Your News Dissector Goes To Washington: NACA Helping Home Owners Big Time

July 18th, 2008 - by: danny

I arrived in our super hot Capital City to attend NACA’s anti-foreclosure event at the Capital Hilton. A Washington Post columnist praised the counseling and restructuring of mortgages they plan for the weekend (5000 homeowners have signed up so far) as something that should have been done a long time ago:

“The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America is doing something that should have been done a long time ago.

Beginning this Saturday, the nonprofit housing advocacy organization will host a free, five-day “Save the Dream of Homeownership” event here in Washington where people can get immediate help restructuring their troubled mortgage loans.

Homeowners won’t have to wait weeks for a callback from their loan servicers. They won’t have to fret and fuss — and in some cases cuss — to get a mortgage servicing company to listen to their pleas to save their homes from foreclosure.

“We’ll be able to provide real solutions,” said Bruce Marks, NACA’s chief executive.

This event was clearly relevant to the Ethiopian born cab driver who picked me up at Union Station. He shared his mortgage woes with me and promised to turn up.

I just missed Al Gore’s speech which was greeted enthusiastically as an environmental sermon

David Stout reports for The New York Times, “Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of electric power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.”

ON DEMOCRACY NOW

Before I left New York, I appeared with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez on Democracy Now. We spoke about Nelson Mandela who turns 90 Friday. Have a listen if you missed it.

WHAT MANDELA SAYS TODAY (From AlJazeera)

Mandela speaks out for the poor: Mandela will mark his birthday at home

Nelson Mandela has bemoaned the growing gap between rich and poor in his country as he marked his 90th birthday.

“There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty,” South Africa’s first black president said.

The anti-apartheid hero said he was fortunate to have reached 90 but added that “poverty has gripped our people”.

“If you are poor, you are not likely to live long,” he told reporters on Friday at his rural home in the Eastern Cape province.

Mandela’s family will later hold a private party there for his birthday, which is also the same day as the 10th anniversary of his marriage to third wife Graca Machel.

WE ALSO DISCUSSED THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

The brilliant economist Max Fraad Wolf explained the Fannie Mae mess and I discussed my forthcoming book Plunder out soon from Cosimo. Thanks to all who saw the program and who wrote in with kind comments. Click here for more on the book.

A BREAKTHROUGH ON IRAN?

Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner who has been tracking the Iran issue closely is not relieved by the announcement that Washington will send a diplomat to Tehran:

I’m sorry to say I don’t share sense of the excitement about a change of course for the White House on Iran. Burns’ presence in Tehran and the talk of opening an interest section may be temporary victories for Secretary Rice, but I don’t think they represent a true change in direction.

I’m told by a European network who has a stringer in Tehran that a result of the weekend meeting will probably be an agreement by Iran to suspend enrichment. Iran has previously talked about doing that for six weeks. By having Burns at the meeting, the White House can take some credit for a policy success. If the meeting were only the Europeans, it would be a European success.

To quote Prime Minister Olmert after his June meeting with the President, “George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on the matter before the end of his term in the White House.”

The Olmert statement is also important in understanding what we are seeing. Olmert and many Israeli leaders would obviously be nervous if the White House were moving to a new position. I’m struck by how silent the Israelis have been over the meeting. I think their silence means they know we are not seeing a major change of direction.

Olmert used the term “vanquished.” That is important. Recall, we now know that the President has recently approved a massive increase in clandestine and covert operations against the Iranians. Over the next months we will see more consequences of that approval.

Which hand has the nickel in it? I still think it is the clenched fist.

ANOTHER VIEW: FALL SURPRISE?

Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst who briefed presidents, a man of great integrity and conscience who has supplanted the initials “MSM” for mainstream media with the more appropriate “FCM,” for Fawning Corporate Media. His latest briefing for us follows.

Israel Planing a September/October Surprise?

By Ray McGovern

No one who knows about third rails in US politics would expect the candidates or the fawning corporate media (FCM) to address how those now running Israel are likely to be looking at the implications of a large US troop withdrawal from Iraq next year.

HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION

Dau’d X Mohammed writes about the media news “stars” who will travel with Obama on his Foreign Tour

“Brian Williams, Charles Gibson and Katie Couric, right up there with Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears and Pammie Anderson.

The real story here is that the McCain campaign goaded Barack into the overseas trip in the first place.

GRIT TV

Barbara Holliday, a great singer from my daze in Boston, writes from Vermont:

Just wanted to say you were great on Grit TV! It was so good to see you.

Everything you said was accurate, it’s amazing how stubborn people become in their thought patterns and how unwilling to see what’s right in front of them. I thought the woman from Air America was great also, you were very gentlemanly in your support and one could see you have true affection and respect for her (the most important).

Didn’t look like you liked Hendrik too much, he’s a slick dude.

Did you see Jon Stewart’s take on the whole cover issue?? Very, very funny and very true.

Also, how was Dubai?? One of the young bands I mentioned (The Terrordayctls if you hear of them playing in the city, they also work on children’s tv shows!) that has a true old fashioned “hit” song, is the son of Medando Cadiz who works for the prince of Dubai as his architect…. that huge building is his and palm island (I think). In any case, indoor ski slopes aside, Dubai the new home of halliburton as well. It must have been an interesting trip!

A WORD FROM TULI

For old times sake, and maybe to further annoy those among you who feel that there is only one issue worth commenting or blogging about- Dem v Repug presidential politics – I close this brief post with a song by the oldest hipster still grooving, Tuli Kupferberg, one of the founders of the FUGS, that Lower East Side band of yippie satirists. Talk about an “Act.”

That’s all I have time for. Have a great weekend.

By all means check out the site Common Ills for hard hitting analysis and share you comments with me at dissector@mediachannel.org

The News Dissector