† Romney: The Sequel (second item): In a post for the Los Angeles Times' “Top of the Ticket” blog, Andrew Malcolm warns: “Get ready for another political book tour. Also another political reinvention.” He is referring to "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness," by Mitt Romney who “has long defied easy description.” No kidding: Romney has more personalities (second item) than Sybil. Which is exactly the point of a piece in the Boston Phoenix that Malcolm cites: “Any further change - even to become the real, authentic Romney - will be viewed with suspicion, if not derision.”  

† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: Kinder, gentler debt collectors? The Washington Post describes a typical call by Trish Hilliard, who works for Alexandria, VA- based American Collections Enterprise:

You're having a hard time coming up with the cash. That's understandable. The economy tanked and dragged you down with it. [She] gets that. She knows times are tough.

But here's the deal: You owe the money, and it's her job to collect. In the delicate relationship between debtor and collector, she has to be authoritative, always "in control." But nice, too, careful to keep her voice at a soothing lilt. She wants you to trust her.

"I'm here to help," she says.

Maybe there's money in a 401(k) that can be tapped, or a relative who can make a quickie loan. Or perhaps there's a little jewelry - have any gold or mismatched earrings that can be hocked and make this unpaid bill go away?

"If you can't pay in full, how much can you pay today?" she says. "If you can't pay today, let's work out an arrangement."

Hilliard, 30, has been trained to quickly determine who can pay and who cannot ("dissecting the wallet"). Michael J. Sutherland, president and CEO of American Collections, tells the WaPo that while most people want to pay their debts, "You can only collect money from someone who has money."

† Mortgage Loan Modification Less Than Advertised: The Washington Post reports that many homeowners who tried to refinance when the rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages “hit historic lows” last year did not qualify for the best rates because they’re underwater, have little or no equity or lenders “demand[ed] stellar credit and low debt”:

An effort by the Obama administration to overcome some of these challenges has fallen flat, frustrating many homeowners - especially with mortgage rates expected to rise by year's end, if not sooner.

"We've reached the point of burnout," said Amy Crews Cutts, deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac. "Most of the people who can refinance today have done so already." …

To help borrowers, the Obama administration launched the Home Affordable Refinance Program nearly a year ago. The initiative aimed to help refinance the loans of borrowers with little or no equity in their homes but who are on track with their mortgages. These underwater borrowers are at greater risk of foreclosure, and the administration hoped that lowering their payments would decrease their chances of falling behind.

The program was limited to borrowers whose loans were backed by mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Originally it targeted borrowers whose loan balances were slightly higher than the property's value. The program was later expanded to include borrowers who owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are worth.

Yet fewer than 200,000 borrowers have refinanced through this program since its launch in March - nowhere near the up to 5 million the administration projected to reach by June, when the initiative is to end.

† Life Imitates “A Law Abiding Citizen”: On average, it takes 10 years for a prisoner on death row to be executed, but one murderer in AZ spent 27 years filing appeal after appeal in state and federal courts and died of natural causes at the age of 94, reports The Associated Press:

Nash had been imprisoned almost continuously since he was 15 and was deaf, mostly blind, crippled, mentally ill and had dementia, said his attorney, Thomas Phalen. State prosecutors were appealing a [Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals] ruling that Nash might not be competent to the U.S. Supreme Court at the time of his death, Phalen said. …

He spent 25 years in prison for shooting a Connecticut police officer in 1947. In 1977, Nash was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for a robbery and murder in Salt Lake City but escaped from a prison work crew in October 1982.

Three weeks later, on Nov. 3, 1982, Nash went into a coin shop in Phoenix and demanded money from an employee, Greggory West.

Nash shot West three times, killing him. …

He was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery aggravated assault and theft and sentenced to death in 1983.

Nash was competent when he murdered his victims and he was competent when he escaped, but each appeal stopped the state from carrying out his sentence until he had become so enfeebled that justice could not be served - at least, not in this world.

† Updates To Previous Posts (ninth item, Scientists Who Refuse To Toe The Line On Global Warming: Part II): Professor Phil Jones, who resigned as director of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit after the “Climategate” scandal broke, says he cannot comply with Freedom of Information requests for the raw data used in the hotly disputed “hockey stick graph” because he can’t find it. Jones told the BBC that he’s disorganized, has a messy office and keeps poor records. The Daily Mail (London) reports that Jones “also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon. And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no ‘statistically significant’ warming.”

An editorial in the paper calls the BBC interview “an amazing retreat”:

Untold billions of pounds have been spent on turning the world green and also on financing the dubious trade in carbon credits. …

Every government on Earth has changed its policy, hundreds of academic institutions, entire school curricula and the priorities of broadcasters and newspapers all over the world have been altered – all to serve the new doctrine that man is overheating the planet and must undertake heroic and costly changes to save the world from drowning as the icecaps melt.

But in the light of the ‘Climategate’ revelations, it is time for governments, academics and their media cheerleaders to be more modest in their claims and to treat sceptics [sic] with far more courtesy.

The question is not settled.

† Updates To Previous Posts (eighth item, Is Obama Already A Lame Duck?: These days, congressional Dems are likely to say “Thanks, but no thanks” to an offer for President Barack Hussein Obama to campaign for them (one CA Representative tells the Los Angeles Times, “I'm more popular in my district than the president") – and some have even taken to running against Obama and his policies:

Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat who represents a California Central Valley district burdened by high unemployment and home foreclosures, said in an interview: "The Obama administration has failed miserably in trying to solve the problem."

Rep. Jim Costa, a Democrat who also represents California's Central Valley, blames Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for not doing enough to alleviate a drought that has hobbled farmers. Costa said his phone calls to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have gone unreturned.

"They're not listening carefully enough to the people I represent," Costa said. …

Far from discouraging an independent stance, the White House political operation and the Democratic congressional leadership are tacitly putting out word that the strategy may be a useful one, according to party campaign operatives.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who leads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in an interview: "Our candidates need to reflect the values and priorities of their districts. And that means on some issues they'll support the Obama administration's position, and on some issues they'll oppose it."

Moving in lock step with the White House poses risks for certain Democrats. Some 49 House Democrats serve in districts that Republican John McCain won in the 2008 presidential election.

† Updates To Previous Posts (second item, Obama Administration Christmas Bomber Missteps Worse Than You Think): The uproar over underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab being Mirandized and given a public defender just nine hours after being taken into custody has prompted Obama administration officials to rethink how jihadis caught red-handed trying to commit an act of terrorism are handled, reports The Washington Post:

The Justice Department and the FBI will consult with the intelligence community on information about terrorism suspects arrested in the United States before deciding whether to read them their Miranda rights under a plan now under review in the White House, according to senior administration officials. …

As the final decision will continue to be made by the FBI and Department of Justice, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, says the administration is trying to finesse the national security issues raised by the mishandling of Abdulmutallab:

"A captured high-value al-Qaeda member should be immediately placed in military custody and should be immediately interrogated vigorously in a sustained interrogation."

But one government attorney tells the WaPo when a jihadi is arrested in the U.S. it’s open to debate whether (s)he can legally be considered “enemy combatant”:

"It's a military decision, and a complicated one when the arrest is in the U.S. A suspect has to be a member of al-Qaeda or linked to a terrorist group associated with al-Qaeda under the legal approach used by the Bush administration, and that has not been tested in court.

But the military has repeatedly proven that it, too, has trouble figuring out who the enemy is (seventh item). To quote Paul Krugman, “we’re doomed.”