patrick.net

SJ,

I believe Obama attended the Punahou School in Hawaii.

He did go to the Punahou school (Christian school). He was known as 'Barry Obama' while there.

http://www.punahou.edu/

I don't know about his politics, but spreading rumors that make him look like some sort of radical Muslim is a Rovian tactic if I've ever seen one. I'd like to see people elect someone based on their worthiness and on actual character this time around, not based on rumor and innuendo. His middle name is Hussein - big deal.

ajh Says:

> FAB, Thanks for those details about Section 8.
> I don’t think I like either of those mechanisms
> you describe, too easy for both tenants and
> landlords to game them.

A couple reasons that landlords like Section 8 are:
The rent goes up EVERY year (even if rents in the market are dropping). I have seen some rent rolls where older Section 8 tenants who have been in the building for a long time are paying 50% more than the other tenants…

Section 8 tenants don’t pay a security deposit but since the units are inspected at move in (and once a year) the landlord will get paid for damage if the tenant thrashes the place. Many landlords do the work for next to nothing then submit a bill from a company they own and make thousands extra on most Section 8 move outs…

FAB,

That explains why there are a few section 8 buildings on the outskirts of Russian Hill and Pac Heights. If you've held a building for a while and don't want to put in upgrades you are guarenteed to get your rent from the tenants. There is a section 8 building on the corner of Vallejo and Van Ness. The building looks maintained, but there is always discarded furniture from someone moving out and a couple of people in the building are always feeding pigeons. Nobody has curtains, everyone has a different blanket as window covering. As I was walking by once I actually asked someone in the building why noone had curtains. She said "We're all section 8!". I went home and looked it up, and that's how I learned about it.

Nigel Swaby,

Thanks for the update! You just had to know that guy was full of it. Near as I could tell he was w/3 or 4 different mortgage firms in under 2 years? (His record was so spotty it was hard to tell). He boasted a pretty decent income for a guy w/basically NO experience, contacts or connections.

I'm not sure how or even IF RESPA regulates these issues but it sounds to me like this clown was his "own" best customer? The NASD has a formula for just how much a stockbroker can generate in comm. for his/her own account. It's been awhile since I took the "65" but it seems to me it's around 5%? Well if this guy had 15 props. in Phoenix and another 7 in NM and made them nice "thick" deals with a great payout to himself that accounts for quite a bit of his purported income.

A question to all.

What is a good way to play oil ? I believe we are near bottom and I am curious as to how I can bet on the price increasing from this point.

I have XLE which doesn't correlate one to one with oil price. Last year I looked at DBC and USO, but wasn't clear on how well they will track the price of oil. I do not have any account where I can trade futures.

USO sounded very promising. Does anyone know more about it ? Will it track the increase/decrease in crude oil by the same % points ?

Thanks.

goober,

Those are some fighting words. I'm fine with "that weasel scum bastard Edwards." At least he wants to get the hell out of Iraq. I don't care what Obama's credentials are or his natural charisma, if he doesn't recognize Iraq for the hopeless and ever expanding pit of human despair that it is, Obama is dead to me.

Spike66,

True on both counts. When I'm in New York, I stay at a rather sketchy part of the Bronx. That may influence my feelings against New York. Whereas my primary exposure to SF is the very northern tip.

Urine smell actually compares favorably to the rotting watermelon smell of a Shanghai summer...but Shanghai is *home* for me.

Goober says:

"Anybody but that weasel scum bastard Edwards…….. "

I agree. We don't need anyone in office who made over $20 million suing doctors.

Randy,

True enough, the dual income household was not the only factor (though the extra income amongst college graduate households + smaller families probably had *something* to do with the current US consumption pattern). I acknowledged the importance of other factors in my original statement.

However, I do think that there is a natural limiting factor to the proportion of residential housing on a national economy. Once the amount goes above a certain amount, the high representation of housing in the national economy will be dangerous on the overall political economy.

"I agree. We don’t need anyone in office who made over $20 million suing doctors. "

Oh, even doctors and businesses that have a record of reckless negligence? Even doctors who should have had their license revoked but continue with the complicity of the current insurance scheme and AMA's silence?

(eye roll)

Perhaps you prefer someone who just denies patients coverage through his family HMO company and lies to get cats for his experiments.

(Though to clarify, I don't like multimillion dollar judgments by juries gave awards because they felt sorry for the plaintiff. However, the million dollar judgments are a symptom of a much larger and very broken overall healthcare system, not the cause.)

Astrid,

It is the legal system that is broke. Criminal doctors should be jailed, and the incompetent should have the license revoked. Taking a jackpot from the hospital enriches attorneys, but leaves that much less money for staff and equipment.

Being against millionare doctor suing lawyers does not mean one is for HMO abuse or for the dishonest. That is like saying that anyone who is for gov involvement in the economy is pro-Stalin and for gulags.

Headset,

I don't think much of the jury system either, but I do think the primary blame for the healthcare system lies with insurance companies/HMO/government. Trial lawyers (as opposed to insurance law lawyers) are just mosquitoes in this morass.

"Being against millionare doctor suing lawyers does not mean one is for HMO abuse or for the dishonest. "

Headset. When there's no better alternative to millionaire doctor suing lawyers keep the healthcare system in check, being against the said lawyer is implicitly assenting to HMO/insurance company abuse.

The cat killer statement was just gratuitous abuse on Frist.

FWIW, seems there is an easy cure for what ails to our legal system - mandatory awarding of attorneys fees to the winning party.

I'm also a fan of randomizing jury selection (if only for the streamlining benefits), inmates working for food and shelter, euthanasia and retroactive abortion.

But then I guess that's why engineers generally aren't elected to office.

thanks spike66,

I have some of the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBMFX), which is 35.1% Government Mortgage-Backed. I'm gonna poke around and see if there is a good alternative...

Okay, so I got the governing authority wrong. But that doesn't mean my point: NOT that lawyers are blameless, merely that they don't bear the majority of the blame for US's broken healthcare system. Suggest an alternative to medical malpractice suits for kids with cerebal palsy. It's not the lawyers who award the damages, it's the juries. Demonizing lawyers (many, maybe even majority of whom are rather decent people, belief it or not) doesn't explain how the healthcare system went wrong. Demonizing a man who was skilled at winning for crippled kids and botched surgery victims (that is the other side to your wronged doctors) is not something I'm going ever agree with. There absolutely no indication that John Edwards ever behaved unethically or unprofessionally, or ever even came close.

spike66,

Thanks. Do the same if you ever find yourself in Shanghai (or anywhere in China) or DC.