Now more than ever…

One of the best parts of It’s A Wonderful Life.

quickhits:

Foreclosure lawyers mock foreclosed-upon families with Halloween costumes portraying them as hobos

Joe Nocera, New York Times:

On Friday, the law firm of Steven J. Baum threw a Halloween party. The firm, which is located near Buffalo, is what is commonly referred to as a “foreclosure mill” firm, meaning it represents banks and mortgage servicers as they attempt to foreclose on homeowners and evict them from their homes. Steven J. Baum is, in fact, the largest such firm in New York; it represents virtually all the giant mortgage lenders, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

The party is the firm’s big annual bash. Employees wear Halloween costumes to the office, where they party until around noon, and then return to work, still in costume. I can’t tell you how people dressed for this year’s party, but I can tell you about last year’s.

That’s because a former employee of Steven J. Baum recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against.

(Source: The New York Times)

Everybody’s success is predicated on the hard work of all of us. Nobody gets there on their own. So why should it be that the people that lose are hung out to dry? …For a group that doesn’t necessarily believe in evolution, it’s awfully Darwinian.

JON STEWART, on the conservative and libertarian notion that the government should not provide “safety nets” for the disadvantaged in our society, on The Daily Show.

Yep.

(via inothernews)

Ed Schultz reporting from Madison on the eve of the recall elections.  

Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to privatize work determining who is eligible for food assistance in the state would violate federal law and could expose the state to a loss of more than $20 million in federal money, federal officials say.

By the way, Dennis Smith, the man Walker appointed to head the Department of Health Services, wrote all of this for the Heritage Foundation.

I’ve never been hugely into the Huffington Post, but I have read it and cited to it pretty consistently for several years.  During this time, I’ve come across all sorts of articles about Huffington Post stealing content.  It seemed anecdotal, at first…maybe some sort of unfortunate coincidence or something.  But over the past three years, the nonsense and hypocrisy have increased, reaching even weirder levels.  The whole AOL thing just feels odd.  I think I’ve finally decided I’ve just had enough. 

Besides, I’ve never been one to cross a picket line. 

Meanwhile, in Maine, Ohio, Michigan, and New Hampshire…

Those good Wisconsin schools have done a pretty good job of educating the Wisconsin people, so when Walker and company overplayed their hand and exposed their real agenda, Wisconsinites quickly understood what had happened and exercised their constitutional rights to assemble and to petition their government. They understood that this is not just an attack on public employees and their unions, but the first step in an effort to slap down the entire middle class.