Foreclosures Halted; Obama Uses Churches to Tout Healthcare Bill; Germany on Muslim Population; George Shultz Comments

The New York Times writes: The housing mess got a lot messier last week as JPMorgan Chase halted 56,000 foreclosures amid doubts that it had correctly followed laws on the foreclosure process. The announcement came soon after GMAC Mortgage suspended an undisclosed number of foreclosures to gain time to review its legal procedures. There may be more suspensions to come. It is hard to be shocked. During the bubble, banks and other lenders ignored loan standards and stuffed the mortgage pipeline with toxic loans and related securities.Since the bubble burst, efforts to rework bad loans have been slowed by the lenders’ resistance, and by their incompetence.
Now we learn that foreclosures, the end of the mortgage pipeline, have also been handled with a disregard for rules and standards. There is a pattern here — one that lawmakers and policy makers must change. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/opinion/03sun1.html?hp
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From Townhall: [Here's a warning: some of those of you who are church goers are about to be used by your pastors and ministers.  I for one hope that you protest this use of government in the church.]  President Obama, having a rough go at getting the un-churched masses to buy/sell his Health Care Swill, has turned to the brethren (hallelujah!) to help spread the word about how great ObamaCare is. Quick question: I thought the government wasn’t supposed to meddle with churches, especially in regard to pushing a particular policy? Maybe the ACLU should look into this because we all know how seriously they disdain the merging of church and state. At least that’s what they say and do when conservatives and evangelicals unite.
That said, I’m a guessin’ that churches that take funds from the feds would be an easy mark for the Euro-Socialist, seeing that they’re now kind of financially indebted to D.C., y’know what I mean? http://townhall.com/columnists/DougGiles/2010/10/02/obamacare,_alinsky__useful_christian_idiots/page/full/
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The Saudi Gazette writes: Germany’s president called on his countrymen to work to integrate the country’s four million Muslims, acknowledging that Islam is “now part of Germany”. [Snip] In particular, he spoke of the difficulties of integrating its large Muslim population. [Snip] “Christianity is of course part of Germany. Judaism is of course part of Germany. This is our Judeo-Christian history ... But now Islam is also part of Germany,” he added. [Snip] A member of Germany’s central bank, Thilo Sarrazin, sparked outrage when he said the country was being made “more stupid” by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim immigrants. http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2010100484687
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The Washington Times reports: Reagan-era Secretary of State George Shultz blasted President Obama Monday night for his scheduled July 2011 date to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Mr. Shultz, 89, made the unusually blunt remarks at a packed dinner for the International Republican Institute (Snip) "You're out of your mind," he said at a question-and-answer forum, when asked his opinion of the president's drawdown date. "How can you say that 'if I haven't won by six or nine months from now, I'm leaving'?"
Mr. Shultz -- who earlier served under President Nixon as Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor and director of the Office of Management and Budget -- called for a prompt extension of the Bush tax cuts and expressed theoretical support for President Obama's goal of a world without nuclear weapons.
    .http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/4/shultz-obama-youre-out-your-mind/print/ 
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