Also from the article: NO CIVCAS. Maybe in six months or a year we'll get another set of before and afters.

Well, Jacob Davies, that's why some critics of the US' ABM effort (I guess the new acronym is BMD) describe it as de-stabilizing or not purely defensive. The system is not much good against a bunch of incoming ballistic missiles; it's easily overwhelmed. But if it's only tasked with stopping one or two or three missiles... Improves the odds. It would still be a hell of a gamble.

With the quotes all bundled together, what it looks like now is Greenwald getting cute with the qualifiers depending on his rhetorical needs. I don't think that kind of expediency is new territory for him.

Why would it be odd for a PR-type person not to have first hand knowledge of the detainee's condition?

The Cossacks work for the Tsar. Or in this case, Democratic Party Ineptitude works for ... somebody.

That explains it for the servicers, Jacob Davies. But not so much for the Banks and the MBS investors. Ugh's excerpt way above (@November 15, 2010 at 04:27 PM): This explains alot: If you pay less than the whole amount, JP Morgan is now obligated to pay the trust the remainder out of its own pocket. When you fall behind, your bank falls behind, too. The only way it gets off the hook is if the house is foreclosed on and sold. Under normal circumstances, banks aren't willing to let lawyers go into court and file false and fraudulent documents willy-nilly on the banks' behalf. However, if the alternative is the complete decimation of the bank itself they may be willing to hold their nose and look the other way while the lawyers do so, and then act surprised when the news comes to light. Also explains why Fannie and Freddie were using robo-signers, they made the same guarantee to their mortgage trusts. reminds us that the foreclosure risk is borne by the investors (that was the whole point of the exercise -- move risk out of the banks and spread it around). So that would put Banks + Servicers on one side and Investors + Mortagees on the other. Somehow Congress will find a way to bring the three entities that matter into agreement on an equitable solution.

Anyhow. If I were choosing, I'd choose the one in which the President falls of his Segway. Can't get more everyman than that. Oh hey! Is that the couch he fell off when he choked on a pretzel?

Not sure what's up with the wikipedia image. The one at the National Gallery is the one referenced above.

Thanks, Ugh. I've been wondering where the incentives were, here (beyond the servicers' desire to process as many foreclosures as they can, as cheaply as they can).

The majority of the cuts come from spending because it's the spending that is the problem... Well that's why you're not seeing as much denunciation from the right. The report agrees with the right's (and apparently your) definition of the problem.

If someotherdude had meant to say that Republicans are "racist fascists" he would have said so, Slartibartfast. Surprised to see a stickler for the difference between what's been said and what's been inferred, such as yourself, take that line. I agree, however, that "ethno-nationalist reactionaries" could use some unpacking.

Arnie's a special case, wj. If the CA GOP could put up non-nut cases in general elections, it wouldn't be the CA GOP. The Attorney General race is still undecided (with the Democrat, Kamala Harris, currently leading).

We'll know if the Democrats learned their lesson if Tim Kaine -- the Blue Doggish Southern Governor who replaced Howard Dean as Democratic Party National Chairman -- loses his job as a result of yesterday's debacle.

I am definitely not convinced such planning is taking place. I'm not sure Mrs Clinton really cares about withdrawal planning one way or another since I'm pretty sure that if she's elected, she won't be ordering any such thing. Redeployment away from the FOBs, maybe. Troop reductions down to logistical support for ourselves and the Iraqis, some training types, some force protection, and a few combat/special forces types to go after the higher value targets. But other than that, Bush & Co have gotten us good and stuck in Iraq, and for a good long time.