Topic: Dittohead Dogma
25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
25:11 A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather [the grapes] in it of thy vine undressed.
25:12 For it [is] the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
25:13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
25:14 And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest [ought] of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:
25:15 According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, [and] according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
25:16 According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for [according] to the number [of the years] of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.
25:17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I [am] the LORD your God.
25:18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
25:19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
25:20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
25:21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
25:22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat [yet] of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat [of] the old [store].
25:23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land [is] mine; for ye [are] strangers and sojourners with me.
25:24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
25:25 If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away [some] of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.
25:26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;
25:27 Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.
25:28 But if he be not able to restore [it] to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.
25:29 And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; [within] a full year may he redeem it.
25:30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that [is] in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubile.
25:31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubile.
Senate passes bankruptcy bill making it harder to shed debts
By Jennifer Brooks, Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON ? The Senate on Thursday passed sweeping changes of the nation's bankruptcy laws.
Stringent new standards would require tens of thousands of people who seek bankruptcy protection to repay at least part of what they owe and make it harder for them to wipe away their debts. The Senate voted 74-25 to pass the bill and it is expected to pass in the House.
The bill was blasted by consumer groups and the majority of Senate Democrats, who say the vast majority of people filing for bankruptcy protection were forced into it by medical crises, job loss or divorce ? not irresponsible spending. Critics said the bill would be unduly harsh on ordinary debtors, without closing loopholes still open to wealthy debtors and corporations.
"All that matters in this bill is for the credit card companies to have more profits," said Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
Democrats tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to exempt veterans, active duty troops, senior citizens and families facing staggering medical bills from the new standards. The majority shot down dozens of proposed amendments, including efforts to link the bill to a minimum wage increase, an abortion provision and an effort to cap credit card interest rates.
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who sided against his own party to support the bill, argued that it will reform serious problems with the current bankruptcy system, including a provision that allowed debtors to stop paying child support if they filed for bankruptcy protection.
The bill would tighten standards for people attempting to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is set up for people who fall so deeply into debt they have no hope of repaying what they owe. Debtors turn over a portion of their assets and in return, their debt is wiped away. The bankruptcy bill would tighten the standards for this category, and sweep an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 people a year into Chapter 13 bankruptcy instead. In Chapter 13, debtors are put on a stringent repayment schedule, their wages are garnished for years, in an effort to repay as many creditors as possible.
The nation's creditors stand to recover millions of dollars in assets if the bill becomes law. Banks credit card companies have spent millions of dollars to lobby for the bill over the past eight years. They have contributed more than $24.8 million to federal candidates and political parties in the past five years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' study of campaign finance and lobbying disclosure reports.
President Bush has identified the bankruptcy bill as one of his top legislative priorities this year.
