With home foreclosures showing no sign of relenting, the Obama Administration is getting serious about keeping people in their homes. The administration’s newly expanded “Home Affordable Modification Program” (HAMP) puts increased pressure on mortgage companies to modify loans and expand their accountability and transparency or face possible “monetary penalties” and sanctions. Will this new program do enough given the unemployment numbers, the economy and the number of people who need help?
The American Humanist Association is rolling out its first national holiday ad campaign, promoting awareness about the humanist movement and ethical life philosophy. Starting this week, buses here in Los Angeles might read “No God?...No Problem!” and “Why Believe in a God? Just be Good for Goodness’ Sake.” The campaign started in DC last week, and so far the response has been mostly positive—save for the few hundred emails telling the AHA they’re going to hell. How do you “sell” an idea like that? Patt talks with the AHA and an advertising expert.
Tomorrow President Obama will announce details of his long-anticipated troop surge and strategy change in Afghanistan and the main theme will be increasing the number of American troops with an eye on an exit strategy. There are so many contentious issues and parties in the debate over Afghanistan that one needs a score card: Congressional Democrats are divided on the best way forward while Republicans should support the President’s surge; while Afghans, skeptical of more foreign invaders and their own problematic government, keep a weary eye on developments. What’s the best way forward, and eventually out of Afghanistan?
Set in the tumultuous Summer of 1968, L.A. author James Ellroy's latest political noir delves deep into a tangled tale of corruption and retribution amidst a backdrop of reconstructed history—Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy have been assassinated; black militants are warring in southside L.A.; the Feds are mounting racist counterattacks. Cast with epic characters of fiction and history, "Blood’s a Rover" is Ellroy’s attempt to grapple with recent history and spin it into a fantastical war of ideals.
Patt Morrison is known for its innovative discussions of local politics and culture, as well as its presentation of the effects of national and world news on Southern California.
