Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Trump Mortgage "Fraud" - An Object Lesson

A snake-oil salesman named Ridings was hired by Donald Trump to head Trump mortgage. It turns out that the guy's bio on the Trump Mortgage web site was trumped-up, to say the least. He was a small fish with a fishy background, but he apparently swam his way to the top of Trump Mortgage by bamboozling the Donald. Or maybe not, but I got to give Trump the benefit of the doubt on this one - nobody as smart as Trump would knowingly hire a lightweight like this Rider guy to head an organization that is subject to endless legal controls.

This event should be an object lesson for us all. Don't accept anyone's bona fides before you have checked them. I am membership director for a volunteer ambulance company, and we get applications from the general population. Do I check references? You bet! In a previous life I investigated possible frauds for a major corporation, and I found that people can be very different than they are perceived to be. Since then I've been a great proponent of Ronald Reagan's famous adage, "Trust, but verify."

If the Donald belatedly follows Reagan's advice, we're likely to be reading a follow-up story soon.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If it wasn't you that left the snarky anonymous comment on my blog, then ignore the following with my apologies:

1) You can't achieve peace through violence any more than you can achieve love through hate. We've tried that for millennia, and it isn't working. It just replaces one corruption with another.

2) I'm not a Christian, so quoting to me what Jesus didn't say doesn't really impress me much. I've read the books. If you can somehow reconcile "Turn the other cheek" and the Beatitudes with "I'm going to put on a hat and kill you," then more power to you. I can't.

If we must to talk about things Jesus didn't do, then I think it's more telling that Jesus didn't put on a hat, grab a sword, and try to overthrow the Roman Empire. He certainly would have had more support.

3) Did you even read my post? The comments you made didn't really relate to it at all. Are you having a bad day?

Life Hiker said...

Hi, Thomas. Yes, it was me...I can't figure out Livejournal identification methods...I guess you just have to type your name. (By the way, I can't get into your Livejournal - it's blocked.)

I read your post. I thought you were having a bad day. Comparing Clinton, Albright, and even Bush I & II to Saddam Hussein is a big stretch, although I do believe Bush II should be impeached for lying to the American people and conducting an illegal war.

You blame Clinton for the deaths of Iraqi children due to the sanctions. I don't. I blame Saddam who built palaces and armies while his people starved. "Oil for Food" was designed to provide a safety net, but Hussein thwarted it for political purposes. He was a truly odious person.

I'm against the death penalty, even for Saddam Hussein. But you and I are far apart regarding "just war" theory. Although as a soldier I learned to hate war, I can't imagine standing by while innocents are slaughtered.
Apparently you can, or perhaps you might even go so far as to stand between the innocents and their killers.

But I must admit you got me on the "turn the other cheek" quote. I tend to do that, but not when innocent life is at stake. I'm just not Christian enough, yet.