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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: average joe who wrote (38523)	7/2/2013 8:45:05 PM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

"The Greatest Book Ever Sold": One looks back to the exchange of money & trade, lending/repayment of debt, its quite the development in human urban cultural evolution & preeminently ties to religion. Money is a language of its own that is universal but no more the root of all evil than language itself & the study of linguistics that even transcends religion. Here's the Mathew verses about Jesus parable concerning the forgiving of debt, this is truely something borrowed from earlier wisdoms, most assuredly Greek & perhaps Judaic. That any country loving but angry preacher might have given a similar talk or that this wasn't often a chief concern among the people, that of the gov't tax collectors, masters & landlords, they had them all then too.

To: average joe who wrote (38523)	7/2/2013 8:59:30 PM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

I have yet to come across anything in the New Testement (sorry bout the spelling!) that is even slightly original, its uncanny that people read it & cannot see all the borrowed elements but their eyes are fixed on how to get into imaginary heaven by forgiving debt. Parables & moral storytelling that would already have been around for some centuries already, the formula for heavenly ascension & avoiding the big dark firey furnace down below. Here's the passages on debt & forgiving debt, sounds like monetary Karma to me? Sure had a great influence on the history of trade & banking as we see. We could imagine more than a few country preachers having this story up in their top ten list repertoires, debt & repayment of debt was the universal burden we see today. The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

To: average joe who wrote (38523)	7/2/2013 9:40:46 PM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

Business As Not Unusual: HSBC's $1.9B settlement with the U.S. to resolve claims related to laundering drug cartel-related money has been approved by a federal judge, reports Bloomberg. Reference Link The bank, Europe’s largest, agreed to pay a $1.25 billion forfeiture and $665 million in civil penalties under the settlement, prosecutors said in December. At a hearing that month, Gleeson told prosecutors there had been “publicized criticism” of the agreement, which lets the bank and management avoid further criminal proceedings over the charges. Continued Supervision Gleeson said he will continue supervising implementation of the deal, under which the bank agreed not to contest criminal charges of failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program, failing to conduct due diligence, and violating the Trading With the Enemy Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Lack of proper controls allowed the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico and the Norte del Valle cartel in Colombia to move more than $881 million through HSBC’s U.S. unit from 2006 to 2010, the government alleged. The bank also reduced resources for its anti-money-laundering programs to “cut costs and increase profits,” the government said in court filings. Under a deferred prosecution agreement, the government allows a target to avoid charges by meeting certain conditions - - including the payment of fines or penalties -- and by committing to specific reforms. ‘Significant’ Terms In his order today, Gleeson called the terms of the HSBC agreement, including the forfeiture and the bank’s admission of wrongdoing, “significant.” “Indeed, taking into account the fact that a company cannot be imprisoned, it appears to me that much of what might have been accomplished by a criminal conviction has been agreed to in the DPA,” Gleeson wrote. HSBC spokesman Rob Sherman said in an e-mailed statement that the bank remains focused on implementing the conditions of the agreement. “Since 2011, we have taken extensive actions to put in place the highest standards to protect against current and emerging threats from financial crime,” Sherman said. “While we are making good progress, there is much more to do, and ensuring the highest standards wherever we do business is an ongoing process.” Christina B. Dugger, first assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, declined to comment on Gleeson’s decision.