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To: SouthFloridaGuy who wrote (76122)	12/19/2006 5:16:36 PM
From: benwood	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

Kind of a moral quagmire, isn't it? Thomas Jefferson did not like slavery, yet kept slaves. It really is difficult for those in a position of power to give it up willingly because they have to give up what they believe themselves to be entitled to via their superior intellect and work ethic. And historically, those in power have the ability to increase their power, and so they do that. It's a positive feedback loop, albeit a very slowly changing one, and at some point, the screeching sound will blow our ears out. So it's yin and yang. You and the gang try to blow me up; the rest of us try to keep from being blown up. But we don't have gov't working for us, so it's rigged game. Most will get blown up.

To: SouthFloridaGuy who wrote (76122)	12/19/2006 5:58:37 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Respond to of 110194

Just playas, right? Mystery Surfaces Over Apartment of Kofi Annan By CLAUDIA ROSETT Special to the Sun December 19, 2006 As Secretary-General Annan prepares to leave his post at the United Nations, a mystery is surfacing surrounding his apartment on Roosevelt Island, subsidized by New York taxpayers, which is still in use by the family of his brother, Kobina Annan. The apartment was where Mr. Annan and his wife lived before 1997, when he became secretary-general. The Roosevelt Island home is part of an estate of low-rent state-regulated housing. For years, the Annans saved considerable sums by occupying an apartment meant to help financially strapped low- to moderate-income New York families. One question Mr. Annan has never addressed is why he and his wife felt comfortable availing themselves of this generous arrangement. Another is how it is that, since Mr. Annan and his wife left that Roosevelt Island apartment 10 years ago to move into the rent-free residence on Sutton Place supplied to the secretary-general, their former low-rent apartment was handed over to be occupied by the family of Mr. Annan's brother. This kind of apartment, part of a state-regulated housing development program called Mitchell-Lama, is subject to strict eligibility requirements, involving family size and financial ceilings on combined family income. There is also a requirement that the leaseholder make continuous use of the apartment as a primary residence. Kobina Annan is currently Ghana's ambassador to Morocco, a post he has held for some years. His wife, Ekua Annan, features in the Ghanaian and Moroccan press as active in the Rabat diplomatic community. The pair posed together at a gala reception they hosted at their official Morocco residence in 2004. No one is saying that any of the Annans have broken the law; the regulations for Mitchell-Lama housing allow a certain amount of flexibility once applicants have obtained a lease. But the issue is pertinent because Kofi Annan, whose wife comes from one of Sweden's wealthier families, has spent years lecturing Americans on how the well-heeled have obligations to those less fortunate. Those low- to moderate-income New York families for whom such accommodation was built face a four-year waiting list.

To: SouthFloridaGuy who wrote (76122)	12/20/2006 5:01:15 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Respond to of 110194

He didn't make that much. What do you think? he should at least get a low level ambassadorship...say Belize or some other backwater country they can use to launder money. Certainly didn't pull off a scam worthy of a Netherlands ambassadorship. FBR Founder Fined and Barred By Matthew Goldstein Wall Street Editor 12/20/2006 4:46 PM EST Click here for more stories by Matthew Goldstein Investment banker Emanuel Friedman, a co-founder and former chairman and CEO of Friedman Billings Ramsey (FBR - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating), is receiving a harsh penalty from securities regulators for his role in an improper insider trading scheme in a five-year-old private placement. The Securities and Exchange Commission jointly imposed a $1.2 million fine as part of settlement with Friedman, who resigned from the investment firm more than a year ago after it became clear regulators intended to bring an enforcement action against him and the firm he helped start. Friedman Billings is paying a $7.7 million penalty for its role in the improper trading affair. Friedman, who recently launched a new unregistered investment firm called EJF Capital, is barred from serving in a supervisory role for a brokerage firm for the next two years. The settlement with Friedman stems from a long-running investigation into allegations of improper short-selling by hedge funds and other traders in a so-called PIPE, or private investment in public equity, that raised $12 million for Compudyne (CDCY - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating), a small Maryland security firm. The Compudyne investigation arises from a two-year-old probe into improper trading in the $22 billion year market for PIPEs, which is a popular financing method for cash-strapped small companies. Friedman Billings arranged the PIPE deal for Compudyne and lined up hedge funds to buy the sharply discounted shares that the company was selling in order to raise capital. As the investment banker on the deal, Friedman Billings earned a fee in excess of $1.76 million dollars.