WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A rise in U.S. urban minority homeownership has been accompanied by an even greater surge in the number of people straining to pay for their homes, the Fannie Mae Foundation said on Wednesday.
“Hundreds of thousands of urban minorities are struggling to sustain homeownership,” the study said.
The scales have fallen from my eyes. I used to think that rising home ownership was a mark of economic success, but now I see that it was all a VRWC plot all along. Thank you Big Media!
[source]
Ah, the story of a boy and his posters that’s sure to warm the heart of even a curmudgeon like me. Reminds me of my days of running an underground newspaper in high school.
On the evening of May 30, 2004, Jassim and his fellow members of 4th Platoon, India Company, Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) were jointly patrolling the streets of Al Karmah, near Fallujah, with leathernecks from 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. All at once, the patrol was ambushed from the rear by enemy insurgents. A U.S. Marine was instantly struck down with a gunshot wound to the leg.
Reacting as they had been trained to do by their U.S. counterparts, the Iraqis swung into action.
Jassim, who was standing closest to the Marine when the latter was hit, immediately returned fire.
Sergeant Abdullah Sadoon Isa, Corporal Eiub Muhamad Hussane, and Private Ahmad Lazim Garib raced toward-and-beyond the downed American. Constantly under fire and simultaneously returning fire, Sgt. Isa quickly positioned other members of his platoon between the wounded man and the enemy.
Jassim and another private, Kather Nazar Abbas, stopped shooting long enough to begin dragging the American to a position of relative safety. Bullets and at least one rocket-propelled grenade zinged past their heads as they managed to pull the Marine behind a wall. A U.S. Navy medical corpsman rushed forward to render first aid. The Iraqis and the Americans continued battling the enemy force.
The response to the ambush was textbook. “The ICDC ultimately assaulted through the enemy’s position and pushed them out,” said 2nd Lt. Charles Anklin III, of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines.
These are the seeds of the future Iraq that our troops have given so much for.
Free-speech groups want the California Supreme Court to overturn an appellate ruling that allowed a writers’ assistant for the TV comedy “Friends” to pursue a sexual harassment claim because of bawdy banter between the show’s writers.
The appeals court said a plaintiff in a sexual harassment case “does not need to be a direct victim” and can pursue a sexual harassment claim exclusively on the basis of hearing speech at work that is sexual in nature.
[…]
Amaani Lyle, the plaintiff, said she was subjected to harassment in 1999 by the frequent sexual banter of the writers while they discussed ideas and developed story lines for the show.
Miss Lyle, a writers’ assistant who was terminated after four months, said both male and female writers made “sexually offensive comments and jokes during writers’ meetings.”
Miss Lyle said she was not the target of any of the comments, but that the remarks were derogatory to women in general, and therefore created a “hostile environment” for her work. [emphasis added]
Imagine that! Offensive comments and conversations among the writers for Friends! The appellate court apparently believes that writers discussing the script for a show laden with sexually suggestive dialog shouldn’t actually have any themselves. Perhaps this is simply a back door to de factor prohibiting racy TV shows.
Here’s a story from David Zadel [Lieutenant in the 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division]:
[…]
My platoon and I were on a security patrol in the countryside on the outskirts of the town when one of our vehicles became stuck on a narrow road bordered by a canal. It was in danger of rolling into the water. We had to stop our vehicles which can be very dangerous.
[…]
Our vehicle was badly stuck and we needed chains to remove it. At this point, the surrounding families joined us and showed us tremendous hospitality. This is remarkable because often times, local terrorists will sometimes intimidate those who help us or show us kindness.
Without prompting the men brought out shovels and began to dig out the wheels of our vehicle that were stuck. With much effort, working together, we succeeded in removing our vehicle from danger.
Far too inspiring to be reported in the USA by our media.