patrick.net

SFWoman Says:

> OK, ever since I posted as Danielle telling you guys
> to read “The House’ my name keeps posting as her,
> even though I change it back. I am not actually
> Danielle, sorry.

So it looks like we won't be having the next BLOG party at the Spreckles mansion and get to meet all Danielle Steele's dysfunctional kids and her gay ex husband...

SFWoman Says:

> Bush is Skull and Bones all the way. They won’t repudiate him.

Let's not forget that Kerry is also a Bonesman...

The older I get the more I see that (almost) every really successful guy had Dad (in most cases) or other older role model (in rare cases) directing him to join the "right" clubs and meet the "right" people...

"so he started meeting the (former) homedebtors as soon as possible with brandy on his breath and his Browning Hi-Power in his shoulder rig peeking out from his jacket while trying to seem a little psycho (think Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 1) trying to make sure that the former homedebtors would feel certain that the new owner would hunt them down and put a bullet in their head if they thrash the place…"

Cheap bottle of brandy? $15

Used side arms? $120

Making little Timmy and Tammy Homedebtor cry? Priceless

Walk softly and carry a big stick. LOL!

Kerry's immediate family was not wealthy though his extended family was quite wealthy. He got really lucky with his rich widow.

"The older I get the more I see that (almost) every really successful guy had Dad (in most cases) or other older role model (in rare cases) directing him to join the “right” clubs and meet the “right” people…"

I can really see that. Women still don't have a comparable mentoring system. As sick as it is to say this in 2006, it seems like a woman's best shot at world class success continues to be marriage to a world class man.

I am a Texan. I was born and raised in Fort Worth and will never accept GWB as a Texan. He is a carpet bagger yankee who wishes he was a Texan. In 2000 I was glad to be rid of him. He nearly bankrupted Texas, why not let him do the same to America?

Yeah, like naive beliefs in communism and fabian socia1ism.
SP

what’s wrong with that??? american libertarians are virtually communists if only they knew it…

newsfreak’s foot would be better now under fabian socia1ism…

anyway, the US has the most regressive welfare state in the affluent OECD and more pro rata poverty, and quality of healthcare ranks 37th in the world, vs the ‘fabian socia1ist’ european nation states…

this paper suggests that the odds of the exit polls being different from the reported results in the 04 election are 250 million to 1 against! :?

http://truthout.org/unexplainedexitpoll.pdf

astrid Says:

> Kerry’s immediate family was not wealthy though
> his extended family was quite wealthy. He got
> really lucky with his rich widow.

Kerry’s first wife was also rich (her brother brought John home with him from Yale)…
The first choice for most woman is the rich “and” powerful guy, but most woman are happy as can be if a man is just one of the above. The first choice for most men is the rich “and” hot looking woman, but less than 1% of men would pick a rich woman if she was not attractive…

> I can really see that. Women still don’t have a
> comparable mentoring system. As sick as it is
> to say this in 2006, it seems like a woman’s
> best shot at world class success continues to
> be marriage to a world class man.

The reason that there are so few mentors for women in the business world is that most women do everything they can to avoid being in the business world…

Women that want to marry a rich successful man have plenty of mentors and even have groups to join like the Spinsters of SF where you have an entire group of girls helping each other find rich successful guys (operating under the cover of fundraising)…

"Women that want to marry a rich successful man have plenty of mentors and even have groups to join like the Spinsters of SF where you have an entire group of girls helping each other find rich successful guys"

Women acting as rational economic beings? I suppose. Most women are not as wildly ambitious as men. That's probably an evolutionary advantage.

He got really lucky with his rich widow.

very lucky. twice...

Though...given the ease of divorce (and the alarming frequency of divorce amongst moguls), personal success might not be a bad thing. Maybe a couple generation of selection will eventually advantage female ambition and make women go more for the "great dad" material.

I suppose many "great dads" and wives of "great dads" on this board would say this trend has already began.

"very lucky. twice…"

He's quite good looking, he's sporty, he comes from a good family and was pegged for high office. Probably not too hard. Though marrying into ketchup money required another one of those unlucky small plane accidents

ajh Says:
First Yukos, now Shell. Looks like Russia isn’t interested in having their ‘free market capitalism’ tainted by entities which they can’t control politically.

why not? i would secure those resources for my country and people too if i was putin... when did he ever say he was a 'free market capitalist'?

very lucky. twice...

actually, his 2nd wife also got lucky marrying into the heinz fortune in the first place...

or, you can just hang out at the pub and hope to run into a crowned head of europe to marry...

ok, she has an acceptable pedigree, i just have to find out which pub she hangs out at...

Ha Ha,

I was involved in the RPV (Remote Piloted Vehicle) from it's inception. It was nothing short of bizarre to clear an entire flight deck to make way for basically a model airplane that was captured on a clothes line attached to motorcycle brakes with a bent coat hanger for an arresting hook. (But you know, it worked!)

So it looks like we won’t be having the next BLOG party at the Spreckles mansion and get to meet all Danielle Steele’s dysfunctional kids and her gay ex husband…

Such lovely sentiment, picking on a 59 year old woman. She must be terrible, being both an accomplished pop author and having caused her ex to turn gay. Is FAB really the ghost of Roy Cohn?

No role models for career women? Inexplicably, against apparent tremendous odds, my extremely successful career wife was never for want of accomplished business role models, including working for numerous female Big 6 Partners, female EVPs, 2 female public corp CEOs. Now she is a role model to others.

Perhaps the ghost of Cohn is stuck haunting a previous era where those stereotypes had some traction.

SFWoman,

Can someone refresh my memory here? Wasn't Northern Trust Co. (up until very recently pooh-poohing the notion of a bubble, let alone a national bubble?). I can't recall if it was Paul Kasriel's comments or one of the other analysts but if memory serves correct this is a complete 180.

note the british first rung housing website looks like some sort of treatment centre for depressives in colour scheme and graphics -- do they know something we don't?

"another one of those unlucky small plane accidents"

I realize this is a tad morbid but there's a reason I've elected not to defy the laws of God anymore than is absolutely necessary:

www.celebratetoday.com/airceleb.html

SFWoman,

I could be completely wrong but it seems all throughout the bubble's ascent into nose bleed levels every article and research report N.T put out was the typical cheerleading with of course all of the typical caveats and qualifiers.

"As long as int. rates/unemployment remain low we see no end in sight" type blather. (I hate to keep being a stickler about this but right is right damn it!)

Oh and from your Philly Inq. article:

"Who'd have thought you'd have a bubble in Toledo!"

Randy H Says:

> Such lovely sentiment, picking on a 59 year old woman.
> She must be terrible, being both an accomplished pop
> author and having caused her ex to turn gay.

There are a lot of things that are not PC that you can never say in public including “real estate might down in value” “some realtors don’t follow the code of ethics” “everyone is equal” and “women want to work in business just as much as men”…

Here on the Blog we can talk about real life like how real estate values are falling in front of our eyes, how most Realtors would screw their parents to make a commission, how the kid who’s Dad was a Bonesmen with Bush probably has a better shot at the CEO job than the kid from the projects and most women really just want to stay home with the kids…

In addition to being an accomplished pop author Danielle was a runner up to Kathy Hilton in the America’s worst mom competition. Many thought that Danielle would win since none of Kathy’s kids have killed themselves yet, but even the last minute push by Danielle getting her teenage daughters in to Vanity Fair dressed as hookers was not enough to edge out Kathy for the win since her daughters basically are hookers…

SQT,

Oh agreed! (That's why I drive as little as possible as well). I'm especially taking Peter P's advice on avoiding two lane roads). Actually I think that same site has a link to celebs that died in car crashes as well.

What struck me is I "speed scrolled" through the list was how many of the accidents occured while filming movies or attending a charity event or collided with someone they knew. Small world isn't it? Ted Williams was shot down over Korea. I'm guessing Ted felt his being there was important. *astrid's reference to H. John Heinz the 3rd. was his own helicopter's rotor blades hitting his own plane on a playground where additionally two children were killed.

The danger comes when people "fall in love" with aviation and would rather fly than drive any day! Most of these people were "off the clock". When you do it for a living it's totally different. All you're thinking is, whatever happens today. I'm going home to my wife and kids. Most guys that work on airplanes aren't "living the life".

I think it's the same as the myth that cowboys "loved" their horses. (Truth is if they loved them at all, it was simply b/c it beat walking).

FAB,

Kind of inclined to agree. My eldest sister (now deceased GRHS) was a draftsman in the 70's. (This is before they had draftspersons/people). She endured more sexism and favoritism than you can shake a stick at. There was no HR Policy back in the day and additionally she was NEVER invited to any of the "guy thing" functions. (And it was always a "guy thing").

I'd like to think though that some advancements have taken place between then and now and hope my daughters will find the work world a better place.

This is quite a good article summarising mortage-backed securities:

What mortgage-backed securities mean for the US housing market - Money Week

well put, mike. but then i'm a 5th columnist for the commies, what would i know... i might also suggest that the shape-shifting reptiles putting forward people like ronald reagan and dan quayle is an insult to the american people -- but the military-industrial complex took over ages ago...

Hysterical post on Portland's C/L!

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/rfs/209751068.html

(It's in Flipperwood Estates)

Does anyone have an update on Ben's blog? I still can't get to it today! I need my fix!

SQT,

That's a shame. Dino Martin's plane was clocked at 560 MPH while hitting solid granite in I believe the San Bernadino Mountains? In a way this kind of illustrates my point. Insurance companies are now asking for higher premiums from clients that engage in "high risk" activites. I'm against Ins. companies using "red line" techniques and now even credit scores to gouge people but folks that do white water rafting after their base jumping excursion should pay more. IMHO.

"Flipperwood Estates" was a classic post! The home described is typical of that neighborhood so it made it just credible enough to not get pulled post haste. "I can come down a little in price, but not too much b/c of my 70% profit margin"! Classic.

skibum,

According to Claire's post yesterday Ben said it should be up today. I'm relieved that it's just a technical glitch and not some hijacking or sell-out. (I wasn't really concerned about the later b/c Ben is one of those "stand up" guys). He'll get it together!

DQ has the August SoCal numbers out:

http://dqnews.com/RRSCA0906.shtm

Home sales in Southern California continued at their slowest pace in nine years as price levels appeared to be nearing a plateau, a real estate information service reported.

The median price paid for a Southland home was $489,000 last month. That was down 0.6 percent from July's $492,000, and up 2.7 percent from $476,000 in August last year. Last month's increase was the smallest since July 1999, when the $193,000 median also rose 2.7 percent from $188,000 a year earlier.

The positive gains appear to be held up by sales in Riverside, San Bernadino, and LA counties. SD is negative, while Ventura and Orange are barely (+) YoY.

So, do you think this guy is biased, or what:

"There's an awful lot of moaning going on right now. Potential buyers and sellers need to be careful what they believe and exercise common sense in their decision making. The market is certainly off from its frenzy, but we have to remember that it takes much more downward pressure to push prices down than upward pressure to push them up. Prices have doubled the last four-and-a-half years. So does the market keep all of that gain, or only ninety percent?," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

DinOR,

re: Flipperwood Estates, I enjoyed:

"But if you're sick of renting below cost of ownership keep reading"

That has GOT to be a joke! WTF? Frickin' hilarious.

The older I get, the more I realize that you should stop listening to someone right about the time you hear them say "the older I get, the more I realize...".

I apologize to FAB. He clearly knows all, and can help the rest of us unwashed Prols better understand real life. Who can blame him for getting frustrated when asked to justify or defend himself.

"So does the market keep all of that gain, or only ninety percent?"

Oh, so now we're throwing down the gauntlet are we!

By saying "only ninety percent" it's as if Mr. Prentice believes he can personally apply a tourniquet to stop the hemorrhaging at a 10% downside. Well this is plain ridiculous b/c many areas (yes in CA) are already experiencing reductions of this magnitude. Does this a$$clown have any credibility left?

skibum,

"sick of renting below cost of ownership"

Yeah, the guy does have a certain gift! Actually I think the disparity is as profound in OR as it is any place else. My youngest was thinking about attending the Art Inst. of Portland and it's amazing to me that with entire columns in the paper w/studio apts. at $275 to $350 a month anyone would "invest" in a loft ABOVE Manhattan prices! Then again I'm just some guy from the "south side" so what would I know?

Dear Mr. Prentice,

If prices have doubled in the last 4 1/2 years as your data indicates is the question, should the market retain 90% of that, OR is the question IS 1.85% a MONTH "appreciation" sustainable!

Assuming that a doubling in one's "investment" every 54 months is standard, customary and reasonable the MEDIAN price by June 2010 should be what? 1.2 mil? O.K. That's all I needed to know.

DinOR,
Mr. Prentice's quote should be added to the list of "idiotic predictions by RE industry shills", ala Gary Watts and David Lereah.

skibum,

Oh absolutely! And thank you for bringing that little "nugget of knowledge" to my attention! I'm working on a proper "handle" for Mr. Prentice but simply referring to him as "MP" may create confusion as it is not fitting a man of his "stature".

Hell, I'm open.