Random reflections and contemplative thoughts, spiritual insights and humorous anecdotes, fickle film reviews and rambling music musings, occasional (okay, more than occasional) societal and political rants, and a whole lot more... all from the point of view of a humble, constitutional, common sense, conservative, Catholic, work-in-progress kinda guy who never gives up hope, because to be without hope is to become selfish.
Friday, April 30, 2010
GDP drops, and The One sat on Health Care info...
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Greece, Portugal, Spain... the U.S.?
Friday, April 23, 2010
Uh oh!!!... (hehehe)
The blacked-out portions of a subpoena request filed by lawyers for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- which were revealed through a simple computer trick -- suggest President Obama may have played a role in finding his own Senate replacement.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tax Day Revolt 2.0 - Tea Party Time!!!
FORE!!!.......
In March alone, there were 1,919 foreclosure filings in the county, a 71 percent spike from February and an almost 14 percent increase from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac. Last month’s filings included 769 default notices, 871 auction sale notices and 279 bank repossessions.
Foreclosures are going to be a problem the rest of the year, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
“We’re climbing out of a basement of a very, very significant downturn,” Kyser said. “We are still losing jobs.”
Experts are mixed on whether the foreclosure fiasco is coming to an end. Some predict another big wave during the summer, when a slew of adjustable rate mortgages are due to reset."
It continues:
The state [of California] accounted for 23 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in the first quarter — more than 216,000 homeowners received foreclosure notices.
Areas hardest hit by foreclosures include Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin and Kern counties.
Among states, Nevada continued to post the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, followed by Arizona and Florida.
UPDATE #2: Okay, maybe not so much good news for potential first-time homebuyers:
A quaint Camarillo three-bedroom house priced at $310,000 sold recently after fetching 11 offers. The winning bid came from an investor who offered $10,000 below asking price. The bank selling the home rejected several solid offers, including one that was $45,000 more than the asking price, with 20 percent down.
The catch? The investor had cash, and the bank wanted a quick close.
Traditional homebuyers are finding it hard to compete as banks try to minimize challenges by going for cash offers, said Kay Wilson-Bolton, a broker for Century 21 Buena Vista.
UPDATE #3: More bad news for the "sand states" here:
Cities in the "Sand States" of Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada, where overbuilding was rampant, are also in trouble, claiming nine of the top 10 spots in our list of cities in free fall. In Las Vegas, Riverside, Calif., and Phoenix, median home prices have fallen 50%, 44% and 37% from their respective peaks. Jobs are vanishing. Though country-wide, employers added 162,00 jobs last month, Riverside gained 13% fewer jobs in February 2010 (the latest numbers available by metro) than it did the same month three years earlier. Tampa, Fla., saw a 10% drop, and Los Angeles added 9% fewer jobs over the same time period.
These cities are also slow to absorb their glut of unsold foreclosed homes, keeping recovery at bay.
"These were highly speculative housing markets," says Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a Manhattan-based real estate appraisal firm. "In the markets that have unloaded a lot of foreclosed housing stock there's still a lot more coming."...
... "In California, so many jobs were concentrated in construction," says Michael Fratantoni, vice president of research at the Mortgage Bankers Association, the professional association for real estate financiers. "Jobs building single family homes wound up not being sustainable, and there were a lot of job losses."
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
URGENT PRAYERS AGAIN, PLEASE!!!
Oops!... HAHAHAHA!!!
Thursday, April 08, 2010
One Day, Two Day, Red Face, Blue Face...
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Monday, April 05, 2010
Obama Edits Jesus Christ Out of Easter Message...
President Obama literally edited Christ out of his "holiday greeting" today when he excerpted a sermon given by a military chaplain on Iwo Jima on Easter Sunday 1945.