My students are bombarded with my lectures on good decision-making. They suffer through seemingly endless talk about why reason is better than opinion, how the facts are better than speculation. All this because I believe that critical thinking is at the heart of an effective education.
I believe in thinking. We live in a time where people can say, “I go with my gut,” and people treat them as if they had leadership ability when the intelligent response is to say, “That’s nice.” and ease them away from any position of authority.
The American Experience is a brief piece of history but its significance has been huge. It is an attempt at allowing a free people to make the critical choices in their lives. America is based on Enlightenment philosophy. This philosophy teaches that humans are capable of improvement and that with the tools of human reason they can free themselves from superstition and false beliefs. These ideas are embedded in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Not only that but our educational system, our laws and every idea of improvement espoused by any self-help book are all based on those beliefs.
Give some attention to the Hannibal Blog and what he has to say about thinking.
James Pilant
Find quietude. Observe whatever is around you. If it seems banal, discover it to be fascinating and mysterious. Ignore distractions, otherwise known as ‘everybody else’. Ask simple questions that puzzle you. Be patient in pondering them. That is how I imagine Gregor Mendel might answer us today if we asked him: How — I mean how! — did you achieve your stunning intellectual breakthroughs, on which we today base our understanding of biology? Put … Read More
So I just finished reading Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s provocatively titled Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer – And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. Before I go on any further, I just have to disclose that, yes, I am biased: I took a class with Paul Pierson when I was an undergrad at Berkeley, and I found him to be a very good professor. So I might be predisposed to find the arguments of this book persuasive. T … Read More
Is charity giving a wise decision? We are encouraged constantly to give money for any number of causes. Most people being altruistic and kind do give money. And much of the time, the money performs used well, but not all the time. Nevertheless, giving money for the needs of others and the benefit of your fellow citizens is a wise decision. We are helping build a society. We are reasoning in terms of our relation to each other instead of just self-interest.
There are many, many worthy causes and charites that try to help and the money given to these organizations often serves a useful purpose. But what proportion of the money given is used for that purpose? I have read of organizations that used 99% of their funding on promotion and salaries.
Food Bank
Those organizations on television, that use mailings and bombard the internet have to use considerable resources to do so. Have you considered giving your charity donations to local charities? Right now, all over the country, churches are having trouble maintaining food banks. Some churches (disclosure – My father and step-mother participate in a free clinic at a Methodist Church.) have medical clinics where all the staff and the doctors work for free. Giving to these kind of organizations means that close to 100% of the money goes to the purpose of your donation, helping those in need.
We don’t have to look far for the needy right now. Unemployment is about 9% officially and closer to 16.5% in the world of reality. Give your money to develop the ties that bind. We are trying to build a better place for all human kind. Help with that struggle.
Larry Jones took bribes and hid hard-core porn magazines at the charity, Feed The Children is alleging in a countersuit against its fired president. The charity also is accusing Jones in the civil case of other misdeeds, including misspending charity funds, pocketing travel money, keeping gifts from appearances and misusing a charity employee as a nanny. Jones, 69, denied wrongdoing.
“They fired me wrongfully,” Jones said Tuesday evening. “What they’re trying to do is build a case up against me so that will hold up. It won’t hold up … I didn’t do anything. … If I had … done anything wrong, you better believe I would have taken everything out of the office … because I knew I was probably going to be fired. “This is crazy,” he said. “I’m not saying they can’t live without me, but everywhere I go, people say, ‘Feed The Children is Larry Jones and Larry Jones is Feed The Children.’ And what they’re trying to do is bury me … with all these trumped-up charges.” He specifically said the alleged bribes were above-board payments to him and that the magazines were research for a new novel, “The Zipper Disease,” about AIDS in Africa.
I do not know the proportion of money used by Save the Children that goes toward administrative cost. I have no preference in whether you give to the organization or not.
I put this article up to show that charities are not simple organizations and can be quite controversial.
I am calling for your good judgment, not asking you to stop giving to this or any other charity.
I want you to consider giving to local churches during this cold winter with so many in need.
There is motion in the case of the Tri-Valley University students. Most of these students are fromIndia and while they retain their visas, they have lost the right to attend other schools or work at a job in the United States. For more background, you can read my post – The Saga Of The Students From India And Tri-valley University Continues.
The US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) has indicated that it is ready to consider reinstating the immigration status of those Indian students, who have lost their student visas due to the closure of a California-based “sham” university.
“We received a message from ICE today, in which they indicated that they would consider the possibility of reinstatement of their (students) visa status through I-539,” Susmita Gongulee Thomas, Consul General, Indian Consulate San Francisco, told PTI.
I-539 is the form used by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for visa extension and change of immigration status.
When one is out of the visa status for one reason or the other under a particular law of the US and the individual is not in criminal violation, USCIS may agree to give the reinstatement of his or her status under this form.
It would appear that things are moving in favor of the Indian students. But let’s not celebrate just yet. This could be a “trial balloon” to see what the reaction is to the idea, for instance whether or not the government of India will consider this an adequate response to their complaints. Let’s give it a few days. I’ll stay on it.
Please read the post and add Rortybomb to your favorites.
James Pilant
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau just launched its website. Meanwhile, Shahien Nasiripour has a story that found “… if the White House can’t get a nominee through the Senate by July, the bureau will lack the authority to supervise nonbank lenders, according to a Jan. 10 report by the inspectors general of the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve obtained by The Huffington Post.” One of the main reasons for creating a Consumer Financi … Read More
There are few assaults upon our dignity as crushing as the theft of all of our possessions. It is not so much the large items like refrigerators and televisions that are missed. Humans attach value to the strangest things. Instead of the microwave they lament the loss of their wedding pictures. When logic would dictate the loss of the computer should be the first cause of regret, they think of the old worn chair that has sat in the living room for years. Considering the great value placed upon personal privacy and possessions, would it not seem logical and prudent that those entrusted with the safety of the public should investigate and seek to punish the guilty. But the investigators would only need a mirror to discover the perpetrator of this crime, law enforcement itself.
It seems unfair that the bank never has to worry about these mistakes in judgment. It seems unfair that the bank, should use so many public resources to serve its interests.
The victim is asking $500,000 dollars in damages.
That seems fair, first, to recompense her for damages and second, to discourage the sheriff and his deputies from any more random home raids.
James Pilant
Sheriff’s Officers Accused Of Emptying Wrong Home In Botched Foreclosure HILLSIDE – A 76-year-old Hillside woman has filed a claim for damages against Union County, alleging that officers of the county sheriff’s department illegally entered her home and removed the entire contents because they had the wrong address of a foreclosure. In the document, obtained by Tina Renna of The County Watchers, Ozzie Leak claims that Union County Sheriff Ralph F … Read More
Some of these students have had to wear ankle bracelets that electronically broadcast their location. I have a report that there were 18 students required to wear these and two of these have now been detained. Their appeal is unlikely to be heard until September. If you count the remainder of February, that is seven months wearing an ankle bracelet. What’s more it is long time to be in legal limbo, unable to attend another university or work.
The Indian students duped by a fake university in the US face an uncertain future as their appeal is not likely to be heard in a court there before September.
The 1,555 students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, feel they are being subjected to inhuman treatment by the US authorities for no fault of theirs. They want the Indian government to immediately come to their rescue and help them transfer to other US universities.
The families of the students are worried as the US authorities have tied radio monitors to their ankles and may deport them for violation of visa rules.
The dreams of the students to pursue higher education in the US came crashing last week after the Tri-Valley University in California was raided for helping foreigners to illegally obtain student visas.
This is a program from an Indian law firm in the United States explaining the situation.
The government of India has expressed concern. This is from the DAILYBHASKAR.in.
Voicing concern over the welfare of Indian students affected by the closure of a California-based university, India on Friday asserted that students had valid visas and conveyed to the US that they should be given chance to clarify their position.
The students hold valid visas, a senior official said here on Friday, adding that India is hopeful they will be given adequate opportunity to clarify their position.
“Our immediate concern is the welfare of students. We are in touch with US federal agencies,” a senior official said. India’s consul general in San Fransisco also is in touch with students, the official said.
I am concerned too. I have a link to an online petition. I want you to understand clearly. This is not a petition that says there should be no investigation or that further inquiries should not be made. The petition asks for fairness. How many of you can disagree with that?
America is a very strange place for foreign students, not quite like the television view. Justice should not be denied but some kindness and a full consideration of their rights is not too much to ask for.
If you want to sign an online petition to ask the State Department to treat these students fairly, you can go here.
To my readers outside the United States, you do not need to be an American citizen to sign this petition!
So, come in and help.
James Pilant
P.S. I’m getting some indications that the investigation is focusing on a relatively small number of students. There is no direct announcement of this, but I am an attorney. The “feel” of the case is wrong. If they considered all of the students guilty, they could have moved all of them to a detention camp, since that number of students would have suggested an international conspiracy. In the United States, you file against everybody possible and then you narrow it down. I “think” (remember this is just my feel for what is going on) that the authorities are trying to sort through the cases and the fact that there are so many agencies involved is slowing the process.
For almost two years banks have been foreclosing on homes and many times the only evidence of ownership was a notarized piece of paper with the signature of a “robo-signer,” often a person with no legal training whatever, often people who had no concept of the effects of the documents to which they attached their names.
In Deutche Bank v. Triplett, the banks were told, “No.” This is part of a chain of decisions where the courts have said to the banks, “You cannot foreclose without actual documents showing ownership (my interpretation).”
In other words, signing a notarized statement that your bank owns the property is not enough to foreclose on property.
With the MERS system in use by many of the big mortgage firms (Countrywide for example), there is an absence of proper paperwork in at least hundreds of thousands of cases. MERS only has computer records, no paperwork. This computer program run by a private company saved banks from the hassle of going through the process of changing ownership without bothering with that time-consuming paperwork like filing documents at the county court-house or paying the state mandated fees for transferring ownership.
Some judges believe that evading state law and taxes is illegal.
Building on the landmark Wells Fargo v. Jordan Decision, Ohio’s 8th District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) ruled this week that an affidavit alleging that a foreclosure plaintiff held the note prior to filing of a complaint for foreclosure is not sufficient evidence to support a foreclosure judgment. In Deutche Bank v. Triplett, the court of appeals held: “… Deutsche Bank’s affidavit of ownership, sworn out more than a year after the fore … Read More
There was fraud in many home mortgages. We should see more of these cases but California is one of the few states where there have been prosecutions.
It is difficult to convince me that with Countrywide’s vast portfolio that this practice was uncommon. One of the best ways to defraud a homeowner is to sell him on the idea of cheap credit, lowering his monthly payments, knowing all along the loan will revert to a floating rate. That new interest rate produces a devastating increase in monthly payments forcing foreclosure. This is fraud. Conning people into home loans is what the great lecturers on personal responsibility claim was a rare event.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced Friday that the $6.5 million settlement from two former Countrywide Financial Corp. executives will be used to establish a fund to help foreclosed homeowners. The settlement comes from a litigation that began more than two years ago against Angelo Mozilo and David Sambol. According to the lawsuit, Countrywide lured buyers with low teaser rates, sometimes as low as 1 percent, and failed to inform … Read More
In total, I have 46 posts about the mortgage crisis.
James Pilant
COMBO Title and Securitization Search, Report, Documents, Analysis & Commentary Bank of America to Create Troubled Loans Unit BANK STILL ATTEMPTING TO KEEP FORECLOSURES A POLITICAL ISSUE AS LEGAL OPTIONS RUN OUT EDITOR’S NOTE: As for what this means for homeowners, it is obvious that BOA is trying to come up with some formula that will be politically acceptable the final result of which will still be that they will get hundreds of thousands o … Read More
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