Michelle Gross2013-05-21T17:19:58-04:00Michelle Grosshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=michelle-grossCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Michelle GrossGood old fashioned elbow grease.Powell Honors Fallen Muslim American Soldiertag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2008:/theblog//3.1359642008-10-20T08:26:27-04:002011-05-25T12:50:18-04:00Michelle Grosshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-gross/ The New Yorker, Elsheba Khan at the grave of her son, Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan.
Colin Powell ended his endorsement of Obama by referring to the death of a Muslim soldier, Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan of Manahawkin, N.J., who was killed in Iraq on Aug. 6, 2007, and whose remains were buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
He and three other soldiers, including a corporal from Washington Heights, were killed in Baquba after a bomb detonated while they were checking abandoned houses for explosives. They served in the Stryker Brigade combat team of the Army's 2nd Infantry Division, based in Ft. Lewis, Washington.
Mr. Khan graduated from Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin in 2005, and enlisted in the Army a few months later, spurred by his memories of the 9/11 terror attacks. "His Muslim faith did not make him not want to go. It never stopped him," his father, Feroze Khan, told the Gannett News Service in a story printed shortly after his death. "He looked at it that he's American and he has a job to do."
Powell framed the entire "Obama is a Muslim" debate in striking terms with his reference to this fallen American soldier.
"Is there something wrong with being Muslim in America? No, that's not America," he said.
"He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could go serve his country, and he gave his life," Mr. Powell said. "Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way."
The highly charged rhetoric used by McCain and Palin to tie Obama to terrorism and Islam is once again an affront to all Muslim Americans. We saw this type of fear and backlash just after 9/11. We see it also in the McCarthy-like invocations of Michele Bachmann. I challenge Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin to tell this grieving mother that her son is anti-American because of his faith.
The answer to who is evil is NEVER as neat, clean, and easy as a label. Thank you, Colin Powell, for reminding America that those who serve in our military represent the awesome diversity of faithful and patriotic Americans.
Thank you, Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, for your service and your ultimate sacrifice. I am humbled to honor you and your fallen comrades.
Kareem's Legacy page.]]>McCain's Housing Plan Leaves Many Military Homeowners Out in the Coldtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2008:/theblog//3.1330472008-10-08T15:30:14-04:002011-05-25T12:45:25-04:00Michelle Grosshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-gross/
You know that home values of retirees continue to decline and people are no longer able to afford their mortgage payments. As president of the United States, Alan, I would order the Secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes -- at the diminished value of those homes and let people be able to make those -- be able to make those payments and stay in their homes.
What McCain failed to tell America is the critical detail of his plan, which differs from Obama's plan.
McCain's American Homeownership Resurgence Plan requires that struggling homeowners "prove their creditworthiness at the time of the original loan (no falsifications and provided a down payment)." Although downplayed in parentheses, homeowners would qualify for his plan ONLY if they had provided a down payment at the time of purchase.
This requirement fails to address exactly how the subprime lending bubble went from over-inflated to burst because the homeowners receiving those mortgages DID NOT have down payments. McCain's plan would do little to help these people, including many military members, who are at the heart of this crisis.
Military members were specific targets for the predatory lending practices engaged in by subprime lenders during the housing boom. The lenders knew that military members receive a guaranteed housing allowance and used those numbers to push for higher mortgage amounts. Even though military members and veterans have access to low-cost VA loans, the number of VA loans dropped drastically at the height of the subprime lending boom in 2006 to less than one-third of the level of VA loans two years earlier, no doubt in direct relationship to the subprime predatory lending practices.
Most shockingly, the foreclosure rate in military towns is 4 TIMES HIGHER than the national average.
Foreclosure filings in 10 towns and cities within 10 miles of military facilities, including Norfolk, Virginia, home of the Navy's largest base, rose by an average 217 percent from January through April from a year earlier. Nationally, the rate was 59 percent in the same period, according to RealtyTrac, which tallies bank seizures, auctions and default notices.
The biggest surge was in Columbia, South Carolina, home to Fort Jackson, where the Army trains recruits for combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Properties in some stage of foreclosure rose 492 percent from a year earlier, RealtyTrac said. The second-biggest increase was 414 percent in Woodbridge, Virginia, next to the Marine Corps Base Quantico.
Currently, veterans comprise 11% of our population, but they make up 25% of our homeless. McCain's plan would leave military families without government assistance in this housing crisis and may even result in military families and more veterans being homeless.
McCain proves once again that he is NO FRIEND to veterans and military families.]]>Documentation Proves McCain Is Not A "Friend" To Veteranstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2008:/theblog//3.1302952008-10-01T10:47:00-04:002011-05-25T12:45:25-04:00Michelle Grosshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-gross/
On the straight talk express, Daddy Mac must mean tough love.
For someone who touts his military service record as the foundation of his qualifications for President he has a lousy record (see here, here, and here) of supporting benefits for our troops and his fellow veterans.
Let's start with the new GI Bill. Obama was a co-sponsor of the new GI Bill and actively campaigned for its passage. Daddy Mac took the tough love approach by saying that the troops have to work harder and serve longer before they can earn their GI Bill benefits. He was against it, until he realized what a deal breaker it was for his campaign.
But the tough love doesn't end there.
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America has given McCain a "D" rating for his voting record on 155 votes since 9/11. In stark contrast, Obama got a "B." Disabled American Veterans have given McCain a paltry 20 percent. Obama received 80 percent. Tough love ratings must be like golf scores...keep them low!
Remember the awful conditions our Iraq and Afghanistan returning troops were receiving at Walter Reed? Daddy Mac voted against spending $20 million for increased VA health care funding.
In his 26 years in the Senate, Daddy Mac hasn't once served on the Veterans Affairs Committee. When Obama was elected to the Senate, he signed up for the Veterans Affairs Committee.
Those of us hosting a debate party for Blue Star Families for Obama and live-blogging the event were on the edge of our seats waiting for Obama to call him out on the record. Sadly, Obama missed an opportunity to call out McCain on his lousy record of voting against veterans and our troops at this first debate.
However, Blue Star Families for Obama and Veterans for Obama will help carry that torch to tell America how Daddy Mac's tough love approach has left behind his fellow veterans and our beloved troops.]]>
