patrick.net

let's see some pics of their new $562,000 place, poor little saps... i think they probably traded up to something like this to get the pool and extra rooms for the nonexistent urchins...

For most FB's (fascinating pol. discussion btw) it boils down to DTI and appraisal value. Some might have enough income (but not the "right" appraisal) others will have the appraisal (but simply not enough income) to support ANY further debt. Cash out? Forget it.

So when the F A N T A S Y is over and the re-sets and attendant damage control PPT measures are implemented just who is it exactly they will be saving? Who was it that described it like a neutron bomb? The houses will be left standing but all the people will be dead.

DinOR,

Yeah, that koi pond really gives one a sense of zen serenity...as you meditate in front of your neighbor's McMansion! Did you read that other link I posted a bit earlier? Just as bad.

Anyhow, what kind of family were these people planning to start, so that it can't housed in a 2,861 sqft home? The wife has got to be close to 30, so she's only got 10 good breeding years even if she starts now.

iranians are sharp, sophisticated, and excellent chess players...

Bush is a history major from Yale, I believe. Did Yale teach him anything about the definition of a sovereign nation? Oh, I forogt I saw a footage on youtube when he was struggling to explain what a sovereign entity was to a panel.

Perhaps in Bush's mind, the US of A is the only sovereign nation on earth, oh I stand corrected, the Bush admin is the only sovereign admin on earth, we the people of US of A are his subjects.

I don't really care what Ahmadinejad said in the UN. At worst, Ahmadinejad is openly stating his long standing position on Israel and using the speech to shore up his domestic stature. Iran is a long distance away from Israel and Israel is in no real danger of extermination.

The Iranian regime is also plenty oppressive to its Muslim citizenry. Young women are still being killed for premarital sex, even when that premarital sex was coerced or outright rape.

But what I mainly care about is what Iran is doing with nuclear program. Unfortunately, the news there is also quite bad.

skibum,

You're kidding right? Of course I read it and I'll go you one better!

"Home Buyers Getting Pushy" should be the sub-title to patrick.net!

(You know that is one way Patrick could generate some revenue)

Unlike most RE guru programs and seminars that cost thousands and are the product of ONE mind; get the collective bargaining skills from thousands for ONE DOLLAR! (Click Here for Ultimate House Buying Bargaining Skills Now!)

So this might be an acceptable time to voice my long held opinion that the world would be a better place if the Jews were given a small Latin American country as a homeland instead of Israel.

Speaking of excellent chess players, I think Musharef just declared "checkmate" on Bush. Very clever.

In 2001, Musharef was a pariah. He had overthrown a democratic regime in a military coup. He was potentially a danger to India. Etc. The world community condemned the coup and sanctions were in place on Pakistan. Then 9/11 happened and Bush decided he needed to strong-arm Musharef for help in the "war on terror." Musharef goes along with it publicly, without mentioning the Bush bullying tactics. Bush makes public appearances with Musharef and gives him an implicit endorsement.

Bush was hoping to be discreet about his strong-arm tactics. But by now, five years later, the whole world knows that the Bush admin. is a bunch of bullies. After securing Bush's public support, Musharef chooses to make a very public statement (true or not--probably true) about Bush's backroom bullying. Now Bush needs to backpedal.

It is very hard for Bush to deny Musharef's accusation because Bush has very little credibility--especially when it comes to being a bully. But if Bush admits it, then he just further shows that he is every bit as much of a bully as everyone already thinks he is.

That koi pond article is priceless, by the way.

George,

I only saw the ad once but if ever there was a person that embodied all things boomer Dennis Hopper is it! From a free spirit in "Easy Rider" to corporate sell-out (combined with much drugs and random sexual partners he's the perfect pitch-man for Ameriprise!)

Wow, UN speeches, foreign translations, Presidential comparisons, petro-dollar diplomacy and nuclear proliferation. We're all over the topic map today!

This just about summed it up for me:
We are living in a time with absolutely no leaders. That’s the real problem.

I have yet to see one "likely" Presidential candidate for '08 that has real character and I would actually want to vote for (which is pretty much the true aim of our Beloved Two-Party system I suppose). Hillary has zero credibility thanks to caving/pandering on Iraq, BK bill, Patriot Act, etc. McCain? Much the same --plus shilling for the guy who smeared his reputation in '00. Perhaps Badnarik or Feingold will consider running. of course if they do, they'll probably get swift-boated if the polls show either has a chance of winning.

Yeah, I know, not very popular. Half of my friends are Jews, so I usually keep that particular opinion quiet. But come on, the Brits who gave Palestine to the Jews never expected them to survive more than a year or two and certainly never expected them to become the focal point of Middleeastern conflict for the past 60 years.

I think if the Brits gave and the Jews accepted some piece of lush, sparsely populated (which Palestine certainly was not) hunk of land in the new world, the Jews would have done great things to it and there would be no need to continuously fight the same old wars with the same old enemies.

@George,

I hear you loud & clear, buddy! Maybe in 20 years we'll be seeing ads about how Boomers are "redefining death".

It's a shame though that no one's told Ameriprise that boomer is in effect........ broke. Maybe they should have done a little research before launching expensive (and repulsive) ad campaigns.

I for one intend to continue to live my life in the same sensible and boring fashion with which I have always lead it. I'm O.K with shuffleboard. Hell I might even throw caution to the wind and sign up for ballroom dancing classes but I AM NOT going rock climbing, base jumping or cross country cycling with the like of you Dennis! Sorry.

HARM,

Someone here had a great article that exposed all of this much vaunted "boomer wealth" as nothing more than an urban myth. Does anyone recall the source? I think it actually came from the GAO or DOL or other gub'mental agency? It may be almost as invaluable as the "boomer death clock".

One thing is for sure. Don't look for me to bail out any FB's (regardless of age!).

SFWoman,

I am not ideological, and I am always willing to incorporate new information into my opinions.

I simply want to know why the German media -- not particularly friendly to the US hegemony of late -- seems to be "mistranslating" Iran's Farsi language output worse than we are.

If you can answer that, I am more willing to believe there is some kind of systematic, Orwellian phenomenon afoot. I also have questions vis-a-vis Farsi-Russian translations, but since I don't speak or read Russian and the info comes from my Sister-in-law, who is a native Russian, I except that as second-hand.

SFWoman,

That proposal does have a wonder symmetry to it. I guess my point was that I don't understand what the Zionists were thinking, when they thought eeking out a living in a slim strip of parched desert land amid hostile neighbors was conducive to long term security.

NO HILLARY. Hillary is the only candidate out there I consider worse than Bush. I would rather have a Bush 3rd term than Hillary the uberbitch.

People with real talent and vision do not go into politics. You need to look outside the pool of professional politicians.

Someone like Jack Welch may have the brains, determination and moxie to be a half-decent president. I don't know his politics, but I admire his toughness and executive abilities. (Yes, I know, he was scandalously overpaid. But he also built a lot of great businesses and made a lot of money for his shareholders.)

speedingpullet,

You might want to pull the left of Stalin quote. Stalin is not a leftist, certainly not in 1927 Russia. That prize, as always, goes to Trotsky.

Hillary is the only candidate that will get all GOPs, conservatives and perhaps some democrats themselves on an united opposing front again. Any other candidate from the democrats may persuade the GOPs to stay home on the voting day.

I don't think Hillary would be a particularly bad president. She's shrewd and capable, as her senate record thus far indicates. She's just too compromised as a candidate from both the left and the right, and she appears to have no moral convictions or vision of her own.

I have always thought that Germany should have given a LARGE chunk of its territory to the Jews after WWII. Even that wouldn’t have repaid them for the atrocities committed against them, but it would have been, not just, but sort of right. Any German who complained about being displaced, well…

Hmmm. We're championing ethnic cleansing based upon historical atrocities now, are we? Does that include "The Trail of Tears"? Manifest Destiny? Don't forget those wonderful ethnic migrations at the barrel of a Russian gun. Oh, and shall we go back to Imperial Europe? I think there are entire volumes on that subject (and one regular here who I'll bet can recite them from rote).

Someone here had a great article that exposed all of this much vaunted “boomer wealth” as nothing more than an urban myth. Does anyone recall the source?

DinOR,

I don't recall that exact article, but here are some related links that might be useful:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2006/01/baby-boomer-time-bombs.html
http://www.forbes.com/businesswire/feeds/businesswire/2005/11/15/businesswire20051115005619r1.html
http://www.efficientfrontier.com/ef/103/hell4.htm

Rumors in the MSM suggested recently that Hillary may not want to run for Pres anyway - her prize may be "first female Senate majority leader." Sorry i don't have the source at hand.

Either way, the dems are screwed. They have no apparent party leadership, direction, or message. I'll plan to go back to voting republican if and when they ever free themselves from the death grip of the religious right and stop spending like there's no tomorrow.

Astrid,

That proposal does have a wonder symmetry to it.

Sure, if you choose to ignore the complicity of about 15 other nations, especially Russia. I'm thinking that the Nuremberg solution wasn't so hastily planned in context after all.

astrid

..point taken (LOL)...Trotsky it is. Lets hope I have better luck with icepicks!

I suppose what I was trying to say, so awkwardly ,was that I realise I represent a very small percentage of potential voters, as I believe in socia-list dreams like cheap affordable housing for the masses, free or almost free universal healthcare and income taxed tiered to income, etc....in other words, anathema for many Americans.

And as Glen says, anybody who actively seeks the political life is deeply suspect.
BTW: has anyone else seen the new Robin Williams trailer, for the comedian who runs for President. No doubt, it will turn out to be a mare, but its an interesting premise.

Randy,

Come on! The Germans were pretty displaced by the war they started. And Poland did get a big chunk of Germany after WWII (to compensate them for their land loss to the Russians) and in East Germany, the Germans were displaced out of their homes and factories anyways, just by slightly different machinations.

I don't like ethnic cleansing (arguably, the Jews can move into a sparsely populated part of Germany without moving the inhabitants) but I think done in a quick way, after the trauma of a major war, would be much less traumatizing than being the Jewish agent of America in a sea of Muslim/Arabs.

I still like my Latin American Jewish homeland idea the best. It would have made hunting for ex-Nazis easier.

FRIFY,

No, I don't have a problem with Hillary's image. My problem is with her senate record, where she repeated voted against her conscience and for short sighted political expediency.

I personally find Laura Bush to be much more loathsome a first lady than Hillary Clinton.

SFWoman,

Yes. I buy all of that, and agree. But again, the German press, reflective of the people and culture, is very pacifist. Many believe to a fault. Why are they apparently warmongering, by your definitional assertion, also? They source their own media, do their own translations, and when they pick up US English language media it is usually to mock us and show how stupid, greedy, or warhungry we are.

I don't understand all this fuss with Ahmadinejad's words. They were pretty obviously spoken to the Iranians and the rest of the Muslim world, and meant to increase Iran's stature vis a vis the US. But they're also sentiments that are ingrained throughout the Middleeast. Did anything really change with the speech, regardless of the wording? The threats to Israel are empty threats. The Death to America speeches are also empty threats (unless accompanied by support or money for anti-American terrorists). Can we go back to focus on Iran's real threat to the US, not in words but in an active nuclear program and involvement in Iraq?

FRIFY,
I agree with your post re: dismissiveness towards Hillary's record. However, this was all as first lady. As anyone who has been put in the spotlight knows (giving a speech, put in a position of high scrutiny), the things you do when you're "in charge" are very different from when your're in the background. It could be very well possible that as first lady, Hillary acted on her conscience (best case scenario) or to shore up her own political career (worst case). Now as senator, her record speaks for itself - grandstanding, politically expedient, without a clear unified agenda. However, this pretty well describes just about everyone else in Washington.

Amen, skibum.

"All mouth and no trousers".
I just wish there was someone (lunatic right-wing fundlmentalists excluded) who had the courage of thier convictions. If any of them had the cojones, man, woman, or lady-boy, to stand up and say "I'm as mad as hell and i'm not going to take it any more!" then I'd vote for them.

SFWoman,

Fair enough. For the record, I agree on your view of the US media. I only consume financial media that is US-sourced, though I prefer British for even that.

I don't think there are any good answers to the mid-east problems for the US. Perhaps the only high-road we can hope to take is to return to isolationism, close up shop overseas, and let things run their coarse, wars, genocide, and all. Eventually they'll either work it out for better or worse, or things will break out into expanding global wars that eventually pull us in. At least we'd be the good guys again in that case.

Randy,

I think there's a midway between isolationism and belligerantly rearranging the fate of other nations. Clinton actually made a serious effort, especially early on, to broker peace and international cooperation. That, and the post-9/11 gush of international goodwill, is now completely squandered.

Hey, I still can't forgive the Democrats for passing on Howard Dean.

SFWoman Says:

Unless you have a few hundred million dollars of your own you’d never make it past the primaries. Even then, didn’t Ross Perot try it and get slammed?

Exactly. The US political system meticulously stamps out any aspirant who has conviction, original ideas, and is unwilling to pander to special interests. It's a truly disheartening situation. How did we get this way? Maybe history has a kind retrospecto-scope, but this phenomenon seems pretty recent. Presidents on both sides of the fence seemed a lot more individualistic and genuine - Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, JFK, Reagan, even Nixon at least had his own agenda! Now we have a republican president who doesn't act republican, and probably one of the most republican of viable candidates, John McCain, who got his ass whupped in 2000 by the Rove machine learning his lesson and now cattle-prodded into submission to the republican special interests. The dems are no better. Truly sad.

Well, you people who are pissed off at the system. Go out and make some political contributions (in time and money) to candidates you do like and agree with. They don't have to be local. Your dollars are best spent on battle ground states or places with a horrid incumbant.