Foreclosures reach record numbers again.

While the Obama administration tries to put on a good show of encouraging mortgage modifications, the grandstanding is not working. According to Realty Trac, only about 230,000 homes have received help, while 464,058 homeowners lost their homes this year through the end of July...Link

Secret agreements.........

A memo obtained by the Huffington Post confirms that the White House and the pharmaceutical lobby secretly agreed to precisely the sort of wide-ranging deal that both parties have been denying over the past week. The memo, which according to a knowledgeable health care lobbyist was prepared by a person directly involved in the negotiations, lists exactly what the White House gave up, and what it got in return. It says the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government's leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada -- and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements...Link

In the Lobby..........

It seems everyone wants their opinions on health care reform to be heard, judging by the crowds of people attending town hall forums across the country, but will the investment of money and manpower that lobbying firms are devoting to making themselves heard by Congress drown out the general public?...Link

Massive Shift In Online Privacy Policy....

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union submitted comments today to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) opposing its recent proposal to reverse current federal policy and allow the use of web tracking technologies, like cookies, on federal government websites. Cookies can be used to track an Internet user’s every click and are often linked across multiple websites; they frequently identify particular people...Link

Transparency to stimulus spending........

Back in July, a software company named Smartronix landed an $18 million contract to build a Web site where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money. It was just another part of the Obama administration’s ongoing effort to bring transparency to stimulus spending, we were told. But it seems the drive for transparency doesn’t cover the contract itself...Link

This is Long....... but worth it.