It started out with the occupy movement on Wall Street; a leaderless movement to call attention to the plight of the common man. While Wall Street received TARP funds and was bailed out for their great idea of name your payment mortgages and railroading millions into adjustable rate mortgages with predictable results when they qualified for better mortgages, while the auto industry was bailed out for building gas hogs over the past two dozen or so years as gas prices were edging 5.00 per gallon, while the making home affordable program isn’t doing much with respect to the unemployed and government owned loans, while last month there was an 11% spike in foreclosures with significantly more foreclosures on the horizon, the momentum of the movement has expanded globally to every major western city throughout the United States and the world – as well as most larger cities throughout California. Over 950 cities globally are engaged in this international day of action.
Every major California City we googled with “occupy” put in front of the city name returned an “occupy city” result. The same social networking platforms that powered the “arab spring”, namely, facebook, twitter, google+ and other social networking sites have now turned inwards towards reforming this countries priorities under the umbrella of the other 99%. Many people this year have come across an additional phenomena. The safety nets that were temporarily erected to save main street from economic collapse began to hit their expiration dates in March/April of this past year. Unemployment extensions ran their course for millions of workers nationwide. As a result, mortgage defaults are back on the rise with no end in sight. Housing prices are beginning to collapse, falling 6% in the past thirty days as all of the previous foreclosures begin to flood the real estate market.
Tomorrow, October 15, 2011 is the occupy movements international day of action with rallies planned worldwide. Check your local largest city to see activity in your area. Even conservative areas of California have rallies planned with hundreds pledging to attend. Redding, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield, San Diego. Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose are all cities that have rallies scheduled for tomorrow.
Now that Wall Street has been helped, it’s time to look towards helping main street. As the current foreclosure crisis grows, those held accountable will be those that resisted or ridiculed the call to action in the next election cycle as the backlash grows.
Judicial Council Watcher 
antonatrail
October 14, 2011
The Courthouse News Service via Maria Dinzeo has a report on the AOC’s continuing waste in construction costs with Justice Hill’s feeble excuses when asked Why so high in CA? Even New York courthouses cost less.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/14/40644.htm
We need a forensic audit of the AOC, top to bottom!
Michael Paul
October 14, 2011
It has to do with the way that the AOC builds and performs maintenance. It simply isn’t a credible method of spending public funds. By and large, business services of the AOC does a decent job of controlling costs but seemingly has nothing to do with the maintenance or construction contract costs. OCCM is treated as a separate world within the AOC and there is only a few people that work in both the AOC world and the OCCM world. I worked in both worlds and genuinely tried to mitigate what I view are damages to the branch – and the AOC by what was going on in OCCM.
With that being said, some FUNNY BUSINESS is underway when a few unlicensed contractors previously working with the AOC get a free pass on being sued for unlicensed activity and damages, ALL CONTRACTORS escape criminal penalties associated with unlicensed activity and one previously unlicensed contractor that escaped suit and resumes operations with a license. And of course, I’m the only one held accountable because in the AOC, it’s about shooting the messenger.
Michael Paul
October 14, 2011
Some people have inquired how come I didn’t do or say anything about CCMS. CCMS was run by the Southern Regional Office, not information services. People in my area of information services and throughout ISD bit their tongue and shook their heads at this mismanaged program.
Wendy Darling
October 14, 2011
Published today, Friday, October 14, from Courthouse News Service, by Maria Dinzeo:
California Court Construction Costs Tower Above National Average
By MARIA DINZEO
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – An ambitious plan to build a string of new courthouses in California is budgeted by the central court bureaucracy at a much higher rate for construction costs than anywhere else in the country, according to experts, judges and legislators. “It’s an inexcusable waste of taxpayer money,” said Assembly member Nathan Fletcher.
Read the entire article:
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/14/40644.htm
Long live the ACJ.
Wendy Darling
October 14, 2011
Also published today, Friday, October 14, from The Recorder, the on-line publication of CalLaw, by Cheryl Miller:
Capital Accounts: With Construction Money Mostly Gone, Court Planners Redo Wish List
Cheryl Miller
http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202519032917&Capital_Accounts_With_Construction_Money_Mostly_Gone_Court_Planners_Redo_Wish_List&slreturn=1
Long live the ACJ.
antonatrail
October 15, 2011
Michael, I’m surprised anyone would ask why didn’t you do more? as in speaking up about CCMS. My goodness, talk about just going ahead and killing the messenger. People think you’ve made an incredible and ultimate sacrifice already so why not go all the way and be the whistleblower for the incredibly mismanaged CCMS too? People astound me sometimes. The AOC has already beaten you with sticks like a pinata. Can’t someone else step up? It must be very lonely being the only honest guy around.