DISABLED---ENABLED

Disabled Senior Citizen losing home to unfair foreclosure, denied legal help

In the tranquil Southern Oregon town of Gold Beach, J Lindsay, a wheelchair bound disabled senior citizen ponders his fate.  His home of fifteen years is in the clutches of foreclosure and he cannot get any legal help.

And it is more than just his home.  Through his small consulting firm, Alliance For The Disabled, he has provided an inexpensive room for rent to disabled and disenfranchised people for the past decade.  In cash-and-resource poor Curry County, these folks would have otherwise been living in the surrounding forests.  Mr. Lindsay also provides free assistance to those struggling to obtain legitimate social security disability benefits.  His Twitter handle is @freehelp4u.

The circumstances of his plight are irregular and smack of all things disreputable. The actions of an attorney representing another disabled individual (a signer on the title) have directly caused Mr. Lindsay to lose access to a loan forgiveness program, unjustifiably tearing away the last opportunity to save his home.

Yes, he was in trouble with his mortgage because his position as a voice over specialist with an educational non-profit was suddenly dissolved, but through great effort and follow through managed to gain approval into the Oregon Homeowner’s Stabilization Initiative .

The OHSI plan completely pays all arrears and fees to the mortgagor which allows Lindsay to start fresh.  There would be no foreclosure.  All that is necessary to satisfy the loan requirements is a five-year continuous occupancy of the property.  As Mr. Lindsay planned to live the rest of his life in his home, this requirement would be easily met.

All that was left was the signing.  By law, all parties listed on the title needed to sign the loan documents.  It was a simple matter.

However, the opposing attorney refused to allow his client to sign, nullifying the loan.  He followed this with an assertion that his client's 'life interests' could not be foreclosed on.  What?  Simply enough, the mortgage had not been paid for 10 months.  He also stated that because of ‘contingent remainder’ the loan on the property made any foreclosure impossible.  On its face, this was nonsense.

A simple signature with no financial obligation for his client was the deal.  It was obvious the best interests here would be signing the documents, saving the home from foreclosure.  Instead, the attorney made controversial statements to the loan manager and did not allow the signature resulting in foreclosure proceedings.  Further actions have now lead Lindsay to believe he is being pushed out of his home through underhanded legal maneuvers.

Twenty years ago, Lindsay was disabled through an industrial accident, severely damaging his peripheral nervous system, leaving him with a chronic pain condition and compromised mobility.  His income is limited because of a small, monthly disability benefit, combined with restricted hours he can work because of his medical condition.  Yet he has worked hard and ‘kept the roof on’ for fifteen years, but in no way can afford the services of an attorney.  Strike one.

He certainly qualifies for Legal Aid of Oregon services, or so one might think.  However, Lindsay was turned away twice because of a ‘conflict of interest.’  Apparently, because they are providing legal counsel for one disabled person, Legal Aid cannot justify providing (and paying) for another qualified disabled person’s representation who happens to be on the opposite side of an issue.   The first one to apply is the one who is helped.  Strike two.

Another option is the Modest Means program offered by the Oregon State Bar.  At a reduced rate, attorneys agree to work for the benefit of their client in many different arenas.  Unfortunately for Lindsay, there are no participating attorneys in Curry County. Strike three.

With nothing left to do, he waits, disillusioned and depressed as the Portland foreclosure attorneys prepare their case.  “I have nowhere to go,” he says wistfully, “I never thought the end of my life would amount to this.”  Further concerns involve the inevitable displacement of his tenant, also disabled with limited resources.  According to Curry County housing officials, the wait for assisted housing is more than one year.  Mr. Lindsay and his tenant are running out of time and running out of hope.

Contact: [email protected]

A TALE OF TWO PATIENTS

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Information for Michael Moore

Hello Michael,

I am a regular viewer of the 'Morning Joe' program, and was pleased to see a few jaws dropping when you simply said, 'We're running the wrong people...'  Absolutely!  As usual, you are ahead of the curve as regards political awareness.  I would like to help, if possible, by making the following suggestion.  Develop and work out a business relationship with ActBlue, whereby, the up and coming best prospects in all circles of Democrats nationwide could easily disseminate information about themselves, and by using all the communication tools already developed by this group, can absolutely help solidify the Message.  Its all about communication.  The framework is already built in with ActBlue.  It is an incredibly efficient machine, and could be used to develop viable candidates, as well.  What better portal is there?  All candidates would be 'required' to submit and maintain an online presence, allowing for correspondence with the general public.  This move results in way better candidate accountability, and a method to rapidly distribute information.  Sure, ActBlue is quite successful as it stands, but what they have developed as a system, and used in a creative way, will bring the party into today's world of speed and efficiency.  Thanks for all you do.

 

 

Alliance For The Disabled, Rivka and John

 

goodbye griffin

April 1, 2016

audio for Education Portal

Education portal

 

Demand Studios Articles

Here are a few articles I wrote back in 2008 for Demand Studios.

 

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How to Manage a High-Yield Investment Account Ask.com

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Starting an Offshore Investment Account in Panama Essortment How To 10/26/2008 Accepted $15.00 Paid view

How to Live With Peripheral Neuropathy eHow How To 10/15/2008 Accepted $15.00

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LIBOR SHAME

 

FORECLOSURE MATRIX

FROM THE WELL RESPECTED PAGES OF ALTERNET / By Sam Jewler, Chris Herwig

Very Bad Things Happen When We Depend on the Same People Who Caused the Foreclosure Crisis to Track Its Destruction

There is not a single federal agency that has tracked foreclosures comprehensively, a massive information gap that prevents the work of journalists, advocates and policymakers alike. It’s a simple set of questions: “How many foreclosed properties are there in the country? What zip codes are they in? What factors sent people’s homes underwater?” For policy makers, journalists or anyone trying to size up or address the years-old housing crisis, these questions present the natural place to start. But their answers don’t quite exist. In Chicago, for example, the city’s official vacant property count, which relies on the banks’ reporting, hovers just under 5,000. The Chicago Tribune estimates 18,000. Housing activists say there are well over 100,000. Vacant homes in Chicago are so destructive to their neighborhoods and wider communities—dragging down property values, preventing the stabilization of markets and becoming havens for violent crime—that Mayor Emanuel recently announced that the city would spend $4 million finding and demolishing just 200 foreclosed properties.

 

Foreclosures are happening en masse all over the country, and Chicago is not unique in having absolutely no comprehensive list of in-progress or completed foreclosure properties, hampering any attempts to rehabilitate vacant homes or aid people being hit by the crisis. Nationally, there is not a single federal agency that has taken the initiative to track foreclosures comprehensively, a massive information gap that prevents the work of journalists, advocates and policymakers alike. The government is instead relying on the expensive, potentially biased and seemingly inaccurate information amassed by mortgage bankers, real estate hawks and credit reporting agencies. How this happened is a story of congressional warnings and broken promises, of lack of funding, and ultimately, the increasing dependence on the for-profit sector to quantify and analyze our lives. In this sense, it’s not only a story of the government’s failure, but also of Wall Street’s almost unquestioned power to determine not only value, but reality itself. The story begins in March 2009, near the peak of the foreclosure crisis, when the government admitted that it was being blindsided. "The failure of federal banking and housing regulatory agencies to gather and analyze quality market intelligence is striking,” the Congressional Oversight Panel reported. “Absent more complete and accurate information, legislators, regulators, and market participants are flying blind."

 

At this point, the government was still scrambling to collect information about how the crisis had happened in the first place and relying on for-profit information providers; companies such as RealtyTrac and industry insiders like Mortgage Bankers Association of America. For the public, that meant it was nearly impossible to access information about the housing crisis without pulling out a credit card, since the majority of these third-party providers charge high fees for their information and withhold their raw data, precluding any public accountability. “Housing data in general is a huge problem,” says Bill McBride, who writes the blog Calculated Risk. For one thing: none of the available sources match up, making it impossible to aggregate the data into a comprehensive set or to make comparisons across different databases. A piece McBride posted in March quoted one company’s estimate of 91,000 January foreclosures along with another company’s estimate of 71,000 for the same month, exemplifying the information gap. “Centralized data on foreclosures would help,” McBride says, “but that would just be a start. I was hoping we’d see a new emphasis on housing data following the housing bubble, but it hasn’t happened.” Richard Neiman, a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel, stated the problem explicitly in 2010: “Improved intelligence on the mortgage market is critical to preventing future crises… Currently, Congress, banking regulators, consumer advocates, and other policymakers are left with incomplete or unreliable data purchased from third-party vendors or with limited data provided voluntarily by the industry.” Part of the Dodd-Frank Act, signed almost exactly two years ago, mandated the creation and maintenance of a foreclosure database. But the project seems not to have started in any meaningful way. “Currently, HUD lacks the funding necessary to create the database and lacks the statutory authority to compel reporting to HUD of information necessary to compile the data,” said Lemar Wooley of HUD. “Congress has not appropriated funds for this project.” A spokeswoman for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could not report any updates on the foreclosure database mandated two years ago, which came with no legislated deadline. Meanwhile, the government’s vision of the foreclosure crisis might be on the verge of going even blinder.

 

The House of Representatives recently voted to end the American Community Survey, used by the Census to help the federal government decide how to distribute some $450 billion per year in funding. Rather than holding predatory mortgage lenders and industry actors accountable, the House legislative response to budget shortfalls -- exacerbated by the economic collapse caused by Wall Street and the government’s inability to regulate it -- was to turn to that same private sector to measure that very sector’s failure. The majority of what foreclosure data is available comes from private vendors, many of which stand to profit from foreclosures and some of which, the facts suggest, may have engaged in practices that contributed to the housing crisis in the first place. These include Realtytrac, which calls itself “the leading online marketplace of foreclosure properties,” Lender Processing Services, CoreLogic, and the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Several agencies recently took enforcement actions against Lender Processing Services, which provides HUD with mortgage delinquency rates. A standing cease-and-desist order remains in effect by the Federal Reserve, the FDIC and other agencies against LPS since April 13, 2011, for, among other things, "executing assignments of mortgages containing inaccurate information”—probably not a quality one looks for in their data provider. Two months ago, the Federal Housing Administration publicly questioned an LPS report showing 63,000 April foreclosures when FHA’s data showed 19,000.

 

A HUD staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said LPS sells the agency information covering about 80 percent of the market for around $300,000 each year. RealtyTrac, used by the likes of National Public Radio, HUD and even people testifying to the House of Representatives on behalf of homeowners, has received a series of complaints for defrauding customers and providing inaccurate data. Another popular source of information is the HOPE Now Alliance, a group of lenders representing about two thirds of outstanding mortgages in the United States. In 2008 the group said they had helped one million homeowners save their homes; the Office of the Comptroller of Currency said that HOPE had vastly overstated their work and helped less than 200,000. Given the lack of an authoritative housing information database, experts simply threw up their hands at the discrepancy. Nationally, homeowners continue to suffer an average of 40,000 foreclosures every month (or so the industry says), and accurate information is necessary for states to allocate the aid from the recent $26 million settlement to underwater homeowners. Meanwhile, urban planners and local governments are struggling to save hard-hit neighborhoods without having comprehensive pictures of the problem. “It’s like this secret they just don’t want you to know about,” said Kathryn Clark, a former urban planner and artist who was so astonished by the lack of foreclosure data that she has begun mapping the foreclosures onto quilts in order to represent the crisis. “It’s crazy what you have to pay to access it. It’s frustrating. It’s shocking. It amazes me.” Citizens used to be able to look to the USPS Administrative Data On Address Vacancies, made available through HUD for vacancy data; however, USPS and HUD decided to renegotiate their data sharing agreement -- right in the middle of the housing crisis -- and as a result, now only allow official governmental entities and non-profit organizations to access the data. “I think it would be good if the government itself could actually collect loan performance data,” said the HUD staffer. He said he has hope that a Dodd-Frank regulation requiring the use of universal loan identifiers will make it easier to merge databases and create a clearer picture of the crisis. The CFPB is currently writing rules for this tool, but the enforcement mechanism is unclear. More than simply helping us to cope with the crisis, accurate housing information is necessary if we are to avoid another bubble. The HUD staffer explained that predicting housing bubbles relies on the government knowing whether homes are being purchased for immediate residential purposes or for future, speculative profits. By 2005, for example, nearly 30% of all houses were being purchased as unused investments, not homes. Had the government known that, perhaps it could have predicted the spectacular collapse only three years later. At this rate, the government won’t be able to predict the next time, either. “To get a handle on when growth in prices in a housing market is not due to actual demand for housing to be lived in, or supported by growing incomes – that’s the hard thing to detect,” said the HUD staffer. “And that’s kind of the definition of a bubble.”

Sam Jewler and Chris Herwig are two Occupy activists and journalists in based in Washington, DC. .

AUSTERITY AND STARE AT HE

'The pro-austerity framing that Applebaum described also means that austerity must represent superior morality and that the greater the austerity we champion the greater our moral superiority. This explains the competition in calling for “savage” cuts and the delight in gore. The more programs that aid the poor that we “amputate”; the greater moral superiority we demonstrate. It reverses the Gospels, but it certainly is an attractive framing for the wealthy.'

The above is from a column regarding Anne Applebaum's article on the efficacy of British austerity, written by one of the most formidable U.S. financial regulators, William Black, cross posted from New Economic Perspectives via Yves Smith's most informative newsletter, Naked Capitalism.  How's that for moving the message?

The obvious moral pain here is that Christianity cannot defend itself against such travesties as are discussed by Applebaum and Black. 

One cannot simply vanish into the fog, transforming religiosity into a vagarious playground, promulgating moral superiority as if it were a necessary vitamin or supplement.  This action only serves in moving the host toward immutable grandiosity.

The pro-austerity believers now have every reason to more fully understand the notion of retribution, perhaps coming to accept its inevitability. 

RICHARD NIXON---SOCIALIST

Well, wonder of wonders.  Just another amazing event in the most insane political theatre ever seen, it would appear that dear old Dick Nixon has traversed the labyrinth from conservatism into liberal, perhaps even Socialist thinking.  Just look at what he said in 1971 to Nancy Dickerson, former news analyst with PBS:

“If we can get this country thinking not of how to fight a war, but how to win a peace–if we can get this country thinking of clean air, clean water, open spaces, of a welfare reform program that will provide a floor under the income of every family with children in America, a new form–a new approach to government, reform of education, reform of health–if those things begin to happen, people can think of these positive things, and then we will have the lift of a driving dream.”

And just think of all the progressives who used to hate you!  But that was then, and this is now---so, hell, let's just bury the hatchet, dig you up, dust you off, and give the fine folks in Tampa something to really think about come Convention time.

One thing, though.  Not a word about Hunter Thompson.  He is, in fact, still watching you and wishes to speak about the doomed.

MITT'S DILEMMA

"Many in the media are inclined to do the president's bidding and I know that's an uphill battle we fight with the media generally," Romney said, before praising O'Connor for offering a conservative voice.

This was Mittens, speaking with some numbskull at Breitbart TV. Perhaps he needs a little assistance with his uphill battle.

Here you go---glad to help.

Sean Hannity, Joe Scarborough, Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Mike Huckabee, G. Gordon Liddy, Laura Ingraham, Fred Hiatt, Matt Drudge, Charles Krauthammer, Michelle Malkin, William Kristol, Phyllis Schlafly, Brit Hume, S.E. Cupp, Howard Kurtz, David Brooks, Peggy Noonan, George Will, Kathleen Parker, Neil Cavuto, Michael Medved, Dana Loesch, Dennis Miller, Michael Savage, Michael Reagan, the recently deceased Andrew Breitbart, Erick Erickson, Mike Allen, Tom Donahue, Ann Coulter, Paul Gigot, and John Stossel

Does that work for you?

FORECLOSURE CRISIS SOLVED (in Iceland)

Iceland Forgives Household Debt and Now leads the Way to Economic Recovery Posted on April 16, 2012 by Neil Garfield

“Since the end of 2008, the island’s banks have forgiven loans equivalent to 13 percent of gross domestic product, easing the debt burdens of more than a quarter of the population, according to a report published this month by the Icelandic Financial Services Association.“

It’s Not a Theory When it was Wrong from the Beginning, The Highest Form of Economic Stimulus is to Correct Debt Balances

Editor’s Comment: Iceland has taken the obvious common sense approach — fueled by an outraged population — and ended up creating the largest fiscal stimulus of any developed country without spending one cent of taxpayer money and without printing any “quantitative easing” currency debasing their currency. By the way more than 90 bankers there are headed for jail.

 Sounds like magic?

That is what U.S. Banks would have you believe. But it is true as you can see from the Bloomberg article below. The problem has been that the populations cannot pay the interest or the principal on debts that were so exotic in their construction that Alan Greenspan confesses he never understood them, let alone the borrowers. Borrowers were forced to rely on misrepresentations by the Banks and their agents as to the value of the loan, the value of the collateral and the viability of the transaction. People in Iceland rioted in the streets throwing rocks at politicians and government buildings — not because they owed the money but because they knew that (a) they were victims of bank fraud and (b) the banks owed them money, not the other way around. Under pressure from the government, the banks have decreased household debt by around 25% so far.

The banks have not collapsed, financial system is in good shape and Iceland leads the developed world in economic recovery. The risk fell back on the Banks, the perpetrators of this mess. The relief was and is being shared by two victims — the households tricked into buying these debt packages and the investors who pooled their money to fund the exotic debt structures. The claims of bank losses have been ignored as being not (and never were) economically real. That’s what happens when the populations rises up and says “NO!” Similar programs here even on a small scale have corroborated the Iceland experience.

And yet we continue to support the banks whom we believe are too big to fail. Following the Iceland example — now in its 3rd year — would provide many trillions of dollars in fiscal stimulus to our economy, launch the economy into a full recovery and clear up the budget deficits of local, state and federal government agencies. It’s a choice.

What do you choose?

OREGON SENATE BILL 1552

Oregon  SB 1552 Analyzed – Mandatory Mediation and More! By Phil Querin Querin Law, LLC 3/20/12

On March 5, 2012, the Oregon Legislature passed a sweeping series of changes to its trust deed foreclosure law, SB 1552. Once signed by the Governor it will become effective 91 days hence. What follows is a summary of (a) the new mandatory mediation law that, after the effective date, will apply to the non-judicial foreclosure of all residential trust deeds; and (b) some important changes to the existing laws governing judicial and non-judicial foreclosures. Between now and the effective date, the Oregon Attorney General’s office will promulgate rules to implement the mediation program. Until then, all we have for guidance is SB 1552 itself. This summary is for informational purposes only and should not be viewed as “legal advice”. Those interested in seeing if the new law may apply to their particular situation should consult with their own legal counsel. - PCQ 1. A New Term: “Foreclosure Avoidance Measures” The entire mediation process contemplated by SB 1552 is based upon the idea that prior to a non-judicial foreclosure, the borrower should have an opportunity to try to reach an agreement with the bank that avoids the foreclosure. To that end, SB 1552 lists the following events as “foreclosure avoidance measures.” The bank defers or forbears from collecting one or more payments due on the obligation. The bank modifies, temporarily or permanently, the payment terms or other terms of the obligation. The bank accepts a deed in lieu of foreclosure from the borrower. The borrower conducts a short sale. The bank provides the borrower with other assistance that enables the borrower to avoid a foreclosure. Unless an exclusion applies under Sec. 4, below, a bank that seeks to non-judicially foreclose a residential trust deed must now offer to mediate with the borrower “…for the purpose of negotiating a foreclosure avoidance measure….” 2. Oregon Attorney General Involvement As noted above, the Oregon Attorney General will play a pivotal role in establishing the mediation program contemplated by this new law. This involvement includes: Appointing a mediation service provider (“MSP”) to coordinate the program. Entering into an agreement to pay the MSP from a Foreclosure Avoidance Mediation Fund described in Sec. 12, below. By administrative rule, prescribe qualifications, training and experience requirements for mediators. By administrative rule, set the schedule of fees for mediations. The bank and borrower must comply with the rules promulgated by the Attorney General.3. Cost of Mediations The bank and borrower are to share the cost of the mediation, but the borrower’s share of the cost may not exceed $200. By administrative rule, the mediator will be allowed to waive the borrower’s portion of the fee based upon circumstance. 3. Cost of Mediations The bank and borrower are to share the cost of the mediation, but the borrower’s share of the cost may not exceed $200. By administrative rule, the mediator will be allowed to waive the borrower’s portion of the fee based upon circumstance. 4. Exclusions. The bank shall not be required to enter into mediation with a borrower under the following circumstances: If they provide the Attorney General with a sworn affidavit stating that during the preceding calendar year they did not commence (or cause an affiliate or agent of the foreclosing entity to commence) more than a total of 250 non-judicial foreclosure actions on residential trust deeds or judicial foreclosures of a residential mortgage.[1] If the borrower fails to confirm that he/she will enter into mediation by the date specified in the notice from the MSP discussed at Sec. 5, below. 5. The Mediation Service Provider (“MSP”) Notice to Bank and Borrower Within 30 days after the date on which the bank gives a notice of mediation to be served or mailed as provided in Notice of Sale under ORS 86.740, the MSP is to send a notice to the borrower and bank that: Schedules a date, time and location for the mediation. The date must be not be earlier than 45 days, nor later than 90 days, after the date on which the notice of mediation was served or mailed as provided in ORS 86.740. Identifies the MSP and provides contact information. Specifies a date at least 30 days before the scheduled date of the mediation by which the borrower must contact the MSP to confirm that he/she will enter into mediation. The notice must state that the MSP will deem the borrower to have declined to enter into mediation if he/she fails to confirm by the specified date. Lists the costs of the mediation and specifies the portion of the costs for which the borrower is responsible. Provides any other information that the Attorney General may require by rule. 6. Contents of MSP’s Notice of Mediation. The MSP’s notice of mediation must be in accordance with the rules established by the Attorney General, including the following: The name, address, telephone number and other contact information for the borrower or other person named in the trust deed. Specify the account number (or other means by which the obligation is identified). Provide the address, telephone number and other contact information for: The bank or an agent of the bank that has been authorized to negotiate on the bank’s behalf. The Oregon State Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service. Service agencies or other providers that offer free or low-cost legal services from a list of agencies or providers identified in the Attorney General rules. A list of not-for-profit housing counselors approved by HUD or an Oregon agency. State that the law requires the bank to enter into mediation with the borrower for the purpose of negotiating a foreclosure avoidance measure. List the documents the borrower must bring to the mediation (which will be identified by the Attorney General’s rule). State that the borrower may choose to have an attorney or approved housing counselor represent them at the mediation. State the costs of the mediation and specify the $200 maximum cost for which the grantor will be responsible. State that the mediation and mediation communications (as defined in ORS 36.110) are confidential in accordance with and to the extent provided in ORS 36.220 to 36.238. State that within 30 days after the date of the notice, the MSP will send another notice to the borrower with a date, time and location for the mediation, and the duty to consult with a housing counselor. 7. Duties of Banks at the Mediation If the borrower has timely confirmed his/her willingness to mediate, the bank or their agent is required to appear at the time and the location identified in the MSP written notice (described above) with certain documentation (described below). The bank or their agent must appear in person at the specified location unless the mediator permits them to appear in another manner “for good cause shown.” The fact that the bank or its agent is located outside of Oregon does not by itself constitute “good cause.” The bank or its agent must provide the following documentation at the time of the mediation: The borrower’s complete payment history for the debt upon which it is seeking to foreclose. Evidence that the bank is the real party in interest with respect to this indebtedness, including but not limited to: A true copy of the promissory note upon which the non-judicial foreclosure is based; and Documents showing “the chain of title” for the property ‘…from the date of the original loan *** to the date of the Notice of Sale given under ORS 86.740’” (This chain of title is to include “…conveyances, endorsements and assignments of the residential trust deed, the note and the security instrument, whether recorded or unrecorded.”). A copy of the authorization from the bank, if its agent appears at the mediation. A copy of any of the following documents that apply to the promissory note (or other obligation) secured by the trust deed: If the bank owning the loan has a third party servicer, a copy of the servicing agreement is to be provided; If the bank owning the loan pledged the promissory note (or other obligation) as collateral for a security issued by the bank or sold all or a portion of the ownership interest in the note (or other obligation); and Other documentation the Attorney General specifies by rule. The bank or their agent that enter into mediation with the borrower must have, or be able to obtain before the initial mediation session concludes: Authority to accept or reject a proposal for a foreclosure avoidance measure; and Authority to enter into a foreclosure avoidance agreement with the borrower. PCQ Comment: Several quick observations: (a) There is no discussion about the role of the holder of a subordinate note and trust deed. Perhaps as many as half of all such foreclosures involve junior lienholders. In some cases, the role of the junior lienholder is pivotal if there is to be a successful foreclosure avoidance measure. At least they should be invited to attend. (b) Similarly, there is no discussion about the role of mortgage insurers, who have been known to withhold their consent to pre-foreclosure solutions unless the borrower signs a promissory note for thousands of dollars. Most banks will defer to the mortgage insurers’ demands. Thus, if the mortgage insurer cannot reach agreement with the borrower, there can be no bank agreement to a foreclosure avoidance measure. 8. The Mediation. At the conclusion of the process, the following may occur: If the bank or its agent agrees with the borrower on a foreclosure avoidance measure, they shall set forth the terms in a written agreement, a copy of which the bank or its agent shall provide to the Attorney General. The bank may elect to pay the borrower’s portion of the cost of the mediation or they may agree to include the cost of the mediation as part of any payment plan that is part of the foreclosure avoidance measure. If the bank or its agent and the borrower do not agree on a foreclosure avoidance measure, the MSP shall so notify the Attorney General. 9. The Certificate of Compliance. At the conclusion of the mediation, the following shall occur: If the bank has complied with the participation and documentation requirements of the law, including the Attorney General’s administrative rules, the MSP shall provide the bank or its agent with a certificate of compliance as described by administrative rule expressly stating that the bank complied with the requirements of this law. If the borrower failed to confirm to the MSP by the date identified in its notice that he/she would enter into mediation, the MSP is to provide the bank or its agent with the certificate of compliance stating that the borrower declined to enter into mediation. The MSP is to provide a copy of the certificate of compliance to the borrower and the Attorney General. PCQ Comment: What if the bank does not bring all of the required documents? What if they say, “We looked and can’t find them?” What if they provide no proof of a good faith search for the documents? Who is to determine if the bank is actually entitled to a certificate of compliance? Does the borrower have a right to object to the issuance of a certificate of compliance? Perhaps the administrative rules will clarify. 10. Borrowers “At Risk of Default” If a borrower is at risk of default before the Notice of Default has been filed pursuant to ORS 86.735, he/she may notify the bank (or the trustee identified in the trust deed, or the bank’s or trustee’s agent) that he/she wants to enter into mediation. The following shall occur: Within 15 days after receiving the request, the bank (or trustee, or the bank’s or trustee’s agent) shall respond to the borrower’s request and shall notify the Attorney General and the MSP. The bank’s response to the borrower must include contact information for the Attorney General and the MSP. A borrower who requests mediation may also notify the Attorney General and the MSP of his/her request. The Attorney General shall post on its website contact information for the MSP and an address or method by which a borrower may notify the Attorney General. Within 10 days after receiving notice of the borrower’s pre-foreclosure request to mediate, the MSP shall send a notice to the borrower and the bank that (except with respect to the date by which the MSP must send the notice) is otherwise in accordance with the provisions described at Sec. 6, above. PCQ Comment: Can the bank say, “We are going to judicially foreclose” and thus avoid the borrower’s effort to mediate ahead of time? Perhaps the administrative rules will clarify. 11. HUD Approved Housing Counselor Consultation A borrower that confirms that he/she will enter into mediation must consult a HUD approved housing counselor before the scheduled date of the mediation. The following details apply: If, after consulting with the counselor, the borrower decides not to mediate, he/she shall notify the MSP that sent him/her the written notice (described above) that he/she does not intend to mediate. (The counselor is to inform the borrower of this requirement to notify the MSP.) The MSP shall notify the bank or its agent of the borrower’s decision. The MSP’s notice of mediation sent to the borrower must include a statement that informs them of their obligation to consult a housing counselor. The requirement to consult a housing counselor does not apply to a borrower that could not obtain an appointment for consultation within 30 days after receiving the notice from the MSP. (The MSP’s statement must notify the borrower of this exception.) A borrower that intends to claim an exemption from the duty to consult the housing counselor must obtain an affidavit from the MSP and sign it attesting to the fact that he/she could not obtain a consultation appointment within the 30-day period. (The Attorney General shall by rule prescribe the form and contents of the affidavit.) PCQ Comment: It is not clear whether the borrower seeking a pre-foreclosure mediation is required to first consult with the housing counselor. Presumably, they should do so just to avoid the bank rejecting the mediation – i.e. sending out a notice of noncompliance under Sec. 13, below. 12. The Foreclosure Avoidance Mitigation Fund The Foreclosure Avoidance Mediation Fund is established in the State Treasury, separate from the General Fund. It consists of moneys the Attorney General collects or receives for the purpose of paying the costs of coordinating this mediation program and its related expenses. The moneys in the fund are to be “continuously appropriated” to the Attorney General for these purposes. Additional provisions: The Attorney General may receive moneys from any public or private source. A trustee or bank that files a Notice of Default under ORS 86.735 shall pay to the county recording clerk $100 in addition to any recording fee charged for recording the Notice of Default. At the end of each month, the clerk is to forward the proceeds of the $100 charge to the Attorney General for deposit into the Fund. Note: There are certain exceptions to the $100 charge if the foreclosing entity does not commence more than a total of 250 actions to non-judicially foreclose residential trust deeds or judicially foreclose mortgages. In order to obtain the exemption, they must provide an affidavit either: Within 30 days after the effective date of this Act to claim the exemption for calendar year 2012 and not later than January 31 in any subsequent calendar year; or At the time the foreclosing entity files a Notice of Default under ORS 86.735. 13. Bank’s Notice of Borrower Noncompliance If a bank determines that a borrower is not eligible for any foreclosure avoidance measure or that the borrower has not complied with the terms of a foreclosure avoidance measure to which the borrower had agreed, the bank or its agent, at least 30 days before the foreclosure sale date specified for the trustee’s Notice of Sale pursuant to ORS 86.740 or 86.755 (2)(b), shall notify the borrower in writing of the bank’s determination and shall serve the notice in the same manner as the Notice of Sale under ORS 86.740(1). The following requirements apply to the notice of noncompliance: It must explain in “plain language” the basis for the bank’s determination. The bank or its agent must mail a copy of the notice to the Department of Justice on the same date on which the notice is served on the borrower. PCQ Comment: The absence of any standards or basis for determining “noncompliance” seems to be an invitation for dispute. What if the borrower disagrees? 14. Bank’s Affidavit of Compliance At least 20 days before the foreclosure sale date specified for the trustee’s Notice of Sale, the bank or its agent must: Record in the public records for the county where the sale is to be held, an affidavit stating that the bank has complied with the requirements for the bank’s notice of noncompliance and mail a copy to the Oregon Department of Justice. The affidavit must: Identify the property that is the subject of the sale. Identify the borrower and the trustee and the beneficiary (as of the date of the affidavit). State that the bank or its agent has complied with the requirements of sending out the notice of non-compliance to all necessary parties. Include proof of service on the borrower for the notice of noncompliance. The Attorney General by rule shall specify a form for, and the contents of, the notice of the borrower’s noncompliance, and shall identify an address to which the bank or its agent must mail the copy of the notice of noncompliance and the affidavit of compliance. PCQ Comment: I notice occasional time frames tied to the sale date identified in the Notice of Sale. If the sale date is postponed, then this would be inaccurate. Perhaps this will be clarified by administrative rule to state that if a sale date is postponed, all notices tied to the date in the Notice of Sale shall apply to the latest postponed sale date. 15. Bank’s Failure to Comply A bank or its agent that fails to comply with the notice of noncompliance and affidavit of compliance provisions described in Secs. 13 and 14, above, is liable to the borrower in the amount of $500 (plus the borrower’s actual damages) for each failure to comply. Additionally: The borrower may bring an action against a bank or its agent in the circuit court to recover the sums due. The borrower must commence the action within two years after the date on which the bank or its agent should have complied, but did not. Even if the bank has a contrary agreement with the borrower, a court may award reasonable attorney fees, costs and disbursements to the borrower if they prevail. PCQ Comment: I assume the intent is to not permit attorney fees to the bank if it prevails. It is not stated, but with a fixed liquidated amount of $500/per violation, it appears that this is the borrower’s sole remedy, i.e. no general or punitive damages. 16. Significant Amendments to Oregon’s Trust Deed Foreclosure Law What follows is a list of the important changes to how non-judicial foreclosures will be conducted in the future: The term “residential trust deed” is important in judicial foreclosures of a primary residence. This is because the anti-deficiency judgment protections of ORS 86.770 apply only when a residential trust deed is being foreclosed. Until the effective date of SB 1552, the term “residential trust deed” refers to one that is occupied as such “as of the commencement of the foreclosure.” This meant that for those borrowers who relocated to another primary residence (you can only have one at a time) for reasons such as job relocation or employment opportunity, before the foreclosure was officially “commenced” by filing and service of a complaint, the trust deed was no longer a “residential trust deed.” Thus, if the bank then decided to foreclose the home judicially, there was always a theoretical risk that it could seek a deficiency, since the trust deed was no longer “a residential trust deed.” This will now change. A “residential trust deed” is defined under SB 1552 to mean one that secures a primary residence as of “the time a default that results in an action to foreclose the obligation secured by the trust deed first occurs.” PCQ Comment: This means that once a default occurs that results in a judicial foreclosure being commenced later, vacating the residence will not result in a loss of the anti-deficiency judgment protections of ORS 86.770. In other words, the only way a borrower would be exposed to the risk of a deficiency judgment following judicial foreclosure would be if he/she moved out before the nonpayment default that ultimately led to the foreclosure (e.g. they vacated while they were still current). ORS 86.735, the statute dealing with the filing of non-judicial foreclosures, has been amended to impose the following requirements: (a) The foreclosing bank or its agent must record the certificate of compliance received from the mediation service provider; (b) The bank has provided the borrower with the notice of noncompliance (discussed at Sec. 13, above); and, (c) The borrower is not in compliance with the agreed-upon foreclosure avoidance measure. PCQ Comment: Note that in addition to recording the certificate of compliance (received from the mediation service provider) at the commencement of the foreclosure, the bank must file the affidavit of compliance at least 20 days before the foreclosure sale date specified for the trustee’s Notice of Sale. Although no recording requirement seems to exist for the notice of non-compliance, the right to commence a non-judicial foreclosure requires that the bank sent it to the borrower and (if applicable) the borrower failed to comply with an agreed-upon foreclosure avoidance measure. If the property is secured by a residential trust deed to which the mediation requirements of SB 1552 apply, a separate notice of mediation, as defined by administrative rule, must be served or mailed at least 60 days before the Notice of Sale is served or mailed. PCQ Comment: This provision will assure borrowers in default that they will have an opportunity to mediate if they feel it necessary. In many cases, modification leaves buyers in the dark about the status of the process or the reasons for denial. This law should provide more transparency for those who need it. We’ll know more once the A.G. completes the rulemaking. A copy of the Notice of Sale must be sent to the mediation service provider appointed by the Oregon Attorney General. If the non-judicial sale is postponed, the foreclosure trustee, in the manner provided for service of the Notice of Sale under ORS 86.740 (1), shall give written notice of the new time, date and place for the sale to the borrower and any other person to whom Notice of Sale was given under ORS 86.745. The notice must be given at least 15 days before the new sale date. The sale may be postponed once, for not more than two calendar days, without giving the 15-day notice. The sale may not be postponed for more than two calendar days or more than once without giving the 15-day notice. PCQ Comment: Until now, the only way a borrower would know if their foreclosure sale was postponed was to attend the sale. This was because postponement only officially occurred when the foreclosure trustee said so at the time of the sale – or simply did not conduct the sale at that date and time. This was a cause for consternation to borrowers for several reasons: (a) If they were in the process of trying to secure a short sale or other pre-foreclosure solution, they could never be quite sure if or when the sale was actually held; (b) If they were members of a planned community, their HOA assessments did not stop until the property changed hands, i.e. to the bank or the third-party purchaser at the sale. In some instances, borrowers stopped paying their assessments as of the scheduled sale date, only to find out months later that the foreclosure sale had been postponed – meaning they were still personally liable; (c) knowing the actual date of the postponement in a written notice is better for borrowers who for various reasons do not know to go to the foreclosure trustee’s website (the accuracy of which is not guaranteed); or (d) they were simply expecting the sale to occur on a date certain so they could “move on.” In all of these cases, the new requirement that the notice of postponement be in writing gives more certainty to borrowers about what to expect and when to expect it. (Note that these provisions only apply to postponements. If the sale is “cancelled”, i.e. there is no new date scheduled – which can happen for no apparent reason, or because the lender decided to foreclose judicially – this new law may not apply.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] There are a series of additional requirements if the lender intends to avail itself of this exemption. They can be found at Section 2(2)(d) of SB 1552. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mitt Romney's scary face

Whoops, the dawning of the reality of Mitt Romney galvanizing the american people together in the name of pursuing that 'shining star' is enough to make one vomit, then vomit again. 

Yes, Mitt there is a shining star---your bullshit ability to convince the average dullard voter that your 'strong business experiences' while at Bain Capital will serve to guide your decisions regarding economic issues-----and that chameleon-like ability to change with the slightest tinge of outside influence, whether the blue collar worker seeking a fair deal, or a crony seeking yet another regulation's annihilation, so the leverage on the Credit Default Swap might get a little closer to 150%----all such a wonderful set of principles and plans for fairness and justice for all for those who just dream of your grandness!  Bless you, sir.

Perhaps in several years, we shall all be on our knees, wearing the magic underwear, truly in touch with our God, as we sweep the street with our bare hands so that you may move through a world ravaged by the greed and misanthropy which rules you and yours.

999

Good Lord, it is inconceivable that the general population of this fine country would agree to pay a 9%  national sales which is advocated by Presidential hopeful Herman Cain. 

Really, Rick Santorum had it right when he asked the audience how many of them favored a 9% Federal sales tax. Nobody.  What does it take to convince this lunatic that his 'won't play in Peoria' policies are completely out of line with the thinking and beliefs of most rational folks?

He is simply another annoying aspect of the Koch brothers attempts to stir matters up.  Shit stirrers.

And poor Rick Perry.  He could barely spit out the timeworn 'flat tax' platform presented so many times in the past, and it has proved to be simply 'flat' regressive.  The poor pay more, the middle class pays more, and the rich pay less, adding to their 370% gain in income since 1979---compared to anywhere from 18% for the poorest to 40% of middle class members. 

Pretty pathetic.  Pretty damn pathetic.

Does anyone wonder why there are now 'people in the streets?' 

But this national disconnect with Wall street and Congress in general should bode well for the Democrats to regain control of both the House and Senate in 2012.  One can only hope that Cantor, McConnell, and a spate of others are on their way out.

And Romney......he is surely responsible for some of the most ludicrous, incorrect and damaging statements made by any of these buffoons.  "Just let the foreclosure process run it course....? 

You son of a bitch. 

It was the investment banks which created the illegal securitization of these mortgages, which in turn has caused the entire economy to collapse, including a continued press to throw people out in the street through foreclosure.  You and your ilk caused this nightmare.  You and the FED.  You are a rat-bastard if you can stomach this kind of behavior. 

Where is your conscience?  Researchers have concluded that some 20% of the population do not have a conscience, and are thus well suited for a position with Bain Capital, or as a Republican president who will run roughshod over every dimension of our society---even worse than George W. Bush.  You are the perfect person for the job, Mr. Romney.

De-regulate everything from oil production to food safety inspections.  And do not forget to cut taxes for the wealthy.  They have had it pretty hard, these fine folks.

Damn, that is troublesome to contemplate.  Very troublesome.  Oh, and Herman?  Forget about it.  The racism you claim to be non-existent in this country will certainly shut you out of any Republican nomination process.

Count on it.

 

 

GET MONEY OUT 2

Well, Well........the body appears to be in some sort of revolt.  And all these poor newscasters who whine, 'tell us what you want.....what are the issues? ' Get the money out, and get the jobs in'----this was presented as a slogan somewhere.  Not bad.

Wake up!  Injustice can only carry on for a limited amount of time before people take some kind of action.  Half the country must live in a vacuum, including some cable news folks who just don't 'get it.'

Fifty cities are now involved just after a few days, and the inestimable Mr.Ratigan has has gathered over 100,000 signatures on his GetMoneyOut petition.  Check the last post for the link----

So, extrapolate one year into the future.  Will the petition contain one million signatures?  Or will Mr. Ratigan, and possibly Mr. Williams be silenced by any number of methods, some more odious than others?

Well done, lads and lassies.  Being crippled keeps this writer away, but was certainly in the streets in the sixties and seventies......carry on!

Get Money Out

The formidable Dylan Ratigan, host of MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show, has long been known to reach into the heart of the matter--- say, the extraction of wealth in this country during the last twenty years, and vociferously demand answers all the while demonstrating his knowledge of the intricacies and ramifications of what occurs when Bureaucracy morphs into Plutocracy.

Right before our eyes. 

His latest gesture toward reconciling our political system's failing, that of allowing money to dictate policy, has come in the form of a major national appeal to generate as many signatures as possible to allow he and fellow activist, Jimmy Williams, to get the attention of our congressman, and demand that 'get money out' of politics becomes more than a metaphor. 

Go to their website and sign the petition.  It's the right thing to do.  But this goal can only be accomplished by mass participation.  There are convenient buttons to connect with all your Facebook folks.  And a Twitter button.  Use them.

There is simply no reason to not sign the petition since any thinking person surely realizes that the nation's best interests cannot be at the heart of such a dishonorable, unjust system. 

Indeed, it is quite the opposite.  Just one indicator will tell the truth of the matter---almost no income gain by the vast majority of working Americans during the past thirty years, and exponential gain by the cream of the crop---the top two to three percent of all citizens.  In any sense, this is a sure-fire recipe for disaster.  The head will eat the body, and that is exactly what is happening. 

But it can be changed. 

These Representatives can be removed just as easily as they were put into place.

There is a rattle of change in the air these days.  Ten days now into the Wall Street demonstrations.  Of course, very little main stream news, but it would be a rational conclusion that many Americans have knowledge of all that is happening.  And that scares the wealthy and powerful.

Rise up.  Sign the damned petition.

Thank you, Dylan, for your bravery.  Keep your head down.

 

 

 

 

DEATH AND POLITICS

 

 

The century within which we were all born witnessed over 250 million human beings being slaughtered and tortured by governments worldwide.

This fellow pictured above, once a fledgling Democrat from Wyoming, has grown into the quintessential representation of this monstrous fact.

The concept of war is used as a continuous 'foreign policy,'  with the US in present egregious and unlawful abuse of their superpower status. History will judge when (or if) Americans developed the education competence to evolve beyond endless wars. Or, it will find solace in the fact that along with the nightmare of War is brought such technological terror that the end might be mercifully quick.

Murder us outright in our sleep, or spray Corexit over land and sea, or ordain mutant seeds dominate the available market, or even finally realize that the Ocean shall take all as the warming temperature eases the restrictions on Methane, surely an exponential and cataclysmic event in itself. But try and make matters right?

Never. Never, it would seem, is the mantra of those whose excesses are even threatened with a modicum of re-distribution, despite the long term positive effects it may have propagating the species. Truly, it can be reduced to pedestrian greed. Think of the school yard. The kid with the most of everything kept getting more. The kid who took others lunch money. More, more, more.

The one in twenty-five of us who possesses no conscience. Those who adhere to the notion of privatizing the gains and socializing the losses.

When the rekoning arrives for these folks, their suffering will be the stuff of legends.

 

Afghanistan Againistan

 

Since August was the deadliest month so far of the Afghani 'war,' the sixty-six U.S. soldiers killed, mostly from an alleged Taliban attack on a Chinook helicopter that killed 30 Navy SEALs, will likely suffice for reason enough that we put a halt to the current policy of withdrawing troops from this obviously Taliban overrun country.

Sixty six killed.  Wonder how that compares with Anzio?

Well, no matter in any case.  NATO is there to stay.  Now, there will be a full accounting of just how many US troops remain as part of this NATO effort, and what other resources are being directed toward the protection of Afghanistan.  But those numbers will not be made available until well into the 2020's, when the complexion has changed, with memories faded.

But now, it seems, we are already being pro-active in this regard.  The game is on.

This week it was announced that US Training Center Inc, a subsidiary of Blackwater International, has just been awarded a defense contract by the Pentagon for “counter-narcoterrorism" activities in Afghanistan.

Remember those guys?  They are the clever folks who changed their corporate name to XE.

 Far too many reasons have been suggested as to why the occupation of Afghanistan is important to the west, from its geo-political importance to its myriad mineral wealth, but one of the most compelling is the fact that the country now produces as much as ninety two percent of the world's opium.

The Afghan poppy crop brings in about one billion for the opium farmers themselves, or about $5000 per family annually. Three billion go to Afghan government officials, insurgents, warlords and traffickers. The street value of the drugs produced from the opium, however, is estimated to be as much as two hundred billion a year. One wonders where the money goes to be sufficiently laundered and distributed.

Maybe the local banks can handle that much cash.

Historical reporting reveal in Afghanistan that the opium crop was almost entirely eliminated by the Taliban during the year that they banned opium cultivation, with the chart spiking to record highs during the years of NATO occupation. Take comfort that those charts will keep spiking, with our boys from XE protecting the crops. 

Bless those boys.

ADVERTISING, PART ONE

 

From 7:00 PM through 8:00 PM Pacific Standard Time (likely on any given day) there were a total of eight commercial advertisements for alcohol on cable television. Two for Tequila, promoting reasonable attitudes and smiling faces, and six for various beers. Everyone was having fun.

 

And in hospitals across the nation, parents and families grieved over the deaths of sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers, and babies, as they were dutifully told of their deaths at the hands of a drunk driver. The same drunk driver who was earlier intellectually indemnified by the advertising.

 

'Don't worry, drink responsibly,' the ads intone. There was a time not so long ago when advertising for alcohol on television was banned----then it sneaked back in, subtly at first, now full bore. Magazines, billboards, Internet ads, and even naming multi-purpose public gathering places after a certain brand of alcohol-----Busch Stadium on Saturday. Be there with a beer in your hand. And the beers are bigger now, as well. Drink three or four 40 oz. brews and see how you feel.

 

Tobacco, on the other hand, has not yet made its re-entrance into the enormous marketplace of television. What kind of sense does this make? A driver who has smoked ten cigarettes in four hours when compared to a driver who has tossed back ten shots of tequila in four hours? Obviously, there is no moral correlative to be found here, and no regulations which give common sense a good name.

 

Enough for now. As a culture, we seem driven to destroy ourselves in myriad ways. The advertisements for these processes are mere harbingers---with many to come.

 

 

UNION RIGHTS---BUSTED AGAIN!

Verizon, the communications conglomerate, and the Communications Workers of America in conjunction with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers announced that 45,000 unionized workers have walked off the job today as contract talks stalled.  The contracts had expired at midnight, Saturday, August 6th.

Operating in the format of certain Wisconsin, Ohio, and other state's officials, the union representatives indicated that Verizon is demanding rollbacks of wages, benefits and union rules while posting annual profits of up to $6 billion.

Evidently, the loss of 45,000 skilled workers does not mean much to Verizon, as spokesperson Peter Thonis said,  "customers should expect "no major impact" from the walkout. Repair calls may take longer, but "nothing detrimental."   Nothing detrimental?  What is this foolish person talking about?

A simple answer to this continuing dilemma might be for 45,000 Verizon customers to switch their communication services.  Or threaten to if these union workers are not given a fair shake during labor negotiations.  A perfectly good source for starting petitions, and shaking the tree of these greedy corporations of all sorts may be found at change.org.  Perhaps Mr. Thonis might re-think the definition of detrimental if 250,000 people signed a petition demanding fair treatment for workers.

And the same to you, Governor Walker........

 

SONS OF......SCREENPLAY IN PROGRESS

Note:  This post is almost 4000 words,  It is either a chapter in a novel, a free standing short story, or a synopsis for a screenplay.  I hereby claim its authorship and veracity.

 

Some time during the early morning hours in the Summer of 1954, Barbara Noeker kidnapped her sons, George and John, age 6 and 4, disappearing over the Idaho border driving straight to her parents home in Bend, Oregon. They arrived around noon.

 

She was able to quietly sneak her sons out of the house, after waking them from child dreams, and into the only family car, a green 1948 Dodge. Her husband, Edward, slept soundly having just returned from an exhaustive business trip, while his children who he loved deeply were taken from his life forever. There was to be only one final meeting between father and sons, occurring some four years later. More of this in time.

 

Barbara's plans had been made, all was arranged. A friend from her Boise neighborhood had agreed to confront Edward early that same morning when he awakened, and tell him his wife of eight years was gone forever, and to not follow. Despite repeated telephone calls to the home in Bend, he was told to stay away and to expect divorce papers. In 1954, there was not much a man could do in this predicament. He was not allowed to speak to his sons. And Barbara had taken the car.

 

All this without a word from Barbara to her sons about why this had happened. The boys had to be scolded quite a few times before finally falling silent. Mum's the word.

 

When the youngest, John, was five, he asked his grandfather, Dean, “Is my daddy dead?” A brief shake of Granddad's head and a stoic countenance reminded John he was not supposed to ask about his father.

 

Dean was kind, though, and would serve as a backbone of sorts for young John, as the next eight years were to bring horror and pain beyond immediate comprehension. For his brother George, as well. The same horror and pain, burnt into memory, manifested in the form of a step-father who was quick to legally adopt these boys, because 1950's culture frowned on a boy not having a proper name. And a real man made sure his sons had the same last name.

 

“I'm gonna 'dopt you boys,” came the words from the ogre. His name was Vern. Vernon Woodworth, a chunky thick, horrible man with slick back black, wavy hair, cigarettes rolled up in his undershirt. His odd, bulb-like nose an unpleasant counterpoint to his vacant watery blue eyes.

 

Vern was a man man who spanked the cats if they jumped on a bed. A man who would suddenly scream from his chair, “Get out in the garage!” A man whose real talent lay in how hard he could hit the bare backsides of his 'sons' with an eighteen inch long piece of black two inch diameter irrigation hose.

 

The first strike hurt so bad, neither of the boys could ever muster a scream for several seconds, then just about the time the second strike was delivered, the screams began. And the sound of the rubber hose against the buttocks and lower backs of the boys had a strange, stinging smack sound, like a butcher slapping a slab of beef, pounding it down for the cut. All in all, each session would yield seven or eight full force strikes. One time, John put his right hand behind him, trying to protect himself as he lay sprawled over the pile of wood in the garage.

 

“Get that hand outta there!” screamed Vern, then struck with all his might, breaking the first joint of John's middle finger. The next day, during third grade recess, John pretended he had hurt his hand playing teatherball, and the school nurse put a splint on the finger. When Barbara saw the injury, she feigned concerned as Vern grunted and walked out to the back patio for a smoke. He smoked Chesterfield's, and had a special way of smacking each cigarette down seven or eight times on his Zippo lighter before smoking them. He learned that in the Navy. He got tattoos in the Navy, too. One of a black panther streaking down his left arm, with the bottom half of the cat visible, the rest covered by his undershirt. The panther's tail had become a bit infected over the years, and was red in color for about a half inch on the tip.

 

His other tattoo, on the right forearm, was simply 'USN' with a faded flag.

 

As the boys never saw Vern without a shirt, they never saw the top half of the cat. They saw the right forearm a lot, however.

 

Forever a horrible moral postulate, the scope and dimension of Vern's humanity was defined by several revealing events.

 

The two Siamese cats, John's beloved travel companions, were not allowed to sleep in the house. They were carried to the garage to their bed at 9 PM, placed in cardboard box through a small round hole with a thin blanket inside for warmth. The central Oregon winter temperatures drop to zero, sometimes below. The garage, though attached to the house, had no heat, but was well insulated allowing for an an ambient thirty eight to forty degrees.

 

It was never discussed why the well behaved family pets were not allowed to sleep inside the house, but was the source of one of the only arguments Vern and Barbara had in front of the boys. Barbara objected, worried the cats might be too cold. Vern ended the argument by proclaiming that the cats 'ball up together and it's like eighty degrees.....and I don't want them wandering the house at night....they might get up on somethin'....'

 

Yet, another cat did not fare so well. A stray appeared at the sliding door during a winter snowstorm of 1960. The porch light revealed a loudly meowing young kitty----an orange one---John begged to let the snow laden animal inside---or at least into the garage. Vern ordered John to sit down and not open the door.

 

“It's one of the Hensley's cats....it can find its way home....and we can't let it in the garage because our cats will kill it.” The Hensley's lived half a mile away. Nothing was ever mentioned about a missing orange cat in the following months.

 

And many years later, John remembered that Vern had spanked both the Siamese cats because they were caught sleeping in one of the bedrooms, making an unacceptable indentation on the bed pillow.

He held them tightly, avoiding vicious claws, striking them across the flanks four or five times before tossing them into the garage.

 

Barbara did not like that either, but said little as the benefits of Vern evidently outweighed the detriments. He was a good provider and her boys had a father. She was well liked by co-workers, and began to receive promotions. Barbara had arrived. And little else mattered.

 

But no one knew for sure, since in eight years, only three visitors came to the Woodworth house. At the time, this did not seem extraordinary to John.

 

All in all, Barbara felt she had to sacrifice a lot in order to have the job and family she wanted. She felt she deserved her new car. And she suffered Vern, her intellectual inferior, and treated him coldly. No hugging or kissing between them, and few sounds coming from their bedroom.

 

Looking back a bit....

 

Two years had passed since Barbara had absconded with her children. George was eight and John was six, just starting first grade.

 

She had prevailed, and was successful in securing employment with the local gas company as a secretary. Meanwhile, all her applications were filled out, awaiting a plucky “state' job, a special goal of hers as she energetically sought the approval of her father while maintaining a cool distance from her mother Dorothy.

 

Dorothy's friends called her 'Dot.' For a number of years, Dot would be the only one to ever hug the children, albeit infrequently. Then, after moving a half mile away and into a new house, there were no more hugs for the children.

 

All in all, Barbara's relationship had been ruined with her mother some years earlier, when home from college she 'discovered' her brother Dan, four years her junior, intimately involved with his friend of the same sex. Barbara immediately told Dean, who just as quickly banished his son from the house forever, breaking Dot's heart.

 

Many years later, and after Dean's death, Barbara would be living with Dorothy, and have to suffer through visits from brother Dan who lived only a few hours away. Barbara would call John long distance on the telephone, and through the muse of alcohol complain that it 'sickened her' to watch her brother and mother sitting together on the love seat, holding hands and talking quietly about 'God knows what!' At 35, John reacted with slight amusement, and gave those episodes little consideration having still not fully absorbed the peculiar nature of his family dynamic.

 

In this instance, the 'God knows what' was a mother's love for her son, with reciprocity, after not seeing one another for nearly forty years. Barbara was not built to recognize such nurturing.

 

But even then, at 35, John was not allowed to visit when 'Uncle Dan' was in town. Added together, there were at least twenty five times when the two of them could have gotten together, but it was not meant to be.

 

John, nor George, ever met their Uncle Dan.

 

Parenthetically, it turns out that John had lived and worked in the same city as his Uncle, even being as close as six blocks away. Uncle Dan was a lounge singer and piano player in a local Seattle establishment, while John worked as a business recruiter in the United Pacific building on Second Avenue for three years, a mere fifteen minute walk from the nightclub.

 

Mum's the word.

 

In 1956 Barbara went away for about a week. She said nothing to her boys, and both grandparents maintained silence, though acknowledging Barbara was coming back in a few days with a surprise.

 

The surprise came when George and John were playing in their grandparents' big front yard, which was ringed with 100 foot pine trees, affording a clear view of the Cascade mountain range. One could easily see the 'Three Sisters'---the three major mountain peaks from the yard and from inside the house, framed perfectly in the monstrous living room picture window.

 

The driveway to the house was long, and was visible all the way to the main road, highway 20. After turning into the driveway, it took three or four minutes to get to the house. Conversely, the walk from the house to the highway to catch the school bus took ten or fifteen minutes.

 

George noticed it first. It was a big, black Buick coming up the driveway. As there were only a splattering of neighbors---only four homes within a two mile radius---the boys knew all the cars which came up the hill to the house. They watched intently. There was an option for a car to continue on straight, and head another direction to Bear Creek Road, but if any car made that final turn, it was definitely coming to the house. The big, black Buick turned and headed up the hill.

 

John was jumping up and down in excitement as the car pulled up, the gravel crunching under its wide tires.

 

Barbara got out of the passenger door as both sons ran to greet her.

 

“Where did you go, Mom?” asked George, wiping a tear.

 

John stopped short of his mother, as he saw a strange man. Vern had gotten out of the car, and was leaning against the bumper, smacking a cigarette down on his lighter.

 

Barbara tousled George's hair, then made the boys stand side-by-side a few feet away. She motioned for Vern to come closer.

 

“Boys,” she said seriously, “this is Vern Woodworth. We just got married a few days ago, and he's going to be your new father.”

 

“They call me Woody,” intoned Vern through a thick haze of cigarette smoke, “pretty soon you can call me Dad 'cause I'm gonna dopt you.”

 

George and John looked at each other, and in an instant were gone. They raced across the yard, leaped over the pole fence, ran as fast as they could across the big, front pasture, disappearing into the forest about a quarter mile to the east. Barbara's voice and what sounded like a whistle disappeared quickly as the brothers raced deep into the forest.

 

Especially for John, the forest became pivotal in his survival, where he built 'forest caves' and bent saplings over to trap any intruders.

 

For two years they all lived together. Barbara and Vern at one end of the massive house; Dean, Dorothy, George and John at the other end, where most of the bedrooms were. Naturally, everyone acted like a family---dinners from Dot, television viewing, and weekly trips to Congress grocery market with Granddad. John always got a dime to buy candy.

 

In 1956, there were very few television programs , but cowboys and Indians were plentiful, along with something called the Red Dunning show, and Mr. Moon. And, of course, 'The Edge of Night.'

 

In 1958, the new house was ready and the recently formed Woodworth family moved in, only a half mile from Dean and Dorothy and still within sight. Just not hearing range. In later years, it struck John as horribly ironic that Hell might exist in a vacuum.

 

The sudden visit from Edward lasted only for one day---hours, really. It merely seemed like a whole day to

the boys, time and memory being at once transformative, yet frighteningly transgressive.

 

Only a few months had passed in the new house when the boys were informed that their father was coming for a visit. George and John were unaware at the time, but the visit had a dual purpose. The re-uniting of a father and his sons after four years, and his appearance before the lawyer, a Mr. Gray, for the purposes of filing adoption papers which required Edward's signature. George and John Noeker were to become George and John Woodworth, just like that.

 

The visit itself was surreal and spectacular. Lunch and sodas at Drake Park, a movie at the Tower Theater, where Edward thumped a kid's head in the next row down for being too loud. The boys thought that funny, stifling their laughter. And then, the promise.

 

'Yes, yes, yes, I'm coming back for you guys' echoed through their heads---'just as soon as I can.'

 

Edward, who favored John--even called him 'Jake,'-- promised he would send a magnifying glass through the mail first, then he would come for them.

 

After three months of daily trips to the highway to check the mailbox, John finally gave up. No magnifying glass, no rescue, no more Dad. They never heard from Edward again.

 

Many years later when John was 42, he found his father. The news came in the form of some assistance from a friend who worked for the Social Security Administration. It turns out that Edward Noeker had passed away in 1965, only seven years after seeing his boys for the last time. Still believing his father might be alive, this sudden revelation would weigh heavily on John's already troubled psyche.

 

After Edward spoke to the boys about his plans to come for them, he dropped them off at the house and remained in the car to bid his boys farewell. It was clear Vern was watching from the window, with the curtain pulled back just enough to reveal his angry, wretched face.

 

The boys received a particular brutal whipping that evening, on the excuse that they had not done all their chores before going with Edward for the day. The 'chores' were of such magnitude that they would never be done, so Vern always had a handy reason to become enraged. “I'm gonna beat that Noeker right out of both of you!” he snarled. And beat he did. It took five years to get it right.

 

The worm turned in 1962, when George, now a gangling and fearless teenager, began to fight back in the garage with Vern. With his hands full, Vern scarcely bothered with John anymore, so at twelve years old, the beatings pretty much stopped for him while the weekly battle between Vern and George intensified.

 

Earlier, things had almost gotten out of hand.

 

In 1960, George discovered Vern's .270 Winchester deer rifle hidden in the upper chambers of the garage, complete with bullets. He looked at his brother and said, “let's shoot him.”

 

Both boys were aware of Vern's usual arrival time---4 PM. He managed Bend Redi-Mix, a concrete plant, and maintained a very regular schedule. George and John had taken up a position where Vern could not see them, even as he was on the long driveway. George calmly slid a cartridge into the chamber of the Winchester and locked it down as if he had done it many times. He lowered the weapon and aimed directly at Vern's oncoming pick-up truck, and at the last second, dropped the barrel down muttering 'Dammit' as John sat numb in the bushes. They left the gun, returning later to sneak it back into the garage without Vern's notice.

 

George had reached a bit of a tipping point due to a jarring event.

 

The boys had made outside pets of several golden mantle squirrels, built them a cage, and watched in awe the arrival of babies. Vern had caused John to cry uncontrollably when his refusal to allow the pets to stay in the garage, warm against the bitter cold of the Central Oregon winter, resulted in an early morning discovery of six frozen squirrels.

 

All this bounced around in George's head. Another early discovery, as he experienced how rage can insinuate murder.

 

Time wore on. Life went on as usual, aside from a particularly vicious beating when Vern discovered his gun had been moved and a bullet left in the chamber.

 

Barbara's usual reaction to the regular whippings had been to retire to her bedroom or bathroom, and smoke a cigarette until things calmed down. On each occasion, the boys were marched down the hallway and pushed into their bedroom with the admonition, “if I hear one peep, you're gonna get another whippin!' They were marched right past Barbara's bathroom, still screaming.

 

George and John shared a bedroom despite a 'guest' room in the long, spacious house. From 1958 until 1966, when the Woodworth family moved into town, the guest room was never used and the boys were forbidden entrance. They were also forbidden to go into their own room unless it was bedtime. No laying on the beds, no clothes on the floor. All socks and underwear folded neatly and stacked perfectly in the chest of drawers.

 

No music, no loud talking, and the beds must be 'made' with hospital corners, without wrinkles in the finished product. There was no chair or desk in the room, so all homework was done at the kitchen table after all the dishes were washed and put away. Any television watching could be done after homework, and at Vern's choosing. He would circle the various shows to be watched---Have Gun Will Travel, The Honeymooners, Lawrence Welk.

 

Next to the kitchen was a dining room complete with stunning oak hutch and fine china, and a table for six. However, all meals in the Woodworth house were eaten in the kitchen, each member seated lunch-counter like staring straight ahead at a white, undecorated wall. From the left, Vern, Barbara, George, then John.

 

Occasionally during the summertime, Vern would barbeque and they would eat outside at the nice redwood table. A chaise lounge sat empty nearby.

 

The dining room remained pristine. Unused.

 

Likely the biggest issue of disintegration in the Woodworth family was when George ran away from home. At 17, he had devised an escape plan which first included John and a school chum---but turned out that young George escaped on his own. John was 15 at the time.

 

The plan had been to leave on a motorcycle with a sidecar, which was the friend's contribution, but never materialized. George changed the plan on June 24^th, 1965, when he simply walked away with ten dollars in his pocket and the clothes on his back. He told John he would call a telephone booth in town at 3 PM the next day to report his location.

 

No time for words, just a final look of sweet misery.

 

The call never came, even after 3 days of 3 PM's at the phone booth. George was gone forever, never to be seen again. Forty five years later, John still remembers watching his brother disappear from view around Pilot Butte and into town. Little did the boys know then that their father had died only two days before George's departure, somewhere near Anaheim, California.

 

When Barbara and Vern returned home from work, John faced them and announced that George had left, vowing to never return. Vern lit a cigarette, and Barbara called a friend who worked with the Oregon State Police. It was decided that nothing needed to be done as George would soon be 18 and of legal age.

 

Barbara was semi-shocked, yet relieved as the inevitable battles between Vern and George were wearing thin on her. She had lost control. Vern never said a word, yet was pleased by the news. George had become a real problem for him.

 

Dean and Dorothy had moved away a year earlier, and as there were no family friends, everything went on pretty much as usual in Bend. Nothing was ever reported by the local paper, the Bend Bulletin, and no further communication allowed about George in the Woodworth family.

 

Mum's the word.

 

When George had been gone for over a year, and John was in high school, he heard directly from a friend of George's who said she had seen him in San Francisco a few months earlier. According to her, he had orange hair and was working in the tool and dye industry. This was the 'Summer of Love,' 1967.

 

As prescribed, John made no mention to anyone about this news.

 

According to the friend, George's wanted to escape to Canada, avoiding conscription into military service and a certain trip to Vietnam. Evidently, there were a few young men who were planning to leave together, and though tenuous, a plan which eased John's continuing worry for the safety of his only brother.

 

John's duality began the day his brother left home. Circumstances now allowed him to come and go as he pleased, especially after getting his driver's license. He was the perfect son. No problems at school, received high grades, and easily did the chore load, though consuming ten to fifteen hours a week.

No problem with Vern, either.  His war with George was over.  Silence overcame the household, and deep sighs could be heard as echoes.

No

On its face, the nightmare was over, and young John headed off to college, Portland State University in 1968, with absolutely no foundation or knowledge from which to draw to adapt to the civilized world.

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Something the Congress Can Pass

John Boehner is desirous of getting a hold of something that "Congress can pass."

Right now, Mr. Boehner, it would appear that 'gas' might be the only item of substance which could pass Congress.    And that just might be more than a metaphor, as clear across the country to the west coast the stench of your hatred, hypocrisy and racism are truly fouling the absolute realities of everyday folks.

Really.  How dare you sir, Mr. Speaker...how dare you claim 'the American people believe...' when you quite obviously know nothing of what the American people want?   Or, perhaps  you are simply a liar who lives for political expediency and payola---defining  you a person without a conscience, unfit for public service.

You need to leave, sir, and take your ilk with you.  Your policies, procedures, and shady, underhanded dealings with those who would willingly harm our planet and its people have pushed many to the brink of quite real civil disobedience.  You need to understand that the 'American Spirit' which embodies freedom and fairness as its mantle is a quiet beast, at first. 

When provoked, cornered, and given no alternative, it will move as one---say eighty million citizens---marching straight to the House and Senate buildings, and gently apply redress to the serious grievances perpetuated by you and those who would take favor of money and power over the needs of the common citizen.

 

 

Letter to 60 Plus.org

 

As a 60 plus person, I felt compelled to write in response to your recent television advertising campaign advocating the Paul Ryan health care plan----you know, the plan that  privatizes Medicare, ending the program as we know it.  Insurance companies would be under no obligation to offer insurance to seniors, so many older Americans could be left with no insurance at all.

It is fortunate, indeed, to have access to the truth through non-partisan sources.  Please see the following.

 

Somehow, this must fit in nicely with your long tern vision for the future of our aging population.  To my mind, your position simply flaunts your utter disregard for the well being of our citizens who have lived and worked here the longest, and who are a great resource for cultural and social development.

 

I remain gravely disappointed with your policies toward our senior citizens. 

 

I wonder if you have given any consideration to the notion that all these older folks have younger family---people who are not pleased at all that Medicare is being phased out.  People who still have some power to change things. 

Witness the reaction Governor Walker got from his constituents as he promulgated the notion that collective bargaining for Union members was a thing of the past.  The recalls are coming, including his.  The voters are speaking loudly.

Even the Tea Party folks carry signs insisting that you 'keep your hands off my Medicare.'

It might be expedient to take these words to heart.

Sure, there are plenty of individuals over 60 who are financially stable, despite the recent re-alignment and transfer of wealth in history orchestrated by the 'too big to fail' banks, the Fed, the banking regulators, and the ratings agencies.  All fallen to greed, these institutions.  Moody's continued to rate as AAA, many investment mortgage backed plans which hovered close to complete collapse. 

 My guess that every one of your 60Plus.org members also knows a hard working American family who has been a victim of these economic machinations----maybe your neighbor you have lived next to for years has been foreclosed upon---or had to declare bankruptcy.  These are disparaging realities in disparaging times.

 

Please give this some thought:  the working people of the US have experienced stagnant wage increases over the last thirty years, while the top five percent have watched their income and wealth grow enormously----several hundred percent.

 

This impunity must stop, with the beginning of a common sense approach to simple recognition of what constitutes a sustainable society.  Otherwise, our US streets may begin to resemble cities in the Middle East---full of turmoil and determined citizens seeking justice.

 

Sincerely...........

 

WIENER IS A WINNER

“Weiner! Weiner! Anthony's a Weiner!” And the circle of kids grows larger around Anthony as he hurries through the playground, and tries to get to math class early---just to escape the taunting. His head is ringing with shame.

“Hey Weeeeener.....are you really a weener?” Says the tough kid.

Being small, Anthony worries also about the slaps, pushes, thumps and pinning to the ground by larger boys, the fourteen year olds when Anthony was eleven or twelve. It wasn't like they were smashing him in the mouth (where the teachers might deign to intervene)—but the slugs in the arm hurt, and quintessentially, the humiliation devastating.

Oh, how the loathing of oneself can be so strong in a being so young.

Seriously, traumatic and wretched events are, by default, a portion of the personality carried forth into adulthood. Here, it becomes difficult.....what portion made it into adulthood? Much behavior springs from that answer.

So forward steps the man. It is not clear when Mr. Weiner decided to not take the verbal abuse any longer, or when he began to work his body into a pillar of strength, but amongst other manifestations of this reformation was likely a bloody nose or two along the way suffered by those who continued to taunt.

Clear enough, too, is his anger. When he pointed and screamed to an unnamed colleague that 'the gentleman will observe the rule of order....!!! and a variety of other explosive episodes surely alienated him from other Congressmen and Congresswomen---perhaps engendering outright fear.

Then, there is Anthony's sex story which has so dominated our press corp; as if to out-titillate one another, picture after picture began appearing. Some, though clothed, from the Congressional Gym.

Apparently, the Congressional Gym is sacrosanct, with no pictures allowed.

It was socially unacceptable enough for Congressman Weiner to engage in the 'sexting' world, one imagines, without taking pictures in the Gym. Perhaps Congressman Paul, for example, does not wish pictures taken of him bench pressing the entire weight of the Federal Reserve, or Congressman Eric Cantor not wanting to show off his feeble legs, despite his overwhelming willingness to do so with his brain and communication skills.

One thing is certain. Childhood issues regarding esteem are no laughing matter, and aberrant reactive behavior to trauma is no surprise. One hopes another framework, or another internalized perspective will help the Congressman evolve beyond this moment in his life, and that his internal dissonance is healed.

We wish Anthony Weiner well in his every endeavor, as it is clear he is highly intelligent, passionate about fairness in politics, and a remarkable champion for human rights.

 

 

The Declaration of Independence re-interpreted by Congress

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.....'

Continuing its thought, this document (often confused as text from the U.S Constitution by prominent Republican political leaders ) allows for the full redress of grievances held by the citizenry against perceived tyrannical rules enacted through Congressional Law, including:

'That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.'

The 'ends', of course, refer to the words recently uttered by Speaker Boehner......'Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.'

One wonders what noble deeds might be accomplished if these words functioned as the blueprint of said deeds---Congressional Law and Congressional behavior coming directly under the auspices of our rather magnificent Declaration of Independence.   It is difficult to conceive of these days.

In his troubling speech, Speaker Boehner encourages people to believe it is a pursuit of life liberty, etc. to join him in his noble fight against President Obama's Health Care plan.  Do everything your Republican Party can to make Obama a one-term President--that's the ticket.

This infantile screaming about 'the government takeover of healthcare' simply is not sound, representative behavior when Boehner's Republican Party front runner for President in 2012 enacted a similar plan in his home state of Massachusetts. It had some initial bumps, but still regarded by many as a success and possible model for the Nation.  So, what is the problem?

Approximately 300,000 more Massachusetts residents are insured today than were covered in 2006 because of presidential candidate Romney. In addition to the state plans, some are insured through federal programs like Medicare. Businesses haven't balked at the fees or left the state, as some critics had warned. And insurance companies say that while they're not raking in significant profits, their bottom lines are edging upward.  Apparently, a good foundation from which to chisel a comparable, fair national system.

So, why would our good Speaker and his Republican followers followers wish to deprive the United States citizenry of an already designed, inclusive health plan? After all, a healthy nation is a productive nation. And proactive health care saves millions of employer down-time dollars.

These people who are advocating for the destruction of such a system, the very same people who promote the evisceration of Medicare, need to be careful the next time one of them waves the Declaration of Independence around in such a cavalier manner---the public may act accordingly as they wake up to the realization of this egregious abridgment of their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Already there are groups emerging calling for a Constitutional Convention, and others who have a much more promising and well organized approach. Something to think about.

 

Patriot Act--Where Is The Outrage?

From our friends at pennlive, written by James Miller.  I would have written it myself, but James has done a superlative job.

 

If you ever wanted to see the federal government at its most efficient, look no further than May 26

After a two-day filibuster by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the U.S. Senate voted 72 to 23 for a four-year extension to the USA Patriot Act.

The Patriot Act, which passed immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attack and dramatically increased the government’s authority to search through private records without a warrant, holds an ironic name for a country founded on the principles of limited government.

Immediately after Senate approval, the House of Representatives went to work and passed the bill by a vote of 250-153. President Obama, who was visiting Europe at the time, gave the order to sign the act by what is known as the “autopen.”

So much for gridlock and a broken Congress.

And like that, a legitimate debate on civil liberties in this country is once again undermined in the name of the perpetual war on terror. While Republicans by and large support the Patriot Act, Democrats played a large part in getting the extension through Congress. That should not be surprising; the notion that Democrats are the anti-war party has always been laughable.

After all, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and much of the Vietnam War were fought when Democrats were in the White House. Now, after nearly a decade of scathing criticism thrown at the Bush administration from the left, Democratic majority leader Sen. Harry Reid used several parliamentary maneuvers to circumvent a filibuster. Perhaps he does not remember back in 2005 when he triumphantly declared the Patriot Act “dead.”

With all the talk of debt reduction in Congress, the extension of the Patriot Act signifies neither party’s interest in winding down the largest military budget in this country’s history. Yet Obama’s supporters in the media have barely batted an eye.

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution that guards against unreasonable search and seizure is irrelevant when it comes to scoring political points. Actually, you might as well add the whole of the Constitution to that generalization.

The lack of outrage from the public toward the Patriot Act comes down to lack of knowledge of what it allows for. The law doesn’t magically give intelligence bureaucrats the foresight to track the dealings of terrorists. It is much more personal.

Imagine yourself on the phone paying for a VISA bill that totals more than $5,000. Because payments over the phone are technically wire transfers and the payment amounts to more than $5,000, you can bet that someone in the federal government is observing and recording the transaction.

This isn’t conspiracy theory run amok; it is a literal provision in the Patriot Act that is enforced.

From your VISA bill, the federal government can derive what type of medication you take, what kind of firearms you purchase and what types of books you read. Even phone companies such as Verizon and AT&T are prohibited from informing you that your conversations are being monitored. These provisions might seem insignificant, but angels will not always be in charge of monitoring your private activities.

Rather than have a legitimate debate on the role of privacy in the war on terror, Congress did what it does best and waited until the midnight hour to pass the extension without substantial discussion.

The Patriot Act has become symbolic of the frightening notion that as citizens we are no longer innocent until proven guilty, but rather we are assumed guilty and must prove our innocence.

It is a mockery of the principles this country was founded on.

Benjamin Franklin famously opined that “they who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.”

Liberties are never lost all at once and complacency and apathy are the perfect mixture to dissolve them further.

It is well past time to have a meaningful debate on the role of civil liberties in this country and how much we are willing to give up in the name of “safety.”

JAMES MILLER of Middletown is a Koch Summer Fellow at George Mason University.

 

Bankers and Lenders Cannot Be Held Accountable For Fraud.

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI-FOX2Now.com)� All 50 state attorney's general have been coordinating an investigation into foreclosure fraud for months. And Missouri's chief investigator tells Fox 2 they've found plenty of fraud, but no one to prosecute, and hardly any way to stop further foreclosures, even if they may be fraudulent.

"We've found a good deal of fraud in the process, in the foreclosure process itself, most notably with robo-signing," said head of the Missouri Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division Doug Ommen, referring to the process where foreclosure documents are signed blindly by people paid to forge the signatures of bank or lending company officials. "We have found fraud and we have found forgery in robo-signing and other areas."

But before an appearance at a South Side symposium sponsored by the activist group Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE), Ommen said the trail of individual mortgages is as tangled as a a trashcan full of coat hangers, and even harder to unravel. "Loans have been totally separated from individuals and institutions," he said. "Loans are chopped into different pieces, sold and re-sold and re-sold again, maybe 10 or 15 times. Meanwhile the original paperwork is in a warehouse somewhere and no one knows where it is.

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Continue reading here...

 

The above comes from  St.. Louis and is a microcosm of the larger issue---credence perhaps to a complete meltdown considering the seriousness of the MERS situation. With 60% of all mortgages held (assigned) to this mysterious company, literally trillion of dollars are 'in the game' subjecting the entire financial system to a house-of-cards scenario.

Without question, this madness must stop.  For the simple reason that the crime was so complicated and convoluted, justice cannot be served?  Laws are designed to deal with transgression, not retreat from responsibility.

It should follow, then, that a serious breach of culturally institutionalized law would be met with a counter action which was swift and severe. Private property laws in this country are held sacrosanct.  They are, right or wrong, fundamental to the fabric of our country and must be regarded as a major underpinning.

Now, please consider the notion that any private firm with no direct fiduciary ties to the Treasury Department which behaved in a similar manner would have suffered the full consequences of our laws and likely be out of business, its assets fairly distributed to all affected citizens, and those involved in its creation and perpetuation serving a prison sentence. 

After all, Mr. Madoff went to prison.  If it's good enough for Bernie, it's good enough for the complicit financial decision makers.

Remember the Savings and Loan debacle?  Thousands went to prison.  And for arguably lesser crimes.

Yet, we hesitate.......  

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To Be or Huckabee

It all sort of melds into one stink-pot after awhile.  Mike Huckabee, ersatz governor and now political hack for Fauz Newz has really gone beyond the bounds of credulity.  And it isn't even subtle. 

To be sure, full of confidence and completely racist is this utterance from Mr. Huckabee's recent insights on a syndicated radio program.....'the mau mau uprising' and President Obama's being 'brought up in Kenya,' with a grandfather and father--neither of whom he knew--will, by default, result in Obama's views of the British involvement in Kenya (sparking the Mau Mau uprising), as imperialism. 

Even if Mr. Obama holds this not altogether unusual political view, why is it important for Huckabee to reference a black tribe in Africa?----In Huckabee's mind,  something good Americans want nothing to do with.  It was the way he said it. Venom voice.  Disgusting insincerity as the lies fell from his mouth.

Just imagine, in Huckabee's world--- black tribesman, faces painted multi colors, dancing around a large fire, all the while brandishing their spears and homemade guns, ginning up for the attack. Mothers---lock up your daughters---the Mau Mau are coming!  And this must be Obama's cousin. (credit-military photo.com)

Frankly, this kind of disgusting, in-your-face racial promenading cannot be tolerated.  Mr. Huckabee needs to go away.  Far away.  Somewhere to learn the salient lessons of his professed 'Christianity;' perhaps discover a set of values which would temper his odious judgemental narrative.

A trip to Nairobi might enlighten him.

USDA Approved Monsanto Alfalfa Despite Warnings of New Pathogen Discovered in Genetically Engineered Crops

Rarely does this publication reproduce articles found elsewhere, but an exception is being make for this informative and critically important piece penned by Mike Ludwig of the well written Truthout.

It is apparent to our researchers and associates that Monsanto has completely positioned itself politically to implement their nefarious genetically engineered alfalfa, in addition to a number of other highly questionable practices annotated below regarding soy and cotton. 

Yes, this means Monsanto is paying your legislators a lot of money to get their poisonous products into the ground to the end of controlling the crops/food products in the USA.  In turn, your lawmakers continue to obfuscate and simply keep the facts away from the general public.

Amidst the cloak-and-dagger world of United States lawmaking lurks the horror of pure greed--clearly a powerful enough force to destroy now, leaving no time for questions afterward. 

Take some time and do some of your own reading about this Monsanto company---- you will recall them as the maker of Round-Up---in the name of acting in the best interests of the citizenry of our nation, they instead promote, and apparently relish, the great possibility of mass soil contamination, something they know will increase their burgeoning business and profitability.  And if some people are killed in the process, and our soil is rendered unsustainable---oh well, that's agricultural progress in our corner of the world. (and any other corner which presents as vulnerable)

Mr. Ludwig's article:

Friday 25 February 2011

by: Mike Ludwig, t r u t h o u t | Report

Just two weeks before the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) fully deregulated Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa, a senior soil scientist alerted the department about a newly discovered, microscopic pathogen found in high concentrations of Roundup Ready corn and soy that researchers believe could be causing infertility in livestock and diseases in crops that could threaten the entire domestic food supply.

Dr. Don Huber, a plant pathologist and retired Purdue University professor, wrote in a letter to the USDA that the pathogen is new to science and appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals and probably humans.

"For the past 40 years, I have been a scientist in the professional and military agencies that evaluate and prepare for natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks," Huber wrote in his January 16 letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Based on this experience, I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen is unique and of a high risk status. In layman's terms, it should be treated as an emergency."

Also See: Why Monsanto Always Wins

Huber called for an immediate moratorium on approvals of Roundup Ready crops, but on January 27, the USDA fully deregulated Roundup Ready alfalfa after nearly five years of legal battles with farmers and environmental groups. The USDA partially deregulated Roundup Ready sugar beats on February 4.

The pathogen is about the size of a virus and reproduces like a micro-fungal organism. According to Huber, the organism may be the first micro-fungus of its kind ever discovered, and there is evidence that the infectious pathogen causes diseases in both plants and animals, which is very rare.

"The World According to Monsanto: From Agent Orange to Genetically Modified Crops" (DVD) is yours with a donation to Truthout. Click here to make a donation and receive your gift.

The pathogen is prevalent in soy crops suffering from a disease called sudden death syndrome and corn crops suffering from Goss' wilt disease.

Laboratory tests show that the pathogen is present in a "wide variety" of livestock suffering from infertility and spontaneous abortions. Huber warned that the pathogen could be responsible for reports of increased infertility rates in dairy cows and rates of spontaneous abortions in cattle as high as 45 percent.

Huber is concerned that the pathogen could be spreading because of overreliance on Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops systems, which have come to dominate American agribusiness during the past decade.

Monsanto's Roundup Ready corn, soy, cotton and alfalfa are genetically engineered to be resistant to glyphosate-base herbicides like Monsanto's Roundup. Farmers can blanket fields of Roundup Ready crops with glyphosate knowing that unwanted weeds will be killed and the genetically engineered crops will not.

"We are informing the USDA of our findings at this early stage, specifically due to your pending decision regarding approval of alfalfa," Huber wrote. "Naturally, if either the Roundup Ready gene or Roundup itself is a promoter or co-factor of this pathogen, then such approval could be a calamity."

Critics like Huber have long criticized glyphosate products like Roundup for weakening crops' natural defense systems and promoting the spread of glyphosate-resistant "superweeds" that have developed their own tolerance to glyphosate and infested millions of acres of farmland in the US alone.

"We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders," Huber wrote. "This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure."

Huber is a longstanding critic of biotech crops and coordinates a committee of the American Phytopathological Society as part of the USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System.

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

The Joke's on you, Lieberman

Unfortunately, it is not a joke.  He has not pointed out some funny event, nor effected some bi- partisan agreement of significance.  No, it is merely one of those ubiquitous 'finger point' of recognition, allowing others to attribute an acceptable level of political righteousness.  One can experience similar behavior in the entertainment industry.  But the message is---anyone who points like this is surely truthful and confident in his actions.  The consummate politician. A man to be trusted. 

But no confusion here.  Nothing this man does could be honored under the banner of humor.

He is a pure player and a dancer in the political theater of the absurd, ought to be considered dangerous, and banished from all forms of political theater.

Considered a democratic reformer for at least some period during his career, Senator Joe Lieberman is the same man who endorsed John McCain's position on the War on Terrorism.  And his participation in other examples of revelatory 'changing of ones political position' continues to haunt the turns and narrowness of the legislative road. Flip-flopping was invented for Joe Lieberman.  

There is a particularly odious whining quality to his voice, giving the impression it is a struggle for him to grant his precious time to important issues.  One would not wish to bother the Senator.

And from Matt Stoller published in in 2006 from MyDemocracy we have this observation about what these important issues might entail:

'A cornerstone of the modern campaign finance system is disclosure.  Everyone agrees on disclosure, from conservative Republicans to liberal Democrats.  Old industrial political machines used to simply pay cash for votes, and this kind of corruption weakened democracy and allowed evil government activities to flourish.  Joe knows this, he was the Attorney General of Connecticut.  So the low simmering scandal - Joe Lieberman's failure to disclose $387,000 funneled through the petty cash account in campaign spending during the primary - is odd.  That's almost a tenth of what he spent in the primary, and he's been hanging his hat onto the fact that the petty cash journal can be kept private.

Until today, it looked like he was going to keep the matter seedy but quiet.  Thanks to some good reporting, though, it looks like Lieberman's $387,000 slush fund is both illegal and that he's been lying about where the money went.  Mary E. O'Leary in the New Haven Register has the story.  What happened on the Lieberman campaign is both illegal and weirdly incompetent.'

Thanks to these fine journalists for pursuing a not-so-popular story.

Now, our good Senator is introducing legislation which, like a significant portion of other legislation---says one thing while seemingly promoting the opposite----will effectively allow the Executive branch a 'kill switch' for US access to the Internet in times of national disaster. Senate Bill 3480.

The definition of 'national disaster' most certainly contains elements of subjectivity.  Plenty of comparisons abound.  Just the fact that Senator Lieberman is the Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee would be impetus enough to qualify for such subjectivity.  And possibly a subjective rendering of removing power from one whose motives are in question.

Certainly, any discussion about 'national disaster'  has not resounded with objectivity.  Was 911 a national disaster?  How about Hurricane Katrina?  Gulf Oil Spill and subsequent destruction of eco-systems in the region, including increasing human disease and death?  Shut down the Internet in all these instances?  Or, just if we are attacked?  And, attacked with weapons or a financial attack through computer re-configurations and the like?  When do we shut it down?  Why shut it down at all?

In the bill's defense, Lieberman, Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., and Senator Tom Carper, D-Del., issued the following statement Tuesday about the Internet shut down in Egypt and pending cyber-security legislation that would protect the U.S. from cyber attacks.  And simply by passing S. 3480 will allow, nay, create a perfect path assuring our citizens cyber-security.  Or so we are led to believe. 

Here is their clarifying statement:

“Our bill already contains protections to prevent the President from denying Americans access to the Internet - even as it provides ample authority to ensure that those most critical services that rely on the Internet are protected.  And, even though experts question whether anyone can technically ‘shut down’ the Internet in the United States, we will ensure that any legislation that moves in this Congress contains explicit language prohibiting the President from doing what President Mubarak did."

Yet, the language of the proposed bill will do just that.  As Keith Olbermann used to say, "that man is an idiot!" 

Stay tuned.  Lieberman's precious Patriot Act will soon undergo the provincial touch of a permanent etching into our legal landscape.  No doubt our dear Senator will have a hand in assuring this back-step from Democratic principles. Apparently, he has much work to complete before being soon tossed on the heap of irrelevance.

In the spirit of adding some more compelling concerns regarding Senate Bill 3480---a few more voices:

Paul Joseph Watson of PrisonPlanet expresses a clear message with his comment,  “The legislation says that companies such as broadband providers, search engines or software firms that the US Government selects “shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed” by the Department of Homeland Security.

"Anyone failing to comply would be fined,” reports ZDNet’s Declan McCullagh.

The 197-page bill (PDF) is entitled Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, or PCNAA.

Technology lobbying group TechAmerica warned that the legislation created “the potential for absolute power,” while the Center for Democracy and Technology worried that the bill’s emergency powers “include authority to shut down or limit internet traffic on private systems.”

One concerning area of our legislative process is that the laws (unless repealed) continue on through various administrations.  One wonders what GW Bush might have done with an Internet kill switch. 

Probably shut down everything except the maps of his Crawford Ranch, now for sale along with his book, Decision Points, which further indemnifies Switzerland's decision to arrest the former president should he set foot on their soil.

Lieberman's inevitable book may raise a few eyebrows, as well.

 

 

 

 

Ben and Alan Making Plans

 

"Look, just tell the Commission that you inherited the missing  two trillion, and I'll pass it off on Volcker with my dazzling similes and parenthetical promises---nothing to worry about, Ben, by the time Ron Paul gets any traction with that bullshit full audit notion, all of us will be dead.  Ben....Ben, can you hear me?"

 

This picture (later verified source Stefan Zaklin/European Pressphoto Agency) was taken recently in Washington D.C. as the two men spoke outside a bipartisan Congressional Committee meeting.

The email arrived in our office unsolicited through a proxy server.  Naturally, the conversation must stand as purely speculative, as no recording was included, and no claim of direct knowledge.  

But the panel they were waiting to be questioned by, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, accuses several financial institutions of greed, ineptitude or both, some of its gravest conclusions concern government failings, with serious implications for both parties. But--- imagine this--- the panel was itself divided along partisan lines, which could blunt the impact of its findings.

Probably a good bet that Ben and Alan set them straight on a few issues, allowing for the much needed blunting.

So, the goal has been achieved, mirroring many examples of convoluted political belief systems.  The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's findings have been rendered unclear, therefore, only symbolic action may be taken toward solving the issue, etching yet another example of outlandish hypocrisy in the stones of history.

Now, the takeaway....The exact objective of our country's desire to discover, much less act upon, the very institutions and individuals responsible for its ruination must certainly insist on blunting the impact of its findings.  After all, common sense did not receive a summons from the Committee, and greed still writes the rules.

So it goes...only when we begin dying in great numbers will the outrage begin.  Too late for a nation lulled and modified into an intellectual stupor.

 

Care For Medicare

When one uses 'the Google' and enters a search for Medicare help, almost 13 million responses are returned. Now, that's a lot of help.

And, as a matter of default, the older one gets the more help one needs---especially when trying to decipher paperwork and policies from our US. Government.

But thirteen million? Where does one start?

If you enter Medicare 2011 information, you only get 4 million responses from Google, but the fine  folks at Medicare.org convinced us they will make absolutely sure you understand the complexities involved, and clarify all the new changes coming in 2011.

Now, if one were to undertake a historical analysis of the original Medicare program, a good general overview is needed:

 

1945            Harry Truman sends a message to Congress asking for
                    legislation establishing a national health insurance plan.

                    Two decades of debate ensue, with opponents warning of the
                    dangers of "socialized medicine."

                    By the end of Truman's administration, he had backed off
                    from a plan for universal coverage, but administrators in
                    the Social Security system and others had begun to focus
                    on the idea of a program aimed at insuring Social Security
                    beneficiaries.

July ,1965    Medicare and its companion program Medicaid, (which
                    insures indigent recipients), are signed into law by
                    President Lyndon Johnson as part of his "Great Society."

                    Ex-president Truman is the first to enroll in Medicare.

                    Medicare Part B premium is $3 per month.

1972            Disabled persons under age 65 and those with end-stage
                    renal disease become eligible for coverage.

                    Services expand to include some chiropractic services,
                    speech therapy and physical therapy.

                    Payments to HMOs are authorized.

                    Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program is established
                    for the elderly and disabled poor.  SSI recipients are
                    automatically eligible for Medicaid.

1982             Hospice benefits are added on a temporary basis.

1983            Change from "reasonable cost" to prospective payment
                    system based on diagnosis-related groups for hospital
                    inpatient services begins.
                    Most federal civilian employees become covered.

 1984          Remaining federal employees, including President, members
                     of Congress and federal judiciary become covered.

 1986          Hospice benefits become permanent.

 1988         Major overhaul of Medicare benefits is enacted aimed at
                   providing coverage for catastrophic illness and
                   prescription drugs. Coverage is added for routine mammography.

 1989         Catastrophic coverage and prescription drug coverage are
                  repealed.

                   Coverage is added for pap smears.

  1992         Physician services payments are based on fee schedule.

  1997         Medicare+Choice is enacted under the Balanced Budget Act.
                    Some provisions prove to be so financially restrictive
                    when regulations are unveiled that Congress is forced to
                    revisit the issue in 1999.

   1999        Congress "refines" Medicare+Choice and relaxes some
                    Medicare funding restrictions under the Balanced Budget
                    Refinement Act of 1999.

   2000        Medicare+Choice Final Rule takes effect.

Since 2000, more changes have occurred, most notably the example of the Medicare Drug Plan from the Bush era, which essentially got middle class Americans to pay massive amounts of money to drug companies to provide over-priced drugs to old people. It would behoove all seniors to check into the new medicare part D, as it directly affects prescription drug costs.

Also emerging are horrendous examples of fraud and abuse of the entire Medicare system. Consider the following:

"Each year, billions of American taxpayers’ dollars are wasted on improper payments to individuals, organizations and contractors. These are payments made in the wrong amounts, to the wrong person, or for the wrong reason. In 2009, improper payments totaled $98 billion, with $54 billion stemming from Medicare and Medicaid."

SOURCE: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, March 10, 2010

"The United States spends more than $2 trillion on health care every year. The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association estimates conservatively that at least 3 percent -- or more than $60 billion each year -- is lost to fraud. Although it is not possible to measure precisely the extent of fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, everywhere it looks OIG continues to find fraud against these programs. ... OIG opened 1,750 new health care fraud investigations in FY 2008."

SOURCE: Testimony by Daniel R. Levinson, United States Inspector General, before the Senate Special Committee on Aging on fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, May 6, 2009

"The units of measure for losses due to health care fraud and abuse in this country are hundreds of billions of dollars per year. We just don't know the first digit. It might be as low as one hundred billion. More likely two or three. Possibly four or five. But whatever that first digit is, it has eleven zeroes after it. These are staggering sums of money to waste, and the task of controlling and reducing these losses warrants a great deal of serious attention."

SOURCE: Testimony by Malcolm K. Sparrow, professor of the Practice of Public Management, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, before the Senate Subcommittee on Criminal Prosecution as a Deterrent to Health Care Fraud, May 22, 2009.

All in all, dealing with the vicissitudes of the Medicare system can be frustrating, annoying, and downright confusing.  Best talk to the experts.

The Business of Education

Amidst today's national and world economic turmoil lies a generations old question: What is the best direction for a high school graduate to take? Especially those who have made a definite decision to pursue a higher education?

The choices are varied, but have absolutely changed even within the past several decades. Everyone knows that Information Technology, or IT, has taken its place as one of the top areas of study for graduates wishing to master technical matters and use these talents and skills to obtain gainful employment and become economically and socially successful. A great dream pursued by many an inspired student.

A good portion of the educational institutions which teach IT are specialty schools, whose curriculum is intensely focused on issues germane to technology development and implementation. As a result, a student at an IT school is not likely to find novels by James Joyce among the reading list. Nor will they receive a more broadened educational experience, integrating history, literature, economics, or business philosophy into the program.

But it is absolutely the case that many students wish nothing more than to pursue technology related issues, and ride the wave of the industry of the future.  And as these positions are not likely to disappear, with technical configurations become more complex, the future of this avocation seems assured.

Equally true for a vast number of students is the desire to 'get into the business' of the world through University level studies in history, literature, teaching, and business. Our long time friends at University of Redlands, now on Christmas break, wish us all Happy Holidays and assure us their Redlands Business School is not only poised to continue their recognized tradition of high quality standards, but have some news as well.

With an open house scheduled for January 12^th, 2011, many visitors will be most interested in Redlands new program to take advantage of evening programs leading to the following degrees:

Bachelor of Science in Business

Bachelor of Arts in Management

Master of Arts in Management

Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)

At eight different locations in Southern California, this program will enjoy great popularity because the ability to get a business degree is now a bit easier because of the dedication to the evening curriculum.

Also, special recognition is due University of Redlands business school professor Gerald Groshek, who has again been awarded a Fulbright Grant, his third such award. Dr. Groshek has been working with the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia in conjunction with the Fulbright Commission since 2003.

Whatever direction students take, the best prepared and most successful will be those who understand and appreciate the global realities of today's business world, whether initiating business development or integrating cross-national information platforms.

 

China in Chicago

For those involved in the many aspects of the hotel, restaurant, and hospitality industry, the pinnacle event of the year is certainly the national convention held in Chicago at McCormick Place. The annual restaurant show features more than 2,100 exhibitors showcasing products and services in more than 890 product categories. More than 70,000 people attend from all 50 states and 110 countries.

 A recent communication with Lifetime Brands, the fine folks who bring us Mikasa products, indicated they would certainly be present at the 2011 Chicago show.

Major areas of focus include food, beverage, equipment, dinnerware, barware apparel, tabletop, furnishings, design, technology, and services -- all areas of interest for good event planning. This show is not open to the public, so credentials reflecting food service or hospitality industry is required, or at least requested.

Having said that, it could appear that the Chicago show might be boring. Perhaps nothing of real interest or excitement happens within these hallowed halls.

Maybe for the uninitiated.

At every restaurant and hotel show in the country, including the grand-daddy in Chicago, lurks a certain group of professionals---definitely with proper credentials, referred to as 'headhunters', or recruiters. Most of them wear this moniker with pride, as a certain amount of esoteric information is carried by them all.

For instance, while promenading around the convention floor, and pressing flesh with executives and managers of myriad hospitality-type companies, it might well be that manager the recruiter is talking to is planning on leaving his company—and only the recruiter knows it, or another manager will soon be fired---and the recruiter has been hired to find a replacement. They say knowledge is power.

The mystery surrounding the world of the headhunter is respected and feared by many. A knowing smile or a whisper into the ear of an individual can cause tongues to wag, and people to become worried.

For this reason, many associated organizations make a point of inviting headhunters to 'the hospitality suite.' Some folks who attend restaurant and hotel shows know nothing of this amenity, yet a lot of business gets initiated at these special events. Indeed, some seasoned headhunters make directly for the hospitality suites, ignoring the show itself, and are treated to copious quantities of exquisite wines and food, served on high quality china.

By the end of the day, the bloated recruiters are not only sated with food and beverage, they have managed to accumulate at least twenty to thirty business cards---new candidates to add to the rolodex, and new clients to satisfy with the new candidates.

Conventions and trade shows are great.  Carry on.

MORE WORK-FROM-HOME FRAUD

In the never ending struggle to unmask fraudulent work-from-home schemes---and there are many thousand----one will stand out above others occasionally as a penultimate example of all that is wrong with a job opportunity. 

The operant word being wrong, as in red flags flying, unintelligible communication with the company---and finally, a simple search taking thirty seconds revealing personal experience by others who 'worked' for the company in the past---scam, scam, scam, they report.  But what happens?  You guessed it----Despite the clear warnings, hundreds of folks sign up, eager to make much needed income.

Here is the letter of introduction which will arrive in your email.  And if you are currently searching for work at home opportunities, you will probably read it.  Fine, just read through it several more times before you do something you will regret.

 

 

'Dear ________

I am Stanley Jackson and I hire for Human resources department of  Sullivan & Myers  Co.
Please find more information on our firm and the position.

Sullivan & Myers have more than 10 years of experience in paper printing, as well as in advertising services. We specialize in both small and high budget publishing solutions. After the global fianance crysis, advertising market has suffered drastic changes.We are in need of the a person to represent us in your State.
At this moment we are hiring for Customer service Department.

JOB TITLE   : Junior Packing Specialist progressed to State representative
JOB TYPE   : Part time

As the Junior Packing Specialist, you will generally work with packages and correspondence. You will need to perform all the computer invoices and manage state delivery requests.

Duties

:: contact with clients
:: resolve customer issues
:: manage and control parcel flow
:: perform all the paperwork including monthly reports
:: provide help with starting of your local office

REQUIREMENTS

:: US citizenship or valid US visa
::  excellent skills and experience with (MS Word, Excel and
Outlook| Microsoft Office)
:: perfect communication skills
:: ability to work solely and as part of a team


ADVANTAGES

:: full training provided
:: career opportunity

:: flexible working schedule time commitment is set at 3-4 hours per day


If you would like to apply for the position please submit your  CV and inquires in reply.
We will contact you in 2-3 working days.

 

PS: We are sending you this offer as you have registered as a jobseeker on
a 3rd party website which have provided your contact detailes. Our company will not contact you anymore unless requested.'

 

====
Yours faithfully, HR Dpt.
S&M Company

 

How's this for a professional letter?  How about that sentence '...global financial crysis...'?  And Junior Packing Specialist leading to 'State Representative'?  What the hell is that?

So, if the bells are not going off in your head yet, just do a quick Google search on the company name.....here is what comes up from a former Representative:

 

"I found an ad on Craigslist from them to do packaging and get paid a pretty hefty sum to do so out of my house. After filling out the application and purposely ommitting my SS#, I got an email back saying the paperwork has been process and I am a candidate for the position. How did they do this without my SS#?

I got another email asking if I would like the position, paying $25,000 for 10 hours a week packing boxes and shipping them out, so of course I responded Yes! I got another email back with a contract. Yes a contract. By this time, I had not provided my SS# and they send me a contract (in a previous email they state they do background checks...kida hard without the correct info).

By now Im hesitant more than before. I google their name, nothing comes up; flag 1. I google their address, it's for a different company; flag 2. I call the phone numbers on their website, 2 don't work, the third is a digital mailbox; flag 3. Their website says they are BBB accredited, I check the BBB and nothing comes up under their name, website or phone number; flag 4. I ask the recruiter to call me, says she will after I sign the contract; flag 5. The only place an Atlanta based company advertises is on Miami Craigslist; flag 6.

To me, this company is a front for an identity theft ring. That is my opinion and not a proven fact."

Bingo!  All they want is your identity----likely to sell it to some other nefarious organization---and sooner or later, some awful financial smackdown will happen with someone else using your identity.  It might be anything---credit cards in your name, a mortgage---anything.

Pay attention to details.  Even if you desparately need the work, do not act against your own interests. 

The Sullivan and Meyers scenario should be a no-brainer.  But, they continue on, along with a spate of better organized and orchestrated frauds.  Take the time and make a few calls to find information about any company you are considering working with.  Be diligent.  No one is looking out for you---so be your own best advocate.

INTRODUCTION

As this blog has taken on a life of its own, I have decided to keep this post at the head of the line, with the understanding that quite a few of the entries which follow are undeniably op-ed pieces.  And, I am publishing the first few pages of my Novella (screenplay) Sons of........

I do not apologize for my politics or world-view, and willingly share them with interested parties.

As well, I am recommending a website for people who need free, professional advice if they are disabled, an injured worker fighting with Social Security Disability, or a family member trying to help with these matters.

I spent six years as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, plus I was a 'QIW'--Qualified Injured worker in California---as a matter of fact, I obtained the counseling job through the process of vocational rehab.  When my counselor asked what I would like to pursue, I told him I wanted his job---and so it happened.  While helping hundreds of folks, the insurance companies did not appreciate my concern for the individual, because I took my time, and was generally successful re-introducing injured workers to the work force.

Thus, my recommendation is for the Disability Digest, which has helped over 80,000 people deal with the problems when interacting with insurance companies, physicians, attorneys and others.  Remember, no cost to you, and real-life people to help, many who have personally gone through the process.  Lots of great information here, and a community of other disabled or injured folks to talk with.  Click here to sign up.

McConnell's Congressional Picture

Senator Mitch McConnell's face was recently described as 'a cabbage patch doll, gone terribly wrong!'

 

 Pretty hard to disagree with that assessment.

 

One wonders how particular people manage to end up long term politicians. Do the good folks in Kentucky ever consider changing the guard, if you will? This guy looks like he needs to come out of the game. Pronto.

 

And all to make way for some more stunning Republican entries into various political contests. In all of the past fifty years of political chumming, the total sum of obvious lunatic candidates is completely outweighed by this one year's mid-term representatives. Never before has been assembled such a group of ill-informed, bigoted, idiotic miscreants than was before us in the mid-term elections.

 

It pains one to even mention the names, and truly, as most of them engage with recorded media, they continue to be their own worst enemy uttering one inanity after another. Surely, the screeching sound of Ms. Angle's 'man up, man up, man up Harry Reid!' will forever be etched into the all time 'bad sounds' hall of fame.

And O'Donnell's continued public display of ignorance and all around bad form.  She can barely address the issues, and if required to develop a reasonable policy arguement, tends to resort to loudly uttering pablum.

"Is the separation of church and state really in the Constitution?'  And, 'sure I could date a Democrat---if he didn't mind being wrong a lot of the time.' 

How's that for fair and balanced? Stay tuned. More entertainment is certainly on the way..

That's the signpost up ahead— your next stop, the Twilight Zone.

MAN UP, HARRY REID!

MAN UP, HARRY REID!

 

Watch out, Harry Reid, your man is up! And at your age, you should probably flaunt this phenomena.

 

With some form of obtuse alacrity, Sharron Angle continues to harangue the hapless Mr. Reid, as he attempts to 'debate' the Republican opponent, his long term Nevada Senate seat hanging precariously in the balance. 'Man up, man up, man up!' Ms. Angle screeches.

 

It is important to note, there is nothing of substance attached to her dubious demand----if Harry were to man up anymore, there would be a Senate investigation.

 

All in all, one could righteously be gobsmacked by the quality, nature, and behavior of this year's crop of budding, hopeful politicos. Mostly Republican. Mostly way right of center. Mostly idiots.

 

Just imagine for a moment a world in which chaos was the norm, and reason or rationality might be an after thought. And forget about common sense. This would be the world according to Orwell and Voltaire.

 

This is the world of Christine O'Donnell, Chris Christie, Joe Miller, our dear Ms. Angle, Art Robinson (who?), and a host of others who would rather believe the moon is made of green cheese, and God scoots around the sky continually blessing those who stupidly proclaim spoon-fed fear designed and delivered by organizations of putrid morals;  those who mindlessly knee-jerk and aim the kick toward all Muslims.

 

It's easy---just give it a go. Once you figure out who to hate, all is well again.

 

And it continues to amaze.

 

Take the case of poor Juan Williams. National Public Radio severed their working relationship with this Fox News conspirator primarily because he publicly announced his overriding fear when observing any Muslim, especially those dressed appropriately as Muslims.  In their 'garb' and especially on airplanes. Snakes on a plane, Muslims on a plane. Mind boggling stuff, it appears.

 

Stupid, fearful thought. At one billion strong, the Muslims of Islam ought to be in a fairly advantageous position to slit all the infidels throats on one particular night. Say Christmas 2011---all infidels die while waiting for Santa Claus----women, children, it doesn't matter. Once everyone is dead, Sharia Law would be implemented, and Newt Gingrich elected President. Simple as that.

 

Now, that's change you can believe in.

 

 

Fannie's Fanny Exposed

Rarely is there salient action which encourages a citizen that our members of Congress have the best interests of the majority in mind.  However, there are exceptions.  Most notably, a recent letter to Fannie Mae, the quasi-government mortgage behemoth, from Representatives Alan Grayson, Barney Frank, and Corrine Brown provides us with such a moment.

There has been little recent reporting via mainstream media about this matter---much as said media outlets routinely abandon vital issues in favor of reporting on, say, whether Lindsay Lohan will be forced into a drug rehab problem, the critically important issue of home foreclosures continues to haunt and tear apart US families, as well as represent the quintessential economic underpinning needing resolution before any claim of 'the recession is over' can be valid.

Kudos to these Congress members who show courage in the face of systemic obfuscation.  Encourage others to re-publish their inquiry.

Here is the letter sent to Fannie Mae: 

September 24, 2010

Michael J. Williams
President and Chief Executive Officer
Fannie Mae
3900 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20016

'Dear Mr. Williams,

We are disturbed by the increasing reports of predatory ‘foreclosure mills’ in Florida working for Fannie Mae servicers.  Foreclosure mills are law firms representing lenders that specialize in speeding up the foreclosure process, often without regard to process, substance, or legal propriety.  According to the New York Times, four of these mills are both among the busiest of the firms and are under investigation by the Attorney General of Florida for fraud.  The firms have been accused of fabricating or backdating documents, as well as lying to conceal the true owner of a note.

Several of the busiest of these mills show up as members of Fannie Mae’s Retained Attorney Network, a set of legal contractors on whom Fannie relies to represent its interests as a note-holder.  The network also serves as a pool of legal talent that represents Fannie in its pre-filing mediation program, a program designed to facilitate communication between borrowers and servicers prior to foreclosure. In other words, Fannie Mae seems to specifically delegate its foreclosure avoidance obligations out to lawyers who specialize in kicking people out of their homes.

The legal pressure to foreclose at all costs is leading to a situation where servicers are foreclosing on properties on which they do not even own the note.  This practice is blessed by a legal system overwhelmed with foreclosure cases and unable to sort out murky legal details, and a set of law firms who mass produce filings to move foreclosures as quickly as possible.  At the very least, we would encourage you to remove foreclosure mills under investigation for document fraud from the Fannie Mae’s Retained Attorney Network. We also believe that Fannie should have guidelines allowing servicers to proceed on a foreclosure only when its legal entitlement to foreclose is clearly documented.  In addition, these charges raise a number of questions for us about the foreclosure process as it pertains to Fannie Mae’s holdings.

Why is Fannie Mae using lawyers that are accused of regularly engaging in fraud to kick people out of their homes?  Given that Fannie Mae is at this point a government entity, and it is the policy of the government that foreclosures are a costly situation best avoided if there are any lower cost alternatives, what steps is Fannie Mae taking to avoid the use of foreclosure mills?  What additional steps is Fannie Mae going to take to ensure that foreclosures are done only when necessary and only in accordance with recognized law?  How do your servicer guidelines take into account the incentives for fraud in the fee structure of foreclosure attorneys and others engage in the foreclosure process?  What mechanisms do you employ to monitor legal outsourcing?

We look forward to your responses and to understanding more about these disturbing dynamics in future hearings.'

Sincerely,

Alan Grayson
Member of Congress

Barney Frank
Member of Congress

Corrine Brown
Member of Congress

BURN THE KORAN? AN ACT FROM THE DEVIL

SURELY-YOU-JEST, PART 1

To set matters straight, these weekly examinations will contain no hyperlinks, but accurate representations of well researched issues.  That being the case, one can always engage one's mind in personal research to further and deepen knowledge.  That would be a major victory, and addressing one dimension of these monologues.

Surely-You-Jest is a domain, but no use going there as it is 'parked' with Go-Daddy.....a blog is much easier to use, or now, a printed blog to communicate.  Several other blogs contain this writer's thoughts, as well.

To begin with this horrible Koran-burning issue, how can any rational, reasonable person in the world announce they were going to commit an act of violence, then go ahead, in the name of God, to act out their irrationality and madness, encourage others to do the same--- to desecrate a different religion, both of which aspire to peaceful co-existence?  This, knowing that violence in response will be the reaction. 

Knowing for certain.

This preacher, this man of God---representing The Dove World Outreach Center---is calling for an Inter- national Koran burning day to somehow commemorate the actions of a horrific conspiracy occurring on September 11, 2001?  One would believe a 'dove outreach' might not be so violent and reprehensible, but more loving---a more accepting gesture.  A dove, not a hawk missile.

In what kind of mad world do we live? This needs to stop and stop now.  Those old enough to remember what happened in Europe a few decades ago will remember the associated horrors.  Cannot we learn our lessons? 

Are we trapped into perpetual war and vitriolic hatred---all in the name of that which makes one's 'spiritual' component positively blush with the excitement of living in perfect peace? 

Much like it is imagined in Heaven, at least for those worthy of admittance.  Love and peaceful abundance.  Yet, many are willing to march, carrying the spear and spewing fire.  In all seriousness, to what end?  Will your God be proud of you?

Stop.  In the name of all of your Gods--stop.  

To underwrite his religious vision, Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, simply justifies with "...to me, it looks like a religion of the Devil."  Therefore, all good, God fearing Americans should burn a Koran between 6 PM and 9 PM on September 11.  That ought to do it.  That will show those filthy Muslims a thing or two. 

Surely, this must qualify as a hate crime. 

Simply the utterance, and the apparent determination to carry out this heinous action, ought to qualify 'Pastor' Jones for detention and a full mental health examination.  In some places, if a person is a danger to themselves, or a danger to others, they can be arrested and held in a locked psychiatric hospital for 72 hours, their release subject to a mental health professional's evaluation. 

If necessary, a person who persists with, say, delusions of religiosity and grandeur and is likely to commit dangerous acts, can be institutionalized for six months, then face a tough exam for societal re-entry. 

Sounds like a perfect plan for Mr. Jones.  Perhaps a prayer or two will do it........

Advocate

Message From The Gulf----Come On In, The Water's fine!

Well, never let it be said that technology is seamless. After having written an article on OpenOffice, I attempted to simply copy and paste it here, on my blog of lo, these many years. Can't be done---not without MS Word, which is an expense not worth bearing. And OpenOffice does not seem to provide a way to move the article without engaging in a long process of editing----including the hyperlinks and pictures. So without further ado: My post on friend and colleague, Tom Schueneman's excellent and prolific site, Global Warming Is Real. 

Come on in, the water's fine!

NET NEUTRALITY

For the past decade, many Google aficionados have witnessed the phenomenal growth of this now giant corporation; astounded by the process.

For many today, there simply is no other search engine, and Google's annual revenues reflect this phenomena

Those who have held on to their IPO positions will now be able to weather any serious financial disaster for much longer than most. Who says you can't make money with the stock market?

At this juncture, and after only a decade of business development, the amazing Google finds itself teetering on the precipice of mega-capitalism, or the strategic alliance with other private communications companies, the target being the diversification---indeed the altering of the Internet to effect consumers financially, which necessarily restricts access.

Net neutrality. That term is bandied about by politicians, including Senator Al Franken who has said that this issue is the 'foremost free speech issue of our time.'

What does this mean to the average consumer? Generally, the consuming public has become accustomed to mergers and acquisition, and having no influence on the activity in any case, everyone simply adapts. At whatever cost.

Today, in certain communication niches, we pay to send text information back and forth to others, costing the excessive user a hefty monthly fee.

But just imagine if 'the telephone company' had not been broken up and divested through Federal government intervention. All the telephonic innovations would have been birthed by one entity.

Wonder what that marketplace might look like?

Perhaps vastly under-developed from current marketplaces, though some might argue the virtue of this, quicker progress toward more effective technologies would have dramatically slowed down.

Indeed, the public would likely not be able to buy a recent 'app' for the I-Phone which actually pops popcorn. Really.

But this is intended to be a piece presenting a favorable argument for free markets and product development, and the betterment of our society through more effective technology. So, it would seem.

Is it relevant, then, to consider the potential business alliance between Google and Verizon a dramatic example of the 'net neutrality' issue so vociferously argued by Senator Franken and countless other recognizable public figures?

And are we witnessing the evolution of an ostensibly 'always free' mode of communication, free in the sense that after traditional ISP expenses, most information (save classified) would remain available for public scrutiny at no further cost, only to become a mirror image of the television industry----tiers of available information---the more you want, the more you pay?

Well, is it an issue which can be legislated? Could the Supreme Court ultimately be required to render the matter into settled law?

But wait, we already have a government agency that is charged with such matters: The FCC.

Among their roughly twenty bureaus and offices, surely we can count on them to hold public meetings, and arrive at a just decision, keeping the best interests of the general public in mind. This keeps with the fundamental notion that the Internet was developed at taxpayer expense for the benefit of all citizens, which keeps Net Neutrality advocates in step with Franken's words:

“But telecommunications companies want to be able to set up a special high-speed lane just for the corporations that can pay for it. You won't know why the Internet retail behemoth loads faster than the mom-and-pop shop, but after a while you may get frustrated and do all of your shopping at the faster site. Maybe the gatekeepers will discriminate based on who pays them more. Maybe they will discriminate based on whose political point of view conforms to their bottom line.”

Indeed, a serious issue which needs considering and discussion by all.

And, who knows? Perhaps the FCC might even come out of this, looking like the exemplary, democratic watchdog they are charged with under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

And in the House, Senator Markey has introduced legislation to amend the Communications act of 1934.

Specifically, it would become the ISP's "duty to not block, interfere with, discriminate against, impair or degrade the ability of any person to use an Internet access service to access, use, send, post, receive or offer any lawful content, application or service through the Internet."

However, since the substance of of this will likely be that the deal comes amidst closed-door meetings between the Federal Communications Commission and major telecom giants on crafting new regulations, the table will be set for obfuscation and mis-direction.

Once again, like so many other huge impact issues, this has the appearance a lot of wiggle room for lobbyist efforts to 'convince' legislators this bill would not be 'good for growth' and 'by the way, we transferred $50,000 to facilitate your campaign and everlasting loyalty.'

But, at last hope, there is always the axiom of 'first time for everything.'

H.R. 4173

Well, the mortgage modification situation is apparently getting worse, if the increased number of desperate emails and letters which continue to pour in are any measure----and we truly have no answers for them.  As long as the lenders are compelled to drag out the process, and clog the courts with individual and class action lawsuits, the entire process is slowed---just what the lenders want.  But why?  Common sense would dictate that a 'clearing of the books' and developing a framework of keeping neighborhoods together, and ensuring the best possible economic results for all involved might be a process to embrace.

The scary part is that we can project the current lender response as unsustainable, and will be only a matter of time before the approach will have to be re-evaluated----likely developing into a huge problem for the average person caught in the mortgage backed swindle of the last decade.  Eventual eviction.

Quite frankly, this is not a fair fight, and any homeowner who has a legitimate mortgage issue which should be solved by modification is going to be fortunate, indeed, to obtain any measure of success.  Certainly not without legal representation.  One can hope that the judges get to a point that their encouragement toward a fair settlement with the homeowner becomes serious enough that those firms representing lenders would begin to measure the long term ramification of their continued efforts to ask for dismissal, then attempt to elude paying attorney fees, and other contrarian behavior, such as chain of title issues, and the creation of the entity MERS, a firm assembled by financial and insurance companies whose main charge is to expedite the paperwork associated with repeated sales of real estate contracts, many times not paying county recording fees, operating in an arena without much legal precedent.

So, how should the judges handle the glut of cases headed directly at them in waves?

A few re-conveyances of title might do the trick.  And continued public information prominently displayed and widely distributed.  Having a negative image in the public's eye must be avoided, as is evidenced by the overwhelming and shameless commercial advertising by financial firms, determined to convince you that all is well----come on in, the water's fine.   And, hey, we might even give you a 1.3% savings account. 

The following email, describes one example  of loan predicaments rampant today.  It was written in response to an article about House Resolution 4173, the  Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The Act states as its purpose:  To provide for financial regulatory reform, to protect consumers and investors, to enhance Federal understanding of insurance issues, to regulate the over-the-counter derivatives markets, and for other purposes.

The email:

'We are a couple who are embroiled in a mortgage scheme initiated by Countrywide (various TILA violations) then carried on by BofA, who were temporarily thwarted from foreclosure (through the assignee MERS) by the actions of a non-profit legal firm.   We were very fortunate to receive this help, and wish everyone to know that we are law abiding citizens, who pay their bills, and are socially and environmentally considerate people, who wish only to remain in their home, with a binding loan reflecting 31% of gross income as the mortgage payment amount. 

 

Prior to the loan fiasco with Countrywide, we never missed or were late with any mortgage payment for the three previous years.
 

 

Yet, what is to happen to us?  We are in the Trial Modification program, and will be making the 7th payment of this established 3 month soon.  As you know, the language from Treasury regarding the Making Homes Affordable act, and utilizing HAMP indicates--- after a successful three month time period, a permanent modification will be offered.  Well, the figures simply do not bear out this edict. 

More homeowners who are in extended phases of the Trial program (such as myself) and who have made every payment are being denied a HAMP permanent modification, the main reason being the failure of the elusive and questionable NPV test to assess the choice to either foreclose or modify.  A much better assessment tool can be found here:   http://http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2010/05/how-why-to-use-the-rest-report-when-applying-for-a-loan-modification/ 

 

As a permanently disabled couple, the stress associated with this nightmare is serious and cumulative.  I have a disabling neurological condition, and have been experiencing psycogenic seizures as a result of stress, and my partner's PTSD is being challenged by the same stress.  Each day goes by, and we do not know for sure what is going to happen to us.  Our main source of income is disability payments.  Would anyone out there like to exchange their condition with mine?  Or my partner's?  Think about your home being auctioned off from the steps of the courthouse.  Ours was scheduled (the first time) for last December 23, 2009.  Merry Christmas! Now get out of your house! 

And it goes on today, as they delay and delay-----who the hell is in charge of this situation?  We cannot live this way much longer.

 

 Any help or sources are appreciated----simply put, would the legislation have any bearing on our situation?

 

Thanks for your time,

 

(name withheld by request)

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

The Check Is In The Mail

As the nation watched, the US Congress moved all too slowly to extend the unemployment benefits until November and grant retroactive monies due, a godsend to some two and a half million Americans who had reached one stage, or 'tier' of their benefits, and were dependent on Congress to move to disburse further funds.

Of course, in counter-point,  there are a minimum of one million folks who have completely exhausted their unemployment insurance funds, and will not benefit in any way by this recent Congressional action.  These people quite simply have little or no recourse.

Known as the 99er's, please find information here

Yet, the Republicans obfuscate the issue. Particularly the Senate Republicans. They demanded an extra thirty hours, allowable by law, to discuss 'procedural issues' instead of simply moving with an up or down vote. Yes, it is only thirty hours. Another yawning, boring thirty hours for these 'representatives' who choose to hold hostage many families---working families with children to feed---another thirty hours.

This is a disturbing fact. Until the electronic fund transfer process occurs within the ACH banking system, no money is moved.  And in this instance, most recipients will still have to wait ten days for 'normal' processing.

For a family who have been waiting for these insurance funds, and rely on them for daily sustenance, they now must wait the additional thirty hours to actually have the funds in their hands. For some, this will mean going without food or medicine for more than a full extra day. One wonders if these Republican leaders might be willing to take the place of one of their constituents who fits into this nightmare scenario?

Or is it like Dick Cheney used to reply, 'So What?'

Perhaps Senator Kyl is correct---it is a dis-incentive to continue to pay these lazy bums---after all, what average American can't live comfortably with a one-third pay cut?

Or maybe Senator Hatch had it right---most of the families waiting for their checks are only going to buy drugs in any case. Yes, that's the ticket---forget the rent or food or medicine. Just wipe out the whole check on 'drugs.' To paraphrase Keith Olbermann, 'That man is an idiot!'

And so is any governmental institution which treats its citizens with no respect or concern.