Thursday, April 1, 2010

Chicago Sees Nation's Steepest Home Price Drop

S&P Case-Shiller Index Shows Drop Of 0.8 Percent In Chicago, While Homes Gained Value In Many Other Cities

NEW YORK (CBS) ― The housing market rebound may be fading, but there's a bigger concern for Chicago homeowners looking to sell – home prices here are still falling.

In January, home prices in Chicago fell 0.8 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis among the 20 cities on Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Prices were relatively stable in most of the country in January, except in Southern California, which boasted strong gains. The seasonally-adjusted home prices jumped 1.8 percent in Los Angeles, and 0.9 percent in San Diego.

For the index overall, the news was good. Prices rose 0.3 percent from December to January on a seasonally adjusted basis, and increased in 12 cities in the index.

Many analysts expect the Case-Shiller 20-city index will again turn downward in the coming months as more foreclosures in other states hit the market.

"It is only a matter of time before the index records a double-dip in prices," wrote Paul Dales, U.S. economist with Capital Economics, who forecasts a 5 percent drop. The market will be tested in the second half of the year, he wrote, when a tax credit that has boosted sales is gone.

The Case-Shiller index measures home price increases and decreases relative to prices in January 2000. The base reading is 100; so a reading of 150 would mean that home prices increased 50 percent since the beginning of the index.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Britain and America linked to Somali pirates, Somalia still suffers

Tim Coles argues that British and US policies in Somalia, and London’s and Washington’s support for warlord Abdullahi Yusuf’s Transitional Federal Government, belie their opposition to the Somali pirates.

Britain’s former chief of the General Staff, Richard Dannatt, has clarified the role of British institutions in world affairs. “[S]uccess can only be achieved if our actions are fully integrated with our government partners in the FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office], DFID [Department for International Development] and all the other instruments of national power” (2009).

According to DFID, one of the instruments of national power, “[a]cross the country [Somalia], as fighting cuts off the delivery of essential services and a prolonged drought causes widespread crop failure, an estimated 3.76 million people – close to 40 per cent of the population – are thought to require emergency help. In no other country in the world is so large a proportion of the population in need of relief assistance” (2009).

DFID boasts of its millions of pounds in aid donations, but it omits the fact that Britain has helped to plunge Somalia into disaster by destroying the Union of Islamic Courts which were recognized under UN Resolution 1725. Britain and America supported the warlords of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) which Ethiopia, under US auspices, sought to establish in Somalia in December 2006.

The TFG was led by warlord Abdullahi Yusuf, whom the Blair government supported with a house, an NHS liver transplant and finance for his militia (Hartley 2008; Campbell 2005).

By 2009, the situation had not improved: Human Rights Watch reported that “[m]ore than 100,000 people almost all of them from Somalia and Ethiopia have arrived by boat along Yemen's coast during the past two years. Most are fleeing war or persecution at home or are in search of work” (HRW 2009). In line with the standard, and breathtaking, hypocrisy of the British rulers, Yemen is now called a terrorist hotbed.

Despite this horror, the media, following the demands of the government, still likes to condemn pirates. Royal Institute of International Affairs analyst Roger Middleton found that “[t]he only period during which piracy virtually vanished around Somalia was during the six months of rule by the Islamic Courts Union in the second half of 2006. This indicates that a functioning government in Somalia is capable of controlling piracy” (Middleton 2008, 3). In that case, if Britain and America really want to end piracy they wouldn’t have destroyed the Union of Islamic Courts. Not surprisingly, Britain and America are linked to the pirates who funded none other than Abdullahi Yusuf.

Middleton confirmed:

Puntland, the semi-autonomous region in the northeast of the country, appears to be the base for most pirates in Somalia… The fact that the pirates originate from Puntland is significant as this is also the home region of President Abdullahi Yusuf. As one expert said, “money will go to Yusuf as a gesture of goodwill to a regional leader” – so even if the higher echelons of Somali government and clan structure are not directly involved in organizing piracy, they probably do benefit... Puntland is one of the poorest areas of Somalia, so the financial attraction of piracy is strong. Somalia’s fishing industry has collapsed in the last 15 years and its waters are being heavily fished by European, Asian and African ships (2008, 4-5).

This another example of the West’s benevolence.

The “Somalia has links with al-Qaeda” thread on which the US is hanging its Somalia ambitions is, at times, embarrassingly thin. In 2010 BBC Africa reported that the TFG “confirmed to the BBC that an Al-Qaeda fighter had been killed, but did not name him and said the government ‘would provide evidence later’” (BBC Africa 2010).

California governor candidate Chelene Nightingale: "Why can't we question what happened with 9/11?"

Chelene Nightingale, running as an American Independent Party candidate for governor of California, recently had a candid conversation covering a wide array of topics including freedom of speech, the events of 9/11, and the nature of fighting tyranny.

The two part video interview, which lasts a little over 20 minutes, was produced by Paul Wittenberger and conducted by Mike Murphy. [Watch part 1 and part 2].

The refreshingly anti-establishment candidate Nightingale also touched on topics ranging from ending the fed, opposing Schwarzenegger's global warming bill, securing the borders, as well as the "North American Union", "new world order" and an elitist population control agenda. She discussed her support of Ron Paul, as well as those with opposing agendas such as George Soros; secretive groups such as the Bilderberg and CFR, and chemtrails.

In response to the interviewer's initial questions regarding 9/11, Nightingale replied

  • "Why cant we question what happened with 9/11? Before 9/11 i had no interest in politics period.. but i remember watching televion and watching as 911 was happening and i had questions. Again, I'm just an average American citizen. I didn't think 'oh, this was planned by our government', but I wondered how those planes barrelled into those buildings that were supposed to have been built for such catastrophies ; and watch them all collapse different times, different ways, different methods. So when you have professionals in their fields coming out and saying 'well this just doesnt add up', and you think back to the day when you were watching the news yourself and you had questions. What is wrong with that? To be honest, I don't know what happened. I just know that the answers that we were given don't quite add up to what engineers have said ...Why are we living in a society where we are told we cant question anything?"
  • "I have a first ammendment and that first ammendement is not going to tell me to shut up and set down. That first ammendment is telling me that I can speak and have a voice, my own opinion. Regardless of what anybody else thinks, if you dont like what im saying or what I'm asking, then don't listen to me."

Last month, an alleged anti-establishment candidate for Texas governor, Debra Medina, was questioned about 9/11 and said that 9/11 truthers' beliefs are 'despicable'. In the aftermath of what was seen by many as a betrayal, abgry supporters throughout the country demanded and were sent refunds from the Medina campaign. I was happy to break that story and outlined the aftermath in my follow-up article, Why Debra Medina deserved to lose.

The American Independent Party is is a ballot-qualified party recognized by the California Secretary of State. The California AIP has been the affiliate of the national Constitution Party. Chuck Baldwin, who was the Constitution Party candidate for president in 2008 and whom Ron Paul endorsed, was named in the secret government report in 2008 which stated constitutionalists and libertarians are a terrorist threat.

It isn't often that a candidate comes along who unabashedly speaks the truth. Los Angeles County Libertarian Examiner proudly endorses Chelene Nightingale for governor of California.

The primary elections will be held June 8, 2010. Nightingale has one opponent in the primary, Markham Robinson. The general election will be held November 2, 2010. Elitist scofflaw Arnold Schwarzenegger is ineligible to run again for governer and will thankfully be termed out. (Although Schwarzenegger's company made a nearly one million dollar donation to his campaign fund in 2008. Questions remain on that one).

Below is a partial transcipt of the Chelene Nightingale interview.

Q. "...you've also spoken about being mocked about the events of 911 and questioning the opfficial report. Why do you think people are doing that ..

Nightingale: "Why cant we question what happened with 9/11? Before 9/11 i had no interest in politics period.. but i remember watching televion and watching as 911 was happening and i had questions. again, im just an average American citizen. I didn't think 'oh this was planned by our government', but I wondered how those planes barrelled into those buildings that were supposed to have been built for such catastrophies ; and watch them all collapse different times, different ways, different methods. So when you have professionals in their fields coming out and saying 'well this just doesnt add up', and you think back to the day when you were watching the news yourself and you had questions. What is wrong with that?
To be honest, I don't know what happened. I just know that the answers that we were given don't quite add up to what engineers have said ...why are we living in a society where we are told we cant question anything?

"I have a first ammendment and that first ammendement is not going to tell me to shut up and set down. that first ammendment is telling me that I can speak and have a voice, my own opinion. Regardless of what anybody else thinks, if you dont like what im saying or what I'm asking, then don't listen to me.

"We heard George Bush senior say that were in the" new world order". North American union, spp.gov
it is for one world government. for those of us who read scripture it is prophesized/ but even for those who arent believers, they can see it in the news.

"Our founding farthers left the tyranny of King George.. the irony of this. We need to realize that the wisodom of the bill of rights were trying to warn us so we will never have tyranny again.."

Government needs the stock market up to sell their Citi stake

Click this link ...... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11088

Alan Greenspan Discusses U.S. Jobless Rate, Treasuries

Click this link ..... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11090

Keiser Report No29: Markets! Finance! Scandal!

Click this link ...... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11089

Secret Heartbeat of America - The CIA and Drugs

click this link ....... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11086

Bob Schulz - We The People Go After The Banksters

Click this link ...... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11080

Gambler Says She Won $42M But Casino Won't Pay Up

Click to enlarge
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Louise Chavez on the CBS Early Show on Wednesday morning in New York.

CBS



THORNTON, Colo. (CBS4) ―
A Thornton woman claims she won $42 million at a penny slot machine, but the casino says it's a mistake.

Louise Chavez says a casino in Central City owes her the $42 million after she won the jackpot.

The Colorado Gaming Department says the jackpot Chavez hit shouldn't have been possible and now they are performing a full forensics investigation on the slot machine's computer board.

"I was shocked. I was like, 'I don't buy this and I'm not going to buy this,'" Chavez said. "I just felt like, you know, I was being cheated. I was being cheated out of the money that I won."

Chavez was playing the penny slots at Fortune Valley casino last Friday night.

The Gaming Department says the total jackpot she could have won playing the penny slots was about $250,000 that's on a state-wide progressive pot system.

Chavez says she plays a lot of slot machines but is now not sure she will ever return to Black Hawk or Central City.

"I will never go back to that casino. I can't say right now if I'll ever go back to any of the casinos only because now I don't have trust in any casino because of what happened," Chavez said.

The investigation into what happened with the slot machine could take more than a month.

(© MMX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Neb. Lawmakers Approve Taxpayer 'Wall of Shame'

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Taxpayers in Nebraska risk having their names posted on a wall of shame if they don't pay state government what they owe.

Lawmakers on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill (LB879) that would allow the state to post on Web sites the names of taxpayers owing the state more than $20,000.

The names, addresses and amounts owed would be posted on the Web site of either the state Department of Revenue or Department of Labor.

There are about 500 taxpayers who owe more than $20,000, but that number includes some duplication, as corporate officers can be listed for the same debt.

State And Local Tax Revenues Inch Higher

Tax revenue at the state and local levels grew for the first time in the past five quarters, according to government data released on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Tax revenue at the state and local levels grew for the first time in the past five quarters, according to government data released on Tuesday.

Tax revenues inched higher to $360.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, up 0.76% from $357.4 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to the Census Bureau's quarterly summary of tax revenue.

Of the four largest tax categories, property and corporate income tax revenue rose year-over-year, while sales tax and individual income tax receipts both declined.

Revenue from property taxes jumped 5.8% to $169.8 billion, compared to $160.5 billion in the period a year ago. Corporate income tax revenue rose 3.4% to $9.1 billion, after declining in seven of the past nine quarters.

Still, the report showed that state and local governments continued to struggle amid stubborn unemployment.

Individual income tax revenues fell 4.7% from the year-ago period to $59.9 billion and general sales tax revenues dropped 2.8% to $71.7 billion.

Both revenue sources fell for the fifth straight quarter, but the pace of declines slowed, the Census Bureau said.

Of the states that collect general sales tax, only seven saw year-over-year increases. Georgia fared the best, with a 57.6% jump. Only eight of the states that collect individual income taxes saw a boost, but Arizona posted the highest gain of 15.9%.

The report follows another from the government on Monday that said personal spending rose in February, but income barely budged.

Health Care Battle Ends; War on Social Security Begins

Drunk with success over their Health Care bill passing, the Democrats are now lusting after even greater conquests. With the celebratory hangover still aching, the Democrats lurch forward towards a hasty drive to “reform” Social Security.

The Social Security reform will no doubt resemble the health care reform, the details of which remain a mystery to most Americans. The essence of both policies will be based on one principle: reduce the debt of the United States by any means necessary.

Two articles in The New York Times confirmed that this was indeed the reasoning behind Obama’s health care bill. The first states:

“[the health care bill] signed Tuesday by Mr. Obama... squeeze[s] nearly a half-trillion dollars out of Medicare [500 billion dollars] in the next 10 years and establish[s] many demonstration projects to test innovative ways of delivering health care.”

The second half of the quote — “innovative ways of delivering health care” — is doublespeak for “health care rationing” (providing less), the basis of Obama’s health care plan.

This truth was revealed in the same article, when Obama’s new appointee to head Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Donald Berwick, was discussed. The main qualification of Dr. Berwick is that he plans to, in his own words, “Over the next three years, reduce the total resource consumption of your health care system, no matter where you start, by 10 percent.”

A stark example of Dr. Berwick’s health care philosophy — rationing — is then given, applied to himself after he received a serious knee injury: “Doctors urged him to have a knee replacement operation several years ago, but he decided instead to have just a “steroid injection,” and the outcome has been fine, he said.” (March 28, 2010).

The head of Medicare and Medicaid will thus be advocating “injections” when “surgeries” are recommended, as well as a variety of other ways to ration health care. This key concept of Obama’s health care plan was what the health care corporations were really salivating over, and now the plan is to apply it to Social Security.

A separate New York Times article clearly explains how the rationing of health care and the “reforming” of Social Security are one and the same:

“Central to the health care changes are hundreds of billions of dollars in reductions in Medicare spending over time... As some administration officials acknowledge, that effectively takes those fast-growing entitlement programs off the table for deficit reduction just as Mr. Obama’s bipartisan commission to reduce the mounting national debt gets to work.

“That leaves Social Security, the other big entitlement benefits program and one that Mr. Obama has suggested in the past that he is willing to tackle. While its looming problems are not of the scale of those afflicting Medicare, it now stands as the likeliest source of the sort of large savings needed to bring projected annual deficits to sustainable levels, many budget analysts agree.” (March 23, 2010, emphasis added).

Doublespeak translation: “...large savings needed to bring projected annual deficits to sustainable levels” equals rationing or “reducing” Social Security benefits.

How will this happen? The article answers: “...packaging future reductions in the retirement program [Social Security] that Democrats zealously defend with tax increases that Republicans typically oppose would have the makings of a grand compromise to shrink the debt.”

The article also mentions “gradually rais[ing] the retirement age for future Social Security recipients” as a popular idea. These reductions are necessary because “...the promise of future reductions would immediately reassure global markets fretful that the United States’ debt is already its highest since World War II.”

There you have it. “Global markets,” i.e. rich investors, are demanding that the U.S. pay them back in full, not in inflated dollars. It is obvious that the Obama administration wants working people to pay this debt back, not Wall Street or the wealthy in general.

And the article says nothing about the fact that the rich have a sweet deal when it comes to paying into Social Security. The wages of ordinary working people are taxed at a rate of 6.2 percent for Social Security. But for the rich, they are not taxed at all on income over $107,000, meaning that their overall Social Security tax rate is lower than everyone else’s. By removing the cap on how much they are taxed, a substantial amount of money would be raised for Social Security.

A working class solution to address the the nation's problems must be fought for now! President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka offers a splendid vision: "The best way to fix the deficit is to create 10 million jobs now — the number of jobs needed to close our jobs deficit. This will require large amounts of public investment in the short term, which should be paid for in future years by taxing Wall Street. In addition to creating jobs for Main Street this tax will also curb short-term speculation and other Wall Street abuses that caused this recession."

Well said. But excellent ideas without the necessary actions attached are meaningless. For labor to press their agenda, they must act independently of the Democrats. Lobbying congressmen with union money isn’t going to do the trick — not even close.

Labor can begin this time by taking back the streets. The Tea Party conservatives are exploiting labor’s inaction, and thus garnering some public support by their fake radicalism. Massive labor-led demonstrations, in Washington, DC, for example, will quiet the corporate-sponsored Tea Partiers, especially if Labor comes equipped with the above demands for job creation and taxing Wall Street and the wealthy. The vast majority of working people would overwhelmingly support such demands, and a serious campaign to achieve them would change the face of the present corporate-dominated political scene. But time is of the essence. The corporations have their plans laid out and will push them into effect soon if they are not pushed back — hard!


Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org). He can be reached at shamuscooke@gmail.com.

Peter Schiff: 'Very good reason' to believe home prices will collapse

The following is an opinion piece written by Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital (www.europac.net), regarding the major housing initiative announced today by the White House. Mr. Schiff, a Republican, is also running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Banking Committee chair Christopher Dodd.

The latest housing initiative announced today by the Obama Administration draws the U.S. government and, by proxy, all taxpaying Americans, further into the inescapable quagmire of a devastated real estate market.

By transferring more underwater mortgage balances onto the public books, the plan puts taxpayers on the hook for further losses if housing prices continue to fall. Given the massive support for real estate already afforded by record-low interest rates and massive federal tax and policy incentives, there are very good reasons to believe that home prices will indeed collapse when these crutches are removed. Recent spikes in long-term interest rates warn of this prospect.

If the Administration had allowed losses to fall where they rightfully belong, namely on those who foolishly loaded up on toxic mortgage bonds, then the housing market would have already found its true clearing level. Instead, every measure is working to prolong and delay the ultimate reckoning, while setting up taxpayers as the patsy. Given the horrendous government deficit projections for the next several years, any losses incurred by the government mortgage portfolio may add a critical stress on America's fiscal viability.

In addition, the moves add even more incentives detrimental to economic growth. By targeting benefits toward unemployed homeowners, or those who are delinquent in mortgage payments, the program will encourage some mortgage holders to defer job-hunting and miss payments. Also, in offering loan-balance reductions, the program makes no distinction between homeowners who naively overpaid during the speculative peak and those who willfully put themselves underwater by taking advantage of home equity loans on existing mortgages. In short, these policies reward profligacy and penalize prudence.

The longer the government continues to distort the underlying economics of the real estate market, the longer it will take for the sector to heal itself - and the longer the sickness will infect the broader economy.

'Hedge Fund' Took Them for $8M, Family Says

SACRAMENTO (CN) - A family says three men ran a bogus hedge fund that cheated them of $8 million. They say the Black Card Group may never have existed at all, that if it did exist it's in default, and that its directors, Ethan Conrad, Frank Sim and Harrold Pressly, spent their money on luxury vehicles and resort property.
Five members of the Urata family say Conrad told them that "the real estate market was getting soft, that he had formed a hedge fund that was earning 3 percent a month and that Charles Urata should put his money in the fund instead of real estate." He told Urata that he had put his own money into the fund, which "was exclusive ... was available just for friends ... [and] that it was a 'no brainer'; that it was really safe."
But the Uratas say the Black Card hedge fund may never have even existed, and if it did, its managers "were not competent to manage an investment fund."
Not did the fund operate out of Las Vegas, as it claimed, according to the complaint: "If the defendant Black Card Group, Inc., was in fact ever legally formed and does indeed exist as a legal entity, the principal place of business of that entity was at all times relevant to this complaint, and is, located in the County of Sacramento."
The Uratas demand $8.2 million in damages for negligence, breach of contract and misrepresentation.
They are represented by Mark Campbell with Murphy, Campbell, Guthrie & Alliston.

Inventing the Internet

Click this link .... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ8cHAlco

Hutaree Militia Is An Israeli Mossad Zionist Front Group - True Sons Of Liberty Exposed Them In 2007

Click this link ....... http://bit.ly/9lEMEf

Massachusetts Court Stops H&R Block, Option One Foreclosures

People unfairly lured into a subprime mortgage shouldn't lose their homes to foreclosure. That's the ruling of a Massachusetts Appeals Court, in affirming an injunction blocking Option One Mortgage Corporation and H&R Block Mortgage Corporation from initiating foreclosure proceedings.

The preliminary injunction prohibits the two firms from initiating or advancing foreclosures on mortgage loans that the court found to be "presumptively unfair." Under the order, which affects up to 9,700 Massachusetts loans originated by Option One, AHMSI must give the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office advance notice before it intends to foreclose on any such loan, and if the Attorney General objects, obtain approval from the Court before foreclosing on a loan.

In a summary order, the Appeals Court affirmed the preliminary injunction. The Appeals Court cited the Supreme Judicial Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Fremont Investment & Loan and determined the Superior Court's injunction was proper. The Fremont case also involved a restriction on foreclosures obtained by the Attorney General based on evidence of unfair and deceptive loan origination practices.

Option One had appealed the November 2008 order on due process and other grounds, but was rejected by the court. AHMSI, the current servicer of Option One loans, did not appeal the order and has complied with its terms for the past 12 months.

"We are pleased with the court's decision, but we are most pleased that, for nearly a year, the court's preliminary injunction has helped ensure that no unnecessary foreclosures take place with respect to Option One loans," said Attorney General Martha Coakley. "Our office has worked with the current loan servicer to achieve reasonable workouts, which serve the interests of borrowers, the public, as well as the holders of these loans."

2008 suit

The Attorney General's Office filed suit against Option One and its parent company, H&R Block, Inc., in June 2008, alleging that they originated thousands of risky subprime loans in Massachusetts, with reckless disregard as to whether borrowers would be able to afford their loan payments - a practice that has contributed significantly to the foreclosure crisis in Massachusetts.

According to the complaint, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Option One and H&R Block engaged in unfair and deceptive conduct on a broad scale by selling extremely risky loan products to Massachusetts consumers that the companies knew or should have known were destined to fail. The complaint also alleges that the companies discriminated against black and Latino borrowers in Massachusetts by charging them higher points and fees to close their loans than similarly situated white borrowers and by targeting black and Latino consumers with marketing that pushed the sale of predatory loan products.

In the November 2008 preliminary injunction, the court held that certain mortgage loans were "presumptively unfair," because they posed an unreasonable risk of default and foreclosure. On those loans, Option One must direct AHMSI not to foreclose without giving the Attorney General's Office 45-days to object.

During that time, the Attorney General's Office can object to the foreclosure going forward if it is determined that the loans were so risky as to be unfair, or was originated using unfair or deceptive acts or practices. If the Attorney General's Office objects, the parties have 15 days to resolve their differences and discuss alternatives, such as an affordable loan modification. If they cannot reach a mutually agreeable resolution in this time period, then AHMSI may only proceed with a foreclosure if it receives Court approval. To date, no foreclosures have gone forward over the Commonwealth's objection.

'Unfair' loans targeted

Under the order, a loan is "presumptively unfair" if it possesses the following characteristics:

The loan is an adjustable rate mortgage with an introductory period of three years or less;

The borrower has a debt-to-income ratio (the ratio between the borrower's monthly debt payments, including the monthly mortgage payment, and the borrower's monthly income) that would have exceeded 50% if Option One had measured the debt, not by the debt due under the teaser rate, but by the debt due under the fully-indexed rate, except when the borrower had a student loan in which payment had been deferred at least six months from the date of submission of the mortgage loan application, in which case debt-to-income ratio need exceed only 45 percent;

The loan has an introductory or "teaser" rate for the initial period that is at least 2 percent lower than the fully indexed rate, (unless the debt-to-income ratio is 55 percent or above, in which case the difference between the teaser rate and fully indexed rate is not relevant);

The loan-to-value ratio of the loan is 97% or the loan carries a substantial prepayment penalty or a prepayment penalty that lasts beyond the introductory period.

RDR: McVeigh and the 'Hispanic man' - what did the feds know?

OKLAHOMA CITY – Late last week, Red Dirt Report featured a story about reports indicating that there was somewhat of a resurgence in Ku Klux Klan membership in Oklahoma.

That story, which was among the most-viewed stories on the site this past week, triggered some discussion online, on the radio and with me personally. It seems as though the story reminded some folks here in the state of Elohim City out in Adair County, Okla. and that white supremacist community’s connection to Timothy McVeigh and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building here in Oklahoma City.

Of course federal infiltration of right-wing extremist groups like the KKK, is well-known and thoroughly covered via the COINTELPRO operation directed by the FBI four decades ago. The raid on the “Hutaree” militia in Michigan and surrounding states is a major red flag, considering the FBI involvement in the raid and their history.

With all that is going on with Tea Parties, militias, Republicans and Democrats at each other’s throats … it is starting to feel like 1994-95 all over again. There is a Democrat president extremely interested in government-run health care. A top official named “Janet” interested in cracking down on right-wing extremists … and then there are these comments from David Cid, executive director of the Oklahoma City-based Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, as reported Monday by the Associated Press …

Cid said there has been a “resurgence in the past year or two of ‘domestic militancy’ similar to what was seen before the Oklahoma City bombing.”

Indeed, Mr. Cid, who is also a former FBI counterterrorism agent is an expert on these sorts of issues. But one wonders who is really stoking the flames of ‘militancy’?

Continuing, Cid tells the AP: “It’s issues like eminent domain and immigration, and apparently national health care in some quarters. It’s increasing these people’s ire and their discomfort with their own government.”

One phone call to your Red Dirt Reporter was of particular interest. It was from a person I am familiar with and some of my readers are probably familiar with. This person had read my story on the KKK report connected to a site called Hatetrackers.com

The conversation went quickly from my story on the KKK in Oklahoma to the Elohim City connection and Andreas “Andy the German” Strassmeier, a foreign operative.

The caller said he believes the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Alabama, is connected to figures linked to the bombing. Indeed, SPLC leader Morris Dees has previously told reporters about links to Elohim City and an informant that “If I told you what we were doing there, I would have to kill you.”

And this very week, SPLC is all over the news talking about the Hutaree militia and their alleged plans of waging war against the government and an “Anti-Christ.”

Back in 1995, this individual knew of a man who worked for a cleaning company that worked at the Murrah federal building in 1995. He was told how a young man working for the company happened upon two men – Timothy McVeigh and a Hispanic man – who were seeking a judge’s office wanting to “get married.”

It was after hours and on an upper floor of the Murrah building. They were wearing blue smocks, like those of the cleaning company workers. There had been reports of missing uniforms and equipment in the weeks leading up to the bombing and security, he told us, "was very lax."

As for the odd encounter with "McVeigh" and the "Hispanic man," it certainly alarmed the cleaning worker, who was reportedly interrogated for nearly an hour by federal officials in the days following the bombing.

Another thing he mentioned had to do with “John Doe 2” and his identity. The cleaning person identified the second man in the Murrah building in the days prior to the bombing as being the elusive “John Doe 2.” He was allegedly Hispanic, we were told, and had been a convict from California. The FBI, he said, had a photo of the Hispanic man and not just the famous sketch.

The person who called me shared more information about things he saw and heard in the following days, information related not only to the Murrah bombing but to 9/11, information that may be elaborated upon in future posts.

Talking to an Oklahoma City-based bombing researcher about this new information, he told Red Dirt Report that the deep source that contacted this online newspaper gave us information that corroborated information he has gathered in his many years of research and witness interviews. More on that in coming posts.

And don’t forget, as has been reported in recent years in the Salt Lake Tribune, things are not always as they seem.

Reported the Tribune in 2007: “Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols says a high-ranking FBI official ‘apparently’ was directing Timothy McVeigh in the plot to blow up a government building and might have changed the original target of the attack.”

And on Monday, we see a story posted at KTOK.com by reporter Jerry Bohnen headlined “CIA documents suggest foreign involvement in OKC 1995 bombing.”

Bohnen’s story notes that Salt Lake City, Utah attorney, Jesse Trentadue, whose brother was murdered in prison in the wake of the bombing, “sought a dozen document s from the CIA and (the federal judge Clark Waddoups) ruled they were considered ‘national security’ and would not be made available to the public. It was the first such national security defense ever used by the government in denying records to Trentadue.”

Naturally, the question that arises is what would the CIA have to do with a domestic terrorist attack that focused solely on McVeigh and Terry Nichols, two Americans.

In the KTOK story, Bohnen lists 12 “exhibits” are featured, ranging from foreign operatives offering information to the CIA to a cable from a day after the bombing that was “relaying information about the Oklahoma City bombing that was provided to a U.S. ambassador by a foreign official.” Many of these are simply listed as “classified as secret.”

In the story, Bohnen asks if there was “foreign involvement in some manner in the bombing or the investigation?”

Trentadue responds in the story by saying “Without a doubt.”

He then adds: “If there was no foreign involvement, then why was the CIA asked to help federal prosecutors?” He concludes saying that Enid attorney Stephen Jones was never offered the information about the possible CIA connection.

And on Monday afternoon, Lee Matthews, sitting in for Mark Shannon on KTOK's "Mark Shannon Show," asked listeners to call in and share their thoughts on this new revelation pointing to CIA links to McVeigh and the bombing. Reactions were mixed, with one caller saying that some information is best left alone.

Undeniably, something is in the air and it isn't just a lot of pollen. We here at Red Dirt Report hope the government will do the right thing and put all the information out there related to the Murrah bombing and others who may have been involved in that horrible terror attack nearly 15 years ago.

Private sector unexpectedly sheds 23,000 more jobs

U.S. private employers shed 23,000 jobs in March, missing expectations for an increase in jobs although fewer than the adjusted 24,000 jobs lost in February, a report by a private employment service said on Wednesday.

The February fall was originally reported at 20,000.

The median of estimates from 35 economists surveyed by Reuters for the ADP Employer Services report, jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, was for a rise of 40,000 private-sector jobs last month.

The ADP report is seen as an early indicator of the Labor Department's employment report due out Friday. However, there can be wide variations because ADP only accounts for private-sector jobs.

Economists expect the Labor Department's report to show employers added 190,000 jobs in March. It would be only the second monthly increase in jobs since the recession began in late 2007. The number could be somewhat inflated because the government hired temporary workers to conduct the 2010 census.

The weak ADP report could temper some expectations for Friday's data.

Jobs growth is considered vital to a strong, sustained recovery because it will give consumers more confidence to go out and spend on goods and services. And consumer spending is the biggest driver of economic activity in the country.

The worse-than-expected jobs report appears set to provide a disappointing end to an otherwise strong first quarter.