Banks seek swifter process as foreclosures climb

DAYTONA BEACH -- The new year started with no relief from the high number of foreclosure filings across Volusia and Flagler counties and the state.

ICBA - Community Bank Locator
www.icba.org/consumer/BankLocator.cfm?sn.ItemNumber=51757
Community banks are the safest, soundest and most secure financial institutions in our nation. Community banks are common sense lenders that follow responsible business practices; are risk averse; and work every day to support their customers, communities and local markets

IRABankRatings.com - Move Your Money Project
Banks in Your Neighborhood
FDIC Depository Institutions with Branches close to your ZIP code 32952.
Source: FDIC Branch Data/IRA Bank Monitor

Mall Riots: Why Are Some Americans Becoming Violent Shoppers? | | AlterNet
Americans used to protest in the streets; now some have resorted to fighting each other in shopping malls. What happened?

'No Labor Market Recession For America's Affluent,' Low-Wage Workers Hit Hardest: STUDY
Though the national unemployment rate dipped slightly in January to 9.7 percent, a new study suggests that not only have low-income workers been the hardest hit by the jobs crisis -- but, shockingly, there has been "no labor market recession for America's affluent."
The study from Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada and Sheila Palma at Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies suggests that the unemployment problem is largely a problem for low-wage workers (hat tip to the Curious Capitalist).

Think Progress » Kristol Calls GOP’s Preconditions On Health Care Meeting ‘Silly’
On Sunday, President Obama announced his intention to host a televised bipartisan meeting on health care reform “to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward.” Yesterday, congressional GOP leaders responded with a list of preconditions for simply sitting down with the President and Democrats

World: Obama better than Bush: The Swamp
That billboard in Mnnesota picturing former President George W. Bush asks the world: "Miss me yet?''
Well, now we have the world's answer: Not so much.
President Barack Obama has had a tough first year dealing with domestic issues, but according to the latest polls, he has chalked up a success in how the rest of the world sees the United States.

Your home is your (dangerous) castle « The Pump Handle it’s not the safest place to be, at least in terms of being injured (here injury includes not only trauma but poisoning, but if we restrict it to trauma probably little is changed). Here’s one of CDC’s “Quickstat” looks at the percentage distribution of injuries by place of occurrence, as reported in a cluster sample of the US population (the National Health Interview Survey). The years covered are 2004 to 2007

Florida 2010: Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio, Alex Sink and the Law of Unintended Consequences -- Politics Daily
Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio sought to curry favor with conservatives last week by suggesting that not all immigrants should be counted in the 2010 Census. Rubio is the son of immigrants. A day later, Gov. Charlie Crist – Rubio's opponent in the GOP senatorial race and a man dubbed "Gov. Sunshine" -- let it slip that some of his supporters told him he ought to shun President Obama when the chief executive visited Florida.

Return Of the Repressed? Birtherism, Homophobia, Racial Paranoia Rise To Surface At Tea Party Confab
The National Tea Party Convention, which wrapped up Saturday night with a televised speech by Sarah Palin, offered an outlet for some of the fouler strands of modern conservatism that had long been bubbling beneath the surface of the Tea Party movement.