Today we're at the Mortgage Modification & Debt Settlement Workshop brought to you by the Christian Lawyers of America (christianlawyersofamerica.com, 888-811-9955) at the Double Tree Hotel, 100 The City Drive, in Orange. The seminar starts at 7:30pm… Registration and parking are free… C'mon down!
400-408 – • Dick Morris (5/22/09) Obama's Credit Card Reform Is A Fraud.
Until 1979, states could use usury laws against credit card companies, but that year the Supreme Court ruled that it was the state of the lender, and not the state of the borrower, who held the sole power to legislate interest rates. South Dakota seized the opportunity and eliminated all usury laws, attracting all the credit card companies to relocate there. So companies can continue to charge a basic rate of 18%, and up to 30% for minor offenses like being a few days late in making payments. Morris suggests a real solution would be to limit the basic rate to 5 points over prime, and punitive rates no higher than 10 points over prime. The average credit card debt is $13,000, and if they're paying 30%, that comes to $300 a month in interest alone.
Americans pay around $15 billion in penalty fees each year, the White House said. Nearly 80 percent of American families have a credit card, and 44 percent of families carry a balance. Americans held $946B in credit card debt at the end of March.
Credit card companies will have to inform cardholders forty-five days before they raise interest rates or change other important terms. The new act will also bar companies from raising rates on existing debts unless payment is at least sixty days late.
Starting next year, credit card bills may look a little different. For example, if there's a balance of a $1,000 and the minimum payment was only $35. First, the law requires the credit card company to give a 21 day notice of when it is due. Second, it would point out just how long it would take to pay off that bill, making minimum payments. Third, it would show just how much money consumers would be shelling out to the credit card company if they only made minimum payments. And, the legislation would make card companies apply payments to balances with the highest interest rates first.
• MSNBC (5/22/09) Credit card law a consumer benefit with bugs 'There will be some fallout, and it might be a short-term negative'.
My Summary: The big claim is "Interest rates no longer will be allowed to be raised retroactively if you pay your bills. Terms will be clearer, over-the-limit fees curtailed and rates fairer." But, here's the reality when the changes go into effect. Introductory and APR rates will rise. There will be no cap on the interest rate that can be charged. There will be no restrictions on fees for balance transfer, cash advance or late payment. Companies can raise rates at any time for any reason, although that won't apply to existing balances unless a customer is 60 days overdue with a payment. If you don't pay interest because you pay off your balance each month, expect your "free ride" to end, you'll likely soon pay an annual fee between $50 to $100 a year. Companies may eliminate the grace period and start charging you interest from the date of purchase. If you do carry a balance for longer than 60 days, expect your rate to rise much higher than 35%. Those with low credit scores won't be able to get credit cards, and will likely used payday lenders and pawn shops.
413-423 – Phil Cooke is a Hollywood producer with a Ph.D. in Theology. His e-mail newsletter, Ideas for the Change Revolution, is a bi-monthly journal filled with media research, creative concepts, and production resources and his blog at philcooke.com is considered one of the most insightful resources on issues of faith, culture, and media. Through Cooke Pictures (cookepictures.com) in Burbank, Phil advises many of the largest and most effective non-profit and faith-based media organizations in the world, and speaks at workshops, seminars, and conferences all over the world. He's lectured at Yale, Berkeley, and UCLA, and is an adjunct professor at both the King's College & Seminary, and Biola. His latest book is The Last TV Evangelist: Why The Next Generation Couldn't Care Less About Religious Media… And Why It Matters.
• Today we talk about "creativity," how to be more innovative, how to be more of an original thinker. Recent research has really given us some interesting insight into how to be an innovator. And as believers - if we're going to engage today's culture, we have to be more original and unique. Jesus lived beyond everyone's expectations, and we should too. Iconoclast.
428-437 – Tom Krannawitter, Associate Professor of Political Science at Hillsdale College (hillsdale.edu), and author of Vindicating Lincoln: Defending the Politics of Our Greatest President. Tom earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at Claremont Graduate University, and is a Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute (claremont.org), and he's taught at both Claremont McKenna College and Azusa Pacific University.
• Thomas Krannawitter (5/21/09) A Time For Choosing Again?
443-452 – Tom Krannawitter
458-508 – Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (aifdemocracy.org), an organization "committed to demonstrating the synergy of American democracy and its founding principles with the religion of Islam," is a former Navy Lieutenant Commander in the Medical Corps, former president of the Arizona Medical Association now an Internist in private practice in Phoenix. The documentary he narrates, The Third Jihad (thethirdjihad.com) is excellent!
• WSJ (5/22/09) The Other Interrogation Memos: The ones that show results.
• American Muslim Leader Warns: "Terror On Us Soil An Imminent Threat"
Phoenix - May 22, 2009 - Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, President and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), today warned that the foiled bomb plot in New York City is a "clear and calculated warning that well-coordinated extremists are on the move within the U.S." Four individuals were arrested Thursday in New York City on charges that they planned to detonate explosives at a Jewish synagogue and community center and shoot down U.S. military aircraft with surface-to-air missiles.
"The arrest of four individuals - three of whom appear to be U.S. citizens - confirms that homegrown Islamist-inspired terrorism is a clear and present danger," said Dr. Jasser. "Today's arrests should be a wake-up call to America and especially to American Muslims that we are long overdue in countering the well-coordinated and well-funded Islamist programs which exist within the United States."
"The 80-page 2007 NYPD Radicalization Report is accurate - radicalization in U.S. prisons is an immediate threat. This recent terrorist attempt on Jewish synagogues shows the NYPD Report was right. The Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) opposed that report because as usual they were in denial about the radicalization in U.S. prisons," said Dr. Jasser. "It's now acknowledged that at least some of the alleged bombers were radicalized in U.S. prisons -Many Islamist imams are aggressively recruiting inmates in our prisons with ideologies that fuel 'home-grown' terror."
"It's significant that this terrorist plot was targeted against synagogues, underscoring the dangerous hatred promoted by radical imams in American prisons," said Dr. Jasser.
"The solution begins with government rejection of Islamist apologist groups like CAIR, who are not representatives of the Muslims in America. The FBI has recently rejected them and we support that decision. We must engage the majority non-Islamist American Muslim community to reject political Islam and its fuel for radicalized Islam," said Dr. Jasser.
Dr. Jasser, a devout Muslim and son of Muslim-Syrian immigrants, is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, physician and past president of the Arizona Medical Association. Jasser is widely known as a moderate, anti-Islamist Muslim leader featured in the PBS film, Islam v Islamists produced by ABG Films, Inc. in 2007 and narrator of the recently released (thethirdjihad.com) The Third Jihad produced by Clarion Fund, Inc. which focuses on the threat of radical Islam to America. Jasser appears regularly in print and on national TV and radio programs.
512-523 – Dr. Zuhdi Jasser
528-538 – • LAT (5/22/09) California Supreme Court to rule on Proposition 8 Tuesday at 10am.
• Allah Pundit (5/22/09) Liberty University un-recognizes College Democrats.
• Lynchburg News Advance (5/22/09) UPDATE: McAuliffe, LU Democrats hold call on club ban.
544-554 – Calls
558-608 – Calls
612-623 – Matt McCormick, CEO of the Christian Lawyers of America (christianlawyersofamerica.com, 888-811-9955),
Today we're at the Mortgage Modification & Debt Settlement Workshop brought to you by the Christian Lawyers of America (christianlawyersofamerica.com, 888-811-9955) at the Double Tree Hotel, 100 The City Drive, in Orange. The seminar starts at 7:30pm… Registration and parking are free… C'mon down!
Key Points: The lenders make more money foreclosing than modifying. It takes months, certainly weeks, not days. You pay the upfront retainer fee, but you get to stay in your house at a lower monthly payment and a lower interest rate. Matt is personally involved in each case.
628-638 – Matt McCormick, CEO of the Christian Lawyers of America (christianlawyersofamerica.com, 888-811-9955)
644-652 – Matt McCormick,
• Peggy Noonan (5/22/09) Those Who Make Us Say 'Oh!': A tribute to America's war heroes, past and present.
• S. E. Cupp (5/22/09) Really Talented Performer Wins American Idol; Liberals Blame Christians.
• Charles Krauthammer (5/22/09) Obama in Bush Clothing: America Fights On.
• Newt Gingrich (5/22/09) A Rising Anti-Government Tide.
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