(The Hill) Shane D'Aprile reports ~ Obama, Biden to make their first 2010 joint campaign appearance Both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will headline a joint campaign appearance and fundraiser for Democratic nominee Chris Coons next week. It's the first joint campaign appearance the two have made for a Democratic candidate so far this election cycle.
The two will host an event next week in Wilmington where tickets will start at $100, according to the Delaware News Journal.
Here are two important things we know about H.R. 3808, a bill designed to save banks and mortgage brokers from the fraud they committed on some mortgages, or to comply with standard requirements to prove their right to foreclose is valid:
From govtrack.27, 2010: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by voice vote. A record of each representative’s position was
kept.Sep 27, 2010: This bill passed in the Senate by Unanimous Consent. A record of each senator’s position was not kept.
But Kos says ~ The White House is making noise about vetoing it, so sanity may prevail. But aside from that, note that at a time when nothing of worth can pass Congress, that Sens. Patrick Leahy and Jeff Session conspired to get this turd through Congress without the simplest oversight or debate. Legislation that helps people is bottled up for eternity, while legislation that helps banks more easily screw people flies through unimpeded at lightning speed
~~~~~
politico - President #Obama won't sign the foreclosures bill, #Gibbs says: http://politi.co/aqkfPx #whbrief
wonkroom - That's the bill that would have made it easier for lenders to foreclose on homeowners: http://bit.ly/csf0FI
ddayen - @Johngcole: My unsatisfying answer to the question "Does HR3808 Stop Foreclosure Fraud in its Tracks?" http://fdl.me/bLQk0w I'm skeptical
Plus, David Dayen offers this: The Simple Solution for the Foreclosure Mess: Modify the Loans http://fdl.me/agAuJZ
And Felix Salmon has the Update of Record on the mortgage servicers scandal ~ Where is the foreclosure mess leading?
The big-picture consequences here are by their nature unpredictable, as no one has a clue how this might all play out. But I can think of a few themes:
Today's reactors, most of which were built in the 1960s and 1970s, were initially licensed for 40 years. Half of them have won NRC approval to operate for another 20 years, and the rest are expected to do the same.
We're very excited to announce that in addition to welcoming President Obama to Philadelphia this Sunday, October 10th, the rally will feature a performance by Philadelphia's own The Roots.What: Moving America Forward Rally with President Barack Obama and Musical guests The Roots and DJ Diamond Kuts
Where: Park next to Robert Fulton Elementary School
60 E. Haines St.Public entrance: High St. and Germantown Ave.
ADA entrance: E. Haines St. and Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19144
When: Sunday, October 10th
Doors open: 3:00 p.m.
Program begins: 4:00 p.m.
"I am always amazed at the "shoe is on the other foot" syndrome that springs to life when one side loses it's power and the other takes over.
Rich Collins and his Positive Growth Alliance were comfy cozy with the Republicans because of the landowner connections and the good Old boy network of developers that prevailed in the legislature when they were in power. The desk drawer veto was readily used to stop any legislation that might benefit the average, everyday citizen trying to survive in difficult times.
As Kermit the frog once said, "It ain't easy being Green" and that was so true in
Delaware. Regardless of what Mr. Collins might say, he and his group are pro-development, regardless of the cost to the environment and to people already living in areas they(or friends or members) wish to develop. They readily supported Mark Baker , of Baker Petroleum because they did not want an active supporter of protecting the environment, like Joan Deaver to get on the Sussex County Council. It might prove a hindrance to them getting their way.They are not just active on a local level but their main concern right now is the control of the State legislature so they can get back to the way it was before when the Republicans controlled everything. Like I said, the "landed gentry" of Delaware, the Terry Strines, the Gerald Hockers, the land owners, the developers, the business owners who want no restrictions, wide-open development, no control and ultimately no responsibility for the ongoing over-development of the beautiful eastern side of Sussex County, want to regain control.
They have seen the citizenry rise up. They see it in the local council and want very much to get control back. Mr. Collins and his group may think the citizens of this county are a bunch of sheep being led by the pied piper, but I have seen how the average citizen feels and I am most certainly one of them. All we have to do is , remember what you have said in the past and what you are saying in your so-called "Expose' " and then ask ourselves, What's in it for them to involve themselves in the politics of our county and of our state? What's in for them to work against an entire political party?If Mr, Collins has one Expose' on a Republican, I might have to reconsider, but I am willing to bet that every member of his target group is a Democrat, so I hope every voter who listens to this so-called expose', will simply look around and ask what is in it for them(The Positive Growth Alliance." ) and think about that before you decide to believe the slant Rich Collins will use."
Dixie Boucher
Can a Dem win by (gasp!) trying to persuade voters that Dems are right? The read of the morning is E.J. Dionne's piece on Dem Rep. Tom Perriello of Virginia, who seems to have gotten it into his head that Dems can win, even in tough districts, by forcefully arguing that the stimulus, health reform and cap and trade were the right things to do.Meanwhile, (The Hill) Russell Berman reports ~ Dems receive honors after bucking party on key agenda points - More than two dozen House Democrats are getting campaign cover from a small-business group praising them for opposing key parts of their party’s agenda.
* The Terrible Two will campaign together in Delaware: Sarah Palin is set to campaign with Christine O'Donnell.
* And she's a rock star -- but only among Tea Partyers: A new CBS poll finds Palin is viewed favorably by barely more than one in five Americans (22 percent), and by less than half of Republicans (44 percent). By contrast, she's seen favorably by 61 percent of Tea Party supporters.ABC’s Michael Falcone reports:
Sarah Palin, who gave Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell a boost in the GOP primary with a last-minute endorsement, indicated on Wednesday that she is planning to campaign for O’Donnell before Election Day. Palin told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that she would “absolutely” go to Delaware on O’Donnell’s behalf. “You’re going to go campaign for her, I recently heard,” Hannity said in the interview. “Yeah, absolutely,” Palin replied. “I’m honored to, I’m excited about it.”
* O'Donnell and Sharron Angle are Pat Toomey's best assets: Jesse Zwick argues that the Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate's extremism on the issues is passing for moderation when seen against the backdrop of the visibly eccentric candidates who are sucking up all the media oxygen.
In almost all cases, it is not mechanical noise arising from the central gear box or nacelle of a turbine that residents react to, but rather the sound of the blades, which in modern turbines are mammoth appendages well over 100 feet long, as they slice through the air. Turbine noise can be controlled by reducing the rotational speed of the blades. But the turbines on Vinalhaven already operate that way after 7 p.m., and George Baker, the chief executive of Fox Island Wind — a for-profit arm of the island’s electricity co-operative — said that turning the turbines down came at an economic cost. “The more we do that, the higher goes the price of electricity on the island,” he said.
A common refrain among homeowners grappling with sound issues, however, is that they were not accurately informed about the noise ahead of time. “They told us we wouldn’t hear it, or that it would be masked by the sound of the wind blowing through the trees,” said Sally Wylie, a former schoolteacher down the road from the Lindgrens. “I feel duped.”
State Attorney General Beau Biden's office has asked three mortgage lenders to suspend all pending foreclosures until the banks can review their foreclosure policies. The letter mailed Tuesday also asks Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Ally Financial Inc. officials to describe their foreclosure review and verification process, and provide copies of Delaware homeowner complaints about court documents that contained inaccurate information to Biden's office.And from (WNJ) Eric Ruth reports ~
~~~~~Lenders took possession of a record 95,364 homes nationally in August and issued foreclosure filings to 338,836 homeowners, or one of every 381 U.S. households, according to RealtyTrac. JPMorgan has said it will ask judges to postpone foreclosure rulings, while Ally said Sept. 21 its GMAC Mortgage unit would halt evictions. Bank of America will investigate all affidavits in cases that have not yet gone to judgment in 23 states where courts have jurisdiction over home seizures. Though Delaware courts have jurisdiction as well, it apparently is not included in Bank of America's action.The companies said employees may have completed affidavits without confirming their accuracy.
Dan Frahm, a spokesman for Bank of America, estimated "tens of thousands" of documents will be studied and the process will take from "several days to a couple of weeks."Wells Fargo & Co. also may come under scrutiny after an executive there acknowledged that he verified only the dates on up to 150 foreclosure documents he signed daily.The growing questions about foreclosure documents could cause thousands of homeowners to contest foreclosures that are in the works or completed. But analysts say most homeowners facing foreclosure are still likely to lose their homes.
And (DKos) bobswern writes ~ Will-The-Foreclosure-Fraud-Crisis-Undermine-Our-RecoverySo wake up and smell the coffee. The story that banks have been trying to sell has been that document problems like improper affidavits are mere technicalities. We’ve said from the get go that they were the tip of the iceberg of widespread document forgeries and fraud. This price sheet provides concrete proof that the practices we pointed to not only existed, but are a routine way of doing business in servicer and trustee land. LPS is the major platform used by all the large servicers; it oversees the work of foreclosure mills in every state.
And this means document forgeries and fraud are not just a servicer problem or a borrower problem but a mortgage industry and ultimately a policy problem. These dishonest practices are so widespread that they raise serious questions about the residential mortgage backed securities market, the major trustees (such as JP Morgan, US Bank, Bank of New York) who repeatedly provided affirmations as required by the pooling and servicing agreement that all the tasks necessary for the trust to own the securitization assets had been completed, and the inattention of the various government bodies (in particular Fannie and Freddie) that are major clients of Lender Processing Services.
It is widely accepted fact that the U.S. housing/real estate bubble ran our country's economy into the Great Recession. As the fires from that still remain to be contained, let alone talk of smoke clearing being premature with regard to that economic nightmare of historical proportions--and even as the International Monetary Fund has just acknowledged that the entire West is "stuck in a near depression" because of it--we are just beginning to ring the bells on a new, raging, eight-alarm fire within our economy which may (this is by no means inconceivable, at this point) undermine virtually all efforts at a recovery, to date, from the get-go; thus, further propelling our country into a downward trajectory which may already require generations to fully overcome. For the moment, we're calling this: "The U.S. Foreclosure Fraud Crisis."
It is just beginning.
~~~~~1) The Chamber acknowledges that it receives foreign sources of funding.
2) The foreign funds go directly into the Chamber's general 501(c)(6) entity.
3) At least $300,000 has been channeled from foreign companies in India and Bahrain to the account.
4) The foreign sources include foreign state-owned companies, including the State Bank of India and the Bahrain Petroleum Company.
5) The Chamber's 501(c)(6) entity is used to launch an unprecedented $75 million partisan attack ad campaign against Democrats.
The largest attack campaign against Democrats this fall is being waged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade association organized as a 501(c)(6) that can raise and spend unlimited funds without ever disclosing any of its donors. The Chamber has promised to spend an unprecedented $75 million to defeat candidates like Jack Conway, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jerry Brown, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), and Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA). As of Sept. 15th, the Chamber had aired more than 8,000 ads on behalf of GOP Senate candidates alone, according to a study from the Wesleyan Media Project.
UPDATE: Chamber of Commerce Spokesman J.P. Fielder emails over a clearer denial that it funnels foreign money into American politics via American Chambers of Commerce and their members abroad. "No foreign money - from AmChams of otherwise - is used to fund political activities," Fielder said in an email. "None of the AmCham money is used for political activities."
The group's protestations aren't likely to satisfy critics.“They basically say, ‘trust us’ when there's mounting evidence they're outsourcing the funding of their political attacks ads? Yeah, right,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for Public Campaign Action Fund, in an email.
MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow will be in Newark Tuesday night at the landmark Deer Park Tavern.The show will be held from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. and the blog of the liberal talk show host invited residents to stop by. Earlier Monday, Maddow announced she was coming to Delaware in an attempt to interview Christine O'Donnell, the surprise Republican nominee in the race for the U.S. Senate seat from Delaware.The Maddow Blog says she is already in Delaware with Chris Coons on his turf at the Mid County Senior Center.
Center for Public Integrity:
Meanwhile, lobbyist Reed’s fledgling Commission on Hope, Growth and Opportunity, a 501 (c) (4) raised over half its $25 million goal to run ads in 20 House districts and a few Senate contests, Reed says. Where’s the dough coming from? “The big three stepping into the batter’s box are the financial services industry, the energy industry, and the health insurance industry,” Reed said.
(Political Carnival image)Christine O'Donnell Ad: 'I'm Not A Witch' — ABC's Michael Falcone reports: — “I'm not a witch,” Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell assures voters, who may be concerned that she once “dabbled” in the dark arts, in a new ad released by her campaign on Monday.
Link Search: IceRocket, Google, and Ask
+Discussion: The Other McCain, Weigel, The Politico, Left Coast Rebel, Right Pundits and AmSpecBlog
–Discussion: Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain: What Did I Tell You About Her? — Christine O'Donnell's … David Weigel / Weigel: Catnip and Christine O'Donnell Alexander Burns / The Politico: Christine O'Donnell's new message: 'I'm you' RightKlik / Left Coast Rebel: Christine O'Donnell's Victory Formula Andrew Zarowny / Right Pundits: New Christine O'Donnell TV Ad - I'm Not A Witch (Video + Transcript) Robert Stacy McCain / AmSpecBlog: Christine O'Donnell Ad: She's Awfully Hard to Hate
» All Related Discussion« Hide All Related Discussion
RELATED:
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC: It Has Come To This: O'Donnell Family Straightens Out Father's Bozo The Clown Career — Christine O'Donnell's campaign is facing yet another set of questions about her background, and this time it's on a really weird line of discussion — whether her father was Philadelphia's local Bozo the Clown.
Link Search: IceRocket, Google, and Ask
+Discussion: The Political Carnival and Mock, Paper, Scissors
–Discussion: GottaLaff / The Political Carnival: Okay, okay, Christine O'Donnell's dad is only a PART-TIME Bozo Tengrain / Mock, Paper, Scissors: She Comes By It Honestly... No'Donnell's father was only a part time Bozo the :
Ben Evans / Associated Press: O'Donnell said China plotting to take over US — WASHINGTON — Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell of Delaware said in a 2006 debate that China was plotting to take over America and claimed to have classified information about the country that she couldn't divulge.
Link Search: IceRocket, Google, and Ask
+Discussion: The Atlantic Online, TBogg, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, Firedoglake, Politics Daily, CNN, Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, The Reaction, Outside the Beltway and msnbc.com
–Discussion: James Fallows / The Atlantic Online: The Beauty Part of the O'Donnell “Chinese Plot” Remark TBogg: Christine O'Donnell Would Like To Tell Us A Big Secret, But Then … Stephen C. Webster / Raw Story: O'Donnell once claimed to have ‘classified’ … Steve M. / No More Mister Nice Blog: I DON'T THINK “CLASSIFIED” MEANS WHAT CHRISTINE O'DONNELL THINKS IT DOES Watertiger / Firedoglake: Late Night: Ancient Chinese Seeeeecrets... Christopher Weber / Politics Daily: Christine O'Donnell Claimed to Have Secret Information on Chinese Plot Fhardingj / CNN: TRENDING: O'Donnell in 2006:China wants to take over America Steve Benen / Washington Monthly: O'DONNELL CLAIMS ACCESS TO SECRET CHINESE TAKEOVER PLAN. … Charles Johnson / Little Green Footballs: Christine O'Donnell's Super Secret Classified Chinese Takeover Plot Michael J.W. Stickings / The Reaction: Just how crazy is Christine O'Donnell? (4) Doug Mataconis / Outside the Beltway: Christine O'Donnell: I Have Secret Information That China Is Plotting Against Us Domenico Montanaro / msnbc.com: O'Donnell: China had ‘carefully thought out’ plan to ‘take over’ U.S.
Fhardingj / CNN: Trending: O'Donnell: ‘I am not a witch’ — Washington (CNN) - Playing off of her admission that she dabbled in witchcraft in high school, Delaware Senate Republican nominee Christine O'Donnell will launch her first television ad of the general election on Tuesday, in which she looks straight …
Link Search: IceRocket, Google, and Ask
+Discussion: Outside the Beltway and American Power
–Discussion: Doug Mataconis / Outside the Beltway: Christine O'Donnell: “I'm Not A Witch” Donald Douglas / American Power: 'I'm You' — It's unfortunate that this will be Christine O'Donnell's first ad buy.Mark Leibovich / The Caucus: Send In the Clowns — and the Truth Squad
Link Search: IceRocket, Google, and Ask
+Discussion: First Draft and Rough Sketch
–Discussion: Adrastos / First Draft: O'Donnell's Bozo No No — It's a great time to be alive … Dana Milbank / Rough Sketch: O'Donnell's Chinese secrets; DeMint's Shariah lawAshley Parker / The Caucus: O'Donnell Ad Confronts Reports on Her Past
Link Search: IceRocket, Google, and Ask +Discussion: Philly.com, Wonkette and Alan Colmes' Liberaland~*~
key ally in Gov. M. Jodi Rell. But it still has 1,920 metric tons of fuel.Protecting People and the Environment is the tagline used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This report shows that the NRC is not living up to its self-stated mission when it comes to accidental releases of radioactive liquids and gases from nuclear power plants. The NRC has breached its contract with the public by repeatedly tolerating unmonitored and uncontrolled leaks of radioactively contaminated water into the ground and nearby waterways.
(WNJ) Gary Soulsman reports ~ Betsy Ross: Beyond the legend - Artisan and patriot is the subject of a Winterthur exhibitThe legend says that three representatives of Congress -- George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross (her uncle by marriage) -- appeared in the shop of Betsy Ross in 1776. The men came to request her help in designing a new flag for the rebellious colonies. Retreating to the parlor, she pointed out that Washington's six-sided star was not as practical as a five-point, which can be made with a single scissors snip.
So Betsy Ross produced a model flag with 13 stripes as well as 13 stars, with these arranged in a circle. It was a flag that was universally acclaimed by Washington and other leaders -- so the story goes. During much of the 20th century, the acceptance of the legend gave Betsy Ross a "larger-than-life place in the mythology of the American Revolution," her image gracing everything from brandy decanters to cigars, Miller wrote.
Yet it was not a story known in Betsy Ross' lifetime and only came to light when a grandson, William Canby, spoke to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1870 about his grandmother creating the flag.
~*~
IF YOU GO
What: Betsy Ross: The Life Behind the Legend
Where: Winterthur, Route 52 Greenville
When: 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesday to Sunday from Oct. 2 through Jan. 2
Admission: $18 adults; $16 for students and seniors; $5 for ages 2-11. Tickets are valid for two consecutive days
Information: winterthur.org (302) 888-4600 (800) 448-3883.
(NY Post image)
