THE DAILY BLADE: ACLU Fights For Gangbangers’ Right To Bear Arms
Boston police are planning to launch an initiative to get guns out of the hands of teenagers by entering their homes and searching their rooms for hidden weapons, after obtaining written permission from a parent or legal guardian. Under the proposed "Safe Homes" program, the child will not be prosecuted if the gun has not been linked to a crime and police promise not to report the family to public housing authorities if “small amounts” of drugs are discovered so they don’t have to fear eviction.
“Police will focus the effort in four neighborhoods - Egleston Square, Franklin Hill and Franklin Field,
While residents see the program as a way to make their streets and homes safer, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is busy passing out fliers urging residents to "Know Your Rights" and warning that the warrantless searches violate the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure:
"We just want to make people understand that they have a right to not give consent," said Carol, executive director of the Massachusetts ACLU, in a telephone interview. "When you waive your rights and invite the police to search your home, you're waiving the rights of everyone in the household."
Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis counters that the Constitution does not bar the police from asking permission to enter a home, nor a homeowner from consenting. Community leaders would like to accompany police on the searches so residents don’t feel intimidated.
With War On Terror “Allies” Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
Records and computers seized in a September raid on an insurgent cell near Sinjar, Iraq, show that Muslim countries that the Bush Administration repeatedly touts as allies in the War on Terror are the source of some 60 percent of the foreign insurgents who have streamed into Iraq at the rate of 80 to 110 per month since August 2006, reports The New York Times. According to the captured data, insurgents hail from America’s “friends” and foes alike throughout the Middle East:
† 305 of the foreign fighters are Saudi;
† 291 come from North African nations, with 137 of those from Libya, 64 from Algeria, 50 from Morocco, 38 from Tunisia and 2 from Egypt;
† 68 are Yemeni;
† 56 are from Syria;
† 14 are from Jordan; and
† 6 are Turks.
Intelligence from the Sinjar raid shows that foreign fighters were smuggled throughout Iraq from Anbar province, which is close to the Turkish border.
U.S. Businesses Gouge Americans, But Give Foreign Nationals A Better Deal
Several weeks ago, The Stiletto explained “The Gringo Tax” – gas stations in VA that charge forged documented aliens 38¢ less per gallon than American citizens. Here’s another example of how American businesses give foreigners breaks that they don’t give to their fellow Americans.
In 2008 interest rates will rise - or "reset" - on $362 billion worth of adjustable-rate subprime mortgages, which will create a tsunami of defaults and foreclosures. Reports The Wall Street Journal (subscription required):
Larry Litton Jr., chief executive of Litton Loan Servicing, says resetting of adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, has recently emerged as a bigger driver of defaults. "The initial wave was largely driven by a higher frequency of fraudulent loans...and loose underwriting," says Mr. Litton, whose company services 340,000 loans nationwide. "A much larger percentage of the defaults we're seeing right now are the result of ARM resets."
More than half of the subprime delinquencies and foreclosures this year involved loans that hadn't yet reset, and thus were due to factors such as weak underwriting and falling home prices, according to Rod Dubitsky, an analyst with Credit Suisse.
The majority of subprime ARMs due to reset next year are so-called 2-28 loans, which carry a fixed rate for two years, then adjust annually thereafter. In a speech earlier this month, Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner explained how a typical 2-28 subprime loan issued in early 2007 might work. He said the interest rate on the loan would start at 7%, then jump to 9.5% after two years. For a typical borrower, that would add $350 to the monthly payment. …
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress earlier this month, "A sharp increase in foreclosed properties for sale could...weaken the already struggling housing market and thus, potentially, the broader economy."
The big concern is a vicious cycle in which foreclosures push down home prices, making it more difficult for borrowers to refinance and causing more defaults and foreclosures.
Here’s the kicker: The same banks that gave subprime ARMs to American homebuyers – forcing many to exhaust their savings in a futile attempt to stave off the inevitable - are falling all over themselves to provide interest-free loans to Muslims. Reports The New York Times:
Rising oil wealth is lifting Islamic banking — banking that adheres to the laws of the Koran and its prohibition against charging interest — into the financial mainstream.
Big banks, including Citigroup, HSBC and Deutsche Bank, as well as financial capitals like London, Tokyo and Hong Kong, are all going into the Islamic banking business. …
In addition to Islamic loans, there are Islamic bonds, Islamic credit cards and even Islamic derivatives. Loans and bonds that conform to the Koran are already available in the United States(emphasis, The Stiletto’s).
In Islamic banking, financiers are required to share borrowers’ risks, meaning that depositors are treated more like shareholders, earning a portion of profits. Financing deals resemble lease-to-own arrangements, layaway plans, joint purchase and sale agreements, or partnerships. …
Industry proponents say this risk-sharing requirement helps reduce the kind of abuses that led to the subprime mortgage mess. Scholars consider it un-Islamic to overload a customer with debt or invest in a company with excessive debt.
The Stiletto urges any homeowner whose subprime ARM payments are going to soar next year to find out whether the bank that issued the mortgage offers Islamic home loans and demand the same terms. Ditto those struggling to make payments on credit card balances that never seem to decrease.
If the banks can make money without charging interest on loans and credit cards when these products are offered to Muslims, they can make money by offering the same terms to all Americans, too.
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