A Facebook application today on my friend Anna Ogle’s page, led me to a site where I was made aware that on the day I was born, the song He’s A Rebel by the Crystals was Number 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Charts in America. Ironically enough, I always liked this song but never understood why. According to Wikipedia:

“The song is about a girl in love with a young man who spurns society’s conventions. Despite his being misunderstood by others, the singer claims that he is sweet and faithful, and she vows to be the same towards him.”

As much as it all makes sense to me now, I wonder about the Twilight Zone where pop culture intersects with human destiny; in particular my own.

Although I am not suggesting that Phil Spector wrote this song about me, I wonder if I may have heard this song in the womb with no view,  shortly after my arrival into the free world at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York in 1962 or in my mothers arms in our Doo Wop Shop in Kew Gardens.  I was born under a Democratic President, who was a rebel in his own right, one who may have paid a tremendous penalty for daring to tell the truth, costing him his life and the opportunity to continue to lead his country. Before my mother passed away in 2011, she advised me to follow my own truth. Here I am.

See the way he walks down the street
Watch the way he shuffles his feet
My, he holds his head up high
When he goes walking by
He’s my guy

When he holds my hand, I’m so proud
‘Cause he’s not just one of the crowd
My baby’s always the one
To try the things they’ve never done
And just because of that, they say

He’s a rebel and he’ll never ever be any good
He’s a rebel ’cause he never ever does what he should
But just because he doesn’t do what everybody else does,
That’s no reason why I can’t give him all my love
He’s always good to me,
Always treats me tenderly

Mitt Romney’s Aqua-Fresh inspired Presidential Campaign logo features THREE FACES for the ‘R’, the first initial in his last name. Perhaps the three colored Acqua-Fresh strips are indicative of something else entirely, like  the three (3) faces Romney wears in public to fool people into believing he has the critical attributes we look for in a President. Under critical examination of his  (i) Faith (ii) Experience and (iii) Values & Character Romney fails the test of what our country needs at this time in terms of leadership. Below I break down the reasons for that conclusion.

FAITH: A Shape-shifter

Park Romney, a member of the Utah based Romney Clan who has left the LDS Cult has written a book entitled:  ”The Apostasy of a High Priest” when asked,  ”Is Mitt Romney’s religion a fair campaign issue?” stated the following:

“Mitt Romney is an active High Priest of the Mormon Church. Mitt Romney’s religion is thus a fair campaign issue….I think the notion that a candidate’­s religion should not be considered and weighed thoughtful­ly by his constituen­ts is absurd. I think that journalist­s who promote this naïve and simple minded notion as “appropria­te” do a great disservice to important public dialogue that should be promoted and not discouraged.”

The mainstream media needs to grow a pair; Romney is not having his religious freedom challenged by a legitimate inquiry into the depth and extent of his belief system and his leadership role in the Mormon Church. Furthermore, his duplicity and silence and attempt to vaguely equate his faith to Christianity is especially troubling when few if any learned scholars and practitioners of the faith would ever equate Mormonism with Christianity. Mormonism is not Christianity, the same way Scientology is not Judaism but yet the Mormon Church has been engaged in a nationwide PR campaign spending millions of dollars to resurrect its image and to equate Mormonism with Christianity.  The LDS Cult movement is attempting to increase and extend its power and membership, while thousands upon thousand of ex-Mormons continue to enter into Twelve Step Recovery Programs (just like those treatment programs for alcoholics and drug addicts)   to recover from the oppressive mind control of  said “faith” and its ‘weird and sinister’ beliefs and practices. Why is that not worthy of inquiry? The LDS Cult should have its 501 (c) (3) status revoked.

EXPERIENCE: Vulture Capitalist

Romney’s vaunted private sector business experience, including his serving as CEO of Bain & Company is the centerpiece of his Presidential campaign to lend credibility and standing to his seeking the highest office in the land.  Romney claims he is not a life time politician but he has been running for office since the early 1990’s, in Massachusetts as well as at the national level. Romney was elected (barely) to one full term as Governor of Massachusetts.  He did seek a second term. Establish Mitt, the appointed/anointed vessel for America’s 1% to best suppress the legitimate interests of the 99%, is  running for President now for the second time.  RNC establishment and the Wall Street and media Illuminati are firmly in his corner. Political Chaos in the 2012 Iowa Caucus which ultimately may have derailed the Romney campaign and curious circumstances surrounding the results suggest black ops (i.e., “fraud”) to guarantee Romney’s Pyrrhic Victory: 8 Vote Win over surging Rick Santorum, who like Rocky Balboa stood toe to toe with the Republi-Con Robot while spending a few thousands dollars to Romney and his surrogates multi-millions.  Most recently, the leading paper published in the state that Romney once governed, The Boston Globe endorsed his rival,  John Huntsman in the New Hampshire Republican Primary instead. You would think he would be a local favorite. That would never have happened to William Weld, the Republican beloved by even many Democrats in the Commonwealth.

The Dark Side of Mitt Romney cannot and should not be overlooked by anyone who cares about the future of America. Examine the legacy of this Financial Con Artist and what you will find is truly disturbing, a man who is of, by and for the 1% Economy. In terms of vaunted business experience at Bain & Company, the Global Management Consulting firm, Romney’s role was more akin to that of a vulture capitalist not venture capitalist. So what’s the difference? Romney did not make or build his reputation as a “venture capitalist” financing emerging companies along the high tech corridors of Route 128 or Silicon Valley, taking a small stake and watching them blossom and grow, then taking a seat on their Board. Romney was not a builder who planted seeds, but rather a predator who targeted vulnerable companies in the manufacturing sector, took them over and and feasted on them the way a vulture would on a rotting carcass.

Romney and his team of slick suits operating in a ‘House of Lies’ in Beantown strip mined and raped going concerns, preyed off their income stream for a period of time with obscene management consulting fees until the entities were effectively bankrupt, fed on the remains of their pension funds and then packaged them for resale in their entirety or sold their assets off piece by piece like spare parts while leaving stockholders and creditors naked with their proverbial Johnson in their hands and workers on the street, before moving on for the next kill.  Looting the spirit of American Enterprise, sending jobs overseas, destroying communities and being a spokes person for this process of deindustrialization is hardly the character of a builder, much less a President.  This is not the resume of a job creator or what America is all about.  America does not need a Leveraged Buyout King, a vulture capitalist, unscrupulous CEO or financial con-man who will sell America off for spare parts.  It would be a grave error to equate Romney’s predatory vulture capitalist scams with the deliberate and thoughtful work of venture capitalists like Mark Andreesen, who will often nurture a company for years before making a profit. As Investopedia says, “Like them or not, many vulture capitalists make more money than the venture capitalists do.” Romney got paid a lot but he did not do much “building”.

It is grotesque and revolting to consider that fresh on the heels of America’s financial crisis brought upon us largely by the morality of folks like Mitt Romney, that any of our citizens will even contemplate putting a charlatan like him in the White House

VALUES & CHARACTER:  Not Like Reagan, more like Madoff

Romney as well as some of his overly enthusiastic establishment Republican surrogates have attempted to cast their proxy candidate, the Republi-CON Robot as the second coming of Ronald Reagan and continue to spin the inevitability myth about his candidacy.  Whereas Reagan was steadfast guided by principle, Romney LIES and changes his positions on a dime with a proficiency and shamelessness literally unrivaled in the history of American politics. As a result, Romney is broadly considered, even by many members of his own party as the most transparent phony, much like the founder of his LDS Cult – con-artist, Joseph Smith.  Romney is widely seen as a hollow man with no core principles or values;  motivated solely by political expediency. He has been labeled everything from Multiple Choice Mitt to a ‘Political Chameleon’, pathological LIAR and shape-shifter. Yet he remains the choice of the Republican establishment.

When you begin to deconstruct the man, you will find that Mitt Romney is a rather hollow man who has many of the attributes of a con-man and since he has been a leader (a “High Priest”) in what amounts to a “Spiritual Ponzi scheme’, he may thus in effect be considered more akin to the Republican Bernie Madoff than the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Or stated otherwise,“The flipper is no Gipper” despite the best efforts the Republican establishment to cast him that way; his endorsement by Insane McCain who himself did an about face on Romney not withstanding. Reagan never held a leadership position nor was he a member of any mind controlling cult which required former adherents to enter into a Twelve Step Recovery Program to recover from the oppressive mind control of said “faith”.

This 21st Century Con-man and LDS Cult High Priest is thus a chip off the old block of the 19th Century Con-man, convicted fraudster, and murdering polygamist pedophile known as Joseph Smith who founded Romney’s Utah based Mormon Cult.  Romney’s financial, spiritual and political morality emanate from the same hollow place. He is a man without a moral compass or center and thus ultimately the most dangerous kind of individual for Americans of any party to seriously consider to be their President.  A Mormon in the White House? No thanks. One’s vote might be better cast for an individual whose positions you do not agree with entirely, who is capable of reason and is an otherwise principled man. If Romney’s slide in the polls on the eve of the New Hampshire Primary is any indicator, perhaps their is some resistance to the Republican establishment’s selection of Romney as the ‘Inevitable Nominee’.  Hence while I have principled disagreements with all of the Republican Presidential candidates, whether that be Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, John Huntsman or a man with more integrity than most in Ron Paul,  I do not see any of them as similarly barren of soul and think any one of them would be a better selection than Romney. The body of Romney’s life work proves that he cares about only one thing, Mitt Romney.

USEFUL LINKS

MITT ROMNEY
-Mitt vs. Mitt: http://www.mittvmitt.com/
-Romney Facts: http://romneyfacts.com
-King of Bain, When Mitt Romney Came to Town
-The Romney Con: from the Save America Foundation
-Stop Mitt Romney’s Pious Baloney
-The ‘Political Chameleon’ on Meet The Press (YouTube)
-Why is Mitt Romney Hiding Something?
-Romney Exposed as Liar (YouTube)
-NH Voters on Mitt Romney: A Dishonest Fraud
-NH: Romney volunteer defects to Ron Paul
-Mass Resistance: http://massresistance.org/romney
-Mitt Romney Has A Truth Problem (YouTube)
-Rudy Giuliani -”There’s something wrong with Mitt”
-Like the LDS Church, Romney Can’t Fake Integrity
-who is willard milton romney?
-Ron Paul Calls Mitt Romney Stupid
-Mitt Romney Beliefs
-Freedom Defense Advocates!: Planned Mormon Control of America
-Republican Mitt Romney and the “Mormon Plan for America”
-BISHOP MITT ROMNEY, HIGH PRIEST AND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
-MITT ROMNEY MORMON – High Mormon Priest Mitt Romney
-The Mormon Plan for America and The Rise of Mitt Romney
-Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman 2012: Mormon Church in Spotlight

MORMON RECOVERY

-The Mormon Church: The Rick Ross Institute: http://www.rickross.com/groups/mormon.html
-Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
-The Apostasy of a High Priest by Park Romney: http://www.parkromney.com/?view=apostasy
-The Mormon Church Conspiracy
-Ex Mormon Foundation: http://exmormonfoundation.org/12step.html
-12 Step Program for Recovery from Mormonism: http://packham.n4m.org/12step.htm
- I Am an Ex-Mormon: http://www.iamanexmormon.com/
-Mormon Research Ministry
-Recovery from Mormonism: http://www.exmormon.org/
-Why the Book of Mormon is a Fraud: http://www.icwseminary.org/bom_fraud.htm
-The Truth About Mormonism
-Exposing Mormonism
-Cape Cod Today,Mormonism = CULT Founded on Fraud of Joe Smith
-Joseph Smith: Nineteenth Century Con Man?
-LDS Church Faces Ponzi Scheme
-The Collapse of Mormonism: Why Millions Are No Longer Mormons

MORMON MIND CONTROL & DECEPTION

-Mormon Mind Control: Written by former Mormon Windy Sydney
-The Mormon Cult: A Former Missionary Reveals the Secrets of Mormon Mind Control
-The Mormon Curtain
-Masonic CIA/LDS Mind Control Activity of Government, Commerce and Religious Leaders for PERFECTION!
-The Mormon Mind
-Mormonism: The Masonic Deception
-Mormon Church Spends Millions On Fake Christian Political Ad Campaign Across America

Mormonism: False Truth’s
-The Corporate Mormon Church IS a Cult!
-Pastor Robert Jeffress states that Mormonism is a CULT on:Anderson Cooper, Bill Maher, Chris Matthews/Hardball
-Mormons false priesthood

BAIN CAPITAL – ROMNEY’S VULTURE CAPITALIST YEARS

-Republican debate brings new skepticism to Romney’s job creation claims
-Romney made huge fortune while workers lost jobs, stockholders and creditors lost money
- Evidence Is Lacking That Romney’s Bain Capital Created Jobs
-Under Romney, Bain Capital Made Millions From South Carolina Business That Shut Down, Laid Off 150 Workers
-Bain Capital tied to bankruptcy, closing of KC steel plant
-We Can No Longer Afford Vulture Capitalism
-Vulture Capitalism:The Wall Street-Treasury Complex as Counterpart to the Military-Industrial Complex

Life’s too short to even care at all Ooh
I’m losing my mind losing my mind losing control
The fishes in the sea they’re staring at me
A wet world aches for a beat of a drum

If I could find a way to see this straight
I’d run away
To some fortune that I
Should have found by now
I’m waiting for this Cough Syrup to come down, come down

Life’s too short to even care at all
I’m coming up now coming up now out of the blue
These zombies in the park are looking for my heart
A dark world aches for a splash of the sun
-Young the Giant, “Cough Syrup” 2011

The last couple of years have challenged the American spirit in ways most of us have never would have imagined. The pain and suffering out there across America is palpable and real, leaving many of us reaching for more than cough syrup. For once perhaps the drama of the political rhetoric of our leaders does not even begin to address the depth and severity of the pain, insecurity and despair that many citizens feel across our land.  Regardless of the prescriptions and solutions they offer to what ails us, to restore life I am no longer waiting for their cough syrup to come down.

Around me I have witnessed the supreme and strong, falling down, hopefully only intermittently, but still not sure. Yet, in the souls of many of my fellow Americans, however wounded or uncertain they may be, I see the ‘eye of the tiger’ looking only for a basis to rise again or maybe I am just looking in the mirror.  In the words of Vince Lombardi:

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up. The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it.”

Or in the words of Rocky Balboa:

“It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can GET hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep – moving – forward.”

-From Rocky Balboa (2007)

Or in the words of film industry legend, Mary Pickford:

“If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

Knock me down enough I say and all you are doing is training me in how to get up more proficiently. Let us give praise and thanks to those who have knocked us down for they will only make our victory even sweeter, in the end. This is the character of our people. It is written into the American DNA, yours and mine.  Rest assured, the final bell has not yet rung, we will be prepared to rise and do battle in 2012. A little angel is gonna whisper in your ear: “get up you sonofabitch cause Mickey loves you”.

Cut me Mick I ain’t done fightin’ yet. This is not a time for platitudes or making cliched resolutions to toast at midnight but rather a calling to be resolute in all that we do.   To all of you I hope and pray you find your splash of the sun in 2012. May you basque in it for the remainder of your days.  It’s time we stop waiting for the cough syrup to come down. If we have to, maybe the answer is that we make our own.

“Why you all in my ear? Talkin’ a whole bunch of shit that I ain’t tryin’ to hear Get back mothafucker, you don’t know me like that”
-Ludacris

Devorah Rose, the Upstart Jewish Socialite, is in the headlines once again for reportedly having some sort of liaison or relationship with Salman Rushdie, famed author of the ‘Satanic Verses’. The ‘Celebrity of Her Own Making’ tweeted a suggestive message alluding to relationship of import with the long time beau of Padma Lakshmi. Upon digesting the substance of the interaction between the two parties the first thing that entered my mind was the Ludacris song called ‘Get Back’ (You don’t know me like that) about an obsessed fan who assumes a bond with an artist he does not know on a chance encounter.

Given the character that I have witnessed of Miss Devorah Rose, this is what I find most unbelievable from the NY Post article referencing the alleged relationship between the world class author Salman Rushdie and ‘Crazed Reality Star [wannabe]’:

Rushdie says Rose mistook a “casual acquaintance” for more. But she tells us Rushdie chased her for months, with dinner invitations and Facebook messages, while she was “pursuing an  intellectual relationship.”

“He’s much older than me,” Rose told us. “It was so disheartening. I looked up to him. [I thought he was] charming and intelligent . . . I don’t want this to happen to other girls.”

Devorah Rose, a ‘Celebrity of Her Own Making’ has been ’clawing her way up’ the social ladder for years, worshipping at the alter of fame like some kind of Satanic ritual.  In my opinion, her Dracula like blood lust for tabloid press makes her one of the most annoying and potentially dangerous personages for any man of means or accomplishment to cross paths with in this town. The implication that she was somehow shocked and disheartened because she was earnestly looking only to pursue some sort of ‘intellectual association’ with one of the most famous authors on the planet, is well, to be candid, truly LUDICROUS.  Her posture in all this actually reeks with all the sincerity of a social grifter fleecing her mark.

Dangerous Beauty

In his research and in forced exile/hiding after the issuance of a fatwa against him by Ayatollah Khomeni and the violent Muslim reaction that followed publication of  The Satanic Verses I still do not think that Mr. Rushdie ever encountered anyone so deeply committed to completion of their mission as that of a crazed ‘fame monster’ like  Miss Devorah Rose.

While some may commend the upstart Jewish socialite for her persistence in garnering time in the spotlight without any noteworthy accomplishments, the endless pursuit of reality fame to place yourself in the right place at the right time, like a scheming Forrest Gump, is hardly a heady or noble life pursuit.  Folks like Devorah are oblivious to the entire REAL world around them while the dutifully serve as cogs in the wheel of the culture of distraction.  America is being extracted, the middle class eroding with a painful and growing income inequality due to the efforts of inept and corrupt politicians and financial oligarchs that have created  a destabilized financial system which may bring about the economic collapse of America. But DR sat next to Salman Rusdie and exchanged texts and simply had to insure that her brief and fleeting association went viral.

Understand, one’s import to Miss Devorah Rose is dependent only on what, who and how they may assist in extending her media profile and moving her up the charts in the Fame Game. Selling you out at hello is her M.O.  Everyone knows it, except perhaps Salman Rushdie who was rather slow in figuring it out.

Ms. Rose posts half nude photos of her self literally everywhere and any where she can. Furthermore, she has clearly over the years had significant work done in order to obtain this look found in Maxim so she can gain attention. Most who met her between 2005 -2010 do not recognize her in these images on Maxim.  Upon closer examination of the images of Devorah Rose in Maxim, Facebook and Twitter, what I see is not an attractive, sexually desirable woman but something that is disturbing. The images are a cross between a concentration camp victim, a vampire and leave her looking like she is but one procedure away from looking like Jocelyn Wildenstein. What was not removed with a plastic surgeon’s scalpel or sucked out via liposuction, enhanced via breast implants or collagen injections was photo shopped or air brushed to reveal a feminine creature that is a turn on only for necrophiliacs or pedophiles.  Scallywag & Vagabond asked whether Ms. Rose is a “Shameless Social Climber or Misunderstood Cover Model.” Maybe perhaps a disease which is a symptom of the times?

An intellectual conversation with the woman who is ‘Perfectly Polished, Painfully Poised’ usually goes something like this:

Devorah: Did you see that the NY Post covered me? Do you think this is better or bigger than the NY Times profile of me?

You: I think so. Was that you? I have not seen you in a few months and did not realize you look like that now.

Devorah: Oh well I have been dieting (with a Surgeon’s scalpel and air brushed with photo shop). Can you do a write up defending me? I feel like such a victim in the wrongful manner I am being portrayed. Cityfile, Gawker, New York Observer, The NY Times, New York Magazine,  Scallywag & Vagabond and Guest of a Guest are all so mean to me.  Times writers like Laura Holson lied to me.

You: Oh my god this is so intellectual (rolling your eyes).  I am glad we have such a deep friendship where we can discuss topics like your fame.  Yeah I guess there really must be a mainstream media and blogosphere conspiracy against their serving as unwitting publicity agents in your social climb. But honey, if Andy Cohen does not give you a show ultimately, what are you going to do?

The Face of Social Life Magazine: For better or worse

Ms. Rose is the ‘Editor-in-Chief’ of Social Life Magazine.  As the Society Editor of the same publication Ms. Rose “serves” as the Editor in Chief,  I can tell you that while I contribute my perspective on philanthropy along with photos taken around town, I have not had a meeting with or discussion with this woman about any issues related to publication in several years.  What I have witnessed in the time I have known her is not one who regularly holds meetings with staff members to discuss content related issues of the magazine or greater collaborations among staff members. Instead, she is someone I randomly encounter pursuing her own FameGame around town (rarely) or in the Hamptons at Social Life Magazine parties where she stands  ‘Perfectly Polished, Painfully Poised’ out in front of the cameras claiming responsibility for the publication of a magazine which is largely a collaborative effort among many and that largely eludes her oversight. You will excuse me, if in my opinion, Devorah Rose is but a scandalous farce posing as a meaningful human being, an embarrassment to the idea of what an  Editor-in-Chief of a publication should be.  Cristina Greeven Cuomo is what one may wish to use as a model, if you are asking me.    Why?  She is still far too busy figuring out how to take credit, license of and leverage off the  artistic creations of others, literally having driven away those who helped create the magazine’s  brand in the first place.

The Photo Tweeted by Ms. Rose Illustrates NOTHING

As a photographer and a lawyer, in my opinion,  the image tweeted by Ms. Rose hardly looks  like that representative or indicative of some massive romance, deeply formed alliance or any kind of significant intimate relationship between her and the world famous author. It instead looks like that of one taken by a fan or brazen fame seeking stalker.

As stated to me by an acquaintance who has withdrawn from New York Social circles because she has moved on to a more important segment of her life called adulthood: “It never ceases to amaze me the lengths these people will go for ’status’ in the make-believe construct of their social microcosm.”  This woman gives fame seeking ’stalkers’ a bad name. Her simple quest to rise up in social recognition in tabloid media and reality television by any means necessary, including incessant plastic surgery, advocating Anorexia to wannabe socialites, constant sandbagging of  of as many unsuspecting people higher up on the human food chain or with a more significant fame quotient. Salman Rushdie is simply her latest victim, in my estimation.

My advice to Ms. Rose, if you are going to be a star fucker, at least don some knee pads, get under the table and get to work. Capische? But do not sit here and pose like a victim of abuse at  the hands of one of your much older heroes , with whom you were merely pursuing an intellectual relationship. It rings hollow and exposes your for the rather shallow charlatan that you are.

Listen babe, what’s going on here is LUDICROUS, Salman Rusdie is in effect saying:  “Why you all in my ear? Talkin’ a whole bunch of shit that I ain’t tryin’ to hear Get back mothafucker, you don’t know me like that”.

Full interview at 60 Minutes website

The wife and son of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff gave their first interview to Morley Safer of 60 Minutes on Sunday evening, October 30th.  Also joining the duo was their  ‘Black Umbrella’, Catherine Hooper, the founder of the aptly named disaster preparedness enterprise, who is engaged to and been living with Andrew Madoff in luxury condominium in one of the toniest zip codes on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  The irony that these monsters came out on Halloween eve should not be lost on anyone. They were there to promote their con job and the book ‘Truth & Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family’. Hooper was reportedly the driving force behind publication of the book written by hand picked author Laurie Sandell.  It is based on interviews with Ruth, Andrew and the visually delectable and publicity oriented - Ms. Hooper.

The Media Whores who were ‘laying it on thick’ (with claims of a suicide pact and depression) in an effort to pull another  fast one on the American public, may have just have provided anecdotal evidence of their complicity in the fraud. After this interview, many Americans, including rightfully angry and vigilant Madoff fraud victims like Ilene Kent, will have the right to continue to believe that the Madoff Sons and their mother had full knowledge of and were participants in the monstrous fraudulent scheme along with other members of The MCF –Madoff Crime Family including Peter and Shana Madoff and key beneficiary, Philanthropic Fraud, Jeffrey Picower.  And then they continued on their circuit to Matt Lauer live on Halloween:

According to Andrew, Ruth’s first question was  ‘What’s a “Ponzi scheme?’ Come again? If you did not hesitate for even a moment when you heard that, let’s back up for a second here. Ruth was a math wiz who graduated from Queens College where she majored in Business Administration & Finance. She was working on Wall Street before Bernie Madoff.  In fact, biographers have detailed how Bernie was studying law at Brooklyn Law School before he dropped out to join his ambitious young wife on the street.  Ruthie went to Wall Street for similar reasons as Willie Sutton who was once asked why he robbed banks, famously answered, “Because That’s Where The Money Is.”  Let’s just say Ruthie knew where the money was.  According to reports, she was her husband’s bookkeeper, which it turns out required one to be a Chef as well.  Queens College may not be Harvard but it is a fine institution, hence I find it very hard to believe that the little mathematical wiz managing/cooking her husband’s books had no idea what was a Ponzi Scheme.

I never thought I would see the day I had to watch Russian TV to know what was going on in my own country.

Author, social critic and political activist Naomi Wolf was arrested last night at Occupy Wall Street after attending the 2011 Huffington Post Game Changers Awards, even though she is as reported, a regular Huffington Post contributor and attended the event as a guest.  Naomi’s crime? Coming to the defense of protestors’ who were ordered off sidewalks. Ms. Wolf calmly questioned the police permit which  allegedly made New York City sidewalks outside the event private for the evening.  Those who have read her book Give Me Liberty; A Handbook for American Revolutionaries would know that  Sidewalks are public spaces and can’t be leased by private entities. To those of you who do not know who Naomi Wolf is, according to Wikipedia, “with the publication of The Beauty Myth, she became a leading spokesperson of what was later described as the third wave of the feminist movement.” She is also the author of  “The End of America” – Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, and was a consultant to Al Gore in his 2000 campaign for President (which ended in the installation by the Supreme Court of George W. Bush as America’s 43rd President).

Americans and New Yorkers may not in fact be safe, safe that is from those who have pledged an oath to “serve and protect” them are denying American citizens the constitutional right to peacefully assemble. The reasons seem unclear, yet much of the disturbing evidence is out there in plain view on the streets of Lower Manhattan, YouTube and sites like Truthout, Truthdig, The Guardian and RT News.  Is it the massive donations that the financial community has given to New York City Police Foundation and related charities? Is it how the NYPD has been restructured and recomposed in the post 9/11 world to create a shield against terrorism? Or is it something more sinister? America has been headed towards this day.  If journalists could foresee the day when the vast growing inequality in America would lead to the day when Americans would take it to the streets, you can bet you ass that the ruling class, government leaders and many within America’s ‘Financial Oligarchy’ surely saw it coming. After all they have been fortifying themselves in their mansions secure  inside gated communities as well as investing in the procurement of expensive private bunkers. And now that it has commenced in earnest, they use false narratives in an attempt to diminish the awakening.

The NYPD has had their ranks infiltrated by a higher order, a not so secret police that are in effect ‘Super Police’ with seemingly unlimited powers. The NYPD’s White Shirted Stasi’s role is to stamp out any revolution. It is increasingly clear that they are empowered by an agenda, not by the rule of law. The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are irrelevant to this unit within the NYPD. And that was clearly in evidence in all the cases of excessive force and police brutality against New York and American citizens in the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Until proven otherwise we must acknowledge them for what they are servants of the plutocracy. Last night’s arrests of author, political activist and social critic Naomi Wolf serves as evidence thereof.

The issue and question to ask that all American Citizens must ask is has the NYPD had their ranks infiltrated or installed within it a higher order, a not so secret police that are in effect ‘Super Police.’ Who are these men in White Shirts? What is their role and who do they serve? If the answer to these questions is not clear and addressed by the NYPD and the American media in short order, than Naomi Wolf’s “The End of America” is more than a book or movie, it is prophecy.

According to the Guardian which reported on Naomi Wolf’s arrest:

“Then, a huge group of men in white shirts, who seem to be affiliated to the New York police department, but who are not self-evidently so – bigger and fitter than the rank-and-file blue-shirted officers – came in droves. About 30 or 40 of these men appeared.

“They got a megaphone – which the protesters are told is illegal – and they started shouting that we were illegally disrupting an event and we should disperse.”

Wolf said she “calmly” disputed the order with one of the officers in white shirts, who are more senior than those in blue shirts. “By this time I was surrounded by them. One of them asked me if I was going to get out of his way. I didn’t think consciously that I couldn’t step away, but I froze. My conscience froze me.”

Officers then arrested Wolf, and took her to a precinct where she was issued with a summons for “refusing a lawful order”. Wolf said she spent about half an hour in a cell. Her partner, the film producer Avram Ludwig, was also arrested.

As reported in the New York Post, Naomi Wolf took to Facebook to address the arrest this morning:

“The protesters were being told that they needed to leave the sidewalk outside of the Huffington Post event because ‘HuffingtonPost had a permit’ to control the use of the sidewalk. I have a chapter in Give Me Liberty on NYC [on] permits so I knew that could not be accurate. Sidewalks are public spaces and can’t be leased by private entities. I asked for a copy of the permit,” she wrote. “Some press reports say that I was arrested because I ignored police warnings to get off the sidewalk or that I was arrested for using a megaphone without a permit. Both of these are untrue. I told the protesters that the NYC permit requirement that states that using a megaphone is illegal.”

The End of America‘ is clearly up on us unless more of those who are comfortably ensconced in their private, upscale America do not start doing more to support OWS and call for massive reforms on Wall Street and within our government.  A journalist being arrested outside an event that she attended as a guest at an event hosted by a publication she is affiliated with is not something that should ever happen in this country. But then again the Special Police Unit with White Shirts have no issue pepper spraying or elbowing in the head petite young women. These men in white shirts are not just engaged in illegal activity but they are in effect diminishing the American brand worldwide.  How do we as a people and as a nation have standing to criticize Human Rights violations in other parts of the world if we allow them to continue in order to secure a certain social order in America; to protect the plutocracy?

“We have to position ourselves to lead in a world where security is shaped in boardrooms and on trading floors — as well as on battlefields,”
-Hillary Clinton to the Economic Club of New York (Reuters)

The gossip that has made the rounds over the last year and that has increased in recent weeks has been that Hillary Clinton will be joining President Obama and replacing Joe Biden as VP on the 2012 Democratic Ticket. Despite ‘the allure of an Obama-Hillary ticket’, it seems conceivable to me under the circumstances — “Obama Fatigue” that Obama could do more than simply ask Hillary Rodham Clinton to be his co-pilot in 2012 which would be a wise move in and of it self. But take this a step further and what makes you think Barack Obama won’t pull an LBJ and withdraw from the race entirely, allowing Hillary to be installed as the Democrats standard bearer?  Yes, I know he is poised to raise a billion dollars for his re-election effort. Even so, how often have you heard “Hillary would have been a better President?” Better still, did you see Lady Gaga channeling the love to President Bill Clinton at the Decade of Difference Concert (celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Clinton Foundation)?  Nevertheless, I bet you all of Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters did.

Maybe it is far fetched.  But we are living in uncertain, unstable and rather perilous times. The mainstream media is barely covering the second American Revolution. Occupy Wall Street has spread well beyond New York City, well beyond our own borders  even, becoming a truly global movement. Times like these present opportunities for real leadership, decisions that will shape the face of a nation and the history of the world for decades, if not centuries to come. Who else has the credibility and global standing right now than does the House of Clinton?  This is not a time for band-aids and other narrow policy measures.  Such a governing posture contributes the perception of the increasing irrelevance of the Obama Presidency and the sense that he needs more than ‘a makeover.’

In the face of the growing inequality, instability and the resulting adversity in these tumultuous times, rather then seizing opportunity, our leaders as some might say are focused on “rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.” In my opinion, they are not even doing that. They are trying to determine whether to replace salad fork with a fish fork for a crab salad.

There is a tremendous opportunity for a leader to react in an FDR like manner, grab the bull by the horns, insist on reform of the Wall Street Casino, abolishing the present tax system and replacing it with a more simplified code,  direct the rebuilding of America’s infrastructure to Build America’s Future, effectuate a retooling America’s education system and a massive restructuring of American educational debt to liberate the class of educational debt servants who are no longer consumers and stuck in pursuits that will not grow opportunity for them or elevate this nation in the global economy. Who has the credibility with voters to expand economic opportunity for all? Obama with his nearly irrelevant jobs bills that won’t even put a dent in America’s overall picture? I don’t think so. For many Americans the gig is up with President Obama. Many increasingly believe that he managed the crisis, gave America some interim breathing room and provided cover for the elites.  And now that he can no longer do so, it is not clear that the vast majority of Americans trust his vision or that he is truly concerned with the growing inequality in America in a profound way.

America can well afford to pull back from excessive military spending for a few years to get its own house in order. We must fortify our infrastructure and attempt to restore or at least partially this nation’s manufacturing base. And we must use constructively this generation of youngsters that is left with little or no opportunity to do anything but demonstrate against the existing social order. Does anyone have the balls to put forth some big ideas? It may actually require someone without testicles in fact to step up in a mighty and profound way. Enter Hillary. What political family may be better able to unite America and the world than one of the former President who runs a truly global initiative –The Clinton Global Initiative to be precise. Consider that during one of the busiest times in New York City with the U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Fashion Week, the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 and the U.N. in session, the hottest ticket in town and the most talked about event, one where a Wall Street Journalist opined about his ‘Brush with Greatness‘,  despite the rather limited media coverage was The Clinton Global Initiative.  The Clinton’s have never left the stage. Bill is far more than simply a former President and Hillary is more than a Secretary of State, former U.S. Senator and  First Lady. They remain two of the most relevant citizens of the world whose stature has only increased since their departure from the White House.

I have no insider knowledge of any kind on this subject but if I am thinking it, I have to think someone else is thinking it. And while I offer no opinion at this time whether it would in fact be the best and right thing for America at this time, it does not make it any less conceivable that come election evening 2012 we might witness the reinstallation of the fallen House of Clinton.  And I do not suspect that the vast majority of Americans would have  a problem with Hillary and Bill back in the White House. I  am not so sure I would and in terms of full disclosure,  I enthusiastically supported Barack Obama.  Many Democrats and Independents are still like Lady Gaga ‘Caught up in a Bill Romance’ and that does not hurt Hillary.

I confess. I am married to the mob on Wall Street.   Like it or not, it is too late. I can’t get out. They are my countrymen, my brothers and sisters who remain unarmed even if certain members of the police were bragging that ‘my night stick is gonna get a workout tonight’ even while other police  were “using their nightstick as a weapon on peaceful protesters” .  This is the Mafia I belong to and I simply cannot turn away from them from the relative comfort of my own surroundings.   The silent majority who live in the shadows of American life and out front in bold relief is who they are.  And even as some dismiss us or them their numbers continue to swell daily on the streets of New York City in Lower Manhattan around Zuccotti Park.

The View from within Occupy Wall Street

Right Here All Over (Occupy Wall St.) from Alex Mallis on Vimeo.

We are all connected in “this thing of ours” called AMERICA.   Citizens for Democracy. Truth, justice and the American way is what we stand for.

Keith Olbermann reads the first collective statement of Occupy Wall Street:

Many question or ridicule the legitimacy of the movement with questions like “what do they want?” To those I say consider, their wish, hope, dream, mission or agenda may not be crystallized or distilled down to several fine points  but nevertheless they sense that something is simply not right in America. And in the words of author Naomi Klein, “This is not the time  to be looking for ways to dismiss a nascent movement against the power of capital, but to do the opposite: find ways to embrace it, support it and help it grow into its enormous potential. With so much at stake, cynicism is a luxury we simply cannot afford.” Furthermore, as stated in an Editorial in the NY Times:

“It is not the job of the protesters to draft legislation. That’s the job of the nation’s leaders, and if they had been doing it all along there might not be a need for these marches and rallies. Because they have not, the public airing of grievances is a legitimate and important end in itself. It is also the first line of defense against a return to the Wall Street ways that plunged the nation into an economic crisis from which it has yet to emerge.”

“Nobody Can Predict the Moment of Revolution” So who knows whether the  time is ripe for the silent majority to take back their country from those who long ago dismissed, discounted and wrote them off, us off, you and I off. They stopped counting them and us  and they try to ignore, limit and extinguish your voice, my voice, their vote, my vote and your vote and for a while they succeeded in eliminating or diminishing your way of life, my way of life, our way of life and they continue to work on doing the very same things, like minimizing the vote,  as long as we remain silent. Whose country is this anyway?  They are you and you are they. We are all. All are we. We are one.  One are we. And we are all together. See how they fly like birds in the sky, I am flying.

What about you? Are you married to the mob? Are you part of a different one? Do you wonder what you are doing here? Did this peaceful gathering inconvenience you or your plans?

WaVe Movment –Meditation Mob For Peace:

UNDERSTAND: A society which is efficient for a few but grossly inequitable for many is simply not sustainable forever, unless you intend to rule by brute force, but then some of us will prepare  to die. You should know that. Yet it really need not ever come to that.   Some where along the way “fair and balanced” became a marketing tag line, representing exactly the opposite thing.  A fair society is one which does not penalize success but it is also one that does not impede the progress and undermine the security of a majority of it’s citizens to fortify the extreme gluttony of a few.  Civility, equity and compassion for your fellow citizen are not Un-American ideals. It is not anti-business to be humanist. Too many folks, including those who continue to serve as  ‘fluffers’ for the kleptocracy, do not understand how we are all connected in this system of ours until one of the links on the fence breaks in their own front yard.

Think about that before you dismiss those gathering in our city or endorse their beating. I have a message to members of the NYPD rank and file and to honest capitalists.

NYPD:  I know many, if not most of you are honorable, decent, hard working professionals who have a very complicated job during these uncertain times.  I pray to the good lord that you do not follow the example of Anthony Bologna (“Tony Baloney”)  As a precautionary measure, please be advised that you gave an oath to serve and protect the security of the general public and not exclusively the interests of the ruling classes, even if their financiers, JP Morgan hands you $4.6 million during these demonstrations.  Like it or not the people on the street are citizens of the United States of America, just like you and me.

If all the decent citizens in the NYPD truly understood who and what they were defending, they would be walking away from their posts and begin pepper spraying those who have brought America to this precipice.  Now that would truly restore Law & Order.  It should never have become necessary for our citizens to take it to the street,  but the criminal class has made it absolutely necessary.   What you are defending has no honor. Furthermore,  some of you are dishonoring the oath to serve and protect by assaulting citizens and engaging in illegal arrests. The whole world is watching. There will be repercussions, for you cannot mace, pepper spray and beat or club every American citizen with a baton or a nightstick.

Honest Capitalists: The right has developed a finely tuned but nevertheless false narrative. In fact Herman Cain, the Republican Presidential aspirant repeated it today with his statement that ‘Occupy Wall Street protesters are Un-American and anti-Capitalist.’ Much like the GOP’s raised Cain they argue that any attack on the existing system which has taken a Democratic Capitalist Society and turned it into a rigged game serving the interests of a handful of gluttonous  insiders feeding on America’s economic carcass like kleptocratic uber vultures dining at the Staten Island dump is somehow an attack on the foundation of Capitalism itself and anti-business. Nothing could be further from the truth. The untimely death of Apple’s co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs serves as a timely reminder that some corporate leaders truly are widely beloved across the socioeconomic spectrum.

G.O.P’s False Narrative: Capitalism is under attack

Capitalism itself is not under attack, but this is an effective rubric for masking or insulating from critique  the corrupted element within an otherwise legitimate system. There is and shall always be a place in this world for responsible capitalism, one that does not rape and pillage humanity. What is under attack is crony capitalism which has turned a free market with opportunity for all into a rigged game serving the interests of a handful of gluttonous insiders. They have in effect created a veritable or functioning Kleptocracy allowing this group to self deal themselves the nation’s wealth, using the U.S. Treasury as their personal piggy bank and your pension funds and retirement savings as a midnight snack.  After the financial debacle of the last decade that so many who should be behind bars or hanging from a rope tied to a street lamp in a public square but are instead still smoking cigars and drinking martini’s chilling out in their luxurious abodes on the Upper East Side, TriBeCa, Greenwich or Palm Beach while many of their countrymen are on economic life support, about to flat line if they have not already, is not only a crying shame, it is actually fu*king criminal.

Excessive greed and corruption and the elimination of oversight destroyed faith in a legitimate free market and will continue to do so until we extract the rotten core.  Occupy Wall Street is in effect an attack on the rogue or criminal element within the system that has polluted it to such a degree that a wide swath of Americans have lost faith in it.  Former Governor Eliot Spitzer is right that  ‘Government has a key role to play in in healthy market systems.’ This is true even if the Kleptocrats will attempt to hold on to power and preserve the existing social order by any means necessary, including use of the police force as their Stasi.   The actions of some of those in leadership positions within the NYPD recently leave me concerned whether within their ranks are there more Anthony Bologna’s ready, willing and able to engage in aggressive tactics to protect the plutocrats.

It is time for the real democratic and humanist businessmen, who aspire to be more like the late Steve Jobs, one of America’s greatest CEO’s off all time, may he rest in peace, and Warren Buffet rather than Dennis Kozlowski and Bernie Madoff to stand up and separate themselves from the crooked satanic beasts who see nothing wrong with the current system and are doing everything they can to preserve it and suppress an enlightened citizenry, including trying to buy off the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association with a  $4.6 million dollar gift during the uprising.

THINK DIFFERENT: Today in honor of the passing of America’s greatest CEO, Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. , remind yourself that the world does not have to be the way it is. Make the Change. Be the change. Whose streets? Our streets! Now that is good business.  Those who dismiss Occupy Wall Street movement should know that win or lose there is simply no dignity or honor in being on the wrong side of a revolution and standing against your fellow citizens and the rights, hopes and dreams of the individual and the collective greater good.

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”– JFK

HELPFUL LINKS

Occupy Wall Street Movement

-Occupy Wall Street
-Occupy Together
-Occupy Youtoube: Anonymous documents what the media blacks out.
-AnonOps Communicati0ns
-Anonymous Occupy Youtoube blog
-Global Revolution
-Adbusters
-OWS on Facebook
-OWS Livestream
-WaVe Movement (Facebook Page)
-Think Progress: The 99 Percent Movement
-Fair News & Opinion Portals: Truthout, Truthdig, Common Dreams, Think Progress, Mother Jones, The Nation, Media Watch, Media Matters, Countdown with Keith Olberman, The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur
-Paul Krugman: Panic of the Plutocrats, Fear the Oligarchs, not the Protesters, The Social Contract
-Cenk Uygur: “Washington is infested”
-Glenn Greenwald, “With Liberty & Justice for Some”

Key Editorial Perspective
-CBS News Coverage
-Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize Winning Economist with the NY Times
-Naomi Klein:  ”This is not the time  to be looking for ways to dismiss a nascent movement against the power of capital, but to do the opposite: find ways to embrace it, support it and help it grow into its enormous potential. With so much at stake, cynicism is a luxury we simply cannot afford.” read more about what the author of “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” had to say at Moveon.org, Rachel Maddow Show and on Huffington Post
-NY Times, Protesters Against Wall Street: “It is not the job of the protesters to draft legislation. That’s the job of the nation’s leaders, and if they had been doing it all along there might not be a need for these marches and rallies. Because they have not, the public airing of grievances is a legitimate and important end in itself. It is also the first line of defense against a return to the Wall Street ways that plunged the nation into an economic crisis from which it has yet to emerge.”
-‘A New Shift in Power’: Documentary entitled “Nobody Can Predict the Moment of Revolution”Offers an Intimate Look at Occupy Wall Street
-Elizabeth Warren: “The People on Wall Street Broke this Country”: Elizabeth Warren is a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She served as Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She is running for the U.S. Senate against Scott Brown. See also the Brad Blog for Elizabeth Warren’s commentary on ‘Debt Crisis’ & ‘Class Warfare’ and Vanity Fair: The Woman Who Knew Too Much.
-Chris Hedges, Truthdig: Why the Elites Are in Trouble / Truthout: Why the Elites are in Trouble
-Truthout News Analysis (Dean Baker): When Being Rich Makes Us Poor, People Should Occupy Wall Street
-New York Observer: Jesse LaGreca Continues to Destroy Media Bias of Occupy Wall Street on ABC’s This Week.
-Firedoglake, Kevin Gosztola: Why Establishment Media & Power Elite Loathe Occupy Wall Street
-Raw Story (Kate Wickman): WATCH: ‘I Am Not Moving’ compares Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street
-The Guardian, Occupy Wall Street: if banks are too big to fail, are people too small to matter?

Rebuild America: The Solution? Or one of them?

-Building America’s Future
-Our Future
-Rebuild the American Dream
-RAI
-Fareed’s Take: Obama should declare a jobs emergency
-Van Jones on Rebuilding the American Dream (see also: Van Jones)

Inequality in America: Basis for Revolt

-Inequality.org: The Program on Inequality and the Common Good focuses on the dangers that growing inequality pose for U.S. democracy, economic health and civic life. It is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies and based in Boston, MA
-The United States of Inequality
-Who Rules America?
-Vanity Fair by Joseph E. Stiglitz: Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
-The Economist: The rich, the poor and the growing gap between them
-PBS, In Perspective: Tricia Rose on America’s growing inequality
-Robert Reich: Growing Inequality Is The Central Problem Of Our Age
-The Nation magazine:  Inequality in America
-The Nation Magazine by Robert Reich: Unjust Spoils
-Mother Jones: It’s the Inequality, Stupid

The American  System

-Nouriel Roubini: Marx was right about self-destruction of capitalism
-Vice Chairman of China’s CIC Says It’s Become Harder to Defend the U.S. Model
-Inside Job (trailer)
-Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (trailer)

The Danger

-The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (book) by Naomi Wolf
-The End of America (Trailer)
-“The End of America” Full Length HQ Film
-Bloomberg: Jobs crisis could spark riots here
-Kent State Massacre (Video): Could this happen in NYC? Will history repeat itself?

The Uprising

-Occupy Wall Street
-Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan: must-see site of the demonstrations
-In Protest the Power of Place (NY Times): As stated by Joe Mercurio on Facebook: “Just for background. Zuccotti Park, ironically formerly called Liberty Plaza Park was equally ironically renamed after John Zuccotti (Weil Gotshal & Manges) who was a deputy mayor under a Republican mayor of New York and company chairman of the owners Brookfield Office Properties on whose board the girlfriend of the current Republican mayor serves.”
-Global mass protests 15th October 2011
-Chris Hedges: [The Criminal Class that has seized power is scared but the]  Occupy Wall Street is ‘where the hope of America lies’
-My Great Depression (video)
-Nader, Ron Paul, Kucinich Speak to Occupy Wall Street
-The Huffington Post – Occupy Wall Street: NYPD Arrests 700 Protesters On Brooklyn Bridge
-The Guardian: Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination: The young people protesting in Wall Street and beyond reject this vain economic order. They have come to reclaim the future
-Truthout: Wall Street Occupation Live Stream
-Occupy Wall St, SlutWalk, Hot Chicks, Van Jones by Zennie Abraham
-RT: Open-ended Wall Street occupation
-NPR by Joel Rose:  Wall Street Protests Stretch On, Reasons Vary
-Gothamist: Anonymous’s Occupation Of Wall Street
-UPI: Wall Street protesters morale ‘high’
-Michael Moore: The media ignores Wall Street occupation
-The Guardian, Occupy Wall Street: inquiries launched as new pepper-spray video emerges: NYPD officer Anthony Bologna faces two investigations as video emerges of a second pepper-spray incident
-NY Daily News: Pepper-spray videos spark furor as NYPD launches probe of Wall Street protest incidents
-Salon: Jon Stewart on the Wall Street pepper-spray attack
-Occupy Wall Street: ‘Pepper-spray’ officer named in Bush protest claim
-The Huffington Post: Anthony Bologna, NYPD Officer Who Pepper-Sprayed Protester, Had Role In 2004 Incidents
-JP Morgan gave NYPD $4.6 million to strengthen security
-Truthout: Got Class Warfare? Occupy Wall Street Now!
-Greg Palast | Uber-Vultures: The Billionaires Who Would Pick Our President
-Trumka: AFL-CIO Will Support Occupy Wall St. Protest ‘In Every Way’ It Can

POLICE ACTION vs. OCCUPY WALL STREET: Evidence of Police Brutality: Premeditated and Orchestrated Assaults on Peaceful Protesters

-MSNBC on NYPD: Police Brutality during Occupy Wall Street Lawrence O’Donnell with “The Last Word”
-Keith Olbermann: “Police brutality” at Occupy Wall Street
-Shameful Police Action & Brutality at Occupy Wall Street
-BRAVE Occupy Wall Street Protester Speaks Out
-NYPD Violently Elbow Peaceful Female OccupyWallStreet Protestor Knocking Her To The Ground
-NYPD Caught On Camera Punching OccupyWallStreet Protestor In The Face
-NYPD officers give peaceful protester a concussion during OCCUPY WALL STREET
-Cops turn Violent: NYPD drag girl across the street at OccupyWallStreet
-Anonymous WARNING to NYPD
-Police Brutality? Like 100 NYPD Cops Slam Some 100 Year-Old Asian Man To The Concrete And Arrest
-Occupy Wall Street Brutality
-“I CAN’T BREATHE!” – Police Shoving at 10:30AM at Liberty Plaza Occupy Wall Street
-Police Arrest Protester for Drawing with Sidewalk Chalk @ Occupy Wall Street 9/19/11
-‘Occupy Wall Street’ – Young man brutally knocked down and arrested for talking to an officer
-NYC Citibank Occupation Arrests Customers for Closing their accounts.

SILENCING THE TRUTH

-THE SILENCING OF BANK WHISTLEBLOWERS:  Occupy Wall Street Sept 17: Protester speaks out
-Florida Congressman Alan Grayson on Occupy Wall Street
-Florida congressman Alan Grayson laughs in Ben Bernanke’s face
-Eliot Spitzer on Occupy Wall Street and fraudulent banking activities (on Olbermann’s show)
-OccupyWallStreet talks to Fox News & Crushes Them
-CNN Wants This Video Banned SEE WHY
-Nader, Ron Paul, Kucinich Speak to Occupy Wall Street – Original

Freedom to Fascism

-OccupyWallStreet George Carlin - Spreading The Truth!
-Charlie Chaplin
The Whole World Is Watching – Charlie Chaplin on Occupy Wall Street: Let Us All Unite!
Charlie Chaplin Speech – Occupy Wall Street! (Inception Soundtrack); see also United We Rise
-Aaron Russo: See Aaron Russo Memorial and Freedom to Fascism (Aaron’s last film)
-Anonymous Group: “We are Anonymous.  We are Legion.  We do not forgive.  We do not forget.  Expect us.” Yale Law refers to the group as an ‘Internet Subculture’. See: AnonNews.org, Why We Protest, AnonOps Communicati0ns
-Anonymous Educational Series: Freedom to Fascism (part 1)
-Anonymous Educational Series: Freedom to Fascism (part 2)
-Anonymous: Message to Ron Paul

The summer sun is fading as the year grows old
And darker days are drawing near
The winter winds will be much colder
Now you’re not here

I WATCH the birds fly south across the Autumn sky
And one by one they DISAPPEAR
I wish that I was flying WITH them
Now you’re not here

In the days since my mother’s (Virginia Bernadette Saunig-Roche) departure I have found myself listening more on my iPhone to the musicians, bands and singers whose tunes remind me most of her, especially to what I recall her listening to while I was growing up in New York City. The sun of Indian Summer shines brightly during Fashion Week in my hometown but for me, it seems like Autumn has already passed and “all the leaves are brown and the sky is gray”. The sound of The Mamas and the Papas radiated through our home in the late 60’s and early 1970’s whenever my parents had company.

In the quiet of the night or in the relaxing moments when she briefly seemed to have a moment to enjoy “The Good Life”, and truth told those moments were rare for her in the early days given the demands of raising four boys. But even so, whereas many preferred Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra, my mother, ever the purist, preferred the crooning of Dean Martin. And that was fine with me because I never tired of watching Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin films. Yet at that point, I hardly realized how serious a singer he was until my mother reminded me so. Just the other night, I was making some Pork Chops Pizzaiaola so appropriately playing in the background, the sound of Dean singing “when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that’s amore” bounced off the kitchen walls and I just pictured my mom’s smile filling the room sipping on a glass of Chianti while she put the final touches on a meal that usually had our mouths watering for hours before we, meaning my brothers and me, actually got to sit down and consume it like a hungry pack of wolves.

Today at work I had to fight back tears which left my eyes perpetually moist throughout the day as memories of her at various stages of her life filtered through my brain in a random non sequential order. I hear Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons reminding me, especially since I am in the mixed company of folks at work, to “Walk Like A Man.” And I chuckle on the inside remembering how she had to pick me up off the ice several times during trips to skate in Central Park.

Today, however, I found myself quite moody and definitely blue so it was rather appropriate to dial in the Moody Blues in the early afternoon. And immediately, memories of a Christmas in my adolescence flash in my brain. The earliest gift of music I received from Santa Claus (i.e., my mother and father) was an album from the Moody Blues. The first song I recalled listening to repeatedly was “Nights in White Satin.” It was the first musical band that I developed an affinity for and still listen to a great deal even today. As the seasons change and during the midst of fundamental societal shifts, the lyrics seem to have continuing applicability.

The Moody Blues speak to me.

Isn’t life strange
A turn of the page
Can read like before
Can we ask for more?
Each day passes by
How hard man will try?
The sea will not wait

You know it makes me want to cry, cry, cry -
Wished I could be in your heart
To be one with your love
Wished I could be in your eyes
Looking back there you were, and here we are.

Isn’t love strange
A word we arrange
With no thought or care
Maker of despair
Each breath that we breathe
With love we must weave
To make us as one
You know it makes me want to cry, cry, cry

And even so I have so many questions still, Mom,

It’s not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me.
It’s more the way that you mean it
When you tell me what will be.

And when you stop and think about it
You won’t believe it’s true.
That all the love you’ve been giving
Has all been meant for you.

But I know that you would tell me mother:

Why do we never get an answer
When we’re knocking at the door?
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That’s what the wall of love is for.

And that is why I will forever love you. On days like this when I feel quite weak and

I’m looking for someone to change my life.
I’m looking for a miracle in my life.
And if you could see what it’s done to me
To lose the the love I knew
Could safely lead me through.

I know that miracle will come soon. It always does…..

I know you’re out there somewhere
Somewhere, somewhere
I know I’ll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow

The mist is lifting slowly
I can see the way ahead
And I’ve left behind the empty streets
That once inspired my life

I turned to the New York Post on Thursday, August 11^th and read a piece entitled ‘I’m a Hamptons house ho!’ which discussed the cliché of women martyring themselves sexually at the hands of men with beachfront homes or at least those close in proximity to the shore at the tony enclave on the East End of Long Island. The article led with featured commentary by a certain hyper social middle aged New Yorker by the name of Cass Almendral, the managing director of a firm called Wall Street Solutions, Group, Inc., who owns a home he runs as a share house in Southampton. In the piece Cass brags:

“If you own a house, you’re at a huge advantage,” he says. “That’s why I’m single. Every summer I can have a huge adventure.”

Today my email box was greeted with a dissection of the foregoing piece by social critic at large Christopher Koulouris of the blog Scallywag & Vagabond who offered more analysis on the cliché which was actually rather humorously and accurately written about previously by Candace Bushnell in her book Four Blondes. Unlike others, I am not so shocked that some women are willing or at least pragmatic enough, especially in a down economy, to trade their vagina or at least interim access to it for the chance to live the Hamptons experience. A summer at the beach for a few minutes a weekend frolicking in the nude with a ‘two pump chump’ who has more passion for his Porsche and being seen with the appropriate arm candy to create the appearance of or at least guarantee being perceived as a stud by fellow Alpha Males, than actually being one and truly catering to a woman’s needs? Hmm, that might actually  not so much work after all.  Let’s see how many of these guys still have any of these young ladies hanging around ALD (“after Labor Day”) when they leave you for the dude with his own Jet or an open account with Blue Star Jets and off shore assets and property in the Cayman Islands or friends at Vogue with prized tickets and back stage passes to Fashion Week.

Putas y Cabrones

My question is who is truly ‘the ho’, the more desperate dude or the pragmatic female networking for a summer at the shore among the gilded classes, rather than remaining in her claustrophobic digs in Hells Kitchen, in a down economy?

As stated by my friend Nicole (a successful professional married woman):

It’s funny, I went to Ruschmeyer’s in Montauk a few weeks back. I wanted to poke my eyes out (probably because I’m pregnant and sober!). The scene there is so stupid. Sure there are beautiful girls but half of them are looking to cash in on some sugar daddy-that is whorish! Whatever happened to being a strong independent woman making your own moola?

Nicole makes a fair point but in fairness to the ladies,  this ‘Half-Hooker Economy’ and the growing economic inequality has turned many to sex work to make ends meet. Let’s be frank, there really is not a legitimate career opportunity in America for everyone who wants one. I have met out and about in this town accidentally at places like Lavo, Tao, the Four Seasons Bar along with  some of New York’s top steakhouses and places where men of means gather, women who have advanced degrees and speak multiple foreign languages who have found that their best asset is their ass.

Nevertheless, I am tired of these cliché double standards.  So the girls are Hamptons House Ho’s but WTF does that make men like Cass?   How is he distinguished from the guy BUYING a happy ending massage,  lap dances or hiring an escort? I mean seriously, give some of these guys a fist full of hundreds in a whore house and frankly I am not so sure how they would fare.  I suspect that they might not find those odds sufficiently in their favor,  without copious amounts of booze, a beach house and a pool.

But if you are using financial leverage to purchase interim love (’transactional romance’), call it what it is, bro. Quien es la puta real? Comprendes cabrone? You will excuse me but, I love the irony of douche-bags who in effect buy sex (in above board romantic negotiations) from compliant women and then have the temerity to refer to the women as ho’s. Don’t knock the women for using ‘the power of the pussy’ because a good one is probably the finest thing a man will ever lay his lips on, in this or any life.  When it opens before you, respect it. As for your pinga pequena, I am not so sure. If you do nothing less than honor the women that serve you, you are an even more pathetic loser. If you doubt my belief in the freedom to engage in transactional romance without double standards or judgments, read  this interview I did with Luke Ford in 2005.  If we are all commoditizing ourselves than the negotiation between men and women is simply one to find an agreement on terms.

George Soros: A Billonaire’s Blues

The New York Post recently announced that that 28 year old Adriana Ferreyr, a former lover of Billionaire financier and philanthropist, George Soros has filed a $50 million dollar lawsuit against him. According to the report, the Brazilian soap opera star who reportedly dated George Soros for five years has accused Soros, of breaking her heart and going back on his promise to give her an Upper East Side apartment worth $1.9 million as a gift.

I do not even want to comment in great detail about the nature of the case because I know little of what the true facts of the case actually are, nor do I care to receive a phone call from Soros attorney William Zabel. All I will say, is when you are 80 years old, worth $14.5 Billion dollars and have the good fortune of receiving love, affection and sensual companionship from a young lass a quarter your age, get down on your knees and thank  god every day for your blessing. Then take care of her financially for you truly have no comprehension of the work entailed for a beautiful young lady to have a octogenarian climbing all over her — for 5 years.  If she had little or no shame in French kissing a geriatric on a semi-regular basis or exchanging bodily fluids with you then you should have little issue with ponying up a generous donation to her favorite cause, her veritable survival in this metropolis.  Consider that you can be a philanthropist, a patron of the arts, especially if she is an artiste.

Now if it was me, and were I in Soros’ position, all I know is that young lady regardless of whether we were still dating would likely have an apartment on the Upper East Side by now and would not be suing me. In fact, she might be on her knees offering me her thanks, not having me served by her attorney Robert Hantman. And for those who may argue about the  relative value of someone’s time, energy and personal services tendered and dismiss relationships between older men and younger women, all I will say is the following and you can quote me on it:

I have met women close to my own age who have not evolved and are stuck in a time warp and I have met women half my age who have reminded me what the purpose is of life on this planet.

So how do you place a proper value a woman’s youthful exuberance in terms of what it brings to your life? And if your resources are bountiful, why would choose to nickel and dime someone who will generously share their feminine spirit with you?  Why unleash allegations that make her look like a two-bit whore after spending five years with her? To me it makes no sense.

Soros Hires William Zabel – Attorney to Madoff Insider & RICO Suspect Jeffrey Picower

I might seem to contradict myself here but make no mistake I pass no judgments on the right of men and women to freely contract with one another in matters which I refer to as transactional romance.  My only judgment is that when beautiful women are generous with their affection, especially with men much older than them,  men should  be more realistic about the compromise undertaken by the young lady to enable your happiness and your sexual satisfaction.  Arguments over wooden nickels and relative pennies of your net worth are foolish. Be  realistic about the relative value of your assets, the needs of those who you mate with, even if it is on an interim basis. Sure, there are those who may pose a risk of being excessively greedy and take you to the cleaners leaving you destitute but that is the rare case. Nevertheless, there truly is little or no reason for a young lady you have had a May to September romance with to have to walk away feeling less for the experience with you. Let her go in style and not with her last memories of you through the eyes of your shark attorney (who notably was counsel to alleged Bernie Madoff Fraud Insider, Jeffrey Picower who after a rather curious investment career and activities which may have opened him up to prosecution under RICO as a ‘Racketeer’ and attempt to establish a legacy as a philanthropist was found dead in his pool in Palm Beach before he could have been subjected to a prosecution as a ‘Racketeer’.  His estate  was subsequently forced to forfeit $7.2 billion to the Department of Justice in a rather curiously worded settlement) shredding her to pieces. Is that really money well spent?

Call me naive, but even if I were to accept at that age that a beautiful young lady might be able to love me as a father figure for my wisdom, life experience and the financial security I offer,  I would know at least in my mind that she could be in the company of the youthful male fantasy equivalent but for my generosity.  I would be grateful for her sacrifice. Maybe only briefly would I harbor the illusion that it was my masculine prowess and the look of an aging geriatric that turned her on sexually. And yes, maybe I would build a fortress to secure her but not one which caged, controlled or confined her feminine spirit.

Youthful feminine beauty is a dangerous aphrodisiac if you cannot afford it.  But if you can, let’s be realistic, for the relative cost, whether you are a millionaire who own a Hamptons home or a Billionaire several times over the cost is negligible and not something which a woman generous of spirit should have to humiliate herself for or have you or your attorneys refer to as a whore or a financial extortionist when you are ‘finished’ with her.