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Posted on Friday, February 03, 2012 11:36 AM
When the Obama administration rolled out the Home Affordable
Modification Program (HAMP) in 2009, officials estimated 3 to 4 million
borrowers would seek relief from their mortgages through the program amidst the
worst recession and housing market collapse in decades.More than two years later, those projections have proven to be
optimistic, to say the least. According to the Treasury Department, about
700,000 homeowners had sought aid from HAMP through the third quarter of
2011.
That’s a long way from 3
million-plus. |
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Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2012 9:34 PM
The 10-year-old who committed suicide recently in a rural
Illinois community came home from school the day before in tears. It wasn’t the
first time.
Ashlynn Conner, a fifth-grader, had
complained of bullying for two years. After the most recent episode, Ashlynn
asked to be home-schooled and her mother promised to take her for a chat with
the principal the following Monday. The next night, her older sister found her
hanging by a scarf in her bedroom closet.
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Jill U. Adams, Special to LA Times: Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2012 3:11 PM
The Obama administration recently pulled the plug on lowering EPA limits. Itseems clear, though, that the lower the level, the fewer effects on health.
To understand the latest brouhaha about safe levels of ozone, it helps to understand the difference between science and policy.
First the back story. In 2008, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Stephen Johnson, reduced the allowable level of ozone in the air from 84 parts per billion to 75 ppb. Johnson said the change would lead to cleaner air and improve public health. |
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Ron Hart: Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 3:42 PM
When you leave
the hospital with your kids, you are given neither instructions on how to raise
them nor a receipt so you can take them back. Like most people, I viewed myself
as a great parent -- right up until I had my first kid.
Here is what I
learned: your kids always seem bad until you spend time with a friend’s
children. Your first carpool or play date is one of the most reassuring events
of parenthood.
Parents have to
accept that they are indispensable to their kids one moment and an
embarrassment the next. |
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Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 1:32 PM
House
Democrats will hold a public hearing on Thursday to promote economic
security, highlighting their legislative plans to create good jobs and a
strong economy, promote rural recovery and help small businesses. “The development of good jobs and strong
family incomes in Georgia is a primary obligation of this state,” said
Representative Virgil Fludd. “While Georgia’s families are facing
stagnant growth in their wages and a slow economy, our package of
legislation will jump-start Georgia’s economy by hiring Georgia workers,
demanding the purchase of Georgia-made products and requiring prompt
payment on all state contracts. |
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Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2012 10:03 PM
‘Localism’ is the Old TV Fairness Doctrine with a New Name, He
SaysThe man who served as NBC-TV’s legal counsel for 25 years
warns the FCC is poised to resurrect broad censorship rules that were revoked in
1987 because of their chilling effect on both free speech and the television
press.
Corydon B. Dunham says the proposed new
Localism, Balance and Diversity Doctrine could eventually also affect news on
the Internet. The FCC is reportedly planning to transfer the broadcast spectrum
used by local television to the Internet to make it the nation’s primary
communications platform,and the agency has started to regulate the
Internet. |
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Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 2:50 PM
For many people, ignorance is bliss when it comes to vexing issues like climate change, according to a new study.
Published last month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the report shows that people who know very little about an issue -- say the economic downturn, changes in the climate or dwindling fossil fuel reserves -- tend to avoid learning more about it. This insulates them in their ignorance -- a pattern described by researchers as "motivated avoidance."
Faced with complicated or troubling situations, these people often defer to |
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Jack Abramoff: Posted on Monday, January 23, 2012 3:17 PM
When most Americans think of bribery, they think of some oleaginous
lobbyist handing over a brown paper bag stuffed with $100 bills, buying
the vote of some venal politician. They think of Lyndon Johnson with
envelopes full of cash. They think of William Jefferson's freezer
deposit box. Yes, all of these images are accurate and classic examples
of bribery, but while they tend to titillate and amaze us, they also
distort the true picture of bribery in our politics.Handing over cash - in bags, envelopes or freezers - is rare in
21st century America. |
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Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 3:42 PM
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will
speak at Georgia Southern University’s Hanner Fieldhouse on Wednesday,
March 28 at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
During
Giuliani’s term as mayor of New York, he was credited with the economic
turnaround and revitalization of the city. Giuliani’s leadership in the
months following the September 11th attacks led him to be dubbed
“America’s Mayor” and named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.”
Giuliani also received a knighthood from Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth
II for his efforts. |
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Negin Farsad : Posted on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 11:41 AM
If
you're looking for funny video content about doing away with Citizens
United - and let's not pretend you haven't looked - well your search is
over!
Negin
Farsad and the Vaguely Qualified Productions team is trying to put some
comedy heft into the fight with a video starring Katrina vanden Heuvel
(Editor/Publisher ofThe Nation), Cenk Uygur (Host, Current
TV's Young Turks), Ben & Jerry from Ben & Jerry's, Laura
Flanders (Host/Author), and the esteemed Jim Hightower! |
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