11 July 2008
News and Comments - 07/11/08
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: What's News .
The two silk worms who had a race ended up in a tie.
12 Comments so far...
Jesse Says:
11 July 2008 at 1:30 am.
Slide in house prices is the worst since the Great Depression
By Edmund Conway
Britain is now in the midst of the worst housing slide since the Great Depression, economists declared after house price inflation dropped to the lowest level since comparable records began.
Britain is now in the midst of the worst housing slide since the Great Depression
Halifax figures show house prices have fallen by 8.7pc in the year to June
Figures from Halifax, the UK’s biggest mortgage lender, showed house prices have fallen by 8.7pc in the year to June, confirming that the property crunch is more severe than the last housing crash in the early 1990s. Hours before, the Bank of England voted to leave rates unchanged at 5pc.
The Halifax figures - which showed prices dropped 2pc last month, following a 2.5pc slide in May - indicate that the scale of the crash now rivals the falls in UK home values in the 1930s. In the three months to June, house prices were 6.1pc lower than the comparable period last year - described by Halifax as the “annual change”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/07/11/cnhousing111.xml
Cameron Says:
11 July 2008 at 5:35 am.
Beijing takes dog off the menu for Olympics
Fri Jul 11, 12:40 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing has asked hotels and restaurants in the city to take dog meat off the menu for the duration of next month’s Olympics and September’s Paralympics.
Dog is eaten not only by the large Korean community in China’s capital but is also popular in Yunnan and Guizhou restaurants.
A directive from the Beijing Food Safety Office issued last month ordered Olympic contractor hotels not to provide any dishes made with dog meat and said any canine material used in traditional medicated diets must be clearly labeled.
Concerned that canine dishes might offend animal rights groups and Western visitors, Beijing said restaurants expected to be popular among foreign visitors must stop serving dog meat “to respect the dining customs of different countries.”
The directive “advocated” that all restaurants serving dog suspend it during the Olympics but made no mention of the many popular establishments with donkey on the menu.
Criticism from Westerners caused the dog meat-loving South Koreans to ban canine dishes for a period of time during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080711/lf_nm_life/olympics_dogmeat_dc
Benjamin Says:
11 July 2008 at 10:14 am.
Bible Publishers Sued for Anti-Gay References
A Michigan man is seeking $70 million from two Christian publishers for emotional distress and mental instability he received during the past 20 years from versions of the Bible that refer to homosexuality as a sin.
Bradley LaShawn Fowler, a gay man, claims his constitutional rights were infringed upon by Zondervan Publishing Co. and Thomas Nelson Publishing, both of which, he claims, deliberately caused homosexuals to suffer by misinterpretation of the Bible.
Fowler, 39, is seeking $60 million from Zondervan and another $10 million from Thomas Nelson.
Fowler, who is representing himself in both lawsuits, claims the publishers are misinterpreting the Bible by specifically using the word homosexuals, which made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of demoralization, chaos and bewilderment.
“These are opinions based on the publishers and they are being embedded in the religious structure as a way of life,” he tells a local NBC TV station affiliate in Grand Rapids.
Fowler admits that every Bible printed is a translation that can be interpreted in many ways, but he says specifically using the word “homosexual” is not a translation but a change.
Fowler says Zondervan Bibles published in the ‘80s used the word homosexuals among a list of those who are “wicked’ or unrighteous and won’t inherit the kingdom of heaven.”
Zondervan, for its part, issued a statement to the Grand Rapids press stating it does not translate the Bible or own the copyright for any of the translations it publishes
“We rely on the scholarly judgment of the highly respected and credible translation committees behind each translation and never alter the text of the translations we are licensed to publish,” the statement reads.
“We only publish credible translations produced by credible Biblical scholars.”
Cameron Says:
11 July 2008 at 11:07 am.
Dow drops below 11,000 for 1st time in 2 years
By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK - Stocks tumbled Friday as investors focused on troubles at mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and watched oil prices climb further into record territory. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 200 points and slid below the 11,000 mark for the first time in two years.
Investors seemed unimpressed by a statement from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who said the government’s focus is ensuring that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain as presently constituted to carry out their mission.
The government-chartered companies at times each lost more than 40 percent on growing speculation that a government bailout is needed. A collapse of the two financiers would cause further shock to the financial system, and trigger more losses to banks and brokerages with significant holdings of mortgage-backed securities.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street_335
Sharon Anderson Says:
11 July 2008 at 11:16 am.
The Dow Jones is down 193+ points to 11,035. It will probably rebound a bit before the market closes, but Fridays are typically not good. Down 199 since I started typing this. Correction 203. Rather 209. This is astounding. Back to 202, 203, 204, 208. Some people are loosing thier shirts, some their savings, and probably some their sanity–this is crazy. 218, 214……..Where she stops nobody knows.
Sharon Anderson Says:
11 July 2008 at 11:32 am.
California fires. Here is an email a friend recieved from her mother.
Dear Family,
You may be interested in what life is like in Northern California right now. 18 major fires burning –some 1700 fires total reported a few days ago — over 8,000 lightening strikes in the earlier part of the month, following the driest May/June (April/May?) on record… something like that. The last few days it has been in the 108-109 range on top of all that.
In the last 2 and 1/2 weeks we have only seen the sun on two days. A good friend in Paradise emailed yesterday a.m. that her family were being evacuated from their home there — where over 100 homes have burned. Think I saw the number 117. Anyhow, the attached article by our regional media person, Lisa West, tells the story.
The story of the LDS family in Paradise who lost their home contains some really good advice for preparing for disaster. Things I had not thought about.
Love,
Mom
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/churchupdate/080710fire.html
I thought we were pretty well prepared to evacuate, but after reading this I can see I have a little more to do.
Carrie Says:
11 July 2008 at 11:43 am.
Wow that is so sad. Lots of natural disasters this year.
Matt Says:
11 July 2008 at 1:49 pm.
Good for G.W.
Bush pushes Congress to allow oil drilling
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has prodded Congress to allow oil drilling in offshore waters and in the Alaskan wildlife refuge, citing “tough economic times” for the American people.
Bush went to the Energy Department Friday, where he met with his senior economic advisers to discuss soaring prices for gasoline and crude oil. Bush said one answer is to increase supply in this country by tapping “the vast potential” of crude oil reserves on offshore lands and in Alaska as well as oil shale.
He said Congress must address this issue before it goes home.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91RO73O0&show_article=1
SGS Says:
11 July 2008 at 2:12 pm.
I wish Bush would do more than pushing Congress on oil drilling. He could threatening to shut down government and actually be willing to do it, like we saw between Clinton Administration and Newt Republicans. It is very clear who was the cause of the energy cost soaring, and over 70% of Americans are very upset about high cost. 91% of them, highest ever, also thought Congress did horrible, really horrible job. So, you cannot have a more ideal situation to put those Democrats in their place than at this time!
E.E. Says:
11 July 2008 at 7:05 pm.
Office of Thrift Supervision shuts down IndyMac
LOS ANGELES - IndyMac Bank’s assets were seized by federal regulators on Friday after the mortgage lender succumbed to the pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising foreclosures.
The bank is the largest regulated thrift to fail and the second largest financial institution to close in U.S. history, regulators said.
The Office of Thrift Supervision said it transferred IndyMac’s operations to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation because it did not think the lender could meet its depositors’ demands.
IndyMac customers with funds in the bank were limited to taking out money via automated teller machines over the weekend, debit card transactions or checks, regulators said.
Other bank services, such as online banking and phone banking were scheduled to be made available on Monday.
“This institution failed today due to a liquidity crisis,” OTS Director John Reich said.
IndyMac had $32.01 billion in assets as of March 31.
THINKING Says:
11 July 2008 at 8:41 pm.
Freddie Mac has gon e Fronm $67 per share to $6 per share in less than a year, and Fannie Mae has dropped from 79 a share o 9 per share or an 85% less in one year.
This is the tip of the iceburg. A good strtegy, according to Pat Wood of August Review http://www.augustreview.com, is to get your money out of savings and other investments and buy short term (30-90 day) T-bills (assuming you already have your food and other supplies stored).
(Note: When supplies are available and you buy extra, you are considered a patriot helping the economy. When the crisis hits and you buy supplies you are a hoarder. And nobody likes them.)
When you buy T-bills and leave the bank, take your certificate with you. If that bank fails you can take the certificate and cash it in at any Federal Reserve bank. (Unless the US itself defaults and then all is lost anyway.) Also good to know, if your bank folds they own your safety deposit box.
SGS Says:
11 July 2008 at 10:02 pm.
Fixed THINKING’s link here…
Thinking, I have never heard of AugustReview.com. I want to be sure it is not a conspiracy theorist or survivalist mindset site, but rather, a rational site.
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