MCOA rules that MERS lacks standing to foreclose by advertisement (via Great Lakes Law Blog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I’ve been a consistent critic of MERS, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems. I consider incredible that the mortgage industry could set up this monstrosity which was in violation of state laws across the nation without trying to get some legislation from somebody somewhere to at least give it some iota of legality. Instead they just adopted it with an ethical sense very similar to listing your five grey tabby cats as children on your income tax. As far as I’m concerned, MERS is a semi-sorta legal device used to evade paying state registration fees and avoiding the basic work of transferring title by paper and all this so that these mortgages could be used as chips in global speculation.

This is an excellent brief discussion of MERS and the court system in Michigan.

James Pilant

In my introduction to MERS post, I indicated that a lot of litigation revolved around whether the Michigan Electronic Registration System (MERS) has standing as a party.  On April 21, 2011, the Michigan Court of Appeals decided that it did not in Residential Funding Co v Saurman.  The court said that MERS is not a party with an interest in the mortgage and cannot foreclose by advertisement.  MERS, as mortgagee, only holds an interest in the prope … Read More

via Great Lakes Law Blog

#Sustainability of Values alone would esnure profits. My reply (via Jayaribcm’s Blog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

This is a post from one of web buddies. I am pleased to have the opportunity to put up his blog posts.

James Pilant

What’s “New” About Creating Shared Value?  05 Apr 2011 – by Michael Sadowski: This is an interesting post http://bit.ly/h5z2YL on Sustainability I give below my reply to the nice article from Michael that raises a number of basic issues. Michael, very valid points raised. Thanks. I would like to take you back to the days before ISO 9000 was introduced. In arriving at the harmonization of standards the Cecchini Committee had deliberated in detail … Read More

via Jayaribcm’s Blog

Rio Tinto shareholders not convinced on nuclear future (via Antinuclear)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

A nuclear future is inevitable? I don’t think so.

Apparently the actual owners are not so sure it’s a great idea.

The cost of a nuclear plant is staggering and other kinds are cheaper, sometimes  a lot cheaper.

James Pilant

Tom Albanese, Rio’s chiefexecutive, said uranium from the Ranger mine had been exported to Japan, although commercial confidence prevented him from confirming whether it was being used at Fukushima… ”Even before the Fukushima disaster, investors and insurers in the US, for example, could not be coaxed to back nuclear power.” – Scott Ludlam A nuclear Australia is inevitable: Rio chairman, Sydney Morning Herald, Courtney Trenwith, May 6, 2011,  A … Read More

via Antinuclear

Japan, Not TEPCO, Liable For Nuclear Damage, Official Says (via crisisjones)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

Well, this is interesting. The TEPCO company’s unionized workers are calling for the government to assume responsibility for the costs of the disaster. There are those that claim the disaster could not have been anticipated.

This is just sad. After TEPCO is drained, the Japanese government will have to assume the costs. But there is no way that TEPCO should be able to escape its mammoth incompetence. The Japanese government is also incompetent and also deserves a great deal of blame but governments do not disappear with as little trouble as an incompetent corporation with a loyal but misguided body of workers.

James Pilant

Japan, Not TEPCO, Liable For Nuclear Damage, Official Says AFP / NEWSCORE Last Updated: 3:35 PM, May 2, 2011 Posted: 3:34 PM, May 2, 2011 Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/japan_not_tepco_liable_for_nuclear_sE8OkBcmMp1fKxFdi6p6nJ#ixzz1LXL705DT PARIS — The head of the Japanese employers’ federation on Monday defended Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), owner of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, saying the state and not the company should compensate disaster victims. Hiromasa … Read More

via crisisjones

Cultivating hatred through “personal responsibility.” (via Check Your Premises)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

This is delicious. I have heard many of the rationalizations that are righteously clobbered in this posting. The only thing that bothers me is he is clobbering them better than I am. Nice stuff.

James Pilant

The best way to generate hatred towards an identity (any of the myriad arbitrary ways we have to classify people) is to claim that “those people” have made the conscious decision to bring it upon themselves, that they are explicitly immoral. It is very difficult to generate hatred for people who didn’t choose their fate, and therefore it is always found necessary to place upon them some imaginary responsibility. Personal responsibility and the ab … Read More

via Check Your Premises

The Agenda Shaping Our Worldview (via It Could Be Simpler)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

The idea of a “comforting illusion” is one you can easily think of when confronted by the apathy of so many. Myself I’ve studied the mortgage crisis (more like crimes) and have seen how little it bothered so many that this was going on. So many people still say, “They made a contract, they owe the money, things didn’t work out, they should pay up or get out of the houses.”

No one seems to care whether the original contract was fair, laden with fraud, or sold to those least able to understand what they were signing.

I see a lot of comforting illusions. I don’t like them. This fellow doesn’t either.

James Pilant

My thanks to “It Could Be Simpler.”

“If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion.”- Noam Chomsky Manufacturing Consent For the majority of people journalism is still the primary source for their view of the world, it doesn’t just show how events unfold from day to day, but how the world is defined. This obvious power has not gone unnoticed, since the inception of mass media governments have understood the abilities of radio, TV and print to enhance the propaganda el … Read More

via It Could Be Simpler

LOST INTERNET

On By southwerkIn business ethics

My main computer will not load the new wireless driver software. I’m writing this from another more primitive computer without my files or any of the other stuff I use. I’m sorry. I’m working on the problem.

James Pilant

Do No Harm — my UU sermon from May 1, 2010 (via Ironicschmoozer’s Weblog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

In the last three generations of my family, there have been a good number of ministers. Of course, my family were Free Will Baptists and not Unitarians. (There is a lot more certainty in the sermons of the Baptists.)

I don’t attend church much anymore but I still like sermons. This gentleman has put one of his up as a post. It’s well written, choppy tight paragraphs, messages that seem to go in different directions but tie up like little bows into the big message by the end, and a couple of good personal stories to round it out.

I like what he has to say, I believe in ethics and morality. In the field of doing the right thing, the best move is often to do nothing at all, thus, do no harm. It’s a good topic.

James Pilant

Do No Harm Sunday, May 1, 2011 Unitarian Universalist Society Sacramento, CA Hymns: 126, 21, 162. Music:  “Trouble,” Coldplay; sung by Eric Stetson Reading  “To Be of Use,” a poem by Marge Piercy, from Circles on the Water Shared Offering: Turning Point Community Programs:  A Path to Mental Health Do No Harm.  What does this mean? This world is full of harm and woe.  We human beings feel it, and cause it, at a staggering level.  Modern-day slaver … Read More

via Ironicschmoozer’s Weblog

Human Development vs Eco-footprint (via design 2 good)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I’m very fond of graphs and charts. So is this fellow. We need clarity to make good decisions and unfortunately words only go so far. Of course, we can do pictures but sometimes pictures don’t convey data accurately so we marry mathematics to words and pictures. Thus, we can,  sort of,  see facts and numbers in action.

And also, the Human Development Index is one of my favorite concepts, measuring human development not by per capita income but by a number of factors.

So, look at the graphs and read the comments. Best wishes!

James Pilant

Human Development vs Eco-footprint   A version of a favorite chart of mine… there are other versions with GDP vs Eco-footprint, Plastics/capita vs Eco-footprint and so on.  In this version, we have:   Human Development Index:  in simple terms, is a normalized average of a country’s life expectancy, ed … Read More

via design 2 good

“Visionary works of art inspired by blind rage” (via NewSong40)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

This is a really fascinating post from an obviously well read author. The insights there are very appealing and display a clever imagination.

But you might go there just to see the picture (thumbnail below). That was my first thought. I have another from this set of artists on my wall in the living room of my home.

James Pilant

Special thanks to NewSong40.

"Visionary works of art inspired by blind rage" So ran the headline of the advertising blurb for a documentary by Andrew Lloyd Webber in last week’s TV guide. The documentary was part of ITV’s “Perspectives” season and was entitled A passion for the pre-Raphaelites. “The Industrial Revolution:” the blurb continued, “A turning point for mankind but not necessarily for the better. Mass productivity went together with mass poverty. Soaring profits saw soaring prostitution. And increasing mechanis … Read More

via NewSong40