missing information

How dismal is the housing market, really?

Everyday, we hear about the number of sales in the housing sector declining. For example, check out this article today in the AJC.

The questions that I have are:

1. how many houses are going on the market compared to last year at the same time?
2. how many new houses were constructed compared to last year?
   

It's my guess that with the uncertainty lingering over our country, fueled by every media outlet in the country (world?) that a lot of people are choosing to just stay put. I know from multiple reports that foreclosures are higher than normal, but how many people is that affecting number-wise? Percentages don't help as much as real numbers in this case because there are just too many variables.

Also, since people are more hesitant about buying, it seems only logical that builders would be more hesitant about building. If there are no new houses to buy, can sales continue to rise, especially if people are choosing to be less transient?

I suppose the question that I'm really asking is are we looking at a growth/decrease/stability in the population in this area, not how many houses happened to be sold in a given month.

suck my ass, sam waterston!

Looks like the Unity08'ers are nothing but a bunch of panda-raping, namby-pamby quitters. I don't really think they rape pandas, that was just me getting your attention.

Build up. Slower build up. Even slower build up. Fizzle. Just like a M. Night Shamamlam movie.

I guess it was doomed from the get-go. First, it was infiltrated by a bastion of bed-wetters pretending not to be Democrats. That was apparent by the fact that the #1 issue (based on free-membership voting, mind you) was global "climate change." Otherwise known as "global warming" but that term has been officially abandoned because people in the Dakotas were praying for it and the new term covers the agenda in the event that the average global temperature ends up decreasing. And we all know what happens when Democrats get to make the decisions. Either an all-out cluster-fuck, or indecisive inertia. I honestly can't tell which one this one was. Not that we don't get cluster-fucks or inertia from Republicans.

I'm ready for a real third party option. No matter who gets the benefit of voting fraud in November, I still feel like any of the current candidates will simply be "more of the same." The lesser of two evils is still evil.

give an inch

Take a mile.

Guess who has too much free time today!

parent of the year award

I've got the perfect candidate for 2007's "Parent of the Year" (tm).

How about this one?

A College Park woman who drove around a group of teenage boys as they broke into South Fulton homes pleaded guilty to burglary Wednesday in a Fulton County courtroom.

Surprisingly, there are still teachers and community members who wonder how kids these days can be so gosh dern irresponsible.

business proposal

How lucrative do you think that stealing 500+ parking meters would be? Most of us realize that it would be chump change. Not worth the risk of imprisonment for a handful of quarters. But I have a much better idea.

First, we have to start a legitimate business. Let's start an importation business. One that imports parking meters, say. And then we bid out to the local Atlanta government to replace broken/stolen/lost meters. Not enough business you say? Wait, there's more.

The second phase of our strategy requires that we contract with a shady business to "service" existing meters. Service as in "with hacksaws." This partnership would understandably be explicitly unwritten and consist mostly of nods exchanged across a public area, such as a park or a restaurant.

Don't think it would work? Let's see...

Despite the thefts, little is being done to catch the parking meter pirates.

That's because city officials do not file police reports on the stolen meters, Jennings said. The city's police department said thefts that are not reported are not investigated.

"Well, we certainly note it in our inventory that the meters have been lost," she said. "It's a loss of inventory for us, similar to any other asset we would lose."

They don't seem to mind. Why should we?

to bucky...

Congratulations, Bucky!

I'm all for sacking career politicians. Don't become one yourself, Mr. Johnson.

i'm praying, too!!

Looks like our governor down here in Georgia has developed a solution to our water woes. No, it's not anything like sending in the Georgia National Guard to close the dam at Lake Lanier or shutting off water at single residences that consume 440,000 gallons per month. It's something much more innovative and likely to be effective. Here, read an except!

More than 250 faith-filled Georgians joined Gov. Sonny Perdue outside the Capitol this morning to pray for the rain needed to end the area's historic drought.

Perdue asked them to "reverently and respectfully pray up a storm."

Full article here.

Seems to be the safe route if you ask me.
Rain = God's will.
No rain = God's will.
He can't be wrong!

Well, I'm praying, too! Praying for a new governor.

no way!

Looks like our old band director from Georgia Tech has political aspirations. I guess the hair plugs really did do something to his brain.

Click To Play

double barreled slingshot

A vast majority of females in our country are locked, loaded, and ready to kill. Just ask this lady.

The 70's are back! Let those ladies out, ladies! Woo woo!

I guess they don't call them bazookas for nothing.

b's candidate

Just took one of those online quizzes. I'm such a sucker for those. My favorite was what type of PMSer are you or something to that effect. I think I got something like "mega-bitch" or something else ominous sounding.

This time, I resorted to an online political quiz. It asks you a few questions about whether an issue is important to you and asks you to rank it's priority. Then, it tries to match up which current candidate in the dog and pony show we call the presidential race matches you the most.

Yay, just what we need. An even longer presidential candidate race to focus your attention on the equivalent of a less-than-entertaining mud-wrestling show while the current elected officials wreak havoc while everyone is distracted.

My result? Looks like I'm 78% Ron Paul. I guess the other 22% is my enormous ego. After all, I am blogging like people care to read this. Go figure, the ex-Libertarian is the choice of a Libertarian Party member. It's interesting that every political quiz I take pegs me somewhere in the vicinity of a moderate-Republican / Libertarian voter.

Dead last on my list? Hillary Clinton. Good. More than fantastic. Fanfuckingtastic!

Number two for me was Fred Thompson. Hey, he does a good job as a DA in New York.