Seven Things Never To Say To A Veteran:

Seven Things Never To Say To A Veteran is something you should read, then tell someone else about.

My helpful hint: I agree. If you don't know what to say, "Thanks for your service" works, as does "I'm glad you are back." Further commentary or questions should be reserved for vets whom you know are likely to be ok with both you and the (potentially very ugly conversation) that might follow.

Seen at Blackfive

Home Prices: All The Pesky Appraisers' Fault!

~(or not, duh?)~

If you have been reading Michael Shedlock like you should be, you will not be surprised by an increasingly-common "problem" of homes being worth less than a buyer and seller agree they are worth - according to the appraisal they get back when the buyer tries to get a mortgage. This kills the deal for the financing.

Those who are wondering why the "problem" of lower home prices exists at all, should read the short note and comments here, at Naked Capitalism. In a comment that summarizes a lot of it nicely, DownSouth says:

"And what about housing prices? The NY Times story Frank links to above gives a case study as to what happens to housing prices when a market is flooded with foreclosures. I think TPTB want to avoid that sort of downward spiral on a national scale. Just imagine, from $267,000 to below $60,000 in just a couple of years! More foreclosures mean lower prices. Lower prices mean more foreclosures. More foreclosures mean lower prices. Lower prices mean more foreclosures. Can you imagine what is happening in Fort Meyers going viral?"

The only "problem" is, we don't have to imagine; we need only sit back and watch. Houses are back to their prices from six years ago. Six years ago, the price curve was pretty steep already.

There is still a long way to fall.

It is a rough patch for a lot of people who thought they were investors. For normal people, it is a benefit. Just think, in a couple of years, you might actually be able to afford a house! Note: this is different than being able to get a bank to underwrite your mortgage.

By "We're Not . . . Now," They Mean "Yes, Sort-of, Later"

The US and UK have closed their embassies in Yemen due to threats from some muslims. Yemen is now looking like at least as much a threat to national security of the USA as Iraq was, pre-9/11.

The money quote from the Yahoo/AP article is:

"As to whether U.S. troops might be sent to Yemen, Brennan replied: "We're not talking about that at this point at all." He pledged to provide the Yemeni government with "the wherewithal" to take down al-Qaida."

What this quote from national security advisor Jon Brennan means, for those who can't read between the lines, is:

"We would love to send a carrier air group or a division of Marines over there today, but we'd catch hell for it politically. We will be sending over "military advisors" who "accidentally" become involved in combat from time to time, and they might -oops!- let a tank or 105mm gun fall out of their back pocket, but we would never be seen directly intervening in the local affairs of yet another middle-eastern country. Can't have comparisons to the Crusades during an election year, now, can we?"

Quote of the Day Jan 02, 2010

I told my Darling Wife about how the CO₂ fraction is not (may not be?) increasing and she came back with the following, in a very sympathetic tone:

"Oh, povresitos for them, that means they can't have their global warming now"

I LOL'd.

Go Vote Yes.

The queers are all bent out of shape that the people at South Park finally* said the word they love, in a way they hate. If you think it's gay for the queers to get bent when an intentionally-offensive show calls non-fags, fags, go vote yes, here.

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*it's fine for South Park to mock Christians, Jews, Nazis, Atheists, Men, Women, and to have the highly-offensive-to-sane-people Big Gay Al's Big Gay Animal Farm, but God** forbid that they should use slang that was common for the past 30 years, that's just too much!

**not that we believe in one, but you breeders have gone too far!

Not That It Causes Global Warming, But CO2 NOT Increasing!

You remember of course, how carbon dioxide in the air was recently shown to be not increasing the preset-on-a-thermostat-by-the-USA-government temperature of the Earth.

Now, upon further review of the evidence, it seems that CO₂ isn't even increasing, which will certainly be spiked by the religious ecofacist press (Nature, Discovery, etc.) because it goes straight against the Official Science, Which Is Settled And The Debate Is OVER!!!1!.

Gee, it's almost as if someone intelligent actually designed the ecosystem of our planet to compensate for things like volcanoes and industrial activity. Naw, that's crazy talk.

From moonbattery.

Making Memories. . .

We put some "other white meat" on the grill today and let the kids put leaves & sticks on the coals when we had eaten a really tasty meal. My Darling Wife brought out the radio and we had some background music while she hid from the smoke and the kids (including me) played with the fire. Then we had a nice walk to the park and played scooter tag, with #3 receiving the unfair advantage of having me push him on his bike to catch up to #1 and #2. Baths, then nap time.

This is the good life. Thanks God.

Synthstuff: Check It More Often.

I know I need to put my blogroll in the sidebar, but I haven't got to it yet. Know that, when it is finally up, Synthstuff will be on it. For stuff like . . .

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In the USA, they evacuate the airport. In Israel, the contain and remove the bomb. Which country is smarter? Hint: not US. How bad is it, when the person in charge of security, thinks unionized thugs running security is a good idea? Hint: it's as bad as it is, here and now.

This guy's picture is on the internet. Also, he is a jerk.


Find a bank in your area, from your area. De-fund the giant monster-mega banks one customer at a time.

Big Banks Looking At $4T Cushion. No, A New One.

Because Barney Frank is such a financial wizard, he is pushing for FOUR TRILLION dollars of bailout money for the banks that should have failed instead of being bailed out during the current financial crisis. You know, just in case they might need it later. Because the Obama administration is 100% lobbyist-free, you get almost 1,300 pages of special interest protectionism.

Is this the change you were hoping for?

Are you still glad you sat out the last election?

Oh Yeah: Happy New Year.

I was chuckling to myself yesterday as I made a not-funny joke in my head:

Just think children, tomorrow will be a new year. Just think children, tomorrow will be a new election year.

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Election Season is officially open and all Americans have a license. Contact your Elected Heroes today, and tell them you will donate to their opponent if they continue to support Obamacare.