Contents

the new tax man: big banks and hedge funds

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november 18, 2010 volume 6 issue 14

Publisher Paul Blake paul@columbiacitypaper.com ArTs eDiTOr Judit Trunkos jtrunkos@columbiacitypaper.com cOlATheATer.cOm S.M. Baleem, Garrett Kellerhals Design Lisa Corbin music Kingsley Waring
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News.Politics.Commentary.
regional briefs music minister arrested for groping child editorial lets spend more time treading the common ground opinion nikki haleYs transition team: a car wreck that alreadY happened the vocal booth mock interview with kanYe west movie times at the nick and big mo drive-in 3 4 5 10 13

Movies.Entertainment.Etc.
soundboard punk/indie/emo/ska/hardcore/metal/rock road trip regional music dates movie times at the nick and big mo drive-in savage love adult sex advice Jonesin crosswords cartoons derf & red meat sudoku 8 10 13 13 14 14 15
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AccOunT execuTives James Wallace, Jen Snyder

cOnTribuTOrs S.M. Baleem, Garrett Kellerhals, WR Marshall, Todd Morehead, Will Moredock, Ted Rall, Dan Savage, Kingsley Waring, Baynard Woods cOlumbiA ciTy PAPer 2965 North Main Street Columbia, SC 29201 803.218.9455 (DiaL aRea CoDe)

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CHARLESTON Man jailed for failing to mow grass A North Charleston mobile home park owner was jailed last month following a string of tickets relating to yard maintenance. Carlton Walker told the Charleston Post and Courier that one of his cellmates thought he had been arrested for being high on grass. No, Walker told the inmate, high grass. According to Walker, his battle with the city of North Charleston which has led to close to $20,000 in finesbegan when he trimmed his trees in 2008 without a permit. He also received citations for allowing the grass to grow too tall at the 65-lot mobile home lot he owns. He has received around 20 citations so far. When Walker missed a court date recently, a city judge issued a warrant for his arrest. We wish we could feel sorry for him but weve got a duty to the citizens out there to make sure theyve got appropriate living conditions, City Attorney Derk Van Raalte told the Post and Courier. Walker disagrees with the citys intervention. No citizen in North Charleston, the state of South Carolina or the U.S. should have to be jailed for high grass, illegal tree cutting or any code violation with exorbitant fines so high as $1,092 per violation, he said in the report. Drowned paraplegic may have toppled from wheelchair Authorities are awaiting autopsy results on a paraplegic man who apparently fell out of his electric wheelchair and into Charleston Harbor. The Charleston County Sheriffs Office said the 69-year-old mans death appears to be an accident. It is unclear how the man made it from the chair into the water. Investigators said there were no signs of foul play at the private James Island dock, but an investigation is ongoing until autopsy reports come in. Canadian geese continue to outwit city officials A group of over 30 Canadian geese are turning Hampton Park into their giant personal toilet and leaving some city officials at their wits end. According to the Charleston Post and

Courier city workers recently set up fake coyote decoys to scare the birds away, but to no avail. Theyre urban geese, they learn quick, Mike Keating, a horticulturist with the city of Charleston, said in the report. The city ultimately removed the fake coyotes fearing they would be stolen on Halloween. They are considering reinstalling the decoys after the holidays with the addition of coyote urine pellets for a more realistic stink. One technique has worked at night, so far. The city has set up flashing yellow lights in the parks pond. The lights are supposed to resemble the reflection from predators eyes. The only problem: once the sun rises, the geese return. City officials are urging residents to resist feeding the birds in the hope that they will eventually move on. GREENWOOD Music minister arrested for groping child Greenwood police have accused a Baptist music minister of groping the breast of a 13-year-old female parishioner. Norman Henley Keesee, 57, is charged with committing a lewd act on a child. Keesee is an associate pastor at Emerald Baptist Church in Greenwood, according to the Rock Hill Herald. Incident reports state that the girl told police she was filing papers at the church when Keesee approached her from behind a groped her under her shirt. She also accused the pastor of groping her during a piano lesson. Keesee has been placed on administrative leave and is not allowed back on church property until the allegations are settled in court. We do practice a safe sanctuary policy, Curtis Eidson, the senior pastor at Emerald Baptist Church, told the Herald. If a child does not belong to you, hands off. MULLINS Evangelical tent revival draws noise complaints, citation A Dillon-based pastor has been issued a noise violation, which he intends to fight, stemming from a tent revival that sparked more than a dozen noise complaints from across town. Pastor Larry Williams, of Tabernacle of God Church, held the revival in an empty lot

near the K & M shopping center, according to the Florence Morning News. Police said they could hear the PA system from the revival at the police department and said some residents called in noise complaints from as far out as the city limits. Police responded to the site of the revival and asked Williams to turn down the volume. I told [the officer] sound travels more at night than during the day because of moist air at night, Williams told the Morning News. I told them, You were called by the city, and you have a job to do and I was called by God. I had a job to do and that was to preach the gospel. At 10:40 p.m. that night 40 minutes past the citys deadline for use of loud speakers in publicpolice received another noise complaint, prompting them to return with more officers. We basically just tried to complete the service, because I knew at that point I was going to jail especially when I looked up and saw the chief, Williams said in the report. The pastor wasnt taken to jail, but was issued a $470 citation. Williams said he was concerned about the police breaking up a religious event. Mullins police said they were sensitive to the religious service, but also had to look out for citizens who were being disturbed. ROCK HILL Robbers lead police on low speed moped chase A Rock Hill teen has been accused of robbing a pizza delivery driver before attempting to flee police on a mo-ped. Police have charged Do Juan Taurice Cherry, 18, with strong arm robbery, failure to stop for blue lights and underage consumption of beer. According to the Rock Hill Herald, Cherry and an unnamed accomplice robbed a 33-year-old Dominos Pizza delivery driver of three large pizzas and fled through a nearby park. A responding officer saw two people on mo-ped who matched the description of the robbers and said they fled when he attempted to pull them over. As the officer lightly accelerated to catch the fleeing moped, he said Cherry began to swerve recklessly. When the officer turned on his siren, Cherry and his accomplice leapt from the mo-ped and took off on foot. Cherry was chased down and apprehended. No pizza was located, according to the report.

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As an upstanding business man and as a Freemason I have a lot of friends who are very vocally conservative. As an artist and as a would-be counterculture revolutionary I have a lot of friends who are very vocally liberal. As a sane and rational human being I find all of these people annoying. See, I have a big problem with rhetoric and doctrine that falls along party lines. To me, it is just as disconcerting and nauseating to hear someone say Republicans are... or Liberals always... as it is to hear someone say Black people are... or Mexicans always... Especially since the predicates to these sorts of sentences are invariably vial and demeaning. Political bigotry, like all bigotry, is especially destructive when it dehumanizes the other, and this kind of mindset seems to be as contagious as that weird strep throat thing that everybody was getting that I caught three times over the summer. Groups of people just seem to love labeling and compartmentalizing other groups of people, when in reality individual humans are amazingly complex and seldom as horrible as they seem en masse. If theres one thing that spreads around the germs of hatred and loathing its a political election cycle, and this last one has been a doozey. Whats been particularly polarizing and disgusting is the cesspool of rhetoric surrounding the Tea Party movement, and thats something Id like to take the opportunity to address. Both sides have demonstrated more than their share of ugliness over the past few months, but the Tea Party won and liberals have suddenly become the underdogs. Keep in mind throughout this article: I dont have a pony in this race. I dislike the Republican and Democrat platforms with equal intensity. But I do happen to like underdogs, so Im going to give you lefties
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a free dose of bitter medicine. Now, if your brain turned off and your eyes glazed over and you started seeing red after reading the words tea party, youre exactly who Im talking to so I need you to calm down, think about kittens and universal health care for a little while and relax. Now focus. Okay, ya with me? Youre all a bunch of freaking hypocrites and the fact that youve been spinning your wheels for so long complaining about how intolerant and backwards and stupid the Tea Party movement is is the same reason you all got your butts kicked so thoroughly in this election. In two years youve forgotten entirely the power of the message of inclusion and tolerance that Barack Obama engineered into an astounding victory. Dont get me wrong I think the Hope and Change crap was hollow marketing hype. But at least it was positive. At least, at the time, Mr. Obama stood up and said he was going to be your president whether youre Republican or Democrat. It kind of ticks me off that he has since jumped from that lofty platform into the mire of smug Big-D Democrat partisanship in the past few months, but on the other hand I think thats what pushed a lot of independents away from his message and into the arms of the Tea Party Republicans. Never mind the fact that the Tea Party put more minorities into office than the Democrats this year. Never mind that the Tea Party was founded on the idea that we are spending ourselves into oblivion which we are. Never mind the fact that most Tea Baggers are just grumpy old people who like going to things where you get to sit in lawn chairs. Lets just focus on the seedy, racist, intolerant underbelly of the movement. The folks who bring the ugly misspelled

signs to rallies and who are obsessed with Davinci Codesque conspiracy theories about Barack Obama. How the Hell are you any different, with your violent Facebook posts about how much youd like to do bodily injury to the Tea Baggers? What makes your rhetoric any more sophisticated or openminded? When have you ever used the same intense lens to inspect yourself and your own values and behavior? And what good are you going to do in the world with your hatred of the Tea Party? Will hating them make them go away? Will patting your friends on the back and trading around smug Salon.com articles around on Facebook solve any of our problems? In a word: No. Its just going to drive the wedge farther, divide us further and eat away the fabric that has held together our Grand Experiment for so long. Hows this for heresy? I think you should be inspired by the Tea Party. Who cares if you disagree with them? Theyve done something incredible. You can debate all day about whether the Tea Party is sincerely a spontaneous movement or whether it was orchestrated by the Powers that Be. None of that matters. What does matter is that the Tea Party Movement has managed to develop a message that has energized people not just to go out and party in Washington for a weekend, but to turn back the tide of the elections midterm, just two years into the term of a president who held all the right cards, just two years after nearly a decade of one of the most unpopular Conservative presidencies in history. I get so angry when I hear my liberal friends tell me theyre thinking about leaving this state because we lost the election. Are we really going to let the government define who we are as a people?

Are we really going to let politicians make all of the decisions that affect our daily lives? One of the biggest problems with this country is the way we only pay attention during election cycles. If you give up and walk away the moment you lose an election, how will you ever build anything at all? If you really hate the Tea Party, I challenge you to build your own. Start something bigger, better, and especially more inclusive. The sooner we can move past ideology and start fixing this fed up country the better. And most importantly of all, why not try opening your ears just a teeny bit? You might just find that there are some things the Tea Party has a right to be upset about. And you might even find that once you start listening, youll begin engaging in these things called dialogues and suddenly your frustration will blossom into real life progress with a lower case p. Ive come to learn that were not so different from one another. We all want the same things for the future. Safety, security, freedom to do as we please (even if sometimes its hard to swallow the idea of allowing other people freedom to do as they please). I think, more than anything, we all just have different ideas about how to get there. Maybe we should spend more time treading the common ground, ideas like politicians suck and baby otters are cute. In the words of Mr. Fred Rogers: Its very dramatic when two people come together to work something out. Its easy to take a gun and annihilate your opposition, but what is really exciting to me is to see people with differing views come together and finally respect each other. It has to start somewhere. Jack ass. talkback@columbiacitypaper.com

I had a jolt last week as I read the list of people who had signed up for Gov.-elect Nikki Haleys transition team. There I saw a name I have not heard spoken or seen in print for more than a By Will Mordock decade Derick Close. I have never met Close but our careers became strangely entangled in 1998 and I am wiser for the encounter. I was news editor for Creative Loafing, an alternative newsweekly in Charlotte, N.C., when I started digging on a story that came to my attention. In the blighted Westside of Charlotte were the predictable problems: violence, poverty, poor schools, industrial pollution and noise. In December 1996, Sam and Patsy Gordon bought a 1,000-square-foot ranchstyle house in the largely black Wandawood Acres neighborhood, and moved in with their three children. Only then did they realize they had a problem. In an innocuous-looking brick building some 30 yards from their back door was a company called Panther Racing Engines, where NASCAR engines were built and tested. Anyone who has ever been to stock car track knows the ungodly noise these machines make. This was the racket the Gordons had to live with, day and night, in their new home. The Gordons started making what turned out to be more than 200 calls to the police to enforce the citys 60-decibel noise ordinance, and they made the first of dozens of trips to present their case to city council. At first the police were co-operative. They took a decibel reading of 92 and fined PRE $200. City Council was also enthusiastic in their support of the Gordons. When the city manager argued that police could not take action without a specific complaint, Mayor Pat McCrory said, With all respect, I disagree. I think weve been passive and I think we could have arrested people for breaking the law.

The Gordons thought they had won the day. But then something curious happened. The city had agreed to sponsor mediation between the Gordons and the still anonymous owner of PRE. At the April 3, 1997, meeting, Sam and Patsy Gordon were introduced to a genial, well dressed young businessman named Derick Close. The Gordons did not recognize the name, but the city officials in the room and up the political food chain certainly did. Derick Close was a member of the Close family of Fort Mill, S.C., (17 miles south of Charlotte) and an heir to the Springs Industries textile fortune. At the time, his brother-inlaw Erskine Bowles was President Bill Clintons White House chief of staff. (Since then he has twice been the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from North Carolina. Today he is co-chairman of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.) His sister Crandall Close Bowles was in line to become CEO of Springs Industries and his brother Elliott Close had been the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from South Carolina in 1996. While Derick Close was the silent owner of Panther Racing Engines, he very publicly owned a NASCAR racing team, a part of the Carolina Panthers NFL team and part of the Charlotte Knights AAA baseball team. Sam and Patsy Gordon knew none of this. All they knew was that their support on city council suddenly evaporated. More disturbing to me was the fact the Charlotte Observer was also cowed by the Close mystique. In the early months, they had written three stories on the conflict. After Close was IDd as the owner of PRE, the Observer blacked out the story. For a year Sam and Patsy Gordon continued to call police, continued to appear regularly at city council meetings and wondered why all their friends at City Hall had suddenly gone silent, wondered why the Charlotte Observer had lost

He killed my next story on the Close-PRE-City Hall connection and shut down my investigation. I resigned in protest.

interest in their plight. I picked up the story early in 1998 and quickly connected Derick Close to PRE. On March 4, 1998, my story Close Call ran in Creative Loafing, publicly identifying Derick Close for the first time as owner of Panther Racing Engines. On March 19, my editor received a threatening letter from Closes attorney. He showed it to me and we discussed it briefly. Apparently he took it much more seriously than I did. He killed my next story on the Close-PRE-City Hall connection and shut down my investigation. I resigned in protest.

For me, it was a sobering moment. It meant that sometimes the bad guys really do win, that sometimes having the angels on your side and all your facts in order are just not enough. Now I understand that Derick Close is bringing his special touch to Columbia. This bodes ill for all who believe in good journalism and open government. See Will Moredocks blog at www. charlestoncitypaper.com/blogs/thegoodfight. november 18, 2010 5

Derick Close

By Fred Schulte and Ben Protess Huffington Post Investigative Fund Nearly a dozen major banks and hedge funds, anticipating quick profits from homeowners who fall behind on property taxes, are quietly plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into businesses that collect the debts, tack on escalating fees and threaten to foreclose on the homes of those who fail to pay. The Wall Street investors, which include Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have purchased from local governments the right to collect delinquent taxes on several hundred thousand properties, many in distressed housing markets, the Huffington Post Investigative Fund has found. In many cases, the banks and hedge funds created new companies to do their bidding. They gave the companies obscure, even whimsical names and used post office boxes as their addresses, masking Wall Streets dominant new role as a surrogate tax collector. In exchange for paying overdue real estate taxes, the investors gain legal powers from local governments to collect the debt and levy fees. At first, property owners may owe little more than a few hundred dollars, only to find their bills soaring into the thousands. In some jurisdictions, the new Wall Street tax collectors also chase debtors over other small bills, such as for water, sewer and sidewalk repair. Some states allow the investors to tack on as much as 18 percent interest and a passel of legal fees and other charges. When property owners fail to make full payment, the investors can sue to foreclose in some states within as little as six months. In June, Bank of America snatched up liens on properties in Florida owned by low-income residents and nonprofit public interest groups, including a Salvation Army shelter, a preschool and a wildlife rescue group involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill cleanup, the Investigative Fund found in its examination. Bank of America also bought liens on properties of the wealthy, including a professional basketball star with the Los Angeles Lakers, Lamar Odom. Some observers of the financial services industry said they were surprised to learn that banks, some of which received billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts in recent years, were rushing to profit from homeowners having trouble paying their tax bills. This is not how Id like to be making my money, said James Cox, a Duke University School of Law professor who specializes in corporate and securities law. I would find

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it personally distasteful to foreclose or press a claim against individuals, many of whom have lost their jobs and are in tight economic straits. The giant Bank of America, for instance, has bid in Florida tax lien sales using colorful names such as Bennu, LLC, named after a mythical bird said to be the soul of the ancient Egyptian sun god. Five big banks involved in the industry, known as tax lien investing, collected a total of more than $106 billion in bailout money through the governments Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP. Over the last year, Bank of America, which received $45 billion in these taxpayer funds in 2008 and 2009, has bought liens on properties in scores of municipalities in at least a dozen states. Bank of America repaid the government in 2009. Still, noted Cox: Theres no bailout for people struggling to pay their taxes. Years ago, the big banks left the buying of tax liens largely to local real estate specialists and small-time investors. These days, banks and hedge funds, stung by the failure of many speculative investments, see tax liens as a relatively safe option that can yield returns of around 7 percent. Some banks also are packaging tax liens as securities in a similar way to how unpaid home loans are securitized and selling them to investors. If mortgage holders fail to pay overdue taxes, an investor could waltz off with a home worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for the price of paying the owners tax bill. Most homeowners eventually pay their debt. Put it all together and it is makes for a solid investment, said Lloyd McClendon, an owner of realauction.com in Plantation, Fla., one of several companies that conducts online auctions in Florida and other states. Theres an awful lot of new, big money in the sales this year, said James Powell, a longtime Florida investor who remembers a time when local investors flocked to live auctions at courthouses. Typically, they would bid for liens by holding up paddles. Powell is still one of the few in the liens business who makes purchases using his own name. But the smaller investors, noted Powell, have been overtaken by well-heeled banks and funds that now bid online, and in volume. Banks and hedge funds usually buy the liens through online auctions that permit them to bid in bulk, and they can use any name they want. The giant Bank of America, for instance, has bid in Florida tax lien sales using colorful names such as Bennu, LLC, named after a mythical bird said to be the soul of the ancient

Egyptian sun god. It also has bid as Osprey, LLC, and Ecru, LLC, named after the French word for a pale brown color. Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund run by former Fannie Mae chief Daniel Mudd, has bought tax liens under 17 different corporate names. Some evoke tranquil, bucolic settings, such as Pleasant Valley Capital, LLC and Travis Farm Investments, LLC. Representatives of several prominent banks and hedge funds contacted by the Investigative Fund, from JPMorgan to Bank of America and Fortress Investment Group, declined to comment for this article. Some banks purchased liens directly; others financed investment groups that did so. For example, Wells Fargo lends to a liens buyer. Deutsche Bank invests through a subsidiary. And BankAtlantic, based in Fort Lauderdale, is a longtime tax certificate investor in several states, buying liens under the names of several subsidiaries. Though several mortgage lenders, including JPMorgan, recently suspended foreclosures amid concerns that some may have been done improperly, the slowdown is not expected to apply to foreclosures stemming from unpaid taxes. The Investigative Fund identified major tax lien purchasers, many for the first time, through a computer-assisted analysis of more than 300,000 liens, municipal, corporate and court filings and other documents obtained from local government officials in four states and the District of Columbia. The Investigative Fund then traced these purchasers to the major financial institutions that oversaw them, invested in them, or lent money to their operations. Business Needs Scrubbing Local governments, faced with tight budgets and the challenges of collecting debt from property owners, strongly endorse online auctions because tax collectors can easily and rapidly recoup millions of dollars. MiamiDade County, for instance, took in more than $374 million in June 2009 from the sale of

The banks and hedge funds created new

about 60,000 local property tax liens. Tax collectors defend the practice by pointing out that property owners can avoid added fees or the risk of losing homes by paying their bills on time. The threat of losing property often compels tardy homeowners to pay off just before the deadline; without severe penalties many people would simply ignore their obligations to pay property taxes, collectors say. Some two dozen states and the District of Columbia allow tax sales, which spare the governments from added expenses of hiring their own debt collector, or foreclosing and becoming a landlord. Local governments generally require minimal identification for instance, a Social Security number. They allow bidders to choose whatever names they wish, and dont check to see if bidders are using multiple identities. The few investors willing to talk about the tax lien business with the Investigative Fund argue that they are playing a vital role in helping cash-strapped local governments plug holes in budgets and, in some cities, helping rehabilitate older buildings. That returns the properties to the tax rolls, and can help revive beleaguered neighborhoods, they say. Budget-challenged cities are using the proceeds from their [tax lien] sale as an important source of funding, said Gabriel Boehmer, a spokesman for Wells Fargo Bank, which lends to companies that buy tax liens. Critics arent so sure. If your only goal is to maximize your rate of return, this is a nice industry, said Frank Alexander, a law professor at Emory University with expertise on tax sales. The question becomes: Do you mind being a vulture and preying on people? Alexander argues that when local governments privatize tax collection duties they wash their hands of all responsibility for ensuring property owners are treated fairly. In Cleveland, officials are beginning to express concern about the consequences of trusting the new tax collectors. Cuyahoga County canceled this years tax sale amid alarm that previous ones had contributed to

companies to do their bidding. They gave the companies obscure, even whimsical names and used post office boxes as their addresses, masking Wall Streets dominant new role as a surrogate tax collector.

an upsurge in home foreclosures and further decay in already marginal neighborhoods. With the economy the way it is now, we wont have a tax sale for at least one year, said Robin Thomas, Cuyahoga Countys chief deputy treasurer. Her aim: To buy homeowners in Cleveland a little more time to get caught up with their property taxes. Despite national reform efforts that have focused on debt collection, from credit cards and payday lenders to checking account fees, the fairness of tax sales to homeowners remains largely a local, unregulated matter. A new consumer protection bureau created by Congress has no explicit authority to watch over local tax sales. There is no oversight at all, said District of Columbia Attorney General Peter Nickles, who is suing a tax lien investment firm for charging homeowners what he alleges are exorbitant fees to get their homes out of hock. In a separate matter, the U.S. Department of Justices antitrust division is investigating allegations of possible tax-sale bid rigging in two states. The ongoing probe began in Maryland, where three men pleaded guilty to criminal charges earlier this year. A federal grand jury in New Jersey has subpoenaed records from several major tax lien investors, including a JPMorgan subsidiary, and a Virginia company that serviced the Bank of America tax lien portfolio in Florida this year. No charges have been brought in the New Jersey investigation. Said Nickles of the tax lien business: This is one of the areas that really needs a good scrubbing. Small Debts Grow Fast Tax sales routinely place home ownership in jeopardy over relatively small sums, sometimes just a few hundred dollars, the Investigative Fund data analysis of hundreds of thousands of liens records shows. For instance, more than two of every five liens sold earlier this year in 31 Florida counties and in Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix), were for unpaid taxes of less than $1,000; more than 90 percent were less than $5,000. Results were similar in Toledo, Ohio. Some jurisdictions such as Baltimore toss in unpaid water bills and other municipal fees of $250 or more. In May, the Investigative Fund reported how an unemployed former mental health counselor with four children named Vicki Valentine lost her home even though the mortgage had been paid in full. She had owed $362 on an overdue water bill when investors took over and added thousands of dollars in legal fees she couldnt afford. (In response, city officials are seeking statewide legislation that would prohibit the sale of tax liens of less than $750.) To be sure, many debtors eventually pay the mounting bill rather than lose property of greater value. And some states such as Florida give homeowners up to two years to pay off the debt before investors can force the sale of their property. But in other states, those who fail to pay can quickly find themselves in a thicket of escalating debt and in a costly and often losing legal battle to keep a roof over their heads. Barbara Carpenter, a 58-year-old disabled Ohio retiree, found herself in such a situation. The former worker for the American Red Cross struggled to save her Toledo home from a JPMorgan entity called Plymouth Park

Tax Services, which in recent years has been among the nations top buyers of tax liens. Its a great neighborhood and the house is in good condition, said Carpenter, who paid $67,000 for the one-story home in 2004. But she fell behind in paying her taxes and a certificate for $1,500 in unpaid taxes was sold off to Plymouth Park, which is based in New Jersey. Carpenters lawyer, Joseph Westmeyer, said Plymouth Park routinely charges an upfront fee of around $1,500 as soon as it buys the lien and 18 percent interest on the debt. If they dont get paid, they foreclose. Its not a good deal for poor customers, said Westmeyer. Carpenter wound up selling the house in August for less than half what she had paid. Plymouth Park received about $12,000 in legal fees and other charges, including some additional taxes, Westmeyer said, quoting from court records. Andrew Neuhauser, an attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality in Toledo, said his group believes the Lucas County tax sale, which reached a peak of about $5.4 million in liens during 2006, has led to hundreds of foreclosures. That, in turn, has partly eroded the tax base and had a devastating effect on some neighborhoods, he said. Its a short-term gain for the county that in the long term does harm, Neuhauser said. Gail Michaud, a 71-year-old retired real estate broker who lives in a $60,000 home in Dania Beach, Fla., recently fell behind on the property taxes. In June, Broward County sold collection rights to her unpaid bill only $782 to Bennu, LLC, the Bank of America arm named after the mythical bird. Michaud, who said she receives food stamps, resents having to pay interest charges to the nations mightiest bank especially because when the bank was in trouble the government came to the rescue. The taxpayers gave them their bailout money, and they are still doing the same thing they used to. They look their nose down at people and think they can do whatever they want, she said. Florida Boom Florida, the nations largest tax sale market and one of the few states where large transfers of liens can be tracked, shows how the collapse of a once-buoyant real estate market can be a boon for tax lien investors, especially banks and hedge funds. This year alone, counties have offered more than $1.9 billion in tax liens and found eager buyers for nearly all of them. Buyers from across the U.S., the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Panama bid alongside the banks and hedge funds that cater to wealthy investors. In this years sale in Orange County, which includes Orlando, bank-affiliated companies or hedge funds gobbled up nearly 90 percent of the 24,000 tax liens sold. In the Fort Lauderdale area, officials sold more than a quarter of the liens to entities financed by Bank of America. Bank of America made most of its purchases in Florida through four limited liability companies. LLCs can limit exposure to lawsuits and can shield the owners identity. In Florida, Bank of Americas LLCs had the names Investments 2234, Bennu, and Ecru, and all used the same post office box in Atlanta

as their business address, according to records on file in Florida counties. In several Florida auctions, Bank of Americas interests were managed by MTAG Services, one of the largest tax lien servicers in the U.S. The Vienna, Va., company has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in New Jersey that is investigating alleged collusion in bidding at tax sales. MTAGs president, James Meeks, said his company is cooperating fully with the federal investigation. He added that everybody who bought any substantial amount of liens in Jersey was subpoenaed. Meeks said that his company, like others in the industry, favors creative names like Bennu for companies that bid on tax liens. Theres no rhyme or reason to the names, Meeks said. Tax officials in several counties said they had no idea the companies were affiliated with the Bank of America. I know nothing about these companies. I dont have any background on them, said Juanita B. Sikes, tax collector in Hernando County, Fla., north of Tampa, where the numbers of liens sold earlier this year was nearly double those from 2005. Its not on us to determine if they are a real person. Several hedge funds saw opportunity in the Sunshine state as well. One was the Fortress Investment Group headed by Mudd, the former chief executive of Fannie Mae. While Mudd was at the helm, Fannies decision to take on more than $200 billion in risky loans crippled the mortgage giant and helped unravel the economy. In only a few months, Fortress has purchased more than 30,000 tax liens in Florida counties using 17 different LLCs. Most registered for the tax sales using the 46th floor of an Avenue of the Americas skyscraper in midtown Manhattan Fortress headquarters as their address. Fortress began competing for tax liens this year after joining forces with three former executives of JPMorgans tax liens subsidiary. The subsidiary, which bids under the names Xspand and Plymouth Park Tax Services, was among several companies subpoenaed in the grand jury investigation in New Jersey. Former New Jersey Gov. James Florio founded the company and has since sold his interest in it. Neither JPMorgan nor Fortress would comment for this story. Repeated efforts to reach Mudd were not successful. Anonymity Questioned Although many local governments are pleased with the financial results of tax lien sales, D.C. officials question its fairness. D.C. Attorney General Nickles criticizes Aeon Financial, LLC, a bank-financed investment group from Chicago that buys tax liens in some 10 states. Nickles asserts that Aeon has slammed homeowners, who sometimes owed just a few hundred dollars in back taxes, with $7,000 or more in legal fees. In papers filed in a local D.C. court in late 2009, the attorney generals office accused the company of engaging in a pattern of charging and collecting impermissible or excessive legal fees. In an interview, Nickles called that a rip off. Aeon responded that the fees are reasonable, comply with the law and escalate because of improper management by the Districts tax collectors. Homeowners who

consider the fees too high can challenge the charges in court. Court papers show that after Aeon bought liens in the nations capital, property owners received notices from a Chicago law firm. The notices warn homeowners to act now or you could lose your property/investment. An accompanying letter on the law firms letterhead states that THIS PROPERTY IS IN FORECLOSURE and demands payment of legal fees. In April 2009, Nickles formally notified Aeons lawyer, Malik J. Tuma, that he had launched a preliminary investigation of Aeon. The companys notices to homeowners appear at least, to be deceptive and, at worst, potentially fraudulent, wrote Assistant Deputy Attorney General David Fisher. In 2008, when Aeon Financial paid the District $4.6 million for the right to collect on 400 liens, it was the single biggest purchaser of tax liens. Even so, Nickles said he still has no idea who the companys owners are. He is hoping the court case will flush out their names. An Investigative Fund reporter visiting the address printed on the letters from the Chicago law firm found it to be a mail drop at a UPS Store. Reached by phone, Tuma declined to comment on Aeons business practices, citing the ongoing litigation with the District. He would not identify Aeons principals and said the mailbox at the UPS Store was used for the safety of our employees. Tuma added: Theres nothing deceptive about it...Im in D.C. Superior Court every Wednesday. Its not hard to find me. Aeon, which has received funding from TCF Bank for tax liens purchases, has an office in Chicagos Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, once the worlds tallest building. Michael Wehenkel, who has identified himself as Aeons chief operating officer in presentations to D.C. officials, did not respond to numerous requests for comment by phone and e-mail. A spokesman for TCF, a Midwestern bank, said: We were doing business with [Aeon] and no longer are. Tax collectors in Florida dont always know who theyre doing business with, either. Officials in Pinellas County want to know who exactly is behind a company called GL Funding Limited. Sales records show that GL Funding spent more than $10 million and dominated the tax sale in at least 10 Florida counties, most of them rural or smaller cities where interest rates tended to be much higher than in urban and resort areas. GL Funding registered with several Florida tax collectors as a company with offices in the Cayman Islands. But other counties list a post office box in Philadelphia as its address. The person who registered GL Funding in Pinellas Countys tax sale provided Pinellas with a telephone number in Dallas, Tex. At that number, a man named Jess Weir declined to tell the Investigative Fund who is investing through the name GL Funding. Said Sam McClelland, deputy tax collector in Pinellas County, Fla., where GL Funding acquired hundreds of liens earlier this year: Were still trying to sort this out. Lagan Sebert contributed to this article.
november 18, 2010

november 18, 2010

Peace and blessings. Hope you have been good out there. Congrats to Nikki Haley for becoming South Carolinas first female governor. Get ready to work because this state really needs help! Time has been breezing by; 2010 is almost coming to a close, but the music keeps rolling on. Lil Wayne is currently out of prison, T.I. & Gucci Mane both are back behind bars, Taylor Swift has sold over 1,000,000 copies of her new album in a week (not done this well since 50 Cents The Massacre), Speak Now, and the fourth and most busiest quarter of music is underway. Lets get to it. The fall and winter music releases of 2010 (Fourth Quarter) are expected to be some of the most anticipated weeks in recent years. Artists from Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, T.I., Black Eye Peas, Young Jeezy, Ke$ha, Akon, Chrisette Michele, Smif & Wessun, Jazmine Sullivan, Missy Elliot, Kings Of Leon, Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, and many more are all expected to release (and re-release) something during these holidays. An artist who is seemingly waiting in the wings to give his art to the masses is a Grammy winner, Producer, Emcee, Director, Writer, Trendsetter, and so much more. His current single releases (Power, Monster, and Runaway) and subsequent Twitter testimonies have only added fuel to his fire. Debuting in 2003 with The College Dropout and gaining huge success, this artists influence has only grown to gigantic percentages. Continuing his chart-topping success with his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th albums (respectively Late Registration, Graduation, and 808s & Heartbreaks), Kanye West, coming off a selfimposed hiatus due to the turmoil that became his public life about a year ago, is ready to get back into the spotlight. After losing his mother, losing his girlfriend, and almost losing his mind after bombarding Taylor Swifts acceptance speech for Video Of The Year, Kanye West returned to what he knows best; his music. After listening to a few of the various songs floating the internet over these past few weeks; nodding to most, but scratching my head to some; I wondered what it would be like to truly interview Mr. West. Here are the results from a few too many long nights. THE DARK TWISTED FANTASY OF KANYE WEST (Mock Interview) Runaway is a movie that deals with love, loss, triumph, and an abundance of color. Explain the concept & purpose behind it. Well to be honest, I often make records about my own insecurities and with the extravagance of King Tut. See my talent is so huge; that is why I wear this chain made of pure gold and outstanding charm. Some of my records used to deal with very unpleasant subject matter (remember Jesus Walks) and I was taught that in this business that being a follower is worse than being an A & R. See A & Rs can at least give a thumbs up or thumbs down to someones dream; but as a follower, all you can do is walk in the path of someone before you. If this is what you

choose to do with your talent; you might as well trail someone worth following. Someone like..umm (long pause)Me. Excuse me for a minute Kanye, but the question was about the movie you did with Hype Williams, Runaway. This movie was one of those obvious times where I felt like doing what I wanted to do similar to the Taylor Swift bullsh*t. It just so happened that I was in the position to keep confusing people about my real intentions to take over the world through my art Did you not see the Power video. Even Michelangelo couldnt f*ck with my vision. Many feel that Hip Hop is a violent art from. Do you agree? If not, then what is Hip Hop? Actually, any form of art is a violent action. Art is made to speak out and document the world around us and the world within. This world is violent. Around me is the best that money can buy. Do you see how secure and confining my slacks are? You can only get that look from having your own personal stylist who specializes in womens garments. Like Pimp C always said, Smoke something B*tch; If you did that, youd be able to see how fresh and fly I am. Lets get to the music. How is Dark Twisted Fantasy coming? Well my man Hype, who shot Runaway, was talking about doing another video for the project and that he wanted it to be something that was somewhat shocking. He had the idea of presenting me and my music in a way that was so different from Runaway. He was feeling all the records and told me to go head and switch the style up. I got everybody on this record. Think of somebody, anybody, and I bet I got them on this record. Anybody? What about my man Wise Intelligent (from The Poor Righteous Teachers) or even Jim Morrison (from The Doors)? You got to be out of your mind man; of course I got them on this record. Wise Intelligent is on a track called Hi-Liter, where we talking about them freaks who do everything. You just rub a hi-liter over their teeth. If they cant brush the yellow off that means that they have a bunch of urine residue on those 32. Jim Morrison is on my outro, Break on Thru. Nobody has been able to upstage me from saying any acceptance speech for the thousands of awards Ive won. Due to that fact, I decided to draw a line in the sand of anybody willing to Break on Thru to the other side. Like Gucci Mane say, Im the sh*t b*tch. ---Interview ended with his phone vibrating from his 11 minute reminders to update his University site and Twitter account.

10

november 18, 2010

NOVEMBER

MC Chris MC Frontalot
Schaffer The Darklord

$12/$14dos 8pm

Thursday 18

BATTLE OF THE BANDS Finals

Foley Dance Commander Invader Octopus Jones

$8

Friday 19

8pm

Saturday 20
$5/$7

Obraskai Fight In Vegas Decadence The Jupiter Tide

8:30pm

Sunday 21
$7

7:30pm

Bob Wayne & the Outlaw Carnies Whiskey Tango Revue TBA

free 21+

Monday 22

Thursday 25

NOVEMBER

Thanksgiving
$2 Domestics

with Sea

We Sail At Dawn Enable Kain KayseeKay Saying Goodbye To Scarlet Roselyn

Ben G Los Lagartos Primo Starr Marry Me Joanna Velvet Jones High Rose Grow ARTS & CRAFTS DJ Chris Invaded By W SEAN Nique Demons $2.00 House and personal pie DJ Jerkface $3 So.Co. $2.50 all the time
Twas the Night Before Christmas Tour Featuring
$15/$17 5pm

Pity Rally

DECEMBER

free 21+ 7pm

$5/$8

Friday 26

6:30pm

Saturday 27
tba

Sunday 28
$5/$8 7pm

$2.00 House and $3 So.Co.

ARTS & CRAFTS W SEAN

Acoustic Open Mic Night w/:

8pm

Tuedsay 23
21+

no show

Wednesday 24
New Music Night
Wawona Jamal Renaissance Scottie Frier Hold Your Own
$5/$8

7:30pm

Select Liquors Free Pool Golden Tee MegaTouch Mortal Kombat

Monday 29
free 21+

Acoustic Open Mic Night w/:

8pm

Tuesday 30
$5/$7 8pm

Wednesday 1
$7

Versus The Robot

I Call Fives A Brighter Life City Lights Clever Words (Unread)

6:30pm

NOVEMBER

Andy Hull & Scene SC Presents: Valley Maker Kevin Devine (Austin Crane)
Playing the music of Manchester Orchestra, Bad Books, and Kevin Devine w/: Gobotron

$11/$13 7pm

Thursday 2

Thursday 8 Friday 3

$10 6:30pm

Saturday 4

Sunday 5
$7

7pm

free 21+

Monday 6

The Internet American Gun The Restoration Calculator

Relient K
( Acoustic)

Sing Sing 76 Valero Full Color Footage

Windsor Drive

Obraski

$2.00 House and $3 So.Co.

ARTS & CRAFTS W SEAN

Acoustic Open Mic Night w/:

8pm

$10/$12 6pm

Tuesday 7

MyChildren MyBride Invoking The Abstract Ninjaloot

Saturday November 20th 8:30 pm $5 advance $7day of show

FREE 21+

Acostic Open Mic Night w/:

ARTS & CRAFTS W SEAN EVERY MONDAY 8pM
$2.00 House and $3 So.Co.

SAT DEC 4th 5pm

FRIDAY Nov 19

BATTLE OF THE BANDS Finals

Relient K

T$15 /$17 dos

Thursday November 18th 8pm

MC Chris
MC Frontalot
$12 $14 day of show

Friday Novemnber 26th 6:30 pm $5 in advance, $8 day of show $13/$15 6pm

122 State St. W Columbia SC 29169 www.newbrooklandtavern.com 803.791.4413

Thursday November 18 New Brookland Tavern MC Chris MC Frontalot Schaffer The Darklord Utopia Open Mic w Keith Bates Friday November 19 New Brookland Tavern NBT Battle of the bands finals Macs On Main Fatback & The Groove Utopia Coolie G & Lion Soul Saturday Novbember 20 Art Bar Blastronaut, Swig, Suki-T New Brookland Tavern Obraskai Fight In Vegas Decadence

The Jupiter Tide Macs On Main Adam Kiraly Band Utopia Darren Woodlief & Friends Sunday November 21 New Brookland Tavern Bob Wayne & the Outlaw Carnies Whiskey Tango Revue TBA Monday November 22 New Brookland Tavern Acoustic Open Mic Mondays Tuesday November 23 New Brookland Tavern tba Wednesday November 24 New Brookland Tavern tba

Utopia Big Dixie Thursday November 25 New Brookland Tavern tba Friday November 26 Utopia Tough Mama Saturday November 27 Art Bar Magnetic Flowers Macs On Main Soul Patrol Utopia Cold Creek Thursday December 2 New Brookland Tavern Andy Hull & Kevin Devine Playing the music of Manchester Orchestra, Bad Books, and Kevin Devine

w/: Gobotron Utopia Open Mic w Brett Mello Friday December 3 Utopia Stillhouse Saturday December 4 New Brookland Tavern Twas the Night Before Christmas Tour Featuring Relient K ( Acoustic) Sunday December 5 New Brookland Tavern Windsor Drive TBA Tuesday December 7 New Brookland Tavern MyChildren MyBride TBA

So Man or Astroman? (not any of the clones, but the original lineup) got back together and recently played a limited number of dates on the East Coast...coming no closer than 3 hours to Columbia. So with surf on the brain, the pick of the week is another surf outfit, Atlantas Mermaids. BUT, its not really a surf rock

outfit like Man or Astroman? or Los Straightjackets. Instead, Mermaids are more surf pop like the Beach Boys. So expect a whole lot of Beach Boys style vocal harmonies, and well, more pop than rock (with punk and indie influences mixed in). Oh and reverb...lots of reverb. Dont miss it!

11/19/10 :: Friday Azure Ray James Husband 40 Watt Club Athens, GA

Road TRip
Pop Evil Seasons After New Medicine Amos Southend Charlotte, NC illicitizen Keg and Cue Charlotte, NC Yo Mamas Big Fat Booty Band Dopapod Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC Simplified Sand Trap Charlotte, NC Gary Allan The Fillmore Charlotte, NC The Coathangers The Milestone Charlotte, NC Concrete Jumpsuit The Philosophers Stone Charlotte, NC David Allan Coe Tremont Music Hall Charlotte, NC Hipshack Tyber Creek Pub Charlotte, NC Trampled By Turtles The Infamous Stringdusters Visulite Theatre Charlotte, NC Porch Dog Revival J. Butlers Lewisville, NC The Minor Adjustments Home Team BBQ Charleston, SC Lionz of Zion (L.O.Z.) OMalleys Bar and Grille Charleston, SC Crowfield Charlie Mars The Music Farm Charleston, SC Signal Path Bluetech The Pour House Charleston, SC Spankalicious The Pourhouse charleston, SC Lyle Lovett Peace Center Greenville, SC Jimmy Herring Jimmy Herring Band Craig Sorrells Jeff Sipe Neal Fountain Matt Slocum The Handlebar Greenville, SC Slippery When Wet House of Blues N. Myrtle Beach, SC Stephaniesid The Showroom @ Hub-Bub Spartanburg, SC 11/20/10 :: Saturday Maserati 40 Watt Club Athens, GA Lingo Last Call Athens, GA Dave Barnes Melting Point Athens, GA Holman Autry Band Club Chrome Bogart, GA Plumnelle Moon Dingus Magees Statesboro, GA Asheville Symphony Asheville Civic Center Asheville, NC Stephaniesid Grey Eagle Asheville, NC Yo Mamas Big Fat Booty Band The Mantras Orange Peel Asheville, NC Shannon McNally Outdoor Stage @ Pisgah Brewing Co. Black Mountain, NC Scrapomatic Shannon Mcnally And Hot Sauce Pisgah Brewing Black Mountain, NC Velvet Truckstop The Watershed Black Mountain, NC Charlotte Symphony Orchestra Belk Theatre Charlotte, NC The Bridge Sol Driven Train Double Door Inn Charlotte, NC Sam Bush Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC John McCutcheon Spirit Square Center for the Arts Charlotte, NC Invisible Airplanes The Door Coffeehouse Charlotte, NC Justin Trawick The Farewell Drifters The Evening Muse Charlotte, NC Ben Folds The Fillmore Charlotte, NC Simplified The Rusty Rudder Cornelius, NC Matthew West Crown Coliseum Fayetteville, NC The Genitorturers The Rock Shop Fayetteville, NC

Ken Will Morton Little Kings Shuffle Club Athens, GA Frontiers (Journey Tribute) Melting Point Athens, GA Plumnelle Moon Afro America Rye Bar Athens, GA Sam Bush Historic Imperial Theatre Augusta, GA Groove Stain The Loft Augusta, GA Sol Driven Train Live Wire Music Hall Savannah, GA The Hypsys Buffalos Cafe Statesboro, GA Hackensaw Boys Grey Eagle Asheville, NC Joanna Newsom Orange Peel Asheville, NC Crosstown Friends Bar and Grill Belmont, NC november 18, 2010

12

Movie times listed are for the weekend of November 19, please confirm with theater. Regal Columbia Cinema 7 3400 Forest Drive Suite 3000, Columbia, SC 29204 The Next Three Days new! (PG-13) DP (Digital Projection) Showtimes More Info 1:15 4:15 7:15 10:15 Morning Glory new! (PG-13) 1:10 4:10 7:10 9:50 Due Date (R) 1:30 4:40 7:20 9:40 For Colored Girls (R) 1:20 4:20 7:30 10:30 DP (Digital Projection) Showtimes More Info 1:00 4:00 7:00 10:00 Paranormal Activity 2 (R) DP (Digital Projection) Showtimes More Info 1:50 4:50 7:40 9:55 Hereafter (2010) (PG13) 1:40 4:30 7:25 10:20 Carmike Wynnsong 10 5320 Forest Drive, Columbia, SC 29206 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 new! (PG-13) 12:00 12:30 1:00 3:10 3:45 4:10 6:20 7:00 7:20 9:30 10:10 10:30 Skyline new! (PG-13) 12:15 2:40 5:05 6:50 7:30 9:20 9:55 Unstoppable new! (PG-13) 12:20 12:45 2:45 3:10 5:10 5:35 7:35 8:00 10:00 Megamind (PG) 1:10 3:45 7:20 9:50 Megamind 3D (PG) Digital 3D Showtimes More Info 12:35 1:15 1:45 2:55 3:45 4:00 5:15 6:40 7:35 9:35 Red (PG-13) 9:50pm

movie times
1250 Bower Pkwy, Columbia, SC 29212 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 new! (PG-13) No Passes 10:30am 11:00am 12:00 12:30 1:30 2:00 3:15 3:45 4:45 5:15 6:30 7:00 8:00 8:30 9:35 10:05 DP (Digital Projection) Showtimes (Passes Allowed)More Info 10:00am 11:30am 1:00 2:45 4:15 6:00 7:30 10:35 The Next Three Days new! (PG-13) 10:15am 1:20 4:25 7:15 10:10 Skyline new! (PG-13) 10:40am 1:10 3:20 5:30 7:45 10:15 Unstoppable new! (PG-13) 11:50am 12:20 2:10 2:40 4:50 5:20 7:10 7:40 9:30 10:10 Morning Glory new! (PG-13) 11:40am 2:30 5:00 7:35 10:05 Megamind (PG) 10:25am 12:40 2:50 5:10 Megamind 3D (PG) Showtimes More Info 12:05 2:20 4:40 6:55 9:20 Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (R) Showtimes More Info 9:10pm Red (PG-13) 11:20am 1:50 4:30 7:20 9:50 Life As We Know It (PG-13) 7:50 10:30 Carmike 14 122 Afton Court, Columbia, SC 29212 Nowhere Boy (R) 1:40 4:20 7:10 9:35 Legend of the Guardians:The Owls of GaHoole 3D (PG) Digital 3D Showtimes More Info 1:15 3:50 6:35 9:10 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (PG-13) 2:00 5:20 8:45 You Again (PG) 1:20 4:15 6:45 9:25 Resident Evil: Afterlife (R) 1:10 3:35 6:30 9:05 The Other Guys (PG13) 1:05 3:40 6:30 9:00 Regal Sandhill Stadium 16 450 Town Center Place Jackass 3D new! (R) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 new! (PG-13) 10:00am 10:30am 11:40am 12:40 1:10 1:40 2:50 3:50 4:20 4:50 6:00 7:00 7:30 8:00 9:10 10:10 10:40 11:10 DP (Digital Projection) Showtimes More Info 11:00am 12:10 2:10 3:20 5:20 6:30 8:30 11:40 The Next Three Days new! (PG-13) 10:05am 1:00 4:10 7:15 10:20 Skyline new! (PG-13) 12:05 2:40 5:15 7:45 10:05 12:10am Unstoppable new! (PG-13) 11:30am 12:00 2:00 2:30 4:30 5:00 7:10 7:40 9:45 10:15 12:05am Morning Glory new! (PG-13) 11:50am 2:25 5:05 7:50 10:30 Due Date (R) 10:10am 12:25 2:45 5:30 7:55 10:35 For Colored Girls (R) 12:20 12:50 3:30 4:00 6:50 7:20 9:55 10:25 Megamind (PG) 2:05 4:40 7:05 9:30 11:50

10:00am 12:15 2:35 5:10 7:35 10:00 Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (R) Showtimes More Info 9:40 12:00am Nickelodeon http://www. nickelodeon.org/ 937 Main Street HEARTBREAKER Alex (Romain Duris) and his sister, Mlanie (Julie Ferrier), and her husband, Marc (Franois Damiens), earn money by breaking up relationships. But when Alex falls for a clients (Jacques Frantz) daughter, Juliette (Vanessa Paradis), he has to decide if hell bust up her wedding to Jonathon (Andrew Lincoln), whos truly perfect for her. Pascal Chau NOVEMBER 19-24, Friday-Wednesday Friday, Nov. 19 - 3:00 and 8:00 Saturday, Nov. 20 3:00 and 6:00 Sunday, Nov. 21 - 6:00 only Monday, Nov. 22 6:00 only Tuesday, Nov. 23 9:00 only Wednesday, Nov. 24 6:00 THE BIG MO MONETTA DRIVEIN 5822 Columbia Highway North, Monetta SC 29105 Gates open at 6:30pm and show starts at 7:45. Nov. 19, 20, &21. Screen 1 MegaMind DiueDate Screen 2 Skyline Paranormal Activity 2

Jerry (Eric Balfour, Six Feet Under) and his pregnant girlfriend Elaine (Scotty Thompson, Trauma) fly to Los Angeles and are put up in the penthouse of Terry (Donald Faison, Scrubs), a childhood friend now living the high life, and his girlfriend (Brittany Daniel, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia) for Terrys birthday bash. They wake up the next morning when bright lights descend on the city, pulling people into the sky, and giant alien spaceships emerge from the clouds. The group hunker down where they are but their top floor penthouse perch makes them an easy target for the monsters who have declared war on everything around them. Alien invasion films have a long history steeped in black and white camp. A good alien invasion movie celebrates this lineage as Independence Day - still the gold standard - did. Skyline is a more serious, somber movie that rejects its history in favor of emulating more recent monster/ alien movies. It seeks to be a big budget thriller but its feet are cemented in low budget indie film constraints and unnecessarily dramatic pretension. Just show me some nasty aliens, cool space ships, have them blow things up and populate the film with strong characters willing to fight back and youve got me. Skyline gets the first part right. The creature design is the reason to see the movie. The effects are terrific and are shown in all their glory early and often. We get war ships, flying squid-like drones and giant hulking beasts. And theyre nasty mothers too that cant be reasoned with. And what they want from us humans, a bit of gore that pushes the PG-13 to the limit, is so deliciously ridiculous in a comic book type of way you read about but never really see on screen that it sold the aliens for me as characters able to stand up in their own franchise. Theyre the nastiest, meanest things since Starship Troopers and the movie does a good job of bringing to life their human-snatching horror. While we see a great deal of aliens, unfortunately Skyline spends a misguided amount of time on the humans as they bunker down in the penthouse and argue with each other. If youre one of those people who always proclaims youre smarter than the movie and that you would just stay put and let the danger pass, this is the movie for you. And its about as exciting as that scenario plays out. All of their attempts to escape end in disaster forcing them right

back into the penthouse to watch the chaos out the window. There is absolutely nothing wrong with confined cinema, some of the best monster movies ever have played out the drama over TVs and radios while people hunkered in place. But the hunkering cant just be filler. It has to be part of the story, the characters need to be strong enough to hold up these sections and they need interesting things to say. Special Effects guys, the Strause brothers have no idea what to do with actors. Where to put them, what to have them say, how to have them relate to one another. This is the dumbest, most unpleasant lot youd ever want to spend the end of the world with (save for John Cusack in 2012 that is). The men go on macho missions to check things out that end in failure and the women spend the time shrieking hysterically and cowering in fear. The Strause brothers have populated the film with TV actors (also including a DextersDavid Zayas) who cant carry the scenes with Balfour unable to get in the big shoes of hero and Faison unable to conjure up a shred of his Scrubs charm. Im not even quite clear what Faisons Terry does in the industry that got him the penthouse. The Strause brothers must think theyre circumventing cliched characters by not giving anyone a character or a backstory at all. The Strause brothers come to this off of the atrocious franchise abortion Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. Theyre an inept duo so even with its obnoxiousness, Skylineis a step up. The special effects are great and a few of the action scenes at least look great, even if the Strauses still havent figured out how to create tension from them and the shots are so lens-flare heavy they might require donning sunglasses even on the midnight movie schedule the movie will play best on. But its a bad sign when youre watching a film and already re-editing it in your head. 10 minutes in and I had mentally lobbed off a pointless opening teaser. Viewers will have their mental edits on overdrive when the movie wobbles into home unable to decide on an ending. It presents us with a Night of the Living Dead somber ending, one that I could at least respect, and then cowardly backs away from it to end on a cliffhanger that is just head-scratching. A sporadically entertaining waste of time. Written by Charlie http://www.moviefilmreview.com/ author/cds050282

Due Date (R) 1:15 2:15 3:45 5:10 6:20 7:30 8:50 9:50 For Colored Girls (R) 1:00 2:00 4:00 5:00 7:00 8:00 10:00 Paranormal Activity 2 (R) 1:50 4:40 7:15 9:40 Hereafter (2010) (PGAMC Dutch Square 13) 14 1:00 4:00 6:55 9:50 800 Bush River Rd., N-Secure (R) Columbia, SC 29210 1:30 4:10 6:45 9:20 Its Kind of a Funny Regal Columbiana Story (PG-13) Grande Stadium 14 1:35 4:05 6:40 9:20

St. Andrews Cinema 5 527 St Andrews Road Columbia, SC 29210 (803) 772-7469 Open Captioned & Please call Descriptive Audio Showtimes More Info Regal Pastime 11:45am Pavilion 8 929 North Megamind 3D (PG) Lake Drive, Lexington, Showtimes More Info SC 29072
november 118 2010

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I have a bit of a situation. Im a 23-yearold het male, and I am married. My wife and I have a girlfriend now, making our arrangement a polyamorous triad. We all love each other, and we are getting to the point that we are thinking about how we are going to tell our parents about our relationship. My parents have already been told. My mother was bemused and amazed, my father gave me a high five. But my parents are divorced/remarried atheists, and by the time I was 12, my dad was teaching me how to eat pussy. My wifes family is super Southern Baptist, while our girlfriends mother is a big ol bag of crazy: She was a physically abusive nut job who beat her children with a Bible attached to a rope. Should we even bother disclosing to either of their sets of Bible-beating parents? To give you an even better idea about who my mother-in-law is: Im a recovering addict (two years sober), and after I told her that in confidence, she used it against me the first chance she got (called me a thieving junkie). Shes a hypocritical, judgmental bitch, but my wife feels like she needs her approval. If we shouldnt disclose, then how do we deal with things like family holidays? Is not disclosing a sign that either my wife or girlfriend is ashamed of the life we lead? Not Telling The Whole Truth

SavageLove
Sex advice by Dan Savage
figure out how to do it and make it fun for him? Wants Info For Erotics Except in the most extreme cases, WIFE, male chastity play isnt really about orgasm denial. Its more of an elaborate, extended kind of foreplay, a way of introducing elements of erotic power and control that usually result in the denied/chaste man having more orgasms, not fewer. Theres no way of knowing how many wives out there are locking up their husbands dicks, WIFE, but there are enough couples doing it to keep male chastity device manufacturers in business (www.cb-6000.com) and enough couples interested in male chastity play for publishers to bring out books that explain how to do it and how to make it pleasurable (Male Chastity: A Guide for Keyholders by Lucy Fairbourne, Be Careful What You Wish For...: The Ultimate Guide to Male Chastity by Sarah Jameson). As for safety: Make sure you get a chastity device that fits properly, WIFE, as you dont want his dick to go numb, develop gangrene, and fall offthat would be nullification, not chastity. And dont deny your husband orgasms for weeks or months on end, as that could elevate his risk for developing prostate cancer. Im a guy in my late 30s and have been married for 12 mostly happy years, with three kids. Ive never cheated, despite a boring sex life that Ive tried to spice up. My efforts were not received well. Weve talked at length about the frequency and style of our sex life, but shes not interested in having sex very often, and when she is, it only happens one of two ways. Ive thought about having sex with other women but have never acted on any of the opportunities that came my way. Anyway, I meet a girl, were attracted to each other, and we decide to go for it. No, my wife does not know. Yes, Im an asshole. And the problem is, suddenly I cant get it upfor either of them! Neither my hand nor porn work, either. WTF? I have NEVER had this problem. Its been three attemptspatient girl, huh?and so far nothing. I cant tell if this is guilt, performance anxiety, or what. Has my wife, porn, and my hand ruined me for having sex with other women? Do you have any suggestions? I doubt its medical, since the onset occurred precisely when this girl and I decided to have sex, and that would be far too much of a coincidence. No Catchy Sign-Off Im thinking either its guilt plus performance anxietyguilt-induced performance anxiety or its a huge and highly unlikely coincidence. A medical checkup can rule out the latter, NCSO, but only a thorough examination of your feelings, your motives, and your circumstances can help the former. Youve taken a huge and potentially very consequential step: Youre gonna cheat on the wife (three attempts? youre already cheating on the wife), NCSO, and if the wife finds outand thats a pretty small ifthat could mean divorce. (It shouldnt mean divorce, in my opinion, but it usually does.) Seeing as the potential consequences for you, your wife, and your kids are so dire that youve been struck bonerless, I would advise you to stop seeing the patient girl... for now. Youre going to have tosorry!talk to the wife about your frustrations and the possibility of opening up your marriage. Because the only way your dick is going to work with other women, NCSO, is if youre not risking everything with it. mail@savagelove.net

Drug Agent--the further adventures of Agent 00-420. by Matt Jones Across 1 Uplift 6 Janitors tool 9 I ___ a Putty Tat (1947 animated short) 12 When I Take My Sugar ___ (Frank Sinatra song) 13 Its ___-brainer 14 ___ the Killer (2001 Japanese film) 16 Moral system 17 Who the USO entertains 18 A League of Their Own star Davis 20 Stoners 2002 spy movie? 23 Boggy marsh 24 Stoners 1965 spy movie? 25 Leadup to L 26 Late comedian Kinison 27 Story lines path 28 Gp. that often funds PBS 29 Civil rights figure Parks 31 Wolfed down 33 Classic line from Agent 00-420? 39 Eww! 40 Tara of tabloids 42 The Bayou Bengals sch. 45 Noahs vessel 46 Music items in cases 49 ___-Magnon man

Drug Agent--the further adventures of Agent 00-420.

50 Girl pursued by Agent 00420? 53 Airline to Amsterdam 54 Star of On Her Majestys Secret Stash? 56 Chilean pianist Claudio 57 Crew teams item 58 Travels freely 60 Lowlifes 61 Hesitant syllables 62 Old lab heaters 63 Mag big shots 64 ___-bo (gym fad) 65 ___ I warn you?

Jonesin crosswords

Down 1 Summer, in Paris 2 Fulfill all requirements 3 Maybe, but possibly not... 4 Freaks and Geeks creator and The Office director Paul 5 Marina vehicles 6 Tom Selleck title role 7 T. Herman Zweibels paper, with The 8 Put 12/31/2020 on checks, say 9 It gets its stripes early 10 Tart-tasting 11 Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss 15 Flabbergasted 19 Clan of the Cave Bear heroine 21 Im onto you now!

22 ___ Johnny! 23 Cone-bearing tree 30 Eat Drink Man Woman director Lee 31 Pro-___ (mixed tournaments) 32 Un momento, ___ favor 34 Drab-colored Australian trees 35 Argentine author ___ Luis Borges 36 Inquire on 37 Ascot or cravat 38 Anyone effeminate, to The Governator 41 Burt Reynolds co-star DeLuise 42 Annika Sorenstams org. 43 Plaintiffs 44 Nintendo product on many worst game controllers of all time lists 46 Like sandpaper 47 Ask ___ (Chrysler ad campaign featuring chairman Dieter Zetsche) 48 Get fuming mad 51 Identity theft, e.g. 52 Spitting four-footer 55 Cop-out in the Chicken Little story 59 Ultra-fast jet 2010 Jonesin Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

You dont mention how long youve been in this poly triad, NTTWT, but seeing as youre only 23 and were already married before you met the girlfriend, you cant have been in this poly triad for very long. And while its nice that you have such an open and honest relationship with your parentsperhaps a little too open (Id like to take this opportunity to thank my father for not teaching me how to eat pussy when I was 12)your wife and your girlfriend arent similarly blessed. For that reason, Im gonna advise against disclosing the true nature of your relationship(s) for the time being, NTTWT. Not because you have anything to be ashamed ofyou most certainly do notbut because relationships with parents are best run on a need-to-know basis. And it doesnt sound like your wifes parents need to knownot yet. This triad is new, and like most romantic relationships, it may not stand the test of time. For the moment, introduce your girlfriend as a friend; if your MIL is curious about why youre all living together, say something vague about the economy. If it turns out that your triad is one for the ages, NTTWT, then you can come out to your MIL and weather the judgmental shitstorm. As for the girlfriends mother, NTTWT, it doesnt sound like that woman has a right to know anything about her daughters life. All that said, NTTWT, I do think loving, committed nonmonogamous couples should be open with their families, if only to prove to people that loving, committed nonmonogamous couples exist. Im not encouraging you to be closeted, just strategic. Your wifes family is more likely to be accepting if they perceive your marriage as not just loving, but lasting. Give it a few years, NTTWT, and then, whether the current girlfriend is still in the picture or not, your wife can let her mother know as matter-of-factly as possiblethat youre poly. What do you know about orgasm denial for men? My husband is asking me to try all kinds of crazy things like locking him in a chastity device and denying him orgasms until he begs. Is that safe? Do many couples do it? I admit I find it kind of sexy, but how in the world do I

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november 18, 2010

november 18, 2010

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