Category Archives: Local

Dying To Get Into Jail, Old Man Knocks Off Bank for $1.00
James Verone had $16 in his pocket when he left home one morning a few weeks ago.
He cleaned up and put on his nicest shirt, then called a taxi.
Along the way, he stopped to mail a letter to the newspaper, then went on to the local bank, where he apologetically and politely robbed them of one dollar.
Then he sat down and waited for the cops.
At the age of 59, James Verone had found himself unemployed after layoffs eliminated his job as a delivery driver. He also lost his health insurance.
James looked for work, but no one wants to hire guys his age, and eventually, his unemployment benefits ran out.
He found a part-time job as a clerk in a small convenience store, but found it impossible to get by on $145 a week take-home pay.
For awhile, he lived off his savings and the remnants of his 401k Plan. Then he started to have health problems.
Arthritis, foot troubles, and back problems finally resulted in Verone applying for Social Security Disability, but he was denied.
Then, on top of his other illnesses, he discovered a painful lump growing on his chest.
He tried to get medical treatment, but the emergency rooms only referred him to doctors who insisted on being paid, money Verone simply didn’t have.
Believing that he had cancer, suffering from intense pain, and unable to find any medical help, James Verone carefully weighed his options. He first considered committing suicide, but decided that would create a burden on the few family members he had left – folks not much better off than himself. Then he had another idea: commit a crime and get set up with a place to stay, food and doctors.
So it was that James Verone decided to become a criminal. He had never before been in any trouble with the law.
Now he hoped to be booked as a felon and held in prison where he could be treated for his physical afflictions.
Verone didn’t want to scare anyone. He executed the robbery the most passive way he knew how. He handed the teller a polite note demanding one dollar. He calmly told her he would sit in the visitors area and wait for the police. When they arrived, he went along with them quietly and peacefully.
Verone says he’s not a political man. But he has a lot to say on the subject of medical care. “If you don’t have your health you don’t have anything,” said Verone.

James had high hopes for his incarceration.
The ideal scenario would include back and foot surgery and a diagnosis and treatment of the protrusion on his chest.
Verone expected to be charged with bank robbery. He would serve a few years in prison and get out in time to collect Social Security and move to the beach.
But it wasn’t to be. Because he only demanded $1, he was charged with larceny from a person. The count doesn’t carry as much jail time as bank robbery.
The bearded, gray-haired man plans to represent himself in court. He wants to prepare a statement for the judge and then take whatever active sentence he is given.
Verone is considering an ultimatum if the penalty isn’t great enough, he said.
The crime will happen again.
Since Verone’s arrest, his $100,000 bond has been reduced to $2,000. He doesn’t intend to pay it. His residence is now the county jail.
He has no regrets about the robbery or where it landed him. “I did what I had to in order to stay alive” he said.

Wall Street Protesters Are Legitimate American Heroes
The media wants you to think of the kids who are protesting at Occupy Wall Street and similar protests as wacky hippie types. They have zeroed in on the more lurid aspects of this massive upheaval, without paying serious attention to what the protests are really all about.
The Republicans are trying to portray Occupy Wall Street as being cooked up by President Obama and the Democratic Party. The Dems express “solidarity” with the protesters, hoping to somehow scoop up another new clique of potential voters to add to their “rainbow coalition.” All of them are wrong. All of them are cynical parts of the same fucked up establishment which is actually the target of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
These kids are getting clubbed on the head and pepper-sprayed. They are frequently arrested. Their names are being added to the “no fly” list, meaning they can never board a commercial airline flight. They are not being paid to be there, and many of them are there at great personal cost. They are doing this because they believe that the problems which have sent this country into the second Great Depression have been caused by Wall Street, The Federal Reserve Bank, and our corporate system. In short, they are patriotic Americans, doing what Americans do when they see injustice. Not only do they have the right to protest, but, in this case, they are absolutely correct. They have accurately identified the guilty party, and stand outside it‘s doors demanding justice for all. Wall Street is responsible for what is wrong in America.
If you are among the very wealthy, the last thing you want to see is more jobs for working Americans. More jobs cause inflation. Inflation eats away at the fortunes of the rich. More jobs also drive wages higher, increasing costs and reducing corporate profits.
As long as unemployment remains high, inflation will stay under control. Wages will stay low, reducing labor costs for the huge corporations who make up the companies traded on Wall Street. With inflation under control, the cost of borrowing for giant corporations remains low, and they are able to borrow – while fewer and fewer Americans can even qualify for a car loan.
And if you think the kids at Occupy Wall Street are Democrats, think again. Effigies of Obama are seen in the marches. These kids know that neither political party is willing to challenge Wall Street. There are no significant political figures from either party out there representing the protesters. Not a single politician there. Don’t you think Jesse Jackson or Sarah Palin would be there, soaking up the media exposure, if they thought they could get away with it?
Politicians of both parties have found that they are unwelcome and unwanted.
Hurray for those kids! You guys are right, the politicians ARE all crooks!
Of course all of the leading conservatives defend the Wall Street elite. But so do all of the leading liberals, and President Obama is at the top of the list. His top campaign contributor is Goldman Sachs. He put a Citigroup executive in charge of his economic transition team, and named an executive of JP Morgan Chase as his chief of staff.  Then he appointed Timothy Geithner Secretary of the Treasury. Geithner arranged the bailouts of Bear Sterns and AIG and supervised the massive bank bailout program. Obama is working for the dark side. He might talk about jobs, but he isn’t going to do a damned thing to actually create employment.
The President and his administration claim there is a recovery going on. This is based on the fact that “productivity” continues to improve. It’s often called a “jobless recovery.”
What does it mean when they say productivity has improved? It simply means that the profit margins have gone up. In this case, labor and borrowing costs have gone down, driving up “productivity.” So corporations make more profits because labor and borrowing costs have gone down. That’s what we are supposed to believe is a recovery. What a pile of bullshit!
That’s why this alleged recovery benefits no one but the very wealthy. And that’s why the kids on Wall Street are absolutely correct in targeting Wall Street.
Virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street has been embroiled in truly obscene criminal scandals that have impoverished millions and destroyed trillions of dollars of the world’s wealth, yet nobody goes to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a wacky flamboyant pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other wealthy and famous people. And he was self-employed, neither an actual broker or banker.
The rest of them, all of them, have gotten off. Not a single executive who ran the companies that cooked up the scams involving the mass sale of fraudulent mortgage-backed securities has ever been convicted. Their names are familiar: AIG, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan, Chase Bank and Morgan Stanley. These firms were directly involved in fraud and theft. Lehman Brothers intentionally hid billions in loans from its investors. Bank of America lied about billions in bonuses to executives. Goldman Sachs failed to tell clients how it put together the toxic mortgage deals it was selling. None of the executives who committed these crimes have ever faced justice.  Instead, federal regulators and prosecutors have let the banks and brokerages that tried to burn the world economy to the ground get away with it.
In fact, they have been treated to trillions of dollars of OUR money in the bailout schemes by both the Bush and Obama regimes, effectively rewarding them for their thefts!
Every now and then, the federal government has “fined” someone.  What good is it to fine a billionaire who stole $100 million a trifling $25,000?  If you really want to make them do right, send a few of them off to an east Texas “Pound ‘em in the ass” prison!
But our government can’t do that, because Wall Street has taken control of our government, both parties, both houses, and the presidency. They have overthrown our republic with dollars stolen from we the people. No matter who wins the nominations of the two major parties, Wall Street will own the eventual winner. And they will press on to their goal: 30% unemployment.
At 30% unemployment, corporate financial experts say, the proper balance of productivity and demand is reached, and large corporations enjoy maximum “productivity.”
At 30% unemployment, “will work for food” is no longer a slogan, it is a way of life.
The Wall Street protesters are the only group in America who are actively fighting this agenda.
Because these Wall Street protesters are right, all good Americans should support them.
At least they have the courage to stand up for the truth. And it is clearly the truth.
All of us have watched as huge corporations have swallowed up American small businesses. We have watched as salaries, pensions, and employee benefits have shrunk. We have watched American jobs outsourced to foreign countries in the name of “productivity.”
We have changed presidents and parties, but the one thing which remains constant is that our government is supporting those who are stealing the very bread out of our children’s mouths.
The protesters on Wall Street are fed up. They refuse to go along with it anymore.
Because they are NOT politicized, they all have different ideas about how to fix the problem, but they all agree that there IS a problem, and that the heart of the beast is Wall Street.
They are paying the price because they want to see Americans take back our country from the criminal financial gangs who have taken it over, lock stock and barrel.
They are surely as deserving of the same kind of honor and respect from this country as any of those who have served in the defense of liberty from Thomas Payne until today.
They are soldiers fighting against the enemies of America. They do so without pay, and against impossible odds. They are American patriots driven by a thirst for justice.
A new generation of heroes has arisen in New York City. Long live the USA.