MI GOP Official Sues News Website Over 'Lose Your Home Lose Your Vote' Story A Republican official in Michigan has filed a defamation suit against an independent news site,
over a story in which he is quoted as stating his party plans to challenge voters whose names and addresses appear on foreclosure lists. Just a few days after the article was published, Carabelli back-tracked on his statement, telling the Macomb Daily that the party has "no plans to do anything." Later, he issued a full-throated denial, calling the original article "not true."
Thrifty household spending in France means the economy
grows more slowly, but it also means that it slows down more moderately, too. In France, it's nearly
impossible to spend money you don't have.
French credit cards are essentially debit cards, so there's no need to cut them up when you want that new Chanel bag, and banks aren't keen on providing a home loan unless you have 20 percent down, and the mortgage payments make up no more than 30 percent of your income.
Late last week John McCain criticized Barack Obama for his alleged ties to Fannie Mae, a mortgage giant that, along with counterpart Freddie Mac, received a sweeping federal bailout. In a video
McCain inaccurately linked Obama to Franklin Raines, who retired four years ago as the CEO of now bankrupt Fannie Mae. McCain also has been
hitting Obama for tapping former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson to lead his VP search team, before he was asked to step down.
.larger.jpg "Michigan Asks: Does Foreclosure Take Away Right to Vote?")
The housing crisis suddenly has a whole new address: voting rights. Yesterday the chairman of the Macomb County Republican Party was quoted in the Michigan Messenger as saying he's set to
assign election challengers with "a list of foreclosed homes and [we] will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses." The statement voting laws, which require an address and a desire to make sure proper election procedures were followed.
I'm already a fan of Scotty Iseri's
politically-charged pop music — but when he puts together a Morgan Spurlock-esque explanation about how the housing crisis isn't really due so much to "predatory lending" and "reckless borrowing" but the cost of getting out to those McMansions my interest was piqued.
Scotty's piece studies Buffalo Grove, outside of Chicago, IL, where residents spend almost a quarter of their income on transportation cost, and nothing is accessible without getting behind a wheel. Showing how Buffalo Grove's houses have declined 8 percent in value, while Chicago — where it's possible to live close to everything you need without getting in a car has seen housing prices go up almost 10 percent, makes a lot of sense.
Feeling guilty about that autographed box set of the third season of Lost you just scored on eBay? Think you can hide it and no one will know? Well thanks to the
big housing bailout bill signed by Bush (to "little fanfare") the quietness could be because of this little
sneaky addition buried deep inside:Your merchant bank will now be required to send a report to IRS and to you with your total annual gross payment card receipts.
