If government is going to kill the mortgage interest tax deduction, then what will take its place for homeowners? Restore Mortgages Zero Percent Mortgage Program.

According to Reason.com the elimination of the mortgage deduction tax may be imminent. 1.26 Trillion Of income was deducted from our nation’s 2008 tax base. The single largest deduction item in our tax code – Mortgage Interest accounts for nearly 36% (approx. 450B) of all deductions nationwide by itself. Do to the current economic famine both democratic and republican parties are considering proposals to terminate this deduction biting into the juicy apple of revenue to quench the hunger of national debt and deficits.

“In an economy where consumers pay $3/gallon for milk, $4/gallon for gas, and $5/gallon for orange juice, taking another 450B out of the American peoples pocket is just what the doctor ordered. That would be Dr. Jekyll or if you wanted a second opinion, Dr. Frankenstein. This is mad. In exchange for withdrawing this money from the collective bank account, a deposit of increased disposable income should be made via the zero percent mortgage proposal submitted by Restore Mortgages to The White House and Federal Reserve” says Restore Mortgages Founder Duane Faust. Also mentioned in the Daily Finance, a poll by Gallup Politics showed 61% of Americans are against the mortgage tax deduction.

“The natural cycle of life is when one thing dies another is born. The Mortgage interest tax deduction being eliminated should be replaced by zero percent mortgage interest financing. The former without the latter is a crime against the American people stealing its most coveted promise, the American Dream. The average homeowner of a zero percent mortgage would realize $9,600 dollars in savings per year. Given there are 48 million mortgaged homeowners in America, that amounts to approximately 460B in savings to offset the amount extracted (450B) out of our economy if we eliminate the mortgage interest deduction tax. The question then would become how the economy would survive WITHOUT a zero percent mortgage?” says Faust.

“Restoring the resources taken away by eliminating the mortgage interest deduction tax is imperative if America is going to remain competitive in a 21st century global economy. Restore Mortgages zero percent mortgage proposal would replenish these funds in addition to expanding the tax base through job creation and home loans. Considering the metric establish by the National Association of Realtors that says “for every two loans closed, one job is created”, millions of jobs would become available as a result of millions of homes being refinanced or purchased” says Faust.

The elimination of the mortgage deduction tax will happen. 15T in national debt is calling for it. That call must be answered … Implement the Restore Mortgages Zero Percent Proposal.

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The Syrian city of Hama has an ancient past as part of the Roman, Greek and Byzantine empires, but recent deadly violence has revived memories of its more recent history as a hotbed of unrest and brutal government crackdown.

At least 62 people have died in Hama since Sunday as the government of President Bashar al-Assad attempts to quell the last major bastion of a country-wide rebellion triggered by the Arab Spring that has swept North Africa and the Middle East.

For many, the latest bloodshed reopens wounds of 30 years ago when thousands were killed in a month-long battle as the Syrian army, under orders of then president, Hafez al-Assad, father of the current leader, crushed an uprising by Islamists.

Though separated by three decades, the current and previous crackdowns cement Hama’s reputation as a city of rebelliousness and anti-government sentiment, says Robert Fisk, the only journalist to witness fighting there in 1982.

“Of all the places in Syria, this is where [anti-government] resistance has always been the strongest. Once a city acquires a reputation as a hub of rebelliousness it tends to stick,” Fisk said.

Located 200 kilometers north of the capital Damascus and famous for its giant 15th century Byzantine-era norias, or waterwheels, Hama has been the location of some of the biggest protests since Syria’s uprising began in March.

The strength of opposition — which the government blames on extremist groups — has prompted a succession of brutal crackdowns involving government troops and tanks.

But the city of 1.5 million’s reputation as a modern epicenter of anti-government sentiment stretches back several years before the events of 1982.

In the 1970s it was the headquarters of the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and a stronghold of Sunni Muslim puritanism. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Muslim Brotherhood started an armed campaign to destabilize and unseat Hafez al-Assad’s regime.

In a well-organized urban guerilla campaign that included political assassinations, the group repeatedly attacked government forces loyal to Assad’s Alawite minority sect.

In February 1982 Syrian government troops moved into Hama to crush the uprising, killing thousands of people. Many parts of the old city were reduced to rubble by heavy shelling.

Estimates of the number of casualties vary from 3,000 to 40,000. A 1983 Amnesty International report put the death toll on both sides as between 10,000 and 25,000.

“There were rows of tanks in the center of Hama shelling the Great Mosque, there were shells going off every 15 to 20 seconds, pounding the old city,” Fisk says.

“There were bandaged, exhausted soldiers everywhere, which was an indication of the ferocity of the fighting.”

A generation on, the past resonates strongly among demonstrators in Hama chanting for the overthrow of the current president.

Umm Yasseen, 62, is still haunted by the memory of her teenage son being shot dead on her doorstep in 1982.

“I started screaming and the Alawite officer who grabbed me said ‘Your son is a criminal. He killed himself.’ I can never forget his face ever, ever, ever,” she told Reuters.com.

“Hama is the latest city to fall victim to President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces despite his promises that his government would tolerate peaceful protests,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

The death toll in Syria since its uprising began in mid-March has reached 1,992, according to Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He said the dead include 1,618 civilians and 374 Syrian security forces.

Syrian state-run media reported Tuesday that “armed groups” were behind an assault in Hama on Monday.

On Tuesday graphic video was posted on Youtube which shows dead bodies being dumped into a river in Hama. The video claims the bodies are anti-government protesters killed by pro-Assad forces, but an anti-government activist confirmed the state TV account to CNN correspondent Arwa Damon, saying that the bodies are those of Syrian secret police killed by fighters from Iraq who have joined the anti-government fight.

Amnesty International is calling on the Security Council to “urgently respond to the ongoing crackdown in Syria by referring the situation to the International Criminal Court.”

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The medical examiner’s office in Concord, New Hampshire, will conduct an autopsy Tuesday morning on the body of Celina Cass to determine how the 11-year-old girl died.

Celina’s body was found by divers searching the Connecticut River on Monday — one week after she was last seen.

“We have brought Celina home, not the way we wanted to bring her home,” New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said.

The girl’s father, Adam Laro, said he was heartbroken and grasping for answers after hearing the news.

“I … can’t believe what’s gone on,” Laro told HLN’s “Nancy Grace” show on Monday night. “I have no fingers to point … I hope there will be some answers, that’s what I’m asking.”

Young said that the case — which had been considered a “missing persons” case — is now being investigated as a “suspicious death.” No one has been arrested or named publicly as a suspect in what is now a criminal investigation.

“Based on what we have seen visually, we are treating it as suspicious,” the official said.

Celina’s body was found around 10:30 a.m. Monday by divers from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department near a hydroelectric plant outside West Stewartstown, New Hampshire, according to the attorney general’s office.

Young described it as a “routine search because of the proximity to (Celina’s) home,” about one-quarter mile away. The site is also near the Canadian border, where the Connecticut River forms the border between New Hampshire and Vermont.

The discovery came a day after Laro — who was in the hospital when Celina went missing — said that he was like others “wondering where my daughter is” and hoping she was safe.

On Monday night, the father thanked all those authorities and residents who had put their time and effort into finding Celina.

He said his memories of his daughter are “beautiful, beautiful, just a wonderful hearted person.”

“(She was) someone who was loving and caring to a lot of people,” Laro said. “That’s how I would like to remember her.”

Celina was last seen in her room, at her computer, around 9 p.m. July 25, according to police. CNN affiliate WMUR reported that her parents told authorities the girl was gone when they went to wake her up.

Since then, local, state and federal investigators had searched for her and for clues about her whereabouts “by air, by land, by water,” Young said Sunday evening.

Young said on Monday that authorities, including FBI agents, had received nearly 500 tips prior to finding the girl’s body.

She described investigators’ focus Monday around Celina’s home as “routine,” after being asked about yellow crime tape there and the removal of a vehicle. The aim is to “determine if we have any evidence” in places around where the girl was last seen alive.

Young added that the discovery of the girl’s body should help authorities “hone the investigation, so you will (still) see searches conducted in different areas.”

Celina’s father said that he had not spoken with his ex-wife, who lived in the house with the girl’s stepfather of about a year, since the girl went missing. He described his ex-wife as a “great mother,” and added he had positive interaction with the stepfather.

“(It was) a household that supposedly gave her great love, that’s what she always told me,” Laro said.

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TLC is premiering a reality series about the lives of American Muslims this fall,  “All American Muslim,” the cable TV network announced this week.

The series tracks five Muslim families living around Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the nation’s largest Muslim enclaves.

The series is about “inviting viewers into a world they might not otherwise experience,” said TLC’s general manager Amy Winter in a press release.

“Through these families and their diverse experiences, we will explore how they blend their values and traditions with everyday life in America,” Winter said in the Thursday release, “providing insight into their culture with care and compassion.”

The series, which premieres in November, tracks “very distinct lives that often times challenge the Muslim stereotype,” according to the release.

Characters include a pair of tight-knit sisters, one of whom wears a traditional Islamic headscarf and one who sports piercings and tattoos and has recently married an Irish Catholic man who is converting to Islam.

Another character is a consultant to big auto manufacturer and struggles to strike a balance between work and raising a modern Muslim family, according to the TLC release.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released earlier this year found that 46% of all Americans have a favorable view of American Muslims, while 26% have an unfavorable view.

“Overall, positive views of American Muslims have risen since 2002, when memories of 9/11 were still fresh in most Americans’ minds,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland in March, when the poll was released.

In 2002, only 39% of all Americans said they had a favorable view of Muslims.

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Hey, do me a favor. Don’t tell me how the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton ends. I haven’t watched it yet. I’m assuming the deal was sealed?

Every summer, after most of the TV shows my wife and I watch end their regular-season runs, I start descending the scroll-list of stuff we have recorded on our nearly full DVR.

The digital video recorder’s hard drive, which holds about 30 hours of HD-quality programming (much more if it’s not HD), is stuffed with old stand-up comedy specials we never watched, never-to-be-deleted cartoons for the kids, a handful of current programs that air in the summer like “Louie” and “Children’s Hospital,” and some movies we didn’t care about enough to rent but which were worth recording when they aired on cable.

But the bulk of what’s there right now, in these hot summer months of reruns and reality shows, are very, very old programs that were easy to cast aside in the fall and spring.

I make it my mission to catch up in the summer on a lot of that programming, deleting as I go, clearing up space before our other shows start up again in August and September.

There’s that royal wedding, which was recorded in the wee hours of a Friday months ago. I hear it was kind of a big deal. I would hope so: It takes up a whopping six HD hours on our DVR. I’m beginning to have my doubts that it will ever be watched, but I’m also curious about those interesting hats I heard so much about and that kiss on the balcony I missed.

Maybe it’s worth experiencing something even if everyone else who gushed over it at the time has moved on.

In that way, all those neglected programs on the DVR are a bit like a time portal, a way of experiencing life as it was (at least on TV) weeks, months or years ago.

Among my DVR’s contents are about half a season of “Saturday Night Live.” The “Weekend Update” segment, viewed now, reminds me how obsessed the country was with former Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’ Donnell. Was it witchcraft everyone was fired up about? The jokes would seem to suggest as much. Huh. I’d forgotten all about that.

And those easy punchlines from last year about Amy Winehouse’s drug use don’t seem that funny any more. (Were they really funny at the time? I may never know.)

There’s three full seasons of “Breaking Bad” on the DVR that I promised myself I’d catch up on before Season 4 started this month. That didn’t happen — I’m still in the middle of Season 2 — but a pleasant bonus has been imagining how viewers reacted at the time the episodes originally aired.

I can go online and find the Internet record of recaps, reviews and even archived tweets about each episode.

I might miss the thrill of being part of the discussion of a buzzed-about show while it’s airing (also on our DVR: the full first seasons of “Game of Thrones” and “Boardwalk Empire”), but I can watch at my own pace, marathoning through two or three episodes at a time, as you might with a DVD set.

For old episodes of shows like “The Office” and “Modern Family,” which we let stack up when time was short, there’s the pleasure of also seeing commercials for movies that arrived, bombed at the box office, hastily moved on to a DVD afterlife and which we can now probably catch on HBO.

And there are the sometimes-tragic ads for new TV shows that have already been cancelled after a short run. So long, “The Cape” and “Mad Love,” shows we never even knew had arrived.

Maybe our household is unusual and other DVR owners don’t have such squirrel-like tendencies, storing up a stockpile of TV for the barren months. But given that we’re a nation of hoarders (as I learned from another DVR’d show, “Hoarders”), and that about 40.5 million homes have digital video recorders, according to research firm Magnaglobal, I bet we’re not that unique.

I bet there are a lot of people reliving the past, time-shifting into another era.

According to a report from the Nielsen Co. from late last year, 88% of DVR owners watch their recorded shows within three days of recording.

That leaves 12% of us who regularly engage in lengthier time warping, reliving the TV past with a sage knowledge of the present. The only downside: The onus is on us to be ever-vigilant in avoiding spoilers for the programs we’ve yet to watch.

To that end, I would ask that you not reveal who wins Super Bowl XLV.

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A California woman fell 600 feet to her death Sunday while trying to descend a landmark rock formation at Yosemite National Park, according to park officials.

Hayley LaFlamme, 26, of San Ramon, had hiked with three other people to the peak of Half Dome, a granite formation that rises about 4,800 feet above Yosemite Valley in eastern California. She was descending the cables area — the dome’s highest 400 feet, where hikers hold onto fixed metal cables — when she fell, park officials said Monday.

One of her companions called 911 about noon to report the fall, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said. Park rangers pronounced LaFlamme dead when they found her body, the park said.

The cause of the fall was under investigation Monday.

It had rained on Sunday morning, and the slopes were wet, Cobb said. The park’s website instructs hikers to not climb the cables area when the rock is wet, warning that most accidents on the cables happen when the slopes become slick.

Metal cables help hikers climb Half Dome’s final 400 feet.

“Ultimately, it’s up to the visitor to assess the safety conditions on any trail in the park and to make the appropriate choices to make them safe,” Cobb said.

The cables allow hikers to climb the last 400 feet without rock-climbing equipment, according to the website. The entire hike is a 14- to 16-mile round trip.

LaFlamme had a permit that hikers are required to have to go to the summit, Cobb said. The park issues 400 permits daily during the months that hikers are allowed to go to the peak, from mid-May to mid-October.

Four other people have died on Half Dome since 2006. The most recent of those deaths happened in June 2009, when Manoj Kumar, of San Ramon, fell after slipping on wet granite, Cobb said.

Sunday’s death came 11 days after three Yosemite visitors climbed over a guardrail into the Merced River and were swept away. They are presumed dead, according to Cobb.

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Facebook is now letting parents-to-be list their unborn children on their personal profiles.

Among options that include daughter, son, wife and husband, the “Friends and Family” section under “Edit Profile” now allows the option “Expected: Child.” Parents can add a due date and the baby’s name.

“We’re always testing new features,” a Facebook spokesperson said via e-mail. “Earlier this year, Facebook started providing the option to add an ‘Expected: Child’ as a way for users to more accurately express their identity.”

The option may have existed for a while, but the Internet didn’t seem to pick up on it until this week. And the British Daily Mail was reporting that the feature rolled out last Wednesday.

With the feature, the expected child would appear next to other family members on the user’s profile and the changed status would appear in friends’ News Feed.

The Mail and others speculate that the option is meant to cut down on parents creating separate Facebook pages for their as-yet unborn children. It is against Facebook rules for anyone under 13 to have a page.

What will happen if ‘Generation Dora’ overruns Facebook?

While the feature in effect is a glorified way of telling your Facebook community “Hey, we’re going to have a baby!” — some bloggers warn about potential pitfalls.

“The new feature could also cause some problems if used carelessly,” wrote a blogger for the San Francisco Chronicle. “A newly pregnant woman might announce her pregnancy on Facebook, forgetting that she wanted to wait a couple months before alerting her employer.”

And then there’s the chance that a miscarriage could force parents to retract the announcement.

Writer Jamie Frevele addresses this question on The Mary Sue, an online guide to “girl geek culture.” She likens the situation to changing a Facebook relationship status from “In a relationship” to “single” — but much worse.

“A pregnancy that doesn’t work out is much sadder than a relationship that doesn’t work out. The risk of a situation involving possibly hundreds of ‘friends’ knowing details that turned out to be too tragic or personal to share is very great,” she wrote.

“Having a child is a very exciting thing to happen, but when there’s someone’s health at stake, it’s probably better to be extremely cautious and/or patient before making such an announcement on Facebook.”

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced new guidelines in Washington Monday requiring health insurance plans beginning on or after August 1, 2012 to cover several women’s preventive services, including birth control and voluntary sterilization.

According to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the decision is a part of the Affordable Care Act’s move to stop problems before they start. “These historic guidelines are based on science and existing literature and will help ensure women get the preventive health benefits they need,” she said in a news release.

In July, the Institute of Medicine issued the results of a scientific review of women’s health needs and provided recommendations on specific preventive measures to help them. Today HHS approved those recommendations.

Overheard on CNN.com — Birth control should be free

Besides contraceptive use, the list includes screenings for conditions such as gestational diabetes and the human papillomavirus (HPV), as well as breastfeeding support and counseling on sexually transmitted diseases. The full list is available on the Department of Health and Human Services website.

The decision to offer contraception at no additional cost was not supported by everyone. For example, the Family Research Council claims the decision “undermines the conscience rights of many Americans.”

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chairman of Committee on Pro-Life Activities with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says “pregnancy is not a disease, and fertility is not a pathological condition to be suppressed by any means technically possible.” They feel the decision forces people to participate who may have moral or religious convictions that oppose contraception use.

The Obama administration released an amendment to the prevention regulation that allows religious institutions offering health insurance to their employees the choice of whether or not to cover contraception services.

However, supporters say the service will help millions of women who struggle to afford prescription birth control.

Birth control should be fully covered under health plans, report says

“Today is a historic victory for women’s health and women across the country,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in a press release. “Covering birth control without co-pays is one of the most important steps we can take to prevent unintended pregnancy and keep women and children healthy.”

Supporters also say covering contraception helps the government save money up front. According to an analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, in 2006, of the 2 million publicly funded births, 51% resulted from unintended pregnancies, accounting for more than $11 billion in costs.

The report found that this is a disproportionate burden on programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, given that only 38% of all U.S. births result from unintended pregnancies.

But Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, said Monday’s decision may result in increasing the cost of coverage for consumers.

Though AHIP supports evidence-based preventive services, Ignagni warns the recommendations would “broaden the scope of mandated preventive services beyond existing evidence-based guidelines, suspend current cost-sharing arrangements for certain services, and encourage consumers to obtain a prescription for routine supplies that are currently purchased over-the-counter.”

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