Foreclosure..not of properties but of ethics

It appears that for a broad cross-section of society, from President Obama to bankers to oily execs to people avoiding payment of their contractual debts, words don't mean much and don't have to be honored.

For Some Homeowners in Foreclosure, a Rent-Free Approach - NYTimes.com: "For Alex Pemberton and Susan Reboyras, foreclosure is becoming a way of life — something they did not want but are in no hurry to get out of.

Foreclosure has allowed them to stabilize the family business. Go to Outback occasionally for a steak. Take their gas-guzzling airboat out for the weekend. Visit the Hard Rock Casino.

“Instead of the house dragging us down, it’s become a life raft,” said Mr. Pemberton, who stopped paying the mortgage on their house here last summer. “It’s really been a blessing.”

...

Foreclosure procedures have been initiated against 1.7 million of the nation’s households. The pace of resolving these problem loans is slow and getting slower because of legal challenges, foreclosure moratoriums, government pressure to offer modifications and the inability of the lenders to cope with so many souring mortgages.

The average borrower in foreclosure has been delinquent for 438 days before actually being evicted, up from 251 days in January 2008, according to LPS Applied Analytics.

While there are no firm figures on how many households are following the Pemberton-Reboyras path of passive resistance, real estate agents and other experts say the number of overextended borrowers taking the “free rent” approach is on the rise.

There is no question, though, that for some borrowers in default, foreclosure is only a theoretical threat for a long time.

More than 650,000 households had not paid in 18 months, LPS calculated earlier this year. With 19 percent of those homes, the lender had not even begun to take action to repossess the property — double the rate of a year earlier.

In some states, including California and Texas, lenders can pursue foreclosures outside of the courts. With the lender in control, the pace can be brisk. But in Florida, New York and 19 other states, judicial foreclosure is the rule, which slows the process substantially.

In Pinellas and Pasco counties, which include St. Petersburg and the suburbs to the north, there are 34,000 open foreclosure cases, said J. Thomas McGrady, chief judge of the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit. Ten years ago, the average was about 4,000. “The volume is killing us,” Judge McGrady said.

Mr. Pemberton and Ms. Reboyras decided to stop paying because their business, which restores attics that have been invaded by pests, was on the verge of failing. Scrambling to get by, their credit already shot, they had little to lose.

“We could pay the mortgage company way more than the house is worth and starve to death,” said Mr. Pemberton, 43. “Or we could pay ourselves so our business could sustain us and people who work for us over a long period of time. It may sound very horrible, but it comes down to a self-preservation thing.”'

Passage of Another Year

One more Commencement. Last year I had some stellar students graduate, including JB, MS, ZJ and KL. This year I had a phenomenal class of students graduate. MF, KC, VM, TG, AD, and EC- a group like this comes along once rarely. It has been four wonderful years with these folks. KP, MM, JK, NS, DM, and AC, though not my advisees, were also close to me and it was a great pleasure to see them get their degrees.

Enjoy life, is my message to them.

Truth, with a pinch (or a cup) of Salt

Sugar and salt- the key ingredients for the processed food industry, are both under pressure.

Pushed to Lower Salt Use, Food Industry Pushes Back - NYTimes.com: "With salt under attack for its ill effects on the nation’s health, the food giant Cargill kicked off a campaign last November to spread its own message.
“Salt is a pretty amazing compound,” Alton Brown, a Food Network star, gushes in a Cargill video called Salt 101. “So make sure you have plenty of salt in your kitchen at all times.”
The campaign by Cargill, which both produces and uses salt, promotes salt as “life enhancing” and suggests sprinkling it on foods as varied as chocolate cookies, fresh fruit, ice cream and even coffee. “You might be surprised,” Mr. Brown says, “by what foods are enhanced by its briny kiss.”"

Leading the Country- Louisiana, Alabama, Texas

Three great stories point to the rising power of the ignorant class...

Despite Oil Leak, Public Backs Offshore Drilling - US - CBN News - Christian News 24-7 - CBN.com: "As Congress and the White House look into what caused the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, new polls show most Americans still support more drilling for oil off America's coasts.

In an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, 60 percent said they support more drilling for oil of the U.S. Coast while 34 percent oppose it.

And in an Associated Press poll, 50 percent of people surveyed support more drilling at home but 38 percent oppose it."

Op-Ed Columnist - Alabama Goes Viral - NYTimes.com: "The trend goes back to Demon Sheep, the legendary ad for Carly Fiorina’s campaign for the Senate nomination in California. It had regular sheep and then cartoon sheep and then a guy crawling around the ground disguised as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He had on a cardboard mask with red light bulbs for eyes. I believe the message was supposed to be fiscal responsibility, but really, all you got was Demon Sheep. Red eyes. Carly Fiorina.

The man who made it, Fred Davis III, then took up the cause of Tim James, a deeply unremarkable Alabama businessman who wants to be governor. To separate James from the crowd, Davis came up with “Language,” a 30-second ad in which the candidate stared at the camera and demanded to know why “our politicians make us give driver’s license exams in 12 languages.” (The actual answer is: a federal court ruling.)

“This is Alabama. We speak English. If you want to live here, learn it,” James said irritably. “We’ll only give the test in English if I’m governor. Maybe it’s the businessman in me, but we’ll save money.”"

Opposing Views: Texas School Board Approves Bogus Social Studies Curriculum: "Before the Texas State Board of Education voted on the controversial social studies curriculum, Dunbar prayed for what she hoped students would learn in public schools.

“I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the savior have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses,” she said. “Whether we look to the first charter of Virginia, or the charter of New England…the same objective is present – a Christian land governed by Christian principles.

“I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it,” she continued. “I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country.”

Dunbar’s prayers were soon answered – the right-wing fundamentalist bloc succeeded in approving, by a 9-5 vote, social studies standards that left in place a provision that questions the legitimacy of church-state separation."