The Nobel Peace Prize Committee members

Committee members | Nobels fredspris
These are the five people who gave the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama: Thorbjørn Jagland, Kaci Kullmann Five (yes, her name is Five), Sissel Marie Rønbeck, Inger-Marie Ytterhorn, and Ågot Valle. That is Ronbeck on the left. I'm sure they are perfectly nice people. But why is the Nobel Peace Prize considered such a great thing when it is awarded by five unknown Norwegian politicians? Why is it worth more than if I and four friends think Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" video was a greater contribution to world peace than anything Obama did in the last 9 months?

California RealEstateRama | Real Estate News, Press Releases and Articles from California

California RealEstateRama | Real Estate News, Press Releases and Articles from CaliforniaHas links to news about the California real estate industry and market.

Is bankruptcy an option for San Diego?

Is bankruptcy an option for San Diego?: "Less than 500 municipalities have declared bankruptcy since Congress allowed it under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in 1934, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Whether San Diego chooses to take that route is a decision left to the city’s elected officers, and first they’d have to prove the city can no longer pay the bills necessary to keep it functioning."
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San Diego's situation has gotten worse than it was when bankruptcy was first proposed.

Homeowners set to sue banks over low interest loans - Business News, Business - The Independent

Homeowners set to sue banks over low interest loans - Business News, Business - The Independent: "Thousands of holders of controversial shared appreciation mortgages (SAMs) have been told they can club together to take on the banks that sold them in court in a US-style class action.

The schemes saw Barclays and Bank of Scotland offering low – or zero – interest loans on homes while taking up to 75 per cent of the increase in value of those homes when the mortgages were repaid. They were hugely popular when sold in 1997 and 1998 before the property boom got under way. Now, however, those who took them out often find themselves trapped in their homes and unable to move."
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The Associated Press: AP, News Corp bosses tell search engines to pay up

The Associated Press: AP, News Corp bosses tell search engines to pay up: "By ALEXA OLESEN (AP) – 7 hours ago

BEIJING — The leaders of two of the world's major news organizations said Friday that it is time for search engines and others who use news content for free to pay up.

The comments from Tom Curley of The Associated Press and News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch come as the media industry struggles in the Internet age. Many news companies contend that sites such as Google have reaped a fortune from their articles, photos and video without fairly compensating the news organizations producing the material."
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And yet note that this story I have reaped a fortune from reproducing comes from...the Associated Press. Ah, the irony.

Investors.com - Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Now FHA

Investors.com - Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Now FHA: "Housing Mess: A huge, government-run housing agency shows massive losses and needs a bailout. Fannie Mae? Freddie Mac? No. It's the Federal Housing Administration, in a bad case of financial-meltdown deja vu.

The FHA, which insures mortgages made by first-time buyers with low down payments, says it may need a bailout because it will have losses of — get this — $54 billion. And how did it lose all that? By backing home loans made to people who couldn't pay them off.

Where have we heard this before?"
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Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize to mixed reviews | Reuters

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize to mixed reviews | Reuters: "The decision to bestow one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo."
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You can't blame the guy for being a narcissist. Every time he turns around somebody gives him something he did little or nothing to earn.

Underground City Envisioned in Nevada - Yahoo! News

Underground City Envisioned in Nevada - Yahoo! News: "According to a recent study, over the coming century the Southwest will essentially transition into a state of 'perpetual drought' due to the effects of global warming. This prediction leads to the questions of whether the worsening arid conditions of the Southwest should be called a drought or whether the regional climate is changing.

'Sietch Nevada projects waterbanking as the fundamental factor in future urban infrastructure in the American Southwest. Sietch Nevada is an urban prototype that makes the storage, use, and collection of water essential to the form and performance of urban life. Inverting the stereotypical Southwest urban patterns of dispersed programs open to the sky, the Sietch is a dense, underground community. A network of storage canals is covered with undulating residential and commercial structures.'"
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As the article points out, this sounds a whole lot like Dune.

Crippled man up in arms over NHS | The Sun |News

Crippled man up in arms over NHS | The Sun |News
Another triumph of socialized medicine. Don't click the link because the photo of his arm is not for the faint of heart.

Airports To Screen Passengers For H1N1 Symptoms - wcbstv.com

Airports To Screen Passengers For H1N1 Symptoms - wcbstv.com: "The government warns that some passengers may be asked to pass through a screening device, have their temperatures taken, answer questions about their health, and even be quarantined if someone on the flight shows symptoms of H1N1."
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I hope these are oral thermometers they are talking about. But when we get to the point of quarantining an entire flight of people because of one person, I think things are pretty far over the line.

FHA Shortfall Seen at $54 Billion May Lead to Bailout (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

FHA Shortfall Seen at $54 Billion May Lead to Bailout (Update1) - Bloomberg.com: "The Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages with low down payments, may require a U.S. bailout because of $54 billion more in losses than it can withstand, a former Fannie Mae executive said.

“It appears destined for a taxpayer bailout in the next 24 to 36 months,” consultant Edward Pinto said in testimony prepared for a House committee hearing in Washington today. Pinto was the chief credit officer from 1987 to 1989 for Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company that is now government-run."
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Well, we taxpayers can just reach into our pot of bailout dollars that we all have in the cupboard and support the good old FHA, right?

Jack LaLanne at 95 / He exercised his personal demons

Jack LaLanne at 95 / He exercised his personal demons: "LaLanne works out two hours a day, mostly swimming and lifting weights, at the LaLanne mansion on the Central Coast.

'I work at living,' he says, leaning close and squeezing an arm. 'Most people work at dying. Dying's easy.'"
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Jack LaLanne has been my hero since I was a kid. Still is.

San Rafael partners with Peacock Gap neighborhood group on median maintenance - Marin Independent Journal

San Rafael partners with Peacock Gap neighborhood group on median maintenance - Marin Independent Journal: "Despite some community objections, the San Rafael City Council signed off on a landscape maintenance pact with a Peacock Gap neighborhood group that could be the way of things to come.

The council on Monday unanimously approved a city partnership with the Peacock Gap Homeowners Association that puts maintenance of the neighborhood's long-neglected medians and other landscaping in city hands with $80,000 of neighborhood funding.

The city will use funding from the association to improve the medians with new irrigation systems and landscaping.

'With all the budget cuts, we are forced to come up with creative solutions to come up with services,' said city spokeswoman Terri Hardesty. 'This is a great example. It could be the beginning of many more partnerships.'"
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Like I keep saying, HOAs are becoming the lowest level of local government. Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link.

Straighten up that bacon!

Telegram.com - A product of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette: "She had been turning over strips of bacon that were cooking in a pan when Mr. Rutledge became angry because “it wasn’t in a neat line,” she wrote in a statement she gave police. She told police he struck her and told her, “You’re going to cause your own death.”"
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Too bad he couldn't have channeled his impulses for creating order into some more productive vein, such being president of an HOA.

Widow vs. HOA dispute gets HUD's attention | Mesa Arizona News - Mesa News - Mesa AZ news | eastvalleytribune.com

Widow vs. HOA dispute gets HUD's attention | Mesa Arizona News - Mesa News - Mesa AZ news | eastvalleytribune.com: "Federal housing authorities have become involved with the case of an 87-year-old Mesa woman whose homeowners association told her she can't have a grandson live with her as a caregiver because of the community's age restrictions."
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Go, Granny, go!

Loudoun Times: One HOA doing its part to prevent economic recovery

Loudoun Times: "Residents of CountrySide are upset that members of the community's board of directors are considering a plan to restrict home businesses, threatening operations such as home day cares.

According to a draft of the resolution, permission to operate any business would have to be obtained from all adjacent property owners and from the board of directors."
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Can you imagine a worse time to do this?

Hotel defaults, foreclosures rise in California -- latimes.com

Hotel defaults, foreclosures rise in California -- latimes.com: "More California hotels are being pushed into foreclosure as tourists and businesses alike scale back their travel plans and owners are unable to pay their mortgages.

Statewide, more than 300 hotels were in foreclosure or default on their loans as of Sept. 30 -- a nearly fivefold increase since the start of the year, according to an industry report released Tuesday.

The list of troubled properties includes the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, the downtown Los Angeles Marriott, the Sheraton Universal and the W hotel in San Diego."
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This is just the beginning of a meltdown in the commercial real estate market.

WBBM 780 - Chicago's #1 source for local news, traffic and weather - Naperville restricts sleeping downtown

WBBM 780 - Chicago's #1 source for local news, traffic and weather - Naperville restricts sleeping downtown: "NAPERVILLE, Ill. (STNG) -- Scott Huber plans to stay put under his tarp outside the central parking deck in downtown Naperville, despite a new law designed to keep him out.

Huber has been camping on the sidewalk for eight years in what he calls a protest against the city for taking away his lifestyle and electronics business. Under a new city ordinance effective in 30 days, Huber will need a special event permit or a new location to continue -- or face daily fines of up to $100 and a court injunction."
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How would Naperville look if a few thousand people decided to save money by living under a tarp in a pubic parking garage?

Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes Says State Finances A Mounting Crisis, Things Getting Worse - cbs2chicago.com

Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes Says State Finances A Mounting Crisis, Things Getting Worse - cbs2chicago.com: "The State of Illinois' pile of unpaid bills has grown to a record-breaking $3 billion. Comptroller Dan Hynes said Tuesday it's never before been this bad at this point in any previous fiscal year. CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports that some social service agencies that rely heavily on state reimbursement warn they will soon be forced out of business.

Hynes said that things are likely to get worse before the state's bleak revenue picture begins to improve."
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They aren't even paying the dental bills for their employees. The state deducts money from our paychecks for this coverage, and then we pay our share directly to the provider, but the state won't pay what they owe. So the provider--take my kids' dentist, for example--threatens to turn me over to a collection agency if I don't pay it. So I pay the state's share. Then, someday down the road, the state will pay the dentist what they owe, and the dentist will have been paid twice. Will the dentist notify me? Probably not. So how will I know that they made that payment at long last? I won't, unless I call the dentist relentlessly.

Illinois Review: Bill Ayers' admits he wrote "Dreams of My Father"

Illinois Review: Bill Ayers' admits he wrote "Dreams of My Father": "Then, unprompted he said--I wrote Dreams From My Father. I said, oh, so you admit it. He said--Michelle asked me to. I looked at him. He seemed eager. He's about my height, short. He went on to say--and if you can prove it, we can split the royalties."
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In the blogosphere what Ayers did is called a "troll." But the conservative bloggers who are repeating this endlessly don't get the joke. Do they really think that Ayers confessed the biggest literary fraud of the century to a right wing activist who had just taken his picture in an airport? Come on, people.

UIC's education building, where he teaches, is right across Harrison Street from the Behavioral Sciences Building, where I work. Yesterday when I was leaving the office for Union Station, I walked past Ayers as he was trying to hail a cab at the corner of Harrison and Morgan. I stood there for minute waiting for the light to change. It was raining and he seemed frustrated when a cab drove right past him. Can't blame him. I guess sometimes being rich and famous doesn't mean a thing. Not that I would know.