David,

Reread this quote from a comment I made on your 11/24/2010 Roundup about the Center for Responsible Lending:

…the Center for Responsible Lending has formed the Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance (IFLA) to support groups giving legal representation to families facing foreclosure and financial ruin because of abusive subprime mortgages. The National Association of Consumer Advocates will manage the project, which recognizes that one of the biggest barriers families face to avoid losing their homes is the lack of access to quality legal services.

The Institute, launched with a $15 million grant from investment management firm Paulson & Co. Inc., will provide funding and training to organizations that help homeowners negotiate alternatives to foreclosure. The majority of the funds will be grants to support direct legal assistance to borrowers in 10 or more states to fight foreclosure, predatory lenders and abusive loan servicers. It will do this primarily by providing money to top non-profit legal-aid groups and law school clinics.

For a reminder about who “Paulson & Co. Inc.” is, read the comment:
http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/11/24/roundup-and-happy-holidays/#comment-67062

The credulity implied in CRL’s ‘tentative endorsement’ of the proposed foreclosure settlement sell-out is not believable, for any organization that has no excuse for not keeping up with your and Yves Smith’s coverage. Maybe, in the back of your mind you remembered the connection between Paulson and CRL?

Naked Capitalism had a live blog of the action here:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/11/zuccotti-park-being-raided-now-if-you-can-join-ows.html

raven333 @ 7:34 pm wrote:

“…no-one knows if it is possible run an entire modern industrial economy on renewables…”

It’s not possible. Population overshoot and industrial capitalism are planetary dead ends. We are approaching a bottleneck, and the increasing complexity and energy necessary to resolve problems leads to collapse.

In Fukushima: the nuclear martingale, Ugo Bardi compares nuclear plants to playing double-or-nothing at roulette, expecting to eventually win back all your losses, only in reverse: eventually the odds of an accident approach 100%.

Dr. Helen Caldicott says that it takes 40 years to decommission a nuclear plant, before even being able to dismantle it for disposal, and that every brick, roof tile, etc. is radioactive.

How will this be accomplished in the face of peak oil, coal, gas, etc.? Who will want to handle this task when the economy is a shambles and energy costs too much to ‘waste’ on cleaning up messes? [Think Katrina.] And where will the refuse be ‘disposed of’? It’s a sick joke.

Colby’s next door neighbor told me that Colby always washed the dishes and tidied up. There were dirty dishes in the sink at the time of his death.

Is it a fair guess that the massive number of servicer-induced defaults and foreclosures are also part of official policy to aid and abet the banks’ CYA and ‘earning’ their way back to ‘solvency’…. and that Fannie and Freddie are paying the banks at par on these defaulted loans, and then also letting the banks foreclose on and buy the houses via ‘credit bids’ which they can then sell again for yet another go ’round? And the investors are getting the shaft in these deals. And eventually, after five years, the investors will be told, sorry, you bought a pig in a poke and it’s too late to do anything about it?

They [LPS] overbilled the mortgage servicer for actions like filing motions, and then took their cut after paying off the attorneys, who were basically outsourcing the work and taking a fee.

This is wrong, David. LPS does not charge the banks at all. LPS sells the cases to the foreclosure mills.

Here’s an excerpt from the complaint, that Yves quoted:

In its own sworn testimony LPS Default acknowledges that it does not charge the mortgage servicer clients of its parent, LPS, any fee of any type for the services LPS Default provides to them through its contract with the mortgage servicers called a “Default Services Agreement” or DSA…..

This is why it’s fee-splitting: The foreclosure mill law firm assesses the overcharge against the defendants (mortgagors who are being foreclosed, or in this case bankruptcy fees), and then splits their fee with non-attorneys, LPS and Prommis, who have done all of the work preparing the documents.

dengue fever is now a biological weapon, being genetically modified by US military.

Apparent cyanide suicide victim was USF health researcher, TampaTribune, 11/16/10

Cholera and Dengue Fever: State health officials issue warnings of two diseases, WTSP, 11/18/10

Genetically Modified Mosquitos, Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post, 12/13/10

Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA & Army Experiments, Albarelli & Martell, Voltairenet 7/17/10