I read this NYT piece myself early today and it’s making the rounds in the not-totally-corrupted side of the liberal blogosphere. Excerpt:

TRUCKEE, Calif. — When Mimi Ash arrived at her mountain chalet here for a weekend ski trip, she discovered that someone had broken into the home and changed the locks.

When she finally got into the house, it was empty. All of her possessions were gone: furniture, her son’s ski medals, winter clothes and family photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top inscribed with the words “Together Forever,” that contained the ashes of her late husband, Robert.

The culprit, Ms. Ash soon learned, was not a burglar but her bank. According to a federal lawsuit filed in October by Ms. Ash, Bank of America had wrongfully foreclosed on her house and thrown out her belongings, without alerting Ms. Ash beforehand.

The piece goes on to outline several cases, including one where the guy didn’t even have a mortgage (yet again) and the bank stole the house anyway:

In Texas, for example, Bank of America had the locks changed and the electricity shut off last year at Alan Schroit’s second home in Galveston, according to court papers. Mr. Schroit, who had paid off the house, had stored 75 pounds of salmon and halibut in his refrigerator and freezer, caught during a recent Alaskan fishing vacation.

“Lacking power, the freezer’s contents melted, spoiled and reeking melt water spread through the property and leaked through the flooring into joists and lower areas,” the lawsuit says. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount.

So to get this straight: banks will break into your home whether entitled to or not, whether you have a mortgage or not, and steal any and all of its contents as they see fit, including HUMAN REMAINS.

But we don’t need a foreclosure moratorium, right John Cole?

Schmucks.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration’s not only continues to do nothing, but allows the Fed (Bernanke was his choice, don’t forget) to block meaningful action to protect homeowners from thieves who are literally looting the dead:

Top policymakers at the Federal Reserve are fighting efforts to rein in widely reported bank abuses, sparking an inter-agency feud with the FDIC and the Treasury Department. The Fed, along with the more bank-friendly Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is resisting moves to craft rules cracking down on banks that charge illegal fees and carry out improper foreclosures. The FDIC supports such rules, according to an FDIC official involved in the dispute.

But we don’t need a national moratorium. I mean, they’re only stealing houses and dead husbands, right? Can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.

Remember this from Mr. Balloon Juice himself, John Cole?

I’m not siding with the banksters, I just don’t understand what good would come from a national moratorium. Forty state AG’s are on the ball, what exactly could a national moratorium do? The idea is to stop the bad foreclosures, not grind every single transaction in this sector to a damned halt.

You aren’t hurting the banksters when you do something like that. You’re hurting every single buyer and seller in the market. It would be catastrophic.

Yeah I bet he’s hoping we’ll all forget it too. Though maybe, years after the all the ruined lives and stolen homes, we can get another wonderfully contrite apology which supposedly restores all his credibility. (Much like it brings back the dead from a needless war based on transparent lies)

After all, we can’t have the catastrophe of an insolvent bank eating some of their losses. Stealing a woman’s dead spouse is a small price to pay to keep this wonderful mortgage market going full speed.