Anarchists' gathering surprisingly organized--Idaho Statesman
This is a real headline.
Monday, July 21, 2008
My Way News - It's the law: No sagging pants in Chicago suburb
My Way News - It's the law: No sagging pants in Chicago suburb: "LYNWOOD, Ill. (AP) - Be careful if you have saggy pants in the south Chicago suburb of Lynwood. Village leaders have passed an ordinance that would levy $25 fines against anyone showing three inches or more of their underwear in public."
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A $25 fine isn't worth the cost of imposing and collecting it. I say an immediate, on the spot, public flogging is the way to go.
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A $25 fine isn't worth the cost of imposing and collecting it. I say an immediate, on the spot, public flogging is the way to go.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
CANOE -- CNEWS - Weird News: Court sinks pirate ship tree house: "VANCOUVER - Everyone but the neighbour loved an elaborate pirate ship-shaped tree house Andrew Dewberry built for his kids in his front yard."
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You have to admit, that is an enticing lead.
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You have to admit, that is an enticing lead.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Nearly 1 in 5 poor people surveyed in Erie County reported living in a home without utilities : Latest Local News : The Buffalo News
Nearly 1 in 5 poor people surveyed in Erie County reported living in a home without utilities : Latest Local News : The Buffalo News: "Nearly one in five poor people surveyed in Erie County in January said they were living in a home without running water, electricity or heat, according to a report released today by the Homeless Alliance of Western New York."
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Why do they not have utilities? Because a heck of the lot of them are squatters living in abandoned homes, according to the Homeless Alliance.
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Why do they not have utilities? Because a heck of the lot of them are squatters living in abandoned homes, according to the Homeless Alliance.
Home prices at four-year low
Home prices at four-year low: "SAN FRANCISCO -- With bargain-priced foreclosures glutting the market, the median price paid for a Bay Area home in June plunged below the half-million-dollar mark for the first time in four years, a research firm reported on Thursday.
The $485,000 median price for resale homes, new homes and condos was a breathtaking 27 percent drop from the peak $667,000 median reached just one year ago, in June and July 2007, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla. It was the lowest median since March 2004, when the benchmark stood at $469,500."
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From $667,000 to $485,000 in one year. Holy price collapse, Batman.
The $485,000 median price for resale homes, new homes and condos was a breathtaking 27 percent drop from the peak $667,000 median reached just one year ago, in June and July 2007, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla. It was the lowest median since March 2004, when the benchmark stood at $469,500."
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From $667,000 to $485,000 in one year. Holy price collapse, Batman.
Exurban League: Don't worry. Mr. Godwin has been notified.
Exurban League: Did this sound better in German?
"[W]e are going to grow our foreign service, open consulates that have been shuttered and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy," said Obama. "We cannot to continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we have set. We have got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded." (link)
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The press is ignoring this astonishing proposal to create a "civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded" AS THE UNITED STATES MILITARY. However, he did propose it. This was a popular idea in Nazi circles in the 1930s. He also proposed a federal mandate to conscript junior and senior high school students into doing 50 hours per year of national service and 100 hours per year for college students.
If McCain proposed this sort of quasi-fascist nonsense, it would be front page news and people would question his sanity. But with Obama, the press just scrubs it from the speech and it is like it never happened.
"[W]e are going to grow our foreign service, open consulates that have been shuttered and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy," said Obama. "We cannot to continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we have set. We have got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded." (link)
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The press is ignoring this astonishing proposal to create a "civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded" AS THE UNITED STATES MILITARY. However, he did propose it. This was a popular idea in Nazi circles in the 1930s. He also proposed a federal mandate to conscript junior and senior high school students into doing 50 hours per year of national service and 100 hours per year for college students.
If McCain proposed this sort of quasi-fascist nonsense, it would be front page news and people would question his sanity. But with Obama, the press just scrubs it from the speech and it is like it never happened.
The Golden State's not-so-golden goose - BusinessWeek.com- msnbc.com
The Golden State's not-so-golden goose - BusinessWeek.com- msnbc.com: "In March 2000, California state Treasurer Philip Angelides announced a bold new initiative. Angelides felt the Golden State could do good for both the citizens of the world and its retirees by taking state pension fund money out of two asset classes that were performing horribly at the time, tobacco stocks and emerging markets, and reinvesting in something with a social benefit — businesses and real estate in low-income neighborhoods in his home state."
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Smooth move. And what is the price tag on that virtuous decision?
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Smooth move. And what is the price tag on that virtuous decision?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Blagojevich: Chicago May Need National Guard Help - News Story - WMAQ | Chicago
Blagojevich: Chicago May Need National Guard Help - News Story - WMAQ | Chicago: "CHICAGO -- As Governor Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday signed a new law that will put in place tougher penalties for selling guns to minors, he also announced he's got a new idea to help combat the violence that Chicago is experienc[ing]: he's talking to the Illinois State Police and the National Guard to see if they could help."
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Our meathead governor pulled his face out the public trough long enough to make another moronic attempt at grandstanding. There has been an uptick in violent crime, but not close to a return to what it was in the late 1990s. And if you take a look at Chicago crime rates for the 70s and 80s, you have to conclude that things are pretty calm today by comparison. But that sort of long-term inquiry would get in the way of terrifying the public into increasing government power, and the Chicago Democratic Machine loves power. Ask Mayor Daley, or even Barack Obama, about that sometime.
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Our meathead governor pulled his face out the public trough long enough to make another moronic attempt at grandstanding. There has been an uptick in violent crime, but not close to a return to what it was in the late 1990s. And if you take a look at Chicago crime rates for the 70s and 80s, you have to conclude that things are pretty calm today by comparison. But that sort of long-term inquiry would get in the way of terrifying the public into increasing government power, and the Chicago Democratic Machine loves power. Ask Mayor Daley, or even Barack Obama, about that sometime.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Fires, Foreclosures Raise Risk of West Nile Virus
Fires, Foreclosures Raise Risk of West Nile Virus: "SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -Two plagues in California, fires and
foreclosures, may be increasing the risk of another: West Nile
virus. Wildfires have sullied the air in the Sacramento area so badly
that officials there have held off aerial spraying of insecticide
to combat the virus, which is spread to humans and animals by
infected mosquitoes. At the same time, backyard pools left with standing water in
abandoned, foreclosed properties have created a breeding ground for
mosquitoes, raising the risk of West Nile infection."
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Just wait. Next it will be frogs, and then locusts.
foreclosures, may be increasing the risk of another: West Nile
virus. Wildfires have sullied the air in the Sacramento area so badly
that officials there have held off aerial spraying of insecticide
to combat the virus, which is spread to humans and animals by
infected mosquitoes. At the same time, backyard pools left with standing water in
abandoned, foreclosed properties have created a breeding ground for
mosquitoes, raising the risk of West Nile infection."
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Just wait. Next it will be frogs, and then locusts.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Scientist's blowtorch weedkiller backfires - Telegraph: "Robert Gailey, 79, watched in horror as sparks from a gas-powered garden tool caused the lawn and shrubs of his neighbours, Stuart and Phyliss McLean, to catch light. Mr Gailey had been using a Weed Wand, a £20 hand-held flaming device which burns weeds, to treat the driveway of his semi-detached home in Paisley, Renfrewshire. Within seconds, the McLeans's manicured lawn and evergreen trees were aflame and Mr Gailey's wife, Mary, called the Fire
Brigade."
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Making the omelette of science requires breaking a few eggs, and setting fire to a few lawns, apparently. I am content with my neighbors being IT people, plumbers, and investment counselors. You can keep your scientists, thanks just the same.
Brigade."
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Making the omelette of science requires breaking a few eggs, and setting fire to a few lawns, apparently. I am content with my neighbors being IT people, plumbers, and investment counselors. You can keep your scientists, thanks just the same.
Housing, banking crisis piles pressure on Bush: "LONDON (Reuters) - The housing crisis in the United States is fast spilling into a banking and financial debacle that could destabilize the world economy and put mounting pressure on the Bush administration to act."
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Yes, that's about the size of it. But do we really want the Bush administration to "act"? Act how, precisely? What problem have they acted on with speed and wisdom to date? So far their record is a series of ham-handed, authoritarian, secretive, often-expensive interventions that at best have questionable outcomes. Education reform that nobody likes; taxing and spending so as to produce unprecedented deficits; the botched occupation of Iraq; failing on Social Security reform and then greatly expanding Medicare to include prescription drugs with no idea how to pay for it; faith-based programs that amount to nothing; anti-terror policies that have been repudiated over and over by the courts...you name it. Why would anybody expect the Bush people to have a solution to this spiraling meltdown...a problem that they didn't foresee, did nothing to prevent, and haven't done much about as it progressed to what is now looming disaster? Maybe the best thing to do now is nothing, and give somebody new a chance at the problem in 2009, whoever that may be.
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Yes, that's about the size of it. But do we really want the Bush administration to "act"? Act how, precisely? What problem have they acted on with speed and wisdom to date? So far their record is a series of ham-handed, authoritarian, secretive, often-expensive interventions that at best have questionable outcomes. Education reform that nobody likes; taxing and spending so as to produce unprecedented deficits; the botched occupation of Iraq; failing on Social Security reform and then greatly expanding Medicare to include prescription drugs with no idea how to pay for it; faith-based programs that amount to nothing; anti-terror policies that have been repudiated over and over by the courts...you name it. Why would anybody expect the Bush people to have a solution to this spiraling meltdown...a problem that they didn't foresee, did nothing to prevent, and haven't done much about as it progressed to what is now looming disaster? Maybe the best thing to do now is nothing, and give somebody new a chance at the problem in 2009, whoever that may be.
Analysts say more U.S. banks will fail - International Herald Tribune
Analysts say more U.S. banks will fail - International Herald Tribune: "As home prices continue to decline and loan defaults mount, U.S. regulators are bracing for dozens of American banks to fail over the next year."
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It is remarkable how little attention the presidential candidates are paying to this situation. I guess it isn't as important as who wears what kind of flag pin.
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It is remarkable how little attention the presidential candidates are paying to this situation. I guess it isn't as important as who wears what kind of flag pin.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Bloomberg.com: Worldwide
Secretary of Treasury wants to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--Bloomberg.com: Worldwide: "July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sought blanket authority from Congress to buy equity stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, aiming to stem the collapse of confidence in the largest sources of U.S. mortgage financing."
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He also wants the Fed to have a "consultative role." Here is the definition of the verb " to screw up":
To harm irreparably through inept handling; make a mess: ball up, blunder, boggle, botch, bungle, foul up, fumble, gum up, mess up, mishandle, mismanage, muddle, muff, spoil. Informal bollix up, muck up. Slang blow1, goof up, louse up, snafu. Idioms: make a muck of.
I think that is helpful in understanding the current housing market situation.
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He also wants the Fed to have a "consultative role." Here is the definition of the verb " to screw up":
To harm irreparably through inept handling; make a mess: ball up, blunder, boggle, botch, bungle, foul up, fumble, gum up, mess up, mishandle, mismanage, muddle, muff, spoil. Informal bollix up, muck up. Slang blow1, goof up, louse up, snafu. Idioms: make a muck of.
I think that is helpful in understanding the current housing market situation.
Back in business: IndyMac reopens Monday - CNN.com
Back in business: IndyMac reopens Monday after being taken over by feds- CNN.com: "Customers who found locked doors and armed guards Friday afternoon could use ATM cards over the weekend to get to their money, but an estimated 5 percent of the $19 billion deposited in the bank was not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Indymac's failure, which the FDIC chairman said could add up to be the most expensive U.S. bank failure ever, came as the FDIC's list of 'problem' institutions is on the rise. The FDIC disclosed last month that it was closely watching 90 financial institutions on its 'problem list,' up from 76 in the first quarter of 2008. The total assets of 'problem' institutions rose from $22.2 billion to $26.3 billion, the FDIC said."
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Hey, let's have a look at that "problem" list. What? "The FDIC does not publish a list of trouble banks out of concern it could spur a bank run, which is what the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) said happened to Indymac in recent weeks."
Oh. I guess the next few months should be exciting for the banking industry.
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Hey, let's have a look at that "problem" list. What? "The FDIC does not publish a list of trouble banks out of concern it could spur a bank run, which is what the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) said happened to Indymac in recent weeks."
Oh. I guess the next few months should be exciting for the banking industry.
Friday, July 11, 2008
U.S. Weighs Takeover of Two Mortgage Giants: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
U.S. Weighs Takeover of Two Mortgage Giants: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance"WASHINGTON — Alarmed by the growing financial stress at the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies, senior Bush administration officials are considering a plan to have the government take over one or both of the companies and place them in a conservatorship if their problems worsen, people briefed about the plan said on Thursday. The companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have been hit hard by the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Their shares are plummeting and their borrowing costs are rising as investors worry that the companies will suffer losses far larger than the $11 billion they have already lost in recent months. Now, as housing prices decline further and foreclosures grow, the markets are worried that Fannie and Freddie themselves may default on their debt. Under a conservatorship, the shares of Fannie and Freddie would be worth little or nothing, and any losses on mortgages they own or guarantee — which could be staggering — would be paid by taxpayers."
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That $11 billion figure is nothing. These two companies are responsible for $5 trillion in debt. The public costs, if they have to be taken over, could end up making the S&L industry collapse look like a minor inconvenience.
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That $11 billion figure is nothing. These two companies are responsible for $5 trillion in debt. The public costs, if they have to be taken over, could end up making the S&L industry collapse look like a minor inconvenience.
U.S. officials rush to reassure markets about loan agencies - International Herald Tribune: "Senior U.S. officials on Thursday sought to reassure the markets about the financial health of the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies as their stock prices plunged to their lowest level in 17 years on fears that they could face the possibility of a government bailout...The two companies play a central role in the marketplace by buying hundreds of billions of dollars in mortgages from lenders, repackaging them as securities and then either holding them in their portfolios or selling them to investors. While their stocks trade on the New York Stock Exchange, they were created by Congress to promote housing and the marketplace has long come to believe that they would be bailed out should they become insolvent. They hold a far lower level of capital than banks."
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in major trouble. If you don't think this is a big deal, read a little more about it.
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in major trouble. If you don't think this is a big deal, read a little more about it.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Staffordshire | Pirate birthday sunk by council
AAARRGGG! Shiver me timbers! No Jolly Roger?
A family who wanted to fly a Jolly Roger pirate flag at their house for their son's birthday party have been told they need planning permission. Richard Smith and Sharon Cooper from Stone in Staffordshire have postponed Morgan's sixth birthday while they await the outcome of their application. Permission is required to fly anything other than national flags, a Stafford Borough Council spokesman said.
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This is a municipality in the People's Republic of Great Britain, where I think you need permission from the government to draw a deep breath. We associate laws like this with private governments, but in Britain this is the way municipalities operate. Sometimes we don't know how good we have it here...
A family who wanted to fly a Jolly Roger pirate flag at their house for their son's birthday party have been told they need planning permission. Richard Smith and Sharon Cooper from Stone in Staffordshire have postponed Morgan's sixth birthday while they await the outcome of their application. Permission is required to fly anything other than national flags, a Stafford Borough Council spokesman said.
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This is a municipality in the People's Republic of Great Britain, where I think you need permission from the government to draw a deep breath. We associate laws like this with private governments, but in Britain this is the way municipalities operate. Sometimes we don't know how good we have it here...
Council bans goldfish bowls. 24/07/2004. ABC News Online
Council bans goldfish bowls. 24/07/2004. ABC News Online: "A fish kept in a bowl has a distorted view of reality...and suffers because of this,' Mr Mosca said."
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I need to get a contest started for most ridiculous local ordinance, either from a municipality or an HOA. Any contributions?
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I need to get a contest started for most ridiculous local ordinance, either from a municipality or an HOA. Any contributions?
www.kansascity.com | 07/09/2008 | Summer camps find a new trend: Kidsick parents, not homesick kids
www.kansascity.com | 07/09/2008 | Summer camps find a new trend: Kidsick parents, not homesick kids: "These days, camp leaders and family counselors say it is an increasingly common dynamic. It used to be the homesick kid begging to come home from camp. While that still happens, they have noticed that it is often parents who have more trouble letting go. They call it “kidsickness,” a condition attributed in large part to today’s more involved style of parenting. Observers also say it is only being exacerbated by our ability to be in constant contact by cell phone and computer, as well as many parents’ perception that the world is a more dangerous place."
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Maybe this is the kind of person who sincerely wants to live in a gated community, surrounded by people exactly like themselves and protected from that nasty old world out there.
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Maybe this is the kind of person who sincerely wants to live in a gated community, surrounded by people exactly like themselves and protected from that nasty old world out there.
Our Towns - Build a Wiffle Ball Field and Lawyers Will Come - NYTimes.com
Our Towns - Build a Wiffle Ball Field and Lawyers Will Come - NYTimes.com: "After three weeks of clearing brush and poison ivy, scrounging up plywood and green paint, digging holes and pouring concrete, Vincent, Justin and about a dozen friends did manage to build it — a tree-shaded Wiffle ball version of Fenway Park complete with a 12-foot-tall green monster in center field, American flag by the left-field foul pole and colorful signs for Taco Bell Frutista Freezes.
But, alas, they had no idea just who would come — youthful Wiffle ball players, yes, but also angry neighbors and their lawyer, the police, the town nuisance officer and tree warden and other officials in all shapes and sizes."
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Did you ever think that maybe HOAs and condo associations are reflections of some larger cultural and institutional opposition to the individuals being creative with property?
But, alas, they had no idea just who would come — youthful Wiffle ball players, yes, but also angry neighbors and their lawyer, the police, the town nuisance officer and tree warden and other officials in all shapes and sizes."
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Did you ever think that maybe HOAs and condo associations are reflections of some larger cultural and institutional opposition to the individuals being creative with property?
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