Broad coalition kicks off national campaign to hold banks accountable for foreclosures, recession

­Submitted by Contra Costa Inteface

The people say: “Stop foreclosures now,” during a march against the Wells Fargo Bank foreclosures.  (PHOTO COURTESY BY MAX KOO AND DAVE GOLDEN)

SAN FRANCISCO — Hundreds of people marched through San Francisco’s Financial District today to demand that Wells Fargo change corporate policies that bankrupt families, dismantle neighborhoods, and empty public coffers.

During the bank’s annual shareholder meeting, a delegation of homeowners and clergy addressed Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf to demand an immediate foreclosure moratorium. Unlike other national banks, Wells Fargo has not changed its foreclosure procedures despite numerous confirmed reports of “robo-signing” and other illegalities in the foreclosure process.

“Today is very personal for my family. Since 2005, I have been fighting Wells for wrongful foreclosure,” said San Leandro resident Donna Vieira. “But through this process, I have learned that I am not alone. A quarter of foreclosures in this country happen right here in California and 700,000 families are in foreclosure right now. We need these banks to have a new bottom line that includes investing in our communities.”

Vieira has spent the last several years organizing with leaders from CCISCO: Contra Costa Interfaith and ACCE: Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, two of the organizers of the protest.

According to the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development, at the end of 2009, there were 350,169 Wells Fargo homeowners eligible for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). As of Feb 2011, only 77,402 homeowners received permanent modifications. This is a mere 22 percent rate of modification, more than 2 years into the program (www.makinghomeaffordable.gov). Meanwhile, Wells Fargo received nearly $43.7 billion in federal bailout funds, according to a widely cited study by Nomi Prins of Demos, a nonpartisan think tank. Furthermore, Wells Fargo reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010 that it paid CEO John Stumpf more than $17 million, including a $14 million bonus.

The shareholder actions are part of The New Bottom Line campaign fueled by a coalition of community organizations, congregations, labor unions, and individuals working together to build a movement that challenges established big bank interests on behalf of struggling and middle-class communities. Together, we work to restructure Wall Street to help American families build wealth, close the country’s growing income inequality gap and advance a vision for how our economy can better serve the many rather than the few.

The New Bottom Line campaign includes National ­People’s Action (NPA), PICO National Network, Alliance for a Just Society, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), and Industrial Areas Foundation of the Southeast (IAF-SE) and dozens of state and local organizations from around the country.

Foreclosures

At the end of 2009, there were 350,169 Wells Fargo homeowners who were eligible for HAMP. As of Feb 2011, only 77,402 got permanent modifications, a 22 percent rate of modification more than two years into the program. Wells Fargo has canceled 118,697 trial modifications and denied 175,336 homeowners from accessing HAMP. Unlike other national banks, Wells Fargo has not changed its foreclosure procedures despite numerous confirmed reports of “robosigning” and other illegalities in the foreclosure process.

Tax Evasion

Over the last ten years, Wells Fargo paid the lowest worldwide tax rate of the top five big banks (24.8 percent $27.5 billion on $110.9 billion pre tax earnings) and reportedly did not pay any federal taxes in 2009.

­

por M.K. Tyler

Natural News

Is it true that those who suffer from Multiple sclerosis (MS) just need a little sun? Researchers at the University of Oxford seem to think so. In 2006, a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested higher levels of vitamin D might decrease overall risk of developing MS. Now researchers at the University of Oxford are backing that study with further evidence while also suggesting a link between lack of sunlight and how the body responds when faced with an infection. The research concludes that MS is caused by several factors working in combination but clearly correlates to a lack of vitamin D.

Is it really as simple as soaking up some rays?

While the phenomenon of vitamin D deficiency is seen all over the world, countries in the northern hemisphere have been linked to signifi cantly higher rates of MS. Scotland, for example, has one of the largest populations of MS sufferers, while the disease is “virtually unknown” in Africa. Even in sunny areas of the globe, it’s not uncommon for people to become vitamin D deficient during the winter, as the sun’s rays aren’t often high enough to penetrate atmospheric layers.

The research put forth by the University of Oxford suggests that, while those who already have MS may not benefit exponentially simply by increasing levels of vitamin D, getting more sun could be an effective preventative measure against developing the disease and managing symptoms.

More importantly, MS sufferers may be able to boost immunity to other conditions with an increase in vitamin D. A recent study by Anticancer Research affirms that typical adults need much more than the daily dosage recommended by the U.S. Government.

According to that research, 4,000-8,000 IUs of vitamin D every day could not only help prevent MS but also several types of cancer and Type 1 diabetes. The health care industry, of course, won’t promote a natural and safe preventative measure for degenerative diseases. Instead, people are warned about the dangers of UV exposure and the risks of vitamin toxicity. With vitamin D defi­ciency afflicting 90 percent of the U.S. population, however, it may be time to get a tan. Here are some interesting facts about the relationship between vitamin D and health:

1. It’s free. Five to thirty minutes of sunlight a couple of times a week is usually suffi cient for helping the body create enough vitamin D.

2. Getting enough vitamin D from food is virtually impossible.

3 . S u n s c r e e n s m a y block the body’s ability to generate vitamin D.

4. Vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium in the body.

5. Those who live further from the equator generally require longer periods of sun exposure to generate enough vitamin D.

6. A lack of vitamin D can affect bone strength. One theory suggests that women who are deficient in vitamin D can suffer from contracting pelvises, which can result in the death of babies during labor.

7. Vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed quickly. It takes months for the body to increase and regulate vitamin D levels. This is why short periods of sun exposure are not only safe but also necessary for the synthesis of this important substance.

For those with MS, increased sun exposure may be an easy and safe preventative measure against further cognitive and physical degeneration. As a direct threat to the medical establishment, however, it remains to be seen whether further government warnings and regulations about vitamin D will eventually ban people from sun bathing.

Learn more: http://w w w . n a t u r a l n e w s .com/032244_multiple_sclerosis_vitamin_D_defi ciency.html#ixzz1LNdEJsQu

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Juan Manuel Santos

It is almost as if Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos and his Venezuelan peer Hugo Chávez are competing with each other over who can make the biggest gesture of goodwill.

Fresh from the announcement by Santos that Colombia would extradite the alleged Venezuelan drug kingpin, Walid Makled, to his native country rather than the U.S. [WR-11-16], Chávez complied promptly with a request from Santos to arrest and hand over a man described by Santos as the arch propagandist of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) in Europe, as soon as a commercial plane carrying him touched down in Caracas.

The weak dollar problem

Most of the region from Brazil and the Southern Cone to Mexico is suffering from the unusual problem that their currencies are still appreciating against the US dollar. The Real hit R$156 against the dollar after Easter while the Mexican peso hit M$11.6.

In the past couple of years, the Real has appreciated 40 percent against the dollar while the Mexican peso has returned to the level it last reached in 2008. The main reason for the surge in the region’s currencies is that capital is fl owing into the region. There are major differences, however, in the sort of capital that is flowing into different parts of the region.

Martinelli’s crucial US meeting

Today (April 28) Panama’s President Ricardo Martinelli will meet US President Barack Obama in Washington to discuss trade and security. This is the first meeting between the two since Martinelli took offi ce in July 2009. The meeting is the latest test of US policy towards the region. Panama was the last country to see US direct military intervention in Latin America with the capture in 1989 of General Manuel Noriega (1983-1989).

The U.S.’s current relations ­with Martinelli, a rightwinger, are delicately poised. There are signs that U.S. Congressional approval of the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is only a matter of time, yet U.S. embassy cables published by ‘WikiLeaks’ have revealed U.S. concerns about Martinelli’s anti-democratic tendencies and his government’s corruption.

Mexican Senate approves re-election for law makers

MEXICO CITY—Mexico’s Senate approved constitutional changes Wednesday that would let lawmakers run for re-election and permit independents to seek offi ce, part of a bid to make the political system more accountable to voters.

The changes, passed by the Senate in a 95-8 vote with eight abstentions, must still be approved by the lower house of Congress, at least 16 of Mexico’s 31 state legislatures and the president. Under Mexico’s current system, candidates for all local, state and federal offices must be endorsed by a political party and no publicly elected offi cial at any level can seek re-election.

The constitutional proposal would allow independent candidates for any offi ce, but the re-election change would apply only to federal legislators. Critics say the current system makes politicians who don’t have to worry about seeking a second term less beholden to voters. Instead, offi cials spend time currying favor with their own parties in a bid to seek nominations for other posts.

The proposed changes will create “a more democratic system, one closer to the people that represents the interests of society,” said Sen. Graco Ramirez of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party. (Latin News and Associated Press contributed to this news report.)

Warns war on terror could be eternal

by Steve Watson

Infowars.net

An important news item that flew under the radar for the most part last week was the assertion from former CIA operative turned whistleblower Robert Baer that Osama Bin Laden is long dead.

The hugely respected intelligence & foreign policy expert told Terry Gross, host of National Public Radio show Fresh Air, “Of course he is dead, where are the DVDs? Bin Laden wouldn’t dye his hair, all these things can be manipulated.”

Baer, who has has previously publicly questioned the official story of the 9/11 attacks, continued “He hasn’t shown up, I’ve taken in the last month a poll of CIA officers who have been on his trail, and what astounded me was not a single one was sure he was alive or dead. They have no idea, I mean this man disappeared off the side of the earth.”

Baer, who’s previous book See No Evil was the basis for the film Syriana, asked “When in history has a country fought another country or another entity when the leader may be dead?” and warned that the so called war on terror could be an eternal war if the goal continues to be to capture Bin Laden. Baer also warned that the war is shifting into Pakistan, a dangerous precedent that could see the vaguely defined conflict move anywhere.

Last July it was revealed that Pakistan has an agreement to allow CIA-operated Predator drones fly over the country and strike targets in the so called “hunt” for Bin Laden. Since that time many strikes have taken place, killing civilians in the process. In addition, details of a secret Pentagon plan to send U.S. special forces into the wild tribal regions of Pakistan to find Bin Laden have also emerged. The plans have reportedly not yet been implemented due to White House in fighting.

Here is voluminous evidence to suggest Bin Laden is long dead.

According to French newspaper Le Figaro, Bin Laden was on a kidney dialysis machine after he had one shipped to his base in Kandahar Afghanistan in 2000, and when the CIA personally visited him in a Dubai hospital. Other accounts suggest he was also suffering from Hepatitis C at the time and had only two years left to live.

Journalists who met Bin Laden before 9/11 later proclaimed their disbelief about the fact that he didn’t appear on video after December 2001 to brag about the fact that he had not been captured. Since that time, every single Bin Laden video tape released has contained   vague non-specifi c messages and in many cases the footage is old and re-hashed.

“With an ego the size of Mount Everest, Osama bin Laden would not have, could not have, remained silent for so long if he were still alive. He always liked to take credit even for things he had nothing to do with. Would he remain silent for nine months and not trumpet his own survival?” wrote the New York Times‘ Amir Taheri in July 2002.

A very good reason for Osama remaining silent after the end of 2001 would be the fact that he probably died on December 26 of that year, according to a report in the Pakistani Observer, which cited a Taliban official as stating that Bin Laden died due to an untreated lung complication and that he had attended his funeral.

­In 2002 CNN reported on the fact that Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf believed Bin Laden to be dead: [A Bush administration offi cial] said U.S. intelligence is that bin Laden needs dialysis every three days and “it is fairly obvious that that could be an issue when you are running from place to place, and facing the idea of needing to generate electricity in a mountain hideout,”.

Others have gone on record insisting they believe Bin Laden to be dead, they include: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, FBI counter-terrorism chief Dale Watson, Israeli intelligence sources, the late former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, Bin Laden expert Professor Bruce Lawrence, head of Duke University’s Religious Studies program.

In addition, a leaked French secret service memo in September 2006 concluded that Bin Laden had died of typhoid poisoning the previous month. The memo cited Saudi Arabian secret service sources who were convinced that Bin Laden had died in Pakistan.

“The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al-Qaeda fell victim, while he was in Pakistan on August 23, 2006, to a very serious case of typhoid that led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs,” states the French memo.

Judging from all the available evidence, the White House knows for certain or at least strongly suspects that Bin Laden is dead and has been for many years, but they have chosen to maintain his myth for the purposes of political propaganda and as a hook on which to pin the advance of the imperial Neo-Con agenda.