Mark Haines, Attorney and CNBC Anchor dead at 65.

Mark Haines, CNBC Co-anchor of “Squawk on the Street” passed away early this week at the age of 65. He was a friend who I never personally met but whose program was an indispensable part of my day. His incisive reporting helped me make sense of the complex world of Wall Street and finance. He and his co-host Erin Burnett were trusted advisers who broke down and analyzed the news for me so I can view the world in a balanced and informed manner. The subject of economics was never really my strong suit. In fact, I don’t think that I’ve ever been able to make money in the stock market. But his show was a daily must because he was able to demystify the subject for me by explaining, in a way that I could clearly understand, personal investing in a highly dynamic global economy.

Moreover, he was an Ivy-League-Trained Attorney from the University of Pennsylvania with a microphone and a litigator's inquisitiveness to match. Some of the most riveting segments that I’ve ever witnessed on business television featured him interviewing guests as if they were witnesses being cross-examined on a stand - politicians, CEO’s, corporate executives, financial experts and every type of personality in between. He was ferocious at times and would keep hammering and clawing at his guests until he got the information he needed to the benefit of his viewers - the personal investor.

A few days before his passing, his on-air partnership with Erin Burnett ended after she announced she was joining CNN. As tough as any prosecutor, he also had a soft side to him. Exhibiting a depth of emotions, he bid farewell to her, clutching her hand, holding back tears and with voice cracking, he said, “Coming to work the last five and a half years has been an absolute joy. You are the best.” In a twit, another CNBC colleague, Jane Wells, called him a “teddy bear” after watching the program. That was the last time I saw him on television until I heard of his death yesterday.

I am saddened by the news and offer his family and colleagues at CNBC my deepest sympathies. His incisive and unvarnished reporting style will be sorely missed. He was a part of that faculty of learned and wise individuals who taught me about the world and the complex times in which we live.

CLICK TO VIEW A CNBC TRIBUTE PAGE FOR MARK HAINES

Sheriffs Deputy: The tag on your van is fake!

I recently reported the acquisition of a 1988 Dodge Ram for no money down and monthly installment payments of $100 per month for 5 months. I have had it for less than a month and true to form I have already been visited by two different OC Sheriffs Deputies.

I had it parked at the Aliso Viejo Library with the intention of somehow getting it in road worthy condition. The van needs a brake job, a tune up and major detailing work to clean the vehicle of the commercial grime it has accumulated over the last two decades. I was planning to do that a little at a time as I acquire the money and find blocks of time to do a competent enough job. I figured, because the registration was current, the authorities would not give me a difficult time about it.

The first visit came a few days after I acquired the van. I was on my way to the El Pollo Loco Restaurant up the road and noticed a deputy inspecting the van. I hurried back to investigate. I showed him the registration and pink slip and told him that I had just acquired it and hadn’t transferred ownership yet.

After a few minutes the deputy informed me that the registration was actually expired. Apparently, someone had placed a stolen or a fake registration tag on the vehicle. The vehicle is still registered to the person who the seller had purchased it from. We were going to skip registration, explaining why the current seller was not aware of this. Early indications are, someone had committed a blatant fraud. Based on statutes dealing with fraudulently tagged vehicles, the deputy informed me, an officer can automatically tow the vehicle without notice. He pulled out a hunter’s knife and wanted to peel off the 2011 tag. I prevailed upon him to leave it there for fear that it will peel off all the other tags and promised to take care of the registration with a trip to the DMV. He said that I had a few days to do that.

The second visit came inauspiciously enough with my former roommate Desiree walking inside the Neighborhood Cup and asking me if that was my van outside. “There’s a deputy walking around it”, she said. The deputy responded to a call from a concerned citizen (another word for any number of my opposition). By sheer coincidence Des also knew the deputy herself - Deputy Walters - who told me that the registration was not only expired but the tags were fake. He was willing to let me keep the van parked there for a few days. That was when Des offered to have me park it at her complex, where I lived for about two months last year. I explained to Deputy Walters that I didn’t have a driver’s license. He then offered to escort me to the apartment complex where the van is currently parked.

Yesterday, I bumped into the gentleman who sold me the van - Chris. I told him what we were able to find out about the van. He was quick to offer assistance as he was clearly not aware of the fake tags on the plate number when he acquired it. The pink slip still has the name of the previous owner (David), who we now suspect placed the registration sticker on the plates. How he was able to acquire the sticker we can only guess.

So, we have some work to do. It is highly doubtful that the van will pass smog inspection. That’s our most significant challenge at this point. Then, we have to make it roadworthy. Finally, we want to turn it into a race vehicle for a “24 Hour Endurance Race”, something I’ve been trying to do for at least two years now as a way to spend time with my children. I wrote about that project on another blog. Read about it on the HYDROLAC BLOG.

Robert outs his first FBI Scumbag

Why was FBI New York in California? What did they want from me?  I have some theories about that, but not enough to share on the blog just yet. Surprisingly, it is an example of how a group of people, of a particular ethnicity, could be manipulated and made to move against an individual on the pre-text that he is averse or even hostile to them. More on that later.

I did some digging around and tried to remember every instance when I was in contact with anyone who represented to me that they were from New York. One of the things I started looking for were public documents that could point me to some discoverable pieces of information. Civil actions are public documents and are generally available on the internet through the court portal. There was a civil action I was a party to entitled Randall Huft v. Robert Lacambra that I simply could not find on the net. The action stems from an employee-employer dispute. Mysteriously, all the cases pre-dating that action are all available as public records the last I checked. I remember Mr. Huft telling me that he was from New York. Over time I began to suspect our association was more than just for business. Actually, I suspected that he was from the FBI but thought very little of it until recently, after I came to realize the immensity of the damages they are now liable for.

After some time, my mortgage business (Capital America Corporation) began to feel the disruptions caused by the FBI’s sabotage operations, requiring that I drastically cut my overhead. They used to send loan applicants, enough to fill my pipeline of deals but for some reason none of them would fund. There would be some last minute glitch or a last minute cancellation designed to bring me to desperation.

Despite evidence to the contrary, they were convinced that I was an enabler for the Mexican Mafia after I did loans for Donald Castro, a self-confessed member of La Eme (Mexican Mafia), whose beach front properties I saved from foreclosure. In an effort to reduce my overhead, I moved my operations to my home on 70 Hollyleaf Aliso Viejo, California. Little did I know that the person who I brought along with me was an FBI operative with secret designs of scuttling my business. The bureau was trying to find hidden accounts that I would tap into out of desperation. The only way to do that was to reduce my income to nothing and bring my company and I to our collective knees.

Removing the case from public records is just one of a few things that the FBI have started doing to sanitize this case, this atrocity. However, it is time that the public learn of these things because clearly their internal systems are inadequate or ill-conceived so as to fail in its protection of the public.

I have, through my own snooping, discovered other FBI operatives who frequent the places that I do. Many are decent individuals whose identities I will protect with my own life. They are that exceptional and are certainly valuable national assets. But there are people like Randall Huft and others who rightly should be outed because he, like all other bureau scumbags, should be weeded out of national service.

Mr. Huft, if you have a problem with this, you know where you can find me. I will be at the Neighborhood Cup or the Aliso Viejo Library waiting for you.

Bin Laden bushwacked by US Forces from the sky

One of the most memorable headlines of the year will certainly be the death of Bin Laden in the hands of Navy SEALS who swooped down from the sky like arrows to deal him long awaited justice. I purposefully withheld commenting on the blog because the facts and stories that were being disseminated posed more questions in my mind than it answered.

The first reports were not very encouraging as I parsed through the information being made available by the media. A number of outlets reported that the body was buried at sea, which struck me as odd considering the individual was the world’s #1 terrorist. By contrast, the bodies of Saddam Hussein’s sons were paraded to the world. The hanging of Saddam Hussein was even filmed and published on YouTube and other outlets.

Amateur reporting by members of the public is no longer unusual in this day and age where blogs and social networks are a part of daily life, even in that part of the world. However, for some reason there were reports of live blogging on Twitter as the operation was actually under way. I read through the posts and did not find anything unusual that would tip off a deception. But there were many questions that were not satisfied by the press release from the White House press office subsequent to his death. It was reported that SEAL TEAM 6 was responsible for the raid. Members of the special operations family will find this entertaining because there is no such thing as SEAL TEAM 6. It was disbanded in 1987.

Moreover, the Facebook page of the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier where the body of Bin Laden was reportedly flown after the operation, made no mention of the “World’s Most Wanted Terrorist” coming on board - at least his reputedly defaced carcass. I would think a burial at sea of Bin Laden would be one of the highlights of the deployment. One should expect pictures of Bin Laden’s internment in the hands of the Davy Jones Locker, a ceremony respecting the sensibilities of Muslims around the world, would be published on their Facebook page.

After almost 10 years, the memories of 911 still linger. My mother and brother were actually in NY City that day, a few blocks from WTC, as fragrance exhibitors at a trade show. The hours and days following the attacks were filled with foreboding and worry not knowing whether they were going to be able to return to California safely. Immediately after, the planes were grounded and cell phone communications were at best “spotty”. From that day on the thought of plans being drawn up by Bin Laden and all his henchmen in some mountainous region of Pakistan or Afghanistan was never far from my mind. The worrying noise would buzz every now and again, waiting for a signal - a reaction, much like a bug meeting a precision clap of both hands to produce a loud sounding splat. And then there is quiet. That’s precisely what we got from Pakistan, in a city called Abbottabad, just a few days ago.

So, I place myself among the many people who’ve been wanting to see Bin Laden brought to justice, those who would like to believe that “he will never walk on this earth again”, that he, for the past eight days, has already been dead.