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Today, Committee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) delivered the following prepared remarks for the Border and Maritime Security subcommittee hearing entitled "Border Security Threats to the Homeland: DHS' Response to Innovative Tactics and Techniques"
"Today, the Subcommittee is examining the Department of Homeland Security's response to tactics used by smugglers and traffickers who seek to cross our Nation's borders.
The Department of Homeland Security has made unprecedented efforts to better secure our borders in recent years, with the support of Congress.
In response, cartels and other criminal organizations are exploiting different methods to bring their contraband into this country.
For example, these organizations may seek to use semi- or fully- submersible vessels to move their narcotics from the source zones in Latin America closer to their destination in the U.S. They may build or exploit existing border tunnels to evade the Border Patrol and secret their drugs into the country.
Or they may seek to bring drugs into the U.S. via boat from Mexico, landing on the coast of California rather than risking detection attempting to come across the land border.
It is important to understand the various methods being used by these smuggling and trafficking organizations, to try to stay a step ahead of them.
At the same time, it is worth stating that many of these so-called "innovative" tactics and techniques are neither new nor unknown to DHS and other law enforcement.
Furthermore, these tactics represent only a small part of the smuggling and trafficking threat to the U.S.
The overwhelming majority of illegal narcotics still enter the U.S. either hidden in vehicles or on individuals coming through our ports of entry, or are smuggled through traditional means between the ports of entry.
DHS needs to combat these unusual tactics, but must also keep them in perspective if we are to be successful in addressing the broader problem.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about how their agencies are working to address border security threats, with an emphasis on the communication and coordination among agencies.
I am particularly pleased to have Admiral Michel of Joint Interagency Task Force -- South with us today.
I have had the opportunity to be briefed at JIATF-South and see the work the men and women of that interagency organization are doing in conjunction with their counterparts at DHS and across the Federal government.
I look forward to an update on their efforts and a frank discussion about the challenges they face.
Finally, I would note that I was disappointed that Gen. Michael Kostelnik, the Assistant Commissioner for CBP Air and Marine, is not appearing at today's hearing as originally planned.
One of the key ways DHS has attempted to respond to border security threats over the last decade is through the acquisition and deployment of costly Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs).
I had hoped to discuss with Gen. Kostelnik some rather troubling conclusions reached by the DHS Inspector General in a recent report on CBP's use of UASs and their usefulness along our borders.
It is my understanding that he will instead appear before another of the Committee's Subcommittees later this week, at which time I hope to address this important issue with him."
Source: http://chsdemocrats.house.gov/Hearings/index.asp?ID=400


text:
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Booking sample of cheap direct flights from Rome to China (Xi´An, Chongqing) from €336! In this case you would depart from Italy to China on 25th of February 2017. Your return flight from Congqing back to Europe would be two weeks later on 11th of March 2017.

subset: commoncrawl


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text:
The Coming of Cassidy- And the Others
Mulford, Clarence E. , Maynard Dixon(illus.)
Place Published: Chicago
Publisher: A. C. McClurg & Co.
Date Published: 1913
Edition: Early edition
Binding: Hardcover
Book Id: 17813
438pp. Octavo [21 cm] Tan cloth with red ink stamped titles and brief brown ink stamped vignettes on the spine and front cover. Very good condition. The edges of the covers are lightly rubbed and bumped. The spine is rolled. There is a small scuff mark on the bottom edge of the text block. There is a contemporary gift inscription on the front pastedown. Pages mildly browned.
Maynard Dixon's mentor, Charles Lummis, encouraged Dixon at the beginning of his painting career to leave California, and "travel East to see the real West". Maynard Dixon did just that, traveling through Montana, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. These trips provided Maynard Dixon with the inspiration to create. He was perpetually drawn to the scenes and peoples inhabiting these remote western lands.


text:
Imperial College London
Human Molecular Genetics
This course provides students with a broad grounding in human genetics, with emphasis on molecular aspects; it is aimed mainly at science graduates seeking careers in research into human gene function and genetic factors in human disease, molecular and cytogenetic approaches to diagnosis, or healthcare biotechnology; the course is flexible and is updated regularly to reflect important advances in human genetics.
Entry requirements
A UK Honours degree (minimum 2.2) in a relevant subject (normally biological or biochemical sciences, genetics or related subjects, medical or nursing degrees may also be considered) or overseas equivalent; all applicants whose 1st language is not English require: GCSE, IGCSE, GCE O-level or equivalent at grade C; or Cambridge certificate of proficiency in English (CPE) at grade C; or IELTS score of 7.0 with a score of 6.5 or better in the written and speaking section; or TOEFL paper minimum score of 610 (test of written English (TWE) of 4.5 or more); or TOEFL computer minimum score of 250 (TWE of 4.5 or more); or TOEFL internet minimum score of 100 overall, including a minimum of 24 in the written section and a minimum of 22 in the speaking section.
Course modules
Modules include: Fundamentals of human molecular genetics; approaches to study of human genetic disease; cytogenetics and molecular diagnostics; monogenic and complex disease; statistical genetics and computing; animal models; cancer genetics and immunogenetics; and introduction to clinical genetics.
Assessment methods
Assessment is by coursework, written examinations, project, viva voce examination.
|Study mode
|Start month
|Course duration
|£ 9,500 per Whole course (home fees)
|1 years
|£ 29,100 per Whole course (overseas fees)
|1 years
Campus details
|Campus name
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|South Kensington Campus
|Kensington and Chelsea
|South East
Get in touch
Remember to mention TARGETpostgrad when contacting universities.
Key information
Telephone number:
020 7594 6515


text:
Maxwell Street Days 2017
September 3, 2017
View Website Favorite (11) Firemen's Park
Washington Ave - Cedarburg, WI 53012
Washington Ave - Cedarburg, WI 53012
Information: 262-377-8412
A Cedarburg Volunteer Fire Department tradition for more than 40 years, there are four Maxwell Street Days per year. You'll find more than 700 spaces filled with antiques, collectibles, crafts, produce, sports and rummage, plus food, beverages and music.
Choose Your List(s)
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- Flea Market
Nearby Places
Milwaukee Curling Club Cedarburg - 0.09 miles away
Farmers Market Wednesdays Cedarburg - 0.16 miles away
Chiselled Grape Winery Cedarburg - 0.44 miles away
Gem Shop, The Cedarburg - 0.45 miles away
Amish Craftsmen Guild II Cedarburg - 0.45 miles away
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Leap of Faith Studio/Gallery Cedarburg - 0.46 miles away
TLC Casuals & A Little Pizzazz Cedarburg - 0.47 miles away
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text:
Carrot and Ginger Soup
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Sandra Butler - UK Chef - You can also do this recipe with beetroot.
Author: Sandra Butler
Serves: 4 servings
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled & chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled & crushed
- 1 level tsp mustard powder
- 2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled & grated
- freshly ground black pepper
- pinch of salt
- 1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
- 6 medium carrots, peeled & chopped
- 2 tablespoons parsley, roughly chopped
- natural soy yoghurt to serve
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and soften the onion and garlic with the mustard powder, ginger, pepper and salt, adding 2 or 3 tablespoons stock after a minute or so. After another 2 -3 minutes, add the carrots, stirring well.
- Pour in the rest of the stock, bring to the boil, then cover and leave to simmer for 40 minutes.
- When it is ready, whiz the soup until smooth in a blender, or using a hand-held stick blender in the pan.
- Stir in the chopped parsley, saving a little for garnish and reheat the soup gently if you need to.
- When serving, swirl a spoonful of yoghurt through each portion.
- Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.


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Treasury Done 'Very Little' to Fix Gov't Foreclosure Prevention Program, Says Watchdog
Making the argument that the Treasury Department has done "very little" to improve a foreclosure prevention program that has failed to meet its goals, the government's TARP watchdog testified at a hearing on Wednesday that the case for keeping the program alive has worn thin and is "all but exhausted" [PDF].
We've documented many of the major weaknesses in the government's loan modification program—not least of which is its failure to hold banks accountable for withholding permanent loan modifications from struggling homeowners that the program was intended to help.
House Republicans are now considering a bill to end the troubled program. As the Washington Post reports, consumer advocacy groups have argued for fixing the program rather than ending it at a time when so many homeowners still need housing help.
That's also what the program's watchdogs have advocated—though they're now voicing doubts that Treasury will make any meaningful fixes.
"Treasury, it seems, stands alone in defending the status quo," testified Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the TARP program. Barofsky noted that last month, a Treasury official attended a Mortgage Bankers Association conference to discuss enhancements to the loan modification program and said there would be no "major new programs coming out."
"We may tweak around the edges," HousingWire reported the official as saying.
The Treasury Department has continued to defend the program, arguing that while the program has fallen short of its goals, it has still helped modify about 600,000 mortgages. Ending the program, Treasury has argued, would hurt the housing market.
"It would cause a huge amount of damage to a very fragile housing market and leave hundreds and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans without the chance to take advantage of a mortgage modification that would allow them to stay in a home they can afford," Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said yesterday.
Geithner may be right about one thing. As our data shows, by the end of last year, the program had given nearly 1.5 million households "a chance" of a mortgage modification through a trial modification. For most, that chance never turned developed into permanent help.
61 comments
As much as I don't like the HAMP program, removing it totally is only a "fix" for the plutocrats on Wall Street. I've about had it with this colossal attack on the American Middle Class.
Go ahead. Cancel it instead of fixing it. Want to get people to march in the streets? Do nothing and that is what will happen. Actually there will be no option because there will be multitudes with no place to live.
But before you do, remember to also cancel all healthcare for members of congress and while you are at it throw in the Supreme Court. Put all members of congress on an hourly wage, and remove all of their perks. Then require them to fly coach on all flights, and to have a witness with them at all times when talking to a lobbyist.
I could go on and on. I am completely and utterly disappointed in this country. What a sham we have made of democracy. What a sham.
I'm a bit confused. Isn't Treasury a part of the Executive Branch? Does the President no longer head the Executive Branch? Has Treasury suddenly become a stand alone entity that does as it wishes?
If Treasury is still part of the Executive Branch, then the conclusion has to be that the President either cannot control his branch of government, or, more likely, he just doesn' care, and the program was just cynical manipulation of the middle class. Let's face it folks, Wall Street, Banking, and the wealthy own the Democrats just as they do the Republicans.
Indeed B C "what a sham" it is. I will be ready to march for the good of the people who are suffering waiting for help that will never arrive. I was one of these people asking for help last year and now I look back and I realize I never had a chance.
The asses that run Wall st and the bureacrats who run Washington are a bunch of con artists.
B C I cant be more eloquent then you:
"I could go on and on. I am completely and utterly disappointed in this country. What a sham we have made of democracy. What a sham"
The House Financial Services Committee pushed back debate for two bills that would terminate the Home Affordable Modification Program and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to next week. They did vote today to cancel NSP and EHLP programs.
Folks, WE CAN NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!!!!!
I have been a Republican my whole life - in the House attempt to get control of the deficit they are doing the wrong thing. If HAMP is canceled the homeowners of America will be at the mercy of the Bank/servicers. The Courts will be the last option and we are not even sure of those legal strategies yet.
I will post again in a few hours with the link to the blog of "This Egyptian Thing" with a full strategy and plan of attack. TET as we call it will be changed to Save Our Homes or S.O.H.
I am not kidding folks, we have to act now… We need a massive effort from everyone; from here, beingmiddleclass, foreclosure hamlet and any other place.
This vote today to cancel NSP and EHLP is only the start. Even though this is only a Committee vote in the House on these two programs, and still must go to the floor than the Senate- we can not let HAMP be canceled. Yes it needs to be fixed which we are proposing but to end it will put everyone's fate in the hands of the bank.
Lets not waste energy bashing the Republicans rather we need to gather as many people as possible. We need a concerted effort to let the Committee members know we will not put up with putting all modification authority completely in the hands of the Banks/servicers.
Will be back later.
Does anyone know WHY all of the trial mods are not
being turned into permanent mods?
I've been offered a trial mod, and I'm examining the
"fine print" to see how they can legally NOT give me
an acceptable PERMANENT mod if I pay all trial payments
in a timely manner…suffice to say I had to raise hell
just to get a trial mod offer…a hurricane of faxes, emails,
snail mails, etc.,shake their tree like a crazy person just
to get them to notice me!
To be continued…
P.S….as I said before in a previous comment on another related propublica article: BANKS OWN CONGRESS!
Our only salvation will be to fight
this crap with anything we can think of…believe it or not, the laws are on our side…we just have to find those laws and start litigation to make them wake up and get nervous enough to really do something for all these people that have been so damaged by the government/banks/wall street ponzi schemes…!
Karen-You bring up an excellent question. One that myself and my third party guy spoke of this a.m. I am just a few weeks away from one year of trying to obtain a mod with BoA. They finally answered me 2 weeks ago with a false denial…now in appeal stage. I could write a book concerning all the horror stories. Even have a retired FBI agent who will confirm some of the conversations, credit fraudulantly DESTROYED etc. (without even offer of trial). We have come to conclusion that the banks played this program like a fiddle. Reason many trials were drawn out so that when banks eventually told homeowners they didn't qualify, they were then able to collect late fees, penalties, etc. plus difference in original payments and trial (arrears or go straight to foreclosure). Nifty way to also keep off of books all foreclosures at once (slow bleed) so they appear to be solvent. I was told yesterday by Treasury that the banks are not required to share info as to all of reason for denial. I honestly feel this was all planned from the beginning. As for myself it is just more fodder for the lawsuit. If you are so inclined, I hope you might help with the actions being arranged by Steve (here in these posts), as he is trying to get the underwriting out of the servicer's hands and into a 3rd party to make the playing field level.
Thanks, Summers and Geithner. Why did President Obama ever hire those two Wall Street favorites?
First remove all the people who are still working and making the same amount they were when they bought the house. That would remove a large number of the applicants.
Remember, Obama and the Democrats received much more money from Wall Street than the Republicans. Maybe this is why they turn a blind eye to what is going on.
We have to make this happen. Here is a strategy that I strongly believe can help. Please, I do not mean to rude but time is of the essence - we need to act now. We need to get everyone you can to join this effort. To sit back now and do nothing is to admit defeat.
For those who say lawsuits - that may work for people that have a few thousands to spend and risk being in the same place two years from now.
For those who say its a master plan and "all" the politicians are being paid off I do not completely agree. I will say that we have the power to make a difference but we have to try. I have put up the strategy - Please go to aahmp.blogspot.com/2011/03/save-our-homes-soh-call-to-action.html
As long as we do nothing those who own this country, is the ricH the congress the Senate.in all states of goverment who make up the rule as they go along, and any other party that wants a cut of the action money money thats all that counts to them. and they so can 't be trusted . They are making all of us American Salves, the americans people that build this country, President Washington stood for freedom. Our last six presidents didn't do much except ruin the country finances. they sold all of us out to countries today UNITED STATE of AMERICA IS NOW the UNITED STATE OF THE CORPORATION OF AMERICA that why The Department Of The Treasury, Timothy Geithner the Supreme goes rigth along with them knowning what is being done the Amercian people is a volation of the UCC Codes in all states. Yes there should be petition or a march to Washington on tis matter on the stepes congress and the senate and supreme counts untill they put back the orginal consitution right back , the one we all had before 1936 when they the so called leader changed it ti fit there purpose
Well America, Looks like it is time to "WALK LIKE AN EGYPTION"!!!!!! Time to take the country back!!!
I'm doing my first modification with B of A did four with First Frankin asked Hope to see if they would help all I got was a no not enough income short by 500. so we hang on for five month doing the the freedom package by T im Turner then went to executor letter to reclaim the tile and mailed it to Govenor Perry, General attorany office of the state of texas and all banks that are in the deed of trust. we asked to show us the orginal note and all they keep sending is the deed of trust not the note nthat say owe 107000.00 on our home, still with no result. We have not pd a penny on our Morgage since 2009 we gone to the steps of the court house to make sure that the foreclosure was stop. four times We have done this now just got word that we were aproved By Make Homes Affordable the Obama so just waiting and waiting aprove because our income did go up by 700.00 so Im now at that 31%. we also join a class Action suit aaaaaaaaagainist First Frankin no word on this either Attorney's and Judges work for the plainffs with a liltte money in there pockets. Noties have not reach us yet and will they never.
It was never meant to work as marketed by Obama. It's much the same as the so called healthcare "reform". Both programs were actually concieved to stall real reform. Corporations are never going to go against their own profit strategy for the sake of society and some toothless sham of a program without clear rules of engagement set down by the Executive or Congress. Obama is the king of, "Hey look what we are doing for you!" when in reality he is holding hands with Geitner and Wall Street.
Banks who received TARP funds have not "paid it forward". Most took advantage of borrowing from Fed funds at historically low rates in addition to bailout funds used to boost their capital positions. The homeowners were not so lucky, HAMP is voluntary and almost no second mortgages are included. It would have made sense to make refinance opportunities universal at the current 30-year rate (4.87%) regardless of CLTV and "force" banks to refinance any first or second mortages at that rate in most circumstances, but allow them to extend the term to as long as necessary (75 years) to make the payment meet 31% of a borrowers income as pulled directly from IRS. The fact is people generally move within 12 years. Under these terms at least the borrower would be given an option to stay and the banks would share their low rate gifts with borrowers who wouldn't get undeserved principal reduction but would get a "fair shake" rate. Open that option to ALL mortgage borrowers in the country.
An accurate picture and good suggestions, but those who came up with TARP and HAMP are all college educated, reasonably intelligent people, I am sure. Despite this, they came up with these toothless travesties instead of adopting common sense strategies that were bound to help main street America. So why did this happen? We are left with only one reasonable conclusion and that is that they intended it this way. Which means that reason and right weigh nothing on the scales compared to greed and cash.
All mentioned here was considered in the beginning of the crisis - Sept 2008 to Jan 2009. We have to remember we are all looking in hindsight
One of the first proposals was to offer a streamline refinance program. The plan was to offer a refinance that would be done without a full doc loan. If you where current or imminent default it would have been a quick refi at rates below 4.75%. The argument against it was the number of people that would take advantage would have been too great. There was also a discussion of what rate would be low enough to truly impact the marketplace in terms of keeping imminent default from foreclosing. The other problem was who would pay for the program or bit the bullet, TARP or the investor. Remember the banks where in big trouble at that time.
The 31% front end ratio was based on historic information from HUD. That is the number that worked for the past 50 years. where people should be able to pay their mortgage. The average default rate was always under 3% annually.
The reason HAMP was not made mandatory was more of an ideologically consideration. The question at the time was does the federal government have the right to mandate losses on the private sector? The decision was that it made financial sense for the investors to participate in a program so why mandate and get into possible legal challenges and the political debate by the right of nationalization of the private sector. Thus HAMP was created. The wild card that everyone but a few missed was the inability of the servicing industry to do the job. All these loans are in Master Servicing Agreements which contractually leaves this work to the servicer hence the volunteer aspect of HAMP.
The other option at the time was to take the $700b TARP funds and purchase all the non performing paper at taxpayers expense and have the FED do the job. No one wanted to hand a massive effort like that over to the government. Instead Paulson decided to give the banks $350b and left the job up to them.
There was also the concern that something had to be done quickly to stop the downward cycle of real estate value. The only way to do that was a basic supply and demand issue - to keep below market properties off the market, the only way to do that was to stop foreclosures, the only way to do that was a National Modification effort. HAMP is a simple program - a loan product not much different than any other full doc product.
We all know that many people have taken advantage of this and the servicers have screwed up beyond anyone's imagination. However HAMP was not designed to fail but Treasury has allowed it to. They gave the job to an industry that did not know how to originate, process and underwrite. We fought the battle for months and are still fighting it today.
Everyone should listen to Steve go to his page and participate the power of the people our only leverage
A bit off topic, but does anyone know if the "produce the original promissory note" tactic is really preventing some foreclosures?
I asked for mine, and they sent me a copy of one that had the words
'copy" stamped on it…in other words, a copy of a copy…I informed them that I wanted a copy of the ORIGINAL…that they have to be in possession of the original—-not a copy—-to sell the house in a foreclosure…
Big surprise…they haven't responded! Hmmm….
I agree in principal which much of what you are saying, however I do not see a refinance as a cost to US taxpayers because banks would use are using today's money rates. Nor is it ultimately a loss to the investor because if I replace an asset that pays you 10% with one that pays you 4% I have dropped your income but the principal remains static ( assuming you are not trying to make a short term trade on every interest rate move). The tragedy is that when introduced the program allowed folks to believe that even if they were current but strapped with other debts or lacking a three month emergency fund, they would be helped.
But servicers said loud and clear we have a special term we use to describe imminent default…CURRENT. They get no help until they default! Those who thought they were prudently seeking a way to lower their debts are now worse off.
But back to the interest reate spread discussion. What this involves is simple usury. If a bank borrows at one half percent and charges 22% on a credit card that's theft in my opinion. In the same sense, if they made bad credit decisions which required government intervention and increased capital requirements and raised underwriting standards, it is not the struggling victims of high rate mortgages who should have to completely take it on the chin and not be able to get out from under a high rate. I do not believe in forgiving principal in general (except for a small fraction of modifications) but rather let all refinance to an affordable payment and extend the term of the loan until it's affordable. Second liens must also be included. To offer to modify a first lien when there was a simultaneous second lien at double digit interest is plain stupid. This is not about buying more than you could afford because no principal is off the hook but rather an acknowledgement from the banks that we are getting saved with lower rate funds and you our customers should get a benefit from that as well.
While many people think that the banks are loosing money on foreclosed homes, in many cases the opposite is true.
In our case, after we calculated the amount of money that we paid over four years,- and what our home sold for at foreclosure- GMAC made an $85,000 profit over the original amount loaned.
All we ever wanted to do was refinance our loan, but were forced into HAMP when credit seized up. So if we had been allowed to refi, we never would have lost our home to foreclosure after GMAC moved us, without our knowledge or permission, to a GMAC Non HAMP loan that used all the same documents but had none of the HAMP protections, and a $1,000 month higher payment for the last 10 months of the loan, before they rejected our request for a permanent mod one week after they auctioned our house.
In the end, maybe it was a good thing, because after all fees and add ons to our premium, the mortgage loan would have been $569,000 for a loan that started out at $426,000 after an $84,000 down payment.
We put $35,000 into repairs and upgrades. And paid property taxes and insurance on the higher home value, as GMAC required.
The home sold at auction for $312,00 cash- and just resold for $390,000 after 4 months on the market.
I understand why everyone is focused on stopping any future foreclosures, but I urge people to look at our experience and consider what your home is now really worth and if it makes financial sense to keep putting money into the bank's pocket.
We have sent our case and paperwork to everyone we can think of, and hope some day through a class action suit, we might recoup some of our money. But we don't have a lot of faith in the courts, because as lawyer after lawyer has told us, judges our unwilling to overturn foreclosures or sales in California, and the banks have all the power.
There are no more American companies, just global profiteers, and our government is their biggest supporter.
You say, "They gave the job to an industry that did not know how to originate, process and underwrite."
I say they gave the job to an industry that was not motivated to help the people that needed help. Instead the servicers have effectively run interference for the banks.
MikeC is right that the interest being charged by banks and credit card companies is usury. Because of our foreclosure, our credit has been ruined and the interest rate we have on our cards-and we recently looked to buy a car- is out of this world.
Never mind that we never had any other late payments or collections. Thanks Obama and the Treasury, and their gang of fools in DC.
Yes, I'm still bitter.
You have to be careful when you say banks. You have to break this issue into two separate groups; the Banks/lender which includes the GSE's that hold the major share of mortgages, and the servicer. Even though the banks are the 4 largest servicers they do it for the investor.
As an example of the wrong industry; over 1 year ago we where in conversations with BofA to assist them in the process. Just in their third party application which is from non profits, lawyers and others they where receiving by fax 10k apps per day x a typical app with 40 pages that's 400,000 pieces of paper a day x 7 days a week.
They did not have the technology or manpower to handle the volume of paper - no less put them all together in the right place. They still do not. Is this intentional - could be but that is a large number for any business no less an industry that was built to collect mortgage payments.
Was this done intentionally by Treasury? Politically it does not make sense; the Treasury which is part of the administration (Dems) lost the House due to the poor running of the economy. Housing is a major component of any recovery - does anyone think it was by design for the dems to lose power or for Obama to lose in 2012 which will happen if this does not turn this foreclosure crisis around and the economy? It is obviously more complicated than that however to say that everyone is involved is not accurate. Do we think the tea party who where major players in this past election are being financed by the banks, I do not know the answer but it does not appear so. If the banks where making so much money from Dems in power - and they have all the power why did the Republicans win?
Even though I am a conservative I fear what is going on right now - that's why I started this effort. If HAMP is canceled everything is left in the hands of the servicers - than I fear manipulation of the system to benefit the rich alone.
Regardless of what motives are driving this mess we need to fight to keep some sort of check on the process. Our proposal is small but if we can force Treasury through Congress to fine the servicers for not performing, we "MAY" have a chance. Through a basic tenant of capitalism - competition - we MAY force the servicers to perform.
@ Steve - actually, I think most commenters do "get" that banks and servicers are different. But, honestly, BOA will get the fees it is spinning on my loan mod app delay, they get paid off the top. Their banker hat is not a lot better or worse than their servicer hat.
Correct me if wrong.
Nice to see a conservative represent and deplore economic devastation of homeowners, to say nothing of denigration of same.
Good on ya. This is *not* a partisan issue and anyone remotely familiar with the situation and the resulting f.c. crisis would agree.
I long ago grew bored of the us vs. them meme ginned up by cable news shows hungry for ratings. The "us" is all of us who pay bills, pay taxes and expect to be treated decently by the people we elect. There is no them….
@Starry - you are partially correct. The majority of the mortgage are owned or at leased backed by the GSE's which accounts for the $200B in losses for Fannie and Freddie. Another large share are in the pools that are owners by all kind of investors, insurance co, city, pension funds, countries. These people are suing the servicers for screwing it up. The banks have a portion of the total but not the lion share thanks to the repeal of Glass-Stiegal in 1999.
There is some good news, 18 Senators sent a letter to Geithner and all other parties requesting three things with the last being a "third party review before a foreclosure can take place". merkley.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=C90FAEE6-4909-4754-8077-75457140338F
We can do this folks if we get the numbers we need.
@Starry-You have always presented insightful views….your assessment of "us" is exactly on point. It is not about Dems,Pubs,Tea, conservative,left or right etc. This is OUR country and WE need to be heard. This is why Steve is trying to provide a way for US to be heard…by the people in charge and at the right time. NOW is that time (more than ever). If this comes out of committee the wrong way, it will be US that will pay. PLEASE everyone needs to go to the blog Steve has set up…with the names and times to call and e-mail these people. aahmp.blogspot.com/2011/03/save-our-homes-soh-call-to-action-html and click on follower or the last action March to get to recent post concerning the people to contact. We only have a few days!
steve on board all the way-i also agree w/ roy what the banks are doing is wrong.however,as you have said in the past,if hamp isnt implemented properly we're doomed and the only recourse left is w/ the courts.and how long would that take .how many people does it take to be foreclosed on for our government to finally see. sounds like dylan.anyway,i think we may already be there.hamp may cease to exist ( which i hope w/ all my heart doesn't come to pass) which leaves us w/ the courts.look at the nevada ag's lawsuit against bofa.guy nailed it about 87%.which to me is impressive.will be phoning and e-mailing all weekend as per your noble endeavor.i encourage all to visit your site and blog and get involved.
one other thing steve, i am not real computer savvy and i think that may be why i wasn't able to become a follower. i tried.perhaps it could be simplified for us
I will check with gaby.
Folks today's news is big for our effort - we basically have 18 US Senators that agree with us for "third party review".
steve can you give us the contact info re the 18 us senators? i will start tonight and all of the homeowners i have either helped or am in the procees of helping are on board as well.tnx
We will work on the Senators next. We need the current target as listed on the blog. We have to get the House to move in the same direction.
got it
I am also a volunteer for Steve's cause. If you want to join his effort, please go to his updated blog as posted by several of the other volunteers. Or, after the http colon double slash, you can also cut and paste the following to access either his general blog which is always kept up-to-date, or to join or read his twitter updates as follows:
If you want to become a volunteer, please let him know. The only way to get enough power to influence a vote is with enough numbers. e-mailing and telephone campaigns will be useful.and we will need all the help we can get. It may be late for some, but we can help those who have not yet been denied permanent approval. And just in case you do not know, the rejection for permanent approval is generated by an underwriter even if the person qualifies and had already been approved. You may not have seen it happen - I have.
This is how I would solve this mess.
Everyone who has been offered previously a trial plan and made the 3 trial payment in good faith should get their mortgage modified permanently for the same amount.
The Banksters entered into a contract with the homeowners.
When they sent out " you don't qualify " it is BS. They should of evaluated it before entering into a contract.
If the homeowner can prove that he or she made three payment, this will be the payment for the remaining term of the loan. Loan are considered modified.
Case closed.
I agree with most of your commentary, but I think you are leaving out an important point.
You wrote:
"The reason HAMP was not made mandatory was more of an ideologically consideration. The question at the time was does the federal government have the right to mandate losses on the private sector? The decision was that it made financial sense for the investors to participate in a program so why mandate and get into possible legal challenges and the political debate by the right of nationalization of the private sector. Thus HAMP was created."
This gives the impression that HAMP is a well intentioned program that simply has a few flaws, when, in fact, HAMP is a scam.
HAMP may not mandate when a bank must give a modification but it does MANDATE when it cannot. HAMP MANDATES that the mortgage investors loss from a modification must be less than the expected loss from a foreclosure….effectively disqualify homeowners with equity.
The banks will give TRIAL mods even though they have no intention of making those modifications permanent. Trial mods. are a way to squeeze out a few more bucks, insuring foreclosure by tacking on penalties and legal fees, ruining the homeowners credit, while dual-pathing them to foreclosure. The servicing bank makes far more money servicing delinquent mortgages, and processing foreclosures. Then they can tap into the home owners equity via foreclosure, to recover all the excessive fees, and legal costs, making a tidy profit.
And don't believe for one foolish second that guys like Geithner didn't know this from the start. HAMP was a program to help investors, not homeowners. Geithner doesn't give a damn about homeowners. When the banks were forced to freeze their foreclosures Geithner depicted it as an act of good conscience by the banks, stating on the Charlie Rose show that the banks had chosen to freeze their foreclosures to make absolutely sure they didn't foreclose on anyone who could afford to "SIT IN THEIR HOMES" [not KEEP their homes]. does this sound like a guy who cares about homeowners?
I've been SITTING in my home since CHASE rejected our modification in September after we submitted accurate paperwork and made FIVE timely trial payments. I just found out that while we were making those trial payments they went to court, had a conference in June, and subsequently got a default judgement in August. We never even knew about the court dates, and, again, we were making trial payments from April through August. Two days after ending our trial, they added insult to injury by sending a letter threatening to drop us from our trial (which they had already done), if we failed to provide a DEATH CERTIFICATE, and proof of SS Death benefits! (No one here has died, and yes this written request was quite specific, not a form letter that simply included a generic list of documents including a death certificate.)
And, just for the record, I checked with my doctor, and he insured me that I am in fact, alive.
One last note. My foreclosure package includes the fraudulent assignment of my mortgage to a Deutsche Bank mortgage trust, dated Feb. 2010, signed by known robo-signer Barbara Hindeman, even though the trust's strict guidelines require that all assignments be complete in 2006.
...whoops, one more note. Deutsche Bank filed suit this past September looking to put thousand of mortgages back to Chase due to false reps, and grossly substandard underwriting, with their proof coming directly from Senate testimony from WAMU (now Chase). The trust containing my mortgage is included in the suit.
But I'm still SITTING in my home hoping for a permanent modification.
JS and others who have been there demonstrate time and again that HAMP was indeed a scam that was marketed as a good faith program but has turned out to be anything but. Its a sham rescue with 100 helicopters showing up and eighty flying away empty as desperate people watch.
JS - I think your situation about the Death Certificate supports my position of this mess being caused by the servicer. What apparently happen in your case is that someone else hardship letter was attached to your file. Like you said it was not a form letter that you would think would be used if it was a ongoing strategy to drag out your file and thousands of other peoples.
Please do not get me wrong - the servicers are delaying the process to increase profits but these potential profits where discovered as the process evolved. You use Chase for an example; my Director of Operation use to run Chase sub-prime lost mitigation dept in San Diego - she has over 50 former employees that still work for chase waiting to move to aahmp member companies once we get a contract. One reason is they have mandatory 10 hour days plus 8 hour Saturday. But what they hate the most is how poorly the process is running.
With regard to NPV - that did not come from Geithner. In July 2008 when FDIC took over Indy Mac the FDIC started to put a major effort into modifications. Remember the Rep and Paulson where still calling the shots. Sept 2008 hit - the decision was made by Paulson for TARP. Sheila Bair FDIC started this new modification program at Indy Mac, she was the only authority associated with the Government that had any type of modification plan that could be used on a National Level. I think it was in late Oct or early Nov the FDIC put the plan together and called it "Mod-in-a-Box". Part of the plan was NPV. It is not surprising they included it because it is the FDIC job to keep the banking industry solvent. You also has to remember that this was mainly a sub-prime issue at the time and was not not expected to have a major impact on conventional mortgages. Unemployment did not hit yet.
Obama and the Dems won in Nov, Geithner really started working in Dec. I am not defending Geithner but at the time no one wanted to go to work at Treasury. Everyone knew the economy was a mess, many of Paulson management at Treasury did not want to stay. If I remember correctly Geithner only had 32 spots filled by Apr.
With the pressure mounting on Obama and the Dems to do something they took the FDIC plan and many components of the plan we submitted and MHA was born. There was only one problem - their was no one in charge of running the program plus the people they had working on it did not have that much experience.
I can go on for hours but my point is; according to your position Geithner who was not even in charge yet - put this plan together to collapse real estate values in the US and steal all these homes. If you remember Sept 2008 to Apr 2009 Treasury was trying to stabilize the world financial markets from collapse. You would be amazed by questions I was asked in later 2008 early 2009 by the people responsible to fix the problem. I had to explain to so many people what a modification even was.
Has the landscape changed, yes, are people making a killing on this - yes. Did anyone know the servicers would screw this up (we did) or robo-signing or MERS or note following the deed - no. These are all situation that have developed because of a poorly run process.
Geithner and Treasury have failed and continue to do so. This system is so screwed up. Am I right with my take on it only time will tell. If we get our way with the neutral third party review and things do not get better than I am wrong. What I do now is that in the early stages I was in Washington many, many days involved in this. I spoke with the people that where making the decisions on strategy and I lost some of the arguments on policy. Where there outside forces "in the beginning" effecting policy, I do not think so.
What needs to happen is we have to fix it - change what can be changed now. If HAMP is canceled than we are in really big trouble.
Will - I would suggest people read the HAMP manual, once you do that I think you may have a different position on where the problems are.
One simple example. sd1001 - the servicer has to acknowledge in writing with in 10 business days the file has been received. The full underwrite has to be completed with in 30 days and a answer has to be given to the applicant in writing in that period.
Question - how many people have received that service? Does that mean HAMP design is bad or is it the servicer ignores the guideline.
HAMP calls for a full underwrite prior to a trail mod which would be in that 30 day window. At the end of the 90 days the only additional doc required for a permanent mod is a verification that your income remains the same.
I will ask the same question as above.
Are there problems in HAMP -yes but if they are fixed and the servicers are held financially liable to for meeting those guidelines than it can save many people homes and do it quickly. And if the application does not qualify everyone can move on.
Steve—-I'm going to be annoying for a second—-quite often in your postings you write the word "where", when it should be the word "were"...
I only bring it up because it's a little confusing…but thanks for all your insight…I appreciate it!
But boy, they were Johnny on the spot when it came to "fixing" Wall Street's, FUBAR, weren't they…?
well all that won't be fixed anytime soon for us if we don't get the answers that we need we are going to give up and go back to ca.were we are from. in all of this mest we thought we were set with ssa and penions and could live out our years in peace out here in texas my hubby home state, but my husband lost is beneifits in half we have been going forward since 2008, we had a hard lost of my sons death, then the cut in income in 2009, 2010 was even harder try to make ends meet but we finished the year. we pick up the income and still short by 1 thousand to be able to live norman again. we all have bumps in the road but with help of the dear lord Jesus Christ this country will sucessfully get to where it was
IF..we had a Treasury Dept that wasn't just a branch of Goldman & Sachs; if we had a president that wasn't smiling more as he moves closer to the right and if corporate financials would learn to think and act for the long term, then HAMP would probably work and be designed to work. But I can pretend I look like Brad Pitt until I have to look in a mirror.
we need bigger mirrors
Karen, can you read this?
Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer
be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm.
This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh?
Yaeh and we all awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
Republicans are aiming to repeal the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Obama administration's main response to the foreclosure crisis. The program, by all accounts, has been disappointing, helping only about 600,000 homeowners of the 3 million to 4 million projected. But its failure, watchdog groups say, was caused by the mortgage servicers' ineptitude - lost paperwork, bad accounting and the like - and lack of concern about whether the mortgages they service (but don't own) go into default. Rather than crack down on the banks, the House Republicans would kill the one program that, at least in theory, gives borrowers some chance of avoiding foreclosure. If you take that away, you've got nothing,
That's the last thing the struggling housing market needs. Because banks quickly resell mortgages, they don't much care how the loans perform; their job is to extract the maximum in fees.
This is how we wound up with the robo-signing scandal, in which servicers erroneously forced homeowners into foreclosure. This, too, is why there has been an epidemic of misapplied payments, bogus fees and mismanagement of escrow accounts for tax and insurance. If a borrower's homeowners insurance lapses, the servicer can "force-place" the borrower with a more expensive insurer, sometimes receiving kickbacks.
Acmod-Excellent article…I jsut read earlier this a.m. in I believe the Wall Street Journal. Written by finance reporter concerning him and his wife (she with an MBA) concerning how they were treated during a refi. Excellent article. If you could please post how to gain access. I think it would be nice if the whole article could be accessed. You are an excellent trooper Acmod…proud to be on the same team with you!
Short of marching on to Washington, there is only one option we have available to everyone; meaning those for whom it is too late, but together for all of whom we can prevent the loss of their home. If Congress repeals HAMP, hundreds of thousands if not millions of additional homes will lost to corruption and anything else described in the above Admod posting. Steve's review of his old strategy Egyptian Thing has now been changed to a full force movement under the banner:
Save Our Homes or S.O.H.
... and we need all of your help and cooperation. I am also a volunteer for the cause:
To remove the underwriters from the process (you know,
the one who turned you down for permanent approval
after you passed the trial period with flying colors…)
But most importantly, to assign that duty to an independent
third party. It is doable.
If you want to join his effort, please go to his updated blog as posted by several of the other volunteers under other articles. Better yet, you can make a choice of accessing either his general blog which is always kept up-to-date; or to join or read his twitter updates (after writing the three letters that precede the colon and double backslash) and then cutting, pasting and adding from your preference from the following:
If you want to become a volunteer, please let him know. The only way to get enough power to influence a vote in Washington is in the numbers. E-mailing and telephone campaigns will be essential, and we will need all the help we can get. It may be late for some, but we can help those who have not yet been denied permanent approval. Remember, the rejection for permanent approval is generated by an underwriter even if the person qualifies and had already been approved. You may not have seen it happen - I have. And if HAMP is repealed, where will the little children end when they turn into our youth?


text:
We had a great time! Saw many dolphins, a sea turtle, a stingray, a jelly fish, those hilarious birds (great blue herons & pelicans) and tons of fish. One guy (later identified as a local named Rob, I think) caught 2 King Mackerels. All 6 of us caught fish. We were unprepared, so we had to buy a cooler & ice. We kept the blue runners and cooked them up that night. Yum! The sea turtle looked like he was getting along ok despite the fact he was missing half of his front left fin. I called the Tallahassee Sea Turtle rescue # to report this guy. Hope he's ok. The guy at the ticket booth was super nice and we became fast friends considering how many times we went back for bait, cooler, ice cream, etc! The kids found tons of sea shells! It was a great day. Wish we would've visited earlier in our vacation.
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.


text:
Better early detection and treatment options means ACT women with breast cancer are being diagnosed younger and surviving longer, two new reports indicate.
A 15-year report into the ACT and south-west NSW Breast Cancer Treatment Group revealed the survival rate of women five and 10 years after a diagnosis of invasive breast cancer in the ACT is 91.3 per cent and 81.9 per cent respectively.
Comparatively, the national five-year survival rate was 72 per cent for women diagnosed in 1982 to 1987.
The average age of diagnosis was 57.5 years, two and a half years earlier than the national average.
Meanwhile, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare BreastScreen Australia monitoring report showed the ACT has a higher breast screening participation rate than the national average (55.9 per cent versus 55.4 per cent).
Radiation oncologist and Breast Cancer Treatment Group chairwoman Dr Angela Rezo said the improvement in the quality of breast cancer treatments could safely be linked to the improved outcomes.
"Some of the big changes that we've seen are in the way that we manage lymph nodes with techniques such as central node biopsies, problems associated with surgeries are lessened.
"More and more recently we're seeing oncoplastic breast cancer surgery, in radiotherapy we're seeing more advanced techniques and we're looking at ways of reducing dose and reducing toxicity from radiotherapy. In systemic treatments we're seeing some amazing progress in the use of adjuvant chemotherapy and hormone therapy so there's changes all of the time."
Clare Purcell was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2012.
Still undergoing treatment after a mastectomy and radiation, the 55-year-old credits her survival to early detection and improved treatments.
"I think the treatment has changed so much in 15 years, we've got access to fantastic care with Breastscreen and all of our doctors, it's a fantastic team. I'm happier to be diagnosed now [as opposed to 15 years ago]," Ms Purcell said.
"Breast cancer is something that is really in the public eye I think and that would get a lot more women in to be screened where they didn't many years ago."
Dr Rezo stressed no treatment can beat early detection.
"About 30 per cent of the women in this report were diagnosed through BreastScreen but a large proportion of them went through self-detection. As we start Breast Cancer Awareness month I think it strengthens the message for women to be aware of their breasts and to not be fearful of breast cancer because we do have excellent outcomes," Dr Rezo said.
ACT Health Minister Simon Corbell said: "This is a very significant report because it gives us a long-term snapshot of how well we are doing when it comes to treating breast cancer here in the ACT.
"Their survival rates are now very high and that's good news and a strong reminder of the importance of breast screening."


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text:
Deveronvale 3-2 Keith
Scorers: McNamee 6, Duncan 9, Murray 21, Sutherland 38, Ballard 86
Vale pulled off their first win of 2017 in a five goal thriller at Princess Royal Park and they certainly did it the hard way. Two goals down within nine minutes to Gary McNamee's header and Kris Duncan's close-ranger the young Banff side simply rolled up theirs sleeves and got to work.
Cammy Murray started the comeback when he stabbed home before Paul Sutherland squared things ahead of the interval with his eight of the campaign.
In an end to end second forty-five Dane Ballard proved to be the hero when he headed home with four minutes remaining to send the Valley Crew home with a smile on their faces for the first time since the 17th of December when their club last picked up three points against Rothes.
Steve Dolan didn't have a large squad to pick from as he plotted a morale-boosting three points and gave on-loan young defender Kyle Wilcox a run at left-back while Chris Blackhall returned to the midfield in place of the injured Dan Smith, the unavailable Graeme Watt and transfer listed Scott Begg as the Banffers played on a Saturday for the first time since the fourth of February.
The playing surface survived referee Liam Duncan's inspection upon arrival and things got underway in the continuous rainfall and on the sodden pitch.
Grant Noble wasn't far away with a long-range strike which zipped beyond David Dey's right-hand upright but the opening goal came at the other end with just six minutes on the clock. Stewart Hutcheon's cross from the left was headed over Grant Pennet outstretched hand by defender Gary McNamee who was in the Vale penalty box following a corner which was only partially cleared.
Kris Duncan made it two three minutes later when James Brownie got in behind the Vale back four and although Grant Pennet did well to save the midfielder's effort Kris Duncan followed up to net against his former employers although the ball just seemed to hit him as it rebounded off keeper Pennet.
Following a rather dull midfield battle the homeside battled back into the match and pulled one back midway through the half. Lewis Dunbar made progress into the Keith box before firing a low ball across the face of goal and Cammy MURRAY was on cue to poke it home from point blank range.
Michael Ewen was presented with a great chance to restore Keith's two goal advantage soon after but screwed well wide when through one-on-one following another ball in behind Vale's flat looking defence while at the opposite end a palm to his left by Maroons keeper David Dey was just enough to prevent Grant Noble with a simple tap-in following Cammy Murray's initial effort.
With seven minutes of the half remaining the Banffers drew level. Grant Noble picked up the ball on the turn before slipping a fine ball to find the run of Paul SUTHERLAND and the number seven didn't disappoint with a cool finish beyond the exposed David Dey.
Dane Ballard failed to work the visiting Dey from another Cammy Murray centre as the half time whistle blew and with things all square.
Mike Ewen passed up another good opportunity when he headed wide after Grant Pennet hesitated whether to come or not for Craig Cormack's centre while at the St Andrews end Dane Ballard was sent in on goal but shot straight at the legs of David Dey.
A Craig Cormack corner was missed by the head of Mike Ewen before David Dey pulled off a stunning one-handed stop to deny Grant Noble and the homeside the lead after good lead-up play by strike partner Dane Ballard
Cammy Keith replaced central defender Gary McNamee as Allan Hale changed formation in an effort to take the points and it very nearly paid off when the substitute had a close range effort blocked by the home defence.
New signing James McLaren entered the fray when he replaced Grant Noble with twenty minutes to go while opposition substitute Max Beaton forced Grant Pennet into a save high to his right following a free-kick at the edge of the penalty area.
As the game started to open up a quick break down the right by the Banffers saw Paul Sutherland make progress to the beeline and picking out Dane Ballard but the latter's low shot from 20-yards was turned away by the boot of David Dey.
Kris Duncan hit the foot of the post as he turned Max Beaton's low cross goalwards but with four minutes of the ninety remaining it was the homeside who stole the three points.
Substitute James McLaren floated a free-kick into the Keith penalty area and Dane BALLARD looped a header over David Dey to score the winner with his tenth of the season.
Former Rothes striker James McLaren had two sights of goal in the closing minutes but the first one went into the side netting while his attempted chip cleared the cross bar although this failed to dampen the spirits as Vale picked up their first three points of the year.
Vale: Pennet, Dunbar, Willox, Aitken, Krobot, Forbes, Sutherland, Blackhall Ballard (cpt), Noble (McLaren 71), Murray
Subs: Souter, Manson, Begg, Fraser, Mackie (gk)
Keith: Dey, Clark, Hutcheon, Milne, MacNamee (Keith 60), *69 Brownlie, Cormack (MacAskill 68), Cooper, *83 Barbour, Ewen (Berton 68)), *76 Duncan
Subs: Smith, Whelan, Salmon (gk)
Manager: Allan Hale
Referee: Liam Duncan
Vale Stats:
Efforts On: 6
Efforts Off: 5
Woodwork: 0
Corners: 5
Offside: 0
Overhead Conditions: Raining
Playing Surface: Very Wet
Temp at KO: 4 deg C
Last Season: 0-4
|Reporter: Neil Montgomery
|Reported LastEdited: 5-Mar-2017


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"One word" in a chosen language,
is used at times, to define our entire existence as a human-being.
These words are called "labels".
Some of us hate them, and try to detach ourselves from the negative
connotations these words may hold.
Labels are given to describe an object, person, place, or a thing
Labels are solely perception based.
What I see, may be completely different from what someone else sees.
You see, labels as a whole is not bad.
Some of them are words that are positive.
The negative stigmas that follow behind some of these labels,
are what gives people their view of them.
Labels can hold words of hate and criticism.
These words can be so painful, that some people wish they were
"I am not fat!"
"I am not a slut!"
"I am not gay!"
"I am not a loser".
As detrimental as some labels may seem, a world without them,
would be a world without a voice.
Labels are used to communicate, express and identify basic needs.
Every single thing on planet Earth is labeled.
We simply cannot get away from them!
Freddy, can you tell me what color this box is?
....he says it's purple.
....I say it's magenta.
Even though we both are looking at the same box,
we see it completely differently.
You see, labels are not always accurate.
Although I perceive this box a certain way,
I will not define it by the label, instead
I will look at its value, its substance, and what it has to offer.
I can re-label it because perception is one that changes.
It does not always stay the same.
Sadly, not every one is willing to have the time or patience to figure out the true content, that
lies inside of this box.
Instead, this box will be given its label solely based off of first impression.
Ladies and gentleman,
It is up to you to define yourself as a human-being.
Do not let a label do that for you.
You are like that box.
You are filled with substance and value.
What you have to offer is way more powerful than any word.
someone else decides to attach to you.
Detach the word(s) that has been stamped on you.
Do not allow these labels to suck up your pride.
Live to your fullest, and project the greatness you have to offer the world!
I believe in you!
It's time you believe in yourself!


text:
Codebug Programmable Wearable Board
We have 4566 available at CodeBug Australia which can be dispatched in 2 to 5 days.
CodeBug™ is a fun, engaging, entry level introduction to simple programming and electronic concepts to anyone, at any age. It is easy to program using the online interface, which features colourful drag and drop blocks, an in-browser emulator and engaging community features. It enables you to create your own games, clothes, robots or whatever other inventions you have in mind.
- Plugs onto Raspberry Pi GPIO as an add-on
- Starting point for Internet of Things devices
- Versatile I/O interface to connect lights, switches, sensors, motors and more
- 5x5 Red LED grid with 2 user buttons
- 6 Touch sensitive I/O pads (4 I/O, power and ground)
- Drag and drop programming from web browser
- Windows, Mac and Linux compatible
- Micro USB connector for programming and power
- Expansion port for I2C, SPI and UART
- Online project storage and sharing
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As mentioned some time ago in my post Training – Expense or Investment I had been setting up some In-house Commerce Server training for the eCommerce Team with former Commerce Server Product Manager Max Akbar.
Max was at the office for three days, and though expectations were extremely high, he even managed to top them. Not being a Commerce Server developed, I only sat in on the BizTalk integration part, where we got a good discussion about the Commerce Server BizTalk Adapters. As these behave quite differently from practically all other adapters, there were a lot to talk about.
The whole team where equally excited about the training, and both Søren and Brian have already posted blog entries with their experiences of the three days.
In order not for everything to be only technical, we all went out for dinner one night, as you can see from the picture below. Not only the eCommerce Team and Max, but everyone at Vertica were invited – even the Sales Director and the CEO :o)
Following this success we will definitely try to arrange more in-house training. The whole team together with a highly qualified trainer for several days is extremely valuable, both from a technical as well as a social perspective.
Currently we have started looking for someone to provide BizTalk R2 training with specific focus on the new EDI features. I already know of QuickLearn providing Deep Dive BizTalk courses, and all, but the newest member of the BPI team, have already attended their course. However, I would like some training with even more focus on the EDI features, than QuickLearn has expressed, they were able to provide. So if you happen to know someone you are more than welcome to leave a comment or send me a mail.
For some time I have been wondering what assemblies exactly are included when a MSI package is exported in BizTalk. When moving assemblies for one environment to another I had noticed, that I didn't always get the latest version of the assembly included in the package.
For BizTalk to function properly the assemblies must be deployed to the Global Assembly Cache (GAC). This copy of the assembly is the one actually being used during execution, but apparently it wasn't the one being included in the MSI package. However, In the BizTalk Administration Console for an application's resources there are both a Source Location as well as a Destination Location pointing to a copy of the assemblies as well. Thus my first thought was that perhaps, it was one of these that were included in the MSI package.
To test this I tried to delete first one of them, and then the other. Either way I was still able to generate the MSI package, which meant that it were neither of these that were being used.
Increasingly puzzled I ended up turning to the good old newsgroups for some help. It took BizTalk MVP Tomas Restrepo less than 1½ hour to point me to an explanation, and apparently I was not the only one a bit puzzled by this. The explanation was another blog post by Richard Seroter titled Preventing Stale Artifacts in BizTalk Application Packages.
In here he explains what is actually going on when assemblies are deployed and how the MSI packages are generated. Interestingly and, at least to me, also quite surprising as first are, that the assemblies are added to a CAB file and stored in a table in the BizTalkMgmtDb database. For the full explanation I encourage you to read the post.
One obvious advantage of storing this information in the database is of course that you can be sure that in a multi-server environment regardless of which server you use to generate your MSI package will always be exactly the same. However, whether this is the only reason for the implementation I do not know.
About one and a half year ago Vertica moved to a new office. In the very beginning the office was a single room of about 12m² in an apartment shared with another company. Being five people with laptops, as well as a couple of workstations playing the role of servers, in a room of that size was a rather cozy and intimate experience (as well as hot and at times probably also smelly). Luckily we soon took over the entire apartment giving us a lot more breathing space.
As more people joined the team and the company grew, space got more and more cramped, and eventually it was time to move to a new location. The new location was two newly renovated floors in a building right in the center of Aarhus. The main part of the two floors was open office space allowing rather custom seating.
Already before moving into an office spread between two floors, we were very conscious that though people would be divided physically the company should not be divided mentally. One of the things to ensure this was that every now and then we would change the seating. It should never become our floor vs. their floor or something like that. Also, though developers are part of a team, all team members should not necessarily sit right next to each other.
There is a little bit of fixed seating though, as the Sales Director and CEO both have "real" offices with a door that close. They simply talk too much (on the phone most of the time), so we need a way to screen them from the rest of us.
Now you may already have guessed from the title of this post, that the title of this blog was not the most future-proof choice - once again it has been time to shake things up a bit. This time we have decided to have all developers on one floor (the second) and Project Managers, the Sales Director and the CEO on the other (the third). This way we hope to have an even greater synergy between developers. A nice side effect from this, at least from a developer perspective, is that since the Project Managers also often are rather busy on the phone, this is also no longer disturbing.
I do not intend, however, to change the name of the blog, nor do I intend to hand it over to some other Hansen working of living on a third floor, so for now Hansen on Third is written by Hansen on Second.
Approaching a new fiscal year at Vertica also makes it budget time. With help from my two colleagues, Søren and Troels, I have been in charge of the budget for training. This includes everything from conferences and in-house training to books and certifications. Though certainly not the most interesting part of my work it is nonetheless important.
I am not going to go into figures, but Vertica is spending, what I would consider a reasonable high amount of resources on training. However, we still very careful considering what event and conferences to attend, and in this post I would like to elaborate a little bit on how I see training, and what we do at Vertica.
Training should be looked at as an investment and not an expense. For most this might sound obvious, but my experience is, that this is certainly not the case everywhere. Almost every candidate we interview at Vertica asks about training (which is of course a fully legitimate and relevant question), some are telling that they are not even used to their company supplying books for them. I will come back to Tech Ed later but I heard something interesting last year: I cannot remember the exact numbers, but even though Tech Ed EMEA was held in Barcelona, and Spain is considerable larger that Denmark, there were more than twice as many Danes attending as Spaniards. I guess not everyone sees the investment vs. expenses relation the same way.
There is a huge amount of possibilities when it comes to training, and careful planning and evaluation is important. Some of these possibilities are extremely valuable, whereas others certainly would be considered an expense more than an investment.
I remember when I was almost fresh out of school, working in my very first job at Rambøll Informatik. Obviously I was quite inexperienced and got very happy when I was signed up for my very first "real life" course. It was a Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) based course held by one of the top Microsoft training centers in Denmark. I don't remember the name of the course, but it covered several of the technologies I was working with at the moment, including MS DTC. I admit that MS DTC might not be the easiest Microsoft technology to understand, however the trainer had obviously never worked with it, and was not able to answer even the simplest questions if is was not on his slides. My own experience with MS DTC was limited, but still surpassed that of the teacher. Quite a downer for a young kid eager to learn.
During my time at Rambøll I experienced this once more at a SQL Server 7.0 course, and ever since I have had a real hard time with these MOC courses – especially when combined with a professional trainer not doing much other than training. Thus we have also never had people from Vertica attend these MOC courses at training centers.
When we select events to attend at Vertica we look at a series of things. The following is more or less a prioritized list of the aspects taken into consideration:
There are other things to consider, but these are the top 4 questions we ask whenever we get invited to or look at any training.
As Vertica is growing in size it starts to make more sense to arrange training in-house. Up until know we have very limited experience with arranging this, pretty much limited to a 2½ day training session on the Covast EDI Accelerator for BizTalk and a couple of late afternoon beers with Patrick Tisseghem from U2U discussing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Both very good experiences.
As I mentioned in an earlier post I have been setting up in-house Commerce Server training with Max Akbar. Max used to be Commerce Server Product Manager and is now the owner of Commerce Server Training. He will come to the office for three days of training for everyone in our Commerce Server Team, in the beginning of September. We all have great expectations for this, and I am sure we will not be disappointed. I am pretty sure my experience with the teacher at the MS DTC course will not repeat itself :o)
I also believe that in the future we will try to do more in-house training, as long as we can get the right people to do the training. This way we can train the whole team at once.
As I started of saying we have been working out a budget for training prior to the new fiscal year starting. Although some events have been named not all funds are earmarked yet. Events and possibilities will show up during the year, but so far the schedule looks pretty much like this:
These events leave room in the budget for other events not yet scheduled. I.e. with the Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 release early next year, I wonder if we will see a PDC late 2008(?). Note also that no single person is attending all these conferences – that would be a lucky guy :o)
Instead we try to share the knowledge with colleagues when somebody is returning back to the office. However, I have to admit that this is something we could get better at, and we are continously working on that.
One of the new things we are starting is that whenever someone attends a course or conference he or she should afterwards do an internal presentation for everyone else at our bi-weekly Beer and Learn sessions. Every other Friday we stop working early and take turns presentation a topic for everyone else.
There are a lot of other topics to cover when it comes to training, and I might come back to that in a later post. This could include non-technical training, personal incentive for training and certification etc. However, this was some thoughts about how we see training at Vertica, and what we do to make sure we stay ahead of the pack.
There is certainly a lot of ways to look at training, both from an employee and from an employer's perspective. But regardless it should be looked at as the investment it is, when addressed in a serious and well-planned way. I am certainly not saying that what we do at Vertica is the only right way, and as with everything else is it important to strive at continuously getting better.
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 introduced the concept of applications to group artifacts used in a BizTalk Server solution in a logical way. This was done to make deployment, management as well as troubleshooting easier and quicker.
Applications are managed through the BizTalk Administration Console, and I think the concept has been of great help in my daily work with BizTalk. One thing, however, has annoyed me very much: Applications in the Tree View in the Administration Console are not sorted alphabetically, but instead they are listed in the same order as they have been created.
As BizTalk installations grow and more and more applications are created it takes more time to find the application you are looking for, especially if the application names are somewhat similar. At Vertica we have BizTalk installations with 25+ applications, and eventually we decided to do something about it.
My first thought was that there would be a stored procedure somewhere that was used to select the application names for the Console. If I could find this I could just add an order by clause to the select statement, and hopefully the issue would be solved. To find this procedure I fired up SQL Server Profiler. Unfortunately I came to the conclusion with my colleague Troels, that is was some dynamically created select statement that was used, and this idea was of no use.
One thing we noticed though, was that all applications were entered in the bts_application table in the BizTalkMgmtDb database. This table has two indexed; a clustered on the primary key nID, and a unique index on nvcName. As the clustered index also determines how the data is stored physically and since the nvcName column hold the names shown in the Administration Console, we figured that if we just switched the clustered index from the nID column to the nvcName the problem might be solved.
This operation was quickly performed in the SQL Server Management Studio, and after a quick restart of the Administration Console the applications now appeared in alphabetically order. Since this table only holds one row for each application, it is hard to imagine that someone would ever get more than 100 rows (and that I would think is also very high), thus there should be no considerable performance issues with changing the clustered index.
Please note that you should never change procedures or tables of a Microsoft server product in a production environment as you will no longer be eligible for support. But this trick might help you maintain the overview of you BizTalk development installation. In the meantime we can hope the next service pack will sort the applications.
All though I'm fortunate enough to feel as the title says about my job most of the time, this post is filed under Personal and thus not about my job. Instead it is a way of making that Orange Feeling last a bit longer, as I a couple of days ago came home after almost a week at the Roskilde Festival. I love live music and attend several festivals as well as isolated concerts every year.
This was my 13th Roskilde Festival and even though it was also the rainiest ever (with approx. 100 mm of rain during the week), already after a few days it is only the good experiences that are remembered. I know no better way of "recharging my batteries" than with good music and good friends, thus I thought I would post a couple of my pictures from the festival:
Although several of the bigger acts were rather disappointing there were countless excellent concerts, my favorites being:
Oh, and one it missing. I'll through in a handful of kudos if you can guess which (hint: the post title :o)
One of the characteristics of other people that I find the most inspiring is passion. This goes regardless of whether or not they work in the IT industry. Being surrounded by passionate people is both infectious and giving.
I know a lot of passionate people, both in the IT industry as well as outside, and I always love talking with them. Passion tends to breed ideas, and these two combined can make everybody's day.
Whether there is more passionate people in the IT industry compared to other industries I don't want to judge. But there is no doubt that there are a lot of extremely passionate people working in the IT industry. People that feel very strongly both about the technology as well as their solutions. There is a reason why the Windows/Linux or the PC/Mac discussions often are called religious discussions.
How is passion expressed then? How can you tell someone with a sincere passion for a specific area, from someone not as passionate? Well, let me start of by saying that I don't think there are many people working in the IT industry without being somewhat passionate about technology. Not only are a several yearlong education required, you are also required to continuously improve and build on your skills, at the same rate as the technology changes – which is fast! If you don't feel some kind of passion for technology I believe you will change industry pretty soon.
But still some people come off as being more passionate that others. You can see the spark in their eyes and hear the enthusiasm in their voice as they talk about the solutions they have built. Vertica is a growing company and we continuously interview new potential consultants. Even though a job interview can be a bit of an awkward situation, where two parties should try to learn as much about each other as possible in a rather limited time (and making sure that the candidate knows his/her stuff), telling how passionate a candidate is often quite easy. And as an employer passionate people are what you are looking for. Skills can be thought, but passion cant.
Thinking about it passion is also the predominant reason for my new blog (as I guess is the case for more or less all blogs). I am not claiming that I can out-smart everybody on the Internet, but that is also really not the idea. However, I do love what I'm doing, I do think I'm quite good at it – and I do try to improve every day.
Currently I am trying to arrange some Microsoft Commerce Server training for our eCommerce Team. I'm hoping to have Max Akbar, a former Product Manager at the Commerce Server team, come and do it. I'm not a Commerce Server expect and I have never neither met or written with Max before, but one single line in his email signature already told me a lot about him – including that I would like to meet him: "From cradle to grave in pursuit of knowledge!". Who wouldn't want to hire him as a trainer? :o)
I should add that I think passion outside your work is just as important as at work. The ability to become excited is per definition good, and I don't care if it LINQ or flowers that do it for you.
This also takes me back to the title. It is actually a quote from a friend trying to comfort me as I was complaining about my favorite football club loosing once again. That is approximately one year ago, and AGF relegated that year. Football fans are among the most passionate race there is, without ever thinking about logic, common sense or any other rational argument. This year even more people have come to the stadium and yesterday the promotion back to the best league was a reality :o)
So basically: it you have it you should show it!
As this is the very first blog post I find it appropriate to write a little about my intentions with the blog as well as a little about myself.
First thing first: my name is Sune Hansen and I work at Vertica, at which I am also a partner. Vertica is an IT Services company delivering custom solutions to our customers based on Microsoft technology. The solutions are built involving consultants from one or more of our three teams: Business Process Integration (BPI), Business Intelligence (BI), and eCommerce and Custom .NET applications. There will be more of this personal and professional stuff once the profile page is ready.
In this blog I will write about life in the IT Services industry seen from Aarhus, Denmark. Also I expect to comment on books, articles and other interesting things I pick up on as well as maybe write a little about management. Traditionally I have been a bit of a geek, but I don't expect too many very technical posts. However, though technology does not "turn me on" the same way it did 5 years ago, you should never deny your past, and there will be posts about some of the Microsoft Server products – especially if they have been used to solve a very complex business problem.
Apart from being one of my primary sources searching for information I must admit to being a novice when it comes to blogs and blogging. I admit to not knowing the full meaning of all the fancy terms, but hopefully I will pick up on that as time passed. I believe that the content is what is important, and at least in this regards I feel pretty well prepared. I already have a long list of topics for posts and I expect to be able to write one at least every 14 days.
That would be it for now. It feels good to get this up, and I am already looking forward to posting the first "real" article.
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USA: Jeep Cherokee makers back on the job
In an industry currently laying off factory staff to reduce dealer stocks, there was some unexpected good news this week when DaimlerChrysler summoned 2,800 workers back to its Ohio Jeep Cherokee assembly line for the next two weeks.
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Searching for a district that contains multiple perennial postseason contenders and experienced offenses that can potentially score often from anywhere on the field?
District 5-4A is for you.
Five teams realigned league were in the playoffs last season. Three of those teams made deep playoffs runs and are poised to make a run at the 5-4A title.
That list also includes St. Thomas More, back after two seasons in Class 5A. In 2010, the Cougars were one game from making their first football title-game appearance. Teurlings Catholic, a 2010 4A semifinalist; and Northside, a 4A quarterfinals a year ago.
So what about this year?
The coaches think offense will have a lot to say about who wins the title, making Breaux Bridge the slight favorite ahead of STM and Northside.
Don't exclude Teurlings from that picture, said TCHS coach Sonny Charpentier.
Charpentier issued the rest of 5-4A a challenge as he picked his team to win a title behind quarterback D'Shaie Landor, who has thrown for nearly 3,000 career yards in two seasons a starter.
Northside returns all but one offensive starter from last year, while Breaux Bridge has two running backs who gained nearly 2,000 yards and three LSU commitments.
STM, on paper, could match that explosive potential, with a returning quarterback and two-thirds of a backfield that includes two runners who gained nearly a combined 1,900 yards.
With Landor, Charpentier plans to again open his offense, combining Landor's skills with rapidly-developing receiver Dylan Bossier.
Cecilia and St. Martinville aren't considered preseason contenders, but CHS should again be competitive and SMHS is rebuilding under new coach Gary Adkins, a former head coach at several Baton Rouge area schools.
Although he's the league's only first-year head coach, Adkins said he knows the burden he's inherited.
"We play in an extremely tough district, with teams of proven quality every year," Atkins said.
At Breaux Bridge, second-year coach Paul Broussard has the major ingredients to give his team the quick-scoring potential it has often lacked.
"On paper, this is one of the most talented and experienced teams we have had in quite some time," Broussard said. "Offensively, we are deep at the skill positions. Depth on the offensive line is a weakness."
Defenses have a new problem to solve when BBHS receivers Kavahra Holmes and Travin Dural, both LSU commitments, line up. Dural was a threat last year, while Holmes, a 400-meter champion last year, looks to become an impact receiver.
Throw in senior running backs Darrian Thomas (1,004 yards) and Adrian Menard (860), and the Tigers have a solid scoring foundation.
On defense, the Tigers return an entire secondary and two linebackers - Lamar Louis and Tyren Alexander - who have committed to LSU and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, respectively.
Over at STM, it's impossible to overlook the usual talented stockpile.
STM coach Jim Hightower has a 234-78 record in 26 years at the school and 308-106-1 overall. Last year, STM was 13-1 in Class 5A and won the district championship.
The Cougars are led by junior quarterback Brandon Bergeron (1,869 yards passing, 18 touchdowns) and all-purpose back Matt Flores (1,179 rushing yards, 203 receiving yards).
Senior running back John Juneau gained 767 along with running backs Joby Labruzzo and Patrick Scott. Targets include 6-foot-5 tight end Jordan Murray and split end Andrew Stevenson.
STM's defense is loaded with seniors, but only three are returning starters.
With a 6-0 record, Northside was last year's district champion. Few coaches have had as impressive a first decade as NHS coach Vincent Derouen (83-37). DeRouen opened his offense a little more last year, and there's the hint of the same this season.
Senior Kevin Johnson is the only player who didn't start for the Vikings offense last year, but NHS still has quarterback Jasper Turner and two tall receivers in 6-5 Dwayne Benjamin and 6-3 Von Breaux.
The offensive line of all seniors - and perhaps one of the largest in the state - returns averaging 298 pounds.
Defensively, NHS returns its linebackers and half of a secondary that includes Brandon Lard (six interceptions).
On the defensive line the Vikings' two interior linemen - Brandon Murray and Sederra Leopaul - each weigh more than 300 pounds.
Besides Bossier and Landor, Teurlings has versatile Devonte Jackson, a 205-pounder who can play fullback, tailback and slot receiver.
Charpentier lists only five returning defensive starters, but some of the key performers actively played reserve roles in the Rebels' playoff push.
Cecilia has made a habit lately of appearing in the playoffs under Terry Martin, but the league's coaches have placed the Bulldogs to finish just ahead of SMHS in the bottom half of the district.
That's understandable, said Martin, who said his team will be sound defensively while nurturing an offense that has little experience at receiver.
Linebacker Jeremy Ducotte
also plays fullback. Defensive back D'Andre Dartez is back after intercepting four passes and returning two for touchdowns in 2010.
Along with Ducotte, the Bulldogs have a good offensive nucleus with quarterback Tylor Robin (725 yards, four touchdowns) and three linemen.
"The team is more balanced offensively, and that will enable us to sustain longer drives," Martin said.
St. Martinville is looking to cultivate a resurgence that made the school a playoff regular in past decades. The Tigers have won fewer than five games during the past two seasons combined.
Asa Marshall, a senior who had eight interceptions, with three of those returned for touchdowns, helps lead the St. Martinville defense.