Wounded Madison soldier returns to Mississippi

More than 100 friends and well-wishers burst into cheers and applause today to welcome home wounded Army medic CJ Stewart of Madison.

Stewart, 21, is home on a 10-day pass from Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he’s been receiving care following injuries suffered in a rocket attack in Afghanistan in mid-June.

“It feels pretty good to be home, surreal,” said Stewart with a big smile on his face after arriving at the Jackson-Evers International Airport.

Stewart, who left for Afghanistan in May, said he was running to get his aid bag when an RPG blasted through a wall he was behind. So far, he has undergone 36 surgeries on his right arm and hand.

“The record (for surgeries) at Walter Reed is 88. I’m not trying to break that,” he said.

Stewart said that still having his arm and gaining feeling in his hands is “absolutely a miracle.”

Read More: CL

Obama: More Aggressive Anti-Foreclosure Efforts Would Help People Who Don't Deserve It

President Barack Obama defended his administration's eleaguered foreclosure-prevention initiatives on Wednesday by arguing that more aggressive steps to assist homeowners might help people who don't deserve to be helped.

Asked if his administration had done enough to stem the foreclosure crisis, Obama opted not to address foreclosure fraud scandal that has forced banks to temporarily halt home repossessions across the country. Instead, he claimed that the government's efforts had stabilized the housing market, and argued that the "biggest challenge" was to make sure speculators and deadbeats didn't take advantage of the government's help.

"The biggest challenge is how do you make sure that you are helping those who really deserve help and if they get some temporary help can get back on their feet, make their payments and move forward and stay in their home versus either people who are speculators, own second homes that they really couldn't afford because they'd gotten a subprime loan, and people who through no fault of their own just can't afford their house anymore because of the change in housing values or their incomes don't support it," Obama said during a roundtable discussion with a handful of progressive bloggers at the White House.

"And we're always trying to find that sweet spot to use as much of the money that we have available to us to help those who can be helped, without wasting that money on folks who don't deserve help," he continued. "And that's a tough balance to strike."

Homeowner advocates, members of Congress, and auditors of the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program have relentlessly criticized the Treasury Department for the program's shortcomings. President Obama said in early 2009 when he announced HAMP that it would help "as many as three to four million homeowners to modify the terms of their mortgages to avoid foreclosure."

While 640,300 homeowners are benefiting from reduced payments under HAMP, 728,686 people have been bounced from the program. Fewer than 500,000 are in active "permanent" five-year modifications. There is no shortage of stories from homeowners who say banks acted in bad faith by stretching out "trial" modifications that are supposed to last for only three months, then denying permanent modifications and leaving homeowners faced with imminent foreclosure -- and no shortage of class action lawsuits, either.
On Monday, a federal bailout watchdog reported that HAMP sometimes actually causes the foreclosures it's designed to prevent, as applicants "end up unnecessarily depleting their dwindling savings in an ultimately futile effort to obtain the sustainable relief promised by the program guidelines." It's an allegation that had already been made by homeowner advocates.

Obama is unfazed by all of that.

"The HAMP program has gotten a lot of criticism, but the fact of the matter is, is that you've got half a million people who have gone through permanent loan modifications that are saving 500 bucks a month," Obama said. "And I get letters every day from people whose homes were saved as a consequence of it."

One of the biggest changes to HAMP since it started last year has been the requirement that as of June, borrowers must prove their eligibility with documents like tax forms and pay stubs. The administration argues that many people were denied permanent modifications because they were put into trial plans before their ability to pay had been verified.

HP

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JJ: Pickering Wimps Out

State Auditor Stacey Pickering has released the awaited Audit Report on Madison County. And, as expected, Pickering took the teeth out of the report. Choosing, as noted by Kingfish, to scrub one very damning statement that was in the preliminary report:

"Contracts are geared to protect engineer's interests instead of Madison County taxpayers."

The report goes on to list that the cozy relationship Mr. Warnock has with his enablers on the Madison County Board of Supervisors has, in fact, resulted in his interest coming before taxpayers. But, one has to wonder why the auditor didn't want to come to that conclusion.
View Report: HERE

Related Posts: MCH: State audit probing county contracts
JJ: Stacy Pickering: What the hell?
State Auditor's office sends a response team to Madison County to look at Warnock and Associates Contracts
Warnock tells WLBT he embraces audit, but will there be a full investigation?
Madison County Journal-Report questions engineering fees

Sentencing postponed for Howard Industries exec

Gonzalez

The sentencing hearing for the only company executive convicted following the nation’s largest workplace raid on illegal immigrants was postponed again after federal prosecutors in Mississippi filed sealed motions in the case.

Jose Humberto Gonzalez, the former personnel director of Howard Industries, was the only executive charged in relation to a massive federal raid in August 2008 that ended with the detention of nearly 600 illegal immigrants.

Gonzalez pleaded guilty Dec. 9, 2009, to conspiracy, admitting that he knowingly hired illegal immigrants at Howard Industries’ transformer plant in Laurel. He faces five years in prison. His sentencing was scheduled for Thursday, but U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett postponed it until Jan. 6.

The judge did not offer an explanation for the delay.

Gonzales was to be sentenced Aug. 30, but that, too, was postponed after prosecutors filed sealed motions in the case.

MBJ

Is Black Support for Obama Racist?



BY: Jerome Hudson

 With poverty at an all-time high, daunting black unemployment levels and Obamacare threatening black babies, black support for Barack Obama remains surprisingly strong.

Why?

Blacks are not uniformly as radical as Obama. So why do 91 percent of blacks still support him when only 79 percent of his Democrat constituency does?

It’s a black thang.

Again, why?

Some say Obama’s support comes from “black solidarity” — that birds of a feather flock together. That is racist in itself. After all, imagine if white voters similarly lined up in “racial solidarity.” This is compounded by the facts.

Under George W. Bush, black unemployment was actually lower than during the Clinton years and much lower than the 16.3 percent it is today. Under Obama, black unemployment rose from 12.6 percent to 16.3 percent as of August 1, 2010.

Despite promoting black upward mobility, Bush only enjoyed a black approval rating in the low 30s at a similar time in his presidency. Bush also made historic cabinet-level appointments of blacks and dramatically increased funding to fight AIDS in Africa. Much to Kanye West’s chagrin, President Bush did care about black people.

Furthermore, after nearly two years of Obama’s reckless spending, 43.6 million Americans (one in seven) live in poverty — a 51-year high. Blacks, who account for only 13 percent of the population, make up 22.6 percent of those now receiving food stamp benefits.

And, after a promise there would be no federal abortion funding in Obamacare, tax dollars for abortions may be provided through high-risk insurance programs in Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Maryland.

Polling shows blacks are overwhelmingly pro-life. We undoubtedly want jobs and freedom from poverty. So why the blind loyalty to someone who hasn’t delivered?

When a constituency clearly provides loyal support, as blacks are to progressives, it begs to be taken for granted.

So is it any wonder that, after 50 years of conceding support to liberals and letting Uncle Sam be their “baby daddy,” we are mired in an anti-empowerment culture of dependency?

Liberals can argue racism causes black stagnation, but is a 70 percent illegitimacy rate among blacks (90 percent in some inner cities) due to racism or a lack of accountability and personal responsibility? It’s also a painful truth that blacks kill more blacks (by gun, unhealthy lifestyle and abortion) than racists could ever accomplish.

So-called “civil rights leaders,” pseudo-intellectuals and liberal lawmakers must know this, yet they insist on pretending racism is more responsible for sluggish black advancement than behavior they foster.

It’s time for a frank discussion about the folly of black Americans’ monolithic support of liberalism. When 91 percent of any racial group votes one way, it’s either out of racism or blind groupthink. Neither is good for America.

FJ

Distrtict 3 Congressional Candidates make final push before Election Day (Video)

Volunteer Jim Nash is trying to figure out which people will be responsible for placing campaign signs around the area. He’s surrounded by boxes full of merchandise including bumper stickers, shirts, and posters.




Volunteer Thelma Kumar was placing Gill’s support signs all along Old Fannin Road in Flowood on Wednesday.