I heard an interesting fact regarding foreclosures on the Randi Rhodes show a few months ago. That fact keeps showing up more and more. Evidently, as many as half of the mortgages out there don't have the original signed paperwork to back up the banks' legal right to foreclose. So if you are going into foreclosure, ask the bank to produce the paperwork. If they can't, don't leave your house because you are in a very strong position to re-negotiate your mortgage.

The courts are deciding that if a bank can't produce the physical paperwork, it cannot foreclose.

What will be the impact of the missing mortgage documents when added to the pile of "toxic" assets? Are they already considered toxic because they are going into foreclosure? Or will it take them out of the toxic category because the homeowner is in such a strong position to re-negotiate and get the mortgage back on the books as an asset that is generating income? If that's the case, the patriotic thing is to make the bank produce the paper and re-negotiate.

Update: Feb 3, 2009 5:07 PM

     International Ombudsman Institute and the Republican National Committee merger called off.

     Citing philosophical differences and an inability to decide which group's name would get first billing, the IOI and RNC have ceased negotiations to combine operations.
 
     Michael Steele, newly elected head of the RNC said, "We thought they were the International Bombudsmen Institute, a perfect fit for us. When we found out they were actually an organization who stands up for the little people, we fired our people who wanted this merger.  We want a new face for the Republican party, but we are talking strictly cosmetic."

     Bill Angrick, president of the IOI said, "We were excited because we thought the RNC wanted to transform the party and give working and middle class Americans a voice. When we were trying to come up with a catchy new name for the merged organizations' sign, they [the RNC] insisted on top billing. When one of our staffers suggested that we alternate the letters in our acronyms and she came up with I R O N I C, we decided it was a sign all right, and ceased negotiations."

After he was elected as head of the RNC, Michael Steele said "We want you to be a part of us, we want you to work with us, and for those of you who want to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over."
"It is going to be an honor to spar with him [Obama]," Steele said. "And I would follow that up with: How do you like me now?"

The angry black man is a Republican. How ironic.

Imagine if Obama had said anything like that. He got the right's panties in a knot when all he said was "I won".

And to [gleefully] take Mr. Limbaugh out of context,  "is about race, R-A-C-E, it is about race, and you can quote me."

You got it.

     Just how much does the lifestyle of the average American hasten the tipping point for global climate change? The tipping point being that point beyond which we cannot get the genie back in the bottle.
     Last winter my wife and I spent the night at a 50 acre permaculture community in Argentina. http://www.gaia.org.ar/english/iinstituto.htm I was very impressed with this sustainable community. They use cutting edge solar and wind energy strategies as well as low tech solutions to create a very comfortable lifestyle for themselves.
     Something I got from them was that the slogan "Save the Planet" doesn't make sense. The planet will be fine, it was fine when it was a molten ball of lava. The conversation should be "Save the Human Beings"
     After we left I started thinking about ways to push back the tipping point. What changes in my lifestyle might delay the environmental tipping point by even one second? Can one person change their lifestyle so they could give human beings one more second or even one more minute to work on saving ourselves?
     The world population is approaching seven billion. More than half live in poverty making less than $2 a day. The biggest impact most of those people could make might be by having fewer children. How much would zero population growth put back the tipping point?  Those folks can't change their light bulbs or adjust the thermostats [a whole other conversation].
     The people who can make the biggest difference right now are those of us who live in the developed world.
     According to the 2008 World Population Data Sheet, http://www.prb.org/pdf08/08WPDS_Eng.pdf, issued by the Population Reference Bureau, about 18% of us live in the "more developed" segment of the world, roughly 1.2 billion of us.  5% of the world population or 300 million live in the United States. We in the US account for 23% of worldly energy use each year. Said differently, the 5% of the world's population that lives in the U.S. has more environmental impact than the 51% that live in the other five largest countries.
     I actually see an opportunity in those statistics. Our actions in the US have a greater proportionate impact on the problem of climate change than the actions of those in other countries.
     If each American added one more second to the time before we reach a climate change tipping point, how much time would that be? There are a little more than 300,000,000 Americans, so 300,000,000 seconds = 5,000,000 minutes = 83,333 hours = 3472 days = 9.5 years. Would that make a difference? We went from a standing start to putting a man on the moon in only 10 years.
     I don't even know if one person could change their lifestyle in such a way that it would give humanity one more second to save itself. If it is possible, how about one more minute? 300,000,000 minutes = 5,000,000 hours = 208,333 days = 570 years.
     What kind of actions would make any difference? I imagine there are lots of things that we don't even think of. I started shaving with a mug and brush about 20 years ago. How many cans of shaving cream did I save? I never thought about it until I went to that community in Argentina. I have been looking for double edged razor blades in the store to replace the cartridges I use now, they don't carry them. Online I found 100 stainless blades for $17 delivered. I could shave for a year for $20 bucks and have hardly any garbage.
     At home my wife and I eat food that our grandmothers would recognize.  As a result we eat a lot of food cooked from scratch that doesn't make a lot of garbage. We didn't start cooking at home to save humanity. We cook like that because we like our own cooking. Again, I never though much about it until we were at that permaculture community.
     I know I get more than 15% better mileage when I drive 55 instead of 70. I also notice that when I am going 55, the same drivers pass me all day long. We probably go about the same distance in a day.
     None of that seems like much, and yet certainly makes some tiny fractional difference. Can we make enough of a difference to save us humans? I don't know, but I know if we don't try, the planet will be fine, it just may not be habitable by us.