in Bethesda, Md., estimates that over the next five years fresh loans backed by the FHA that go sour will cost taxpayers $100 billion or more. That's on top of the $700 billion financial-system rescue Congress has already approved. Gary E. Lacefield, a former federal mortgage investigator who now runs Risk Mitigation Group, a consultancy in Arlington, Tex., predicts: "Within the next 12 to 18 months, there is going to be FHA-insurance Armageddon."

The resilient entrepreneurs who populate this dubious field are often obscure, but not puny. Jerry Cugno started Premier Mortgage Funding in Clearwater, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, in 2002. Over the next four years, it became one of the country's largest subprime lenders, with 750 branches and 5,000 brokers across the U.S. Cugno, now 59, took home millions of dollars and rewarded top salesmen with Caribbean cruises and shiny Hummers, according to court records and interviews with former employees. But along the way, Premier accumulated a dismal regulatory record. Five states—Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin—revoked its license for various abuses; four others disciplined the company for using unlicensed brokers or similar violations. The crash of the subprime market and a barrage of lawsuits prompted Premier to file for U.S. bankruptcy court protection in Tampa in July 2007. Then, in March, a Premier unit in Cleveland and its manager pleaded guilty to felony charges related to fraudulent mortgage schemes.

But Premier didn't just close down. Since it declared bankruptcy, federal records show, it has issued more than 2,000 taxpayer-insured mortgages—worth a total of $250 million. According to the FHA, Premier failed to notify the agency of its Chapter 11 filing, as required by law. In late October, an FHA spokesman admitted it was unaware of Premier's situation and welcomed any information BusinessWeek could provide.

You'd think the government would have had Premier on a watch list. According to data compiled by the FHA's parent, the U.S. Housing & Urban Development Dept. (HUD), the firm's borrowers have a 9.2% default rate, the second highest among large-volume FHA lenders nationally.

Now, members of the Cugno family have started a brand new company called Paramount Mortgage Funding. It operates a floor below Premier's headquarters in a three-story black-glass office building Jerry Cugno owns in Clearwater. In August 2007, only weeks after Premier sought bankruptcy court protection, the FHA granted Paramount a license to issue government-backed mortgages. "I am the only person in the country who really understands FHA," Cugno says with characteristic bravado.

To read The Whole Article Go To:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_48/
b4110036448352.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_
top+story

Perfect example of the Mentallity of the Politicans in Washington.  They think they are in Charge with Money they believe Grows on Trees....

No wonder they throw the idea of more taxes around like it doesn't effect anyone..

Twits....

I was disturb by something yesterday...(insert Joke here)  yea, yea....

I read something about an Austrailian Article and these retarded Carbon Credits.....Well here it is for your digestion.....

"However, in the meantime, a rather striking proposal has been published in the Medical Journal of Australia. According to news reports Barry Walters, an associate professor of obstetric medicine at the University of Western Australia reckons that families opting for more than a defined number of children should be hit with a carbon tax. Conversely condom and sterilisation costs should be awarded carbon credits.

Dr Jack Pezzey concurs with the general idea. A senior fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University, figuring that population growth accounts for over half of the country’s growth in energy-based emissions, says, “... if you want to control total emissions you cannot ignore total population growth. You simply have to admit that it's part of the problem."

Another backing the proposal is Garry Egger, an adjunct professor of health sciences at Southern Cross University in New South Wales. "Population control seems to have gone off the rails in the last 30 years," he said. "It's almost forbidden to talk about it these days. It's almost like smoking - you have to go out in the alleys to talk about it.”

Yet, as of next year, the Australian Federal Government will be giving families a one off payment of $5,000 per new born baby. Dr Egger feels that after two children however, parents should be instead paying a carbon tax."

Now what Bothers me is that I have also heard that China believes that since they have Forced Abortions they should get Carbon Credits for every baby aborted.

There is something Very wrong with this Thinking.....it is going down a Road we don't want to go....

Once a Life is Given a value as a Carbon Credit or Charged a special tax for basicly Breathing, it opens a pandora's box of future wrong doing. 

Next they'll decide that once your too old and useless that for the sake of the planet you must die so someone else can have your carbon credit.  Or if a child is born with Special Needs, they will put it to death so that their carbon Credit can be given to someone that won't be considered a drain on society.  This Reeks of the Good Old Facist Ideology of a Master Race....

We do not need to Go Down this Road, I refuse to Go down this Road.  The Dangers are overwelming, the Benefits...illusionary......

What Kind of World have we become  to decide that a Human Life is less important than......a Carbon Credit?

A look at some of AB's Past advertising.....Try not to Cry..

Naturally I Left out a Few, like the Bikini Clad Models and the Frogs..but hey This Blog is Long enough...and I'm not so sure the Bikini Clad Models would go over well with the Fox Blog Folks...lol

Last But not Least....

Oh Well.....Who said life was Fair? lol

By Bertel Schmitt
November 18, 2008 - 14,596 views

Chinese carmakers SAIC and Dongfeng have plans to acquire GM and Chrysler, China’s 21st Century Business Herald reports today. [A National Enquirer the paper is not. It is one of China's leading business newspapers, with a daily readership over three million.] The paper cites a senior official of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology– the state regulator of China’s auto industry– who dropped the hint that “the auto manufacturing giants in China, such as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and Dongfeng Motor Corporation, have the capability and intention to buy some assets of the two crisis-plagued American automakers.” These hints are very often followed with quick action in the Middle Kingdom. The hints were dropped just a few days after the same Chinese government gave its auto makers the go-ahead to invest abroad. And why would they do that?

A take-over of a large  overseas auto maker would fit perfectly into China’s plans. As reported before, China has realized that its export chances are slim without unfettered access to foreign technology. The brand cachet of Chinese cars abroad is, shall we say, challenged. The Chinese could easily export Made-in-China VWs, Toyotas, Buicks. If their joint venture partner would let them. The solution: Buy the joint venture partner. Especially, when he’s in deep trouble.

At current market valuations (GM is worth less than Mattel) the Chinese government can afford to buy GM with petty cash. Even a hundred billion $ would barely dent China’s more than $2t in currency reserves. For nobody in the world would buying GM and (while they are at it) Chrysler make more sense than for the Chinese. Overlap? What overlap? They would gain instant access to the world’s markets with accepted brands, and proven technology.

21st Century Business Herald, obviously with input from higher-up, writes that Chinese industry must change and upgrade. China wants their factories to change from low-value-added manufacturing to technically innovative and financially-sound high-value-add industries. Says the paper: “It would be much easier now for strong Chinese automakers to go global by acquiring some assets of their U.S. counterparts in times of crisis.”

Deloitte & Touche sees a trend: “Chinese automakers can start with buying out the OEM projects and Chinese ventures of some global carmakers such as GM and Chrysler.”

To Read The Whole Article Go To:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/breaking-news-chinese
-may-buy-gm-and-chrysler/

Obama Transition Member Oversaw Fannie's Lobbying

 Appointment Raises Questions About New Adminsitration's Pledge to Change Washington

By EMMA SCHWARTZ and JUSTIN ROOD

November 17, 2008

One of Obama's top transition team members, Thomas Donilon, oversaw an aggressive, backdoor lobbying campaign by mortgage giant Fannie Mae to undermine the credibility of a probe into the firm's accounting irregularities, according to a 2006 government report on the company.

President-elect Obama has pledged to change the culture of coziness between officials, lobbyists and... President-elect Obama has pledged to change the culture of coziness between officials, lobbyists and lawmakers in Washington. But the role that a key member on the transition team played in a Fannie Mae scandal raises questions about just how much of a break the Obama administration will be from business as usual inside the Beltway. (ABC News Photo Illustration)

 The effort -- which reportedly included attacks on the funding for the oversight agency, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, and an attempt to launch a separate investigation into OFHEO itself -- was ultimately unsuccessful, and regulators eventually discovered top Fannie Mae executives had been manipulating the company's financial reporting to maximize their bonuses.

 Facing accusations of misstating its earnings from 1998 to 2004, Fannie Mae settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $400 million in 2006, although it did not admit any wrongdoing.

Related

  Lobbyists Banned, but Big Donors Play Major Transition Roles

Will Obama's White House Picks Bring 'Change?'

More from Brian Ross and the Investigative Team

Obama transition advisor and ex-Fannie Mae executive Donilon has not been accused of participating in the accounting irregularities. But he did oversee its lobbying, and helped paint a rosy picture of Fannie's financial health to the company's board, OFHEO investigators concluded, a picture that was ultimately proven false.

 Donilon declined to comment for this article.

 President-elect Obama has pledged to change the culture of coziness between officials, lobbyists and lawmakers in Washington. But the role of Donilon in the Fannie Mae scandal raises questions about just how much of a break the Obama administration will be from business as usual inside the Beltway.

To Read the Whole Article Go To:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Politics/story?id=626
9682&page=1

My wife one uped me tonight.  We were discussing the whole Wealth Redistribution or Spreading the Wealth around thing....and she told me that this happend before.  I thought she ment that the tax code was written so that is what is happening anyway..and she said ..nope...I said..the New Deal?   She said No.....

Well I finally figured it out...but was wondering if any of you have thought of this....

Give me your best Guess.....it is a perfect example of redistribution and how you can't trust the word of some of those in the Federal Gov....no not Stalin or anything like that...

Any Guesses?? I'll check back tomorrow night and then Give the answer on a New Blog if no one has Gotten it yet....

Hey if we can't have fun...at least we can make you think....

Hahaha..Sorry I shouldn't laugh.  Because I was wrong on something that I Blogged earlier.  I had a theory (conspiracy type) that Obama would lose because the Clintons would make sure he lost so Hillary would run in 4 years.  But I was wrong....

It looks like the Clintons are going to have their cake and eat it too(only Bill would know how to do that)....  They Got Biden to be Vice-Pres (especially since he was talking down Obama and Talking up Hillary through the whole election. I always thought that was weird.)  Now they get to have Obama "Pick" Clinton's old Advisors..hahahaha...Sorry that is hilarious.   How is this Change?  Wait...let me answer my own question...He's a Dem....ok that is change, I'll give you that.  Some would say that Obama is going to try to recreate the Clinton years...Well the BBC says that anyway..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_20
08/7730485.stm

But hey what the Heck, why not.  Who needs to bring in new faces to everything.   But at least it proves my Point about parties.....  No One gets to the Top unless the Party lets them get there.  The Clintons Still Run the Dem Party so it appears.  And Obama is paying the proper Homage.....

Let this be a Lesson to those who want Real Change.....

Next time ..

Vote for a 3rd party.....that's real Change....Anything else..is just window Dressing..

.

Bone marrow 'cures HIV patient'

Doctors in Germany say a patient appears to have been cured of HIV by a bone marrow transplant from a donor who had a genetic resistance to the virus.

The researchers in Berlin said the man, who suffered from leukaemia and HIV, had shown no sign of either disease since the transplant two years ago.

But they stressed it was an unusual case which needed further investigation.

Experts said the result may boost interest in gene therapy for HIV.

Berlin's Charite clinic said the 42-year-old patient was an American living in Berlin, but the man has not been identified.

Genetic mutation

He had been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, that causes Aids, for more than a decade and also had leukaemia.

The clinic said since the transplant was carried out 20 months ago, tests on the patient's bone marrow, blood and other organ tissues have all been clear.

 
In a statement, Professor Rodolf Tauber from the Charite clinic said: "This is an interesting case for research.

"But to promise to millions of people infected with HIV that there is hope of a cure would not be right."

Roughly one in 1,000 Europeans and Americans have an inherited genetic mutation, which prevents HIV from attaching itself to cells.

To Read The Whole Article Go To:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7726118.stmp>

Where Is The Bailout Money Really Going?

 CBS Evening News: Now That Money's Being Distributed, Bailout Meant To Be Transparent Cloaked Under Veil Of Secrecy

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2008

 (CBS)

The money trail behind the ever-changing bailout plan is getting tough to follow. Especially when so many decisions are being made behind closed doors. Sharyl Attkisson reports. |

(CBS) It's all right there in black and white in the text of the bailout bill passed last month, yet the public may feel like victims of a bait and switch.

The original idea: Spend $700 billion in tax dollars to buy troubled mortgage-related assets from struggling banks.

But the actual bailout calls for nothing of the sort. Instead, your tax dollars are buying massive shares in some of the nation's biggest and most successful banks - with virtually no strings attached. And that's all allowed under Congress' plan, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

And to listen to government officials, you'd have thought all those billions were among the most carefully-tracked pool of tax dollars ever.

"We put in place tremendous regulatory oversight so that there will be absolute transparency," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., on Oct. 1.

Yet ask the most basic question - how exactly are the banks using your money - and the answer can't be found.

So, CBS News decided to ask the banks what they're doing with the money. We talked to the nine biggest recipients, who pointed out there's nothing in the bailout law that requires them to disclose specifics.

CBS News does know from public information that at least four of the banks are using bailout funds to merge with or take over other banks.

Bank officials told Attkisson that taxpayers will have to trust that the money will be used wisely.

Congress does have the power to hold back the second half of the $700 billion if it thinks the first half isn't working out.

But as one bank official put it: If anyone thought for a minute that every penny was somehow going to be tracked, they're going to be sorely disappointed.

To Read The Whole Article Go To:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/12/eveningne
ws/main4597233.shtml

Obama quashes Iran's hopes for change

If anybody had hoped that Barack Obama's election victory would lead to a swift breakthrough in Washington's relations with one of its toughest adversaries, Iran, the honeymoon seems to be over before it even began.

Mr Obama said he would not react "knee-jerk" to Iranian congratulations

Many Iranians, including some officials, were thrilled by the stunning election victory, seeing it as offering hope of a radical change in US foreign policy and relations.

The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after the Islamic revolution in 1979, and tensions have risen recently over Iran's nuclear programme.

Both Mr Obama and his future vice-president, Senator Joseph Biden, have in the past advocated unconditional dialogue with Iran.

That was one reason behind the excitement generated in Iran by their election success.

No 'knee-jerk' response

That excitement led the country's quixotic president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to break with precedent and send a congratulatory message to the American president-elect.

But it swiftly became apparent that a whirlwind romance was out of the question, as political problems sprang up on both sides.

In Iran, both Mr Ahmadinejad's initiative and Mr Obama's cagey response drew fierce attacks from rival hard-line circles, where the political atmosphere is already heating up sharply in advance of Iranian presidential elections next June.

It signals a continuation of the erroneous policies of the past... Change has to be strategic, not just cosmetic
Ali Larijani
Iranian Speaker of Parliament

On the American side, while Barack Obama responded gracefully and personally to messages of congratulation from other world leaders, he held back from doing so with Mr Ahmadinejad, mindful of the political implications of such a gesture.

He said he would be reviewing the Iranian president's letter and responding appropriately, rather than reacting in a "knee-jerk fashion".

But Mr Obama made it clear that he will not be a soft touch when it comes to Tehran.

"Iran's development of a nuclear weapon I believe is unacceptable. We have to mount an international effort to prevent that from happening," he said.

"Iran's support of terrorist organisations, I think, is something that has to cease."

The Speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani - who has been sharply at odds with President Ahmadinejad over parliament's impeachment last week of the latter's interior minister - described Mr Obama's comments as a step in the wrong direction.

"It signals a continuation of the erroneous policies of the past," he said. "Change has to be strategic, not just cosmetic."

Hard-line Iranian newspapers on Sunday took up the theme of continuing American hostility to Iran and a common policy shared by Republicans and Democrats alike.

Some also pointed out that one of Mr Obama's first actions was to appoint as his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, whose background reportedly includes volunteer service in the Israeli army.

To Read the Whole Article Go To:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_20
08/7718603.stm

 Are We Eating Cloned Meat?

 The FDA approved cloned meat as safe for consumption. Has any hit the grocery store shelves yet?

In January 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the sale of cloned animals and their offspring for food, despite opposition from animal and consumer advocacy groups, environmental organizations, some members of Congress, and many consumers. Many major food producers say they won't use cloned animals in their products.
Getty Images

Dear EarthTalk: What’s the story with animal cloning? Is the meat industry really cloning animals now to “beef up” production?
-- Frank DeFazio, Sudbury, MA

Cloning has been controversial ever since Scottish scientists announced in 1996 that they had cloned their first mammal, a sheep they named Dolly. While Dolly lived a painful, arthritic life and died prematurely, possibly due to the imperfections of cloning, industry nonetheless began seeking out ways to capitalize on the new technology. Meanwhile, critics bemoan cloning as immoral and a potential health and safety risk, given the as-yet-unknown consequences of eating foods generated in this way.

In January 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the sale of cloned animals and their offspring for food, despite fierce opposition from animal welfare and consumer advocacy groups, environmental organizations, some members of Congress, and many consumers.

“Our evaluation is that the food from cloned animals is as safe as the food we eat every day,” said Stephen Sundlof, the FDA’s chief of veterinary medicine. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has asked that producers withhold cloned animals, but not their offspring, from the food supply while farmers, processors, grocery stores and restaurants decide how they will respond to the FDA’s landmark decision.

Unsurprisingly, industry groups also argue that beef and milk from cloned animals is safe to consume. They cite a 2005 University of Connecticut study, which concluded that beef and milk from cloned cows did not pose any health or safety threats to people consuming it. But critics say that the oft-cited single study was far too limited to yield any meaningful conclusions: Milk and beef was taken from just six cloned animals, and the study did not take into account whether clones were more susceptible to infection or other microbial problems, as many scientists suspect. Other researchers have noted severe deformities in many cloned animals, as well as a higher incidence of reproductive, immune and other health problems.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=are-we-eating-c
loned-meat

Burma blogger jailed for 20 years

A Burmese blogger has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for posting a cartoon of the military leader Than Shwe.

Than Shwe: "Foolish with power", says Nay Phone Latt

Nay Phone Latt, 28, was sentenced by a court in Rangoon's Insein prison, said his mother, Aye Than.

Nay Phone Latt's colleague Thin July Kyaw was sentenced to two years imprisonment, Aye Than reported.

Another dissident, Saw Wai, was sentenced to two years in jail for publishing a poem mocking Than Shwe in the weekly Love Journal.

The first words of each line of the Burmese language poem spelled out the message "Senior General Than Shwe is foolish with power".

Nay Phone Latt was arrested in January; the sentence delivered on Monday included 15 years for offences under the Electronics Act, two years for "creating public alarm" and three and a half years for offences under the Video Act, his mother said.

One of his offences was apparently the possession of a banned video.

His blogs during the September 2007 uprising provided invaluable information about events within the locked-down country.

Aye Than said she was not allowed to attend the trial and Nay Phone Latt was not represented by his defence lawyer, Aung Thein, who began serving a four-month prison sentence for contempt of court last Friday.

"My son is a computer expert and he has not violated any criminal law. It is very unfair that he was given 15 years' imprisonment under the Electronics Law for a crime he did not commit," said Aye Than.

To Read the Whole Article Go To:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7721271.stm