tough times for plutocrats (cont'd)

Summer: The living wasn't so easy
Crain's, Sept. 1, 2008

He and his wife are empty-nesters wanting to sell their newly remodeled, $1.2-million River Forest home and move into a downtown condo. They first listed their house in June 2007, then took it off the market two months later to make some improvements. In May, they listed the house again and prepared for a sale. They're still waiting.

"When we relisted the house in the spring, I figured that by Labor Day we'd be downtown when the fall season of social events takes place... It would be great to go home and change for an event without having to drive back and forth."

The constant showings, too, made for a wearying summer. "The frustration level of dealing with buyers who've been back six times just wears you down," he says. "My wife says if they come back a seventh time, we're not making the bed."

North Shore real estate agent and avid sailor ....., 46, also has had to scale back. Her son ...., 17, a junior at New Trier High School in Winnetka, and daughter ...., 19, a sophomore at Connecticut College, both sail competitively. It's a pricey sport: Competing internationally can cost from $30,000 to $100,000 a year, including entry fees, travel, accommodations, boat charters, coaching and equipment, she says.

Though Ms. .... and her husband, ...., also a broker, are working harder than ever for every sale, they were unwilling to cut back on the number of trials their children compete in. So they're still traveling, but not in the style they're accustomed to.

"You know those dingy motels off the interstate with the hurricane fence around the pool?" Ms. .... says, referring to her family's frequent trips to Florida for competitions. "I used to think, who would stay there? Well, that's me now, sitting there on the concrete patio with my laptop and cell phone."

More accustomed to the Four Seasons, Ms. .... now takes along a suitcase filled with pressed table linens to wrap the mattresses in. "You can't be too careful," she says.
. . .

There was another perk in being the rare American in a European city for ...., 31, a special events coordinator at Loyola University Chicago. A flea market vendor in Florence, Italy, sold her a leather purse at half his asking price because he felt sorry for her. "I just pleaded and pleaded with this guy," she says. "Finally he said, 'OK. You Americans don't have it easy, I know.'"

what has the Yangtze river dolphin ever done for us anyway?, or, there is literally nothing to see out here in the wilderness

News item: Endangered species may become extinct 100 times faster than previously thought, scientists warned today, in a bleak re-assessment of the threat to global biodiversity.

Bush to future generations: phokk you kids

Bush weighs in against Senate climate bill

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush weighed in Monday against a Senate bill that would require dramatic cuts in climate-changing greenhouse pollution, cautioning senators "to be very careful about running up enormous costs for future generations of Americans."

The Senate climate bill expected to be debated much of this week would cut emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and other greenhouse gases by about 70 percent over the next four decades. The bill targets power plants, refineries, factories and transportation.

Supporters argue that the shift away from fossil fuels can be made without significant economic damage and that failure to address global warming itself would produce greater economic harm later this century.

Bush, during a White House event that focused on keeping taxes low, said the Senate bill "would impose roughly $6 trillion in new costs on the American economy." The president in the past has expressed opposition to mandatory limits on carbon dioxide and other pollution linked to global warming.

“There's a much better way to address the environment than imposing these costs ... which will ultimately have to be borne by American consumers,” said Bush, who has favored voluntary efforts and technology innovation to address global warming.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush would veto the bill as it stands, but said it seems unlikely the legislation would clear the Senate anyway.

Bush, meanwhile, did not say how the $6 trillion figure he cited was arrived at.

will the suffering ever end?

News item: Area snow alert issued
Four to 6 inches of snow are expected

The bombing starts in five minutes. Ha-ha! Good one...

Russia signs Europe arms pact suspension into law

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Friday suspending Russia's participation in a key post-Cold War arms treaty, a move which could allow it to deploy more forces close to western Europe.

is this precise enough for you, SMIFF?

Messy winter storm bears down on Chicago

Of the estimated 1.22" water equivalent precipitation the approaching storm may produce here later Saturday and Sunday, temperature profiles of the atmosphere above Chicago as it passes suggest around 17% may falls as ice pellets or some snow, 33% is to fall as freezing rain and 50% is to fall as rain.

happy anniversary

It was a year ago today that they came for us, were unable to land, and left without us.

I didn't think Europeans were as STOOOOOOOOPID as Americans (cont'd)

"As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central (now global) planning."
-- Vaclav Klaus, RezzzzziDUNCE of the Czech Republic

what's a notch below "calamity?"

HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN SOMALIA DETERIORATING, UN RIGHTS EXPERT SAYS

Bush Division Update

The Bush Division records over the last 30 games:
St. Louis: 15-15
Chicago: 11-19
Houston: 11-19
Milwaukee: 11-19
Pittsburgh: 11-19
Cincy: 11-19

dese guyz: having more fun than i am

I mean, who wouldn't love to have a title like Founding Editor, Flu Wiki & Flu Wiki Forum, or write for something called blog.pandemicflu.gov?

how will this affect my portfolio? Smiff's weekend comfort level? Sanjaya's hair?

News item: NASA and Columbia University Earth Institute research finds that human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth’s climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.