Walmart shopper attempts purchase using $1 million bill

To be fair to the shopper, Wall Street has been known to use funny money too, yet somehow they get away with it. I guess if you wear an expensive suit and have a clean cut look, you must be more ethical and trustworthy. Right? Why do I think that this guy will pay a much higher price with the law than anyone from Wall Street?

A Lexington man is accused trying to use a fake $1 million bill to pay for his purchases at a Walmart. Michael Anthony Fuller, 53, of 3 Parker St., walked into the Walmart on Lowes Boulevard in Lexington on Nov. 17. He shopped for a while, picking up a vacuum cleaner, a microwave oven and other merchandise, totaling $476, an arrest warrant says. When he got to the register, Fuller gave the cashier the phony bill, saying that it was real.

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Murdoch's arrival on Twitter creates a challenge

Jack Dorsey, Executive Chairman of Twitter (@jack) tweets:

With his own voice, in his own way, @RupertMurdoch is now on Twitter.

Can it be? Has God finally given me an opportunity to tell the Murdoch exactly what I think of him? Just 140 characters to do it in. Any suggestions? Read the rest of this post...

Five goals for Occupy in the coming year

Via Alternet, I'm reminded of this piece by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone. While the author doesn't offer this list as New Year's Resolutions (it was October, after all, when this came out), I do.

This makes a nice set of banking-related goals, all of which can be implemented by laws.

Before you say "Yes, but..." let's start with the list. Taibbi (my mid-paragraph emphasis):

1. Break up the monopolies. The so-called "Too Big to Fail" financial companies – now sometimes called by the more accurate term "Systemically Dangerous Institutions" – are a direct threat to national security. They are above the law and above market consequence, making them more dangerous and unaccountable than a thousand mafias combined. There are about 20 such firms in America, and they need to be dismantled; a good start would be to repeal the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and mandate the separation of insurance companies, investment banks and commercial banks.

2. Pay for your own bailouts. A tax of 0.1 percent on all trades of stocks and bonds and a 0.01 percent tax on all trades of derivatives would generate enough revenue to pay us back for the bailouts, and still have plenty left over to fight the deficits the banks claim to be so worried about. It would also deter the endless chase for instant profits through computerized insider-trading schemes like High Frequency Trading ...

3. No public money for private lobbying. A company that receives a public bailout should not be allowed to use the taxpayer's own money to lobby against him. You can either suck on the public teat or influence the next presidential race, but you can't do both. Butt out for once ...

4. Tax [the] hedge-fund gamblers. For starters, we need an immediate repeal of the preposterous and indefensible carried-interest tax break, which allows hedge-fund titans like Stevie Cohen and John Paulson to pay taxes of only 15 percent on their billions in gambling income[.] ... I defy any politician to stand up and defend that loophole during an election year.

5. Change the way bankers get paid. We need new laws preventing Wall Street executives from getting bonuses upfront for deals that might blow up in all of our faces later. It should be: You make a deal today, you get company stock you can redeem two or three years from now. ...

This allows for an outside–inside game, pressure from the outside (from the Occupy Movement) that sets fire to the insiders, the Congress types — and allows real progressives (people like Darcy Burner and Ilya Sheyman) room to press and move.

Five clearly-defined, lobbyable, limited goals for which there is already inside support. If you're an inside-organizer with banking on the brain, this list would be an excellent place to put your focus and energy.

Now for the "Yes, but..." I know that the battle is uphill (and then some). But frankly, the game, while in the fourth quarter, isn't over yet. And if we're going to avoid a really messy revolution (I still have hopes), now is the time to shoulder the wheel — this wheel. Otherwise, we and our children may be shouldering that other wheel, the one the world of real humans is aching to avoid.

Don't forget — Occupy has made huge gains already. It turned the Trumpist ego-freak rich man, driven to bend the world to his small will, from a Tabloid Saint (one whom everyone wants to emulate and praise) into a Tabloid Demon (one whom it is socially safe to criticize) despite a huge, 30-year PR offensive to the contrary.

That's not nothing, folks. Billions went into turning Daddy Warbucks of the 30s into Trump and Gates of the 90s. Occupy undid all that work in less than a year — and at very low cost, dollar-wise.

So take heart. What better New Year's resolution than to work against the bankers. Like they tell us, you can't win if you don't play. And I'm all for playing to win.

Happy New Year, all. Let's work for a good one.

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Romney promises to veto 'Dream Act' if president

Don't judge him too harshly though, because you know his opinion on this will change tomorrow when a new focus group finds that he needs a few more votes. And then he'll change his opinion again afterwards. And then again and again and again. The long term demographics are not good for the GOP so putting aside any moral issues, angering the Latino population is not even smart. (Not that Obama has done a great job there either.) What hard core conservative position will Mitt adopt tomorrow?

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney said on Saturday he would veto a proposal granting U.S. citizenship to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children, a pledge that won hearty applause from Iowa conservatives he hopes to win over. A young woman asked Romney about the bipartisan proposal known as the Dream Act, during an appearance at a crowded restaurant in Le Mars, a conservative Republican stronghold in western Iowa. "The question is if I were elected and Congress were to pass the Dream Act, would I veto it and the answer is yes," Romney said.

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'Anonymous' attacks Stratfor foreign affairs journal

Stratfor is a foreign affairs journal run by George Friedman that sells itself as 'Global Intelligence'. Like many niche publications it is a subscription service. I read their articles from time to time. I don't usually agree with their editorial line which is why I read them.

The journal has been hacked by a group claiming to be part of 'anonymous'. The attackers found the password file and a file containing credit card numbers, both of which they published online. I haven't bought anything from Stratfor myself but several of my colleagues have and now they have had to cancel their credit cards and all the hassle that comes with that.

There is some dispute as to whether the attack was really by anonymous. Other people claiming to be speaking for anonymous deny that the group is involved (how could they know). There are several national agencies that might want to attack Stratfor and lay the blame on anonymous. The ambiguity demonstrates the rather predictable drawback to adopting leaderless anarchy as an organizational model: It sounds great in principle, in practice there will always be some whose real objective is malice for the sake of malice.

Last week the hackers released credit card data the site had collected from subscribers. Storing credit card data is an idiot rookie mistake that a security journal should not have made, but why would anyone want to publish that data if their objective was not fraud, malice or censorship? A sample of their message::

But what did you expect? All our lives we have been robbed blindly and brutalized by corrupted politicians, establishmentarians and government agencies sex shops, and now it's time to take it back.

We call upon all allied battleships, all armies from darkness, to use and abuse these password lists and credit card information to wreak unholy havok upon the systems and personal e-mail accounts of these rich and powerful oppressors. Kill, kitties, kill and burn them down... peacefully. XD XD,

I think that people should maybe think twice before they cheer the next 'anonymous' hack. Cyber-vigilantism is still vigilantism.

Update: Friedman! The grill guy must be on my mind due to moving into a new kitchen. Read the rest of this post...

Another year

Sasha and I spent a mellow New Year's Eve at a friend's house, having dinner with a third friend.  Then we came home early since I'm heading to CNN shortly to be on Howie Kurtz's "Reliable Sources" show at 11am Eastern (the segment is around 11:30am) to talk about the Iowa caucuses.

I spent Christmas in Chicago with the family, and the dogs.  We had some relatives visting from Panama (it's funny, my cousin is Latino but I'm not, even though his parents immigrated to Panama from Greece when my family immigrated to the states from Greece - it's interesting to see how even ethnicity, or race I guess, is somewhat fungible - then again, can you call yourself Latino solely based on your citizenship, or is it something that per se is only based on genes?).

Anyway, my cousin brought his two adorable sons with him, aged 9 and 12, who came to Chicago to see snow for the first time.  No luck while I was there, but they did get to experience cold for the first time.  It was fascinating to watch them.  First, they insisted on going outside in 38 degree weather with only a tshirt and a sweatshirt on.  The 9 year old explains that he doesn't need a jacket, "I have two layers on."  Ha.  He was back inside in 2 minutes!

Then we go take the dogs for a walk in the park.  Halfway through I see the 9 year old with his shoes off, just walking along in his socks.  I ask him what he's doing, and he tells me he took his shoes off because he wanted to feel what cold feels like on feet.  I explained the concept of frostbite to him, and told him to put his shoes back on.  As we're trotting along to catch up to his dad, shoes now on, he says to me, "it's interesting, I can't feel my feet."

Absolutely adorable.  It was like going to the park with Mork from Ork. Read the rest of this post...

The Stones - Get Off Of My Cloud, Live

Happy New Year to everyone. We had a roasted turbot last night to celebrate but were in bed well before midnight. I woke at midnight since I heard fireworks or something and people yelling at midnight but that was the extent of the wildness in this household. (The cats split a little tin of mackerel and were thrilled.) Jojo was up again by 7:30AM to get cracking on the final pages of her book on career management. She didn't used to be a morning person but after two years and deadlines, she learned to be one. She's definitely looking forward to finishing the book which I'm sure will be well received in France. Is everyone sorted with their New Years resolutions? I don't tend to do them though I did start planning a couple of months ago that I was going to cycle my backside up the Mont Ventoux in 2012. I did some riding around that area last summer and loved it but was in no way ready for the Ventoux in 2011. It's hard to say if I will be able to get it done on my first attempt but I'll certainly give it a try. The Tour riders tend to finish their day climbing the Ventoux, with it being only the final 21 kilometers of a 180km ride. There's no way I could do that but I also don't dope nor am I 30 years old anymore. I tend to get around 800 kilometers per month in the winter and 1200+ in the summer but I'll need a lot more than just cycling to get it done. I'm slipping in some jogging as well to help get my lungs fully there as well as some general exercises. The hardest part is changing diet to shed a few more pounds. My trip to America where food is cheap didn't do me any favors though I hope to do better on my next visit. For those with their own special 2012 plans, good luck! Read the rest of this post...

Nigeria declares state of emergency following bombings

What a way to start the new year. Al Jazeera:

"While the search for lasting solutions is ongoing, it has become imperative to take some decisive measures necessary to restore normalcy in the country, especially within the affected communities," Jonathan said in the nationwide broadcast. "The temporary closure of our borders in the affected areas is only an interim measure designed to address the current security challenges and will be resumed as soon as normalcy is restored," he said. Jonathan said the move was necessary "as terrorists have taken advantage of the present situation to strike at targets in Nigeria and retreat beyond the reach of our law enforcement personnel".

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Happy New Year!

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