Mountain Sage

7 million jobs lost in 2 years.  The creation of jobs has got to be the number one issue this year.  I don’t much care how the jobs package is paid for as long as it happens.

Reporting from Washington – President Obama on Monday sent Congress a $3.8-trillion federal budget that includes a $100-billion jobs package, more education spending, higher taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year and a focus on controlling the deficit.

The spending blueprint for fiscal 2011, which starts Oct. 1, is 3% more than the government is spending this year, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

“It’s a budget that reflects the serious challenges facing the country,” Obama said Monday morning at the White House. “We’re at war. Our economy has lost 7 million jobs over the last two years. And our government is deeply in debt after what can only be described as a decade of profligacy.”

The budget now goes to Congress, where it can expect a cool reception from Republicans who oppose tax and fee increases and who will seek more cuts in some areas to bring down the deficit.

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Al Franken continues to impress me with his work as a senator.

I wonder where all of the right’s outrage over activist judges is?

PRESS RELEASE

Washington, D.C. [Jan 28, 2010] – Late last night, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) introduced the “American Elections Act of 2010” to keep foreign interests out of American elections. Franken’s bill would provide a legislative fix to the Supreme Court ruling, dubbed Citizens United, which allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on American elections, effectively nullifying Minnesota’s prohibition on corporate spending on elections—a 20 year-old standard—and opening a door for foreign governments to interfere with American democracy.

In yesterday’s State of the Union address, President Obama explicitly warned of the danger inherent in the Citizens United ruling and urged exactly this type of legislative action:

“Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign companies – to spend without limit in our elections,” said President Obama. “Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, and worse, by foreign entities.  They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.”

Since 1974, federal law has banned foreign companies from giving or spending in American elections. Nothing in our current laws, however, explicitly prohibits foreign companies from creating American subsidiaries or getting control of American companies and using them to flood the airwaves in support of their preferred candidates.  Citizens United gives companies unlimited power to do that – and does not distinguish between American companies and companies that are owned or controlled by foreign interests.

“I was pleased to hear the President recognize the need for this bill in his address last night,” said Sen. Franken. “I think we can all agree that foreign interests have no place in American elections.”

The “American Elections Act of 2010” was developed in coordination with Professor David Schultz of Hamline University School of Business in Minnesota.

“The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United was an attack on democracy and fair elections,” said Professor Schultz. “It undid laws seeking to regulate corporations across the country and in Minnesota that go back over 60 years. As a result of it corporate money will flood into Minnesota, threatening the basic integrity of our elections and the power of citizens to control their own government. Senator Franken’s bill is an important first step in addressing Citizens United and preventing money from further destroying our elections in Minnesota.”

The “American Elections Act of 2010” will keep foreign interests out of our elections by:

·       Banning election contributions and spending by corporations that are controlled or highly influenced by foreign nationals (foreign governments, companies, and persons).  This includes:

- Corporations that receive most of their financing from foreign nationals.

- Corporations where foreign nationals hold a controlling share of stock (as defined under leading corporate law) or a majority of the Board of Directors.

- Corporations that allow foreign nationals to control or participate in their political activities – including ad spending, donations, and political action committees.

·       Requiring all corporations to certify, before giving or spending in elections, that they are in compliance with these requirements.

·       Requiring all corporations to disclose in their political advertising how much of their company is controlled by foreign nationals, or if this isn’t possible, how much of their financing comes from foreign nationals.

The “American Elections Act of 2010” is supported by Common Cause, People for the American Way, Common Cause Minnesota, and MPIRG.

Office of Sen. Al Franken.

I’m fortunate enough at this time not to have to deal with debt collectors, but I do get calls all the time from a collection agency looking for someone else who has the same last name as I do and who used to live in this area.  They are just randomly calling anyone they think can lead them to the person they are looking for and I get sick of the calls.  I  just may have to check out the laws on them doing that.

This is a long read but an interesting one.  Mr. Cunningham has armed himself with the law and decided to hold collection agencies to the law through law suits.  The problem is, of course, that at some point in time the collection agencies’ lobby will get the law changed to favor them.

Unlike his neighbors’ homes, Craig Cunningham’s house in Northeast Dallas looks abandoned. The grass is dried out. The concrete slab under the front door is lopsided and cracked. The green exterior has faded to a toxic-looking shade. Yellow Pages pile up near the front door, and the black mailbox is stuffed full. Maybe the home has been foreclosed on. That wouldn’t be a surprise in this economy.

But no, that’s not the case. Inside, the 29-year-old Cunningham hunkers his 6-foot-2-inch frame on a dumpy couch. His heavy arms extend from his sides, palms up, so two Chihuahuas, Angel and Chuay, can curl under them. Although it’s 10 a.m. on a weekday, he’s wearing slippers.

[snip]

While most Americans with unpaid bills dread the collector’s call, Cunningham sees them as lucrative opportunities. Many collection and credit card companies, intentionally or not, violate little-known consumer rights laws, and Cunningham’s favorite pastime is catching them doing so and then suing them. In fact, it’s a profitable side job.

[snp]

His new online friends pointed him to a number of federal and state statutes protecting consumers like him against overly aggressive and abusive debt collectors and a credit system stacked against the little guy. If you knew your rights, he learned on the message boards, you were very likely to catch a collector violating them. Then you could sue.

Cunningham armed himself with this knowledge, and the next time a debt collector called, the trap was set.

It didn’t take long. Cunningham had canceled a home alarm service with ADT Security after two months, and the company had billed him a $450 early termination fee, which he disputed. ADT sent his account to Equinox Financial Management Solutions, a third-party debt collector. The collection agency sent him a letter asking that he call back immediately. He dialed, armed with a voice recorder.

“Can you garnish my wages if I don’t pay?” he asked.

“Yes,” the voice on the other end of the line said.

“Can you put a lien on my house?”

“Yes.”

Wrong answers. Turns out, Texas consumer rights laws are some of the most consumer-friendly in the country. And according to a federal consumer protection law, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), debt collectors are prohibited from threatening legal action that would violate state laws. In this case, garnishing wages or putting a lien on Cunningham’s house would violate the Texas Debt Collection Act.

Cunningham knew he had a good enough case to file a lawsuit against the debt collection agency, and for his first lawsuit, he decided to enlist the help of a lawyer. Two months later, he had a check in his hand for $1,000.

[snip]

“The standard line from collection agencies is always, ‘Oh, gosh, no, we never violate.’…For the most part, the reality of it is you can sit down and find violation in almost every collection attempt made in America.”

Cunningham insists that the court system ignores lawsuits over frivolous violations. His cases, he claims, are built on true screw-ups. Cunningham won his first lawsuit, after all, after a collection company threatened to garnish his wages and put a lien on his house, both violations of Texas law.

[snip]

Up until now, everything was about making easy money for Cunningham. Now, it’s about justice—or at least what he sees as justice.

“When you or I make a mistake, they say, ‘Hey, tough nuts, be smarter next time, you know, bad luck, didn’t work out for ya,” he says. “When the fat cats on Wall Street make a mistake, they say, ‘Oh, national emergency! We’ve got to bail these guys out.”

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Thanks to Alisilver for the link and heads up on the article.

Roeder’s defense that Dr. Tiller needed to be killed didn’t fly in the courtroom.  I hope he enjoys his time in prison.

WICHITA, Kan. — A man who said he killed prominent Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in order to save the lives of unborn children was convicted Friday of murder.

The jury deliberated for just 37 minutes before finding Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder in the May 31 shooting death.

He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years when he is sentenced March 9. Prosecutor Nola Foulston said she would pursue a so-called “Hard 50″ sentence, which would require Roeder to serve at least 50 years before he can be considered for parole.

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I’m actually rather glad to hear her say this.  Not because she isn’t doing a good job as SOS because she is, but lately she has looked absolutely exhausted.  I have no doubt that with all that has been happening in the world that she has been up 24/7 lots of the time.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she would not serve a full eight years if President Barack Obama wins another term, hoping eventually to retire to writing and teaching.

Clinton, who has spent two decades in the national spotlight and narrowly lost her own bid to be president in 2008, said she enjoyed her job as the top US diplomat but found it physically grueling.

Asked by talk-show host Tavis Smiley if she would serve eight years, she replied: “No, I really can’t.”

“The whole eight — that would be very challenging,” she said in the interview broadcast Wednesday on public television.

“It’s a 24-7 job and I think at some point, I will be very happy to pass it on to someone else,” Clinton said.

Clinton repeated that she would not run again for president, saying she wanted a private life after a career in which she has served as first lady and a US senator.

“There are so many things I’m interested in, really going back to private life and spending time reading and writing and maybe teaching. Maybe some personal travel — not the kind of travel where you bring a couple of hundred people with you,” she said.

Clinton said she also hoped throughout her life to be a strong advocate for the rights of women and girls.

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I hope this is the last we hear about the Edwards’ trial and tribulations.  I think they have gotten more than enough attention out of their drama which is why I didn’t post much about them.  Let’s hope this allows them both to get on with their lives.

Last week, John Edwards admitted to fathering the child of former campaign worker Rielle Hunter.

ABC News reports John Edwards is no longer living in the family’s Chapel Hill North Carolina home.

Under North Carolina law, the couple cannot divorce until they’ve been separated for one year.

SOURCE

I despise bullies.

Like a lot of kids her age, Phoebe Prince was a swan, always beautiful and sometimes awkward.

Last fall, she moved from Ireland into western Massachusetts, a new town, a new high school, a new country, a new culture. She was 15, when all that matters is being liked and wearing the right clothes and just fitting in.

She was a freshman and she had a brief fling with a senior, a football player, and for this she became the target of the Mean Girls, who decided then and there that Phoebe didn’t know her place and that Phoebe would pay.

Kids can be mean, but the Mean Girls took it to another level, according to students and parents. They followed Phoebe around, calling her a slut. When they wanted to be more specific, they called her an Irish slut.

The name-calling, the stalking, the intimidation was relentless.

Ten days ago, Phoebe was walking home from school when one of the Mean Girls drove by in a car. An insult and an energy drink can came flying out the car window in Phoebe’s direction.

Phoebe kept walking, past the abuse, past the can, past the white picket fence, into her house. Then she walked into a closet and hanged herself. Her 12-year-old sister found her.

You would think this would give the bullies who hounded Phoebe some pause. Instead, they went on Facebook and mocked her in death.

They told State Police detectives they did nothing wrong, had nothing to do with Phoebe killing herself.

And then they went right back to school and started badmouthing Phoebe.

They had a dance, a cotillion, at the Log Cabin in Holyoke two days after Phoebe’s sister found her in the closet, and some who were there say one of the Mean Girls bragged about how she played dumb with the detectives who questioned her.

Last week, one of the Springfield TV stations sent a crew to South Hadley High to talk to the kids.

One girl was interviewed on camera, and she said what was common knowledge: that bullies were stalking the corridors of South Hadley High.

As soon as the TV crew was out of sight, one of the Mean Girls came up and slammed the girl who had been interviewed against a locker and punched her in the head.

The Mean Girls are pretty, and popular, and play sports.

So far, they appear to be untouchable, too.

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I don’t know what I would do in the case of being seriously upside down in a mortgage.  I have no idea what our house is really worth today in the present market.  When we bought it we paid less than it appraised for.  It was appraised again when we got a home equity loan and it had appreciated a good bit before we did some of the renovations.  As long as I can continue to pay the mortgage I wouldn’t consider walking away as my house was never intended to be just an investment….it is my home and we have poured a lot of ourselves into it.

What’s your opinion?  Would you consider walking away from your mortgage if you were seriously underwater?  I don’t really see it as a moral failing but as a business decision just like the corporations make.

As underwater homeowners around the country despair over whether to keep paying their mortgages or just walk away, investors in the largest residential real estate deal in U.S. history have just walked away from 11,232 properties in one fell swoop.

On Monday a group led by Tishman Speyer Properties gave up the 56-building, 11,232-unit Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex in Manhattan, turning the properties over to its creditors after defaulting on some $4.4 billion in debt. The group decided to “transfer control and operation of the property…to the lenders,” it told the Wall Street Journal. The $5.4 billion acquisition in 2006 was the single biggest residential property purchase in U.S. history.

It’s now worth an estimated $1.8 billion, putting the properties’ owners “underwater.”

Four years later, the joint venture by Tishman and BlackRock Inc. is part of what is undoubtedly the biggest walk-away in mortgage history.

[snip]

But distressed homeowners are often guilted into paying their mortgages, White argues.

Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson once said: “And let me emphasize, any homeowner who can afford his mortgage payment but chooses to walk away from an underwater property is simply a speculator – and one who is not honoring his obligations.”

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I have wondered if Obama ever intended to be a two term president.  I’m not sure he intends to run for re-election.

President Obama, buffeted by criticism of his massive health care reform bill and election setbacks, said today he remained determined to tackle health care and other big problems despite the political dangers to his presidency.

“I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president,” he told ABC’s “World News” anchor Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview today.

Obama sat down with Sawyer two days before he will deliver a State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress, and he acknowledged the political setbacks of his first year in office.

The State of the Union will be Obama’s chance to jump start his agenda, but he ducked when Sawyer asked if he could guarantee there would not be a tax increase for anyone making less than $250,000.

“I can guarantee that the worst thing we could do would be to raise taxes when the economy is still this weak,” he replied.

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It seems we read about the suicide of kids much more lately and I have to wonder what is so wrong in a 9 year old life that he would commit suicide.

Thanks to alisilver for the link.

THE COLONY, Texas —  A 9-year-old boy was found hanged in the bathroom of a Dallas-area elementary school in an apparent suicide, police said Friday.

Authorities in The Colony say the fourth-grader was found by staff at Stewart’s Creek Elementary School on Thursday afternoon. Lt. Darren Brockway said that the boy “had reportedly hung himself in a bathroom” and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Autopsy results are pending.

Police in The Colony, a middle-class lakeside town about 20 miles north of Dallas, are investigating the circumstances of Montana Lance’s death but don’t expect any criminal charges. The school district confirmed the basics of the incident but declined to comment further because of privacy concerns.

At the small brick house where the boy lived, a couple was sitting solemnly in an open garage Friday.

“No, no, it’s too early,” the man said, declining to discuss the boy’s death.

A team of grief counselors met people at the school Friday. They will be available to students, parents, teachers and staff through next week, said Lewisville Independent School District spokeswoman Karen Permetti.

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