Free Republic

WASHINGTON – They are the new breed of “affordability” mortgages, and home buyers in high-cost real estate markets can't get enough of them: Interest-only and so-called payment-option plans that cut monthly payments sharply in the early years of a loan. Lenders have marketed both types of mortgages aggressively – often to people who need to stretch their incomes to afford a home purchase – but have insisted that their borrowers have solid credit histories, excellent credit scores and fully understand the possible payment-shock risks once payments reset in a few years. In some parts of the country, the numbers of...

Saying that the Joint Chiefs and combatant commanders “strongly support” ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has stated that the measure “ensures the ability of the US Armed Forces to operate freely across the vast expanse of the world’s oceans under the authority of widely recognized and accepted international law.” [1] But would our military leaders support the treaty if they knew that the activists behind it were also instrumental in promoting the International Criminal Court (ICC), which could prosecute and imprison American troops and military...