Which Western feminist icon are you?

You are bell hooks (no capital letters)! You were one of the first black wymyn to discuss in public spaces the differences between being a black womyn and being a black man or a white womyn. You are the mother of intersectionality and you couldn't care less about identity politics. Thanks for making feminism accessible and calling the white, middle class wymyn on their bullshit!



I am thrilled with my results! Thanks to Blue Lyon for the quiz!

Sterling guilty: stealing $278 million is only worth 5 years

Jack Sterling, convicted greedhead. Photo from WSPA-TV.


South Carolina Greedhead extraordinaire, Jack Sterling, gets to keep all his stolen booty, while the poor people he defrauded get... what? What do they get?

Some poor trailer park/ghetto kid holds up a liquor store for $200 and gets how many years? And this swine steals the life savings of 12,000 working people, and gets five years and is still free on bond.

God Bless America.

Sterling sentenced to 5 years in securities fraud case
By David Dykes • BUSINESS WRITER
March 6, 2009 • Greenville News

LEXINGTON -- Former HomeGold chairman Jack Sterling was sentenced to five years in prison today after a jury found him guilty on one count of securities fraud, marking the end of the state’s lengthy investigation into a financial collapse that cost 12,000 people, most from the Upstate, an estimated $278 million.

Sterling, 70, was the final defendant among six former HomeGold or Carolina Investors officers who were indicted by a state grand jury and prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office. All were either convicted or pleaded guilty.

Sterling will remain free on bond.

Sterling had been charged with two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

Attorney General Henry McMaster called the state investigation "the largest and most complex white-collar probe in South Carolina’s history."

McMaster said in a statement: "There were a total of six prosecutions in the Carolina Investors case. All six prosecutions were successful.

"Sadly, even a guilty verdict cannot undo the heartbreaking losses suffered by thousands of investors, many of whom saw their life-savings taken away. It is our hope that the success of these prosecutions and the resulting improvements to our securities laws will dissuade criminals from attempting to deceive the people of South Carolina."

The jury reached its decision after 13 hours of deliberation over three days, and Circuit Judge Edward Cottingham sentenced Sterling less than an hour later.

Sterling had no visible reaction as Cottingham gave the sentence, but a gasp was heard from his group of supporters.

Prosecutors had urged the judge to sentence Sterling to 10 years, the maximum for a count of securities fraud.

After 3 1/2 weeks of testimony, and a review of scores of exhibits, what emerged was a state portrait of Sterling as not only involved in the day-to-day operations of HomeGold after its merger, but involved to the point that he exercised control over the business.

At the same time, Sterling’s defense countered with its view that the longtime Greenville businessman was a chairman who was disengaged from the company’s daily business and others were at fault and to blame for the collapse of Pickens-based Carolina Investors, a HomeGold subsidiary.

Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Evans said in her closing argument that prosecutors worked to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Jack Sterling, is guilty of securities fraud through a scheme to defraud, that he is guilty of giving false information, directly or indirectly, to the (state) securities commission and he is involved in this conspiracy."

"This was a very complex case and lots of documents," Evans said. "But it really isn’t a complex case."

"It is a simple case and a simple answer," she told the jurors.

At issue, she said, "is whether or not the folks up in Pickens, the people at Carolina Investors, understood the whole truth about what was going on at HomeGold," and whether information was filtered through Sterling and others.

"We have not stood here since day one and said everything is on Jack Sterling," Evans said. "We told you at the beginning of this trial that this was a conspiracy case and this was a scheme that involved several different people. But every person played a role in this."

She said it was clear the Carolina Investors securities holders "absolutely" didn’t know about the safety of their investments.

Sterling, she said, played "a very, very important role" as a director of HomeGold and Carolina Investors.

"We’re not here to argue whether or not he’s a good man, whether or not he has a good family, whether or not he has a good heart," Evans said.

In this case, there were "several omissions" of key information to Carolina Investors’ board and the company’s note holders and "an omission is the equivalent of a lie" under securities fraud laws, Evans said.

It was Sterling’s fiduciary duty to give "full and accurate disclosure," Evans said.

Instead, Sterling "purposely" kept information from the Carolina Investors directors to avoid "a run on the bank," Evans said.

Sterling’s fingerprints, Evans said, were "all over everything."

Asked by Evans under cross-examination if he met with Sheppard after the collapse, and told him, "if we just tell everybody it was just business, we’ll all be OK," Sterling testified, "I remember the meeting. I don’t remember that comment."

"You remember the meeting, but you don’t remember saying, ‘if we all stick to this, it’s just business, we’ll all be OK?’" Evans asked.

"No," Sterling testified. "What I do remember mostly about that meeting is Mr. Sheppard telling me how well EMMCO was going, but he was concerned about his lending sources being affected by the collapse of HomeGold. That’s what our primary conversation was."

Asked if he expected other Carolina Investors or HomeGold officials such as Larry and Anne Owen, Lt. Gov. Earle Morris Jr., Karen Miller and Sheppard to plead guilty or be convicted by a jury, and subsequently cooperate with state investigators, Sterling testified, "Not only did I not expect it, but I had no idea that the people you just named were guilty and had been lying to investors."

Sterling testified he was a member of the HomeGold and Carolina Investors boards, and was HomeGold’s chairman until June 2002.

He invested $2 million in HomeGold stock, watched the value increase to more than $16 million, but ultimately lost his investment, he testified.

Sterling testified that in hindsight, he would have done things differently at HomeGold.

He and other company officials made mistakes and the result was "some good people lost their money," Sterling testified.

But he testified that in 1998, when HomeGold’s net worth began evaporating and it started losing money, and in subsequent years, repaying investors was "the constant thing in our minds."

At one point, Sterling’s attorney, Bart Daniel, asked him, "Did you ever, Mr. Sterling, lie, cheat or steal while you were at Carolina Investors or HomeGold?"

"No, sir, I did not," Sterling testified.

Sterling’s attorneys argued that as a member of the boards of HomeGold and Carolina Investors during periods of financial difficulties, Sterling participated with other directors and relied on outside auditors and lawyers, including the Wyche law firm in Greenville, to provide guidance to senior management for the benefit of shareholders and investors.

Several current or former members of the Wyche firm testified as defense witnesses and described their review of regulatory filings, business transactions, investors’ prospectus and press releases.

Defense attorneys alleged it was Sheppard, not Sterling, who was primarily responsible for HomeGold’s collapse since as CEO Sheppard replaced nearly all of Sterling’s management team and took control the company’s operations.

They said others, such as former HomeGold chief financial officer Karen Miller, were part of the conspiracy that led to the collapse of Carolina Investors.

Sheppard is serving a 20-year prison term for his conviction on various charges.

Miller, who testified for three days for the prosecution, is awaiting sentencing for her guilty plea to conspiracy in filing misleading reports with the SEC and withholding key information from Carolina Investors board members.

True justice: when they are forced to PAY PEOPLE BACK WHAT THEY STOLE. WITH INTEREST.

And if they can't? Bankruptcy. No nice cars and vacation homes for Sterling, Miller, Sheppard, the Owenses, etc.

Jail is NOT good enough for these greedy pigs.

The place where nobody can follow

In a sense sickness is a place, more instructive than a trip to Europe. It's always a place where there's no company, where nobody can follow.

--Flannery O'Connor

~*~

Julie of Modern Mitzvot wrote some great stuff about her back problems and attendant pain, and I identified so strongly. I started this post as a blog comment on the thread (at Alas, a blog), and was eventually embarrassed by the length and overall narcissism of it... so I am printing it here instead and tracking back. (Narcissism IS acceptable on my own blog, after all!)

~*~

Julie's original post, titled About My Body.

This is some great writing, Julie. I think the process you describe mirrors aging very well, too. (you've had something of a crash course)

When I broke my leg, the person who "rescued" me thought I'd also broken my wrist because of the way I'd tried to break my fall with my hand ... I was in so much pain from the "sprained ankle" (I didn't know my tibia was actually broken until the X-ray, about a week later) that I hardly noticed.

Now the leg is healed, but a small bone/ligament in my left thumb is inflamed, and apparently, I broke that too but just never knew it. (My doctor says this happens all the time in injuries--people often don't notice the "smaller" injury until much later.)

So, I never healed properly and it keeps getting re-injured with every new move. In short, it now hurts like the proverbial motherfucker. (I open boxes and put stuff on shelves every day and thumbs are necessary.) The joint is now HUGE and swollen; and I am reminded of Sissy Hankshaw in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues--which is not a pleasant thought at all.

Just letting you know, I am with you.

I have recently passed into another place, wherein I don't really consider myself able-bodied now. There is just too much, taken together...thyroid disease, arthritis, high cholesterol, and now my Sissy Hankshaw thumb. I am supposed to go get some immobilizing-brace for my wrist and thumb, but after wearing a leg-cast for so long, I am self-conscious about still another thing going wrong with me. It makes me appear vulnerable and calls attention to my age, in a job market in which older workers are getting left behind. I try to look energetic and "happy" on my job, since we are "selling a lifestyle" and all that shit: I feel pressure in the health supplement industry to always appear healthy. Since it's a job in which people are always talking about their health, I am duly questioned about mine, when there are many times (like now) that I'd rather not answer. The overall sentiment seems to be: well, if you know so much about supplements, why are you falling apart? Aging is inevitable and people are in denial about that, as well as in denial about disability-as-part-of-life in general... I recently had a seemingly-reasonable, middle-class, educated woman very seriously and sagely inform me that cerebral palsy could be cured by detoxification and raw foods.

Ohhh, good God.

Thus, I am also coming to terms with the concept that my business can be oppressively intolerant of illness and ableist... it's like when I came to terms with the fact that my religion could be and has been oppressive. Just because I have a positive approach, certainly does not mean everyone in the business does, and that is also depressing to finally confront and accept.

Julie writes:

And I keep wondering if the whole sprain/strain thing is just a smokescreen anyway - if the problem is something completely different and has gone untreated. What if the doctors aren’t taking me seriously because I’m a woman? What if they think I’m lying?

I think what you are describing is an intersectionality, in these days of Feminist Blogdonia discussing intersectionalities: Ableism and ageism meets sexism. The very idea that a young, lovely, middle-class graduate student like yourself could have anything going awry physically? I mean, how could that be? It just doesn't fit the whole prescribed template for your life. You are going outside the boundaries, and whoever does that in our society is summarily punished for it.

This is part and parcel of the same wholesale cultural denial at the heart of eating disorders: But wait, she can't be sick, she is beautiful!!!! Confronting this fact leads to an unwelcome confrontation with WHAT we consider beautiful in our culture; beauty can co-exist with SICKNESS and DETERIORATION. (And what does that tell us about beauty standards?)

Julie writes:

But the core of the issue is that I’m afraid I’m making this up. I’m afraid it’s all in my head. Why didn’t I think to go to the ER that night in my boyfriend’s apartment? I’d known other people who’d gotten quick injections for back spasms; in fact, one of them was standing over me, offering to carry me to the bathroom. Obviously it was because deep down, I was just pretending. Why can I still not wrap my head around the idea that this pain is real?

Because of all of the above. How can this be happening to you, when you are a mainstream person? Our ableist culture teaches us that this is an exceptional, weird thing... when in fact it is normal and average. Pain is part of life--as Buddha said, life is suffering. Somewhere along the line, Western Civ decided pain was an anomaly, or evil, or punishment, probably because it was USED to inflict punishment. Pain is stigmatized, it often renders people poor. Bad luck.

And you have always had pretty good luck, so how can this happen to you? WE ARE AMERICANS, goddammit, everything is supposed to be easy. When it isn't, we feel cheated and angry. We are socialized that way. (And that is another intersectionality, Western culture: the Wild-West stoicism that leaves the sick dog by the side of the road to be eaten by coyotes while the wagon-train continues westward.)

I just want to know why I lack the courage to admit that it hurts, to ask someone to listen and help.

On some intuitive level, I think you know that this admission brings about contempt and judgment in people, and you want to avoid this. Like the raw foods lady, the endless yammerings about "what you should do" never let up. People judge. They are afraid, so they create distance instead of connection.

I want to create connection, so I am sending my virtual ((hugs)) to Julie, and anyone else out there who is experiencing physical pain.

Yes, it does hurt, but it also proves that we are alive, awake and aware of our bodies.

By necessity, and in spite of ourselves.

ZANY SEARCH TERMS--ongoing fun for all

As promised, the ever-ongoing ZANY SEARCH TERMS thread! (Part I here)

During the past few weeks, these particular search terms were used on various search engines, primarily Google and Yahoo, to find this blog.

(Feel free to add your own from your own blog, if you have one!)

~*~

vegetarian octuplets on TV

Is Bob Jones dead?

Aztec fleas

Albert Hoffman bicycle ride speech acid

cause of death alcohol poison in my house without my knowledge do I still consider liable

daisy won't hold hot air

misfile comic porn

myrtle beach biker rally all fucked up now

new york times Jessica simpson cartoon sorry tony, i found someone else ronald mcdonald

Lindsey Graham evil

jackson browne & merovian kings

Meredith Kercher bloody hair in hand

I need to know exactly why Bob Dylan and Sarah broke up!

Alabama man gets attacked by ex-girlfriend with a crochet needle

Was John Updike on antidepressants?

allen ginsburg gender neutral pronoun

high fructose corn syrup commercial brothers actors

bethenny frankel fucks cab driver

can you recycle cat shit?

what is implied by the comments regarding daisy and tom and the secret society to which they belong*

Grateful Dead blogs with sense and sensibility

Daisy Duck blowjobs

"he hit me and it felt like a kiss"

porn stars crying

tarot reading in south by old Christian woman ONLY


--


*apparently a GREAT GATSBY question

In this life, one thing counts, in the bank, large amounts...

Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel in GONE WITH THE WIND, for which McDaniel won an Oscar, the first for an African-American.


Discussion question:

What do we do about works of art that engage in harmful stereotyping, but we don't want to get rid of the art?

I have included one example below, for no other reason than it was the example that started me thinking--and because it's on Turner Classic Movies today. Whether you think this musical necessarily constitutes great art, is not where I want to go with this. I chose this for the example of stereotyping, in this case, pretty blatant antisemitism. What is pertinent is that this movie got the Oscar for Best Picture (1968) and is a staple of mass-culture; the musical OLIVER! is also performed by high-schools and small-town theater groups throughout the land.

It is also notable that the movie was based on the novel OLIVER TWIST by Charles Dickens, still widely read and circulated. Also notable is that the (Jewish) actor who plays Fagin (Ron Moody) was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor, and won a Golden Globe award. (For all of the talk of Jews running Hollywood, can anyone explain that?)

In this discussion, we could also add such mass-culture staples as (of course) GONE WITH THE WIND and John Ford's numerous John Wayne-kicks-Indian-butt movies. I love THE SEARCHERS, but I have very mixed feelings about loving it. (I am smart enough to know that if I were Native American, I would NOT love it.)

What about old movies/plays that display severe sexism? I am terribly partial to (example) the old Doris Day movie THE THRILL OF IT ALL. Doris really shows herself to be a first-class comedienne, and brings down the house. But by the end, would-be career-mom is dutifully chastened, quits her job and goes back to being James Garner's obedient wifey, and my blood just boils. But until this happens? The movie is funny and very good.

(sigh)

And so, what's a mother to do? And indeed, as a movie-addict, I always wanted to show my daughter these movies, but felt like I had to conduct a freaking political seminar every time.

Okay, at the risk of offending, here are the OLIVER! clips... And to make it worse, I just love this, too. (There, I admitted it.)

But I have guilt for loving it. Does that count?

WARNING: DO NOT WATCH IF YOU WILL BE OFFENDED. FAGIN IS AN ANTISEMITIC STEREOTYPE. Even the music (by Lionel Bart, also Jewish) is designed to "sound Jewish"--as Fagin's hat is also an obvious reference to his station in life. In the novel, Dickens actually referred to Fagin as "a merry Jew"--but the movie never does, using these cultural symbols instead. (And as always, there is Fagin's obsession with money.)



Check out Ron Moody's fabulous singing and dancing in this one. (Watch how the boys salute the flag as they leave; I just love that.) Moody made no apologies for playing the role.



What is your guilty pleasure? Yes, we all have them. Don't fib to me! :P

What can we do about this situation? Any ideas? Just continue the endless political seminars?

Okay, consider this post as one.