Punk icon Iggy Pop turns 60, dives off stage

And he’s reunited with the Asheton Brothers, both original members. Plus, they have a new CD out which, judging from reviews, still has the original fire.

Good.

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The SNP is expected to become the largest party in Soctland after the May 3 election. This has both Labour and the Tories in a dither because, you see, the SNP favors independence.

From the SNP manifesto:

The SNP believe Scotland and England should be equal nations – friends and partners - both free to make our own choices.

This has the British ruling class upset while the Scottish ruling class appears to be onboard. WSWS says the whole thing is Tartan Tories, a right-wing ploy cloaked in left-wing rhetoric while Red Squirrel says, let’s fight for real change.

We need to fight against the SNP’s vision of Scotland as a corporate tax haven and promote the idea of a socialist republic. If the Scottish people are to be mobilized in strong numbers against the British state, they must be offered something more than a smaller Britain with a nice fresh coat of tartan paint.

On May 3rd, the only alternative to job losses, pay cuts, public sector decay and environmental destruction on the ballot paper is the Scottish Socialist Party. After May 3rd, the only viable vehicle for the fight against both the British state and capitalism will remain the Scottish Socialist Party.

The SSP, who has six members in the Scottish parliament, also takes a considerably stronger line on independence, calling for -

A referendum on independence within twelve months, to give the people of Scotland the right to decide whether they want to remain part of the UK, or move towards an independent state with the power to pull Scottish troops out of Iraq, end dawn raids, and get rid of nuclear weapons.

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A Ponzi scheme that enriched the wealthy by recording nonexistent profits…

So how did it happen that so many Americans are at risk of losing their homes? It turns out that under Bush’s watch financial regulators changed the rules of what was considered acceptable business practice. Government regulations were rewritten to say it was okay for financial lenders to claim as revenue the amount of the highest payment option for the option ARMS even if the homeowner paid the lowest amount. The changes allowed mortgage holders to record huge profits on revenue that might never be realized. James Grant of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer wrote that the negative-amortization accounting is “frankly a fraudulent gambit. But what it lacks in morality, it compensates for in ingenuity.”

This was a deliberate, fraudulent transfer of money from the working class to the wealthy.

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My wife Sue is a forensic accountant and says such financial gyrations do not meet SEC requirements for recognizing revenue, SAB 101, to be exact.

She also asks, how did they get away with it???

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