stop her now

We have been friends since freshmen year in high school. Now, she's in college. Today, she came out to me that she is able to pay for her own tuition...through prostitution.

Let's call her Nevada. Nevada is smart, funny and very loyal. She was one of the top 5% in the school and everything. I've always thought prostitution as something girls should not do...despite how desperate they are. There are tons of other decent jobs that a girl can do without giving herself away.

She told me that money is not the only thing prostitutes like her are seeking. Pleasure, lust and a little bit of adventure all play huge roles in her decision. There are many girls her age who are in this industry as well. She has many older friends who are in this business because they have kids to feed. Their husbands do not earn enough money to pay for their rent. Some of their husbands are even prostitutes themselves. Many places wouldn't hire them for decent jobs due to their lack in education and experience. Many of these prostitutes are actually proud with their occupation though.

I asked her if her parents knew about it. Nevada told me that she wouldn't dare to make such heartbreaking confession to her parents and asked me to keep this secret. She further explained how some of her friends started to act weird around her...especially the guys due to the fact that one of our friends ran into her at the strip club once. So, I'm guessing some of our friends already stopped talking to her.

During our conversation, I tried to get her to change her mind because it's illegal. But she told me it was useless because she is really passionate about prostitution. And she knows how to keep herself safe. Nevada even joked about becoming a porn star too. I had to laugh. She was still the same person I knew back in high school. Sure, her job isn't really acceptable by the society. But she is my friend and I will support her even if I don't agree with her philosophy. What else can I do for her? If I refused her like other people, I'm sure she won't have anyone to fall on. That's even worst. I'm worried about her. At the same time, I want her to be happy. It's not like she's hurting anyone. So for now, this will just be our little secret.

Sensing that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) will win the Democratic presidential nomination, Republican Party operatives are stepping up their political attacks on the former first lady but are wary of going too far with their criticisms because she is a woman.


As with the other Democratic White House hopefuls, GOP strategists are concerned that extremely aggressive rhetoric against Clinton could backfire. However, they point out that they are devoting significant resources to defeat her.



Richard Collins, a wealthy Texas businessman and a leading organizer of Stop Her Now, a political committee devoted to opposing Clinton's White House bid, told The Hill his group will spend $500,000 to $600,000 between now and February targeting her candidacy.


"We expect we'll be much more intense in our efforts between now and Feb. 28," said Collins.


Collins emphasized that his group's strategy and tactics are more important than how much it plans to spend.


Stop Her Now will use humor in its attacks against Clinton to make them more appealing to swing voters. Its website features anti-Clinton cartoons and jokes of the week. It also has posted a spoof of "The Tonight Show" in which an unflattering parody of Clinton plays the role of Johnny Carson.


Republican operative David Bossie, president of Citizens United, is producing a critical film documentary about Clinton that conservative financial backers hope will be as effective as the attacks of another group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, against former Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).


Republicans must find novel ways to pan Clinton because she is a female and because many of the criticisms of her are already well-known, having been hashed out during the partisan battles of her husband's administration.


"You can't go after a woman candidate the way you can go after a guy," said Paul Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and an influential conservative leader. "It's very, very difficult to campaign against a woman candidate."


Weyrich said that fact, combined with what he described as Clinton's willingness to "stop at nothing to win," makes her the favorite to win the White House.


"That's why I think she will be elected president," he said.


In 2000, former Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.) attracted widespread criticism after he walked over to Clinton's podium during a televised debate to challenge her to sign a campaign pledge. Clinton easily defeated Lazio to win her Senate seat.


Phil Singer, Clinton's spokesman, said increasing Republican attacks are spurred by fear.


"She continues to show she is the strongest Democrat running for the nomination, and Republicans think she can win," he said. "They're nervous."


The view that Clinton has the Democratic nomination locked up is spreading among Republicans. President Bush recently predicted that Clinton would win the nomination. Ed Rollins, President Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign manager, wrote last week in Human Events that Clinton "is the strongest candidate in years and is not only going to be the Democratic nominee; she can be elected president."


"Underestimating her appeal or her campaign team or over-focusing on her negatives is not smart," he wrote. "I repeat, she can win and we better start working on ways to beat her."


Clinton's Democratic rivals have showed a reluctance to aggressively attack, evidenced at Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate in Hanover, N.H.


For example, earlier in the week an aide to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) issued a statement needling Clinton because of Bush's prediction she would win the nomination.


"I can understand why the president would want Senator Clinton to be the nominee," said Dodd spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan.


When moderator Tim Russert asked Dodd to explain the statement in more detail, the candidate dodged the question.
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), another rival, appeared to stumble when he criticized Clinton.


Biden predicted that Republicans would be less willing to compromise with Clinton if she were president because of "old stuff" associated with her husband's administration. Biden softened his comments, however, by declaring that Clinton was not at fault and suggested that he did not intend to touch on the circumstances that triggered the House to impeach President Bill Clinton.


The Republican National Committee (RNC) has showed less timidity. It zeroed in on Clinton the morning after the debate.


RNC Chairman Robert "Mike" Duncan issued a broad statement criticizing the Democratic front-runners. The next morning Clinton was the only candidate to draw two critical press releases from Republican Party headquarters, including a detailed research piece highlighting less-than-positive media assessments of her debate performance.


The RNC has accelerated its opposition research on Clinton since 2003.


"We looked into stuff when she was a potential vice presidential candidate in 2004," said an RNC official. "We've been cranking on it since 2003 trying to figure out the inventory we have. We're starting the drumbeat and doing the narrative on her."


"There's plenty of information out there on her," said another Republican official. "Her stances on issues, for example. She's clearly a liberal, in favor of big government, higher taxes, and weak on defense. She has plenty of baggage."


Danny Diaz, the RNC's communications director, said despite growing anticipation for Clinton, the party is prepared to face any Democrat.


"The Republican National Committee is prepared to speak to the very real differences between the parties regardless of who Democrats nominate," he said. "We look forward to informing the American people about Democrat plans to raise taxes, increase the size of government, and retreat from the War on Terror."


Singer, Clinton's spokesman, said Republican opposition research will prove ineffective.

The following movies are scheduled to open today in the Bay Area:
"ANGELS IN THE DUST" (NR): A documentary about Marion Cloete, an Afrikaner woman who left her privileged life behind to open a school for children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

"FEAST OF LOVE" (R): In the Northwest, a coffee shop owner (Greg Kinnear) struggles to find love after his wife (Selma Blair) leaves him for another woman. With Morgan Freeman.

"THE GAME PLAN" (PG): A superstar quarterback (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) discovers he has a 7-year-old daughter. With the NFL play-offs approaching, he tries to become a responsible father.

"INTO THE WILD" (R): Sean Penn directs this adaptation of Jon Krakauer's best-selling nonfiction book about a young man (Emile Hirsch) who gives all his possessions away and takes to the Alaskan outback.

"IRA AND ABBY" (R): Boy (Chris Messina) meets girl (Jennifer Westfeldt), they fall madly in love and decide to get married. Then he discovers she's a divorcee, twice over.

"THE KINGDOM" (R): An FBI team heads to Saudi Arabia to investigate the bombing that killed a group of Americans working in Riyadh. With Chris Cooper, Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner.

"KING OF CALIFORNIA" (PG-13): A teenager (Rachel Evan Wood) finds her life disrupted when her father (Michael Douglas) is released from a mental hospital, intent on finding a lost Spanish treasure he believes is buried under the local Costco.

"THE LAST WINTER" (NR): Director Larry


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Fessenden's psychological thriller takes place on an Alaskan oil dredging expedition where something goes terribly wrong. With James LeGros and Ron Perlman.
"OUTSOURCED" (PG-13): An American novelty product salesman (Josh Hamilton) travels to Bombay to train the replacement for his newly outsourced job.

"TRADE" (R): A 13-year-old girl is kidnapped by sex traffickers in Mexico City and her teenage brother sets out to find her before she's sold into sexual slavery in the United States. With Kevin Kline and based on the New York Times magazine story "The Girls Next Door."

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"3:10 TO YUMA": If you've ever waited two hours for a train, you have a rough idea of what this film is like. Making every local stop as it chugs for its preordained destination, the movie lingers over every long meal and chatty campfire scene. Russell Crowe plays Ben Wade, part of a gang that robs a stagecoach. When Wade carelessly lets himself get caught, he's sent to Yuma to be hanged. Desperate for money, Dan Evans (Christian Bale) agrees to help transport him. -- B. Newman. (R: violence and some profanity.) 1 hour, 57 minutes. B-

"ACROSS THE UNIVERSE": Director Julie Taymor ambitiously re-imagines the movie musical with sometimes dazzling results. It misses the boat just as often, and the general effect is that of an overindulgent misfire. But if this weird Beatles musical is a folly, it's a grand one. Using snippets from some 33 Beatles tunes and lines and images evoked by others, the filmmakers concoct a kind of boilerplate '60s everystory. -- B. Strauss. (PG-13: sex, nudity, violence, drug use, language.) 2 hours, 13 minutes. B-

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"BECOMING JANE": The young Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) falls in love with a charming lawyer (James McAvoy) in this semi-biographical -- maybe better to call it imaginograpy -- film about her real-life flirtation with an Irishman named Tom Lefroy. Like the 2005 "Pride and Prejudice," this is Austen-lite, but Hathaway and McAvoy are cute and pleasing. The film suffers from a multitude of endings. -- M. Pols. (PG: brief nudity, mild language.) 2 hours. B-

"THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM": Super assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) returns to explore his dark and gloomy past. Excellent performances from Damon, David Strathairn as a CIA jerk and Joan Allen as his intellectual superior. The story is compelling, the action nonstop and the foreign locales, including London and Tangier, are used to maximum effect. Director Paul Greengrass knows what he's doing; all action flicks should be this good. -- M. Pols. (PG-13: violence, intense action sequences.) 1 hour, 51 minutes. A-

"THE BRAVE ONE": Jodie Foster stars as the victim of a brutal crime who turns vigilante. Terrence Howard plays the detective who may be on to her, or perhaps wants to come on to her. Appropriately moody and moving, and Foster gives a fierce performance as a tragic character, but the movie is compromised by an ending that is altogether too tidy. -- M. Pols. (R: some strong violence, language, some sexuality.) 1 hour, 59 minutes. B-

"EASTERN PROMISES": Director David Cronenberg reteams with his "A History of Violence" star Viggo Mortensen for a tense drama about the bad doings of a Russian crime family based in London. Mortensen is the family's handyman for all manner of nasty tasks, including dealing with a pesky midwife (Naomi Watts) investigating the mysterious death of a young woman. Very fine acting, particularly by Mortensen and beautifully filmed, but quite gory. -- M. Pols. (R: strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language, nudity.) 1 hour, 36 minutes. A-

"EL CANTANTE": Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez team up to tell another couple's story, that of salsa legend Hector Lavoe and his wife, Puchi. Musically speaking this is a lot of fun, and Anthony gives a natural, easy performance as the boyishly charming drug addict. But director Leon Ichaso gives us a mishmash of music-video-style montages and, in the end, "El Cantante" remains only a superficial look at a fallen star. -- M. Pols. (R: drug use, pervasive language, some sexuality.) 1 hour, 46 minutes. C+

"GOOD LUCK CHUCK": Vile. Dane Cook plays a cursed man; all the women he sleeps with immediately go on to meet the man they'll marry. This becomes a problem when he meets the comely but clumsy love of his life (Jessica Alba). The movie would just be your average dumb romantic comedy if it weren't for the odious sidekick character played by Dan Fogler. He's human pollution. -- M. Pols. (R: sequences of strong sexual content including crude dialogue, nudity, language, some drug use.) 1 hour, 36 minutes. D-

"HALLOWEEN": In the remake of John Carpenter's original thriller, Rob Zombie manages to humanize the hulking, mask-wearing Michael Myers by immersing us in his dreadful childhood in the first third of the film. Then the new material focuses on the Halloween holiday when abused young Mikey went from killing animals to taking bloody revenge on people. -- B. Strauss. (R: violence, nudity, sex, language, drug use, children in jeopardy.) 1 hour, 37 minutes. B

"HAIRSPRAY": Adam Shankman directs a sprawling, effervescent big-screen version of the Broadway musical inspired by the 1988 John Waters' film. The setting is 1962 Baltimore, where a chubby girl named Tracy Turnblad (the winning newcomer Nikki Blonsky) dares to dream, not just of dancing on a popular local TV show, but of integrating whites and blacks. The cast is a joy to behold: Christopher Walken dancing, Michelle Pfeiffer being wicked, Queen Latifah in full regal mode. But John Travolta, in the drag role made famous by Divine, is a distraction. -- M. Pols. (PG: language, some suggestive content, momentary teen smoking.) 1 hour, 47 minutes. B+

"THE HUNTING PARTY": In this quirky adventure story, two former network war correspondents (Richard Gere and Terrence Howard) team up with a glorified intern (Jesse Eisenberg) to hunt down a notorious Serbian war criminal. Writer/director Richard Shepard has a lot of fun with real material (the story is based on an Esquire piece by Scott Anderson) and the movie is a zingy, impudent lark. -- M. Pols. (R: strong language, some violent content.) 1 hour, 36 minutes. B+

"IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON": This joyful, philosophical documentary about mankind's voyages to the moon from director David Sington makes us feel both powerful and fragile. And in reminding us what it meant to be united as a world, it refutes, at least for a few inspired hours, the cynicism of our age. Of the hundreds of films released in 2007, this might be the only one we actually needed. -- M. Pols. (PG: mild language, brief violent images, incidental smoking.) 1 hour, 35 minutes. A

"IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH": Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), a retired military police officer, and his wife, Joan (Susan Sarandon), learn that their son, having survived a year of combat in Iraq and returned with his unit to Fort Rudd, N.M., has disappeared. It doesn't feel right to Hank, so he goes across the Southwest to the fort where his son was last seen. Along the way he bonds with a young police detective (Charlize Theron) who helps push the investigation forward. Much of writer-director Paul Haggis' film works brilliantly, but ultimately it misses the mark. At its crudest, the film settles for agitprop. -- S. Hunter. (R: violent and disturbing content, language, some sexuality/nudity.) 2 hours, 1 minute. B-

"THE JANE AUSTIN BOOK CLUB": The notion of Jane Austen as palliative for all that ails you reaches its warm and cuddly apotheosis here in an adaptation of Karen Joy Fowler's novel. Six fans of the author form a book club. All of them, needless to say, find themselves in various states of grief, crisis, confusion or denial. And all of them mirror an Austen heroine of their own. -- C. Chocano. (PG-13: mature thematic material, sexual content, brief strong language, some drug use.) 1 hour, 43 minutes. B

"LA VIE EN ROSE": Director Olivier Dahan's biographical film about Edith Piaf could make you believe in ghosts; Marion Cotillard's performance as Piaf is the kind of conjuring act that suggests the spirit world had to be involved. She covers the ground from Piaf's teenage years as a street singer to her deathbed at 47, riddled with cancer, destroyed by drug addiction and heartbreak. The film is nonlinear and almost impressionistic, but leaving it, you feel as though you have seen a life not just re-created, but lived. -- M. Pols. (PG-13: substance abuse, sexual content, brief nudity, thematic elements.) 2 hours. A-

"MR. BEAN'S HOLIDAY": In a comedy seemingly aimed at dimwits and children, rubber-faced Rowan Atkinson plays the title character, whose primary modes of expression are grunting, gurgling and grimacing. His is a pose of perpetual stupefaction, eyes bulging cartoonishly, brows raised and lowered like flags, and a mouth out of which very little ever comes, except Mr. Bean's tongue, which advances and retreats in a disgusting darting motion. There is a cult of Bean loyalists, and if you are in it, that face and this movie will be like a day at the beach. Otherwise, turn back or risk having your IQ lowered where you sit. -- B. Newman. (G: In English, French and Russian with English subtitles.) 1 hour, 27 minutes. D

"MR. WOODCOCK": Billy Bob Thornton is Mr. Woodcock, a gym teacher whose philosophy is "life is tough," so the more he embarrasses and physically strains out-of-shape eighth-graders, the better off they'll be. When former student John Farley (Seann William Scott) returns to his hometown to accept a civic prize, he discovers that Woodcock is dating his widowed mom (Susan Sarandon). -- B. Strauss. (PG-13: sex, mild violence, language, drug use, children in jeopardy.) 1 hour, 27 minutes. D

"NO RESERVATIONS": Romantic sparks fly in a Manhattan bistro between uptight chef Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her new free-wheeling sous chef Nick (Aaron Eckhart). Abigail Breslin provides a soupcon of tragedy -- and a fine, sulking performance -- as Kate's young niece, who comes to live with her aunt after a tragedy. In real life, Nick wouldn't bother defrosting a grump like Kate, but for soft-hearted foodies, this dramedy will be a pleasing fantasy. -- M. Pols. (PG: some sensuality, language.) 1 hour, 55 minutes. B

"ONCE": A naturalistic, modern musical from writer/director John Carney. In the streets of Dublin, a young Czech pianist (Marketa Irglova) befriends a guitarist (Glen Hansard, lead singer of the Frames), encouraging him to mend his broken heart with songs. During the course of a week, they make music together and fall in a wistful sort of love. The movie starts slowly but winds its way around your heart. -- M. Pols. (R: language.) 1 hour, 28 minutes. A-

"PARIS, JE T'AIME": Some of cinema's most eclectic, acclaimed directors (Alexander Payne, Alfonso Cuaron, the Coen brothers to name a few) have created a series of shorts celebrating the spirit of Paris. With 18 pieces in all, there should be something here to tantalize everyone's tastes. -- C. Lemire. (R: language, brief drug use.) 2 hours. B

"RATATOUILLE": Pixar's newest animated ditty leaves us satisfied by the story and craving a good meal. Every detail is just right as Remy, a talented rat voiced by Patton Oswalt, tries to achieve his dream of becoming a French chef by acting as puppeteer to a swanky restaurant's kitchen garbage boy. Poignant and funny, the film gets credit for valuing story over star power, and for portraying Remy et al. as real rats rather than cartoon cuties. This ranks with Pixar's best. -- M. Pols. (G) 1 hour, 51 minutes. A

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"SHOOT 'EM UP": A wallow in blood and bullets and bodily fluids, it's the most amoral action film since "Crank." But if you can get past the body count, the cavalier way many a shooting or killing is punctuated by a sight gag or a one liner, it's also the most jolting action film of the year. Clive Owen is our Bond-by-way-of-Eastwood hero. -- R. Moore. (R: pervasive strong bloody violence, sexuality and some language.) 1 hour, 33 minutes. B

"THE SIMPSONS MOVIE": Homer causes environmental havoc in Springfield, and the whole Simpson family must flee to Alaska, the EPA hot on their heels. A movie version of the long-running series wasn't exactly necessary, and we sense the filmmakers' ambivalence in a dozen meta-references to it, but can we really complain about its razor-sharp humor appearing on the big screen? -- M. Pols. (PG-13: irreverent humor throughout.) 1 hour, 27 minutes. B

"STARDUST": A fairy tale for the whole family, in the manner of "The Princess Bride." Claire Danes plays a star who comes to Earth, promising immortality and youth to the one who captures her. Her pursuers include a lovelorn youth (Charlie Cox), a witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) and a group of princes. Feather light but charming. -- M. Pols. (PG-13: some fantasy violence, risque humor.) 2 hours, 10 minutes. B+

"SUPERBAD": On one of their last nights in high school, dorky best friends Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) undertake an odyssey to procure alcohol in the belief it will then beget them girls. Produced by Judd Apatow and the same talent base that made "Knocked Up," this is comedy at its crudest -- really astonishingly so in places -- and yet, the story of these boys' friendship is truly touching. The best teen comedy since "Dazed and Confused." -- M. Pols. (R: pervasive crude and sexual content, strong language, drinking, some drug use, fantasy/comic violent images, all involving teens.) 1 hour, 54 minutes. A-

"SYDNEY WHITE": Amanda Bynes stars as Sydney in this comic updating of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Sydney is wholly unprepared for college and pledging with the Kapps, her late mother's beloved sorority. And she's entirely too nice to manage in the venomous realm of Greek queen Rachel Witchburn. So Sydney casts her lot with "the seven dorks," a motley group of guys living in a rundown house. -- R. Moore. (PG-13: some language, sexual humor, partying.) 1 hour, 46 minutes. C-

"TRANSFORMERS": This overgrown action movie is styled mostly after Detroit muscle cars, but it has just enough brains under its hood to know how, and when, to be funny. It also fetishizes military hardware in a way that you might mistake for satire if it were directed by anybody other than Michael Bay ("Pearl Harbor"). Based on a line of Hasbro action figures and only a glimmer of an idea, the story about outer-spacebots fighting a war over a black cube called the "Allspark" doesn't always make good sense, but it gets a boost from its young star, Shia LaBeouf, who plays a teenager unwittingly in possession of the one thing that can save mankind. As the picture rolls off the assembly line, there are times when you're not sure whether to watch it, salute it or valet park it. -- B. Newman. (PG-13: intense sci-fi action violence, sexual humor, profanity.) 2 hours, 24 minutes. B NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Community development organizations have long been a great resource for low-income families who need help becoming home owners. But with the subprime mortgage crisis, their priorities are shifting.

"In the past, most people came to us seeking advice on how to buy a home. Today, they're looking for advice on how to save a home," said Doug Robinson, spokesman for Neighborworks.


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CNN's Gerri Willis has advice for homeowners who may be having problems paying their mortgage.
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Organizations approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have helped homeowners for years, but their phones are ringing like never before, especially with evidence that lenders aren't doing much to help delinquent borrowers revise their loans.

Tracy Morgan is a spokeswoman for the Home Ownership Preservation Foundation, which operates a foreclosure hotline (1-800-995-HOPE) for Neighborworks. Last year, she said, the hotline handled about 75 calls a day nationwide. By June, 2007, the number ballooned to 750. For this September, the average day has brought about 1,300 calls.

Morgan traces most of that increase to the subprime meltdown. California, where a high percentage of mortgages were subprime adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), has become the number one caller state.

Foreclosure assistance counseling with Neighborworks used to start almost immediately. Now, weeks may go by before clients are served. And the organization doesn't have enough counselors to serve everyone on a case-by-case basis anymore; instead it schedules more group sessions.

"There's a big resource gap," said Robinson. "The lending industry is providing money to help, but there's still a staff shortage. We added 1,800 people, a great many of them were to get certification for foreclosure counseling."

TalkBack: Is the government taking the right steps to deal with the mortgage crisis?
According to Robinson, it's contributed to what he called the "mixed success" that Neighborworks is meeting with these days.

"The easiest cases to help are the ones whose mortgages are held in portfolio," he said. Those are the ones that lenders have not sold into secondary markets but kept on their own books. That gives lenders more flexibility in dealing with delinquent borrowers and more incentive to help them keep their debts current, rather than taking the big expenses that come with foreclosures.

But often, the counselors have to tell home owners something they don't want to hear - that their income, credit scores or lack of home equity make it impossible to help.

Even outcomes defined as "successful" may be less than ideal. These include advice to do a "short-sale" or accept a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure deal from their lenders, which should be better for them than outright foreclosure.

"Foreclosure really damages your potential to be a home owner again, or even a renter," said Morgan.

But, according to John Snyder, a home ownership specialist with Neighborworks, the organization helps a substantial percentage of the people who come to it.

"Loan modification is very frequent," he said. In those cases, lenders add the missed payments and back interest back into the principal, often stretching out the length of the loan from, say, the 340 months remaining to 360 months. The monthly payments should be about the same as before the borrowers fell behind.

Forbearance, when lenders suspend payments for a month or two until borrowers regain their footings, has become a less common solution, according to Snyder. More often, lenders will offer to allow borrowers to make higher monthly payments until they catch up.

Major fixes are also being offered to some borrowers. These include rate reductions for some borrowers who've been on-time payers before their payments adjusted upward. Some borrowers are even being offered refinancings from ARMs to fixed-rate loans.

Neighborworks and other non-profits act strictly as mediators; they have no power to force agreements on lenders or borrowers. The value they provide is to get the parties talking early. The longer delinquencies last, the larger loan balances grow and the opportunities for homeowners to work out problems.

By working with non-profits, rather than approaching lenders directly, borrowers can improve their work-out prospects, according to Morgan.

"We work at a high level with 17 or 18 major servicers," she said. "You have an advocate that really knows the ins and outs, has the contacts and can facilitate the work-out process."

Counselors bypass the collections departments of lenders in favor of mitigation departments, where they can get things done. Sometimes the advice is to hold off before contacting a lender.

"We can look at a borrower and say, 'You're not a good candidate for a work-out right now,'" said Morgan. "'Take three months to repair your credit score, find some extra income by renting out a room to a relative or taking a part-time job. Then, you can go back to the lender in a much stronger bargaining position.'"

Counselors can sometimes offer very tangible aid, according to Kaye Britton, a loan officer with the Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati. She has connected clients with grants of up to $3,000 or three months mortgage payment, whichever is less, from the Ohio Home Rescue Fund for 35 borrowers who came to her through the HOPE hotline.

The program is open to home owners with incomes of up to 65 percent of the median for the area. Another fund will make money available to troubled borrowers who earn up to 140 percent of median income in HUD-targeted areas, but that comes in the form of a loan, not a grant.

Britton's agency also works closely with a lender who will do refinancings for home owners with resetting ARMs. The lender requires the owner to have at least a 10 percent equity stake in the home and a credit score of 530. The interest rate is very competitive, currently about 6.8 percent.

There are lists of HUD-approved, non-profit counseling services available on the HUD Web site. The services are free of charge.




"Sen. Clinton has faced off and beaten the Republican attack machine repeatedly," he said