The blogosphere is in an uproar over Casey Serin's announcement that he has established a new "shell corporation" to further evade his debtors and law enforcement.
In short, the same asshole who was claiming insolvency just a couple of weeks ago, and begging his readers for $220 dollars to keep the CashCall wolves at bay, supposedly paid off a $4,500 loan that was given to him to establish a new shady entity in the business world.
So it seemed like a good time to delve a little deeper into the little huckster's background. Indeed, Casey Serin has a long history of establishing companies. Sacramento County alone shows five listings for Casey Serin DBA's, dating back eight years.
In order of their dates of origin, they are:
SERIN VENDING
Filing Number: 9908416
Filing Date: 10/28/1999
Expiration Date: 10/28/2004
Ownership Type: Individual
Status: Expired
Number of Business Names on this filing: 1
Business Name(s):
SERIN VENDING
Number of Owners on this filing: 1
SERIN SITES
Filing Number: 0009067
Filing Date: 11/13/2000
Expiration Date: 11/13/2005
Ownership Type: Individual
Status: Expired
Number of Business Names on this filing: 2
Business Name(s):
SERIN SITES
SERINSITES.COM
Number of Owners on this filing: 1
GOSITE!
Filing Number: 0104276
Filing Date: 05/24/2001
Expiration Date: 05/24/2006
Ownership Type: Individual
Status: Expired
Number of Business Names on this filing: 1
Business Name(s):
GOSITE!
Number of Owners on this filing: 1
GOSITENOW
Filing Number: 0105635
Filing Date: 07/12/2001
Expiration Date: 07/12/2006
Ownership Type: Individual Status: Expired
Number of Business Names on this filing: 2
Business Name(s):
GOSITENOW
GOSITENOW.COM
Number of Owners on this filing: 1
SWEETHOST
Filing Number: 0305017
Filing Date: 05/15/2003
Expiration Date: 05/15/2008
Ownership Type: Individual Status: Active
Number of Business Names on this filing: 2
Business Name(s):
SWEETHOST
PHUN CLUB
Number of Owners on this filing: 1
Now, if you take into account the fact that Casey Serin was born in September of 1982, he wouldn't have been 18 until 2000. So who registered the first DBA, Serin Vending, under the name Casey Serin? I can't imagine why the State of California would allow a minor to register a corporation...in which case are the Serin Family members a bit more inbred than we originally thought and trade one another's identities with impugnity?
Note that the final DBA, "Sweethost" is an ACTIVE license. I can't help but wonder what the little fucktard is up to with that...
4/13/2007
4/12/2007
The Casey Serin Project
I was incredibly moved by a posting at ExUrbanNation a couple of days ago. A poster wrote to say that he had called law enforcement to point out Casey Serin's blatent fraud blog.
He was compelled to make this call, he said, because he is a real estate agent. He had recently been working with some clients who worked their asses off and barely qualified for a mortgage. By the time they found a house in their price range, that mortgage was no longer available to them.
In a moment that should give all of us pause, the client looked at the agent and said, "What about that guy in California who bought eight houses with no money down?" Well, what about him, indeed?
Many of us have been speculating that the subprime mortgage 'crisis' will soon be fought in the halls of Congress, where ill-informed legislators will enact regulations akin to Sarbanex-Oxley in the wake of Enron.
The fear is that thousands of mortgage fraudsters like Casey and Galina Serin will fall under this umbrella, granting a form of financial amnesty to willfully fraudulent borrowers, lenders, and brokers.
We've already heard the opening shot from Senators cum Presidential candidates Chris Dodd and Hillary Clinton. Now, Chuck Schumer and Jesse Jackson have joined the mix.
Right now, these folks' have louder voices than those of us who have been watching a different sideshow at the same circus. But they're not hearing from us. They're reading biased articles about "predatory lending" and "Casey Serin as Victim" in nationally-syndicated news outlets.
The time has come for rational voices to enter the debate. With that in mind, I'd like to start "The Casey Serin Project" to highlight the frauds, phonies, and felons that the high-profile mouthpieces don't seem to be hearing about.
We'll be using the power of user-generated media to draw attention to this situation like no glossy ads or television commercials ever could. In other words, thank you, YouTube.
If you would like to participate, please make a 30-second to 2-minute long video and upload it to YouTube. In your video, please address issues such as,
"How mortgage fraudsters like Casey Serin have affected me/my family/my neighborhood."
"Why mortgage fraudsters like Casey Serin need to be held accountable for their actions."
"Why 'small-fry' felons like Casey and Galina Serin need to be prosecuted."
"Why multi-state felons like Casey and Galina Serin do need to be held accountable for 'every dirty penny.'"
"Why a 'subprime mortgage bailout' is a bad idea."
Take a video of yourself, or, if you don't want to show your face, maybe you want to narrate your video as you drive or walk your neighborhood. The possibilities are endless.
The videos will be compiled and forwarded to members of Congress, particularly those in districts where Casey and Galina Serin had properties, and those who like to hold press conferences about subprime mortgage bailouts. The videos will also be forwarded to District Attorneys in the cities and counties where Casey and Galina Serin briefly owned their foreclosed properties.
I hope that you will join "The Casey Serin Project" and spread the word.
He was compelled to make this call, he said, because he is a real estate agent. He had recently been working with some clients who worked their asses off and barely qualified for a mortgage. By the time they found a house in their price range, that mortgage was no longer available to them.
In a moment that should give all of us pause, the client looked at the agent and said, "What about that guy in California who bought eight houses with no money down?" Well, what about him, indeed?
Many of us have been speculating that the subprime mortgage 'crisis' will soon be fought in the halls of Congress, where ill-informed legislators will enact regulations akin to Sarbanex-Oxley in the wake of Enron.
The fear is that thousands of mortgage fraudsters like Casey and Galina Serin will fall under this umbrella, granting a form of financial amnesty to willfully fraudulent borrowers, lenders, and brokers.
We've already heard the opening shot from Senators cum Presidential candidates Chris Dodd and Hillary Clinton. Now, Chuck Schumer and Jesse Jackson have joined the mix.
Right now, these folks' have louder voices than those of us who have been watching a different sideshow at the same circus. But they're not hearing from us. They're reading biased articles about "predatory lending" and "Casey Serin as Victim" in nationally-syndicated news outlets.
The time has come for rational voices to enter the debate. With that in mind, I'd like to start "The Casey Serin Project" to highlight the frauds, phonies, and felons that the high-profile mouthpieces don't seem to be hearing about.
We'll be using the power of user-generated media to draw attention to this situation like no glossy ads or television commercials ever could. In other words, thank you, YouTube.
If you would like to participate, please make a 30-second to 2-minute long video and upload it to YouTube. In your video, please address issues such as,
"How mortgage fraudsters like Casey Serin have affected me/my family/my neighborhood."
"Why mortgage fraudsters like Casey Serin need to be held accountable for their actions."
"Why 'small-fry' felons like Casey and Galina Serin need to be prosecuted."
"Why multi-state felons like Casey and Galina Serin do need to be held accountable for 'every dirty penny.'"
"Why a 'subprime mortgage bailout' is a bad idea."
Take a video of yourself, or, if you don't want to show your face, maybe you want to narrate your video as you drive or walk your neighborhood. The possibilities are endless.
The videos will be compiled and forwarded to members of Congress, particularly those in districts where Casey and Galina Serin had properties, and those who like to hold press conferences about subprime mortgage bailouts. The videos will also be forwarded to District Attorneys in the cities and counties where Casey and Galina Serin briefly owned their foreclosed properties.
I hope that you will join "The Casey Serin Project" and spread the word.
4/11/2007
No, God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut
Legendary author Kurt Vonnegut died Wednesday evening in Manhattan at the ripe old age of 84. The novels he wrote over the course of his career became both hallmarks for counterculture as well as American classics.His novels were sometimes banned in school libraries for their language and sexual innuendo. Of course, this caused students to seek out his books. When they finally did get Vonnegut in their hands, they were exposed to a world that was often violent and war-torn, but always offered dark humor and morality as a guiding compass.
I had the honor of meeting Kurt Vonnegut about ten years ago. A local university professor was an old friend of the author's, and had invited him to speak to his students. I heard about the event and found a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend to garner admittance.
Held in a very small lecture hall, only about a hundred people were allowed into the room. It was a magical two hours, with the professor and the old man trading stories like the old friends they were.
Vonnegut was peaceful, far more soft-spoken than I would have imagined, and deftly, wickedly funny. While it was difficult to peel my eyes away from the living legend, I occasionally glanced around the room to see the same rapt look on every student's face in the room.
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am so thankful for the opportunity. Vonnegut was incredibly gracious about answering questions from students. Many of us asked about Dresden, a key turning-point in his life.
What I remember most is that he was able to relay some of the horrors surrounding that event, yet peppered the recollections with humor. I sat there and realized, this is what life is, then. Some really terrible things happen, yet there are glimmers of hope and light that we have to retain.
And just like that, Kurt Vonnegut slipped away from his earthly audience, after 84 years of the horrific and the fantastic. So it goes.
Thank you, Mr. Vonnegut. You will truly be missed.
The Human Zoo
I received a funny email today. The friend who sent it informed me that he was reading an online text of H.L. Mencken to ward off work boredom. I found this funny because I was forced to read Mencken's Chrestomathy as a part of sixth-grade literature.
So I find it difficult, again funny, to think that someone was reading Mencken to stave off boredom. I jotted off a note that maybe he might want to consider Dante's Inferno for his next bit of light reading, then thought about my own knee-jerk response.
(A brief sidenote: I highly recommend clicking on the Inferno link. Sit through the flash intro and all to see the product of a truly twisted mind. I almost revoked my loathing for this novel, until I was reminded that "There are four rings of the frozen lake of Cocytus: 1)Caina, 2)Antenora, 3)Ptolomea, 4)Judecca." Ugh...it's an eigth-grade blue book test all over again.)
Looking back there is certainly a danger in having young people read advanced topics as a basis for education. Certainly, texts such as this helped develop my reasoning and logic, but I surely never understood anything other than the mechanics of the writing back then. Consuming an author like Mencken for content could only come later; but to folks who were force-fed the rants at an early age, the likelihood of revisiting such authors at a later stage is severely diminished.
So I took a few precious minutes out of my day to read the link my friend had included in his email. It proved to be a timely topic, as you will see. I was mildly surprised to be amused by this selection from "Damn!" and believe I will have to rethink the lifetime ban on Mencken.
As for the educational benefit of watching the Casey Serin trainwreck from the sidelines, what benefit is there, really? Who can learn anything from Casey Serin? Much in the same way that Mencken points out the tiger's stripes, so too have we determined the shallow value of the Casey Serin.
Really...re-read the above paragraphs, and in lieu of 'zoo' or 'animals', insert "Casey Serin" or "Galina Serin." It's amazing how accurate the text becomes.
So I find it difficult, again funny, to think that someone was reading Mencken to stave off boredom. I jotted off a note that maybe he might want to consider Dante's Inferno for his next bit of light reading, then thought about my own knee-jerk response.
(A brief sidenote: I highly recommend clicking on the Inferno link. Sit through the flash intro and all to see the product of a truly twisted mind. I almost revoked my loathing for this novel, until I was reminded that "There are four rings of the frozen lake of Cocytus: 1)Caina, 2)Antenora, 3)Ptolomea, 4)Judecca." Ugh...it's an eigth-grade blue book test all over again.)
Looking back there is certainly a danger in having young people read advanced topics as a basis for education. Certainly, texts such as this helped develop my reasoning and logic, but I surely never understood anything other than the mechanics of the writing back then. Consuming an author like Mencken for content could only come later; but to folks who were force-fed the rants at an early age, the likelihood of revisiting such authors at a later stage is severely diminished.
So I took a few precious minutes out of my day to read the link my friend had included in his email. It proved to be a timely topic, as you will see. I was mildly surprised to be amused by this selection from "Damn!" and believe I will have to rethink the lifetime ban on Mencken.
I often wonder how much sound and nourishing food is fed to the animals in the zoological gardens of America every week, and try to figure out what the public gets in return for the cost thereof. The annual bill must surely run into millions; one is constantly hearing how much beef a lion downs at a meal, and how many tons of hay an elephant dispatches in a month. And to what end? To the end, principally, that a horde of superintendents and keepers may be kept in easy jobs. To the end, secondarily, that the least intelligent minority of the population may have an idiotic show to gape at on Sunday afternoons, and that the young of the species may be instructed in the methods of amour prevailing among chimpanzees and become privy to the technic employed by jaguars, hyenas and polar bears in ridding themselves of ice.As I mentioned, I found this timely. Because the immediate parallel that I drew was to Casey Serin. As taxpayers, we will pay for the care and feeding of Casey Serin in one way or another for years to come.
So far as I can make out, after laborious visits to all the chief zoos of the nation, no other imaginable purpose is served by their existence. One hears constantly, true enough (mainly from the gentlemen they support) that they are educational. But how? Just what sort of instruction do they radiate, and what is its value? I have never been able to find out. The sober truth is that they are no more educational than so many firemen's parades or displays of sky-rockets, and that all they actually offer to the public in return for the taxes wasted upon them is a form of idle
and witless amusement, compared to which a visit to a penitentiary, or even to Congress or a state legislature in session, is informing, stimulating and ennobling.
Education your grandmother! Show me a schoolboy who has ever learned anything valuable or important by watching a mangy old lion snoring away in its cage or a family of monkeys fighting for peanuts. To get any useful instruction out of such a spectacle is palpably impossible; not even a college professor is improved by it. The most it can imaginably impart is that the stripes of a certain sort of tiger run one way and the stripes of another sort some other way, that hyenas and polecats smell worse than Greek 'bus boys, that the Latin name of the raccoon (who was unheard of by the Romans) is _Procyon lotor_. For the dissemination of such banal knowledge, absurdly emitted and defectively taken in, the taxpayers of the United States are mulcted in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. As well make them pay for teaching policemen the theory of least squares, or for instructing roosters in the laying of eggs.
As for the educational benefit of watching the Casey Serin trainwreck from the sidelines, what benefit is there, really? Who can learn anything from Casey Serin? Much in the same way that Mencken points out the tiger's stripes, so too have we determined the shallow value of the Casey Serin.
Really...re-read the above paragraphs, and in lieu of 'zoo' or 'animals', insert "Casey Serin" or "Galina Serin." It's amazing how accurate the text becomes.
Not Guilty...What Happens Now?
After a dreadfully botched investigation by Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, all charges against the three Duke lacrosse players have been dropped.
Nifong, who was charged with ethics violations by the state Bar, recused himself from the investigation. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper stepped in to begin from the beginning.
The three lacrosse players were originally indicted, under the discretion of Nifong, who will face a trial to defend himself against his ethics violations. But the supposed victim of the crime changed her story several times, and nary a molecule of DNA evidence existed to back her claims.
While one student graduated just after being indicted, the other two students returned to the northeast to finish college. Duke University has invited them back, and they have all (politely, I'm sure) declined.
Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH organization had been trying to track down the young woman in the case, offering to pay for her college education. WHY?!? I mean, she obviously needs to be educated, but isn't that a strange reward who has stamped these young men with the impermiable stamp of sex offender?
The fallout from this woman's allegations are extensive. The boys' families have hired extensive legal representation, they have held press conferences to proclaim their innocence before a jaded crowd of journalists, and god help them when their resumes land on some HR twinkie's desk.
In short, there are a whole new set of victims in the shady "Duke rape case." The question now is, will law enforcement file charges against the proper party? Will the woman who catalyzed this chain of events be held to the same standard?
Nifong, who was charged with ethics violations by the state Bar, recused himself from the investigation. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper stepped in to begin from the beginning.
The three lacrosse players were originally indicted, under the discretion of Nifong, who will face a trial to defend himself against his ethics violations. But the supposed victim of the crime changed her story several times, and nary a molecule of DNA evidence existed to back her claims.
While one student graduated just after being indicted, the other two students returned to the northeast to finish college. Duke University has invited them back, and they have all (politely, I'm sure) declined.
Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH organization had been trying to track down the young woman in the case, offering to pay for her college education. WHY?!? I mean, she obviously needs to be educated, but isn't that a strange reward who has stamped these young men with the impermiable stamp of sex offender?
The fallout from this woman's allegations are extensive. The boys' families have hired extensive legal representation, they have held press conferences to proclaim their innocence before a jaded crowd of journalists, and god help them when their resumes land on some HR twinkie's desk.
In short, there are a whole new set of victims in the shady "Duke rape case." The question now is, will law enforcement file charges against the proper party? Will the woman who catalyzed this chain of events be held to the same standard?
4/10/2007
"Link-Love" For Charity
Blogger Albert Foong over at Urban Monk has developed a really fantastic idea to increase link-sharing, while a major charity ultimately benefits with a nice cheque from the blogosphere.
Foong's idea is called "Blog Apocalypse: 2 minutes from you, $500 (to $1,000) to charity from me" Here's how it works...Foong has created a meme. He wants bloggers to address the following scenario: "The blogosphere is coming to an end. You have one last post. What is it going to be? What is the final summary of your blog? What is the one last gem that you want to leave with your readers?"
If you're a blogger and would like to participate, email Albert at albert(at)urbanmonk(dot)net to flag him to your participation. Your meme must include a link to Urban Monk, and, if you're learning of this through me, a link to TwelveYearsOfBeingAnnoyedByChloeSevigny.
Albert will then set aside $1 for each link, saying "If it fizzles out before it reaches $500 I’ll round it up to the nearest hundred and donate that much (so 101 links will net $200)." Foong points out that he's made about $15 per month from his blog, so this is a charitable marketing project that is really out-of-pocket for him.
While he initially set the number at $500, response to the Blog Apocalypse has been strong, and he now says that if it grows extraordinarily, he will consider raising the limit to $1,000 toward charity.
I'm passing this along because, first, I like Albert. He's got a mellowness in his blog postings that's quite refreshing. But also, I think this is a really creative marketing idea. It will be interesting to see how the "Urban Monk's" experiment plays out, and I definitely want to be a part of that.
With that in mind, I will be posting my part of the meme within the next few days. If you would like to participate, or even spread the word about the Blog Apocalypse, visit Albert's page for his summary of the project. Feel free to save the nifty Blog Apocalypse logo that Albert has created and post it on your page as well.
Foong's idea is called "Blog Apocalypse: 2 minutes from you, $500 (to $1,000) to charity from me" Here's how it works...Foong has created a meme. He wants bloggers to address the following scenario: "The blogosphere is coming to an end. You have one last post. What is it going to be? What is the final summary of your blog? What is the one last gem that you want to leave with your readers?"
If you're a blogger and would like to participate, email Albert at albert(at)urbanmonk(dot)net to flag him to your participation. Your meme must include a link to Urban Monk, and, if you're learning of this through me, a link to TwelveYearsOfBeingAnnoyedByChloeSevigny.
Albert will then set aside $1 for each link, saying "If it fizzles out before it reaches $500 I’ll round it up to the nearest hundred and donate that much (so 101 links will net $200)." Foong points out that he's made about $15 per month from his blog, so this is a charitable marketing project that is really out-of-pocket for him.
While he initially set the number at $500, response to the Blog Apocalypse has been strong, and he now says that if it grows extraordinarily, he will consider raising the limit to $1,000 toward charity.
I'm passing this along because, first, I like Albert. He's got a mellowness in his blog postings that's quite refreshing. But also, I think this is a really creative marketing idea. It will be interesting to see how the "Urban Monk's" experiment plays out, and I definitely want to be a part of that.
With that in mind, I will be posting my part of the meme within the next few days. If you would like to participate, or even spread the word about the Blog Apocalypse, visit Albert's page for his summary of the project. Feel free to save the nifty Blog Apocalypse logo that Albert has created and post it on your page as well.
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