From: MMMARYinLA@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 1:48 PM
To: rule-comments@sec.gov
Subject: File No. S7-23-03 

I have read a few articles about the new shorting regulations and would 
like to comment. I believe that in order to have a balanced market the 
investor should be allowed to play the market up and down equally with 
the same set of rules. If there are not enough shares to borrow to cover 
short positions, a short squeeze occurs and the price shoots up artificially 
to the benefit of the "long" investors and companies. This balances out the
market. Someone can also borrow shares to play them in an up trend through 
leverage. Borrowing is borrowing, if one plays it up or down. Investors need 
to be able to play markets up and down. That's capitalism, that's the 
American way.

I also believe that it is the broker who is responsible for processing the 
paperwork and following the rules. The investor just puts in an order and 
has no idea how that order is executed or what regulations are involved. With 
that said I have a few more comments about the entities who are begging the 
SEC to stop all this "criminalistic naked shorting that is taking food out of 
orphans mouths." 

The people who have filed suits over this naked shorting issue are not newly 
formed innocent small companies selling shares to raise capital for legitimate 
business activities. They are not 100% owned by Joe average investor. They are 
owned by insiders, investment companies, stock promoters and major risk takers. 
Take a look at some of these companies. Nanopierce NPCT is run by a CEO who 
was sued three times by you, the SEC for fraud. The stock promoters were also 
sued by the SEC for their fraud in hyping the stock price up. It's worth about 
.001 yet went to over $6. Why didn't the company complain about that "artificial" 
movement? Because they paid promoters to move the price up as per your own 
lawsuit. A large investor is currently suing the company for fraud. Based on 
what I know, this company is guilty of securities fraud. This company has 
promised profits since 1999 and is on the verge of bankruptcy without meeting 
any of its projections. Most of their press releases have turned out to be 
unverifiable hype if not outright lies. They even agreed to do toxic funding 
knowing full well that their shares would be shorted. Insiders may have even 
shorted the shares themselves through holding companies. They used this shorting 
to help fund the company. Without shorting, the company would be bankrupt and now 
they complain? The SEC has allowed them to fraudulently hype the share price UP 
yet now the company asks the SEC to make it even more difficult to short the price 
down to it's true value. That is not a balanced market. That is one doomed to 
collapse on a larger scale. 

There are others on this list which I believe are total stock scams. They have 
hired many stock promoters to hype the share price up fraudulently through 
newsletters, message boards, "investor conferences," and direct marketing. These 
promoters are telling people invested in these stock scams to copy/paste their 
comments to the SEC en masse so you will be influenced artificially to change the 
regulations. This is the same way they artificially hype share prices up. Please, 
read these comments individually. 

I follow stock scams so I can alert authorities and investors so the true few 
innocent investors won't be scammed. I watched an elderly gentleman invest in a 
total scam believing all the hype only to lose his entire retirement fund. Last 
I spoke to him he was considering suicide over telling his wife that he lost all 
their money. He was never heard from again. I have been sued by these fraudulent 
stock promoters just so they can try to silence my honest information about bad 
investments. I don't even short these stocks or profit in any way. I also helped 
the SEC in two securities fraud cases. If anything, the SEC should be going after 
these scamsters even more. 

Shorters tell the public the truth about stock scams and loser investments. 
Shorters are generally sued frivolously because of releasing honest negative 
information. They are doing a service to the public. They regulate the markets 
better than the SEC. They should be allowed to play the stocks down just as 
others are allowed to play the stocks up. There must be financial gain in order 
for them to bear the huge risks and costs involved in releasing negative news. 
Why in America do we think that we should only speak positively. That is what 
causes our stock market collapses. It's bad enough the major news distribution 
companies will not allow negative news to be released about any company unless 
it comes from the company itself or they give expressed permission. The US 
investor is only allowed to see positive news. All these factors make shorting 
a necessity in these markets. If markets were allowed to go up and up, the entire 
market would eventually collapse. We need shorters to let out a little market 
steam from time to time so the entire market doesn't explode and collapse. Please 
allow the markets to be balanced naturally by honest capitalism. It will help 
sustain a healthy market and will help all investors in the end.

Mary Cummins
"Just say NO to stock scams"
MMMARYinLA@aol.com
Los Angeles, CA
_____________________