And why, you might ask, actually the obvious:

Who Blew Whistle on Wasteful Spending

Attorney General Brown Shuts Down Mortgage Scam Artists
Yesterday, the Los Angeles Superior Court, at the request of the attorney general, froze all the companies’ real estate and bank accounts and enjoined them from engaging in further predatory practices. .. In the coming weeks, Brown intends to bring additional legal actions, both civil and criminal, against other mortgage lenders and foreclosure consultants who are taking advantage of homeowners across California.

[Also see: Marcia Coyle/NLJ: Subprime-Related Filings in Federal Court Increase Dramatically].

char·i·ty
–noun, plural -ties.
1. generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless: to devote one's life to charity.
2. something given to a person or persons in need; alms: She asked for work, not charity.
3. a charitable act or work.
4. a charitable fund, foundation, or institution: He left his estate to a charity.
5. benevolent feeling, esp. toward those in need or in disfavor: She looked so poor that we fed her out of charity.

The story by Mike Corder of the Associated Press over on My Way (via TruthOut) began simply enough:

The Hague, Netherlands - The war crimes trial of Charles Taylor, Liberia's former president, heard its first testimony Monday and saw video of victims telling of being sexually assaulted or dismembered by rebels who plundered West African diamond fields.

[Emphasis mine.]

That one sentence got me thinking, particularly when I saw the term sexually assaulted.

Not to play down the other horrors like amputation that the victims underwent, but -- sexual assaults mentioned in the same sentence as "war crimes trial" caught my attention.

I originally posted this commentary on 2007-12-31 13:09:47 and since then, there seems to be a theme of greed running thru the site ...

Jamess brought us Maybe "Greed is not Good" and Nick Benton's Corner posted by Carol White As the Era of Greed Ends ...

AFP: Ex-CIA agent admits waterboarding, but calls it torture

Kiriakou said the method broke Zubaydah -- one of the first top Al-Qaeda suspects captured after the September 11, 2001 attacks -- in less than 35 seconds, according to ABC."

Here's the thing that nags: At this point any information released to the press by "ex-CIA" personnel of any stripe are extremely suspect (being kind). The only indisputable fact here is that waterboarding is torture, and is therefore illegal under domestic and international law.

ABC scores a direct miss. Another "Curveball" outside the zone.
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MSNBC/AP: Top Dem threatens to abandon budget talks

Obey said . . he would rip up the compromise bill and devise a new one using the strict spending ceiling set by Bush - but would reach it by whacking GOP priorities and stripping the measure of billions of dollars in pet projects for lawmakers in both parties

Not a good thing to piss off Obey-Wan. You'da thunk the Empire woulda figured that out by now.
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