Florida refuses to let Texas lead Nation in Assholeity

Creationism in the Classroom: Florida and Texas, Then the Nation

Polk County Unhappy with Darwin:


The Ledger: A majority of Polk County School Board members say they support teaching intelligent design in addition to evolution in public schools.

Board members Tim Harris, Margaret Lofton and Hazel Sellers said they oppose proposed science standards for Florida schools that lists evolution and biological diversity as one of the "big ideas" that students need to know for a well-grounded science education.

Board member Kay Fields said last week she wants intelligent design, which is promoted by some Christian groups, taught in science classes in addition to evolution.

"If it ever comes to the board for a vote, I will vote against the teaching of evolution as part of the science curriculum," Lofton said. "If (evolution) is taught, I would want to balance it with the fact that we may live in a universe created by a supreme being as well."

It's beginning to look a lot like exodus

Investors withdraw $1.2 bln from Florida fund: WSJ

(Reuters) - Investors promptly withdrew $1.2 billion in funds from Florida's local government investment pool after the fund had halted withdrawals for a week, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The investment pool, hit by subprime mortgage-related investments, now has about $10.8 billion in its main operating fund, compared with $27 billion in September, the Journal reported.

Like similar funds run by other states, the Florida Local Government Investment Pool was a short-term fund, similar to a money market fund, for school districts and other local governments to earn interest on cash holdings.

"He never knew what hit him"

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Florida's pension fund owns more than $1 billion of the same downgraded and defaulted debt that sparked a run on a state investment pool for local governments and led officials to freeze withdrawals, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News through an open records request.

Yakuza into mortgage fraud?

This is strong stuff -- have we proof?

Mortgage fraud has turned entire city neighborhoods and suburban developments into vagrant-riddled ghost towns. Block after block in many cities are vacant, due to real estate crime, sub-prime foreclosure and abandonment. As banks foreclose on many of these over-priced homes, the homes remain vacant because the phony appraisal don’t reflect their actual value and no one is going to buy a house encumbered with a loan, which exceeds its worth.



The government has active investigations on several high profile banking, mortgage and real estate organizations, and has set hundreds of crooked insiders to prison. According to a compilation of press releases from the United States Department of Justice and industry sources, the cases involve everything from phony title insurance to assigning phony ratings to shaky investment bonds, including an Indiana couple’s charge that a bank failed to follow specific Truth in Lending regulations.



Mortgage fraud is big business, especially for organized crime. Analysts claim that in Japan, the Yakuza is responsible for at least ten per cent of the nation’s mortgage fraud. Drug rings and organized crime have become so involved in mortgage fraud, that police officers in many metro areas are now concentrating on mortgage fraud and money laundering.