Corzine Passes Go, Collects $200

0-0-7
0-0-7
At ocean eleven
And now rudeboys have a go wail
'Cause them out of jail
Rudeboys cannot fail ...
Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town
Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail
A Shanty Town ...

I guess, we'll be adding into the Political Playbook is that you don't prosecute Wall Street mobsters, especially if they hail from Goldman Sucks , in an election year.

 

No Criminal Case Is Likely in Loss at MF Global 

After 10 months of stitching together evidence on the firm’s demise, criminal investigators are concluding that chaos and porous risk controls at the firm, rather than fraud, allowed the money to disappear, according to people involved in the case ...

[snip]

In the most telling indication yet that the MF Global investigation is winding down, federal authorities are seeking to interview the former chief of the firm, Jon S. Corzine, next month, according to the people involved in the case. Authorities hope that Mr. Corzine, who is expected to accept the invitation, will shed light on the actions of other employees at MF Global.

Those developments indicate that federal prosecutors do not expect to file criminal charges against the former New Jersey governor. Mr. Corzine has not yet received assurances that he is free from scrutiny, but two rounds of interviews with former employees and a review of thousands of documents have left prosecutors without a case against him, say the people involved in the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity

And, it gets worse!

I mean, even this wouldn't be served in the Irony Cafe;

Mr. Corzine, in a bid to rebuild his image and engage his passion for trading, is weighing whether to start a hedge fund, according to people with knowledge of his plans. He is currently trading with his family’s wealth.

A New Mexico town once changed their name to "Truth or Consequences" ", to gain fame.

If a show came along named "No Consequences", Wall Street, and only Wall Street, with its' larcenous infamy, would have to lay claim to it.

File this one under "Laughing all the way - running away from the bank" ...


Help Me Mr. Wizard! 


 


Bonus Links

Another Week, Another Bankster with Impunity

What a World - There Is No "Manslaughter" Charge in Financial Firm Incompetence

Jon Corzine Wants to Start a Hedge Fund, Maybe

Abe Lincoln Role Stirs Studios To Flood Market With New Vampire Pics

Despite the less-than-stellar opening box office, and disastrous reviews, of the new film,‘Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter’, major Hollywood studios are red-lining, and rushing into production, a wave of new vampire projects, a source tells The Garlic.



“They can’t get them out fast enough,’ said the movie industry insider, adding that “my clients are badgering to get me to land them something.”

The plan calls for issuing new projects with original stories, many of them with A-List actors, for serial stories that will offer multiple sequels and franchises.
Also, for the studios with deep archives, some classic films will be reworked, with CGI, and other state-of-the-art techniques, integrating in new stars, and turning movie legends into vampire fighters.

Scheduled for release by the Christmas rush include;

The Vampire World of Suzie Wong

William Holden’s Robert Lomax doesn’t move into the Nam Kok Hotel just to become a painter.

He teams up with Nancy Kwan’s Suzie Wong, and the other prostitutes, to do battle with the Vampires of Hong Kong, offering pulsating martial arts action on the teeming streets.

Look for Steve Buscemi in a cameo role as a kung fu rickshaw driver


Rain Man, Vampire Slayer

Raymond Babbitt may be autistic, but when he and brother Charlie hit Las Vegas, it’s not for blackjack, and Raymond shows the vampires who’s on first.

The pair does battle with the towns Vampires, tearing up and down the strip, rampaging through casinos, with the climatic fight coming on top of the Luxor Hotel’s pyramid.

Steve Buscemi has a role here, as a Craps Table dealer who rolls snake eyes for the vampires


A Vampire Affair To Remember

Cary Grant’s Nickie Ferrante and Deborah Kerr’s Terry McKay take on the Vampires, both on land and at sea.

With the ship anchored on the scenic Mediterranean coast, Ferrante and McKay clean the ocean liner of the stowaway vampires.

Back in New York, McKay isn’t hit by an automobile on the way to meet Ferrante, she’s abducted by the Vampires, leading to the final battle, at the top of the Empire State building.

Steve Buscemi pops up here, as the elevator operator who aids the pair.

Other works in the pipeline include ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Vampire’, ‘Three Vampires in the Fountain’ and ‘No Country for Old Vampires’.

“This is like found money,” gushed the Hollywood insider.

“I mean, we could dress someone up like Bela Lugosi, film him reading the phone book, and laugh all the way to the bank.”


 

Bonus Links

Review: Bloody Serious Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Isn’t as Fun as It Sounds

Vampires of Television and Film

Day Three of Swank Thank You's; No End In Sight

The Oscars ... "Perfectly awful!"

Movie Industry Titan, and LBJ Lackey, Rolls His Final Credits - Jack Valenti Obit

Top Ten Cloves: Other Ways Facebook Could Have Screwed Up Their IPO

News Item:  EXCLUSIVE: Here's The Inside Story Of What Happened On The Facebook IPO


10.  Done it all on Facebook – base share prices by how many Likes they received


  9.  If Mark Zuckerburg had another meeting with Biz Stone


  8.  Brought Lebron James in for the last quarter of writing the IPO


  7.  Promoted offering with ads on Google+ 


  6.  Used the New Orleans Saints Bounty Program to sell their shares (or, perhaps,      
        to settle the lawsuits)


  5.  Get The Most Interesting Man In The World  to … Wait a minute, he's way too cool, 
        and, probably, has his own MIMITWBook (and everyone on it Likes him)   


  4.  If former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was brought in to keep the IPO 
       “Hush-Hush”


  3.  Hired Jamie Dimon and J.P. Morgan’s London office to run the show


  2.  Got Mitt Romney to make one of his prescient insights to the marketplace


  1.  Had Larry Summers and the Winklevoss Brothers do the underwriting

 
Bonus Riffs


Charles P. Pierce: Why Is America So Happy for Facebook? 


Mark Cuban: Facebook IPO Post Mortem – Killer – but not for the reasons you think !

Let The Heavenly Clouds Tickle Your Bare Feet, Cesaria Evora ...

Well, I'm not doing much better with the illness I am afflicted with, however, I had to come off the DL for this.


I heard news this weekend that, certainly, put a damper in, if any, holiday spirit hovering around.


That being that the wonderful, and talented, Cape Verdean singer, Cesaria Evoria passed away, at the not-terribly-old-age of 70.


 


Man ...


Listening to her was such a pleasure, for she carried you off into a world, flooded and filled, with the most beautiful sounds, a world you may not know existed, just floating along, listening to her, lost in the beauty, thinking, hoping, it would never end.


I was fortunate to see her perform, twice, back in the mid and late 1990's, and it was awesome.


Coming out of those shows was like having seen something outside your own understanding, something miraculously divine and good, a refreshing of your soul.


From Jon Pareles at the NYT;

Ms. Évora’s music was in a style called morna, which is sung in taverns on the Cape Verde islands: slow, pensive ballads with an underlying lilt, suffused with sodade, the Cape Verdean creole term for a nostalgic longing that pervades music across Portugal (where the word is saudade) and its former empire.


Ms. Évora sang about love, sorrow and history, including slavery, in a husky, dignified, unhurried contralto that brought warmth and gravity to songs by Cape Verde’s leading poets. She also sang in her country’s more upbeat styles, coladeira and funaná, but her serenely sorrowful mornas were her legacy.


She always performed barefoot, a gesture of solidarity with poor women. A concert review in The New York Times described her as “a Yoda of melancholy” onstage.

 


And Barry Hatton at SF Chronicle-AP

Her singing style brought comparisons to American jazz singer Billie Holiday. "She belongs to the aristocracy of bar singers," French newspaper Le Monde said in 1991, adding that Ms. Evora had "a voice to melt the soul."


Ms. Evora's international fame came late in life. Her 1988 album "La Diva Aux Pieds Nus" ("Barefoot Diva"), recorded in France where she first found popularity, launched her international career.


Her 1995 album "Cesaria" was released in more than a dozen countries and brought her first Grammy nomination, leading to a tour of major concert halls around the world and album sales in the millions.


She won a 2003 Grammy in the World Music category for her album "Voz D'Amor."

Xeni Jardin, over on Boing Boing, also has a nice tribute to check out.



As does the BBC - Cesaria Evora, the voice that put Cape Verde on the map

So long Cesaria Evora ...


Try not to make the angels cry, with your so, so sweat voice ....




Cesaria Evora - Sodade (HD,16:9)







Cesaria Evora - Besame Mucho







Cesaria Evora - Carnaval De Sao Vicente ( Live In Paris )

Hey, Madison Ave!, Get A Glove, Get In The Game!

With still being on the DL (see HERE and HERE), and in copious pain, we were on the outlook for some comic relief.


Herman Cain, seemingly, in the wrong race (He, apparently, wants in the "President of the United States of Love" contest), doesn't quite make it.





Nor, the foot-in-mouth of Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, for Brownback's browbeating of a high school teenager (Gotta plug into that "Stick and Stones" thing, there, Sammy).


And, with the recently-completed Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, today seems to be the unannounced "Justify OccupyWallStreet Day", with the cascading news of;


Super Secret Bank Bailout awarding the crooks and cronies billions


A Federal Judge telling the SEC and Citicorp, of their wrist-slap-with-a-paper-ruler agreement that "Homey don't play that game"


 


And today, Heistin Hank Paulson playing Mr. Inside Tipster to his former Wall Street pals.


This all plays out as more ironic, than humor.


No, we have to turn to a segment we heard on radio this past weekend.


It was from PRI's 'The World', on the South African fast-food chicken outfit, Nando's.


Seems they have a history of putting out creative, and, at times controversial, advertisements, like the one from about 10-years ago, having a Seeing Eye Dog lead a blind woman into a pole, so the dog could wolf down the Nando's chicken.


From Wikepedia:

Nando's is known in South Africa for its humorous but often controversial adverts. One such television advert from 2000, involved a blind woman being led into a pole intentionally and knocked unconscious by her guide dog, which then proceeded to eat the chicken that the woman had just purchased. This caused an uproar from people who were concerned that the blind would be offended. The South African Advertising Standards Authority called for the withdrawal of the advert. Several blind people were quoted in the media as finding the advert amusing

You can view that ad HERE or HERE


Their latest ad, the one catching some flak (and buzz) is no disappointment;


Nando's: Last dictator standing





Here's a few more;


Nandos Chips







Nandos "Ramadan" advert







Nando's Viral - Did he just eat his dog?





After watching these Nando's ads, it's disappointing how Madison Avenue bombards us with juvenile cellphone, and moronic beer ads.


Wake up guys, get a glove, get in the game ...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to pass on Best Wishes to one, and all, on this Thanksgiving Day Holiday!


However you celebrate it, whatever is on your menu, may you be pleased with peace and happiness.


 


And of course, count those calories ...


Ain't that so, Mr. Eddie Harris?


Eddie Harris That's Why You're Overweight.wmv





Bonus Retro Garlic Riffs


Shop Until You Drop ... Dead!


Happy Bird Day!


Well, She Could Have Been Shooting Them From A Helicopter ...


Top Ten Cloves: Uses For The Cancelled O.J. Book On Thanksgiving Day


Top Ten Cloves: Things About Thanksgiving This Year

Everyday People ... Stand!

Sly and the Family Stone - Everyday People





Totally Outrageous!


Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis





And sorry, to those Police State Mouthpieces, who are endorsing this, saying it would prevent worse injuries.


I call BULLSHIT!


Look at the above, now look, when the shoe is on the other foot.


UC Davis Chancellor Katehi walks to her car (higher quality)





To you, Officer Pike (the cretin pepper sprayer) and to you Chancellor Linda Katehi, the world IS watching!


So is Will Bunch, over on Attytood

This much is clear: The campus cops 3,000 miles away have offer a blueprint of what not to do. The swelling tide of police violence against peaceful demonstrators comes after 10 years of citizens’ passive acquiescence toward the Patriot Act and expanded government snooping, waterboarding terror suspects, and giving urban police departments more high-tech firepower than many Third World nations. Now our security-state-on-steroids is being turned against non-violent protesters here in the “homeland.” Talk about blowback!

Take us out, Sly ...


Sly and the Family Stone - Stand!