Chicago alderman indicted: Carothers took money from developer to help get project launched, prosecutors say -- chicagotribune.com

Chicago alderman indicted: Carothers took money from developer to help get project launched, prosecutors say -- chicagotribune.com: "Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), a longtime ally of Mayor Richard Daley, was indicted Thursday on charges he accepted $40,000 in home improvements in 2004, as well as meals and tickets to a White Sox playoff game for supporting the zoning changes. Also charged was developer Calvin Boender, who transformed a 50-acre former rail yard -- much of it in Carothers' West Side ward -- into a residential and commercial project known as Galewood Yards."
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Today's "dog bites man" story brought to you by the crooks of the Chicago city council.

Disgraced Governor's Condo

WBBM 780 - Chicago's #1 source for local news, traffic and weather - For sale: Blago's DC Condo: "CHICAGO (WBBM) -- For $570 thousand dollars, you can buy the vintage Washington, D.C., condominium in which ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich lived as a congressman."
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The agent says she doesn't know of any remaining wiretaps.

HOA Asks Vet to Remove Bumper Stickers

HOA Asks Vet to Remove Bumper Stickers: "DALLAS - Frank Larison is a disabled veteran with more than 14 years of service, including more than a year of combat duty in Vietnam.

The 58-year-old former Marine now finds himself under attack by his Dallas homeowners association for displaying seven decals on his vehicle supporting the Marine Corps.

'To me, it's being patriotic, and it shows that I served,' the veteran told FOX 4.

The board says the decals are advertisements that violate HOA rules, and must be covered or removed.

Otherwise, the homeowners association for The Woodlands II on The Creek --- where Larimore has lived for eight years --- says in a letter it will tow the car at Larimore's expense. The board also threatens to fine him $50 for any future incident."
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Thanks to Rick Black for this link. This HOA action seems supremely idiotic.

Where's the HOA when you need it?

English Russia » An Abandoned Horror

Couple: County Trying To Stop Home Bible Studies - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego

Couple: County Trying To Stop Home Bible Studies - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego: "SAN DIEGO -- A local pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, who then threatened them with escalating fines if they continued to hold Bible studies in their home, 10News reported."
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Looks like the HOA-N1 virus is spreading.

About 12 percent of U.S. homeowners late paying or foreclosed | Reuters

About 12 percent of U.S. homeowners late paying or foreclosed | Reuters: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - One of eight U.S. households with a mortgage ended the first quarter late on loan payments or in the foreclosure process in a crisis that will persist for at least another year until unemployment peaks, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday."
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Unemployment is at a 25 year high and rising.

Gated Community FAIL

Pa. police say a man trying to enter gated community was run over by his own vehicle -- OrlandoSentinel.com: "TOBYHANNA, Pa. (AP) — Police said a man trying to enter a gated community in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains fell out of his truck while trying to open the gate and was run over by his own vehicle on Monday. The 52-year-old Tobyhanna man wasn't injured but was taken to a hospital for a blood test when police found him to be under the influence of alcohol."
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Thanks to Beth Young for this entertaining gated community vignette. Too bad it isn't on video.

TheHill.com - New agency for 'prudential regulation' of all banks?

TheHill.com - New agency for 'prudential regulation' of all banks?: "Among the changes that the Obama administration is considering are the creation of a single government agency to conduct 'prudential regulation' over all state and federal banking institutions; a consumer protection agency over financial products, but possibly not securities; and an investor protection agency, the sources said."
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I am still wondering if there is anything that this administration believes is off limits to government regulation. We have suffered from an excessively hands-off approach in the past, but it seems to me that this administration has far too much faith in the federal government's ability to make decisions about other people's money.

Green homeowner hit with noise abatement order because 40ft wind turbine is driving his neighbours mad | Mail Online

Green homeowner hit with noise abatement order because 40ft wind turbine is driving his neighbours mad | Mail Online: "When Stephen Munday spent £20,000 on a wind turbine to generate electricity for his home, he was proud to be doing his bit for the environment.

He got planning permission and put up the 40ft device two years ago, making sure he stuck to strict noise level limits.

But neighbours still complained that the sound was annoying - and now the local council has ordered him to switch it off."
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Not only that, but the birds are picketing his house.

California Cities Face Bankruptcy Curbs - WSJ.com

California Cities Face Bankruptcy Curbs - WSJ.com: "As California seeks more funds from its cash-strapped cities and counties to close a $21 billion budget deficit, some state legislators are pushing a plan that could compound municipalities' pain by making it tougher for them to file for bankruptcy.

The bill would require a California municipality seeking Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection to first obtain approval from a state commission. That contrasts with the state's current bankruptcy process, which allows municipalities to speedily declare bankruptcy without any state oversight so that they can quickly restructure their finances. The bill, introduced in January, has passed one committee vote and could reach a final vote by mid-July."
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I blogged on this some time ago. The bill is being pushed by the public employee unions. It would make a union-friendly, Democrat-controlled, state commission the gatekeeper to the bankruptcy court for California's cities.

Government without limits?

The Associated Press: Pelosi appeals for China's help on climate change: "'Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory ... of how we are taking responsibility.'"
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Her Majesty, Empress Pelosi, has decreed that a clean environment is a basic human right, and that entitles government to do some sort of lifestyle inventory. I wonder if that will include the private jets of her celebrity friends.

Sounds reasonable. Where do they park their ark?

LA County says OK to couple's goats, llama, emu - Yahoo! News: "LOS ANGELES – A Southern California couple will not be allowed to have 15 goats. They'll have to settle for 10 goats, two horses, a llama and an emu."

New Jersey's public pension bomb - May. 12, 2009

New Jersey's public pension bomb - May. 12, 2009: "For years, states nationwide have shortchanged the retirement programs that cover teachers, police, and other public employees; now the stock market plunge has wiped out billions of dollars from already underfunded plans. California, New York and Illinois are among the states scrambling to plug multibillion-dollar holes in their pension systems. The growing obligations raise the specter of higher taxes, diminished services, or even another round of costly federal bailouts."
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This is a slow-motion train wreck.

Reboot?

Herdt: Pathway to a revolution : Columnists : Ventura County Star: "In this environment, one revolutionary idea that is picking up traction is the movement to call a constitutional convention. The convention would be tasked with blowing up the system we’ve got and it would empower an unspecified group of people to rewrite the rules dictating how California elects its leaders, raises and spends money and organizes its governance.

It’s a grand idea with one grand problem: It’ll never work."
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Fred Pilot sent this opinion piece. California has been playing chicken with reality for a long time now, and there is no doubt about which car will survive the head-on collision. The political class--legislators, union bosses, and so forth--still assumes there must be some sort of deus ex machina that will allow them to continue milking the taxpayers. The voters retain their appetite for government services and their dislike of paying for them. The federal government shows no willingness to pick up the tab for open borders and a host of unfunded mandates. And now some people are thinking that the answer may be to reboot the system with a constitutional convention. The author of the op-ed lays out a lot of questions, but the most important one is: "Who would be the delegates?"

U.S. Expected to Own 70% of a Revamped G.M. - NYTimes.com

U.S. Expected to Own 70% of a Revamped G.M. - NYTimes.com: "Including the more than $20 billion that has already been spent to prop up G.M., the government will provide G.M. at least $50 billion to get the company through Chapter 11, people with direct knowledge of the situation said Tuesday. By some estimates in Detroit, tens of billions beyond that amount may be required.

The United Automobile Workers, meanwhile, will hold up to 20 percent through its retiree health care fund, and bondholders and other parties will get the remaining share. Shareholders would be virtually wiped out."
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It would seem that the era of big privatization is over.

Woman Upset After American Flag Taken Down At Work - cbs11tv.com

Woman Upset After American Flag Taken Down At Work - cbs11tv.com: "Is it okay to show your patriotism at the office? For one Arlington woman, the answer was 'no' after she hung an American flag in her office just before the Memorial Day weekend. Debbie McLucas is one of four hospital supervisors at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield. Last week, she hung a three-by-five foot American flag in the office she shares with the other supervisors. When McLucas came to work Friday, her boss told her another supervisor had found her flag offensive. 'I was just totally speechless. I was like, 'You're kidding me,'' McLucas said...
McLucas said the supervisor who complained has been in the United States for 14 years and is formerly from Africa. McLucas said the supervisor took down Debbie's flag herself."
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Private property = no civil liberties. Or so it seems.

Towns Rethink Self-Reliance as Finances Worsen - WSJ.com

Towns Rethink Self-Reliance as Finances Worsen - WSJ.com: "As the recession batters city budgets around the U.S., some municipalities are considering the once-unthinkable option of dissolving themselves through 'disincorporation.'

Benefits of this move vary from state to state. In some cases, dissolution allows residents to escape local taxes. In others, it saves the cost of local salaries and pensions. And residents may get services more cheaply after consolidating with a county."
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Who will go out of business first? The municipalities or the HOAs?

Home Prices Continue Downward March - WSJ.com

Home Prices Continue Downward March - WSJ.com: "For the first quarter, the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index posted a 19.1% drop from a year earlier, the biggest quarterly decline for the reading's 21-year history."
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But consumer confidence is up, which proves that anti-depressant drugs work.

Crisis spurs spike in 'suburban survivalists'

Crisis spurs spike in 'suburban survivalists': "Emergency supply retailers and military surplus stores nationwide have seen business boom in the past few months as an increasing number of Americans spooked by the economy rush to stock up on gear that was once the domain of hardcore survivalists."
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People who are heeding the warnings and preparing for the EOTWAWKI ("end of the world as we know it") are getting their BOB ("bug out bag") stocked up. They are ready to skin raccoons.

Thanks to Frontier Fred Pilot for this helpful link.

Realtors are abandoning a listing ship - Los Angeles Times

Realtors are abandoning a listing ship - Los Angeles Times: "Experiences like these are leading some to wonder whether Realtors may soon go the way of travel agents. Already weakened by the sour housing market, the profession faces increasing challenges from Internet-based services that help people save thousands on a home purchase."
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Some would say that this proves every cloud has a silver lining.