Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life

Archives for the ‘National’ Category


War is hell War is hell War is hell

By M. Johnston • Mar 12th, 2010 | Bookmark and Share

From MSNBC.com week in pictures. Check the full image here. Gut-wrenching.  I thought Obama was going to bring our troops home? I know, I know, I know..

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Arch conservatives say Ashburn has lost public trust.. ha!

By M. Johnston • Mar 9th, 2010 | Bookmark and Share

“His lying, cheating ways have boiled over and the public’s trust has been shattered.” -Randy Thommason, head of some outfit called “Save California” (good luck with that) calling for the resignation of Sen Roy Ashburn. LOL. Since when was lying and cheating grounds for removal from the senate??? Check it

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Quakes, tsunamis, and looters

By M. Johnston • Mar 1st, 2010 | Bookmark and Share

“What the earthquake didn’t take away, the sea took away. And what the sea didn’t take, the looters did.”  – A bakery owner in the town of Constitucion in Chili, that was completely wiped out by a 33 foot tsunami that resulted from the 8.8 quake in Chili.  Check it

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Recovery? What recovery? New home sales plummet 11% in Jan!

By M. Johnston • Feb 24th, 2010 | Bookmark and Share

“New home sales took a stunning plunge in January, dropping 11.2% to a new record low, wiping out all the gains the housing market had made over the past year. The figure blindsided analysts, who had expected a 3.8% increase, according to a Wall Street Journal poll. The plunge came [...]

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Ohio man decides to teach bank lesson, bulldozes foreclosed home

By M. Johnston • Feb 23rd, 2010 | Bookmark and Share

A Ohio man named Terry Hoskins BULLDOZED his $350k home after the bank started foreclosure proceedings on it (and his small business failed).  According to Hoskins, he wanted to teach the bank a lesson. “When I owe $160,000 on a home valued at $350,000, and someone decides they want to

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Good news for some: vacant housing soars, pending sales flat

By M. Johnston • Feb 22nd, 2010 | Bookmark and Share

From BI: “The shadow inventory (vacant units but held off the market “for other reasons”) — rose 3.497 million units from 3.403 million. Fully 13.4% of the housing stock is currently vacant and that degree of excess capacity is very likely going to exert ongoing downward pressure on residential rents and [...]

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Change [of attitude] you can believe in

By M. Johnston • Feb 11th, 2010 | Bookmark and Share

One of the most startling polls published to date here. When nearly 20% of Americans are “angry” you know we are in deep doo doo. I said it before and I’ll say it again, “Recovery? What recovery?”

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FAIL: Chicago teens charged with felonies for sexting

By M. Johnston • Jan 29th, 2010 | Bookmark and Share

I don’t usually report on national stories, but I think you’ll find this one interesting. According to Slatest, “two children in Valparaiso, Indiana, were each charged yesterday with two felonies after they were caught

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Health care and the “common good”

By M. Johnston • Nov 29th, 2009 | Bookmark and Share

The Sacramento Bee ran a great multi part story on health care reform today with an equally great back story about a local Sacramento man who is fighting the system to get the cancer surgery he needs to live.  As usual, the usual responders were out in force to either: 1) Blast the cancer victim [...]

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Change I never believed in: The plastic revolution

By M. Johnston • Nov 14th, 2009 | Bookmark and Share

Paper or plastic? I think the first time a grocery clerk asked me that question was back in… gosh.. 1990? No, I’m not talking about paper money versus plastic debit card (although I could be just as easily, but that’s a different article entirely); I’m talking about paper bags versus plastic bags.
Personally, I didn’t like [...]

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