Cannot resist posting bank corruption story

I heard about this at one of the banks I worked for in the 1990's.

This was told to me as it was happening by someone in a position to know, but not in a position to do anything about it.

A trader stole millions of dollars from the bank using the "trade tickets in the drawer" method. I don't remember how much but it was truly an enormous amount of money.

When he was detected in his theft the bank declined to press charges and covered the whole thing up out of fear that he would ruin their reputation by being in the press and explaining how stupid and weak the bank was (it had a sterling reputation among its customers).

So he was allowed to leave with the millions he had stolen and given a good reference!

He went to work a few days later for a trading location "across the street."

I was told this was not an uncommon thing, where insiders were allowed to get away with what they stole in return for keeping quiet and supposedly preserving the reputation of the bank.

The only evidence I have is that this person was really scared when this person told me and especially when the bank got busy trying to find out who inside knew about this. This honest and really hard working person was really, really scared and wished that he or she did not know about it for fear of being purged or something.

And you wonder why the problems have all come home to roost, and people like me have suffered for not being an insider at the dishonest pig trough.

Spiritual direction: Understanding the Popes

I need to now detox conspiracy theorists from their crazy theories about the untimely death of Pope John Paul I. This kindly man, the predecessor to Pope John Paul II, died after only about a month as pontiff. Since Popes are not given autopsies it is assumed he died of a heart attack or stroke (and that is indeed the case, I can assure you) but there is no medical report, obviously. So since this is the time of freak show New Age paranoia and conspiracy theories there are many who keep the suspicion toward the Vatican and Catholics in general churning through this innuendo and libel. Here is the healthy way to think of it.

Hardly a day goes by that a child doesn't fall dead in elementary school or high school. Sometimes this happens in a sports context, and sometimes it just happens in the class, walking down the hall, or in other routine activity. Can you think of something more shocking? Should not paranoids worry more about a child who is healthy who drops dead than a middle age or older man who has suddenly received one of the most stressful "jobs" in the world? Who are you more surprised by, an older, sedentary man who becomes Pope and has a heart attack or stroke, or a healthy 7 or 8 year old child who drops dead in school with no warning signs of a pre-existing medical condition? Yet obviously each child's death is examined and usually a medical reason is uncovered. Why are not the paranoids running around and creating blogs and websites of suspicion around every child who suddenly dies? Because they are not pursuing an agenda, therefore reality sinks in. If you are not carrying an axe to grind you are able to comprehend reality. A child drops dead and it's a tragedy, but because you don't have an axe to grind you accept that it is a tragedy, feel bad for the parents, maybe hug your own child a little closer that night, and move on. But a middle age or older man who happens to be the Pope drops dead upon having that very heavy mantle fallen upon his shoulders and out come the axes. Half is from people who hate Catholics, and half is from you own weak self hating Catholics. You "want" to find something nefarious in order to self aggrandize and weaken the faith in reflection of your own loss of dignity. That is what it really is about. Catholics, like many others, have lost their own self respect and dignity. Everything is a dirty soap opera to you. So some poor man of God who falls of a medical problem when he receives the mantle of St. Peter suddenly is the the object of the most disgusting and undignified fantasy about conspiracies and pagan spiritualism. *Slap* Snap out of it! Regain your brains and your dignity! Momentous and strange things happen all the time. Stop turning those that involve the Catholic Church into some freak show. There's not a day that goes by that someone's relative doesn't just fall dead of some undiagnosed or undetected existing medical condition. No one runs around saying it is a PTA conspiracy, or that the garden club had it in for him. Good grief, I do despair of humans. I hope this helps but I won't hold my breath about it.