The late poet and Lutheran seminary professor Gerhard Frost once wrote “My check stubs are enough” to give you his autobiography. The former Chancellor of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Giles Fraser, wrote similar words in June 2010: the best way to assess what someone believes is to look through their bank statement. Forget fancy words and sermons, money is the way we mean it – or we don’t. Money is the sacrament of moral seriousness.”

Given the reactions of the MOTUs and Powers That Be to the Occupy Movement, I’d say they don’t enjoy having their morals examined.

If you’ve been listening to the newscasters and pundits, they’re working that false meme of #OccupyWallStreet lacking focus and clear goals. You may be incredibly frustrated by this, and that’s probably what inspired you to read this post and many other contributions about #OccupyWallStreet by bloggers and citizen journalists.

It’s no wonder why #OccupyWallStreet is getting such bad press. A media that fawns at the feet of advertising Mammon will quickly sell out the truth.

I suppose we should be grateful that TNR’s Jonathan Chait voluteered to write an apologia for President Obama as a way to explain to those he identifies with “the left” why Obama’s not such a bad President and to remind the “left” there were extenuating circumstances that explain the President’s failure, or refusal, to achieve what the left wanted and the country needed.

When the leaders of France and Britain got together yesterday, they were facing realities that are not kind to the European community’s economic future. That they suggested what is bound to stir a lot of bad feelings among the banksters, a tax on financial transactions, shows vision that we desperately need. The U.S. would be in much better shape for the future if there were even the slimmest prospect that such a concept could be floated here.

The House Democratic caucus is truly pathetic. They are, in fact, so pathetic that I’ve been forced to use a thesaurus to find new ways of describing their pathetic behavior: weak, impotent, pitiful, feeble and toothless. Last night, they again folded completely and passed the Senate’s version of the Obama-McConnell tax deal–as is–even though only a week earlier the House Democratic caucus voted to reject the deal.

In the many accounts of the latest wrinkle in our huge mortgage crisis of the day, I have noticed that media always makes room for some one decrying those homeowners who stay in their homes because their mortgages are unenforceable. So color me bleeding heart liberal, but I do not see how anyone can look at those cases where due to fraud the homeowner and family have been contracted to buy a house that now the bank/mortgagor wants more than they do, and decide the case for the other party to the contract on the house. Now, without clear title to the house, that other party can’t even legitimately sell it.

A lot of hope was placed on the back of Elizabeth Warren and the financial reform act passed by Congress at the behest of the Administration formally known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Concurrent with belittling the liberal Democratic activist base as ungrateful whiners, the Administration and Democratic leadership has touted Liz Warren and Dodd-Frank as prime examples of accomplishments that should thrill and satisfy the base. But are those “accomplishments” really all that and should they mollify Democrats, at least on financial reform issues? The initial returns indicate no.

Yesterday, after the passage of the financial regulation bill, conservative host Charlie Rose had Rep. Barney Frank on his show to explain what had been accomplished in its passage.

Senate Dems are making the final push on financial reform this week, but will big banks really change the way they do business? Or will we still be pawns in a game rigged in their favor? I caught up with Elizabeth Warren to talk about the need to reform Wall Street culture, the pernicious influence of bank lobbies, and the debt-fueled threat to America’s middle class.

According to Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown, Russ Feingold’s defiance on the so-called financial reform bill irks liberals. She even finds one liberal to say how irked he his. That’s right, one (1) and he doesn’t claim to speaks for all liberals.