Category: crime

Federal Agents Have Mistaken Osama Bin Laden for a Pot Plant

I feel safer this week than I did last. Much safer. Why? Not because the intrepid strategists of our federal government arrested Osama Bin Laden. Not because they have vanquished the Taliban in Afghanistan. And certainly not because they arrested every violent street gang member in Los Angeles and shipped back the illegal gangsters to wherever it was that they came from.

Instead of all that, Drug Enforcement Agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in Culver City. According to the Los Angeles Times, they arrested a single employee, a disabled former Marine. This daring raid occurred the same day the Appellate State Court in San Diego ruled that federal law does not preempt California’s Medical Marijuana Laws.

Now everybody knows there are two types that visit the medical marijuana dispensaries around California. There are the people who are genuinely ill or even terminal, who use it to relieve the ailments and side effects caused by any number of diseases and their associative treatments. And then there is everyone else.

Dispensaries are not hard to find. Often the big green neon marijuana leaf in the window serves as a definite giveaway. And their patrons are not hard to spot. Drive down any major street during the weekend and you will find pot customers patiently standing outside their favorite dispensaries, waiting for the place to open its doors. And getting the card that will give you legal permission to buy marijuana, from what I have been told, is not hard to obtain. You just talk to the doctor about your ailments, fork over some money, and here’s your card.

Now Culver City has a history. Many of the great and formerly great film studios are and have been located there. The old MGM, with its two Leo Lions at the entrance graced one part of Culver City. The studio’s famous musicals were all shot there, including “The Wizard of Oz,” where the Munchkins allegedly cavorted with sexual rhapsody, not having never before seen so many of their own kind in one place at one time. This tale is part of Hollywood myth or legend, depending on which you prefer.

Now that great MGM lot is part of Sony Entertainment. The old back lots, with all of the sets, from Andy Hardy to Biblical Epics, were long ago sold of for condominiums. The old Culver Studios enjoys yet another incarnation. And the curious can see the main building, which served as the exterior for Tara in “Gone With the Wind.” That Battle of Atlanta, Daryl Zanuck style, he being the producer of “Gone With the Wind,” was fought in Culver City. The famous train station sequence, with all the Confederate wounded lying in wait for the evacuating locomotives was shot on that land. Today the wounded could slake their thirst with a quick stop at Trader Joe’s.
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Other than action films, Culver City’s history is not particularly violent. It is not a dangerous community. In fact, it is anything but, since Culver City is enjoying a comprehensive rejuvenation. It is now a destination where film studios, old and new, coexist with trendy restaurants, movies theaters, the Kirk Douglas legitimate theater, boutiques, home furnishings outlets, and, apparently, a marijuana dispensary. The biggest danger is perhaps getting run over by a stroller, or clobbered by a hand holding couple too ensconced in romance to notice you walking in front of them. You may also suffer a seizure when you read the prices at some of the more trendy restaurants, or see how long the waiting line is for anything, anywhere.

But you won’t be mugged, chances are. And you wouldn’t notice the pot dispensary and the people buying their weed to either alleviate the pain or provide entertainment. But the Feds did notice. On the day the California Appeals Court ruled that the Federal agencies should concentrate on other things, like the rampant smuggling and the incumbent violence on the border. But that may prove a challenge.

Now it has been a long time since marijuana was any kind of issue to me. Age and responsibility has a way of supplanting certain desires. But if I was truly ill, or suffered the side effects I know friends of mine have suffered from, I would be thinking about something, anything, that would ease the pain and discomfort. If you are really sick or terminal you aren’t worried about dying from marijuana. If if it’d just to enjoy yourself, then arguments can be made for against its use or, more directly, adult use.

But that is not my argument. Mine is to wonder why we are bothering with this nonsense when we have so many other challenges. When we have real crime, and, as I noted earlier, the borders are rife with killing and smuggling. Thousands have died in the Mexican Drug Wars, and that war has spilled over into the States.

And then there is a matter of money. We are broke. We are borrowing money from China. And we are using it for what, exactly? By acting this misdirected, you would think the DEA is high on grass.

Fuel Prices Send American Workers Below the Border

I noticed this article in the San Diego Union-Tribune about American drivers going down below the border to buy diesel fuel at half the price they can get it here.

Bus service may be halted today

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UNION-TRIBUNE
June 19, 2008

TIJUANA – Truck and bus drivers experienced a day of chaos in Tijuana yesterday, as they chased a dwindling supply of diesel fuel. Today was shaping up to be even worse.

DAVID MAUNG
Pemex gas station manager Claudia Torres placed a sign yesterday to block the entrance to the diesel pumps after the Tijuana station ran out of the fuel.

For weeks, drivers from the United States have snapped up Mexican diesel, which is selling for about 50 percent less than in California.

That has resulted in a shortage of the fuel, and gas stations nearest the border crossings started halting or limiting sales last weekend.

By yesterday, diesel had started to run out at outlying stations, provoking delays or cancellations in public and private transportation. New supplies might not arrive until Monday.

Long lines of trucks and buses, their drivers desperate to buy diesel, formed at those stations still selling the fuel.

Public transportation officials announced that if they could not refuel their buses they would halt service today, a decision that affects at least 750,000 daily riders.

For the entire article go to San Diego Union.

It’s pretty amazing. Once upon a time people went south of the border to Mexico for romantic reasons. They were escaping the reach of the American law. They were getting married or getting divorced. They were young and restless, looking for a good time in the Tijuana night spots, drinking and cavorting. Looking for the fabled donkey show, or for the more romantic sort that special girl or boy who amid all the drinking still cared enough not to throw up on their sandals.

Stories abounded about kids getting a little too frisky and getting thrown into jail. Their parents or whomever who would have to shell out some cash to get them out. There were stories about the nasty stays in jail, known by most as life changing experiences. The Kingston Trio wrote a song about it, titled appropriately enough, “Tijuana Jail.” If you survived it all, and usually you did, it was a right of passage.

Then, even today there are the short hops from the California Border to Rosarito Beach and Ensenada for beer fests, partying and the occasional lobster meal. You could ride horses on the beach, cheaply. You could buy great Mexican tile by the truckload and save money on your home renovation. You could buy leather goods and switchblade knives. Cheap ones, but it was a five minute thrill to flick it open and closed a few dozen times.

Now you go south of the border to buy gasoline. More specifically, it’s diesel fuel you buy at half the price. You venture to Mexico for diesel fuel, prescription drugs and dental and medical work. It’s cheaper. There are chartered buses for the dental and medical work. For the diesel fuel, you need your car or truck.

So the lines form. Orderly lines, I’m sure. All while the Mexican drug cartels duel it out on the border town streets, killing each other in record numbers. While you buy diesel fuel.

Some world. Eh, Ese`?

Corporal Punishment for White Collar Crimes and Those Who Betray the Public Trust

Anyone with eyeballs and a set of ears has either scene or heard at least one of a dozen news announcements that the FBI will be investigating IndyMac Bank for fraudulent practices. CNN writes that the government is looking into the bank engaged in fraud while granting mortgages to high risk borrowers. IndyMac is listed as well as twenty one other companies in the sub-prime market under investigation. I’m sure there will be more.

For those who are uninitiated the FBI has a terrific posting, listing of crimes and scenarios related to mortgage fraud. I would urge everyone to read it. It will provide a comprehensive overview as to how we have been hosed for the better part of this century, and who did the hosing. But for now let me give you the brief overview.

Here is a decent insight provided by CNN–“I would suspect they are looking at bad appraisals, bad underwriting, which would mean false statements on loan applications, some of which require federal forms to be filled out — so they can be prosecuted for the false statements,” he said. “I would also suspect they would look at false statements to the investing community for securities fraud violations.”

What this means is say there is a house on the market for $300,000. It’s a hot market to the normal precautions, due diligence, house inspections, common sense and closer scrutiny are thrown out the window in the bidding frenzy. Scammer one, the Realtor, whomever sells the house to someone he knows. He may sell it to another business front, or have someone stand in for a fee, say $15,000. He may sell it to his wife, his mother, whomever. Whomever he sells it to stands in for the mortgage. Whatever the price, it is inflated, say $500,000.

Thanks to certain arrangements, the “buyer,” qualifies for the inflated price. The realtor is on the take, as is the mortgage lender. Each is paid off nicely to grant a mortgage based on false documents or no documents fraudulently claiming that this “buyer” is earns enough and is worth enough that he or she qualifies for the loan. The appraiser is also on the take and appraises the house for the inflated value. Often the appraiser will use specious comps or comps taken from a neighborhood not too far away, but very different in true home value.

The bank grants the mortgage, holds it for ten seconds and then flips it to a hedge fund or some financial group seven billion light years away from the transaction. The house could be in Las Vegas, the ultimate lender who picks up the note could be in France. They don’t know the difference in neighborhoods. They don’t know that three blocks away the houses are $2 million, but here in this neighborhood they are in reality valued for much less.

Once the mortgage is secured, the “buyer” then flips it back to the “seller” or someone else in the ring. They put it on the market again, for an even higher price. And then maybe again. And then some poor soul buys it in the bidding frenzy of a hot market, only to discover he is in way over his head. He may have bought it on an interest only loan, or some other cutesy loan where he pays only a portion monthly of the true mortgage cost. He is told don’t worry, the house will always increase, he can take equity loans to pay the balloon payment coming due. And then the other shoe falls, reality sets in and there is a lot of collective whining about being bamboozled by unfair practitioners.
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Well this is just part of it. I tried to keep it simple. It can get pretty complex. As a background checking company who also conducts corporate investigation and corporate research we at Corra Group had had several mortgage fraud cases cross our desks, all with similarities, but also with variations on a theme. We realize theses cases, under pre-trial preparation, before the attorneys take them to court are but an infinitesimal fraction of the deceit fraud and outright crime that has taken place in the name of real estate commerce.

Okay, so now too late in my opinion, the game of musical chairs is over. There are no chairs left for these asses to find a seat. They want to be bailed out. They want recompense for their greed. In fact, what they have done is betray the public trust. They have betrayed the public trust as have politicians and media people and those involved in myriad white collar crime. They have ruined lives and cost billions, gutted pension funds and lied to anybody who would listen.

In a world where the kid on the corner running a three card monte game may get a stiffer sentence than these politicians and white collar criminals, something is terribly wrong. I propose we not only send them to jail but that we invoke corporal punishment. I believe whole heartedly that these betrayers of the public trust should be treated to a public flogging, before being flung into prison for a hearty sentence.

If we can allow for capital punishment then we can certainly make a little room here for the corporate variety. Frankly, I don’t think it will deter drug addicts or garden variety criminals. It would just be another speed bump on the road to desolation. But with the more high minded alleged reputable citizens of our fair country, flogging behinds would prove a very clear and concise deterrent. The mere spectacle of having their collective pants pulled down around their ankles and being flogged with cane or cat o’ nine tails for the benefit of public access TV would give pause to most crooked politicians and white collar criminals.

The reality of seeing their friends being flogged in living color would turn most into honest men. They would be forced to listen to the berating of their spouses, parents and in-laws. They would be admonished by all, reminded how awful it would for the children, how embarrassing for friends and neighbors, and how they have put on some pounds and wouldn’t look as fashion forward with big red welts on their coddled derrières

They may be capable of doing the time, but they may balk when threatened with the pine. We could even bring back the stocks, where the angry rabble could throw garbage and worthless mortgages at them. I believe this is not only a workable solution, but one whose time has come. As for these evil doers, to quote a President, these folks who believe they are privileged and entitled to operate beyond the law. Those who believe they can betray the public trust, well for their public flogging session, this is one time I wouldn’t mind them butting to the front of the line.