RedState, Senators, and Congressmen:

I love Sen. Johnny Isakson’s amendment to provide a $15,000 homebuyer credit to any homebuyer within a year of the stimulus bill’s enactment. However, I deeply concerned because he has inadvertently created a major gap for homebuyers with homes under contract that have not yet closed.

You see, the FHA grants mortgages with 3% down payments for first-time homebuyers. My wife and I placed a contact on our first home in July 2008 under these terms. We close in May 2009. We have diligently saved our 3% down payment and were greatly anticipating our $7,500 credit. This did not have a minimum down payment requirement. Further, we were more thrilled to learn we could get $15,000 back now instead of $7,500 until we read the text of the bill which includes a 5% down payment requirement on purchases this year and the credit replaces the $7,500 credit.

This means for people like my wife and I, who are expecting our first child in June and facing a salary cut, we would not only be excluded from the original $7,500 credit, but due to the 5% down payment requirement, we’d also be excluded now from the $15,000 credit.

Why are responsible 3% down payment buyers being excluded? Why are first-time homebuyers through FHA loans now excluded? With our first baby on the way, we may now have to forfeit the home altogether whereas the tax credit money would have made all the difference in paying for this upcoming short term costs.

I respectfully request for all of you to review this amendment and encourage all legislators to change the 5% requirement to a 3% requirement to conform to all federal home loan programs for responsible borrowers.

Here is the text from Sen. Isakson’s press release:

Specifically, Isakson’s amendment to the pending economic stimulus bill would provide a direct tax credit to any homebuyer who purchases any home. The amount of the tax credit would be $15,000 or 10 percent of the purchase price, whichever is less. Purchases must be made within one year of the legislation’s enactment, and the tax credit would not have to be repaid.

Here is the actual amendment text:

 

SEC. 121. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER CREDIT.

    (a) Extension of Credit.–Subsection (i) of section 36 (as redesignated by subsection (d)) is amended by striking “July 1, 2009” and inserting “January 1, 2010”.

    (b) Repeal of First-Time Homebuyer Requirement.–

    (1) IN GENERAL.–Subsection (a) of section 36 is amended by striking “an individual who is a first-time homebuyer of a principal residence” and inserting “an individual who purchases a principal residence”.

    (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.–

    (A) Section 36(b)(1)(A) is amended by inserting “with respect to any taxpayer for any taxable year” after “subsection (a)”.

    (B) Section 36(c) is amended by striking paragraph (1) and by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (5) as paragraphs (1) through (4), respectively.

    (C) The heading of section 36 (and the item relating to such section in the table of sections for subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1) are amended by striking “

 

first-time homebuyer” and inserting “ 

homebuyer”.    (c) Repeal of Recapture Rules.–

    (1) IN GENERAL.–Paragraph (4) of section 36(f) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

    “(D) WAIVER OF RECAPTURE FOR PURCHASES IN 2009.–In the case of any credit allowed with respect to the purchase of a principal residence after December 31, 2008–

    “(i) paragraph (1) shall not apply, and

    “(ii) paragraph (2) shall apply only if the disposition or cessation described in paragraph (2) with respect to such residence occurs during the 36-month period beginning on the date of the purchase of such residence by the taxpayer.”.

    (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.–Subsection (g) of section 36 is amended by striking “subsection (c)” and inserting “subsections (c) and (f)(4)(D)”.

    (d) Downpayment Requirement.–Section 36 is amended by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (i) and by inserting after subsection (g) the following new subsection:

    “(h) Downpayment Requirement.–No credit shall be allowed under subsection (a) to any taxpayer with respect to the purchase of any residence unless such taxpayer makes a downpayment of not less 5 percent of the purchase price of such residence. For purposes of the preceding sentence, an amount shall not be treated as a downpayment if such amount is repayable by the taxpayer to any other person.”.

    (e) Effective Date.–

    (1) IN GENERAL.–Except as provided in paragraph (2), the amendments made by this section shall apply to residences purchased after December 31, 2008.

    (2) DOWNPAYMENT REQUIREMENT.–The amendment made by subsection (d) shall apply to residences purchased after the date of the enactment of this Act.

 

This was one of the only stimulating parts of the stimulus and for many they may have just been mowed down by poorly written legislation.

Please take a moment to pass this along to friends and family, media, and the Congress.

Regards,

Mike Parrish

This was emailed to my friends and family this morning, thought it would be good to post here as well.

Good morning everyone.

It would appear I will not be getting that Vice-President’s Chief of Staff position I wanted so badly.

I wanted to take a moment to congratulate President-elect Barack Obama on becoming the first black American president-elect. It is truly a significant achievement to be elected to the highest office in the world. It put a period at the end of a long story on black people in this country.

George Washington once noted that America will ultimately have to deal with slavery, but his time wasn’t the right time in order to preserve the fragile, fledgling Union. Abraham Lincoln successfully abolished it. As one black lady I talked to this morning said, “Blacks were the backbone of industry that initially enabled this country to prosper.” I believe there is much truth in that statement. I hope that blacks now feel like the psychological barrier is broken and that they have the same hope and ability to succeed that whites have always believed should be afforded to every American.

I reminded some folks at work today that while his election is significant in terms of race, there are some major issues and policies that are dangerious for America:

• Punishing success through taxation and redistribution
• Unchecked abortion/infanticide
• Corruption and fraud that overshadows the political process
• Tax cuts and lower spending myths
• National security
• Energy independence
• Immigration reform
• Punitive trade policies
• Destruction of American exceptionalism

It is in consideration of the above that Pocket Change has posted it’s final blog – Farewell.

No worries, there is plenty more to come. The Pocket Change experiment was hugely successful for a one guy operation. Now I begin work, along with many others, of restoring conservatism in American governance.

I left a comment on Hot Air blogs last night stating that America was just name and that it meant nothing without the ideals America was founded upon. I’d much rather change a name than change the ideals.

It is with that notion in mind that I embark upon the laborious act of restoring conservatism over saving a Republican brand. Revolution is coming.

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For 219 years, from 1789 to 2008, Americans have been choosing who will defend their liberties and uphold the Constitution of the United States by entrusting one of our own with the presidency of this nation.

In a matter of days, Americans will exercise the greatest liberty afforded to them, their right to elect our nation’s next chief defender and preserver of liberty and our Constitution.

Despite the past 232 years of freedom-derived prosperity, our liberty and our Constitution, both, are under attack by an ideology that does not seek to work within the spirit or letter of that liberty and Constitution. Rather, it seeks to slowly and subtly replace our way of life with one this is led by the central government, despite a super-majority of Americans desiring less government intrusion in their daily lives. In other words, Americans are demanding their liberty back!

If you are like me, you believe that we must insist that our government serve us, instead of us serving our government.

The question we should ask ourselves this, and every, election is: “how best can the government serve us?”

In terms of proper American governance, like the nation’s founders intended, the question should be rephrased in the following manner: how best can government preserve, protect, and enable the people to exercise their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

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The Alaska “Troopergate” investigation into whether or not Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) abused her power has concluded and the following findings have been released as a result:

Finding Number One

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides

The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.

Finding Number Two

I find that, although Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.

Finding Number Three

Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim property and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers’ compensation benefits to which he was entitled.

Finding Number Four

The Attorney General’s office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for infomration about the case in the form of emails.

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Now that the First Presidential Debate is over and we have all had time to listen to the mainstream media punditocracy lend their spin on the debate to their candidate of choice, some major issues arise for Sen. Barack Obama that highlight his inexperience, poor judgment, and overall unpreparedness to be President.

Overall, the debate itself was substantive. I feel the time spent on the economy in this debate should be debited from the third debate to make up for time lost on foreign policy as there are too many issues still undiscussed. I’ll note, for the record, that this position was advocated by Ambassador John Bolton on FOX News and I think it has significant merit. However, if the rest of the debates continue in this fashion I think Barack Obama will be doomed unless the electorate has truly became as naive as Sen. Obama clearly is on critical policy issues.

I’ve done you the favor of dividing the key issues into four categories, if time is short, I suggest reading this section by section rather than all at once. Within the categories the issues are arranged in chronological order.

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I’ve often been told that a great writer is capable of making the reader feel connected and empathetic for the protagonist irrespective of how. Fiction gives the writer amazing leverage in creating the story around the character to accomplish that empathetic end.

Honesty, when the protagonist is real however, rarely makes for a spectacular “based on a true story” Lifetime movie.

Such is the case here.

Maureen pretends to be someone else writing for the West Wing (a now cancelled NBC show) President Jed Bartlett:

GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!

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Look, I refuse to sit here and be politically correct about race. If you’re white you’re white, if you’re black you’re black. Same with any other color. I couldn’t care less. However, I point out that, at least where I live, racism appears to be as alive and well as ever, especially in this election.

The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. - Chief Justice John G. Roberts

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In case you missed it, here is the rundown of ABC’s hack job of an interview with Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) by their chief pontificator, Professor Demeritus Charlie Gibson (D-LOL), and the subsequent drive-by media belligerence.

This article specifically addresses her statements about praying that the Iraq war is a mission from God.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/12/abc-edits-out-palin-objection-to-holy-war-question/

ABC News… Woeful.

Stay fervent in prayer, God is not unresponsive to our petitions. We prayed for Him to bring us strong(er) leadership.

Despite what we originally believed about this election a few weeks ago, God was not about to leave us discouraged and answered our prayer for strong leaders that submit to Him.

Remember, it is a privilege to fight!

The reason nobody will tell you what a ‘community organizer’ is or does is because the truth is scary and leveling such accusations could be extremely dangerous.

Rules for Radicals — 1971 Book by Saul Alinsky

“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky

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