one who hopes to come out of the closet in the future's blog

Bringing this over here, so we don't threadjack the healthcare discussion.

So, we've had two levee breaks in Southeastern Illinois (near Lawrenceville and St. Francisville).

A portion of the Mississippi River is going to be closed for at least two weeks to boat traffic. 

ALL roads in Jasper County were closed because of flooding.

The county I grew up in was one of the six declared a disaster area.  All the creeks flooded out and traffic was compromised. 

My brother says portions of 121 and 130 were closed last weekend because of water covering the road.

My sister went to Chicago last weekend, and near Arcola I-57 was down to ONE lane of traffic; meaning, the State Police had barricaded ALL four lanes because of water on the roads and were only letting ONE vehicle through at a time.  You wanted to go north or south, you had to wait your turn.  And no, 45 wasn't an option; it was in even worse shape.

A friend who was going to Robinson had to stop at the grain elevator in Willow Hill because Rte. 33 was covered with water and only trucks could get through.  She called her dad and he came to get her (in his truck, of course!).

The fields are soaking wet or flooded and crop yields are taking a hit; possibly as much as 5% of corn and beans are lost.

The weatherman said something last night about how we're TEN inches over our normal rainfall for this time of year, and I haven't heard when this cycle of cold air from up north butting into a tropical high and generating storms is going to stop.

I read a story many years ago in either the Chicago Tribune or the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about how the Flood of 1993 started, and honestly, it feels like we're living that story all over again, just about 200 miles south and 100+ miles east of Iowa. 

Any one else out there who lived through the 1993 floods feeling the same way as me?

OMG!!

check out:  "3.  gathered a protective ring of schoolchildren from a passing field trip"

and

"6.  accused is not indicted

7.  indicted is not convicted

8.  convicted means nothing until after an appeal"

http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/05/08/automatic-rod-blagojevich-story-generator/#comments

I was very disappointed to see that the New York Times (whose editorial board have been relentless Clinton campaigners, while the editorial columnists are generally pro-Obama) was the only news outlet I regularly read to comment on this.  Page A27, 5-8-08  (There was also a picture of Clinton at a fundraiser, holding a little girl on her hip and speaking into a mike.  The child was not crying, but she certainly was not smiling, either.)

"...Mrs. Clinton put on her battle face Weds. and confronted what was at times a hostile crowd at a hastily arranged speech here at Shepherd University.

...Mrs. Clinton endured boos when she mentioned her proposal for a gas tax holiday, catcalls when she spoke of ending the Iraq war, and most difficult of all, the heckling of her daughter, Chelsea, who introduced her.

"End the dynasty!", a young man holding an Obama poster shouted when Chelsea Clinton stepped up to the microphone.

All the while, a smile was fixed on Mrs. Clinton's perfectly made-up face -- not a hair was out of place -- and she betrayed only an occasional glimmer of recognition of the exceedingly narrow straits she must now navigate.

...Mrs. Clinton promised that the U.S. would have universal healthcare "if I'm president", a deviation from her customary "when I'm president."   She said she was proud of her 2 point victory in Indiana on Tues., but made no mention of her 14 point loss in N.C.

Her remarks ... were an abridged cut-and-paste job of her standard stump speech.  It was not her most fluid effort.  ...But the modestly sized audience applauded at the appropriate times and, except for an unusually large and at times vocal contingent of Obama supporters in the crowd, the appearance went off without incident.

Mrs. Clinton added the stop at 3a.m. Weds. in an effort to show she remained committed to campaigning in the six remaining contests on the Dem. primary calendar.

...At a brief news conference after her remarks at the college...her upbeat tone never waver(ed)." 

--------

Chelsea Clinton is now in her late 20s.  Why can't she be heckled the same as another politico?

Please, God, can you make it stop soon?  Will you please dry up the money spigot so that she drops out?

Please, I promise I'll be really good and not call my little brothers names for the rest of the week...

From George Will, in tonight's News-Gazette:

"Mere numbers?  Heaven forefend.  That is how people speak when numerical metrics--numbers of popular votes and delegates--are inconvenient."

I'm not sure if I disagree with Mr. Will's spelling, or the News-Gazette's; I usually spell it "forfend".

But I'm still tickled to see it getting some popular use!

cnn.com; politico.com

Tim Russert reports Hillary Clinton has cancelled all morning show appearances.  MSNBC reports Clinton has cancelled all events scheduled for tomorrow.  The folks on Ben Smith's blog at Politico are cheering for a Clinton concession and pull out of the race.  Allegedly, 7% of her votes in Indiana were from folks planning on voting for McCain in November.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/Russert_Clinton_cancels_morning_show_appearances.html#comments

according to CNN, Obama picked up 4 more delegates than Clinton tonight. 

Terry McAuliffe refuses to answer any questions about another loan by HRC to her campaign.  Bill Clinton's face is said to be redder than a tomato. 

A shame I don't have cable; sounds like I'm missing a lot of fun.

(And is Monroe Co., Indiana where IU is?  It went 66% Obama-33% Clinton.  Lake County was a disappointing 55% Obama-45% Clinton.)

Obama may have only won 9 counties in Indiana, but I'm almost tempted to say they were the right ones.  Same he couldn't have gotten one or two more big ones, or several of the smaller ones. 

Saw something in the legal advertisements in the News-Gazette last week that caught my eye.  If it runs again this week I will try to give citation to it.

If I read what I saw correctly, the owners of the Melrose Apartment complex on Bradley and Lincoln are being sued for non-payment of their mortgage.  I would be curious to find out how long the current management company has had this complex, what their vacancy rate is, and how leasing is running for the 2008-09 school year.

I've often been told that the New York Times is almost persona non grata around here, but I saw this Saturday, and I thought others here might also be interested in it...

They had an article (can someone find and post a link to it?) that discussed real estate development and vacancy rates.  They did a table  split by decades, and the thing I found most interesting was that of all housing (single-family, apartments, condos, etc.) built since the year 2000, almost 20% of that housing is now sitting vacant.  The other decades are generally running between 2-4% vacancy rates.

I'm afraid this real estate recession we're in isn't going to end well or soon, especially for places like California, Nevada, or Florida.

http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html

"Mr. Wright seems to me to be part of the great "barbaric yawp," as Walt Whitman called the American people fighting, discussing, making things and living. I like the barbaric yawp. I don't enjoy it when it makes me wince, but at least when I am wincing, I know the yawp is working."

http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/04/28/question-of-the-day-512/#comments

http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html

Found this at opinionjournal.com (adjunct of the Wall St. Journal)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120873309012529689.html?mod=hpp_us_inside_today

So I went to the Capstone Quarters Condominium Auction Saturday, and it weren't purty...

I had actually gone by earlier in the week to tour the models (you were not allowed in the condos), and the packet they were handing out at that time included a sheet listing the furniture groupings in each unit.  There was notation next to 2 units indicating furniture left by owners who did not complete their sales contracts.  A sheet they passed out on auction day listed the number of leases per unit and 2008-09 renewals.  Each bedroom signs its own lease, and they had 183 leases available.  Only 80 were signed (many units had only one or two of their bedrooms leased) for this year, and only 69 are signed for next year.  I realize it's early, and they can still pick up lessees over the next few months, but still... :-(

At the auction Saturday, they had 60 units up for sale.  10 were sold at absolute, so they sold 7 2 bedroom, 2 3 bedroom, and 1 4 bedroom unit that way.  A total of 25 units sold, out of the 60 offered.  (Approximately 40% sold)

The 1st absolute sale was a 2 bedroom unit for $95,000 to an Asian family.  I did not get a chance to talk to them, so I don't know if they plan on living in the unit or if they plan on renting it out.  The remainder (22 total) of the 2 bedroom units sold for prices ranging from $80,000-$86,000.  The original asking price for these units?  $130,000-$154,500.

The absolute on the 3 bedroom was $116,000.  Bidding on the remaining units got up to $100,000, but they refused to sell at that price.  These were originally $160,000-$180,000.

The absolute on the 4 bedroom was $135,000.  Bidding on the remaining units got up to $120,000, but sale was also refused on these units.  These were originally $180,000-$204,750.

There were several real estate agents in attendance. Some of them own units they bought at the original prices.  For people who were seeing equity evaporate at the rate of $50,000-$70,000 a pop, they seemed to be taking it rather well...or maybe they went home and drank themselves blind.  Wouldn't blame them if they did...

http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/04/16/question-of-the-day-504/#comments

95 hilarious comments to go with it!  (the one about negative space is pretty good...)

You may have seen the ads; they've been in the Classifieds section of the News-Gazette for the last few Sundays. 

Today's paper features a story about the Capstone Quarters Condominium Auction scheduled for 4-19.  It says that there are 208 units in the complex, and 60 are being sold at the auction. 

A few questions that I'm dying to get the answer to, and probably won't for a long time:

1.  Are the units that are for sale units that were never pre-sold to anyone, or are these units that had signed contracts but did not close when finished?

2.  How many (if any) of the units in the auction are being sold by current owners who've decided they don't want a condo 1.2 miles from the U of I?

3.  How healthy is the owner's association, and what kind of restrictions are placed on owners?  Who will be managing the association after the auction finishes?

Given the current state of the condo market (a few weeks ago there was a story in the Wall Street Journal saying we currently have a 10 months supply of condos for sale across the U.S., with several thousand more scheduled to come online over the next 6 months), I would think a 70% sales rate is pretty good for this development.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have finally released their income tax returns for the years 2000-06.  In these years, they list an income of almost $109,000,000.  (Do all the blue collar voters supporting HRC feel like chumps yet, or will they quit voting for her when they learn she's been slow to pay the health ins. premiums for her campaign staff?  Remember, helath care issues are very important to her!)

It made the front page of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune.  I quickly scanned the News-Gazette and the Chicago Sun-Times,  but didn't see mention of this in either paper. 

I'm left wondering how late Friday this was released, and do they honestly hope people will have forgetten about this by Monday? 

Did either John Edwards or Mitt Romney make this much in the same time frame?  The Clintons are among the 14,500 richest people in the U.S.

Peggy Noonan has the week off at the WSJ; I can't wait to see what she writes about this next Saturday.

http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2008/04/01/question-of-the-day-494/#comments

http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html

..."she lies even more than is humanly possible, or even politically usual."

Perhaps someone can post a link here for us...

In Ms. Noonan's Saturday political column, she discusses whether Hillary Clinton is a big enough person to admit when her campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination has run its course, and she discusses how much harder it's going to be for the Republicans against Obama.

Her last paragraph:  "The Democrats continue not to recognize what they have in this guy (Obama).  Believe me, Republican professionals know.  They can tell."

She's really hitting some high notes lately, and seems to be getting better and better each week.

In the category of "Spoken Word Album", Barack Obama has beaten Bill Clinton. 

Does this mean Obama will be able to brag about being the one Democrat to beat both Bill AND Hillary Clinton?  ;-)