I didn't listen to the Rush Limbaugh show today, but I checked his website to see the highlights.
And one of the headlines, in his stack of stuff, was:
Story #1: Michelle Obama Causes Whoopi to Wet Herself
RUSH: Michelle (My Belle) Obama was on The View today, and Whoopi Goldberg wet herself. I am not making this up. Whoopi got so excited, she wet herself. "Rush, what can you possibly mean?" Very simple, ladies and gentlemen. She got so excited she spilled her drink cup all over herself. Now, watching replay highlights, let me check the audio sound bite roster. I'm not sure we have any; I'm not sure I want any. Let's see what we have here. Doesn't look like it. I'll betcha Cookie's in the process of breaking some down if she said anything interesting.
Now isn't that just disgusting? Rush Limbaugh constantly complains that he's quoted out of context, or paraphrased in order to be made to look bad... but of course he has no problem doing that to other people on his show.
To "wet yourself," is a phrase which makes people think that you've lost control of your bladder and urinated, and that's what Limbaugh is trying to make people think Whoopi did. But, no... turns out all she did was spill her water.
Hopefully Whoopi will visit Limbaugh in his tiny little studio (grandiosely called his "southern commmand") and spill some hot coffee all over him, see how he likes it.
Before I begin my entry, let me point out that I have no control over the google ads that appear on this site. Because I'll be talking about "loss mitigation" and "home foreclosure," you may very well see advertisements for loss mitigation companies pop up if you visit this article from a "discrete" link. And if you see them...my advice to you would be not to click on them.
Home foreclosures have been spiralling gradually out of control since 2006, thanks to sub-prime loans, Adjustable rate mortgages, and a variety of other factors. People needed to talk to their lenders in order to get a "loan workout" - some kind of an arrangment where their mortgage could be refinanced so that they could somehow afford their house and keep it. And because lenders are swamped, they're not reacting as quickly as they should be...and so lots of homes are falling by the wayside.
"If only there were some magical solution," the desperate homeowner cries...
And with every arise of desperation...people will come along to try to make money out of the situation.
The current business that is popping up like mushrooms after a rainstorm is the "loss mitigation" business. Businessmen have seen the profits that can be gained by charging homeowners money to talk to their lenders on their behalf. And if they're unable to obtain a loan workout...they still get to keep that money.
But who are these businessmen? Take a look at their websites. They will undoubtedly claim to have 20 years in the "loss mitigation" business, but .... most of them don't. Most of these companies were founded in the last 2 years, and consist of an army of sales people who will take phone calls and persuade people to use their company's services, and pay for it up front...and a handful of people who've attended a seminar or two on loss mitigation and who will call up your lender and try to get you a loan workout.... doing nothing that you couldn't do for yourself, and charging you a month or two's mortgage payment into the bargain.
(I've got to admit this puzzles me. If you can afford to pay some company the equivalent of two month's mortgage money up front...why not just pay that money to your lender and do a little bit to help yourself, instead?)
I'm not saying these companies are criminal enterprises (although there are scam artists out there). All I'm saying is that they aren't doing anything that you can't do yourself. If you simply don't have time to make phonecalls or talk to your lender, then I suppose you will want to deal with a third party who can handle that for you -- but if you do, at least make sure that they've been in business for at least two years - and demand to talk in person to people they've helped! Don't believe "testimonials" on their website.
How to find out how long a company has been in business? Again, don't trust their website. Check with your local better business bureau. Check with your local HUD or FHA office.
If you want to save your home from foreclosure, the thing to do is to tackle it in a logical and dispassionate manner.
1. If you get a loan workout, will you still be able to make your payments?
2. If you've got the equivalent of two months of mortgage payments, dont' give it to some total stranger. Visit your local lender and say, "Hey, pal. THis is incentive money. Get my deal done today." Okay, that's probably bribery, but it makes more sense to me than giving your much needed mortgage money to someone else who's only going to be making a couple of phone calls for you!
So, okay, don't bribe. Threaten with a lawsuit. There is lots of legislation coming down from the guv'mint designed to help lenders offer distressed homebuyers programs to help them. Demand that you be given time on your home payments until that legislation comes through, or you and a whole lot of other people being displaced from your homes will file a class-action lawsuit.
3. As a matter of fact, instead of giving that money to a loss mitigation person...find out if there's a real estate lawyer in your home town, and find out if they will take your case.... a lawyer walking into the bank is a lot more galvanizing to a lender than a phonecall from someone in a state way cross the country.
4. Grassroots organizations - for example in your church - are springing up also to help the home owner. Deal with them first, too.
EDUCATE YOURSELF
Some of you got into a mess because you had a catastrophic illness adn fell behind in your payments, and it's legitimately not your fault. Others of you just overspent your income, and you are to blame for your problems.
But there's no reason why you can't educate yourself, fix the problem now, LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES, and keep your home.
So go out and buy some books on the subject - you know they're going to be published like hotcakes now too... in fact - don't buy them, just check them out from the library, or check out the web.
Indeed, good ol' Youtube is full of videos of people either selling their services to save your property, or selling their services to help people with money by your property. Learn all the angles.
Here's an example:
I'm not recommending this person, this is just an example of what's on Youtube. Go to Youtube and do a search on "loss mitigation," and you'll find lots of stuff like this.
So, the decision is up to you.
1) Talk to your lender yourself, bringing all your financial documents with you, and get the problem solved yourself - and CONTINUE to make payments while you're waiting for a loan workout so you don't fall even further behind.
2) Find a legitimate loss mitigation company to help you. I'd suggest you find one in your own local area, so that you can visit their offices, and get the addresses of people whom they've actually helped save their homes. Make sure they have a Money back guarantee clause - and find out exactly how much of your money they'll give back if they fail to help you. (READ THE FINE PRINT ON THE CONTRACT, IT'LL PROBABLY SAY THEY GET TO KEEP A PERCENTAGE OF YOUR MONEY REGARDLESS.)
3) Try renting out a room to somebody...or indeed, renting out the whole home and using that rent money to pay your mortgage... You'll need to talk to a lawyer, and treat that rental like a business...but it's a possiblity (especially now when people who've had to leave their own homes now need a place to stay!) Of course lingering feelings of bitterness or anger might place your home in jeopary so you'll want to vet any renters and get damage deposits, but I'm just throwing it out there as an option....
3) Know your own capabilities. If you cannot afford to keep your home...then there's no point in hiring a loss mitigation company to help you, because they won't be able to help you - but that still won't stop them taking your money and "trying" to help you.
Indeed - don't deal with any loss mitigation company that doesn't "pre-qualify" you over the phone to make sure they at least have a chance of getting a loan workout for you. If they charge you money to "pre-qualify" you - go somewhere else!
I appreciate that the home foreclosure problem is going to get worse before it gets better... and I know the emotional toll this is placing on you. But if you educate yourself as to your options, persuade a non-working spouse who is able to work to get a job, etc. etc. you will be able to keep your home .... and reap the benefits that home ownership has....
This is a very effecting video. In the first place, obviously, because it's reciting the career of an important man who was only 58 years when he died, after a vacation to Europe to celebrate his son's graduation... but also because you can tell Tom Brokaw is close to tears throughout the entire tribute.
Below is a video of Barack Obama saying he'll meet John McCain or George Bush anywhere, anytime to talk about military policy:
Here's an article from CBS News: Obama won't appear at "unmoderated" townhall meetings. WHere he wont have teleprompters or speech writers telling him what to say.
In surfing through Youtube to see if there's a video of Michelle Obama using the term "whitey", I found one vidoe that had that title...it had been uploaded a week ago, was seen by 25,000 people, and had been "removed by user". So who knows what it really was.
Year after year, decade upon decade, the U.S. Senate's network of restaurants has lost staggering amounts of money -- more than $18 million since 1993, according to one report, and an estimated $2 million this year alone, according to another.
The financial condition of the world's most exclusive dining hall and its affiliated Capitol Hill restaurants, cafeterias and coffee shops has become so dire that, without a $250,000 subsidy from taxpayers, the Senate won't make payroll next month.
See link for complete article
If I understand this article correctly, we, the American tax payers, have paid $18 million since 1993 to cover the payments to the food service workers, because the restaurants have been run so incompetently that if they'd been "real" restaurants, they would have gone out of business ages ago.
This is interesting:
In a letter to colleagues, Feinstein said that the Government Accountability Office found that "financially breaking even has not been the objective of the current management due to an expectation that the restaurants will operate at a deficit annually."
And, then, of course, this typical thinking:
"I know what happens with privatization. Workers lose jobs, and the next generation of workers make less in wages. These are some of the lowest-paid workers in our country, and I want to help them," Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a staunch labor union ally, said recently. The wages of the approximately 100 Senate food service workers average $37,000 annually.
Is a $37,000 income "among the lowest in the country"? I'm thinking that there are a lot of people who make a lot lower than that.
And in any even what does it matter? We taxpayers pay enough of our money to politicians to subsidize their lavish life styles without paying even more money to subsidize their food.
And its these people who can't even run a food service properly who want to take over health care? The oil companies?
The US is in sad shape and its only going to get worse until tax payers stand up for their rights. Politicians should not be able to vote themselves raises, still less make them retroactive.
Well, Limbaugh aired two clips today of Obama completely losing his train of thought while talking on a couple of issues.
Well...did he do it because he hasn't been getting much sleep, or because he doesn't really know the subject he's talking about?
And, will Obama's followers care one way or the other?
Iraq:
"Inhalators"
And true to form, the Obama supporters who post on the YouTube Comments section on each of these videos, has absolutely no problem with his imcomprensability.
I said that Sean Hannity had no tape of Michelle Obama saying something stupid that would cost her husband the election, and that he was a hypocritical weasel for saying on his program, "I know that I've always promised to be upfront and honest with you, my audience, and I am going to be upfront and honest, and say that I'm not going to say if I have such a tape.
Well, it's 3.17 pm on Tuesday, June 2, 2008, and after 5 minutes of building up his big story that the rumors had been growing that he, Sean Hannity, had a tape that would break Obama's campaign, he says, "I've always promisted that I'll be upfront and honest with you, my audience, and so I'm going to tell you that no, I don't have such a tape nor have I ever heard such a tape. And I had to tell you that, so please stop calling and emailing."
And I've got to confess that Hannity's credibility should now sink into the toilet. He never had such a tape, and if it had been a tape about one of the Republicans, Hannity would have been the first to scream that whoever was holding the tape (if the rumor had been that a Democrat had it) should release it immediately.)
But he spins it out and spins it out, and now today he confesses he has no such tape, and I gotta tell you - he has just made himself look really stupid.
But, just as Obama supporters won't abandon Obama despite his frequent gaffes, ditto Clinton supporters, ditto the supporters of probably every politician...despite Hannity's revelation today that his entire "Obama tape" was a hoax and that he IN NO WAY was honest and upfront with his audience.
He's trying to pass it off as a joke...the joke's on him.
I am the creator of the science fiction series The Coldest Equations, featuring The Labyrinth Makers and The People Out There, available on the Kindle.
