“I only tried to help..but in the end, the world did not want help, it wanted activity, nothing more.” ~Anon99Percenters

If you are reading this, perhaps you give a shit about what I think. So, here goes.

I think our time on this planet is a gift and yet, few understand the “gift nature” of it. They waste far too much time on getting the “right house”, wearing the “right clothes”, getting the “right car”, and on and on ad nauseum. And, all too many, are mentally ill in a fashion that does great harm to the planet, and to everyone around them. We call these people “greedy” and “power hungry”. And, oh yes, there are the psychotic who get pleasure from hurting animals and people. These sick individuals should never have been born and the world would be better off if they ceased to be immediately.

In the last thirty years, I have been asked by more than a few, why I don’t run for office. There are many reasons. Number one, I am afflicted with this difficulty called “truth telling” and as I understand it, that is a career limiting problem with regards to politics. Number two, I have an aversion to bullshit, another problem if one enters the arena of power plays.

Number three…how can I be a leader, when no one knows where to go ? 

Long ago, actually, as a child, I become very confused on why people allowed themselves to be told what to do, by people who were no smarter, no stronger, no tougher than themselves. This started long, long ago in ancient civilizations. The reason was that, the rulers (also known as “con men” or “charlatans”) told other people that a divine entity had given them the right to rule over others, tell them what to do, take their goods and services, etc..
This is called now, “the consent of the governed”… also known as the “Rule by Bullshit”. When is the last time YOU were asked by ANY government “Uh, is it OK if I tell you what to do?” So, this whole “consent of the governed” to the ones DOING the governing means “You didn’t violently overthrow us today, so I guess all we are doing to you is cool with you.”

So, like a chronic disease, like the Stockholm syndrome, the populace have become pals with their captors, and actually claim to like them. How else do you explain that the guillotine was not erected outside the White House in the Bush regime?  

People have said…”There IS no political answer to the continual problems we have in the USA (or insert your country here)”.
Look, someone is going to tell the police, the military, the praetorian guard, the SS, or whomever the current bully boys are, what to do, and to whom to do it to, and with what weapons. That is just the facts. If you are not the rider….you WILL be the horse. If you are not the dog, you will be the fox.

If you want to sit on your nalgas and say “Oh, there’s nothing I can do…”, then you are right, and things will be done TO you and not BY you. 

If you sit there and let animals be abused, children be abused, people be abused in general…you are an accomplice to that abuse.

If you say “political action is not a solution”…then you had better HAVE a damn solution…and have it quickly, because the tax man cometh.

When a partial vacuum is created, something or someone will move in to fill it.
So, you can live a life in which you amass goods, amass money, or do many other self aggrandizing things, and your life will end up as a total waste. You can engage in a life of destruction and hurting others or ruining the environment, and I honestly believe there will be a torment awaiting your soul , or at least there should be.
Or, you can become what I call a champion. You can help animals, give of yourself to make their lives better..or help your fellow humans…do good for the environment, relieve suffering, and your life, and your memory, can be a blessing to others.
Ultimately, who am I ? I am an old man…young once, now aging who has taken the latter course. I am not rich…I do not drive a new car…I am not famous around the world…but as the character Del Griffith says in PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES says, “I like me. My wife likes me.”
And, that is part of a wonderful quote :
” Del: You want to hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I’m an easy target. Yeah, you’re right: I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold, hard cynic like you. But I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings. You think what you want about me, I’m not changing. I…I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. Because I’m the real article. What you see is what you get.”
So, that’s what this olde Pyrate is thinking at this hour.
And, since you are still here…here are some thoughts of others you may like.

“It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not.” 
― André Gide

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” 
― Anaïs Nin

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” 
― Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

“Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I’m the one that’s got to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.” 
― Jimi Hendrix

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” 
― Mark Twain

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” 
― Albert Einstein

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ― Margaret Mead 

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” 
― George Bernard Shaw

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” 
― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night: A Novel 

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. 
Delicious Ambiguity.” ― Gilda Radner 

“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” ― May Sarton

“Life’s hard. It’s even harder when you’re stupid.” 
― John Wayne

“But better to be hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.” 
― Khaled Hosseini

Be good to animals, to your loved ones, to your fellows, and to yourself …we have no promise of tomorrow.

I may return to Twitter Friday…or never. Life will tell me what to do.

Remember this…if I didn’t give a shit, I wouldn’t have been there to begin with, now would I.

~Love and Light from your Pyrate friend… ‘anon99percenters 

NOTICE-I am taking Thursday off. I have my reasons. I changed my bio. If I have helped you, plz do something to help an animal 2day. Luv- Me

“I only tried to help..but in the end, the world did not want help, it wanted activity, nothing more.” 

 Lifelock and Lear Financial are the ONLY sponsors who stand behind Limbaugh’s show now, and by stand behind, I mean are still there, endorsing his misogynistic, racist, homophobic, anti-American rants. Here is more on “LifeLock” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeLock
”

Controversy

Robert J. Maynard, Jr., one of the co-founders of the company resigned in June 2007 amid questions about his past.^[18] Maynard spent several days in a Maricopa County Jail in 2003 because of an alleged unpaid $16,000 casino marker from The Mirage. Under Nevada law, casino markers are considered the same as checks. Maynard came up with the plan for LifeLock while sitting in his jail cell. An investigation by the Phoenix New Times revealed that $16,000 casino marker actually was his. The Mirage had gotten a copy of his Arizona driver’s license when it made him the loan, and charges were dropped after Maynard repaid the marker. The New Times also found that Maynard had been banned for life from the credit-repair industry after an agency he owned was shut down for numerous deceptive practices. It also found evidence that he ordered an American Express card in his father’s name and ran up $150,000 in fraudulent charges.^[19]

In 2007, it was reported that the founder and CEO of LifeLock, Todd Davis, became the victim of fraud when someone used his published social security number to obtain a $500 loan.^[20] LifeLock apparently investigated the crime and found the alleged criminal. In an agreement with LifeLock, the alleged identity thief agreed on camera to perform community service to avoid prosecution. However, police then claimed that the alleged identity thief could not be prosecuted because LifeLock coerced the suspect into making a videotaped confession that isn’t admissible in court.^[21]

Late in 2007, the New Times reported that the services LifeLock provides are actually available for free with a few phone calls.^[22] These findings were confirmed in 2008 by KGO-TV inSan Francisco.^[23][24]

In February 2008, the credit information company Experian sued LifeLock for fraud and false advertising. Experian alleged that LifeLock placed false fraud alerts on behalf of its clients, thus keeping LifeLock clients’ files in a constant state of alert. It also charged that LifeLock used false and misleading advertising.^[20][25] As part of a 2009 settlement, LifeLock set up a new proprietary service that doesn’t rely on setting fraud alerts.^[26]

A class action lawsuit alleges that as of 2008, there are at least 25 people using Todd Davis’ social security number and that the advertising claims are misleading. The Company has responded demonstrating that the 25 alleged identity thieves are public records of failed attempts to use Todd Davis’ identity.^[27]

In March 2010 LifeLock was fined $12 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “to settle charges that the company used false claims to promote its identity theft protection services, which it widely advertised by displaying the CEO’s Social Security number on the side of a truck.”^[6][7] FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, referring to the LifeLock TV ad showing the truck, said that “the protection they provided left such a large hole … that you could drive that truck through it.”^[28] LifeLock will pay $12 million to settle charges by the FTC and 35 states that the company’s Identity Theft Prevention and Data Security claims were false. ^[29]

In May 2010 the Phoenix New Times reported that LifeLock CEO Todd Davis has been a victim of identity theft at least 13 times since 2007, which is 12 more times than has previously been known.^{[30][31][32][33]”}

——————and..how about “Lear Financial” ?
Class action lawsuit against them
Moretti v. Lear Financial, Inc., L.A.S.C. Case No. BC394027, combined with DeSpain v. DeMerrit, et al., AAA Reference No. 11199102507 (settlement valued at $4.16 million)

——————-
http://advocate.soundtrax.net/issues/dsi_financial.asp 
”Business Name: Lear Financial, Inc. or Gold Central.com

    Complaint
Concerning: Company,  NA
Location: Woodland Hills , California  91367
Country: U.S.A.
    Description: Dear Lear Financial, Inc. Customer or Prospective Customer: We represent a former employee of Lear Financial, Inc., a company that sells gold coins, other metals to individuals for their personal accounts and also for their IRA and other retirement accounts. Our client has sued Lear and Kevin DeMeritt, its President, and other employees of Lear alleging that Lear and DeMeritt wrongfully terminated his employment in retaliation for his complaints about the widespread and systematic fraud and illegal tape recording of customers’ phone calls perpetrated against Lear’s customers, among other wrongful acts. In the lawsuit, our client contends that Lear systematically misled its customers about the amount of commissions they were paying and overcharged them. Our client also contends that Lear also systematically violated the California Penal Code by unlawfully recording and eavesdropping on conversations between Lear salesmen and Lear customers without the customer’s knowing consent. Under California law, Lear is subject to a $5,000 civil penalty payable to the customer for each such violation. We have obtained a declaration from one Lear customer who has stated under oath that he was told that he was only being charged a 7% commission to purchase coins. The Lear documents we have obtained, however, reflect that he was charged 40%. We have obtained from Lear other documents reflecting that it charged another client 40%. We are investigating whether you had a similar experience at Lear and would greatly appreciate it if you could call us to so that we could determine if you also were subject to Lear’s wrongful conduct alleged by our client. Peter R. Dion-Kindem P.C. at Dion-Kindem & Crockett Office (818) 883-4400 Fax (818) 676-0246 Email peter@dklaw.com. I look forward to hearing from you in this regard. 
Signature: Peter R. Dion-Kindem
Timestamp: 4/5/2007 7:37:03 AM”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2012/03/14/what-do-they-think-of-lloyd-blankfein-inside-goldman-sachs/

The investment bank Goldman Sachs and its boss, Lloyd Blankfein, have been under harsh scrutiny across the media world since The New York Times‘ publication this morning of a withering screed by a departing executive director, Greg Smith. (I had my say here.) But what do they think of Blankfein inside the firm?

They’ve mostly been extremely supportive, according to Glassdoor, a jobs website that collects employee reviews at companies everywhere. Some 94% of employees approve of Blankfein, and 6% disapprove. His approval rating has been consistently above 90% since 1998, except for one dip to 84% last year. Here’s a chart tracking it:

13 imagesPhotos: The Banks That Pay Their Employees The Most

Snapshot: Lloyd Blankfein

Follow (24)

• #43 Powerful People

Many employees love the place, like the one whowrote on Glassdoor, “Competitive pay, good industry experience, smart people, fast paced, brand recognition, long term career goal/pay satisfaction, interaction with employees across the globe.” But cracks are showing. One executive director wrote: “The ‘prestige’ factor for both the Firm and the industry is clearly not where it was 5-10 years ago, but it’s still one of the top places to work.” Anothersaid, “Better take care to eliminate some of that headline risk. The firm is starting to lose its luster, so it’s harder to justify treating your people poorly for the sake of reputation.” And a third, “Acknowledge that politics drives away quality people, and once few start leaving, more and more will look for options outside.” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/business/a-public-exit-from-goldman-sachs-hits-a-wounded-wall-street.html
Wall Street traders come and go all the time, but few have quit with the flair of Greg Smith. The way he resigned from Goldman Sachs, and what he had to say, could reignite a debate over how much Wall Street has changed in the wake of the financial crisis. 

Very little, he said in an Op-Ed column in The New York Times on Wednesday. Mr. Smith, a London-based executive director for Goldman Sachs overseeing equityderivatives, decried a drastic change in culture at the firm since he joined it 12 years ago, with profits now coming before the interest of clients who, he wrote, are often derided as “muppets” by people at Goldman.

Mr. Smith is saying publicly what others whisper privately, which is why his cri de coeur may be so provocative. Even on Wall Street — where making money is good, and making more money is better — a few shibboleths still command respect, including the one that the customer should come first, or at least second, not dead last. Since the financial crisis, in fact, nearly all the big banks have claimed to be client-centric as they seek to rebuild public trust.

At meetings at Goldman, on the other hand, “not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients,” Mr. Smith wrote. “It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client’s success or progress was not part of the thought process at all.”

“People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer,” warned Mr. Smith, whose biography page traces his time with the firm in New York and Europe.

A Goldman Sachs spokesman responded to the piece early Wednesday: “We disagree with the views expressed, which we don’t think reflect the way we run our business. In our view, we will only be successful if our clients are successful. This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves.”

Mr. Smith’s criticism, much more than stories about bonuses or brickbats from the likes of Occupy Wall Street, could be especially painful for Wall Street now. Memories are still fresh ofthe Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed in April 2010 accusing Goldman of fraud, after it sold clients complicated mortgage backed securities that later soured, and never mentioned that it had bet against them.

The parade of senior Goldman executives who testified before Congress after the case arose seemed to put a public face on what had been a broader sense of distrust of Wall Street in the aftermath of the financial crisis, focusing ever more attention on a firm whose patriarchs had been adamant about having high standards.

Wall Street, of course, has always sought profits — but if greed were to be countenanced, it should be long-term greed, not short-term greed, in the words of Gus Levy, who led Goldman Sachs in the 1960s and ’70s. With long-term greed, money was made with clients, not from them.

Veterans of Goldman and other top-tier firms say there was a time when long-term greed was the order of the day, at least publicly, and it benefited firms and their partners if not enormously, then certainly generously. But over the last 25 years, as that incentive structure metamorphosed, longtime bankers and scholars say, Wall Street has been remade in ways that Mr. Levy would hardly recognize.

The shift in incentives has followed the evolution of the business itself, industry insiders and other experts said. Partnerships, where the leaders of the firm had their own fortunes on the line, became publicly-traded giants. Proprietary trading evolved into a Midas-like source of money, challenging investment banking and client relationships. And with a free hand thanks to Washington, investment banks could take on ever more risk, amplified by debt.

“When these firms changed from partnerships to public companies, the ethos changed dramatically,” said Charles M. Elson, a professor of corporate governance at the University of Delaware. “The notion of client loyalty went out with the old structure. And as these became public companies, clients looked for the cheapest deal, and the firms looked for as many clients as possible.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2012/0314/Goldman-Sachs-executive-resigns-from-toxic-bank
”The very public resignation of Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith is rekindling a three-year old debate over the business practices of big investment banks.

In an op-ed published Wednesday in The New York Times, the London-based banker slammed the organization’s professional culture, calling  it  “as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.” .” 

Damn..am in Twitter Jail guys.

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 We are Legion. We do not Forgive. We do not Forget. Expect Us.