Hedge Fund manager spills the beans on the wealthy, connected, and privileged...oh, and marijuana

I came across this letter from a Hedge Fund Manager. He's 37 and he decided to quit the business after amassing scads of cash for his clients.

Here's his letter .

It's nice to see someone with a chip on their shoulder against the rich take aim at them and point out what everyone knows, but is afraid to admit.

It should be noted that he advocated the legalization of marijuana in his letter.

NRA has managed to flex its Republican muscle against a gun company apostate

I refer you to the most previous post for background when looking at this stunning display of ideological stupidity.

Cooper Firearms has fired its eponymously named founder Dan Cooper for supporting Obama for President.

I see this as a tacit, if not blatant, acknowledgment by the firearm manufacturer that a significant portion of their customers are wingnuts.

Unfortunately, the gun lobby, and by this I mean the NRA, has bought into the notion that only Republicans support the 2nd Amendment. In defiance of reason and with the result of alienating a significant portion of the electorate. The Republican Party doesn't have the market cornered on support for 2nd Amendment rights. The NRA and the Republican party would like everyone to think that's the case, but that isn't true. You can favor the 2nd Amendment AND also favor a Woman's Right to Choose. It's all about freedom of choice.

Now, before all you gun nuts or NRA whackjobs get your panties in a wad and accuse me of wanting to take away your guns, let me disabuse you of that notion right here.

I hate the NRA, but I love the 2nd Amendment. Supporting one doesn't require that I support the other. Don't fall for the simple-minded absolutism marketed by the Right that only Conservatives and Republicans favor and will protect Gun Rights. That's complete bull.

I got flack for supporting the 2nd Amendment rights of if the DC security guard who successfully won the right to possess a gun in DC in the Heller case.

The NRA gives real gun owners a bad name. The NRA is nothing but a Republican lobby masquerading as a Rights Group.

I don't like the NRA and I don't agree with their political positions. Yet, I think the Constitution gives citizens the right to keep and bear arms. I own guns. Mere gun ownership doesn't turn anyone into a bad person.

In fact, I think the 2nd Amendment gives me the right to own pretty much any gun I want, including Assault Rifles. Extreme? Maybe, but the 2nd Amendment says what it says and the U.S. has historically viewed gun ownership rather liberally.

So, where do I fit?

I don't fit with the NRA because they are idiots with an ideological zeal that undermines all rationality; I cannot align myself with idiocy over a single issue.

If the NRA would open their minds (won't happen because that requires actual thinking...), those of us with a more expansive view of individual rights wouldn't feel so alienated by the moronic rank and file catered to by such small-mindedness.

Cooper Firearms sold their soul to a Right Wing idiocy group. Terminating their CEO for the reasons they cite is un-American. I won't buy any of their guns now that I know how un-American their board is.

Buy true American...Support ALL the Contitution.

Corporate executives possibly liable for breaching fiduciary duty by causing corporations to support political candidates

Here's a story showing that some corporate executives of large retailers are actually subordinating their fiduciary duty to their shareholder to their own personal political interests.

In the legal industry, we call this a breach of fiduciary duty Such a breach is grounds for immediate termination. On top of that, they can be held personally liable to the shareholders in a shareholder derivative lawsuit for such bad decisions. The boards of these companies have a duty to investigate and immediately terminate those executives found guilty of a breach. That's the law.

Why is this important?

A personal political decision is fully protected by the 1st Amendment. When personal political choices become the basis of an executive decision, IN SPITE OF EVIDENCE THAT CONTRADICTS THAT PARTICULAR DECISION, then said choice becomes a form of defalcation.

Defalcation occurs where a fiduciary takes advantage of their executive position for personal gain at the expense of shareholders, the corporation and ultimately the market.

I note this so corporate shareholders will exercise their power to hold executives and corporate boards accountable for their corporate decisions...especially when those corporate decisions are made for the personal gain of the corporate executive at the expense of the shareholders.

Get the facts, learn the truth, and remove your heads from your backsides.

Study finds hubris begins with insecurity.

Science is making headway at finding proof of what many of us already intuitively know.

This study shows that hubris, pride, and other such negative group expressions really result from group insecurity.

Many of us already know that people over-compensate for perceived failings by excessive boasting. This study just provides scientific evidence to support that notion.

The study points to real world implications. Good stuff.

Tribute to a child's life

Here's a father's tribute to his son.

If you can watch this without being moved to tears then something's wrong with you.

Xenophobia based on wrong-headed thinking.

Apparently all the anti-immigrant animus is based on faulty assumptions.

Recent immigrants are more likely to produce whiz kids as opposed to the native born.

An unfortunate sign: Once people are here and in the club, so to speak, they want to lock the gates for fear of having to actually work to maintain their position.

What a load of crap.

Mortgage mess: Placing blame were it needs to go.

Here's an article from the usually right of center L.A. Times that places the blame for the mortgage crisis precisely where I said it should go in a previous post.

I worked closely with the mortgage industry over the past few years. I saw, first hand, how mortgage brokers and the banks underwriting their loans skirted the bounds of excess.

The incentives were to write as many loans as possible as quickly and as expediently as possible. The incentives weren't on the buyers. One mortgage company I worked with made cold calls every day to push loan products.

I was opposed to the bailout just for this reason.