Congress Aims to Eliminate Home Mortgage Interest Deduction

AMERICA’S HOMEOWNER ALLIANCE SOUNDS ALARM: HOME MORTGAGE INTEREST DEDUCTION UNDER ATTACK

The first deduction to have been created in the income tax code should be the last one to go, says AHA.

 “They are telling us if we like our deduction, we can keep our deduction…

unless Washington changes its mind

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

America’s Homeowner Alliance (www.myaha.com), is raising the alarm about proposed legislation in Congress that aims to significantly reduce or potentially eliminate the home mortgage interest deduction for millions of homeowners.  Such a move would place a financial burden on the budgets of homeowners across America and experts have predicted that such a change in the tax code could reduce home values.

CALL 516-735-5468 or e-mail Sandy to schedule interviews with Tino Diaz, President & CEO of America's Homeowner Alliance.

“When the tax code was created, the mortgage interest deduction was one of the first benefits made available to homeowners. It is just as important today as it was in 1913 and we don’t believe Congress should reduce or take away this important financial benefit for investing in America,” said Tino Diaz, the President and CEO of America’s Homeowners Alliance.

Diaz noted that despite a time of near record low interest rates and low home prices, homeownership is at its lowest level in 18 years.

“Policymakers should focus their concern on the still recovering U.S. housing market; reducing or potentially eliminating the mortgage interest deduction for millions of homeowners should be the last thing Congress should consider.”

Diaz noted that Congress has already taxed homeowners with fees to offset the expense of programs unrelated to homeownership.  “This is not the first time Washington has imposed hidden fees on homeowners, but this is the first time they are openly considering reducing or potentially eliminating the mortgage interest deduction.  Homeowners and those who aspire to become homeowners need to know what is going on and how that will impact their family’s finances.

“For the overwhelming majority of people, their home is their largest financial investment and policymakers in Washington need to understand how important this investment is to their constituents,” added Diaz.

Diaz also pointed out that the issue doesn’t just affect the 75 million homeowners but also contractors, laborers, plumbers, Realtors, and prospective FUTURE homeowners. He is urging homeowners to join their voice with other members of the AHA in speaking out against this and other policies that impact homeownership in America.

Membership in the AHA is $20 per year and also includes exclusive membership in the AHA Member Rewards Program, offering discounts and rewards when shopping with more than 1,000 merchants offering more than 1 million products and services.

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America’s Homeowner Alliance is the first national homeowner alliance dedicated to protecting and promoting sustainable homeownership for all segments of America. Established in September 2013, the Alliance is based in St. Louis, Missouri and serves as the representative public policy voice of existing and aspiring homeowners. The Alliance is a nonpartisan organization, representing homeowners of all ethnic, income and demographic backgrounds. Additional information can be found at www.myaha.com

The End of Authority By Doug Schoen

The End of Authority

How a Loss of Legitimacy and Broken Trust

Are Endangering Our Future

 

By Douglas E. Schoen

"In The End of Authority, Doug sounds the alarm on the rising public distrust of government globally and offers his ideas for rebuilding confidence - not only in America but also around the world."                                                    --Bill Clinton, Forty-second President of the United States

Around the world, citizens have lost faith in their political and economic institutions, leading to unprecedented levels of political instability and economic volatility. From Moscow to Brussels, from Washington to Cairo, the failure of democracies and autocracies to manage the fiscal and political crises facing us has led to a profound disquiet, spawning protest movements of the left, right, and center. "I'm now beginning to feel that my government is not capable of understanding the situation, let alone solving it" - a view that citizens around the world share today.

In The End of Authority, Douglas E. Schoen systematically analyzes the leadership crises facing democracies and autocratic governments alike. He presents a firsthand, detailed assessment for why this collapse in trust happened and offers a comprehensive blueprint for how we can restore public trust in government and economic institutions in a world of division, dissension, and governments clearly lacking in responsiveness to citizen concerns. Schoen outlines bold and clear solutions and offers practical steps to fix our democracy and rebuild international institutions.

The End of Authority educates us about:

• Why the crisis of authority matters;
• Documenting and understanding the loss of trust;
• How trust works in democracies and autocracies;
• Income inequality and the crisis of capitalism;
• What's causing income inequality, why it matters and what to do; and
• Political corruption and crony capitalism.

The End of Authority's purpose is to systematically analyze the crises facing democracies and autocratic governments alike; present a firsthand, detailed assessment of why this has happened; and offer a blueprint for how we can restore public trust in government and economic institutions.

About the Author: Democratic Strategist, Fox News Analyst and Best-selling Author, Doug Schoen has been one of the most influential Democratic campaign consultants for over thirty years. Doug has advised President Bill Clinton, numerous governors and senators as well as NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. [more...]

An American Bride in Kabul

An American Bride in Kabul

 

By Phyllis Chesler

"A renowned psychotherapist's richly compelling memoir about how her experiences as an Afghan man's wife shaped her as both a feminist and human rights activist... Intelligent, powerful and timely." --Kirkus Reviews

An American Bride in Kabul is a personal memoir by best-selling author and professor of psychology, Phyllis Chesler - a Jewish-American girl from Brooklyn - embarking on a Middle Eastern adventure that has lasted for more than a half century. Her journey chronicles a revealing history of central Muslim Asia and the Jews of Afghanistan, the Islamic Veil, gender and religious apartheid, and how such practices - burqas, polygamy, first-cousin marriage, and honor killing - have invaded the West by those who perpetrated 9/11 - the terrorist attack planned in Afghanistan.

Twenty years old and in love, Phyllis Chesler arrived in Kabul in 1961 with her westernized Afghan-American bridegroom. Immediately upon arrival, authorities took away her U.S. passport. Chesler became the property of her husband's family and had no rights of citizenship. Her husband - a wealthy, westernized foreign college student with dreams of reforming his country - reverted to traditional and tribal customs. Chesler found herself unexpectedly trapped in a posh polygamous family, with no chance of escape. She fought against her seclusion and lack of freedom, her Afghan family's attempts to convert her from Judaism to Islam, and her husband's wish to permanently tie her to the country through childbirth. Chesler nearly died there; but she managed to get out, returned to her studies in America, and became an author and an ardent activist for women's rights throughout the world. 

"Afghanistan and its people seem to have followed me into the future and right into the West. Niqab (face masks) and burqas (both of which I oppose) are here in America, on the streets and in the headlines. Afghanistan has landed in the West and the West is still deployed in Afghanistan.  It is the country where I was once held hostage and the country which sheltered Bin Laden as he hatched his 9/11 plot in a cave. Now, the entire civilian world is being held hostage by Al-Qaeda and other Jihadists. An eerie coincidence." 

In An American Bride in Kabul you will learn:

• that living in a domestic harem is nothing like living in a Hollywood-inspired brothel;
• what it's like to live in a polygamous household;
• about Muslims who are also fighting for women's rights and against Islamism, totalitarianism, terrorism, and gender and religious apartheid;
• how Afghanistan and Muslim-majority countries are places where anti-infidel hatred, misogyny and violence are indigenous, pandemic, and considered normal; and
• how 9/11 changed the direction of my book and all I learned about what America and the West are up against in Afghanistan, during a time of radical militant Islam.  

Chesler sees her time in Afghanistan as a great experience that opened her eyes to the plight of women and independent thinkers in restrictive cultures around the world. In the years since her story took place, Chesler has become a bestselling author and an expert on acts of violence perpetrated against women, especially the honor killings so often seen among Muslims in the West and in Muslim-majority countries, and among Hindus in India. She is now a strong advocate for Israel, America, and Western values. Her passion for social, educational and political reform defines the woman she is today, one whose clarity was forged in the fire of Afghanistan.

About the author: Phyllis Chesler is an Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at City University of New York, the best-selling author of 15 books, and psychotherapist. Chesler has lectured and organized women's rights and human rights campaigns all over the world and has also appeared on numerous national and international media outlets. Her writings have been featured in The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Times of London, The Weekly Standard, National Review, Israel National News, The New York Times, and in the Jewish and Israeli media.

The Obamacare Answer Guide

The Obamacare Answer Guide Offers Navigation and Solutions to Protect Health, Wealth and Sanity

Vice Presidential nominee, national bestselling author, conservative commentator and patriot Wayne Allyn Root reveals the hidden truths about Obamacare in a new 15-page booklet, The Obamacare Answer Guide.

Far from being a "train wreck," Root says, "Obamacare is a brilliant, cynical and purposeful attempt to damage the U.S. economy, kill jobs and bring down capitalism."

Over 5 million Americans have already lost their health insurance, but that's just the tip of the iceberg ahead says Wayne, author of the 2013 bestselling book, The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide.

According to Wayne, "Obamacare is intended to wipe out the middle class by redistributing your income to Obama's voters and leaving you dependent on government."

"I've studied 2,700 pages of Obamacare's new rules and regulations and my biggest concern is the same way government is now destroying your healthcare, is how they may also plan to destroy your life savings," says Root in The Obamacare Answer Guide.

"Obamacare is killing jobs by the millions. Since January, over 80% of all the jobs created in America are part-time jobs," says Root.

The Wall Street Journal reports:"Some 64% of small business franchise owners believe the law will have a 'negative impact' on their business," according to Public Opinion Strategies survey of more than 400 business owners with between 40 and 500 employees conducted in September and October for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and International Franchise Association. Half of Obamacare's funding comes from new taxes and fees. We're adding 30 million new patients, with no new doctors. What's worse is many doctors are planning to retire. "We're headed for a nightmare... disaster... economic collapse," says Root.  

Who benefits from Obamacare? Big government, big business, big insurance, the pharmaceutical lobby, Obama's biggest donors, and corrupt power-hungry politicians. 

Who loses? You and I. The American people. The middle class. Small business. It's all on life support. I call it 'The Murder of the Middle Class.'

The Obamacare Answer Guide offers 14 proposed solutions to protect the health, wealth and sanity of Americans - before it's too late! [more...]

Celebrate 100: Centenarian Secrets to Success in Business and Life By Steve Franklin, PhD

CELEBRATE 100: Centenarian Secrets  

to Success in Business and Life

 

By Steve Franklin, PhD  

Dr. Steve Franklin, a former tenured professor and associate Dean at Emory University's Goizueta Business School has been on a mission since 2007 - to capture the wit and wisdom of the world's oldest people and share it with the world's younger generation. Franklin has interviewed, videotaped and surveyed over 500 centenarians across America. His newly released book, Celebrate 100: Centenarian Secrets to Success in Business and Life is an incredible treasure chest of wisdom and advice on how to live a full, productive and joyful life no matter how long you live - and greatly enhance your chances of making it to Centenarian Club status.

Franklin financed research on centenarians across the United States, capturing their wisdom about money, work and life, and sharing it with the younger generation in keynote speeches, lectures and now this book, Celebrate 100.  "It is the distilled essence of over 5,000 combined years of wisdom, insight, perspective and advice about life from over 500 centenarians who have lived life with determination, resolve and excellence. They ranged in age from 100 to 116+, were born in 30 different states and 13 countries, and included the world's oldest person (woman), man, water skier, attorney, Girl Scout, table tennis champion, doctor, and many more intriguing individuals," says Franklin.

In Celebrate 100, Franklin shares the top 7 "secrets" that the centenarians themselves believe are the reasons they have lived so long and so well. He gleans their advice on handling money and finances by investigating their best and worst financial decisions over a century, where they believe is the safest place to invest today from a 100+ year perspective of economic cycles, and how to buy cars and homes and manage credit cards.  Being a former business school professor, he asked them to share perspective and advice on looking for and enjoying work "since we spend more than half our waking hours in this endeavor." And there are many entertaining and informative "mini-bios" of the gracious and generous centenarians who shared their stories and advice about every aspect of life.

Franklin says, "If you will dig deep into these beautiful lives, you will emerge richer, wiser, more joyful, more enthusiastic about life, and dramatically increase your personal chances for celebrating 100 years of life lived with gusto. Listen to them. Laugh with them. Learn from them. And you will live life - and love life - longer."

New York Times bestselling author and national syndicated radio show host, Dave Ramsey, writes, "If you want to know how to win over the long haul, you need to talk to people who have a lot of life experience and who've still come out ahead. That's exactly what you'll get in Celebrate 100."

About the Author: Steve Franklin, PhD is an educator, researcher, author, and business executive. He also is a centenarian wannabe on a mission to "capture their wisdom" (and wit) and share it with the younger generation. [more...]

The Great Withdrawal by Craig R. Smith and Lowell Ponte

The Great Withdrawal How the Progressives' 100-Year Debasement of America and the Dollar Ends   By Craig R. Smith and Lowell Ponte In 1913 America fell under the spell of an addictive European collectivist ideology called Progressivism that took our nation on a 100-year detour away from the sound money and values of America's framers. In 2013, millions of Americans have begun to snap out of this hypnotic spell. "Today's political and social turmoil are caused by the withdrawal symptoms of ending the Progressive addiction to government dependency," write renowned monetary expert, Craig R. Smith and former think tank futurist, Lowell Ponte in their fourth book, THE GREAT WITHDRAWAL: How the Progressives' 100-Year Debasement of America and the Dollar Ends.  The authors predict that the next election cycle will bring a huge turning point in history and the possible end of Progressive rule. Millions of Americans are now realizing that they've been living in a dream world - an illusion of prosperity conjured with unreal paper money, a stock market addicted to the drug of a trillion stimulus dollars per year, zombie economics and mind-control politics. But Smith and Ponte are happy to report, in this explosive new expose, that Progressives now feel their power slipping away as Americans are withdrawing from a century of hypnotic control. In THE GREAT WITHDRAWAL, you will learn: how the "great withdrawal" could end the 100-year reshaping of America's government, money and values by Progressives; what the coming "withdrawal symptoms" of this change will be like for individuals and American society; who and what Progressives are (just another name for "liberal?"); why Detroit - formerly a proud symbol of Progressive achievement and a worker's paradise dominated by labor unions - is now a bankrupt, crime-ravaged city and the symbol of the failure of Progressive ideas; why much of America will soon be like Detroit if Progressives like Obama expand their power in the 2014 election; whether Americans can break their addiction to easy money and big government goodies and if we can ever go back to the small government days of America's framers; and how American citizens can decentralize and diversify their lives to survive and prosper, whether Progressives keep power in the short run or lose it. In THE GREAT WITHDRAWAL, Smith and Ponte define prudent steps people can take to restore our nation's founding values and protect their families and savings through decentralized technologies and diversification.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Craig R. Smith is the founder and Chairman of Swiss America Trading Corporation and is an expert commentator on some of the top cable network and radio news programs. Lowell Ponte is a former think tank futurist, former Reader's Digest editor, a public speaker, talk radio host and NewsMax columnist.

Radio Sells Books!

I really believe in the power of talk radio!  Here are some recent statistics to think about when deciding to go on a radio tour with YOUR book:

After a 2-week radio tour, Michael Baron'e "Shaping Our Nation" went to:

• #1 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Demography
• #10 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Emigration & Immigration
• #66 in Books > History > Historical Study & Educational Resources > Social History

After a 2-week radio tour, Michael Novak's "Writing from Left to Right" went to:

• #92 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Religious

After a 2-week radio tour, Phil Valentine's "An Inconsistent Truth" DVD went to:

• #1 in Movies & TV > DVD > Documentary

The Global War on Christians By John L. Allen, Jr.

The Most Dramatic Religion Story of the Early 21st Century   ...Yet One that Most Americans Know Little About The bestselling author of The Future Church provides a compelling account of religious persecution from around the globe and a worldview-altering challenge to American Christians to wake up and take notice. As the recipients of a rising tide of legal oppression, social harassment, and direct physical violence, twenty-first century Christians have become the world's most persecuted religious group. In The Global War on Christians, John L. Allen, Jr. uses his unparalleled knowledge and insight to bring to light this growing epidemic. Inspired by his own personal experiences, Allen sets out to tell the stories of a new generation of Christian martyrs. Part one begins with snapshots of anti-Christian persecution with a focus on events from the past twenty years. In this section, Allen provides representative examples of the kinds of suffering Christians around the world endure, covering everything from legal harassment and social discrimination, to torture, physical assault, and all too often, death. In part two, he goes on to clear up five common myths about the global war on Christians, including the idea that Christians are vulnerable only when they are a minority, and that the war on Christians is a left-wing or right-wing issue.   Finally, in part three, Allen examines the observable fallout of the global war on Christians and considers practical steps that both individuals and communities can take to try to express solidarity for its victims. The inspiration behind this book: "I can date with precision the first time I considered global anti-Christian persecution as a possible topic. It was during a 2009 conversation with Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who mused that perhaps Christians haven't roused themselves to confront the problem because we don't have our own Holocaust literature. He meant that Christians haven't told the stories of their new martyrs in a compelling way, in the same fashion that Jewish authors have described the horrors of the Shoah. This book is my own small contribution to a budding Christian genre dedicated to telling these stories, and I want to thank Dolan for that nudge." --John L. Allen, Jr. Staggering statistics: According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular observatory based in Frankfurt, Germany, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians. Statistically speaking, that makes Christians by far the most persecuted religious body on the planet. According to the Pew Forum, between 2006 and 2010 Christians faced some form of discrimination, either de jure or de facto, in a staggering total of 139 nations, which is almost three-quarters of all the countries on earth. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, an average of 100,000 Christians have been killed in what the center calls a 'situation of witness' each year for the past decade. That works out to 11 Christians killed somewhere in the world every hour, seven days a week and 365 days a year, for reasons related to their faith.

See The War on Christians at The Spectator.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John L. Allen, Jr. is the senior Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and a Vatican analyst for CNN and National Public Radio. He is the author of The Rise of Benedict XVI, All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks, and A People of Hope: The Challenges Facing the Catholic Church and the Faith That Can Save It. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, The Nation, and many other publications. His Internet column, "All Things Catholic," is considered to be the best single source of insights on Vatican affairs in the English language.

Shaping Our Nation By Michael Barone

As Congress clashes over immigration reform, New York Times bestselling author Michael Barone reveals the power and lasting influence of migrations on American history, politics, and culture.

SHAPING OUR

NATION

How Surges of Migration Transformed America and Its Politics

 

 

BY MICHAEL BARONE

New York Times bestselling history writer Michael Barone is an authority on the demographic patterns and details that explain our country from the inside out. In SHAPING OUR NATION: How Surges of Migration Transformed America and Its Politics, he turns his attention to a unique facet of U.S. history, exploring how dramatic waves of migration have sculpted our political, economic, and cultural landscape.

If you could be transported back in time 400 years, you would find most of the concentrations of population - China, India, the Muslim world, Western Europe, and Russia - very familiar. But the North America of 1600 looked vastly different from today. Today America represents 5% of the world's population, 25% of its economic production, and 50% of its military capacity. By shedding light on mass movements of people to and within the U.S. over the last few centuries, SHAPING OUR NATION tells the fascinating story of the rise of American people and power.

With immigration reform in the news and on the horizon, SHAPING OUR NATION is a timely and important primer on how the U.S. came to be populated. Multiculturalism in this country is nothing new - from its colonial beginnings, America has been diverse and unpredictable, a nation in flux, shaped by people moving from one place to another, pursuing dreams and escaping nightmares. Our ability to deal with these changes, century after century, is a testament to the power of our Constitution and democracy.

Much of the fabric of modern American politics and culture can be traced back to these important surges of migration, many of which were neither predicted at the time nor fully understood until now. Barone begins with the Scots-Irish migration in the 1760s, which set the template for centuries to come: a seemingly spontaneous mass movement, motivated by a desire to create a community in which people could live and thrive as they wanted. In the comprehensive and surprising history that follows, Barone reveals fascinating details such as:

• In the early nineteenth century, two migrations - Yankees moving westward and plantation slavery expanding from the coast - put Northerners and Southerners in competition for control of the country's interior, leading to the culture clash that would become the Civil War.
• The Irish migration to the U.S., after the 1845 potato blight, was the first surge to end in cities rather than the countryside. As Irish Catholics populated places like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, their presence came to characterize the politics and pop culture of urban America - effects of which are still felt today.
• The opening of the Ellis Island immigration station in 1892 was followed by a vast and unanticipated surge of migration from Eastern and Southern Europe which was only stopped by the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and by restrictive immigration laws in the 1920s.
• German and Scandinavian migration to Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas resulted in a distinctive politics that still exists today - this area has been the most pacifist and isolationist part of the nation for more than a century.
• Despite the fervor surrounding border patrols, immigration from Latin America to the U.S. has actually plummeted since the early 2000s.

Drawing on his vast knowledge of American politics and demographics, Barone investigates our constantly churning population, and the shifts and surges that have brought us to today. SHAPING OUR NATION paints a rich portrait of a country skilled at absorbing diversity and accommodating population shifts, and provides a complex and vital analysis of America's past, present, and future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: MICHAEL BARONE is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner and author of the New York Times bestseller Our First Revolution and Hard America, Soft America. A resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, he is also a Fox News Channel contributor and coauthor of The Almanac of American Politics. His column is published Wednesdays and Sundays. He blogs regularly for the Examiner's Beltway Confidential site.

Writing from Left to Right By Michael Novak

The Political Transformation of Michael Novak How a Prominent Philosopher Made the Move from Liberal to Conservative Michael Novak, the highly acclaimed author of The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism and Business as a Calling offers a memoir of how he changed his mind over the years and moved from embracing a liberal worldview to a conservative one. Writing from Left to Right presents an intriguing look at how Mr. Novak, an early left-leaning liberal, developed his political views over the course of major events in U.S. history. Finding himself in the middle of many crucial events of his time - Vatican II, war-torn Vietnam, the student riots of the '60s, the Reagan revolution, the collapse of the Berlin Wall - this lifelong Democrat began supporting many Republican candidates. Novak recalls spending fascinating days with inspiring leaders like Sargent Shriver, Bobby Kennedy, George McGovern, Jack Kemp, Vaclav Havel, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II, who helped shape - and reshape - his political views. In his extraordinary new memoir, Mr. Novak shares with us: his days in Vietnam covering the 1967 election; his meeting with Bobby Kennedy; his days working with George McGovern; insights on the election of 1976, the Carter years, and Ronald Reagan; his meetings with Lady Thatcher; his dinner with the Holy Father at the Vatican; and more... "At eighty, I look back over the events I have witnessed, and I revisit the lessons I learned the hard way," recalls Novak. "Events and facts forced me to change my mind about the ideas with which my education imbued me." Writing from Left to Right is not only a thought-provoking memoir; it is an insider's look into the political movements that have influenced American history in the last part of the twentieth century and the moral compass that guided them. Charles Murray says, "Michael Novak [is] a theologian and public intellectual whose books have influenced countless lives, including mine." Newt Gingrich affirms: "Anyone interested in the moral, personal, and intellectual journal of the last half century should read this memoir of the most important theologically inspired citizen I have ever worked with."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Novak is one of the world's most influential living social philosophers. Since the 1960s, he has played a prominent role in American political life, writing on everything from the ethics of the free market and welfare reform to the faith of the Founding Fathers. He has taught at Harvard and Stanford, and held chairs at Syracuse, Notre Dame, and the American Enterprise Institute, a leading international think tank. In 1994 Novak received the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.