world's funniest monkey wallpaper tickled and made laugh out loud
How to Conquer Death on the Internet Part II
What Is The Bardo?
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
- I Am The Walrus
The Beatles
The threefold revolving cycle of Life, Death, and Rebirth represents a common archetypal motif in several spiritual traditions and mythologies. The Tibetans point out a stage between Death and Rebirth which they call the Bardo. Bardo literally means " in-between." The key to conquering death lies in this stage.
What is the Bardo? It seems impossible to describe in words. Some references include: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Ubik and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick, the Nighttown scene in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, some of Aleister Crowley's poetry, The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams ( though definitely NOT the Hollywood movie), and the film Beetlejuice.
The best way to get to know the Bardo consists of entering Bardo Spaces as much as possible and learning from experience. Multiple ways of doing this can be found sans literally dying. Lucid dream states and hypnagogic reverie open gateways to Bardo realms also called the Macrodimensions. Meditative and contemplative practices, which can include playing or listening to music, are the time tested yellow-brick road to the Macrodimensions. Online computer activities, gaming, net-surfing and so forth describe the latest, most innovative technology available for accessing and learning how to function in the Bardo. The World Wide Web is a potent tool for this kind of training.
Die Before You Die
"Who are you?" said the Catepillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied rather shyly, " I -- I hardly know, Sir, just at present -- at least I knew who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have changed several times since then."
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll
It seems possible to enter Bardo Spaces before permanently doing so at the time of bodily death. We speak of death metaphorically as well as literally. To die before you die indicates experiencing some form of ego or personality death no matter how temporary.
Even the slightest amount of self-observation will show the tremendous influence that the environment has on our state of mind and how we function. It could even be said that we take on a (subtly) different identity as the environment changes. Oz in New York is a different character than Oz in California. Same body, relatively speaking, but a slightly different way of perceiving and interacting with the world. Whenever I travel, I die. New York Oz dies when he gets to JFK Airport in Queens and takes rebirth as a different Oz after the trip. The airports and plane rides in-between appear quite evident as Bardo Spaces.
Additional self-observation will reveal that this same kind of death occurs each time we enter a different room. In other words, the cycle of Life, Death, Bardo, Rebirth, goes on constantly if we bring ourselves to the awareness of it. It is useful to work with the hypothesis that we are always in the Macrodimensions. Perceiving Bardo Spaces seems like waking up to the awareness of where we already exist.
To maintain a thread of self-remembering consciousness, to be present as we travel from room to room, conquers the little death that happens when our attention falls asleep and completely identifies with the environment. We then find our mood and state of well-being at the sway and mercy of external circumstances. Remembering who we are as we journey through the maze of life creates a real inner eye that sees beyond death.
Death and the Internet
This next section talks about a computer video game called Quake that was the Bardo Training game of choice back when this essay was composed. Now, the game of choice has evolved to Diablo 2, Diablo 3 doesn't seem to work as well, and people are still playing Team Fortress - what Quake became. The following remarks are general enough to apply to any of these games.
The Quake that comes in eyelid's beat
to ruin, level gulf and kill,
Build's up a world for better use
to general Good bends special Ill
- The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi
translated by Sir Richard Burton
So where does the Internet fit in with this discussion of death? Let's start with computer gaming and a look at Quake, one of the most popular games on the Web. Quake is a fast-paced, raucous and chaotic environment. It compares with this description of the Bardo: "Strange, awesome, and frightening sounds, lights and radiation assail me." We are also told of, "shocking ambushes and unexpected vistas" likely to be encountered in the Macrodimensions. (Quotes from the American Book of the Dead, by E.J. Gold, Gateways Press, 1993)
A fundamental precept of Bardo Training holds that you can learn how to handle and function in the Macrodimensions through repeated exposure to their conditions. Many of these conditions get encountered and worked through by playing Quake. Like the Bardo, Quake can have a wildly unpredictable quality because people play it interactively and their actions will, of course, vary as opposed to a rigid machine program throwing out obstacles in a mechanical repetitive way.
An interesting attribute of the Internet in general is the experience of non-biological contact with others. Whenever sharing cyberspace with another in a Chat Room, a video game, or interacting with them online in any way, the contact with them occurs completely independently of the physical body. Unless they say, you won't know their age, gender, race, what they look like, how they smell, etc. Without these biological clues to go by, the tendency moves toward relating with others in a much more Being to Being fashion than usual. You definitely feel the contact with the presence of someone else when you encounter them on the Net. Players often report seeing each other in a game and knowing who runs each avatar without formal id.
Non-biological contact is crucial to successful labyrinth readings. When delivering Bardo instructions to a Voyager who has left its physical body, contact with the Voyager ensures they get received. This contact, of course, would have to be non-biological because one of us no longer has a biological nervous system to contact currently. Practice and experience enables the ability to sense, feel and see when this contact has been made. The gnosis of experiencing Being contact can occur through contact made with others on the Internet.
Bardo instructions appear in the American Book of the Dead (ABD) but any number of sacred texts would do as well. Generally, whatever you feel is appropriate can work. The ABD just happens to be configured in a way that allows any Newbie to pick one up and learn how to do readings in a matter of minutes, though the depths of its teachings may take many years to plumb and assimilate completely.
As an aside, I know I digress a little but that's the Bardo for you ... the ABD has been extremely useful for centering and grounding someone having anxiety and nervousness as a result of a psychedelic episode.
The person delivering the instructions is called the Guide while the Being receiving them is the Voyager. This mutually interdependent Guide/Voyager relationship finds itself in one form or another on the Internet. Tech support is one good example. Anyone wishing to solve a problem describes a Voyager in a labyrinth or maze of sorts. The person with more knowledge helping to solve the problem guides them to the solution. The guides on the Internet aren't always human such as when asking a Search Engine to find some information. It's also important to know that the guides aren't always friendly.
Quake has a limited Chat function which allows communication of a few lines at a time. This facilitates teamwork and fosters camaraderie and team spirit among gamers. Newbies will find it difficult to chat while playing as everything moves far too fast at first ... just like the Bardo. At the top of the screen in Quake you see a constant ticker-tape read-out of who was killed by whom, who has the flag, people chatting with each other, etc. At first it will seem impossible to read this while playing the game.
In Quake, one's character constantly gets killed then respawns back into the game. Actually, not quite like that. After dying in Quake, you make the decision whether to respawn, ie take rebirth, or to quit the game altogether. This seemingly unending succession of lives held together by the continuity of the player's consciousness is analogous to the relationship between Being and the human body it calls home for the moment.
Voyaging in the Labyrinth
The Bardo in its more immersive aspect frequently gets experienced as a journey through a very elaborate and, at times, treacherous maze. One has the sensation of moving from room to room or scene to scene. This apparency of traveling inspires the term Voyager to describe the Being. We can find ourselves in a vast corridor or series of corridors with rooms branching out in all directions. This describes the place of choice-point. Just as on the Net in Cyberspace, YOU decide where to go, which room to go in, which website to visit, which rebirth to take. Cyberspace, in its etymology, indicates self-directed space. Cyber comes from an ancient Greek word that means "steersman" or "governor."
This maze-like attribute seems so universal and apparent, once noticed, that we may characterize the Bardo realm as a labyrinth after the famous Cretan maze wherein abode the Minotaur from Greek Mythology. Life in the Labyrinth, by E.J. Gold, is another excellent source of Bardo teaching.
Experimentation shows that the skill learned through solving one maze may be applied and utilized with others. Maze solving ability, known as maze-brightness can get refined and developed throughout one's life. Any maze you successfully move through now will help you immensely in negotiating the maze of the Bardo.
Quake and its variants have many maze-like qualities. Each Quake map or level has its own architecture to learn. There are hiding places sometimes manned with snipers to do you in. Special weapons, reinforcements and healing salves appear in hidden locations. There are moats with underground tunnels submerged beneath and pits of lava survivable just long enough to reach the corridor or room on the other side if you know how. Of course, you always need to know where your Ammo Room is when it's time to replenish and gather strength. Just a few of the many examples I could give. Play the game, you'll see what I mean.
To Be Continued .... shortly
Former Ohio AG - 6 month license suspension
Ohio Supreme Court upholds suspension
Former Ohio Attorney General loses appeal, and has license suspended for 6 months
Former Ohio Attorney General Marc DannThe Ohio Supreme Court announced a decision in a long dragged out process to punish the former state attorney general - Marc Dann. The punishment will simply be a six-month law license suspension. This action, in part, is for a 2009 conviction in which he was charged with mishandling campaign funds for personal uses. The crimes were misdemeanors and Dann has since paid a $1,000 fine and completed 500 hours of community service.
Marc Dann, a true hero to homeowners fighting fraudulent foreclosures, resigned his attorney general post in 2008 after a turbulent 17 months in office. He has been working, as a private practice attorney, in an office located in Cleveland. Although we expect the negative media to be on full display, Marc Dann is a great leader, lawyer, and consumer advocate. We look forward to his return.
Related: Ohio Bombshell: Former AG takes on LPS, Mills & Servicers
For some time Dann has continued with a legal effort to fight the somewhat lengthy suspension. Dann had clearly "paid-his-debt" to society with long and continued efforts of pro-bono work. Dann's legal team had asked the Supreme Court of Ohio for leniency from a suspension recommended by the State Attorney Disciplinary Board. The disciplinary board of commissioners (on Grievances and Discipline) surprisingly sought to override a decision reached by The Office of Disciplinary Counsel. The Disciplinary Counsel, which acts as prosecutor in attorney discipline cases, had initially recommended a stayed six-month suspension that would have allowed Dann to continue his work in private practice. But it was overruled by the state Attorney Disciplinary Board, which after much wrangling (politically motivated?) recommended a flat six-month suspension. Today's decision from the Supreme Court has upheld the six-month suspension.
Dann's Cleveland law firm, issued a statement through Attorney Grace Doberdruk: "We have received notice that the Supreme Court has chosen to suspend our partner, Marc Dann, for six months. The suspension is the culmination of proceedings against Marc that began in 2008. While we are saddened by the Supreme Court’s decision, we respect it. Doberdruk & Harshman Law Office will continue to stand up to banks and big business in the interests of homeowners, consumers, working people and small businesses. We are proud of the work that we do to protect the rights of the hard working people we count among our clients and will continue to wage the battle against foreclosure.
Additionally, Doberdruk & Harshman issued the following: "We have been upfront with all of our clients about the possibility of such a decision, disclosing the pending complaint in our client agreements and providing email, letter and blog updates on the matter," {and} "We are confident in our ability to continue to successfully represent our clients."
The law firm will remove Dann's name during the suspension, and will be known as:
Doberdruk & Harshman Law Office
4600 Prospect
Cleveland OH 44103
Today, in rejecting Dann’s argument for a stayed license suspension, the court wrote:
“Like judges, the attorney general has a heightened duty to the public by virtue of his elected office. As the chief law officer for the state, the attorney general is charged with providing legal representation and advice to all officers, boards, heads of departments, and institutions of this state,”
“While we recognize that Dann has offered substantial mitigating evidence, we note that he has previously been disciplined by this court,.....{and} He also engaged in this unlawful conduct while serving as the state’s chief legal officer and one of the most recognizable attorneys in this state.”
“For that reason, the work of the attorney general touches upon virtually all areas of our state government....“Thus, Dann’s criminal and ethical violations reflect poorly on his fitness to practice law and the legal profession as a whole, but also cause incalculable harm to the public perception of the attorney general’s office and those government agencies, departments, and institutions that the attorney general advises and represents.”
Slip Opinion: Disciplinary Counsel v. Dann, No. 2012-Ohio-5337 (HERE)
Ohio Supreme Court: Bombshell win for homeowners
BOMBSHELL WIN: Schwartzwald vs. Federal Home Loan (Freddie Mac)
Lack of standing CANNOT be cured or remedied with a later assigned mortgage
Judgement REVERSED and CASE DISMISSED
Written Opinion: Judge Terrance O'Donnell
This is a major victory and EXPLOSIVE NEWS in the FRAUDclosure battle
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. v. Duane Schwartzwald et al. (HERE)
OTHER STATE DECISIONS were relied upon:
See, e.g., Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust v. Brumbaugh, 2012 OK 3, 270 P.3d 151, ¶ 11 (“If Deutsche Bank became a person entitled to enforce the note as either a holder or nonholder in possession who has the rights of a holder after the foreclosure action was filed, then the case may be dismissed without prejudice * * *” [emphasis added]);
PREVIOUS Ohio circuit court decisions:{¶34} Thus the Third and the Ninth Circuits have rejected the notion that Fed. R. Civ. P. 17(a), on which Civ.R. 17(A) is based, allows a party with no personal stake in a controversy to file a claim on behalf of a third party, obtain the cause of action by assignment, and then have the assignment relate back to commencement of the action {and} “Rule 17(a) does not apply to a situation where a party with no cause of action files a lawsuit to toll the statute of limitations and later obtains a cause of action through assignment. Rule 17(a) is the codification of the salutary principle that an action should not be forfeited because an honest mistake; it is not a provision to be distorted by parties to circumvent the limitations period.
JUDGEMENT REVERSED AND CASE DISMISSED
.
Lack of standing CANNOT be cured or remedied with a later assigned mortgage
Judgement REVERSED and CASE DISMISSED
Explosive Legal News:
Supreme Court of OHIO:
Cases: Nos. 2011-1201 and 2011-1362 - Submitted April 4, 2012
Decided: October 31, 2012 Supreme Court of OHIO:
Cases: Nos. 2011-1201 and 2011-1362 - Submitted April 4, 2012
Written Opinion: Judge Terrance O'Donnell
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, LANZINGER, CUPP,and M
CGEE BROWN, JJ CONCURThis is a major victory and EXPLOSIVE NEWS in the FRAUDclosure battle
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. v. Duane Schwartzwald et al. (HERE)
The Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that standing to initiate a mortgage foreclosure lawsuit is determined on the date the complaint is filed. A foreclosing party, which lacked standing at the time the suit was filed, CANNOT remedy that defect by obtaining an assignment of a mortgage and promissory note AFTER the filing of the foreclosure action but prior to an entry of a final judgment.
The court’s 7-0 unanimous decision dismissed a decree of foreclosure granted to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation FHLMA (AKA "Freddie Mac") against Duane and Julie Schwartzwald because FHLMA did not have standing at the time it filed the foreclosure action.
Congratulations to the court for making the right decision and for upholding the law. Many similar cases were cited from other states to support the decision. Congratulations to fine attorney ANDREW ENGEL for fighting this battle on behalf of the Schwartwald family (no longer in the home) and attorney BRUCE BROYLES for submitting an amicus brief on behalf of this blog
OHIO FRAUDCLOSUE (our amicus brief here) and OHIO homeowners
COURT FINDS:
{¶41}It is fundamental that a party commencing litigation must have standing to sue in order to invoke jurisdiction of the common pleas court. Civ.R. 17(A) does not change this principle, and a lack of standing at the outset of litigation cannot be cured by receipt of an {later post filing} assignment .... or by substitution of the real party in interest.
{¶42}Here it is undisputed that Federal Home Loan did not have standing at the time it commenced this foreclosure action, and therefore it failed... Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeals is reversed, and the cause is dismissed.The court’s 7-0 unanimous decision dismissed a decree of foreclosure granted to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation FHLMA (AKA "Freddie Mac") against Duane and Julie Schwartzwald because FHLMA did not have standing at the time it filed the foreclosure action.
Congratulations to the court for making the right decision and for upholding the law. Many similar cases were cited from other states to support the decision. Congratulations to fine attorney ANDREW ENGEL for fighting this battle on behalf of the Schwartwald family (no longer in the home) and attorney BRUCE BROYLES for submitting an amicus brief on behalf of this blog
OHIO FRAUDCLOSUE (our amicus brief here) and OHIO homeowners
COURT FINDS:
{¶41}It is fundamental that a party commencing litigation must have standing to sue in order to invoke jurisdiction of the common pleas court. Civ.R. 17(A) does not change this principle, and a lack of standing at the outset of litigation cannot be cured by receipt of an {later post filing} assignment .... or by substitution of the real party in interest.
OTHER STATE DECISIONS were relied upon:
{¶27}This principle accords with decisions from other states holding that standing is determined as of the filing the complaint.
See, e.g., Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust v. Brumbaugh, 2012 OK 3, 270 P.3d 151, ¶ 11 (“If Deutsche Bank became a person entitled to enforce the note as either a holder or nonholder in possession who has the rights of a holder after the foreclosure action was filed, then the case may be dismissed without prejudice * * *” [emphasis added]);
U.S.Bank Natl. Assn. v. Kimball, 190 Vt. 210, 2011 VT 81, 27 A.3d 1087, ¶ 14 (“U.S. Bank was required to show that at the time the complaint was filed it possessed the original note either made payable to bearer with a blank endorsement or made payable to order with an endorsement specifically to U.S. Bank” [emphasis added]);
Mtge. Electronic Registration Sys., Inc. v. Saunders, 2010 ME 79, 2 A.3d 287, ¶ 15 (“Without possession of or any interest in the note, MERS lacked standing to institute foreclosure proceedings and could not invoke the jurisdiction of our trial courts” [emphasis added]);
RMS Residential Properties, L.L.C. v.Miller, 303 Conn. 224, 229, 232, 32 A.3d 309 (2011), quoting Hiland v. Ives, 28 Conn.Supp. 243, 245, 257 A.2d 822 (1966) (explaining that “ ‘[s]tanding is the legal right to set judicial machinery in motion’ ” and holding that the plaintiff had standing because it proved ownership of the note and mortgage at the time it commenced foreclosure action);
McLean v. JP Morgan Chase Bank Natl. Assn., 79 So.3d 170, 17 (Fla.App.2012) (“the plaintiff must prove that it had standing to foreclose when the complaint was filed”); see also Burley v. Douglas, 26 So.3d 1013, 1019(Miss.2009), quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 571, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992), fn. 5 (“ ‘standing is to be determined as of the commencement of suit’ ”);
In re 2007 Administration of Appropriations of Water of the Niobrara, 278 Neb. 137, 145, 768 N.W.2d 420 (2009) (“only a party that has standing may invoke the jurisdiction of a court or tribunal. And the junior appropriators did not lose standing if they possessed it under the facts existing when they commenced the litigation” [footnote omitted]).
McLean v. JP Morgan Chase Bank Natl. Assn., 79 So.3d 170, 17 (Fla.App.2012) (“the plaintiff must prove that it had standing to foreclose when the complaint was filed”); see also Burley v. Douglas, 26 So.3d 1013, 1019(Miss.2009), quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 571, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992), fn. 5 (“ ‘standing is to be determined as of the commencement of suit’ ”);
In re 2007 Administration of Appropriations of Water of the Niobrara, 278 Neb. 137, 145, 768 N.W.2d 420 (2009) (“only a party that has standing may invoke the jurisdiction of a court or tribunal. And the junior appropriators did not lose standing if they possessed it under the facts existing when they commenced the litigation” [footnote omitted]).
PREVIOUS Ohio circuit court decisions:
{¶37} Other courts have also determined that plaintiff cannot rely on procedural rules similar to Civ.R. 17(A) to cure a lack of standing at the commencement of litigation. Davis v. Yageo Corp., 481 F.3d 661, 678 (9th Cir.2007)
{¶38}We agree with the {above} reasoning and analysis presented in these cases. Standing is required to invoke the jurisdiction of the common pleas court. Pursuant to Civ.R. 82, the Rules of Civil Procedure do not extend the jurisdiction of the courts of this state, and a common pleas court cannot substitute a real party in interest for another party if no party with standing has invoked its jurisdiction in the first instance
JUDGEMENT REVERSED AND CASE DISMISSED
Andrew M. Engel, for appellants.
Bruce M. Broyles, urging reversal for amici curiae Homeowners of the
State of Ohio and Ohiofraudclosure.blogspot.com.
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc., and Andrew D. Neuhauser;
Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and Julie K. Robie; Legal Aid Society of
Southwest Ohio, L.L.C., and Noel M. Morgan; Community Legal Aid Services,
Inc., Christina M. Janice, and Paul E. Zindle; and Ohio Poverty Law Center and
Linda Cook, urging reversal for amici curiae Advocates for Basic Legal Equality,
Inc., Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio,
L.L.C., Community Legal Aid Services, Inc., Ohio Poverty Law Center, Legal
Aid Society of Columbus, Southeastern Ohio Legal Services, Legal Aid of
Western Ohio, and Pro Seniors, Inc. .
How to Conquer Death on the Internet
These fragments, from an article I wrote years ago at the dawn of the internet, are what remain after taking out most of what has already been said.
Some time ago I had the incredible experience of finding myself in a discussion about music with Ornette Coleman.
"You might find this very strange," he said to me, " but what I am searching for with my muisic is a way to conquer death."
I didn't find it strange at all. Death has been a focal point of my work for over 20 years. Ornette, this one is for you and for anyone else willing to confront the inevitability of their bodily death and do something about it. There exist practical methods to prepare for death, measures readily available to anyone with access to the internet.
"Preparing for death" seems a misleading phrase. you actually prepare for the survival of life. Preparing for death also has the side effect of what Sufis call "waking up." Or looked at the other way, waking up has the side effect of preparing for death. For myself this moment I'll define waking up as being aware and perceiving reality outside the standard physical, emotional and intellectual programs - usually accompanied by stronger sensation and feeling; perceptions appear much more vivid. Waking up has various degrees and gradations ranging anywhere from mildly pleasant to extremely intense. Therefore, preparing for death results in experiencing an increased vitality and appreciation for life.
However, preparing for death is not conquering it. What do I mean by conquering death?
Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream,
And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?
The transient pleasures as a vision seem,
And yet we think the greatest pain's to die.
How strange it is that man on Earth should roam,
And lead a life of woe but not forsake
His rugged path; nor dare he view alone
His future doom which is but to awake.
- John Keats
Mystics tell us there's no such thing as death. They say that a certain something or other exists inside of everyone that stays eternally alive, that survives the cessation of bodily functions. By identifying with this eternal aspect, which we'll call the Voyager, we can learn to maintain a thread of consciousness upon leaving the body at the time of death. This is not easy. All our lives, from the moment of birth, we have been programmed by cultural conditioning and social reinforcement to identify ourselves completely with the physical body. When the body dies, we die states the underlying belief and fear many of us live with.
I don't know exactly what will happen at death. I don't have a memory of having died before. The experience of my physical death remains unknown to me though there have been a few times of looking at it very closely from this side of the veil. Some knowledge of death has been preserved in certain traditions. So, in the spirit of scientific inquiry, I propose to use what is known about death as a springboard into the Unknown.
Surviving Death
Death occurs as a very shocking and traumatic, but survivable experience according to various myths and religious traditions around the world. The most developed death survival technology comes to us from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and also from the Ancient Egyptians. The Tibetan Book of the Dead serves as an amazing resource by providing step by step instructions for guiding the Voyager through the transition of death. The American Book of the Dead by E. J. Gold places the Tibetan teaching into a cultural context more suitable to those of us born in the West.
Much of the funerary rituals in Ancient Egypt dealt with aiding the soul's journey through the Land of the Dead in order to reach the Western Lands and attain immortality. The spells that comprise the Papyrus of Ani, the so-called Egyptian Book of the Dead are to help prepare and handle the adventures and encounters the soul, or voyager, may experience in this perilous quest. The instructions in the Tibetan Book of the Dead have the same purpose.
Death is a mind-blower, and if you've never functioned without your ordinary mind, you won't know what hit you. Common wisdom in this belief system says it likely won't be that bad if unprepared. You'll blackout and before you know it, you'll find yourself in an infant body ready to face the drama, education and intelligence test of life once again but with no memory of having lived before. The ability to maintain a thread of consciousness from one lifetime to another is what we mean by conquering death. Maintaining this thread of consciousness can be done by remembering ourselves, identifying with the Voyager rather than the corpse we leave behind. The key to this - presence and attention.
To Be Continued ...
Some time ago I had the incredible experience of finding myself in a discussion about music with Ornette Coleman.
"You might find this very strange," he said to me, " but what I am searching for with my muisic is a way to conquer death."
I didn't find it strange at all. Death has been a focal point of my work for over 20 years. Ornette, this one is for you and for anyone else willing to confront the inevitability of their bodily death and do something about it. There exist practical methods to prepare for death, measures readily available to anyone with access to the internet.
"Preparing for death" seems a misleading phrase. you actually prepare for the survival of life. Preparing for death also has the side effect of what Sufis call "waking up." Or looked at the other way, waking up has the side effect of preparing for death. For myself this moment I'll define waking up as being aware and perceiving reality outside the standard physical, emotional and intellectual programs - usually accompanied by stronger sensation and feeling; perceptions appear much more vivid. Waking up has various degrees and gradations ranging anywhere from mildly pleasant to extremely intense. Therefore, preparing for death results in experiencing an increased vitality and appreciation for life.
However, preparing for death is not conquering it. What do I mean by conquering death?
Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream,
And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?
The transient pleasures as a vision seem,
And yet we think the greatest pain's to die.
How strange it is that man on Earth should roam,
And lead a life of woe but not forsake
His rugged path; nor dare he view alone
His future doom which is but to awake.
- John Keats
Mystics tell us there's no such thing as death. They say that a certain something or other exists inside of everyone that stays eternally alive, that survives the cessation of bodily functions. By identifying with this eternal aspect, which we'll call the Voyager, we can learn to maintain a thread of consciousness upon leaving the body at the time of death. This is not easy. All our lives, from the moment of birth, we have been programmed by cultural conditioning and social reinforcement to identify ourselves completely with the physical body. When the body dies, we die states the underlying belief and fear many of us live with.
I don't know exactly what will happen at death. I don't have a memory of having died before. The experience of my physical death remains unknown to me though there have been a few times of looking at it very closely from this side of the veil. Some knowledge of death has been preserved in certain traditions. So, in the spirit of scientific inquiry, I propose to use what is known about death as a springboard into the Unknown.
Surviving Death
Death occurs as a very shocking and traumatic, but survivable experience according to various myths and religious traditions around the world. The most developed death survival technology comes to us from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and also from the Ancient Egyptians. The Tibetan Book of the Dead serves as an amazing resource by providing step by step instructions for guiding the Voyager through the transition of death. The American Book of the Dead by E. J. Gold places the Tibetan teaching into a cultural context more suitable to those of us born in the West.
Much of the funerary rituals in Ancient Egypt dealt with aiding the soul's journey through the Land of the Dead in order to reach the Western Lands and attain immortality. The spells that comprise the Papyrus of Ani, the so-called Egyptian Book of the Dead are to help prepare and handle the adventures and encounters the soul, or voyager, may experience in this perilous quest. The instructions in the Tibetan Book of the Dead have the same purpose.
Death is a mind-blower, and if you've never functioned without your ordinary mind, you won't know what hit you. Common wisdom in this belief system says it likely won't be that bad if unprepared. You'll blackout and before you know it, you'll find yourself in an infant body ready to face the drama, education and intelligence test of life once again but with no memory of having lived before. The ability to maintain a thread of consciousness from one lifetime to another is what we mean by conquering death. Maintaining this thread of consciousness can be done by remembering ourselves, identifying with the Voyager rather than the corpse we leave behind. The key to this - presence and attention.
To Be Continued ...
Obama: "too many homes underwater"
FINALLY !!!- President Obama addresses "underwater homeowners" + Call to action
Weekly Presidential address - Saturday October 20th 2012
........."Too many families are still having a hard time making the mortgage on their piece of the American Dream, {and} now we have to build on the progress we’ve made, and keep moving forward. I never believed that the best way to deal with the housing market was to just sit back, do nothing, and simply wait for things to hit bottom. {I.E. The Romney Plan}That would have been a disaster for all the responsible families who – through no fault of their own – were struggling to make ends meet. Instead, I’ve made helping those homeowners a priority.
Weekly Presidential address - Saturday October 20th 2012
........."Too many families are still having a hard time making the mortgage on their piece of the American Dream, {and} now we have to build on the progress we’ve made, and keep moving forward. I never believed that the best way to deal with the housing market was to just sit back, do nothing, and simply wait for things to hit bottom. {I.E. The Romney Plan}That would have been a disaster for all the responsible families who – through no fault of their own – were struggling to make ends meet. Instead, I’ve made helping those homeowners a priority.
Since I took office, my Administration has taken action to help millions of families stay in their homes.
We teamed up with attorneys general in almost every state to investigate and crack down on the practices that caused this mess. And in the end, we secured a $25 billion settlement from the biggest banks – one of the biggest settlements in history – and used it to provide relief to families all across America.
We’ve taken action to help responsible homeowners refinance their mortgages. As a result, just this year hundreds of thousands of Americans who were stuck in high-interest loans have been able to take advantage of historically low rates and are saving thousands of dollars every year.
And now I want every homeowner in America to have that chance. I just wish it didn’t require an act of Congress. But it does. So, back in February, I sent Congress a plan to give every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low rates. That’s the equivalent of a $3,000 tax cut.
It’s a plan that we know will work. It has the support of independent, nonpartisan economists and leaders across the housing industry. It’s a no-brainer that should have passed easily.
But Republicans in Congress banded together and kept this plan from even coming to a vote. They banded together and prevented millions of Americans – including many of you listening today – from saving $3,000 a year. That’s money that could have gone back into the value of your home, or your kid’s college savings account. That’s money that could have gone into your local businesses, so they could hire and create more jobs in your town.
But Republicans in Congress still won’t let that happen. And that’s only held back the economy, when we should be doing everything we can to accelerate our economic engine. Let’s be honest – Republicans in Congress won’t act on this plan before the election. But maybe they’ll come to their senses afterward if you give them a push. So contact your Representative, especially if this plan will help you or someone you know. Tell him or her that American homeowners have waited long enough. Tell them that it’s time for Congress to stop standing in the way of our recovery and to start standing up for you."
Paul Is Dead
Some recent synchronicities and a Beatles conspiracy:
Last week I received an email from my friend Babx (David Babin), French composer and musician extraordinaire, whose next album we'll be mixing soon.. The email had the demos of his songs attached and a lenghty lucid description of the direction to take the mixes. He wrote: I was also REALLY influenced by the work of Nikola Tesla and the myth of this man. I wrote back saying that I could imagine hearing some of these songs playing in Tesla's lab as I saw it in the film The Prestige which has David Bowie playing the part of this eccentric genius.
A couple of days later I began recording The Famous at Oakland's New and Improved Recording Studio. The Famous describe their music as "classic country with a shot of post punk." or " a blaphemous marriage of indie-styled rock & roll and cowboy laments." Their music would fit perfectly in some of the Wild West segments from Against the Day (Pynchon). I particularly enjoy their lyrics which contain no small measure of whimsy, humor and irony. Turns out that guitar player/songwriter Victor Barclay works for Tesla Motors, a company that manufactures and sells electric cars originally designed by Nikola Tesla. Their sales are good. Electric cars seem to be catching on, and are becoming more affordable.
Two more unusual synchronicities also occurred last week. The first one began by reading a blog post about Robert Anton Wilson and Phillip K. Dick over at RAW Illumination.net . After reading that I clicked on a new link on that site that went to TSOGBLOGSPHERE and read an excellent article on James Joyce and the Tao written by Robert Anton Wilson in 1959. One of Wilson's points had to do with favoring direct experience, which he characterized as feminine, over what he calls the masculine ethical rigors of Confucianism - living, or getting programmed to live according to arbitrary morals, conventions, and beliefs. Later the same day, reading The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick, it felt like I was seeing very similar points but given in a different way, in PKDspeak. There was a footnote explicitly tying what Dick was saying into both the Tao and Joyce. The annotater ends with a Wilsonian sounding statement: "Righteousness here is anything but self-righteousness. It is instead the humility and practice necessary to silence the mind in order to perceive reality, a "casual field" unmistakably affected by the language by which we model it. - RD p. 482
The second unusual synchronicity began when I decided to watch Cranberry Sauce, an hour and a half documentary on the "Paul is dead" rumours and possible conspiracy that followed the Beatles in the Sixties and Seventies. "Cranberry sauce' is what Johm Lennon claims the barely audible words heard at the end of Strawberry Fields Forever was really saying not, "I buried Paul," which is what many other people heard there. I had this video bookmarked for a few months and just randomly decided to watch it while breathing one recent morning. It was interesting but not convincing. The next day, not having had a prior discussion about this, I received a link from Erin and the Project to a spoken word mix that heavily sampled news footage about the rumour. I wrote back telling them about the synch and they recommended two other documentaries on that subject, The Winged Beatle, and Paul McCartney Really Is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison. The second one had already been pulled by You Tube but I did watch The Winged Beatle and found it very entertaining.
The Winged Beatle, not to be confused with The Winged Beetle, an excellent poetry compilation by a Mr. A. Crowley quoted elsewhere in this blog, naturally makes copius use of the winged beetle symbol.
It begins with a clip from the David Letterman show with McCartney and Letterman discussing the alleged hoax. This piqued my interest because it reveals McCartney (or his double) giving wrong information, whether intentionally or not, I do not know. First I'll give my assessment of the rumor based on what I've seen - I rate it at about 90% unlikely to be true. The only reason I give it a 10% possibility of truth has to do with what "McCartney" told Letterman - that it all began with the Abbey Road album cover where he was photographed barefoot which was supposed to indicate that he really is dead. He says that he was wearing sandals and that it was hot out so he took them off. The only problem with this explanation lies in the logic that if it really was that hot then the pavement would have been too hot to walk barefoot on. Also, the rumour of his death began much earlier than the Abbey Road album cover photo shoot.
The Winged Beatle does make some interesting points about what The Beatles were up to, namely their involvement with the magick of Aleister Crowley, as well as experiments in magick with tape recorders William S. Burroughs was doing in London at that time discussed in his book The Ticket That Exploded. However, the connection between that and the literal death of Paul McCartney sounds spurious and unconvincing.
The film points out that Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band was released in 1967 and sings about..."It was 20 years ago today Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play..." Well, 20 years ago - 1947, was the year Aleister Crowley died, so the film asks, "Was Aleister Crowley Sergeant Pepper?."
Apart from the fact that Crowley taught the band to play long before he died, this isn't such an unlikely association. Looked at magickallly - he taught the band to play. "Play" adds up to 121 or 11 squared. 11 represents a number of "magick" - energy tending to change. Also, the 3 Ps in Pepper suggest The Tower tarot image. Crowley corresponds that with the Opening of the Eye of Horus ie an introduction to the magickal universe he envisions. Crowley was perhaps the most notorious celebrity The Beatles put on the cover of the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band album. However, that did indeed introduce a great many people to Crowley for the first time included noted occult scholar Lon Milo Duquette. You can't ask for better PR than a top-selling Beatles album cover.
If there is any truth that The Beatles generated and/or fed the "Paul is dead" rumour, I suggest the motive behind it to be the rich allegory involved rather than a cover-up of a literal death. If McCartney did die and they covered it up, why would they release all the clues and hints to uncover the conspiracy? Perhaps the real conspiracy, whether intentional or not, was to confront and remind their large audience about death. Getting reminded about the real possibility of death at any moment
comprises a very basic element of bardo training. Many of the clues suggest or literally point to death but often the specific connection to McCartney's alleged death isn't so clear.
For instance, playing Revolution Number 9 from the White Album backwards you'll hear, "Turn me on, dead man," every time the announcer says 'number 9' in the forward version. Now, that phrase closely relates with Timothy Leary's slogan Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out, and also with a primary agenda from Crowley's Book of Lies ( that book asymmetrically ends with last word, Amen) but has little relevance for, or indication of a talented musician dying in a car crash.
When I played that track backwards the phrase, "Are we not all dead? The answer is yes, yes, " clearly and unambiguously came across. That's never mentioned in these conspiracy films because it doesn't make sense in connection with someone's literal death. It does make sense if they are referring to the esoteric death of the personality or ego. It also makes perfect sense in the context of bardo training - getting somewhat, the feeling and sensation of death before you die.
John Lennon is on record as saying, ( and not being happy about it ) that he killed his ego as per his interpretation of instructions from The Psychedelic Experience, Leary, Metzner, and Alpert's, psychedelic guide book based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Harrison got them all into yogic meditation, another technique resulting in temporary ego death. The Paul is dead rumor makes more sense interpreted allegorically rather than literally. The ego/personality "Paul McCartney" is dead as he shamanically transforms himself, and by extension The Beatles, from superficial moptop pop star(s) writing catchy songs into serious artists communicating the zeitgeist of the era.
It appears quite clear that The Beatles had a strong connection with Crowley's magick. Paul McCartney, either the real one or the fake, is quoted as attributing The Beatles phenomena to "magick spelt with a k" The Winged Beatle documentary shows a basic Crowley exercise about learning to read and write backwards and connects that with the backwards effects they put in their music. Communicating and learning to receive communication in a reversed order describes a basic qabalistic technique, a technique that helps free the student from standard linguistic programming to perceive in new ways.
All of the "clues" purported to reveal Paul is dead seem to point to a conspiracy of some kind on the part of The Beatles but I find it unlikely they refer to McCartney's literal death nor do I think that they staged the whole thing to boost commercial sales. I suspect this conspiracy was spontaneous and unorganized, simply the result of their researches into mind expansion technologies and the wish to communicate what they discovered.
The reason that so many of the clues concerned death may have had to do with their experiments into magick. As mentioned before, bardo training, the preparation to survive death and embrace life, is a primary purpose of magick. Surviving death constitutes the next big step in the evolution of human consciousness. The Beatles, wittingly or unwittingly, seemed to conspire to help humans with this step, or at least get them started by subtly, but repeatedly confronting them with death. Cranberry sauce indeed.
Last week I received an email from my friend Babx (David Babin), French composer and musician extraordinaire, whose next album we'll be mixing soon.. The email had the demos of his songs attached and a lenghty lucid description of the direction to take the mixes. He wrote: I was also REALLY influenced by the work of Nikola Tesla and the myth of this man. I wrote back saying that I could imagine hearing some of these songs playing in Tesla's lab as I saw it in the film The Prestige which has David Bowie playing the part of this eccentric genius.
A couple of days later I began recording The Famous at Oakland's New and Improved Recording Studio. The Famous describe their music as "classic country with a shot of post punk." or " a blaphemous marriage of indie-styled rock & roll and cowboy laments." Their music would fit perfectly in some of the Wild West segments from Against the Day (Pynchon). I particularly enjoy their lyrics which contain no small measure of whimsy, humor and irony. Turns out that guitar player/songwriter Victor Barclay works for Tesla Motors, a company that manufactures and sells electric cars originally designed by Nikola Tesla. Their sales are good. Electric cars seem to be catching on, and are becoming more affordable.
Two more unusual synchronicities also occurred last week. The first one began by reading a blog post about Robert Anton Wilson and Phillip K. Dick over at RAW Illumination.net . After reading that I clicked on a new link on that site that went to TSOGBLOGSPHERE and read an excellent article on James Joyce and the Tao written by Robert Anton Wilson in 1959. One of Wilson's points had to do with favoring direct experience, which he characterized as feminine, over what he calls the masculine ethical rigors of Confucianism - living, or getting programmed to live according to arbitrary morals, conventions, and beliefs. Later the same day, reading The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick, it felt like I was seeing very similar points but given in a different way, in PKDspeak. There was a footnote explicitly tying what Dick was saying into both the Tao and Joyce. The annotater ends with a Wilsonian sounding statement: "Righteousness here is anything but self-righteousness. It is instead the humility and practice necessary to silence the mind in order to perceive reality, a "casual field" unmistakably affected by the language by which we model it. - RD p. 482
The second unusual synchronicity began when I decided to watch Cranberry Sauce, an hour and a half documentary on the "Paul is dead" rumours and possible conspiracy that followed the Beatles in the Sixties and Seventies. "Cranberry sauce' is what Johm Lennon claims the barely audible words heard at the end of Strawberry Fields Forever was really saying not, "I buried Paul," which is what many other people heard there. I had this video bookmarked for a few months and just randomly decided to watch it while breathing one recent morning. It was interesting but not convincing. The next day, not having had a prior discussion about this, I received a link from Erin and the Project to a spoken word mix that heavily sampled news footage about the rumour. I wrote back telling them about the synch and they recommended two other documentaries on that subject, The Winged Beatle, and Paul McCartney Really Is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison. The second one had already been pulled by You Tube but I did watch The Winged Beatle and found it very entertaining.
The Winged Beatle, not to be confused with The Winged Beetle, an excellent poetry compilation by a Mr. A. Crowley quoted elsewhere in this blog, naturally makes copius use of the winged beetle symbol.
It begins with a clip from the David Letterman show with McCartney and Letterman discussing the alleged hoax. This piqued my interest because it reveals McCartney (or his double) giving wrong information, whether intentionally or not, I do not know. First I'll give my assessment of the rumor based on what I've seen - I rate it at about 90% unlikely to be true. The only reason I give it a 10% possibility of truth has to do with what "McCartney" told Letterman - that it all began with the Abbey Road album cover where he was photographed barefoot which was supposed to indicate that he really is dead. He says that he was wearing sandals and that it was hot out so he took them off. The only problem with this explanation lies in the logic that if it really was that hot then the pavement would have been too hot to walk barefoot on. Also, the rumour of his death began much earlier than the Abbey Road album cover photo shoot.
The Winged Beatle does make some interesting points about what The Beatles were up to, namely their involvement with the magick of Aleister Crowley, as well as experiments in magick with tape recorders William S. Burroughs was doing in London at that time discussed in his book The Ticket That Exploded. However, the connection between that and the literal death of Paul McCartney sounds spurious and unconvincing.
The film points out that Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band was released in 1967 and sings about..."It was 20 years ago today Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play..." Well, 20 years ago - 1947, was the year Aleister Crowley died, so the film asks, "Was Aleister Crowley Sergeant Pepper?."
Apart from the fact that Crowley taught the band to play long before he died, this isn't such an unlikely association. Looked at magickallly - he taught the band to play. "Play" adds up to 121 or 11 squared. 11 represents a number of "magick" - energy tending to change. Also, the 3 Ps in Pepper suggest The Tower tarot image. Crowley corresponds that with the Opening of the Eye of Horus ie an introduction to the magickal universe he envisions. Crowley was perhaps the most notorious celebrity The Beatles put on the cover of the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band album. However, that did indeed introduce a great many people to Crowley for the first time included noted occult scholar Lon Milo Duquette. You can't ask for better PR than a top-selling Beatles album cover.
If there is any truth that The Beatles generated and/or fed the "Paul is dead" rumour, I suggest the motive behind it to be the rich allegory involved rather than a cover-up of a literal death. If McCartney did die and they covered it up, why would they release all the clues and hints to uncover the conspiracy? Perhaps the real conspiracy, whether intentional or not, was to confront and remind their large audience about death. Getting reminded about the real possibility of death at any moment
comprises a very basic element of bardo training. Many of the clues suggest or literally point to death but often the specific connection to McCartney's alleged death isn't so clear.
For instance, playing Revolution Number 9 from the White Album backwards you'll hear, "Turn me on, dead man," every time the announcer says 'number 9' in the forward version. Now, that phrase closely relates with Timothy Leary's slogan Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out, and also with a primary agenda from Crowley's Book of Lies ( that book asymmetrically ends with last word, Amen) but has little relevance for, or indication of a talented musician dying in a car crash.
When I played that track backwards the phrase, "Are we not all dead? The answer is yes, yes, " clearly and unambiguously came across. That's never mentioned in these conspiracy films because it doesn't make sense in connection with someone's literal death. It does make sense if they are referring to the esoteric death of the personality or ego. It also makes perfect sense in the context of bardo training - getting somewhat, the feeling and sensation of death before you die.
John Lennon is on record as saying, ( and not being happy about it ) that he killed his ego as per his interpretation of instructions from The Psychedelic Experience, Leary, Metzner, and Alpert's, psychedelic guide book based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Harrison got them all into yogic meditation, another technique resulting in temporary ego death. The Paul is dead rumor makes more sense interpreted allegorically rather than literally. The ego/personality "Paul McCartney" is dead as he shamanically transforms himself, and by extension The Beatles, from superficial moptop pop star(s) writing catchy songs into serious artists communicating the zeitgeist of the era.
It appears quite clear that The Beatles had a strong connection with Crowley's magick. Paul McCartney, either the real one or the fake, is quoted as attributing The Beatles phenomena to "magick spelt with a k" The Winged Beatle documentary shows a basic Crowley exercise about learning to read and write backwards and connects that with the backwards effects they put in their music. Communicating and learning to receive communication in a reversed order describes a basic qabalistic technique, a technique that helps free the student from standard linguistic programming to perceive in new ways.
All of the "clues" purported to reveal Paul is dead seem to point to a conspiracy of some kind on the part of The Beatles but I find it unlikely they refer to McCartney's literal death nor do I think that they staged the whole thing to boost commercial sales. I suspect this conspiracy was spontaneous and unorganized, simply the result of their researches into mind expansion technologies and the wish to communicate what they discovered.
The reason that so many of the clues concerned death may have had to do with their experiments into magick. As mentioned before, bardo training, the preparation to survive death and embrace life, is a primary purpose of magick. Surviving death constitutes the next big step in the evolution of human consciousness. The Beatles, wittingly or unwittingly, seemed to conspire to help humans with this step, or at least get them started by subtly, but repeatedly confronting them with death. Cranberry sauce indeed.
DEBATE: What Housing Crisis?
Eric Gay - Associated PressTracy Van Slyke, Director at New Bottom Line @ HuffingtonPost:
HuffPost Politics Blog: The Real Debate Loser: The Voters
President Obama and Governor Romney gingerly sidestepped into housing and Wall Street abuse for an estimated two minutes. That seems like enough time to talk about, oh you know, the reason our economy is in the tank, millions of jobs lost, life savings ripped away, over 15 millions homeowners underwater, and millions of others unfairly (and often illegally) foreclosed on.There was nothing about any attempts to hold Wall Street accountable for crashing the economy. There was zip about how to help the millions of homeowners still suffering. There were no policy proposals debated, much less put forth, including potential major solutions such as principal reduction, which economists from both ends of the political spectrum, say is key to get rebuilding our economy.
But even though I'm angry and depressed right now, I'm not going to give up. Neither will the homeowners and underwater voters pressuring the candidates to talk real solutions, not regurgitate attack ads. There's too much at stake.
* Only eight months ago, the president delivered 20 minutes of rhetoric on foreclosures, Wall Street crimes and how it wrecked the economy. He bragged on how the administration had made fixes and it was a top priority to repair the economy and hold Wall Street accountable!.....what happened? Try to watch even 10 minutes of the above video...any 10 minutes...why how about any 5 minutes or even 3 minutes. If you watch even a 2 minute clip...it will be more time ...than the president spent on this topic - during the entire debate.
Over the next few weeks, our Home Is Where The Vote Is campaign will continue to pressure both candidates to address the housing crisis as they travel the country talking to voters and homeowners in key swing states like Nevada, Ohio, Colorado and Florida. President Obama and Governor Romney ignore underwater voters in these swing states at their own peril.
We will call on the next presidential debate moderator, Candy Crowley, to fill the void left by her predecessor and to make the connection that the American people want to know which candidate can fix the housing crisis and rebuild our economy.
From Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia:
The First Presidential Debate: Apparently, This Housing Crisis Is Over
......First, in his opening remarks, Obama said "housing has begun to rise." He’s right: the housing market is in better shape today than when he took office in 2009. More surprising was that Romney didn’t argue. Romney did point out several ways that broader economic performance worsened during Obama’s presidency, but the housing market wasn’t one of them. Had Romney wanted to point to the ongoing pain from the housing crisis, he could have pointed to the stubbornly high foreclosure rate in many states or the fact that the market is still not even halfway back to normal. But he didn’t.Second, Obama and Romney were more focused on preventing the next housing crisis than getting out of this one. They mentioned housing only in their brief debate over government regulation. Obama cited banks’ risky lending practices in the past as reason for why regulation is important for the future. Romney got into the weeds, agreeing that mortgage regulation is important and, in fact, blamed the continued uncertainty over the Dodd-Frank "qualified mortgage" rules** for banks’ {and their} reluctance to lend today.
But that was about it for housing. There’s a long list of what the candidates didn’t say about housing. Not a word about refinancing, principal reductions, selling government-owned foreclosed homes, or the mortgage interest deduction – all hot-button housing issues. Why wasn’t there more debate over housing? Two {Bronx} cheers to the candidates for focusing on rules to prevent the next housing
* President Obama discusses a proposal to help more responsible homeowners refinance their mortgages at today's historically low interest rates. February 1, 2012.
**A "qualified mortgage," is a mortgage meeting standards (with legal & financial measurement parameters)that automatically "count" (qualify) the mortgage as being within a borrower's ability to repay.
~
Underwater Homeowner Vote may turn election
The cheer leading and rah-rah, heard at the presidential conventions, has long since died down. BUT, both candidates left a huge election topic (Housing) unaddressed, and as a result, the door is now wide open, to speak directly on Foreclosures and Underwater Homeowners. It is important that both men address these two (2) related issues instead of repeating & summarizing all the problems by using drone like rhetoric and simply calling it a Housing Crisis.
ELECTION NEWSFLASH:
President Obama - you - and Governor Romney will be competing for votes of millions of homeowners. As presidential candidates, you need to address the housing issues (Underwater Mortgages, Foreclosure, Fraudclosure, principal reduction) especially in big swing states such as Ohio, Colorado, Nevada and Florida. Current estimates show there are between 12 - 16 million underwater homeowners,
3 Americans Speak About Foreclosure & Underwater Housing (OH, NV, CO)
OHIO:
The housing crisis has hit OHIO harder....than but a handful of states. As a result, many OHIO VOTERS are underwater on their mortgages (mortgage debt is greater than value of home) Recent housing market data shows more than a half a million (529,834) OHIO mortgages are underwater. What does that mean?
*1 Million (1,000,258) Ohio eligible voters are underwater
12% of the eligible voters - underwater & 528,834 home mortgages - underwater
*To put these numbers in perspective, the number of Underwater Voters in Ohio (1,000,258) is OVER 1/3 of the total votes cast for the winning presidential candidate in 2008.
MESSAGE: OHIO VOTERS
please join the New Bottom Line Campaign:
The national campaign has put the agenda and vote of 16 million underwater homeowners squarely on the national political agenda. ‘Home is Where the Vote Is’ is a multi state effort to have the candidates address the issue.
These voters WILL influence and help decide the presidential election outcome!
Tracy Van-Slyke (Director of The New Bottom Line) & Mark Roarty (Ohio FRAUDclosure) take message to the White House
RELATED: Ohio Blogger to White House for Housing Summit
The candidate that fails to seriously address foreclosures, underwater homeowners, and the resulting housing crisis WILL BE the candidate that loses! See below as Tracy Van Slyke shares the importance (below) on the new HUFFPOST - Firsthand
Move video slider bar and begin at 10 minutes in - Shocking Truth Explained
READ Huffingtonpost Business Blog:
Underwater Voters Take Aim at Obama and Romney over Housing
....Neither President Obama nor Governor Romney has proposed the bold solutions needed to address the housing crisis at the root of the American economy’s troubles. Resetting mortgages to fair market value is essential to keeping families in their homes and the recovery of the US economy and job market. Economists from both sides of the political spectrum support it. Resetting those mortgages to fair market value would save the average underwater homeowner $543 per month, pumping $104 billion into the national economy every year. This would create 1.5 million jobs nationally
'Home is Where the Vote Is' is organized by The New Bottom Line, a growing movement of community organizations, congregations, and individuals working together to challenge big bank interests and fight for principal reduction for underwater homeowners. Allies mobilizing underwater voters this season include Rebuild the Dream, Right to the City, Home Defenders League, Ohio FRAUDclosure and the hundreds of thousands of underwater homeowner and voting families.
Our neighborhoods are being destroyed by foreclosed homes. It's our communities that are deprived of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue because too many homeowners have to unfairly pay the big banks instead of investing in local businesses. Entire communities are being blighted across our state and nation because of the failed policies and the on-going fraudulent practices of the big banks.
MORE: ...Huffington Post Business Blog - by Tracy Van Slyke
~
ELECTION NEWSFLASH:
President Obama - you - and Governor Romney will be competing for votes of millions of homeowners. As presidential candidates, you need to address the housing issues (Underwater Mortgages, Foreclosure, Fraudclosure, principal reduction) especially in big swing states such as Ohio, Colorado, Nevada and Florida. Current estimates show there are between 12 - 16 million underwater homeowners,
3 Americans Speak About Foreclosure & Underwater Housing (OH, NV, CO)
OHIO:
The housing crisis has hit OHIO harder....than but a handful of states. As a result, many OHIO VOTERS are underwater on their mortgages (mortgage debt is greater than value of home) Recent housing market data shows more than a half a million (529,834) OHIO mortgages are underwater. What does that mean?
*1 Million (1,000,258) Ohio eligible voters are underwater
12% of the eligible voters - underwater & 528,834 home mortgages - underwater
*To put these numbers in perspective, the number of Underwater Voters in Ohio (1,000,258) is OVER 1/3 of the total votes cast for the winning presidential candidate in 2008.
MESSAGE: OHIO VOTERS
please join the New Bottom Line Campaign:The national campaign has put the agenda and vote of 16 million underwater homeowners squarely on the national political agenda. ‘Home is Where the Vote Is’ is a multi state effort to have the candidates address the issue.
These voters WILL influence and help decide the presidential election outcome!
RELATED: Ohio Blogger to White House for Housing Summit
The candidate that fails to seriously address foreclosures, underwater homeowners, and the resulting housing crisis WILL BE the candidate that loses! See below as Tracy Van Slyke shares the importance (below) on the new HUFFPOST - Firsthand
Move video slider bar and begin at 10 minutes in - Shocking Truth Explained
READ Huffingtonpost Business Blog:
Underwater Voters Take Aim at Obama and Romney over Housing
....Neither President Obama nor Governor Romney has proposed the bold solutions needed to address the housing crisis at the root of the American economy’s troubles. Resetting mortgages to fair market value is essential to keeping families in their homes and the recovery of the US economy and job market. Economists from both sides of the political spectrum support it. Resetting those mortgages to fair market value would save the average underwater homeowner $543 per month, pumping $104 billion into the national economy every year. This would create 1.5 million jobs nationally
'Home is Where the Vote Is' is organized by The New Bottom Line, a growing movement of community organizations, congregations, and individuals working together to challenge big bank interests and fight for principal reduction for underwater homeowners. Allies mobilizing underwater voters this season include Rebuild the Dream, Right to the City, Home Defenders League, Ohio FRAUDclosure and the hundreds of thousands of underwater homeowner and voting families.
Our neighborhoods are being destroyed by foreclosed homes. It's our communities that are deprived of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue because too many homeowners have to unfairly pay the big banks instead of investing in local businesses. Entire communities are being blighted across our state and nation because of the failed policies and the on-going fraudulent practices of the big banks.
MORE: ...Huffington Post Business Blog - by Tracy Van Slyke
~
U.S. Court sides with City of Cleveland v Wall Street
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT ANNOUNCES
Fortunately, the U.S. Court of Appeals (for the Sixth Circuit) refuses to be "bought out" or "sell-out." The court continues to enforce the Rule of Law and even show the Supreme Court of Ohio they'll NOT allow the trashing of existing laws in favor of the Banks and Wall Street firms. Although this is not a win (on the merits of the suit), nonetheless, it holds
CHASE BANK USA, N.A., JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., JPMORGAN MORTGAGE
Acquisition Corp., and J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc.
Plaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees
V.
CITY OF CLEVELAND,
Defendant-Appellee/Cross-Appellant
READ CASE DECISION: CASE Nos. 10-4115/4116
KAREN NELSON MOORE, Sixth Circuit Judge:
.....The foreclosure crisis that swept the nation in the latter half of the past decade hit Cleveland particularly hard. It also led to this litigation. Though this case has - as its background - such weighty factual topics as subprime-mortgage lending, foreclosures, and the precarious economic state of the post industrial Midwest, the issue at stake in this appeal is solely procedural. Because the district court (United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland. No. 08-00514) nonetheless dismissed the suit...without notice to the parties, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND for further proceedings.
Cleveland’s decision to address the issue of subprime-mortgage securitization through litigation arguably reflects an otherwise frustrated regulatory intent, as the city likely could not regulate such activity directly. Ohio law appears to prevent Cleveland from regulating subprime mortgages in the traditional manner (i.e. by municipal ordinance), as it vests the state with sole authority to “regulate the business of originating, granting, servicing, and collecting loans and other forms of credit in the state and the manner in which any such business is conducted.” Ohio Rev. Code § 1.63(A). In addition, Ohio law expressly preempts “[a]ny ordinance, resolution, regulation, or other action by a municipal corporation” to regulate such matters. Id.§ 1.63(B). Indeed, the OHIO SUPREME COURT struck down Cleveland's previous attempt to regulate predatory mortgage lending by ordinance as preempted by state law, including § 1.63. Am. Fin. Servs. Ass’n v. City of Cleveland, 858 N.E.2d 776, 785–86 (Ohio 2006).
I. BACKGROUND
The City of Cleveland has seen a record number of home foreclosures in the past decade. Between 2000 and 2008, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where Cleveland is located, recorded approximately 80,000 foreclosures. In Cleveland, Foreclosures Decimate Neighborhoods,NPR Radio, May 24th, 2008.
In 2007, County Treasurer Jim Rokakis described the city as "the epicenter of the mortgage meltdown in America." (Thomas Ott & Susan Vinella, Home Loan Foreclosures on the Rise in Cuyahoga, The Plain Dealer, July 4, 2007). Against this backdrop came three (3) lawsuits relevant to this case:A. City of Cleveland v. Ameriquest Mortgage Securities, Inc. (City of Cleveland I)
In January 2008, Cleveland brought suit against twenty-one (21) financial institutions in Ohio state court, alleging that the defendants’ actions in the subprime-mortgage industry constituted a public nuisance under Ohio common law. By securitizing subprime mortgages and later foreclosing on the houses purchased through such mortgages, the defendants allegedly contributed to a financial crisis in the city that included significant declines in property values, a shrinking tax base, and an increase in criminal activity. Cleveland sought to recover for the costs it incurred in monitoring, maintaining, or demolishing foreclosed properties and for decreased tax revenues. The defendants {Ameriquest} removed the case to federal court. {Then} after denying Cleveland’s motions to remand and to amend its complaint...the district court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss on the grounds that the city’s suit was preempted by state law and was barred by the economic-loss doctrine.
In August 2008, shortly after the district court denied Cleveland’s motion to remand in City of Cleveland I, Cleveland filed a second suit in Ohio state court against twenty-eight (28) financial institutions, including the non-diverse JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. In addition to pleading another public-nuisance claim, Cleveland alleged that the defendants had violated the Ohio Corrupt Activities Act (“OCAA”), the state RICO analogue, by inaccurately claiming title to mortgages and promissory notes in foreclosure proceedings in violation of Ohio Revised Code § 2921.12(A). See Ohio Rev. Code § 2923.32. Cleveland also sought to recover under Ohio Revised Code § 715.261 for costs incurred maintaining or demolishing foreclosed houses.
In February 2008, while City of Cleveland I was pending, Plaintiffs-Appellants Chase Bank, USA, N.A., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., JPMorgan Mortgage Acquisition Corp., and J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. (collectively, “Chase Bank”) brought the suit that is currently before us. Chase Bank sued Cleveland in federal district court... requesting an injunction against that suit. After Cleveland filed City of Cleveland II, Chase Bank amended its complaint to request declaratory relief and an injunction against both of Cleveland’s lawsuits.
Since this case left the district court, several developments have occurred in both City of Cleveland I and City of Cleveland II. In City of Cleveland II, the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas dismissed Cleveland’s public-nuisance and OCAA claims, but denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss. {As}J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. and J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. are defendants in City of Cleveland II. Cleveland voluntarily dismissed its §715.261 claim and appealed the trial court’s dismissal of the public nuisance and OCAA claims. That appeal is currently pending in the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth Appellate District.
In addition, the United States Supreme Court denied Cleveland’s petition for a writ of certiorari in City of Cleveland I. City of Cleveland v. Ameriquest Mortgage Sec., Inc., 131 S. Ct. 1685 (2011). Accordingly, Chase Bank’s request for injunctive and declaratory relief regarding City of Cleveland I is now moot. All that remains of the suits in which Cleveland is the plaintiff is City of Cleveland II. Because Chase Bank, USA, N.A. and JPMorgan Mortgage Acquisition Corp. are not parties to City of Cleveland II, we dismiss their claims as moot.
Another Recent Case linked below from the same U.S. Federal Court (Sixth Circuit):
CLEVELAND WARNED the Regulators !! Yet...No one did a thing!!!
SHOCKING, STUNNING, and ACCURATE predictions are quotes from this now 4 year old (2008) article : As Decade Dawned signs of Crisis: 9-28-2008 - Roger Mezger
"We called it early... Nobody listened,"There was blood on the streets of Cuyahoga County. But it wasn't until there was blood on the streets of Wall Street that anyone cared."
(Jim Rokakis - Cuyahogo County Treasure)
'This is going to become an epidemic,' and they sat on their hands. For whatever reason, they didn't act. But if you were looking, the handwriting was on the wall. If you were looking, it was obvious something was wrong."
(Tony Stevenson, a staff attorney with Housing Advocates Inc. in Cleveland)
"Regulators allowed loose lending to keep the economy going. All the regulators knew what was going on."
(Raj Aggarwal, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Akron)
For years Cleveland had been WARNING "asleep-at-the-wheel" State and Federal regulators of what was to come. Home prices had become so outrageous in value, that during a 6 year period, median home prices (in Cleveland) rose 56%, according to county real estate records, while the city's population dropped 4% during the same period. It didn't make sense. YET - No one in OHIO or the Federal Government would listen or do anything to stop these lenders and banks from pillaging the city.
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