Miscellaneous

• FDIC Loan Modification Criteria for Troubled IndyMac Borrowers

  Paul Kiesel | August 21, 2008 1:30 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Below are excerpts from a Los Angeles Times article explaining how troubled IndyMac borrowers are eligible to have their loans modified. According to the FDIC, the most important thing borrowers...

• Salesian Order of Priests are the Last Standing in Los Angeles

  Cheryl Buchanan | January 26, 2008 4:15 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Or maybe it would be more appropriate to say that they are the last lying? But, I've always had trouble with the whole question over when to use "lying" or "laying" in a sentence. If one means not telling the truth and the other means hiding out in the weeds and avoiding responsibility and continuing to hope it will all just go away... well then I guess they both work. Its just a matter...

• Renters Caught in Foreclosure Trap While Federal Government Idly Watches

  Paul Kiesel | October 16, 2008 8:51 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Below is an interesting Associated Press story from today on the effects the mortgage crisis has had on renters. I wrote a blog about this back in May which portends the severity of this situation...

• Loan Modification and Foreclosure Mitigation Efforts in the Bailout Bill

  Paul Kiesel | September 29, 2008 8:04 PM | 1 CommentLos Angeles, CA

  A key provision added to the bailout bill by Democrats last week, and a provision that likely dissuaded about two-thirds of House Republicans from voting "Aye" on the failed bill today, deals with...

• Fed's New Truth in Lending Rules Not Being Followed, Real Estate Appraisers Still Inflating Values

  Paul Kiesel | August 25, 2008 2:40 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that real estate evaluations are still being inflated, despite federal housing legislation that was signed last month tightening appraisal standards that comply...

• Connecticut Attorney General: Countrywide Conned Customers into Loans

  Paul Kiesel | August 06, 2008 2:53 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Another state is accusing Countrywide Financial of mortgage fraud. Connecticut joined California, Florida and Illinois among the states that have sued Countrywide, which was responsible for one in...

• Bush Makes Fun of Housing Crisis: 'Wall Street Got Drunk'

  Paul Kiesel | July 23, 2008 4:30 AM | 1 CommentLos Angeles, CA

  Last week, at a Houston fundraiser for Republican congressional candidate Pete Olson, President Bush asked for the TV cameras in the room to be shut off. Unaware that iPhones exist, and that someone could be recording him with such a device, he then proceeded to do a two-minute standup act that one might find David Letterman or Jay Leno doing during their opening monologues. Unfortunately, and in bad taste, Bush chose to make fun of the housing crisis, which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook and ABC News.

• China Airlines 737 Catches Fire On Okinawa

  Courtney Mills | August 20, 2007 2:00 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  A China Airlines Boeing 737 was billowed in flames on the runway as it came in for a landing on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa Monday, August 20. A single jet engine of the plane caught fire and exploded, and promptly engulfed the left wing of the airplane, according to reports. Passengers were able to exit the plane with dispatch and there were fortunately no fatalities. Some of the...

• Judge Peter Lichtman priest molestation mediations

  Paul Kiesel | November 04, 2006 2:51 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Judge Peter Lichtman is a Superior Court judge in Los Angeles Superior Court and very well respected as a trial judge and mediator.Judge Peter Lichtman who had been the mediator assigned to oversee Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange cases was rebuffed in his attempt to creatively craft a settlement around recalcitrant insurers. In a fascinating discussion of California Court of Appeals decision...

• Rick Santorum and Bishop Steinbock: "Secular" Society is to Blame for Rampant Clergy Sexual Abuse

  Paul Kiesel | March 20, 2009 7:24 PM | 11 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  These two guys, former Republican senator Rick Santorum and Bishop John T. Steinbock, claim that society, in particular secular or liberal society, is to blame for all of the recent sex abuse...