U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

NEW YORK, NY, December 14, 2011 — One Step At A Time Counseling Service has been selected for the 2011 Best of Johnstown Award in the Divorce Counseling & Mediation category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2011 USCA Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a New York City based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising. The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America. SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association

Cindi Rieb is a psychotherapist who grew up in a small town in Wyoming. She moved to Denver in 1977 and graduated from Regis University   where she obtained both her Bachelor and Master degrees in Counseling Psychology.

In January 2010, she moved to Johnstown, and opened a private counseling practice. One Step At A Time Counseling Service, in downtown Johnstown.  She provides caring and professional counseling services to adults, children, couples and families using individual or group therapy.

She is a former board member for the Domestic Violence Offender Management Board (DVOMB) and a current member of both the American Counseling and Colorado Counseling Associations.

Jeanette Meyer, Principal, Meyer and Associates at RE/MAX Alliance has earned the Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®) designation, the benchmark of excellence for representing buyers of residential property.

This coveted designation is awarded by the Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council (REBAC), an affiliate of the National Association of REALTORS®, to real estate practitioners who meet the specified educational and practical experience criteria.

Meyer has owned and operated Meyer Property, Inc. a residential real estate firm since 2001. She is licensed with RE/MAX Alliance and may be reached at 970.481.9340, or jmeyer@remax.net.  The company website is www.meyerproperty.com.

Federal Judge Jed S. Rakoff was not pleased with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed settlement with Citigroup. Citigroup violated previous agreements, lied to its customer about the mortgage bonds they were selling and bet against the bonds. Citigroup’s customers lost $700 million while the bank made a profit of $160 million. The SEC was willing to let Citigroup off with no admission of wrong doing and what the judge considered to be an inadequate fine.

The two articles on the subject disagree on the amount of the fine and both are listed to provide a range of opinion.

Finally, a Judge Stands up to Wall Street

By Matt Taibbi

Federal judge Jed Rakoff, a former prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s office here in New York, is fast becoming a sort of legal hero of our time. He showed that again yesterday when he shat all over the SEC’s latest dirty settlement with serial fraud offender Citigroup, refusing to let the captured regulatory agency sweep yet another case of high-level criminal malfeasance under the rug.

The SEC had brought an action against Citigroup for misleading investors about the way a certain package of mortgage-backed assets had been chosen. The case is very similar to the notorious Abacus case involving Goldman Sachs, in which Goldman allowed short-selling billionaire John Paulson (who was betting against the package) to pick the assets, then told a pair of European banks that the “designed to fail” package they were buying had been put together independently. Read More  

Judge Unloads on Deal SEC Struck With Citi

By Chad Bray

A federal judge sharply questioned the Securities and Exchange Commission about why it didn’t force Citigroup Inc. to admit to “what the facts are” before the agency agreed to settle a mortgage-bond case for $285 million.

During an hour-long hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, an outspoken critic of the SEC’s approach to securities-fraud settlements, challenged the SEC on why the regulator allowed Citigroup to settle the case using boilerplate language in which it neither admits or denies wrongdoing.

“Why does that make any sense in this context?” the judge said.

He also pointed out that the SEC—which had sued and reached settlements with Citigroup in the past for alleged bad behavior—hasn’t pursued contempt charges when the bank, or other financial firms, has violated previous settlements by subsequently breaking federal securities laws. The SEC said at the hearing that Citigroup has violated prior agreements twice in the past decade.

“It’s just for show. We don’t ever intend to use it?” the judge said, referring to the SEC’s request, as part of the settlement, for an order barring Citigroup from future violations of federal securities laws. Read More        

Murdoch’s Post Declares War on OWS

This week, the media magnate’s notorious New York tabloid ran three consecutive covers that together branded Wall Street protesters as lazy, vicious beasts. Salon suggests the insults probably mean the occupiers are doing something right.

Wednesday’s cover featured a now discredited story about a Wall Street cafe letting workers go after occupiers hindered business. On Thursday, an indignant editorial demanded that Mayor Michael Bloomberg throw the protesters out. Friday’s issue spotlighted an angry, brawling homeless man.

Soon, perhaps, the Post will send a reporter out to talk to the people who are working to practice democracy, feed the homeless and build sustainable electricity, waste disposal and water-collection systems inside the park. But don’t count on it. —READ MORE

Meltdown is a four-part investigation into a world of greed and recklessness that brought down the financial world. Beginning with the 2008 crash that pushed 30 million people into unemployment, brought countries to the edge of insolvency and turned the clock back to 1929, it moves on to examine the epidemic of fear that caused the world’s banks to stop lending and how the people began their fight back. Finally, it asks how the world can prepare for the next crisis even as it recognises that this one is far from over.

A global financial tsunami

How an epidemic of fear caused the world’s major banks to stop lending, triggering protests and industrial action. View video here.

]]> http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/10/26/meltdown-episode-2/feed/ 0 http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/10/26/occupy-the-world/ http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/10/26/occupy-the-world/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:37:48 +0000 admin http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/?p=24932 Are we becoming a police state. The scene of armed police in riot gear confronting unarmed protestors of the Occupy Denver protest was a chilling sight. It must have been a frightening experience for the protestors.

Use of government force against protestors is nothing new in the United States. From the Boston Tea Party to Civil Rights Marches to antiwar protests to the Occupy protests of today, protest is a common occurrence in our society.

The use of force against protestors is also common. The Whiskey Rebellion was one of the first protests over taxation and armed forces were sent to deal with the rebellious farmers. In the aftermath of WWI thousands of veterans assembled in Washington DC in the Spring and Summer of 1932, The protesters, known as the Bonus Army,  demanded payment for their services. Two veterans were shot and killed by DC police and President Hoover ordered the army to clear the camp. Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by tanks that drove the veterans out. The violence of the Civil Rights Movement is well documented and events such as the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970 shocked the nation. Protesting and violence are nothing new to the United States. According to Occupy Denver their supporters are still the subject of Denver Police abuse: UPDATE: DPD raids squat, support needed. If this account is true, apparently the First Amendment Constitutional rights of American citizens are not allowed in Denver, perhaps not in Colorado.

In Governor Hickenloopers Defense he was being pressured by a Republican Attorney General and Republican State Senator Greg Brophy READ HERE. It is unlikely that these Republicans would have been so quick to condemn this group if they had been Tea Party Activists.  Robert Bowen in his article “The empire strikes back: Police evict protestors,” is sympathetic to the governor.

Senator Brophy referred to them as a bunch of hippies and compared them to drunk drivers. This is not unusual. Liberal blogger David Pakman wrote in this month’s column that the mainstream media, beholden to the corporate interests for advertising, do not give much favorable coverage to “anti-corporate” protestors. It is not until they can be reported on in a way that reflects unfavorably that the mainstream media gets involved. Read Pacmans column The media knowledge gap.

A Google search confirms Pacman’s observations, most of the hits contain negative comments and The Rasmussen Report survey shows most of its respondents see the Occupy movement in a negative way.

What are the protestors upset about?  High unemployment at a time when corporate profits are at an all time high and wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low.  See the charts that explain the anger at “Here Are The Four Charts That Explain What The Protestors Are Angry About…”  Apparently that is not enough for the corporate moguls as they want to be freed of all regulation so that they can make even more profit while being able to pollute the earth without being fettered by organizations like the EPA. Does anyone remember Love Canal? Is that what we want to go back to?

The conservatives decry the protestors as ignorant and greedy when it has been greed by the moneyed class that has gotten us into this mess. Read “Meltdown” to see who and what. The Tea Party and its pandering candidates seem to want to do away with the middle class and for good measure, the unions. It was, after all, the unions that created the middle class by demanding a reasonable share of the profits made from their labor. The odd thing about the corporate benefactors of our politicians, is that they do not realize that the middle class is also the consumer who buys the products and services that create the wealth for them. If you don’t believe that, then you should visit a country like Ecuador where there is only a small middle class. With no middle class, there is only a small market for products. With no market there are no profits and the downward spiral will continue and everyone, including the 1%, lose.

Will the ‘Occupy” movement be sustainable. Only time will tell but for the present it is growing as seen in “Occupy Wall Street goes global.”

The Occupy Denver movement vows to continue with a march this Saturday. Details are available at occupydenver.org. If you want to help and support the protest, look at their Needs and Requests page.

The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) has elected its Oct. 2011-Oct. 2012 officers for the Northern Colorado Chapter:

Duane Younger, President

Chris Engel, Vice President

Chris Elliot, Treasurer

Scott Ternasky, Secretary

ASHI was the first organized home inspector organization in the country, its members provide services to homeowners buying and selling a home. The local chapter’s web site: www.ncc-ashi.org. Call Public Relations Chair Dave Byers, 206 440-9388, if you have any questions.

Loveland Reporter-Herald

Loveland KFC on Lincoln Avenue will close doors Friday night

By Madeline Novey

LOVELAND — Debbie Mestas is sad to say goodbye today to the many loyal customers and friends she has met while working at the KFC restaurant on North Lincoln Avenue. Read More