Good year for litigation

Bad year for homeowners, but whatever. At least attorneys can stay in business. Because if the lawyers suffer, we all suffer. Remember that.

Anyway, a Carlsbad couple is headed to court this week to pursue their claim that they was duped:

Vernon and Marty Ummel, who purchased a $1.2 million home in Carlsbad three years ago, will try to convince a jury that their real estate agent defrauded them when he failed to inform them that similar houses on the same block were selling for more than $100,000 less than what the Ummels had paid.

Although legal experts say the case is intriguing, most doubt it will spawn a raft of lawsuits in which disgruntled buyers go after real estate agents alleging they were led astray.

Experts also question whether the Ummels will be able to prevail, recognizing that ultimately, the Ummels were the ones who decided to pay what they did in 2005 for their two-story, 3,700-square-foot tract home in a neighborhood just north of the Four Seasons Aviara golf course. In those days, prices throughout the county were still climbing.

You know, if they just wait it out, the market will probably come back. Is the Four Seasons' neighborhood really going downhill to the point they need to get out now? Yeah, we didn't think so either.

I'm going to predict they'll lose big time here. Which will probably be a bad thing for other potential litigants with far more compelling cases and far less access to legal resources. Oh well. They'll stay rich. They sold their last home in NorCal for over a million. I bet they'll be okay.

There are two things wrong with this nipple story

First, that airport security made her remove her nipple rings.

Second, that she allowed scar tissue to develop in her nipples. C'mon now, hon, weren't you taught proper piercing care? Rotate! Clean! Avoid scar tissue and maintain good nipple health.

Clint Eastwood Gets Fired

The Governator removed Bobby Shriver and Clint Eastwood from their positions on the state parks' panel.

Yes, that's Bobby Shriver (his brother in law) and Clint Eastwoord, THE Clint Eastwood.

Both of them voted against the San Onofre toll road, so that's it, they're out.

Now the Natural Resource Defense Council wants to examine what's going on with that.

I dunno, doesn't Clint Eastwood have something else to be doing right now?

The Governator's Pad

The Governator lives in the Hyatt when he's up in Sac. Sure, lots of people know that. But they don't know how he's paying for it. And there are no records are where the money is coming from private donors.

Governors dating back to former Gov. Ronald Reagan have relied on outside foundations to pay for their housing in Sacramento. Schwarzenegger's Hyatt arrangement differs in that his foundation is not leasing a house to the state as the Deukmejian-related foundation did. In Schwarzenegger's case, no formal written agreement with the state appears to exist.

Shouldn't we have a better policy since Reagan was in the office?

Be afraid. Be very Afraid. Of Stuff.

How is this useful?

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has been taken aback by the scope and variety of potential terrorism threats facing the United States, he told reporters Friday at an informal meeting in his office.

"I'm surprised by how surprised I am," said Mukasey, who as a federal judge presided over terrorism-related trials in New York.

"It's surprising how varied [the threat] is, how many directions it comes from, how geographically spread out it is," he said.

Mukasey issued no warnings, made no pronouncements and offered no suggestion of increased danger or newly detected plots.

He would not discuss specifics of potential threats, which remain secret.

Look, just do your job and leave us out of it. If all you're going to do is tell us that there's stuff out there to be scared of, but never tell us what it is, then I can't really help you. Or me, for that matter.

Nearly seven years and still the same tune. We want to be safe and also to feel safe, but constant reminders that there are monsters under the bed doesn't help anything at all.

Pop goes the rental investment market

Ah, area real estate. You know this won't end well:

Robert and Yvonne Cromer began investing in real estate in 2000, when they tapped the equity in their College Area home to buy a nearby rental property.

Over the next few years, the San Diego County couple repeated the pattern, accumulating 17 properties in five states. In 2004, they were featured in a CNN Money article headlined “Tycoon in the Making.”

I don't think they are tycoons any more.

This article touches on You Walk Away.com (I refuse to link) that helps people, well, walk away from their homes. Just leave. Buh-bye. Doesn't seem responsible.

I'm glad I'm still renting. Even if I'm really tired of my eggshell walls.

We have weird neighbors

Despite the show having gone off the air awhile back now, Orange County has renamed some agencies using "OC" in the title. Like The O.C. get it? Yeah, I know, I thought they used the initials in the past on stuff as well. What about OCTA - the OCTA buses, clever, right? That has "OC" in it. Oh well. To each local government its own.

Safety First

Crime and wildfires are people's main concerns as they judge local candidates for the June election.

Not the economy, stupid?

The Sprinter

The new Sprinter rail line finished it's first week.

13,000 people rode it the first day. Then, on Tuesday, a man lay down on the track and got his ankles severed. Why?

Overall, though, it was considered a success. The train goes from Escondido to Oceanside. So ride it while you can.

Oh, and, in case that last post didn't give you fiscally irresponsible nightmares

Housing prices are continuing to crap out!

Do you ever get frustrated living in California? It isn't that the rest of the country isn't in a housing slump as well, but nowhere did things seem more overvalued than here in the west. We have so much farther to fall! And we're going for it! Weeeee!

The Recession has landed!

Run for your lives! The economy is, uh, over!

I'm definitely not an economist, so I don't understand how all this works. But it seems weird to me that for months there's been this lingering question of whether we're heading for or already in a recession or whether we're afraid for no reason. So, it's here. Okay. It's almost a comfort to know that we're IN the recession:

Although the classic definition of recession is two consecutive quarters of declines in the gross domestic product, Stephen Stanley of RBS Greenwich Capital pointed out that the National Bureau of Economic Research, the nonpartisan organization that is the official arbiter of recessions, doesn't always strictly follow that definition. "If you go back to the 2001 recession, there was only one negative GDP quarter, and there might not even be one negative quarter in this recession," he said.

There's an official arbiter of recessions? How does an organization get that gig? Does it pay well? Is it like being an undertaker - no matter what, you'll always be in business.

Things are bad out there and it seems that even those employed in sectors not effected by downturns (like, people not in manufacturing, etc) get scared and stay home with their money too. And the dollar is worth less, so no European vacation this year either. Boo!

Oil For School

San Diego Unified is sending out just over 900 pink slips today.


This comes at the same time as the Speaker's new push to raise oil taxes to boost education funding.

The bill would put a 2% tax on oil companies that make more than $10 Million. Wait, oil companies weren't even paying a 2% tax before? I really need to get into that business.

Republicans are skeptical of the plan.


“This really is a drill,” said DeVore. “I wouldn’t want to insult the Democrats’ intelligence that they actually believe in the policies they’ve advocated. Clearly, these policies would devastate California’s domestic oil production.”

No More Cuts

Yesterday, students at Cal State San Marcos protested the cuts that are a-coming.

I was over there and students are angry. Granted, we're always a little angry. But this whole situation is unacceptable.

Here's an idea: WE HAVE A REVENUE PROBLEM!

Oh To Be LGBT in SD

Today we're going to focus on LGBT news in San Diego.

The UT just realized we live in lots of different neighborhoods. Apparently it was a bit of a shock to find gay people outside Hillcrest.

The government didn't try to count the number of gay and lesbian couples in the 1990 census, making it impossible to officially track neighborhood increases in the gay and lesbian population. But longtime residents say there's no question that more gays and lesbians are moving to North Park and University Heights.

What if the government did start trying to count the number of LGBT couples?

A little older news, but oh so relevant, federal judges ruled that bigotry is not acceptable. Well, kinda.

They did rule that the Poway school district was within it's rights to pull a student out of class who wore a shirt that said “I Will Not Accept What God Has Condemned” on one side and “Homosexuality is Shameful, Romans 1:27” on the other. This on the "Day of Silence". That's just in really bad taste.

Stop Flying Arnold

The Governator's often daily commute from Sacramento to Santa Monica isn't good for the environment. Or for the state. *gasp*

Arnold also spends alot of money flying back and forth and out of the state and renting out the penthouse suite at the Hyatt in Sacramento. He pays for it with all his own money, he says. But that's still crazy.

How much can you be getting done? And if you really care about the environment, shouldn't you live like you do? And he's doing it for his kids, because he thinks they need him down here, but my parents made me move when they changed jobs and it all turned out fine.

You Didn't Hear About the Housing Crisis?

San Diego had this great plan, see. They were going to sell off 17 different properties through a broker and make $37.5M. Yeah, turns out, it isn't working so well.

I know, it's a shock, what with the housing market doing so well.

Did you Donate Money?

Red Cross is under suspicion for wasting disaster relief money during the fires.

This wasted money included: 27,317 hotel rooms (some of which went unused) and 1,269 rented cars.

Of course it's frustrating for people who donated money or time or needed the help. But, honestly, have you ever tried to organize thousands of people and coordinate with local agencies and the state government. Right, then you'll know that people can make these kinds of things a little difficult.

Wikintrigue

OMG, the founder of Wiki is accused of hand-in-th-cookie-jar wrongness and his former gf said he dumped her through a blog posting and possibly edited her wiki entry violating the conflict of interest policies at Wikipedia!!!!1!

You should check out the full article on the story most likely to make you shrug with ambivalence today.

Social climbing made easier

Tired of watching snotty La Jolla ladies lugging luxury handbags around and withdrawing from them inadequate tip money to chuck at you while never having made eye contact as you deliver half-cap after half-cap?

Turns out, you can try on the emperor's new handbag as often as you'd like. For mere pennies per week.

I know this service isn't new, but I saw an ad for it in a banner on a news site and had to check it out.

If you can't own the high life, at least lease it for a bit.

Is this communist access to capitalistic consumption? Awesome.

But what does it all mean?

Are we happier that the Democratic nomination process is dragging on far longer than our cynical selves would have ever predicted? Or is there now some comfort in the idea of having known since New Hampshire who we'd be nominating in Denver this summer? Is this good or bad for Democratic interest and turnout in the future.

I heard one commentator tonight say that she thought if both Clinton and Obama would direct their attacks at McCain and try to show which would be the better match in the Fall on the general election ballot. If they go after each other, they risk winning the battle and losing the war: showing the other to be bad for national security doesn't reallllllly help, does it? Yeah, I don't think so either. Then again, at least there's an honest to god choice being made. Like, people get to vote for SOMETHING. That's good, right?

Protesting the Protesters

(I seem to using the same post title construction today. What's up with that? Hmm. Oh well.)

The Sac Bee's political columnist Dan Walters - not really my favorite writer as his columns routinely just end, rather than have an ending (you know, like an SNL sketch) - turns his attention to recent protests at the State Capitol by UC students angry about proposed budget cuts that could result in admissions freezes or tuition hikes. Walters main point is that protesters from all interest groups effected by the proposed cuts are kind of shooting blind when they attempt to bitch about cuts - especially when there are some strong indications that his January 10 slasher budget is a bit of a ruse aimed at building him a trap door to increasing taxes. But the paragraph that confused me was this one, on the UC student activists:

It wasn't exactly a throwback to the tie-dyed 1960s; the female students wore high heels and the men coats and ties as they listened to politicians' expressions of support, including a "freeze the fees" plea from Lt. Gov. John Garamendi. But subdued as it may have been, it symbolized the angst that's developing over the state's whopping budget deficit.

What? Are they less sincere? Are only 60s hippie freaks effective activists? I think it's great these students bothered to look like serious people worthy of serious attention. Of course, I recall also seeing something about many wearing rain ponchos because they are "drowning in debt" but ponchos and suits and ties work better than tie-dye for being taken seriously.

Too bad they had to listend to what was, no doubt, an endless Garamendi speech. Man, that guy can go on and on.

Gifts and Givers

The state's Fair Political Practices Commission is planning to discuss a proposed rule aimed at preventing elected officials from hiding big-ticket trips footed by companies and nonprofits by routing the money through their government employers. But aside from political reporters and campaign consultants, does anyone check electeds' FPPC filings? People get paid a lot of money to produce the reports already required by FPPC rules and California law - not to mention additional reporting requirements at the federal level. But do these reports actually keep people honest? Does anyone look them up except when they need a club to use on an opponent or disfavored politician?

Obama Me

Everyone seems to think they're Barack Obama these days. Aguirre thinks his 'grassroots campaign' is reminiscent of Obama's and then there's this ridiculous op-ed in a newspaper I've never heard of calling Arabo 'San Diego's Obama'.

It's too bad neither of these people even have an inkling of resemblance to an actually talented Democrat with worthwhile policies. Instead, we have a sleazy Aguirre and an even sleazier Arabo pretending to be progressives.