Post by kranker on Dec 10, 2005 17:15:25 GMT -4
The author of the February 8, 2005 Washington Post advertisement , wrote a personal letter to all members of the CMKX Community Board. That letter appears below,
A Post From Bob O'Brien of NCANS to the CMKX Community Board
I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with "Senna" yesterday at some length about the efforts of NCANS and the attempt we are making to create awareness of the issues surrounding illegal market manipulation, including the very clear and present danger of naked shorting. You're very fortunate to have thoughtful, articulate guys like him on your board. He gets it. Too many don't, or figure it's not their problem, or hope that someone else will do the heavy lifting to make the system right itself.
A little history. I use a pseudonym, Bob O'Brien, because I have legitimate concerns about my safety. Those on the other side of this game have billions at stake, and they don't like my existence. Not one bit. And they shouldn't. I'm turning out to be their worst living nightmare. But that carries risk. I accept the risk, but don't openly court danger. Hence the moniker. If that's a problem, put a bulls-eye on your own chest and see how it feels, how well you sleep, how your family enjoys imminent peril. You'll understand pretty quickly why my attorneys advised me to stay anonymous as long as possible.
I started the www.nfi-info.net website a year and a half or so ago, when it became obvious to me that the Yahoo message boards were being clogged by those who wanted to stifle any meaningful dialog. I wanted to memorialize the better posts and the collective wisdom of that board's elders in a forum that was random access, and not the contiguous stream of consciousness that is the nature of a thread on a board. Out of that effort developed a deeper appreciation for the size and scope of the threat that the predators who prey on smaller companies pose. The financial markets, in my opinion, represent a vital source of liquidity and growth for early stage companies - companies that will develop, in their most fortunate instances, into the next Dells and Ebays and Microsofts and such. The basis of the unwritten agreement between these companies and the investors who speculate in the markets is that there is an even playing field - if you get it right, and do your homework, and you find the next Genentech, you will be rewarded, and the company will benefit from an increase in their pps.
In 1929, this country faced an economic catastrophe of panoramic proportions, which ultimately plunged us into a Depression that was only ended by cranking up the engine of war, and later rebuilding most of the rest of the world. That crash of '29 was exacerbated by naked shorting - there was literally no barrier to shorting a stock into the ground. An entire county's financial system came face to face with collapse so that a few financial predators could make fortunes off of others' misery. Their avarice destroyed a generation's prosperity, and plunged the country into a period of darkness and collective misery unseen before or since. Fortunes were destroyed, and fortunes made. The bad guys won that round.
In 1933, the SEC was formed through an act of Congress, as a mechanism to address the imbalances and abuses that had occurred -? the idea was that it would never again happen here. Laws were written, and then rules promulgated, to ban practices that had contributed to the ruin of a nation's prosperity. One of the first things to be stamped out was naked shorting. And for good reason. Used by malevolent forces whose unbridled greed knew no bounds, naked shorting could destroy honest companies, and destroy the many employed by them.
Those rules were thoughtfully crafted, and were well thought out. They were necessary and sufficient, and they worked, when enforced.
Fast forward to 2005. The rules have been un-enforced for a decade or more. Thousands of companies have been destroyed, and their innovations forever lost – innovations that well might have saved lives, improved them, or brought comfort or safety to many, as well as profits to their investors, stoking the engine of commerce that is the requisite of lasting prosperity. Our regulators are not enforcing the rules that were so carefully crafted, and again the wolf rules the pasture, undeterred by any consequences from an uncaring policing system that lacks the spine to put a stop to the abuses. Cynical rules that have no teeth, and lack even an appearance of the necessary penalties, are passed with fanfare, and then immediately flouted by those that pull the strings and make the figureheads dance.
This cannot continue. Our sitting administration has a bill to privatize a portion of SS and enable investment in the markets – the same markets where millions have lost their retirements and their life savings to those that violate the rules with impunity. The position of NCANS is that this is not an option, and that in order to have even a shot of passing, the very real and clear abuse of the system by a select group in NY needs to stop, now, for good.
If our regulators won't do their job, then we have to raise awareness to the point that our political leaders clamp down and force them to.
This is, first and foremost, a regulatory problem. The laws exist to stop the abuse – but someone has to enforce the law. And it isn't being done.
That is unacceptable.
We live in a country that prides itself as being a beacon of hope and a model for others. We hold ourselves up as a better mousetrap, and our conceit is that we are in fact better, morally, ethically, systemically. We look at what we consider to be backwater banana republics, and ridicule or are horrified by the graft and corruption endemic to their systems. And yet when you peel the onion on our financial market, you see a den of thieves, decay and defilement that would make the most larcenous rug merchant blush. An entire nation is being cheated, daily, so that some scumbag in Manhattan can get a bigger house in the Hamptons or a new interior for his Gulfstream or buy this year's Maybach.
That isn't right.
NCANS has gotten a lot of donations from retirees, from grandparents, from people on fixed incomes who were apologetic that they could only send in $50 or $100. These are people that are so sick of being abused, so angry, so disenfranchised, that they felt that sending money to an unknown voice on a message board was better than being abused without a hearing. Their reward was a full-page ad in the Washington Post that stopped traffic, and has created news. I have done at least 15 interviews last week as a result of the ad, and was fortunate enough to engender the support of men like Dr. Patrick Byrne, men of intestinal fortitude, who recognize that they can make a difference, and appreciate when they see a cause that is just, a problem that needs fixing. This is rapidly becoming a big story, and the little guy is now starting to be heard.
For the last few years people like David Patch have worked on sites like investigatethesec.com in order to document the injustice – with limited success, due to financial factors, as well as being in the right place at the wrong time.
This time is different. We are in the right place at the right time. We are creating a groundswell, and we are making a mark, starting to make a difference. The powers that be don't like that, and are attacking me personally, as well as the organization, as well as Dr. Byrne. They are doing that because there are billions in the balance, and they are, for the first time, afraid. And they should be. In one week, their entire scheme has been threatened by an unknown. They don't like it when the dog sits up on its hind legs and barks at them. They'd like us all to just be quiet, continue to be fleeced, and let them get on with the business of stealing our future from us.
I would like to ask each and every one of you on this board to do three things:
First, understand that individuals absolutely can make a difference. I'm just an individual. So are you. I've already been able to start making a difference. So can you. Go to the www.NCANS.net website and join the organization. There is no cost to doing so, other than a commitment to do your part, whatever it may turn out to be, to make an effort to change things. Maybe send emails, maybe write letters, maybe lobby to media outlets to cover the story. I don't know. But something will occur to you, if you put your mind to it.
Second, make a donation to support an ongoing ad campaign to keep this in our politicians' faces. They need to understand this won't go away, that our resolve is firm, and that we are not going to take this anymore. And we are willing to put our money where our mouths are. I did. Dr. Byrne did. I'll continue to. So will Dr. Byrne. But we need you. Every dollar counts. I will be approaching corporate sponsors to help with this, but at the end of the day, it's our problem - if we want something done, we need to put our backs into it, and that includes coughing up some cash to keep the message a the forefront of our nation's consciousness. They need to understand that this is an issue that is here to stay, and that we require a solution, and will continue to make a stink until they enforce the law, and further eliminate the wholesale pardon of lawlessness that the Reg SHO "grandfathering" of all violations up until January 7 represents. This is not negotiable.
Third, take action. Spread the word to other sites, to other investors, to companies that you think will be interested in supporting NCANS. Write your elected representatives. Write your newspaper, to reporters you like, to television and radio stations. I'm available to speak to anyone from the press or public offce that wants to discuss the issues. We need our message heard loud and clear.
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail as to what the next steps are that are being planned. Suffice it to say that the bad guys never saw this opening salvo coming. I like them surprised, and in the dark. It's a new feeling for them, I'm sure. And one I want to engender as an ongoing series of surprises.
Thanks for the invitation to join your forum, and for giving me the time to describe the NCANS agenda. We can and will make a difference. We deserve a level playing field. We deserve to live in a nation where the rule of law is enforced. We deserve justice.
And together, we just may get it.
www.ncans.net/CMKX.htm
A Post From Bob O'Brien of NCANS to the CMKX Community Board
I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with "Senna" yesterday at some length about the efforts of NCANS and the attempt we are making to create awareness of the issues surrounding illegal market manipulation, including the very clear and present danger of naked shorting. You're very fortunate to have thoughtful, articulate guys like him on your board. He gets it. Too many don't, or figure it's not their problem, or hope that someone else will do the heavy lifting to make the system right itself.
A little history. I use a pseudonym, Bob O'Brien, because I have legitimate concerns about my safety. Those on the other side of this game have billions at stake, and they don't like my existence. Not one bit. And they shouldn't. I'm turning out to be their worst living nightmare. But that carries risk. I accept the risk, but don't openly court danger. Hence the moniker. If that's a problem, put a bulls-eye on your own chest and see how it feels, how well you sleep, how your family enjoys imminent peril. You'll understand pretty quickly why my attorneys advised me to stay anonymous as long as possible.
I started the www.nfi-info.net website a year and a half or so ago, when it became obvious to me that the Yahoo message boards were being clogged by those who wanted to stifle any meaningful dialog. I wanted to memorialize the better posts and the collective wisdom of that board's elders in a forum that was random access, and not the contiguous stream of consciousness that is the nature of a thread on a board. Out of that effort developed a deeper appreciation for the size and scope of the threat that the predators who prey on smaller companies pose. The financial markets, in my opinion, represent a vital source of liquidity and growth for early stage companies - companies that will develop, in their most fortunate instances, into the next Dells and Ebays and Microsofts and such. The basis of the unwritten agreement between these companies and the investors who speculate in the markets is that there is an even playing field - if you get it right, and do your homework, and you find the next Genentech, you will be rewarded, and the company will benefit from an increase in their pps.
In 1929, this country faced an economic catastrophe of panoramic proportions, which ultimately plunged us into a Depression that was only ended by cranking up the engine of war, and later rebuilding most of the rest of the world. That crash of '29 was exacerbated by naked shorting - there was literally no barrier to shorting a stock into the ground. An entire county's financial system came face to face with collapse so that a few financial predators could make fortunes off of others' misery. Their avarice destroyed a generation's prosperity, and plunged the country into a period of darkness and collective misery unseen before or since. Fortunes were destroyed, and fortunes made. The bad guys won that round.
In 1933, the SEC was formed through an act of Congress, as a mechanism to address the imbalances and abuses that had occurred -? the idea was that it would never again happen here. Laws were written, and then rules promulgated, to ban practices that had contributed to the ruin of a nation's prosperity. One of the first things to be stamped out was naked shorting. And for good reason. Used by malevolent forces whose unbridled greed knew no bounds, naked shorting could destroy honest companies, and destroy the many employed by them.
Those rules were thoughtfully crafted, and were well thought out. They were necessary and sufficient, and they worked, when enforced.
Fast forward to 2005. The rules have been un-enforced for a decade or more. Thousands of companies have been destroyed, and their innovations forever lost – innovations that well might have saved lives, improved them, or brought comfort or safety to many, as well as profits to their investors, stoking the engine of commerce that is the requisite of lasting prosperity. Our regulators are not enforcing the rules that were so carefully crafted, and again the wolf rules the pasture, undeterred by any consequences from an uncaring policing system that lacks the spine to put a stop to the abuses. Cynical rules that have no teeth, and lack even an appearance of the necessary penalties, are passed with fanfare, and then immediately flouted by those that pull the strings and make the figureheads dance.
This cannot continue. Our sitting administration has a bill to privatize a portion of SS and enable investment in the markets – the same markets where millions have lost their retirements and their life savings to those that violate the rules with impunity. The position of NCANS is that this is not an option, and that in order to have even a shot of passing, the very real and clear abuse of the system by a select group in NY needs to stop, now, for good.
If our regulators won't do their job, then we have to raise awareness to the point that our political leaders clamp down and force them to.
This is, first and foremost, a regulatory problem. The laws exist to stop the abuse – but someone has to enforce the law. And it isn't being done.
That is unacceptable.
We live in a country that prides itself as being a beacon of hope and a model for others. We hold ourselves up as a better mousetrap, and our conceit is that we are in fact better, morally, ethically, systemically. We look at what we consider to be backwater banana republics, and ridicule or are horrified by the graft and corruption endemic to their systems. And yet when you peel the onion on our financial market, you see a den of thieves, decay and defilement that would make the most larcenous rug merchant blush. An entire nation is being cheated, daily, so that some scumbag in Manhattan can get a bigger house in the Hamptons or a new interior for his Gulfstream or buy this year's Maybach.
That isn't right.
NCANS has gotten a lot of donations from retirees, from grandparents, from people on fixed incomes who were apologetic that they could only send in $50 or $100. These are people that are so sick of being abused, so angry, so disenfranchised, that they felt that sending money to an unknown voice on a message board was better than being abused without a hearing. Their reward was a full-page ad in the Washington Post that stopped traffic, and has created news. I have done at least 15 interviews last week as a result of the ad, and was fortunate enough to engender the support of men like Dr. Patrick Byrne, men of intestinal fortitude, who recognize that they can make a difference, and appreciate when they see a cause that is just, a problem that needs fixing. This is rapidly becoming a big story, and the little guy is now starting to be heard.
For the last few years people like David Patch have worked on sites like investigatethesec.com in order to document the injustice – with limited success, due to financial factors, as well as being in the right place at the wrong time.
This time is different. We are in the right place at the right time. We are creating a groundswell, and we are making a mark, starting to make a difference. The powers that be don't like that, and are attacking me personally, as well as the organization, as well as Dr. Byrne. They are doing that because there are billions in the balance, and they are, for the first time, afraid. And they should be. In one week, their entire scheme has been threatened by an unknown. They don't like it when the dog sits up on its hind legs and barks at them. They'd like us all to just be quiet, continue to be fleeced, and let them get on with the business of stealing our future from us.
I would like to ask each and every one of you on this board to do three things:
First, understand that individuals absolutely can make a difference. I'm just an individual. So are you. I've already been able to start making a difference. So can you. Go to the www.NCANS.net website and join the organization. There is no cost to doing so, other than a commitment to do your part, whatever it may turn out to be, to make an effort to change things. Maybe send emails, maybe write letters, maybe lobby to media outlets to cover the story. I don't know. But something will occur to you, if you put your mind to it.
Second, make a donation to support an ongoing ad campaign to keep this in our politicians' faces. They need to understand this won't go away, that our resolve is firm, and that we are not going to take this anymore. And we are willing to put our money where our mouths are. I did. Dr. Byrne did. I'll continue to. So will Dr. Byrne. But we need you. Every dollar counts. I will be approaching corporate sponsors to help with this, but at the end of the day, it's our problem - if we want something done, we need to put our backs into it, and that includes coughing up some cash to keep the message a the forefront of our nation's consciousness. They need to understand that this is an issue that is here to stay, and that we require a solution, and will continue to make a stink until they enforce the law, and further eliminate the wholesale pardon of lawlessness that the Reg SHO "grandfathering" of all violations up until January 7 represents. This is not negotiable.
Third, take action. Spread the word to other sites, to other investors, to companies that you think will be interested in supporting NCANS. Write your elected representatives. Write your newspaper, to reporters you like, to television and radio stations. I'm available to speak to anyone from the press or public offce that wants to discuss the issues. We need our message heard loud and clear.
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail as to what the next steps are that are being planned. Suffice it to say that the bad guys never saw this opening salvo coming. I like them surprised, and in the dark. It's a new feeling for them, I'm sure. And one I want to engender as an ongoing series of surprises.
Thanks for the invitation to join your forum, and for giving me the time to describe the NCANS agenda. We can and will make a difference. We deserve a level playing field. We deserve to live in a nation where the rule of law is enforced. We deserve justice.
And together, we just may get it.
www.ncans.net/CMKX.htm