Florida Blogger in David-and-Goliath Battle with Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs, NYC, from Telegraph UK

On Saturday, April 11, The Daily Telegraph reported that investment giant Goldman Sachs has retained Chadbourne & Parke, a Wall Street law firm, to shut down the website of Mike Morgan, a Florida blogger and registered investment advisor.

Morgan, who just set up his blog in late March, is currently gathering volunteers to help him research the bank’s influence on the U.S. Government and the stock market. Morgan’s website is here. He has scheduled a conference call and “webinar” for tomorrow night, April 15 at 6PM for volunteers who want to help him research Goldman Sachs, their role the the financial meltdown, and their possible manipulation of the stock market through their dealings with AIG. He also wants to call attention to Goldman Sachs’ influence on the government through their large donations to politicians such as President Barack Obama and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd. Morgan discloses that he did lose money from his investments with Goldman Sachs.

From the Telegraph:

According to Chadbourne & Parke’s letter, dated April 8, the bank is rattled because the site “violates several of Goldman Sachs’ intellectual property rights” and also “implies a relationship” with the bank itself.

Unsurprisingly for a man who has conjoined the bank’s name with the Number of the Beast – although he jokingly points out that 666 was also the S&P500’s bear-market bottom – Mr Morgan is unlikely to go down without a fight.

He claims he has followed all legal requirements to own and operate the website – and that the header of the site clearly states that the content has not been approved by the bank.

Tuesday: Franken wins. Finally. Sort of.

A three judge panel ruled that Franken was the winner of November’s election and firmly rejected Norm Coleman’s claims to the contrary.  This after a 3 month trial where Norm Coleman tried to get many previously rejected absentee ballots included but instead only increased Franken’s lead over him.  Franken wins by a little over 300 votes.

So, you would think that the election board could certify him and after 6 long months Minnesota would have a senator, right?  Silly readers, MN is governed by a Republican, Tim Pawlenty.  Besides, the GOP party apparatus never let little things like votes stand in the way of victory.  Come to think of it, neither does the Democratic party anymore, but I digress.  Norm Coleman has 10 days to file an appeal.  According to Richard Hasen, election law expert, Coleman’s case was dealt a heavy blow by the panel:

“It is the kind of opinion that is unlikely to be disturbed on appeal by either the Minnesota Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court,” said Richard Hasen, an expert on election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “The opinion considers the major arguments made by Coleman and rejects them in a detailed and measured way.”

Added University of Minnesota political scientist Lawrence Jacobs: “This is judicial speak for ‘nothing here,’ and it is most definitely aimed at the appeals process. It’s a signal that they are supremely unimpressed by the Coleman case.”

Now, no one who read the panel’s ruling thinks that Coleman has a chance in hell of succeeding but that’s not the point.  The point is to keep this dragging out as long as possible.  If he has 10 days to file an appeal, we can expect it to be filed at 11:59pm on the 10th day.  That will be 10 fewer days that Franken gets to be senator.  And then there is the appeals process itself, which is going to cost mucho dinero.  Would Norm Coleman take his case to the Supreme Court even if he hasn’t got a prayer of winning?  Um, yeah.  Would the Supreme Court take up the case. ponder it for awhile and then eventually rule in Franken’s favor?  Sure.  That’s as it should be, in Karl Rove’s world.  Keep Franken out of the Senate for as long as possible.  Having him in there makes Republicans dangerously irrelevent.  Well, at least the Democrats would have no further excuses for acting like bankers have them by the junk.  Come to think of it, *both* parties may have an interest in keeping him out of the Senate…

If you want to see Franken seated, eventually, donate here and help him keep up the good fight.

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Note to new readers: The Confluence and it’s frontpagers have no interest in the COLB (Certificate of Live Birth) controversy and think that if Obama *is* a Muslim, he has a very weird way of showing it. Frankly, we feel that there are many legitimate reasons to object to Barack Obama’s rise to power and the presidency and that the birth certificate issue is just a unproductive distraction.  We don’t want to offend anyone who still thinks it is important, but we encourage you to get your fix on a more accomodating blog, like NoQuarter.  Any comments on COLB or Obama’s illusory ties to Islam here may be subject to moderation.

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