Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta
plans to announce Thursday a lifting of the ban on female service
members in combat roles, a watershed policy change that was informed by
women’s valor in Iraq and Afghanistan and that removes the remaining
barrier to a fully inclusive military, defense officials said.
Panetta made the decision “upon the recommendation of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff,” a senior defense official said Wednesday, an assertion
that stunned female veteran activists who said they assumed that the
brass was still uneasy about opening the most physically arduous
positions to women. The Army and the Marines, which make up the bulk of
the military’s ground combat force, will present plans to open most jobs
to women by May 15.
The Army, by far the largest fighting force,
currently excludes women from nearly 25 percent of active-duty roles. A
senior defense official said the Pentagon expects to open “many
positions” to women this year; senior commanders will have until January
2016 to ask for exceptions.
“The onus is going to be on them to
justify why a woman can’t serve in a particular role,” said the
official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plan
before the official announcement.
The decision comes after a
decade of counterinsurgency missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, where
women demonstrated heroism on battlefields with no front lines. It
dovetails with another seismic policy change in the military that has
been implemented relatively smoothly: the repeal of the ban on openly gay service members.
Lawmakers and female veterans applauded Wednesday’s news, saying the ban on women in combat roles is obsolete.
“This
is monumental,” said Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine captain and
executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network, which has
advocated for the full inclusion of women. “Every time equality is
recognized and meritocracy is enforced, it helps everyone, and it will
help professionalize the force.”
Critics of opening combat
positions to women have argued for years that integration during
deployments could create a distracting, sexually charged atmosphere in
the force and that women are unable to perform some of the more
physically demanding jobs.
Advocates and experts say women are
unlikely to flock to those positions, such as roles in light infantry
and tank units and Special Forces — although some may. More
substantively, they say, lifting the ban will go a long way toward
changing the culture of a male-dominated institution in which women have
long complained about discrimination and a high incidence of sexual assault. Changes long sought
Lawmakers and advocates have long pressed the Pentagon to create a
more inclusive force, yielding incremental changes. The American Civil
Liberties Union recently sued the Pentagon over its policy, calling it
discriminatory.
Last year, military officials opened numerous job
categories to women after a study concluded that the Defense Department
was ready for greater inclusion in combat units. That made it easier for
women to be assigned, for example, to combat brigades as radio
operators. It also gave commanders a sense of how a broader integration
process could work, said an Army general who played a key role in last
year’s effort to open new positions for women.
“The average
professional will say, ‘I’ve served with women at all levels, and based
on my experience, women have done a phenomenal job,’ ” said the officer,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the change had not been
formally announced.
The debate over the supposed pitfalls of
women and men sharing close quarters has been rendered moot by the
recent wars, he said, adding: “If you were having this debate in
peacetime, it might be more emotional.”
The fact that women have
excelled in de facto front-line roles in Iraq and Afghanistan has proved
such concerns unwarranted, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the head of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview Wednesday
afternoon.
“The reality is that so many women have been, in
effect, in combat or quasi-combat,” he said. “This is catching up with
reality.”
In a statement, Sen. James M. Inhofe (Okla.), the
leading Republican on the Armed Services Committee, voiced a measure of
concern, saying last year’s study raised “serious practical barriers”
that, if ignored, could jeopardize the “safety and privacy” of service
members.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), another member of the panel,
said he supports the decision, but he alluded to some of the thorny
implementation issues that have yet to be addressed.
“It is
critical that we maintain the same high standards that have made the
American military the most feared and admired fighting force in the
world — particularly the rigorous physical standards for our elite
special forces units,” he said.
The senior defense official said the Pentagon expects to have gender-neutral standards for combat jobs. ‘The time has come’
Overall, women make up about 14 percent of the active-duty
military. According to the Defense Department, 152 female troops have
been killed in the Iraq and Afghan wars.
The Pentagon announced last February that it would open about 14,000 combat-related positions to
female troops. But an estimated 238,000 other jobs — about one-fifth of
the regular active-duty military — were kept off limits to women.
Virtually all of those jobs were in the Army and Marine Corps.
Panetta,
who is expected to step down soon, has long favored a more inclusive
military, and after last year’s review, the senior defense official
said, the Joint Chiefs and service chiefs began seeing eye to eye on the
issue.
In a Jan. 9 letter
to Panetta, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, wrote that the chiefs “unanimously” supported his goal of
integrating women into “occupational fields to the maximum extent
possible.”
“The time has come to rescind the direct combat
exclusion rule for women and to eliminate all unnecessary gender-based
barriers to service,” he wrote.
“It is a paradigm shift for the military,” the senior defense official said, “one that everyone is ready to make.”
Rocker-turned-gun rights provocateur Ted Nugent is willing to say just about anything to attack President Barack Obama and his administration for what he believes is an imminent effort by the government to snatch up guns.
During a recent interview, Nugent again raised the bar, invoking a Revolutionary war milestone to suggest that he and his "buddies" were prepared to fight such an effort at all costs...".* Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur break it down on The Young Turks.
Bethesda Softworks announced today that it has started taking beta applications for the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online MMO based on its popular single-player RPG series.
The beta signup page
features a live update of your chances of selection for the limited
beta as you fill out information like previous MMO and RPG experience,
play style, and system information for your computer. "Completing all
the optional sections will significantly increase your chances of being
selected for beta participation," the site advises.
Bethesda also used the beta signups as an opportunity to release a
new five-minute CGI video promoting the game, shown below. The video is
suitably epic—it would serve as an excellent trailer for a fantasy
movie—but it bears only a passing resemblance to what actual gameplay
will look like.
I got a short preview of the game back at E3, where the
creators stressed that quests would all factor into an epic storyline,
without any of the pointless "kill ten rats"-style chores that plague
other games. The developers went into more detail about their goals in a November preview trailer.
It's hard to get a real feel for this type of game without fully
inhabiting it for a while. And it might be a while before we get that
chance; the beta is still undated, and the game is only set for a vague
"2013" release. Still, the Elder Scrolls series has definitely
already put in the requisite world-building effort, and it has a
suitably developed mythos to build an MMO on top of already. Then again,
so did BioWare's The Old Republic universe, and that MMO has been strugglinga bit to live up to its lofty WoW-killer ambitions.
Kyle Orland
/ Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in
video game hardware and software. He has journalism and science degrees
from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.
The President spoke today about protecting Social Security, Medicare and
Medicaid. Some Republicans thought he didn't extend the olive branch.
Ed Schultz
explains why this speech was meant for the Americans who got President Obama
re-elected, and not for the handful of feuding Republicans behind him. John
Nichols of The Nation Magazine talks about the President's mandate, and what
today's speech could mean for all Americans.
Forget working until you are 70 in any kind of meaningful job as you
age. The CEO and corporate culture looks at 50 as the unemployable age
in the new age economy. In Logan's Run people were supposed to be
trashed at 30. Today your corporate CEO will trash you by 50 because a
of new business attitude that has shred the social contract.
Fifty somethings are already finding out in great numbers what being
unemployable means. In the past by the time you reached 50 in most
jobs you had maximum vacation and numerous benefits for being a senior
employee. Today you are considered a liability and drag on the company
at a time when you need higher income for your retirement and to support
getting your kids started in life with a good education.
Now corporations and CEO's are saying that you should wait until 70
or longer to get your Social Security and Medicare. And they REALLY
WANT TO ABOLISH THAT AS WELL. So senior workers will face 20 years of
part time and minimum wage jobs if they can get any job at all.
And if
you are disabled or ill you are royally screwed if you CAN'T WORK.
Any sensible person knows that you cannot save for retirement at today's
wages when pay is essentially capped at 30K. And you cannot build a
future when most jobs are being reduced to part time, temporary,
seasonal and less in the new Reagan revolution economy.
By the time the GOP and its allies have their way only 30% or less
of the job market will support a person or family and 70% of the work
force will be stuck in the "service economy". What you are seeing in
this recovery is what the GOP and Reagan has wrought since 1980. Yet we
still elect them. Obama himself cannot change this corporate model.
Only the business community and corporations can. And only government
policy can force them. FDR was right and knew what he was doing.
Look at the handwriting on the wall. THE CONVERSATION has to change
and the business community has be to be challenged to change its ways
and its attitude that only gets worse by the day. The prevalent anti
union and anti labor and anti government attitude has given us this
SUICIDAL situation.
I worked in the DOL for 24 years and could see what was coming. I
am really puzzled at why the American worker embraced all of this
mayhem. Now the next generation seems to be doomed to a life of low
wages and virtual poverty.
Congressional Republicans concede the debt ceiling must be increased. Now
they're linking it to the passage of a Senate budget. Rep. Debbie Wasserman
Schultz joins Ed Schultz to explain whether the new Republican plan is serious,
or a shallow gimmick.
Three years after getting Whole Foods in hot water for labeling Obamacare
"socialist" CEO John Mackey has changed his mind. During an NPR interview he
called it "fascist". Mackey is already walking it back, but he's just the latest
in a long line of CEOS who have publicly come out against Obamacare, despite
ramifications. Jonathan Alter joins Ed Schultz for the discussion.
So, you know how Notre Dame is a Catholic school, and religion is relevant to politics? And… and… you know how Donald Trump often involves himself in politics, even though he’s never technically run for public office?
Yes? Ok,
good. So we’ve established that this Manti Te’o/Donald Trump anecdote
we’re about to tell you is super-relevant to politics, and therefore
we’re not being completely unprofessional by writing about
something off-topic, which is definitely not something we would ever do, because we are a classy and well-respected publication.
(Seriously, click on that “classy” hyperlink. Amazing boner joke there.
One of our best, if we do say so ourselves.)
Anyway, now that we have that out of the way…
Sports Illustrated
apparently published a heart-wrenching story about how this Te’o guy,
who is a Notre Dame football star (or a basketball star or an American
Idol contestant or something? We don’t really follow sports), learned
that he had lost both his grandmother and his cancer-stricken girlfriend
on the very same day this September. People who watch sports were
deeply affected by this story and it was a big deal or something.
But then the website Deadspin achieved a major journalistic coup on Wednesday with their bombshell investigative report uncovering
that the cancer-stricken girlfriend never even existed. Some
person either duped Te’o by posting fake pictures to Twitter and then
carrying on a fake long-distance relationship with him, or Te’o was in
on it the whole time for the publicity and sympathy.
Anyway,
the important thing to remember here is that Deadspin achieved a major
WIN for uncovering the hoax … which then led politics-related person
Donald Trump to tweet a congratulations to the Deadspin writers … which
then led the Deadspin writers to post THE GREATEST TWEET THAT HAS EVER EXISTED IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE in reply:
The “official” story (aggresive quotation marks there) is that the Deadspin reply had something to do with Trump
not crediting the correct author. However, we choose not to believe
this. We prefer instead to believe that the reason Deadspin replied to
Donald Trump’s sincere congratulations by telling him to go fuck himself
was simply because Donald Trump is a tremendous wad-of-dick.
President Obama imposed some sweeping reforms in the form of Executive Orders earlier today.
Twenty-three of them, in fact, which has the right-wingers howling in protest. Even though Obama has signed the fewest EOs
in Presidential history, we’re going to be hearing the screeches from
the right for a long while. So, exactly what was in those Executive
Orders? Let’s see…
1. Making relevant data available to the federal background check system. All federal agencies will be required to do this.
2. Addressing unnecessary barriers to making information available to the background check system.
3. Improving incentives for cooperation with the previous two orders.
4. The Attorney General will be required to review the categories of
people who are currently prohibited from buying guns, so as to make sure
they are all up-to-date and accounted for.
5. Allowing law enforcement to run a full background check on any
individual before they return a gun that has been legally confiscated.
6. Send out a guidance letter from the ATF to federally licensed dealers on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launching a national campaign promoting safe and responsible gun ownership
8. A review of safety standards for gun locks and safes (falling under the auspices of the Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Requite federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered during criminal investigations.
10. A Department of Justice report that analyzes information on lost
and stolen guns and making that easily available to law enforcement.
11. Get an ATF director (that position has been empty for seven years!).
12. Providing law enforcement, school officials, first responders with training for situations involving active shooters.
13. Boost enforcement efforts and prosecutions of gun crime.
14. Lifting the moratorium on the Centers For Disease Control research on gun violence and directing them to do so.
15. Directing the Attorney General to create a report on the most
effective use of new safety technologies and their availability.
Encouraging the private sector to develop new ones.
16. Clarification of the Affordable Care Act provision that deals
with doctors asking about the presence of guns in a patient’s home. It
is NOT part of the ACA.
17. Clarify that health care providers will not be prohibited from reporting threats of violence to authorities.
18. Incentives for schools to hire resource officers.
19. Develop emergency response plans for schools (including higher learning) and houses of worship.
20. Send out a letter to state health officials explaining the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalizing regulations in the ACA involving essential benefits and requirements in the health care exchanges.
22. A committment to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. launching a national dialogue on mental health issues, led by Secretary Sibeluis and Secretary Duncan.
None of the orders will affect current gun ownership. Proposals
regarding military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines will be
left up to Congressional action. So, no, NRA – the President has not
overstepped any bounds. There is no crisis here, save the one created by
the lack of oversight that we had until this morning.
The President affirmed his support of the Second Amendment, stressing
the responsibility that ought to accompany the right to bear arms:
I also believe most gun owners agree that we can respect
the Second Amendment while keeping an irresponsible, law-breaking few
from inflicting harm on a massive scale. I believe most of them agree
that if America worked harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous
people, there would be fewer atrocities like the one that occurred in
Newtown. That’s what these reforms are designed to do. They’re
common-sense measures. They have the support of the majority of the
American people. (WH.gov)
T. Steelman is a life-long Liberal. She has been writing online about
politics since 2007. She lives in Western Washington with her husband,
daughter, 2 cats and a small herd of alpacas. How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is, after all, so poorly lit…
Conservatives are so easy to anger these days. Even the most
insignificant statement can set off their tempers. If you want to enrage
a conservative, I suggest saying the following:
1. A Socialist wrote the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Jesus healed the sick and helped the poor, for free.
3. Joseph McCarthy was an un-American, witch hunting sissy.
4. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were traitors.
5. The South lost the Civil War, get over it.
6. The Founding Fathers were liberals.
7. Fascism is a right-wing trait.
8. Sarah Palin is an idiot.
9. The Earth is round.
10. Reagan raised taxes eleven times as President.
11. Reagan legalized abortion as Governor of California.
12. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.
13. Ronald Reagan supported gun control.
14. Global warming is real.
15. Republicans hate illegal immigrants, unless they need their lawns mowed or their houses cleaned.
16. The military is a government-run institution, so why do Republicans approve the defense budget?
17. The Cold War is over and the Soviet Union no longer exists.
18. Paying taxes is patriotic.
19. Republicans: Peddling the same failed economic policies since 1880.
20. The Republican Party began as a liberal party.
21. The Presidents’ full name is Barack Hussein Obama and he was born in the United States of America.
22. George W. Bush held hands with the King of Saudi Arabia.
23. President Obama saved the American auto industry, while Republicans wanted to destroy it.
24. Hate is not a Christian virtue.
25. Jesus was a liberal.
26. Republicans spend MORE money than Democrats.
27. Tea parties are for little girls.
28. Public schools educate all children; private schools are for indoctrinating children.
29. The Constitution is the law, NOT the Bible.
30. Sharia law doesn’t exist in America.
31. The President is NOT a Muslim.
32. Corporations are NOT people. People are people.
33. Fox News isn’t real news, it’s just a racist, sexist, hateful, right-wing propaganda machine.
34. The Federal Reserve was a Republican idea.
35. Women are equal citizens who deserve equal rights.
36. Women control their own bodies.
37. Abortion is a relevant medical procedure, just ask Rick Santorum.
38. Please use spell-check.
39. It’s “pundit”, not “pundint”.
40. Social Security is solvent through 2038.
41. Health care is a right, not a product.
42. Roe v. Wade was a bipartisan ruling made by a conservative leaning Supreme Court.
43. G.O.P also stands for Gross Old Perverts.
44. The donkey shouldn’t be the Democratic mascot because Republicans are the real jackasses.
45. Barack Obama ordered the killing of Osama Bin Laden. It took him two and half years to do what Bush couldn’t do in eight.
46. Waterboarding IS torture.
47. 9/11 happened on George W. Bush’s watch, therefore he did NOT keep America safe.
48. Republicans invaded Iraq for oil, so Iraq should be allowed to invade Texas to get it back.
49. Separation of church and state is in the Constitution, it’s called the First Amendment.
50. Muslims are protected by the Constitution, just as much as Christians.
51. Barack Obama is the first African-American President, get over it.
52. The Oval Office is NOT a “whites only” office.
53. America is a nation of immigrants, therefore we are all anchor babies.
54. The white race isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving.
55. God is a particle.
56. Evolution is real.
57. The Earth is 4.54 billion years old, not 6,000.
58. The Founding Fathers did not free the slaves.
59. The Revolution was NOT fought over slavery.
60. Paul Revere warned the Americans, NOT the British.
61. Federal law trumps state law.
62. The Civil War was about slavery, NOT state’s rights.
63. Corporations care more about profits than they do about people.
64. Getting out of a recession requires government spending.
65. Glenn Beck is a nut-job.
66. Republicans: Paranoid since 1932.
67. Republicans don’t want to pay for your birth control, but they want you to pay for their Viagra.
68. Republicans actually NEED Viagra.
69. Fox News is owned by an Australian and has a Saudi prince as an investor.
70. Republicans complain about immigrants taking American jobs, then freely give American jobs to foreigners overseas.
71. Republicans hate communism, so why do they refer to themselves as red states?
72. Labor unions built this country.
73. Republicans hold America hostage as a political strategy; the temper tantrum throwing kind of political strategy.
74. Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian.
75. When Republicans see black, they attack.
76. Inside every Republican is a Klansman or a Nazi waiting to bloom.
77. Republicans only care about children BEFORE they are born.
78. Republicans are hypocrites, they’re just too stupid to know it.
79. The Christian-Right boycotts movies that have violence, and then promotes guns and insurrection.
80. I think, therefore I am NOT a Republican.
81. Republicans that oppose gay marriage are most likely in the closet themselves.
82. Churches should stay out of politics, or be taxed.
83. People are too poor to vote Republican.
84. Democrats think for themselves, Republicans form think tanks to do it for them.
85. Republicans hate education because they couldn’t hack it in school.
86. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and Republicans wallow in it.
87. A little socialism on the Left is better than a little fascism on the Right.
88. The current corporate tax rate is the lowest in 60 years, so stop whining about it being too high.
89. Republicans: Anti-Gay Marriage, Pro-Lesbian sex.
90. Republicans: Terrorizing the American people since 1981.
91. Republicans have their own terrorists, just look up Timothy McVeigh.
92. Republicans love outsourcing, just ask the Chinese Communists.
93. The Republican answer to the oil spill was to apologize to BP, a foreign oil company.
94. Democrats will be working hard to bring jobs to Americans, while the
Republicans tea bag each other in the middle of the aisles.
95. Voter disenfranchisement is immoral and un-American, that’s why Republicans do it.
96. Republicans would let your house burn down unless you pay them to put it out.
97. Democrats want to take care of the sick. Republicans take their credit cards and then deny them medical attention.
98. Republicans say teachers are union thugs, then proceed to rape and mug the entire middle class on behalf of corporations.
99. Republicans think rape isn’t a crime, but miscarriages are.
100. Republicans are idiots and arguing with them is a waste of time!
Bottom line? If you want to anger a conservative, tell them the truth.
CD Projekt, the developers behind The Witcher franchise, have announced and released the teaser trailer for their new game, Cyberpunk 2077.
The game follows the Maximum Force Tactical Division (MAX-TC), nicknamed the "Psycho Squad", a special law enforcement division tasked with taking down those who have overused implants and substances. These psychos have augmented themselves to the point of rebelling against their own organic self, as well as all organic beings around them.
The trailer shows off the police firing on a woman psycho after her rampage, and the Psycho Squad coming in to finish her off. Later, it appears, she actually joins the Psycho Squad.
CD Projekt has also stated that the game will be released in 2015 the earliest, as well as hinting a 2014 release date for The Witcher 3. More info can be found at the source.
No consoles were announced for the title, but presumably it will be for the next generation.
Over a year after she dropped out, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has
refused to pay five staffers from her failed presidential bid, according
to a former top campaign official.
Peter Waldron, her former national
field coordinator, told Salon the dispute started when former Iowa straw
poll staffers refused to sign a nondisclosure agreement that would bar
them from discussing any "unethical, immoral, or criminal activity" they
witnessed on the campaign with police or reporters.
Waldron said the nondisclosure agreement stems from the
campaign's alleged misuse of an email list. A home-schooling group
accused the Bachmann campaign of stealing the list, which was contained
on a volunteer's laptop, and then using it to fund raise for the
campaign. Police have spoken to Waldron about the incident "several
times," he said.
Real estate horror continues with 'Zombie Foreclosures'
By Michelle Conlin
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Joseph Keller doesn't expect
he'll live to see the end of 2013. He blames the three story house at
190 Avondale Avenue.
Five years ago, Keller, 10 months behind on
his mortgage payments, received notice of a foreclosure judgment from JP
Morgan Chase. In a few weeks, the house would be put up for auction at a
sheriff's sale.
The 58-year-old former social worker and his
wife, Jennifer, packed up their home and moved. Joseph thought he would
never have anything to do with the house again. And for about a year, he
didn't. Then it started to stalk him.
He had become caught up in a
little-known horror of the U.S. housing bust: the zombie title. Six
years in, thousands of homeowners are finding themselves legally liable
for houses they didn't know they still owned after banks decided it
wasn't worth their while to complete foreclosures on them. With
impunity, banks have been walking away from foreclosures much the way
some homeowners walked away from their mortgages when the housing market
first crashed.
First, in 2010, the county sued Keller because the
house, already picked clean by scavengers, was in a shambles, its
hanging gutters and collapsed garage in violation of local housing code.
Then the tax collector started sending Keller notices about mounting
back taxes, sewer fees and bills for weed and waste removal. And last
year, Chase's debt collector began pressing Keller to pay his mortgage,
which had swollen, with penalties and fees, from $62,100.27 to
$84,194.69.
The worst news came last January, when the Social
Security Administration rejected Keller's application for disability
benefits; the "asset" on Avondale Avenue rendered him ineligible.
Keller's medical problems include advanced liver disease, hepatitis C
and inactive tuberculosis. Without disability coverage, he can't get the
liver transplant he needs to stay alive.
"I can't make it end," says Keller. "This house, I can't get out."
Keller
continues to bear responsibility for the house because on Dec. 23,
2008 — about two months after he received Chase's notice of sale — the
bank filed to dismiss the foreclosure judgment and the order of sale.
Chase said it sent Keller a copy of its court filing on Dec. 9, 2008.
Keller says he never received any notification. Either way, his name
remained on the property title.
WITH IMPUNITY
"The banks are
just deciding not to foreclose, even though the homeowners never caught
up with their payments," says Daren Blomquist, vice president at
RealtyTrac, a real-estate information company in Irvine, Calif.
Since
2006, 10 million homes have fallen into foreclosure, according to
RealtyTrac, a number that in earlier, more stable times would have taken
nearly two decades to reach. Of those foreclosures, more than 2 million
have never come out. Some may be occupied by owners who have been
living gratis. Others have been caught up in what is now known as the
robo-signing scandal, when banks spun out reams of fraudulent documents
to foreclose quickly on as many homeowners as they could.
No
national databases track zombie titles. But dozens of housing court
judges, code enforcement officials, lawyers and other professionals
involved in foreclosures across the country tell Reuters that these
titles number in the many thousands, and that the problem is worsening.
"There
are thousands of foreclosures in limbo, just hanging out there, just
sitting, with nothing being done," says Cleveland Housing Court Judge
Raymond Pianka, whose pending court cases tied to derelict properties
have doubled in the past two years, to 1,000. He says the surge is due
largely to homes vacated by people who fled before an imminent
foreclosure sale, only to learn later that they remain legally
responsible for their house.
When people move out after receiving a
notice of a planned foreclosure sale and the bank then cancels,
municipalities are left to deal with the mess. Some spend public funds
on securing, cleaning and stabilizing houses that generate no tax
revenue. Others let the houses rot. In at least three states in recent
months, houses abandoned by owners and banks alike have exploded because
the gas was never shut off.
THREAT OF JAIL
Unsuspecting
homeowners have had their wages garnished, their credit destroyed and
their tax refunds seized. They've opened their mail to find bills for
back taxes, graffiti-scrubbing services, demolition crews, trash
removal, gutter repair, exterior cleaning and lawn clipping. At their
front doors they've encountered bailiffs brandishing summonses to appear
in court.
In some cities, people with zombie titles can be
sentenced to probation — with the threat of jail if they don't bring
their houses into compliance.
"These people have become like
indentured serfs, with all of the responsibilities for the properties
but none of the rights," says retired Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Professor Kermit Lind.
Banks used to almost always follow through
with foreclosures, either repossessing a house outright — known in
industry parlance as REO, for real estate owned — or putting it up for
auction at a sheriff's sale. The bank sent a letter notifying the
homeowner of an impending foreclosure sale, the homeowner moved out, the
house was sold, and the bank applied the proceeds toward the unpaid
portion of the original mortgage.
That has changed since the
housing crash. Financial institutions have realized that following
through on sales of decaying houses in markets swamped with foreclosures
may not yield anything close to what is owed on them.
By walking
away, banks can at least reap the insurance, tax and accounting benefits
from documenting the loss — without having to take on any of the costs
and responsibilities of ownership, according to a 2010 Federal Reserve
paper. A walk-away also enables them to "sell the unpaid debt to debt
collectors, sometimes noting to the court that the loan has been charged
off," according to a Case Western Reserve University study released in
2011.
No regulations require that banks let homeowners know when they
change their minds about a foreclosure. So they rarely do, according to
housing court judges, homeowners' lawyers and academics who study
foreclosure problems. "The banks do not answer inquiries, they do not
answer phone calls, they do not answer letters," says Judge Patrick
Carney of the Buffalo, New York, Housing Court. His zombie-title
caseload has swollen in the past few years to well into the hundreds.
"The whole situation is surreal," he says.
CLEAN UP OR ELSE
Marlon
Sheafe, a 55-year-old who drove trucks for Sara Lee Corp for 25 years,
was sentenced to probation in May. The citation from the Cleveland
Housing Court says that if he doesn't fix the problems with the
investment property he bought in 2005, the grandfather of three, who
suffers from advanced cancer, will go to jail in May 2014.
Ocwen
Financial Corp., the servicer of Sheafe's mortgage, foreclosed on the
house in 2008, when Sheafe was hospitalized with congestive heart
failure and later lost his job, forcing him into default. That was the
last he heard about the house until a year and a half ago, when he
received a summons to appear in Cleveland Housing Court for code
infractions on the property: cracked steps, shredded siding, weeds as
tall as the doors. There was also a $300 lawn-mowing bill.
A few
weeks later, Sheafe appeared at the drab, brown-paneled chambers of the
Cleveland Housing Court, packed, as it is every Tuesday and Thursday
lately, with other people in his situation. Sheafe expected his
appearance that day would clear up what he thought was a big mistake.
Instead he left with the order to get the house up to code.
Sheafe
started visiting the tall, crooked house every week. Looters had
stripped the place bare. The "dope boys" had left their sneakers on the
porch and their empty cans of sausages strewn around inside. Sheafe
repaired the steps and spray-painted patches of the exterior where the
vinyl siding had been ripped off. He returned every week to check on the
house and mow the lawn.
While Sheafe worked on the house, Judge
Pianka worked on the mortgage servicer, subpoenaing Ocwen to appear in
court. In February, Ocwen released its lien on the house, which Sheafe
hoped would enable him to donate it to the local land bank — one of many
set up by local governments in recent years to manage abandoned
properties.
But Sheafe still can't shake free of the house. The
county sold his tax lien to a debt collector, which is now suing Sheafe
for foreclosure. He also faces $4,185 for code violations, $185 for
court costs and up to $10,000 if the city is forced to tear down the
house.
"There's no end to this," Sheafe says. "I can't win."
Asked
to comment, Ocwen issued a statement saying: "It is Ocwen's policy not
to disclose details about specific customers. In this case, Ocwen has
attempted to work with the borrower over a four-year period. Ocwen
offered to settle the account with the borrower but never received a
response to the offer."
Sheafe says he couldn't afford the amount Ocwen proposed in its settlement offer.
The
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency established in
the wake of the financial crisis to guard against predatory lending and
other abuses, declined to comment for this article.
Joe Smith is
the monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement, the agreement struck a
year ago between major banks and state attorneys general to, in part,
address foreclosure abuses. In a statement responding to a request for
comment, he said: "To my knowledge, the servicers' behavior in the
situation... is not covered by any standards in the settlement." He
added: "However, it does sound like there are problems with this type of
treatment. I recommend the borrowers contact their state's attorney
general and remember that the settlement does not preclude borrowers
from taking their own legal action."
Patrick Madigan, Iowa's
assistant attorney general, was instrumental in crafting the National
Mortgage Settlement. He said that he thought the consent decree would
attempt to address the issue of foreclosure limbo, but that in the end,
the language in the order was ambiguous. "It's a very difficult
situation," Madigan said.
NO RESPONSIBILITY
Banks say that
because they are not the legal owners of these homes, they aren't
required to maintain them, pay taxes on them, or take any legal
responsibility for them. Homeowners legally own their properties until
the day of sale. And it's not until that day, the banks point out, that a
homeowner's name vanishes from the title.
David Volker found that
out the hard way. When the housing market crashed, so did Volker's
contractor business, and he was unable to keep up with payments on his
barn-like two-story house in Buffalo, N.Y. His mortgage servicer, HSBC,
foreclosed on the home in 2009. A few months later, while he was staying
with his girlfriend, he stopped by the house to find an HSBC padlock on
the doorknob and bank stickers plastered across the door.
Shattered
glass covered his front steps. When he crawled through a broken window,
he found the place trashed — by whom, he doesn't know. Even the toilets
were gone. Hearing nothing more from the bank, he figured the house was
no longer his.
The place continued to decay. Gutters tore loose
from the eaves. The yard turned into a dump for balding tires. Volker's
neighbors started complaining to the Buffalo Housing Court, which
eventually tracked down Volker at the rental where the 49-year-old was
living and ordered him to appear in court. That's when Judge Carney told
him that he was still the owner.
"I was stunned," Volker says. "I never for a moment thought I still owned this house."
Volker
worked with a realtor to try to get HSBC to take several short-sale
offers — deals under which the bank would allow Volker to sell the house
for less than the amount owed on it — but he says HSBC turned them
down. Since then, he's been asking the bank to agree to a deed in lieu,
whereby he would give the house back to the bank. So far, he hasn't been
able to make that happen.
He has $1,000 in water and trash bills and
faces up to $30,000 in demolition fees if the city decides his house is a
safety hazard and must be torn down.
HSBC declined to comment on
Volker's case, citing privacy concerns. In a statement, the bank said it
"has a strong commitment to home preservation and regards foreclosure
as a last resort, only after alternatives have been exhausted and the
borrower is seriously delinquent."
Cases against zombie-title
holders are rising due to everything from sewer bills to tilting
chimneys, and they are clogging the courts. In Milwaukee, Wis., about
900 cases in the foreclosure process involve zombie titles. In South
Bend, Ind., the number is 1,275, up from 600 in 2006. In Memphis, Tenn.,
cases have doubled in the past two years to 1,500.
In Cleveland,
15 percent of foreclosures between 2005 and 2009 stalled out in
foreclosure limbo, more than a third of them involving homeowners who
had fled foreclosure notices, according to the Case Western Reserve
study.
STATE ACTION
State tax authorities are getting into
the game, too. When IndyMac foreclosed on Richard Chavarry's house in
Victorville, Calif., in 2008, he had already relocated to Los Angeles to
escape the 80-mile commute to his job. The renters he had initially
relied on to help him keep up payments on the Victorville house were
long gone, too. But he had no idea that IndyMac canceled the sale in
October 2009. "They never notified me," Chavarry said.
Nearly two
years passed before Chavarry started getting citations in the mail for
code violations from the city of Victorville. In February, the
California Tax Board seized his $631 tax refund to pay the city back for
the costs of scrubbing graffiti, removing tumbleweeds and boarding up
the windows of Chavarry's house.
In March, Chavarry filed a deed
in lieu to try to get IndyMac, now owned by OneWest Bank, to take back
the house. The bank rejected it. Chavarry still owes the county $5,731
in back taxes and fees for housing-code violations.
IndyMac declined to comment.
Once
a bank walks away from a foreclosure, the real rot begins. Living rooms
turn into meth labs. Falling shingles menace passers-by. Squatters'
cooking fires turn into infernos. The latest iteration of the trend: gas
explosions.
Electric companies usually shut off the juice when
homeowners tell the utility they are moving. But natural-gas companies
usually don't. In recent months, abandoned homes have exploded in
Chicago, Cleveland and Bridgeport, Conn.. In all cases, foreclosed
homeowners had moved out. With no one home to smell the gas, it went
undetected — until the houses blew up.
"We are seeing more and
more close calls," says Mark McDonald, a former natural gas public
safety worker who now runs the New England Gas Workers Association.
"These houses are a formula for disaster."
Cities are struggling
to find ways to cope with growing numbers of blighted properties. Miami,
Detroit and Las Vegas have created registries intended to force banks
to take more responsibility for vacant houses.
The Mortgage
Bankers Association has opposed these measures. Placing "unreasonable"
and "onerous" requests upon servicers will only hurt the already ailing
mortgage-lending business, the association says on its website.
The association did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Registry
advocates say the banking industry's opposition has helped water down
some of those actions, such as a recently enacted Georgia law that
requires banks to register vacant properties only after a foreclosure
has been completed.
A vacant-property ordinance in Los Angeles
requires banks to register a house as soon as they file a default
notice. Failure to do so could result in a $1,000-a-day fee. However,
"it's not being enforced," says Los Angeles Assistant City Attorney Tina
Hess. "Part of the problem in L.A. is the building and safety
departments have been cut so severely they don't have the inspection
staff to monitor these properties."
"TO HELL AND BACK"
In
Columbus, Ohio, Joseph Keller recently paid a visit to the empty house
on Avondale Avenue. In the living room, the floor was littered with
dirty diapers, pill bottles, condoms, sooty mattresses and soda cans. In
the kitchen, squatters had hung pink curtains.
"They tore it to
hell and back," Keller said, kicking at a dirty mattress. "We never
would have left the home if we weren't told to get out."
The
Kellers live in their daughter's dining room, where their queen-size bed
leaves little room to maneuver. Joseph can't sit, stand or sleep for
more than 15 minutes at a time. He can't take pain medication because of
his diseased liver. Every few months, he makes a trip to the emergency
room, where doctors drain his abdomen of excess fluid.
Last May,
Chase's debt collector, Professional Recovery Services, sent Keller a
letter: "At this time," it said, "we are able to offer you a settlement
of $25,258.41 on this account to be paid within 15 days." He lacks that
kind of money, as well as the $11,759.08 he owes to the county in back
taxes.
Professional Recovery Services declined to comment.
At
a hearing in early December, a Social Security administrative judge
told the Kellers that he would review their appeal of the original
denial of benefits, a process that he said could take two months.
Joseph
Keller responded that he might not be around that long. Earlier this
month, the judge sent the case back to the local office after it
determined that the house was virtually worthless. Keller still has no
benefits.
A Social Security Administration spokesperson declined to comment on the case.
"He's dying," says Keller's daughter, Barbara. "He needs his name off this house."
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, sounding much like his father, the great orator
Mario, urged a
return to progressivism, with his state as an example.
Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, had two emotional fulcrums
in his sprawling 78-minute address: gun violence and Hurricane Sandy. But most
of the speech was devoted to an onslaught of proposals favored by the left wing
of his party.
He proposed increasing the minimum wage to $8.75
an hour from $7.25 an hour, public financing of elections, tougher greenhouse
gas standards, solar jobs programs, a $1 billion affordable housing initiative,
grants for schools that extend school days and a 10-point women’s rights program
that garnered loud applause for its provisions strengthening abortion rights
laws and enacting equal pay legislation.
“We are a community based on progressive
principles,” the governor said, in a speech to several hundred lawmakers and
guests at an auditorium in the Capitol complex. “We must remain that progressive
capital of the nation.”
The Daily Beast reveals that a rich Republican socialite is mad at the GOP as
Governor Christie continues to attack Congressional Republicans. MSNBC's
Lawrence O'Donnell discusses the GOP losing streak with MSNBC's Krystal Ball and
Steve Kornacki.
Hours after he was arrested for refusing to take off his shoes at a TSA checkpoint, Alex Jones lost his damn mind during an interview with Piers Morgan on Monday night. Jones, the conspiracy mad radio host who helped start the petition to have Morgan deported for his gun control advocacy, said all sorts of amazing insane stuff — it definitely merits watching in full — but here are some highlights.
When Morgan asked about the relatively low level of gun-related violence in Britain, Jones barely let him finish before launching into a bizarre rant that somehow managed to include references to Mao, Castro, Stalin and the recent gang rape in India.
Britain took the guns 15, 16 years ago. Tripling of your overall violent crime. True, we have a higher gun violence level, but overall, muggings, stabbing, deaths — those men raped that woman to India to death with an iron rod 4 feet long. You can't ban the iron rods. The guns, the iron rods, Piers, didn't do it, the tyrants did it. Hitler took the guns Stalin took the guns, Mao took the guns, Fidel Castro took the guns, Hugo Chavez took the guns, and I'm here to tell you, 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms! It doesn't matter how many lemmings you get out there in the street begging for them to have their guns taken. We will not relinquish them. Do you understand?
Jones then went on to insult Morgan's reputation, challenging him to a Chris Jones-esque fight.
Why did you get fired from the Daily Mirror for putting out fake stories? You're a hatchet man of the New World Order. You're a hatchet man! And I'm going to say this here, you think you're a tough guy? Have me back with a boxing ring and I'll wear red, white, and blue, and you'll wear your Jolly Roger.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy
careened through underground catacombs connecting the Capitol complex
Thursday, bumping into pockets of other wide-eyed freshmen lawmakers and
seasoned members.
He snagged his congressional pin and voting
card, prepped for his swearing in an hour later and awaited a swarm of
Murphy kin heading to his office.
Murphy's Communications Director Erin Moffet, a bit more tenured in the halls of Washington, caught a rookie mistake.
"Patrick,
your shoe is untied," said Moffet, formerly with U.S. Rep. Alcee
Hastings' office. Murphy shrugged it off, still grinning. "Don't get it
caught in the escalator," she sighed. He finally obliged.
Murphy,
who became the youngest member of Congress at 29 years old Thursday,
has chipped away at the normal freshman learning curve and chores —
figuring out his way around, setting up the office, picking up
paperwork, even taking one significant vote for Hurricane Sandy relief
money.
After a nationally prominent election tussle with Allen West , however, fellow Democrats want to help Murphy shine among the class of 84 newbies.
"Patrick
is a guy who is going to spark some new life," said freshman U.S. Rep.
Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach. "He's got good values, he's going to be
willing to work across the aisle and compromise, and I think that's
what the public wants now."
Opponents haven't formally lined up
yet, but Republicans are watching closely to see how well Murphy lives
up to that bipartisan billing in a divided House. In District 18, where
Republicans outnumber Democrats by 2 percentage points, the Jupiter
Democrat already is fundraising for anticipated 2014 opposition.
But
the same big Democratic congressional names that vouched for him during
the campaign — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Whip
Steny Hoyer, House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen and
more — are now helping Murphy on the Hill. Vice President Joe Biden even
showed up for Murphy's swearing-in party.
"Beating West
definitely helped put me on the radar screen for a lot of people," said
Murphy, an accountant and businessman. "But I think, beyond that, my
age, hopefully eagerness to learn, perhaps not as stubborn as some
members, (Democratic leaders) appreciate that."
Hoyer, a Maryland
lawmaker, guided Murphy through the committee selection process. The
result — Murphy landed a spot on the Committee on Financial Services,
his top choice.
"Those are very sought-after spots, so it's a
testament to the fact that Patrick is already held in good standing,"
said Van Hollen, D-Md.
The committee deals in securities,
housing, insurance and banking issues — all big issues for Martin, St.
Lucie and northern Palm Beach counties in his district. They also
provide lucrative fundraising opportunities, a perk because Murphy may
not be able to rely as much on anti-West money next election. West,
R-Palm Beach Gardens, hasn't publicized his political plans.
Just
after Christmas — days before West left office — Murphy still used West
as a fundraising backboard over his stance against the fiscal cliff
deal. His bout with West brought in more than $30 million among
candidates and outside groups, the most in any House race.
"By
giving to Patrick's campaign today, we can send a strong message to
Allen West that his juvenile behaviors aren't what we want in
Washington," the campaign said in a December fundraising email.
Murphy said he's also working to win supporters who specifically just wanted to see West lose.
"Being
on a committee, being in certain designated positions in Congress,
there are groups that want to support you as well," Murphy said. "I
don't know if it counters (not facing West), but it's definitely another
mitigating factor."
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, a Tequesta Republican
who left the Treasure Coast to clinch a central Florida district,
supported West when he decided to run in District 18. Both West and
Murphy moved to run on the Treasure Coast. At the Capitol last week,
Rooney met Murphy's family, and commended him for his reaction to the
fiscal cliff deal.
Murphy expressed frustration that the
closed-door deal didn't address the debt limit and spending cuts. The
two lawmakers already are planning to introduce a bill, possibly on
Everglades restoration.
"For a freshman, I've been impressed with
his ability to sort of say what he really believes, versus what Pelosi
wants him to say," Rooney said.
Murphy had President Bill
Clinton, former Gov. Charlie Crist, former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and more
politicos on his campaign's side. Rooney, who comes from another
politically connected big Irish family, said those connections can only
take Murphy so far.
Murphy's family runs Coastal Construction
Group in Miami, which has divvied up campaign contributions between
Democrats and Republicans. Rooney's family owns the Pittsburgh Steelers,
the Palm Beach Kennel Club and several bars.
"It's nice to have those guys (Clinton and Biden) at your parties, and you shouldn't be ashamed of that," Rooney said. "What Patrick needs to focus on right
now is learning the procedure of the House and the procedure of the
committees."
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Democrat from West Boca
Raton, said the big issues are overly politicized in the House. But
Murphy can still work with Republicans in a variety of topics that
aren't divisive, he said. For example, the House passed Deutch's bill
helping Chinese drywall victims New Year's Day. His co-sponsor was
Virginia Republican Rep. Scott Rigell.
"We just need to be able
to apply that to the bigger issues we face as a nation," Deutch said. "I
think having people like Patrick, with the experience and enthusiasm he
brings, will help us get there."
President Obama has already shown willingness to
reform Social Security and now Republicans are baiting him into including
benefit cuts in a deal to raise the debt ceiling. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,
joins Ed Schultz to explain what people can do to ensure Social Security is not
part of the latest economic deal-making in Washington.
NBC’s Mike Viqueira joins Martin Bashir to report on how Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.,
could vote for a flood relief bill for his own district – but not a similar bill
that will bring much-needed, albeit delayed, relief to Hurricane Sandy victims.
Philip Diehl, head of the U.S. Mint from 1994-2000, tells Capital New York that the minting of a trillion dollar coin to circumvent a fight over the debt ceiling is perfectly legal.
Diehl
was head of the Mint when the law giving authorization for such a move
was passed and says, "My understanding of how this all works suggests
that this is a viable alternative."
He added: "One of the ironies in this story is that a GOP Congress
passed the legislation over the objections of a Democratic Treasury, and
now, today, Treasury may well be in a position to use the law as
leverage to neutralize the GOP's threat to hold the debt limit hostage."
This afternoon, as the pomp of the 113th Congress's opening wound down, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall -- the freshmen behind filibuster reform -- sat reporters down to tell them of coming victory.
"Reform of the rules will be front and center when we return," said Udall, referring to the work Congress would do after the president's inauguration. "I don't think you should infer anything into the fact that we've delayed the vote. Momentum is on our side -- my uncle Mo used to refer to the 'big mo.'"
That was an ominous reference -- Mo Udall spoke of momentum right before losing key Democratic primaries -- but Udall confidentally spoke of "51" votes for reform in the reformers' pockets. Merkley would only refer to "48" votes, and Democrats have balked at saying who was still holding out. (Hint: Mark Pryor, Carl Levin, Joe Donnelly.) But when someone pointed that out, and asked whether a rival, weak bipartisan reform would stunt the plan, Merkley joined the confidence parade.
"Most serious reforms of the rules occur because the leader has 51 votes behind him," he said. "That's where Harry Reid is now. When I refered to 48, I was only referring to public whip counts. But Harry can say 'I have 51 votes with me.' That's what allows him to negotiate."
The rule changes in question were handed out to reporters; both senators averred that the "talking filibuster" was the hardest to build a majority for.
Eliminate the Filibuster on Motions to Proceed: Clears a path to debate by making motions to proceed not subject to a filibuster, but providing two hours of debate.
Require a Talking Filibuster: Forces Senators who filibuster to actually speak on the floor, greatly increasing public accountability and requiring time and energy if the minority wants to use this tool to obstruct the Senate.
Expedite Nominations: Reduces post-cloture debate on nominations from 30 hours to 2 hours, except for Supreme Court Justices (for whom the current 30 hours would remain intact).
Eliminate the Filibuster on Motions to Establish a Conference Committee: Reduces the steps to establish a conference committee from three motions to one, and limits debate the consolidated motion to 2 hours.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting really tired of
watching a bunch of extremely rich pundits sit around and tell the rest
of us that there just hasn't been enough shared sacrifice from the
working class, the elderly and the poor yet in order to solve our
deficit problem. But that's exactly what the viewers are treated to day
after day on MSNBC's three hour long Villager conventional wisdom
regurgitation-fest called Morning Joe.
This Wednesday was no exception and immediately following the
so-called "fiscal cliff" debacle coming to a conclusion, and the pundits
on there didn't miss a beat with demands that President Obama had
better get out there and use his bully pulpit to explain to the American
people that we're all just going to have to be willing to give a little
more in order for Republicans to not kill the hostage called the
world's economy over this upcoming debt ceiling standoff.
This week we had Tom Brokaw going on Meet the Press
and telling everyone that there's nothing wrong with raising the
retirement age for Social Security and telling the lie that Americans
are living longer. It's little wonder he'd have that view since he's not
ever going to have to worry about his retirement security. And yes,
rich people like himself are living to be older. Not so much for most of
the rest of us.
If these guys want to go on the air and pontificate about how we
ought to get a pound of flesh out of the working class, I think their
salaries and net worth ought to be displayed right under their names in
the chryon for the viewers. Maybe they'd feel a little differently about
their opinions.
I'm not sure what some of the others who were on there this Wednesday
like David Walker, Chuck Todd, Dan Senor, Richard Haas and Mark
Halperin are worth, but I'm pretty sure they're all being paid really
well and aren't worried about relying on Social Security for a
comfortable retirement as well. But every one of them was joining in on
carping about the deficit that none of them cared about it when Bush was
blowing holes in it a mile wide with tax cuts and wars that weren't
paid for. Deficits only matter when Democrats are elected as president.
And as far as Walker's claim that his group has gone around the
country and gotten a positive response from ordinary people as they
explained to them that they need to cut our social safety nets in order
to balance the budget, well, that's not the experience our own Susie Madrak had when she went to one of them. As she noted:
You know what most of them wanted to do? Soak the rich -- and cut defense spending. [...]
I thought maybe it was just my table, but when they tabulated the
results, it was pretty much the same throughout the crowded ballroom of
several hundred attendees.
And of course absent from this conversation was any discussion about
what to do to get Americans back to work. If we were at full employment
and had some sort of decent economic growth in the United States, this
deficit problem would take care of itself because we'd have more people
paying taxes.
They also keep pretending like Social Security adds to our deficit.
It doesn't and it has a surplus. And if they want to solve the problem
with Medicare, we need to fix our health care costs over all. We pay way
more than any other developed country with worse outcomes and putting
seniors into the private insurance market doesn't solve the problem. It
just shifts the costs around and drives them up. But you won't hear that
discussion while they're pounding their fists about lowing the deficit.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) "is signaling that at least one thing
will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: he's telling
Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with
President Obama," The Hill reports.
"During both 2011 and 2012, the Speaker spent weeks shuttling between
the Capitol and the White House for meetings with the president in the
hopes of striking a grand bargain on the deficit. Those efforts ended in
failure, leaving Boehner feeling burned by Obama and, at times,
isolated within his conference."
Instead, he'll try to "pass bills through the House that can then be adopted, amended or reconciled by the Senate."
Ending a climactic fiscal showdown in the final hours of the 112th
Congress, the House late Tuesday passed and sent to President Obama
legislation to avert big income tax increases on most Americans and
prevent large cuts in spending for the Pentagon and other government
programs.
The measure, brought to the House floor less than 24 hours
after its passage in the Senate, passed 257 to 167 with 85 Republicans
joining 172 Democrats in voting to allow income taxes to rise for the
first time in two decades, in this case for the highest-earning
Americans. Voting no were 151 Republicans and 16 Democrats.
![Real estate Foreclosure: Joseph Keller stands outside the kitchen door of his abandoned house in Columbus, Ohio, September 30, 2012. IMAGE]({"default":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/88/c38351c990b3deb48a8c79f2beb373_h366_w650_m6_lfalse.jpg","fill":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/88/c38351c990b3deb48a8c79f2beb373_h338_w600_m6_lfalse.jpg","mobilelandscape":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/88/c38351c990b3deb48a8c79f2beb373_h394_w640_m6_lfalse.jpg","mobileportrait":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/88/c38351c990b3deb48a8c79f2beb373_h315_w480_m6_lfalse.jpg"} "Real estate Foreclosure: Joseph Keller stands outside the kitchen door of his abandoned house in Columbus, Ohio, September 30, 2012. IMAGE (Reuters: Jay LaPrete)")
![Reuters]({"default":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/2a/321bc80602296aaecc416379f_h17_w0_m6_lfalse.jpg"} "Reuters"){kind=small}
![Real estate Foreclosure: Joseph Keller and his wife Jennifer stand on the porch of their abandoned house in Columbus, Ohio, September 30, 2012. IMAGE]({"default":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/b9/9a7536ec9fb4aba34de71134472_h0_w650_m6_lfalse.jpg","fill":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/b9/9a7536ec9fb4aba34de71134472_h0_w600_m6_lfalse.jpg","snap":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/b9/9a7536ec9fb4aba34de71134472_h0_w300_m6_lfalse.jpg"} "Real estate Foreclosure: Joseph Keller and his wife Jennifer stand on the porch of their abandoned house in Columbus, Ohio, September 30, 2012. IMAGE (Reuters: Jay LaPrete)")
![Real estate foreclosure: Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka looks on during court sessions in Cleveland, Ohio October 4, 2012. IMAGE]({"default":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/ea/ccfa5b5f342bee5ad7c1c54954c2b_h0_w650_m6_lfalse.jpg","fill":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/ea/ccfa5b5f342bee5ad7c1c54954c2b_h0_w600_m6_lfalse.jpg","snap":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/ea/ccfa5b5f342bee5ad7c1c54954c2b_h0_w300_m6_lfalse.jpg"} "Real estate foreclosure: Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka looks on during court sessions in Cleveland, Ohio October 4, 2012. IMAGE (Reuters: Aaron Josefczyk)")
![Real estate Foreclosure: The trashed and damaged dining room of Joseph and Jennifer Keller's abandoned house is pictured in Columbus, Ohio, September 30, 2012. IMAGE]({"default":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/8e/7a479426109d6d4f41e56cc4bef8ff_h0_w650_m6_lfalse.jpg","fill":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/8e/7a479426109d6d4f41e56cc4bef8ff_h0_w600_m6_lfalse.jpg","snap":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/8e/7a479426109d6d4f41e56cc4bef8ff_h0_w300_m6_lfalse.jpg"} "Real estate Foreclosure: The trashed and damaged dining room of Joseph and Jennifer Keller's abandoned house is pictured in Columbus, Ohio, September 30, 2012. IMAGE (Reuters: Jay LaPrete)")
![Real estate Foreclosure: Joseph Keller looks at the trash and damage in the attic of his abandoned house in Columbus, Ohio, September 30, 2012. IMAGE]({"default":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/5e/fe99102788b0ff5ab6afe3d5603b_h0_w650_m6_lfalse.jpg","fill":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/5e/fe99102788b0ff5ab6afe3d5603b_h0_w600_m6_lfalse.jpg","snap":"http://col.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/5e/fe99102788b0ff5ab6afe3d5603b_h0_w300_m6_lfalse.jpg"} "Real estate Foreclosure: Joseph Keller looks at the trash and damage in the attic of his abandoned house in Columbus, Ohio, September 30, 2012. IMAGE (Reuters: Jay LaPrete)")
