The Housing Bubble

….or key party participants.

Toe tappin’ fun!

Can I rent or share your log cabin?

Only someone mortified by their own perversity could be a fundamentalist.

I’m gonna steal this quote. It’s perfect in every way.

I thought it was kind of profound, too.

That one went in my quotable quotes file right after Blue posted.

You better believe the gloves will be removed considering Willard’s history as a nasty school yard bully.

Colorado:

What did you think about the fundy support for Rick Santorum? I haven’t talked to any fundies about religion in over 20 years, but my impression was that they don’t consider Catholics to be Christians. Does their support for Santorum indicate a change in that attitude?

Ultra-Orthodox Shun Their Own for Reporting Child Sexual Abuse

There have been glimmers of change as a small number of ultra-Orthodox Jews, taking on longstanding religious and cultural norms, have begun to report child sexual abuse accusations against members of their own communities. But those who come forward often encounter intense intimidation from their neighbors and from rabbinical authorities, aimed at pressuring them to drop their cases.

What did you think about the fundy support for Rick Santorum?

I thought it was just another symptom of anybody-but-Romney, with the Catholicism conveniently ignored.

Fundies have been slowly warming to Catholics over the years. The late Chuck Colson even had some ministry called “Evangelicals and Catholics Together”. I saw this starting as far back as the 80’s. While it isn’t exactly a love fest, Evangs and even some fundies are beginning to accept Catholics as “real Christians”. There is no such consideration for the LDS.

So it’s another example of the theology being determined by their politics, instead of being driven by the Bible, as they claim. It reminds of an idea that I had a couple of years ago. Some huckster preacher should start a new church and call it the Tea Party Church and mix politics with the religion in every church activity. It could be very successful.

As long as they don’t want to be tax exempt.

…a tax exempt “white” church that is.

“Some huckster preacher should start a new church and call it the Tea Party Church and mix politics with the religion in every church activity. It could be very successful.”

They already have Mighty Mike. They’re called “Southern Baptists”.

BTW, this is not libel or slander or personal opinion, but documented fact.

Are you a psychologist?

I think it’s not just the bullying that will have some people take note. That Howwarts looking 54K per year private school will lead some to understand the elite life Romney has always been apart of. (But his success is totally do to him and nothing else)

The rich, mollycoddled, bully, elite, gay bashing, corporate raider, “corporations are people” stuff will start to add up. Being a Mormon will help in the eyes of fundies, but won’t undue all the damage.

(I think this is referred to as the Maunfrien/Delveckian-Huang Persona that causes a little understood psychological complex which overly subjugates the Id to the Ego.) lol

Being a Mormon will help in the eyes of fundies

I’ll believe that when I see it, after what we’ve seen in the primaries so far.

Being a Mormon will help in the eyes of fundies, but won’t undue all the damage.

Actually, being a Mormon is a detriment in Protestant Fundy eyes. It might help with Mormon fundies (the ones who live in the boondocks and still practice polygamy) though.

Not just a bully—the picture painted by this episode is that of a _deeply_ conformist person. So conformist, in fact, that he was strongly offended by someone else, anyone else, even _looking_ different, must less being different.

Not just a bully—the picture painted by this episode is that of a _deeply_ conformist person. So conformist, in fact, that he was strongly offended by someone else, anyone else, even _looking_ different, must less being different.

Are you a psychologist? This sounds as ridiculous as a talk show host claiming Obama suffers from Oedipus complex.

I never claimed any credentials—you need to work on your reading comprehension skills.

All I said is how it looks to me. That is how it looks to me.

He was probably getting some down-low action with Lauber and the bullying was just a beard.

BA-DUMP!

Hey…. I bet merkin sales will skyrocket under a Romney regime!

The Nobel Peace Prize ain’t what it used to be.

You’re right…. the distinction is you’re not running for president.

Lauber is dead.

Of the other 5 men who remember the incident, they are of a variety of political beliefs.

Some of the commenters have, in my opinion, pointed out that the most disturbing thing is that he claims to not remember any of it. All the other men say that the incident was so severe, so much more violent than any other pranks they might have participated in as teenagers that they remember it extremely clearly, always regreted it and wished they could have made amends somehow. If Mr. Romney really doesn’t remember it, he is a huge exception. Or he might be lying. Either way it is disturbing.

The thing with inducing a visually impaired teacher to walk into a closed door is kind of nasty too.

The thing with inducing a visually impaired teacher to walk into a closed door is kind of nasty too.

One of my best high school friends was blind. And in the public high school we attended, he was treated very kindly. To the point where, if you teased Joe, you were asking for some major trouble.

Or he might be lying.

Of course he’s lying—he’s a politician, and his lips are moving.

That’s not disturbing; that’s expected.

“I pissed on a water bottle and a kid drank out of it.” Mitt Romney speaking at the 1966 Young Republicans “You Better Look Like Us B!tch” Jackson Hole summer retreat.

Polly:

There seems to be a debate about whether hair-cutting incident was a prank or a form of bullying. It occurs to me that there’s another way to characterize the attack on the kid. Wouldn’t it be considered a violent crime?

If it was a violent crime, then consider what it means when he says that he doesn’t remember whether he participated. He’s been accused of committing a violent crime and he’s not denying it. He says that he can’t remember whether or not he committed that violent act. He doesn’t know whether or not he’s a violent criminal.

I also agree that the hassling of the visually impaired teacher is very nasty and should get mroe attention. I also wonder how Romney got away with it. You would think there would be some sort of consequences if a student bullies a teacher. That kid with the long hair got kicked out of school for smoking a cigarette. Maybe Romney got away with stuff because his rich father was the governor.

The pressure to conform in those days is hard to comprehend today. I remember in about that year that the gym teacher in our preppy HS grabbed a kid with too long hair and gave him a crew (held him down for it too). There were no objections from parents or school admin.

Dressing outside the norm would probably bring on a beating from peers. Rebellion was expressed by the hippies; long hair, beads, bell bottoms, tie dye, bralessness, joblessness……after HS school though.

Que Easy Rider.

What’s interesting to note is that most things that kids do today is digitally documented in one way or another.

Future leaders take note.

The thought that occurs to me is “How would you feel if some teacher did that to your kid?

Technically, you are really only a criminal if the justice system did its work, you have the chance to confront your accuser, the crime is proved beyond a reasonable doubt, etc. At the time, my understanding is that a formal prosecution rarely if ever took place when the people involved were all kids and all middle and/or upper class. Current zero tolerance rules would have a different outcome in a public school, but a private school still might keep it under wraps, not just because of the wealth/power of the perpetrator but to keep the school’s name out of the papers.

What I’m getting to, is you can’t get to the he is saying he doesn’t know if he is a violent criminal level with what we have here, even if just for technical reasons.

What we do have is a man who is either lying now, or who had a very, very underdeveloped sense of empathy and propiety when he was a teenager.

I remember with some shame just being one the kids who laughed at another kid who was teased (more than I was) in junior high school. I remember her name, though I couldn’t tell you the names of 3/4’s of the rest of my class. I remember what she looked like. I remember why she was teased - she looked like she only washed her hair about once a week. And I was 12 or 13 at the time, not 15 or 16, and all I did was snicker a bit and not be friendly to her. I didn’t organize a group of people to grab her, pin her down and squirt shampoo on her while she screamed for help.

You have led a rather sheltered life.

The pressure to conform in those days is hard to comprehend today.

Agreed. And “those days” lasted a long time out in the sticks. A *really* long time. Growing up in Wyoming in the 70s and 80s it was like the 60s never happened. And in a way they didn’t, because the rebellious types and those that got drafted generally went away and never came back. Without them the WWII and 50s generation set the social norms for a decade or two longer than they otherwise would have.

“You have led a rather sheltered life.”

No. I have led a somewhat moral life. I have been subject to and witnessed far nastier things than I have mentioned here. But, as a general rule, I wasn’t one of the perpetrators.

“The pressure to conform in those days is hard to comprehend today.”

It happened in 1965 - a turning point, the cusp of the counter-culture transformation. Girls were being sent home for skirts that were too short as measured by kneeling on the floor. If your skirt did not touch the floor, it was too short. Crew cuts were being replaced by Beatles style long hair. Long hair was hippy counter-culture and frowned upon by anyone in authority. A lot of the girls still wore 50s style beehive hairdos.

I probably had some gay classmates, but it was not something that anyone talked about. Sex education was embarrasing and still controversial. We did not have mixed-gender sex education classes.

My best guess is that Romney felt it was his duty as an upper classman to maintain social norms. I base this partly on his not remembering. If he were disturbed by his actions, he would have remembered it. I remember getting teased. But I remember more strongly the time I participated in teasing a classmate.

People who grew up after the 60s don’t understand how rapid the cultural changes were. In 1964, no boy would have had long hair. By 1966, a lot of them would have. As an 18 year old, Romney was on the pre-hippy side of the cultural revolution.

Unless I hear something more, I give Romney a pass on this one. I have changed a lot since I was 18. I presume he has, too.

The pressure to conform in those days is hard to comprehend today.

Yeah, it was led by guys who would gather up a posse to chase down, attack, terrorize, and humiliate those who were different.

If I were to want to humiliate someone, I would not piss on, but in that person’s water bottle.

Something does not add up.

Prepositions are important -

I went to “an elite” high school back then, and if anything like that had happened to one of our students, the perps would have been kicked out forthwith–regardless of Daddy. Of course, the long-hair would not have been allowed to come to classes in the first place, as dress codes extended to boy’s dress and haircuts as well.

Button down white cotton shirts, no denim, hair could not reach past the ears. This was 1966-1969.

This was NOT acceptable behavior– even for the sports teams upon their own members. I find this story very disturbing indeed, and the fact that the victim was still traumatized by it years later speaks volumes. Bullies are bullies. I’ve never given them a pass, and don’t imagine I ever will. Willard is officially a dick.

I just see two different backgrounds and two different paths, one was an elitist frat boy, the other took a longer path towards becoming the progressive elitist he is today.

I understand the President’s drug and alcohol induced coming of age sounds cool to most progressives, I get it. But, voting for a cool guy is no better than voting for my favorite attractive woman.

I can’t even stomach the Pledge Of Allegiance anymore. When I go to meeting, I put my hand over my heart and I am silent.

When I say the Pledge of Allegiance, I put special emphasis on this part:

With liberty AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

‘Scuse the shouting caps and exclamation point, but that’s how I say it.

I can’t even stomach the Pledge Of Allegiance

xeleventybillion

I don’t pledge allegiance to anything…. especially a piece of cloth of any color…. and brought up my youngin’ the same way.

“I can’t even stomach the Pledge Of Allegiance”

Nor I.

I got kicked off the hs cheerleading squad for refusing to pledge my allegiance to a flag, and I still get the heebie jeebies watching all the sheeple going 1984 when they trot that thing out at rallies and gatherings. Reminds me of Nazi Germany.

We “attended” a wedding in SLC. We had to wait by a special exit where the newlyweds emerged from. The temple is like a wedding factory. It seemed that a newlywed couple emerged every few minutes. Kind of like waiting at the airport outside the security gate, waiting for someone to arrive.

Well, don’t be surprised if he invades Iran

Wahhhh, Womney is a buwwy! I’m ascared!

It’s hilarious reading all the Republicans feebly excusing the actions of an all-out bully on all the blogs this morning. Because he’s of your party? The party of “character”? The party of “personal responsibility”? Romney: “I don’t remember doing it.” lol

Yea, you Repubs have a real Abraham Lincoln or another Ike representing you ticket this time. Be proud and stand tall! Bullying is exercising the blessings of liberty! Freedom to Bash is in the Constitution I think.

Desperation must be kicking in.

At the NRC?

I think that we may see that his claim that he can’t remember whether or not he participated in the hair cutting to be the bigger issue. A lot of these guys fail to learn the lesson of Watergate: it’s the coverup that does more damage than the original crime.

I’ll find it more disturbing if he honestly doesn’t remember. Not that I like standard issue political lies, but it’ll definitely say something about him if he thought that sort of thing was so normal at the time that the memory didn’t even stick with him.

I would half respect him if he said something like “I used to be a jerk, but I’ve grown up since then”

Yea, you Repubs have a real Abraham Lincoln or another Ike representing you ticket this time. Be proud and stand tall! Bullying is exercising the blessings of liberty! Freedom to Bash is in the Constitution I think.

One of the things that keeps popping up in my reading of history is how nice Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan were. Not just when they were in front of the cameras, but behind the scenes. I don’t know how well they’d fit in with the modern Republican Party.

Ronald Reagan was NOT a “nice” person. He was a racist and a bigot and an exclusionary elitist of the highest order. Even his own kids hated him. Nandooie was even worse.

Don’t forget the janitors and lunch ladies. All living lavishly on their lucky ducky wages.

Nope, it’s those public union goons.

Y’know, like my mother, the retired public school teacher. She’s still a dastardly union member.

‘…if you are “different” then you have to find somebody even more “different” to pick on to try show those who want to bully you that you’re OK and provide them with an alternate target.’

Very insightful comment!

Hopefully this does not sound unfeeling, but I think (4) may be more of a real tragedy than some of the other elements.

It’s essentially broken-window economics, as banks let these houses crumble and decay. It reminds me of cash-for-clunkers: real waste of honest-to-goodness productive assets.

What fundamentals are you looking at and where are you looking?

IMHO, the trends (supply/demand picture, levels of distress, etc.) look much different in judicial vs. non-judicial states.

Rental Watch, by fundamentals I do not mean the average rent in your neighborhood. I mean the average national employment/wage/debt/tax situation vs the price of housing.

Granted that a whole kernel of corn may be found even in a cowpie.

I mean the average national employment/wage/debt/tax situation vs the price of housing.

But RE is priced locally, no? Just because the average US household income is $40,000 doesn’t mean I can buy a house in Beverly Hills for $100,000.

But the ratio of income to home price in the US is as good as it’s ever been…

http://investors.fiserv.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=671290

The applicable sentence in the whole press release.

“The ratio of median single-family home price to median family income is lower than any time since 1991.”

This is independent of Fed-induced low interest rates…

And not everyone is purchasing homes. At least ~35% are renters…the unemployment is generally with the less well educated (lower income, more likely to be renters).

Not really. Even a small drop in your house price (like 10%) will put you years behind.

— Even if house prices dropped all 10% at once (like in a year), I would only be ONE year behind, because that’s about what I would have paid in rent. 10 years of rent was almost enough to buy a house outright — and that’s assuming rent stays the same. But rent goes up. In other words. After 10 years, buying would still put me ahead of renting even if my house price dropped 10% every year for 10 years.

I’m going to repeat that: EVEN IF MY HOUSE PRICE DROPPED TO ZERO, buying would still put me ahead. At the 10 year mark, I would simply be making a monthly payment on a property I didn’t own any of — which is no different from RENTING. Only, the “owner” rent would never have gone up. The renting rent would have gone up at least 50%. Ergo, I come out ahead.

Rental Watch, by fundamentals I do not mean the average rent in your neighborhood. I mean the average national employment/wage/debt/tax situation vs the price of housing.

— In other words, your fundamentals are useless.

(granted that they have not rocked DC and Canada as badly yet).

Canada is at peak now. DC was at peak 6 years ago, I bought my house at 38% off zillow peak. How can you equate Canada with DC? “Rocking” DC further would put DC losses on par with Vegas of Stockton. Last I checked, DC had a slightly better job base.

Posers, they already have that. It’s called a trailer park. Use it until it falls apart, like a car. If you can live in it longer than the amortization, you’re ahead.

You guys must run in different circles than I do.

Some of my favorites:

-Go pound sand……(up your azz)

-Standing around with one thumb in his mouth, and one up his azz, waiting for someone to yell “Switch!”.

-He’s the pivot man in the Circle-Jerk.

“Turnpikes”

Weigh stations on Interstates are almost all gone from coast to coast.

If you believe in the free market, or want the government starved in a bathtub, they are coming back, to pay to rebuild the system as it wears out.

The private sector had built railroads and transit systems before government competition put them out of business.

When Slim has a hankering to watch a sporting event, the bicycle is rolled out and aimed at a nearby sports bar. Where I enjoy food, drink, and plenty of camaraderie.

Or got taken over by the moneyed interests and over-run by loonies. Sad. Inevitable for any alternative movement? OWS to follow, if it hasn’t already?

Judges gone wild tapes