The Barber Shoppe Gazette: 10/01/2006

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Election 2006: Selecting The Lesser Of Two Evils

POLITICS / ELECTION 2006: SELECTING THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS

Chuck Baldwin Live

Smiley Flag Waver It seems clear that "conservative" Republicans want to save us from liberal Democrats the same way that German fascists wanted to save their country from communists. In the end, both parties seek to dismantle freedom and constitutional government. They only differ in style; in substance they are twins. While fiercely opposing each other, both parties seek but one thing: unbridled power.

Some Choice: Socialist Democrats Or Fascist Republicans

~ By Chuck Baldwin
October 10, 2006

Whenever some well-meaning conservative Christian takes issue with one of my columns chronicling the abysmal governing record of Republicans, he or she almost always exclaims, "Think how bad it would be if Democrats were in charge." The fact is, however, there has been no redemption in having the GOP in charge of the entire federal government.

The argument of voting for the lesser of two evils, meaning Republicans, loses its credence when one examines the record. And the record is clear: the GOP has developed a philosophy tantamount to fascism. Consider the following recent developments.

The Republican-led House of Representatives just recently approved a bill requiring school districts around the country to establish policies to conduct wide scale searches of students, including pat-downs, bag searches, or strip searches. I wonder how many parents are aware that their Republican representatives in Washington, D.C., are wanting to require strip searches of their children at the whim of public school employees?

Secondly, President Bush has once again defied Congress and pushed the envelope of executive power by unabashedly stating that he has "the power to edit the Homeland Security Department's reports about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watchlists." Bush made the above declaration in another one of his copious signing statements.

Yet, as many legal experts have warned, Bush's propensity to use excessive signing statements is nothing more than a way to expand his power. There is little legal justification for such action, but with Republicans in charge of Congress, who is going to blow the whistle on him? We couldn't even trust Congress to blow the whistle on Mark Foley!

Thirdly, the Bush administration has apparently successfully convinced Congress to permanently dismantle the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It's not worded that way, of course, but that is exactly what they are doing

Specifically, according to former Republican congressman Bob Barr, the Republican House has passed, and the Senate appears ready to pass, legislation requested by President Bush that would "allow warrantless surveillance of virtually any international phone call and email of American citizens."

The bill also "authorize[s] the attorney general without court approval to order Internet service providers and other types of companies to give the NSA access to communications and equipment regarding information on its customers" without any proof or evidence of those communications being connected to terrorists.

This legislation also allows "warrantless physical searches of Americans' homes for extended periods without any evidence presented to a court that the homeowner is conspiring with or connected to terrorists."

Barr summarized this proposed legislation by saying, "Taken as a whole, the powers thus sought by the administration, and which have already been given imprimatur by the House, would do irreparable damage to the underpinnings of the Fourth Amendment.

"If signed into law, these measures would destroy the fundamental notion that American citizens enjoy a right to privacy in their homes, persons and businesses to be free from arbitrary government surveillance and searches. That may sound apocalyptic, but believe me, it is not. It is a fact."

It seems clear that "conservative" Republicans want to save us from liberal Democrats the same way that German fascists wanted to save their country from communists. In the end, both parties seek to dismantle freedom and constitutional government. They only differ in style; in substance they are twins. While fiercely opposing each other, both parties seek but one thing: unbridled power.

As things stand now, we do not need to fear al Qaeda, Iran, or North Korea near as much as we need to fear the abuse of power from within our own government. There is no question in my mind that we have the military power and strength to fight off any foreign enemy. The bigger question is, Do we have the moral power and strength to fight off those within our own country who would strip us of our freedoms? How we answer that question will determine our ultimate destiny.

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Friday, October 27, 2006

Home Prices See Largest Tumble In 35 Years

ECONOMY / HOME PRICES SEE LARGEST TUMBLE IN 35 YEARS

Money News

Smiley Flag Waver The median home price dropped to $217,000 in September from $239,300 in August. That was the lowest median price since September 2004. The 9.7 percent plunge was the sharpest year-over-year decline since December 1970.

When homebuilders need to slash prices to lure a somewhat larger percentage of buyers than the month before, it really means they’ll need to slash prices even more next month to get that many more buyers to bite. In other words, when prices start falling, most people wait to see if prices will keep falling before they rush in.

The freefall in home prices is far from over.

Breaking News From MoneyNews.com

Largest Home Price Tumble in 35 Years

The median price of a new home plunged 9.7 percent in September from a year ago, the largest drop in more than 35 years, reports the Commerce Department.

The median home price dropped to $217,000 in September from $239,300 in August. That was the lowest median price since September 2004. The 9.7 percent plunge was the sharpest year-over-year decline since December 1970.

The plunge in new home prices follows a record plunge in existing home prices. As MoneyNews told readers yesterday, the 2.5 percent year-over-year decline in existing home prices was the biggest in the National Association of Realtor’s nearly 40-year record.

Clearly home prices across the board are in the midst of a serious correction, one which our sister publication, Financial Intelligence Report, told readers about months ago. Both Sir John Templeton and Yale professor and real estate expert Robert Shiller told FIR readers that they expected the housing market correction to result in prices plunging downwards of 40 percent. And, unfortunately, it looks like their predictions will be spot on.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan doesn’t agree. The chief architect of the housing bubble said Thursday that the housing market isn’t in dire straits.

"Most of the negatives in housing are probably behind us," Greenspan told a conference sponsored by the Commercial Finance Association. "The fourth quarter should be reasonably good, certainly better than the third quarter."

Greenspan retired as Fed chairman in February of this year. He slashed interest rates from 6 percent in January 2001 to 1 percent in June 2003 to avoid a recession following the bursting tech bubble. In that low interest rate environment, the housing sector surged.

"There are early signs of stabilization [in housing]," Greenspan tells his audience. But he did concede that, "It’s [the housing slump] not over."

"The evidence is that we’re beginning to see a flattening in statistics for sales of new homes," he continued. "The rate of construction is well below the rate of purchases."

He added that buyers were "beginning to dig into the inventories of unsold homes."

Greenspan’s remarks run counter to current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said on Oct. 5 that the housing slump is "one of the major drags causing the economy to slow now." Bernanke estimates that the "substantial correction" in housing will shave 1 percent off the nation’s economic growth in the second half of 2006.

To “dig into” those inventories, homebuilders are slashing prices on homes and boosting incentives such as free pools, wood floors, and other upgrades to attract buyers. And to some extent, buyers did come trickling in this month.

New home sales rose for the second consecutive month in September, increasing 5.3 percent. However, that follows three months of sales declines from May to July. And sales are still down 14.2 percent from a year ago. New homes on the market fell to 557,000 from 568,000 in August. That represents a still higher-than-average 6.4 months worth of inventory at the current sales pace.

Though Alan Greenspan may present the higher sales and shrinking inventories as a sign that the housing slump is stabilizing, the plunge in prices is proof that that’s not the case.

When homebuilders need to slash prices to lure a somewhat larger percentage of buyers than the month before, it really means they’ll need to slash prices even more next month to get that many more buyers to bite. In other words, when prices start falling, most people wait to see if prices will keep falling before they rush in.

The freefall in home prices is far from over.

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Thursday, October 26, 2006

U.S. Postal Service To Stage Nationwide Picket

GOVERNMENT / U.S. POSTAL SERVICE TO STAGE NATIONWIDE PICKET

News With Views

Smiley Flag Waver A spokesman for the US Postal Service, says the Internet, higher fuel costs, 1.5 million new addresses a year, increasing employee costs, and a host of other reasons have created challenges that threaten the ability to provide high-quality, universal postal service at affordable rates.

"Because the Postal Service continues to see a steady decline in first-class mail volume, postage prices will continue to increase and mailing industry jobs will be eliminated, unless the Postal Service can take the necessary steps to reduce its operating costs."

U.S. POSTAL WORKERS TO STAGE NATIONWIDE PICKETING TODAY

Postal Workers Warn: Corporations To Benefit At Expense Of Citizens In New Post Office Plan

Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
~ By NWVs Investigative Reporter Jim Kouri
October 26, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

In the tradition of Chicken Little's "the sky is falling, the sky is falling," United States Postal Service officials claim that they fear the future America's mail processing and delivery is in danger.

Senior postal service executives are in the midst of not only consolidating mail processing centers but they've cut postal jobs by nearly 100,000.

With the alternatives of e-mail, fax machines, and private delivery services, postal officials claim they are seeing a marked decrease in the number of items being sent through the current mail system.

In addition, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in their report to congress said: "The [Postal] Service's strategy for realigning has not been clear because the [it] has outlined several seemingly different strategies over the past 3 years. None of these strategies include criteria and processes for eliminating excess capacity, which may prolong inefficiencies. Also, the strategy lacks sufficient transparency and accountability, excludes stakeholder input, and lacks performance measures for results."

The report points out that the Postal Service's plan to consolidate "facilities" and eliminate "duplicity" (jobs) must be implemented in order for the agency to survive.

Victor Dubina, a spokesman for the US Postal Service, says the Internet, higher fuel costs, 1.5 million new addresses a year, increasing employee costs, and a host of other reasons have created challenges that threaten the ability to provide high-quality, universal postal service at affordable rates, according to the Register Herald

"The business environment has changed and continues to change," Dubina said. "Postal employees and management see it, mailing associations see it, members of Congress see it, and it scares the hell out of all of us."

Dubina said when gasoline prices go up a single cent, it has an $8 million financial impact in increased costs to the Postal Service.

In an interview with The Register-Herald, Dubina said, "The impact from increased gasoline costs were $1 billion in 2002," Dubina explained. "That was during a period when we didn't raise rates."

Dubina says the US Postal Service is finding it harder and harder each year to just break even.

"Reform legislation is needed to minimize the risk of a significant taxpayer bailout or dramatic postal rate increases," he said.

The GAO study of the Postal Service concluded that "legislative reform must be done and it must include clarifying the service's mission and role so that it remains focused on universal postal service and compete appropriately. It also called for more flexibility to operate in a businesslike manner."

Currently, the US Postal Service is part of a $9 billion mailing industry that supports more than 9 million jobs. It maintains 37,000 post offices and 450 mail processing facilities that collectively employ more than 704,000 individuals in every state in the country.

The current government plan calls for consolidating some of the Postal Service's 450 mail processing plants, and doing it without laying off one postal employee.

"Postmaster General Jack Potter has said he is committed to cutting costs without reducing service or laying off workers," Dubina said.

But in the next breath Dubina says that nearly 100,000 jobs have been eliminated, according to the Register-Herald.

Postal workers union leaders say the US Postal Service has a major consolidation plan, and the union has selected October 26 for a nationwide day of picketing. In what they're calling a national day of informational picketing, the union plans to reveal how this consolidation plan will benefit big corporations, who utilize the bulk-mail system, at the expense individual citizens who use first-class mail.

"Tomorrow (Thursday) will be a nationwide day of picketing to protest ill-advised postal consolidations," Dennis Hotchkiss, Oregon's State President of the Postal Worker, told NewsWithViews.com.

Hotchkiss said the coordinated informational picketing is intended to highlight the potentially damaging effects of the consolidation plan and to expose how the postal service panders to major mailers.

"The Oct. 26 date was selected to give local unions the opportunity to seek support from elected officials and candidates prior to Election Day, Nov. 7," he told NewsWithViews.com.

The nationwide day of picketing will present an opportunity for union activists to encourage their coworkers to vote, Hotchkiss said.

The coordinated informational picketing is intended to spotlight the potentially damaging effects of the USPS consolidation plan, and to expose how Postal Service policy panders to major mailers, according to an American Postal Workers Union press release.

"I urge locals and state organizations to participate in the nationwide day of picketing," said APWU President William Burrus, "and I urge them to take our message to the public: This plan will delay mail to local communities, and it is being forced on the American people without their input."

"We intend to change that," Burrus said. "We will engage the public in a dialogue about their expectations and experience with the postal service. These informational pickets are an opportunity to express our concerns."

The union president also urged locals to inform elected officials about the USPS consolidation plan and the negative effect it will have on service to their constituents. In a Sept. 12 letter to every member of Congress, Burrus wrote, "The Postal Service has failed to consider the concerns of the American people, denied them the information necessary to determine if the revised network will meet their needs, and excluded them from having real input in the decision-making process."

To be sure, there has been practically no media coverage of the Postal Service's intentions to reorganize in a way that will slowdown the delivery of mail for private citizens while benefiting businesses using bulk-rates. According to the consolidation plan, bulk-mail will receive top priority.

There are many who believe the postal service is being overly secretive about their plans. For example, 19 members of Congress said in a letter, "Although GAO recommended that USPS improve its efforts to keep [citizens] informed, our communities affected by current plans to consolidate mail processing plants have told us that they have not been adequately informed about the Postal Service's plans, the extent to which the Postal Service proposed to analyze plant performance and make realignment decisions, or the potential impacts on these communities."

Meanwhile, there is added suspicion that the top officials at the USPS view the consolidation and cutbacks as a first step in privatizing the postal system. Dennis Hotchkiss told NewswithView.com that the new Chairman of the Postal Service's Board of Governors, James C. Miller, is a strong supporter of privatization.

A postal patron who wished to stay anonymous said "will the USPS be sold to a foreign company and when?"

Miller also shares many of the Bush White Houses traits in that he has a propensity to work and act in secret. A check of the USPS's press releases reveals practically no mention of consolidation plans; and there's even less information found on news search engines.

Hotchkiss and other state presidents of the postal workers union hope that the October 26 action by the nations mail carriers and postal workers will open the eyes of Americans and remove the veil of secrecy surrounding the US Postal Service.

Related Information:

1. Postal service must change, official says
2. USPS: Strategy for realigning its mail processing
3. APWU: Day of picketing to expose ill-advised plans
4. USPS Proposes new mailing standards

E-Mails are used strictly for NWVs alerts, and are not for or re-sale.

E-Mail Dennis Hotchkiss

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Housing: The Worst Is Yet To Come

ECONOMY / HOUSING: THE WORST IS YET TO COME

Making Money Alert

Smiley Flag Waver After record sales of both new and existing homes for five consecutive years, we now are seeing the housing market rapidly loosing steam.

The median price of a single-family home fell last month to $219,800, down 2.5% from the price during September 2005.

Sales of previously owned homes fell by nearly 2% during September. That sales rate is the slowest since January 2004.

Can't you just hear the air popping out of the bubble?

HOUSING, THE WORST IS YET TO COME

~ By: Doug Fabian
Editor, Successful Investing
President, Fabian Investment Resources

We had another report today on the housing market's woes. This time the data addressed existing home sales.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes fell during September to mark the sixth straight month of declines. In addition, the median sales price of a home dropped on an annual basis by the largest amount on record.

The industry group also reported that sales of previously owned homes fell by nearly 2% during September to a seasonally adjusted sales pace of 6.18 million units. That sales rate is the slowest since January 2004.
Can't you just hear the air popping out of the bubble?

Want more evidence of a housing slowdown? How about the median price of a single-family home falling last month to $219,800, down 2.5% from the price during September 2005? That dip just happens to be the biggest year-over-year price decline in record going back nearly four decades.

After record sales of both new and existing homes for five consecutive years, we now are seeing the housing market rapidly loosing steam. Of course, that hasn't stopped industry bulls from saying we've now hit bottom.

"The worst is behind us as far as a market correction … this is likely the trough for sales," said David Lereah, the National Association of Realtors' chief economist told the Associated Press. "When consumers recognize that home sales are stabilizing, we'll see the buyers who've been on the sidelines get back into the market."

Sure, eventually buyers will come back into the market, but not before home values give back a lot more than they already have. In my opinion, there is more pain ahead for housing. Despite what some people out there are saying, I think the worst is yet to come.

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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Republicans Making a Comeback - Surge Ahead

POLITICS / ELECTION 2006: REPUBLICANS MAKING A COMEBACK - SURGING AHEAD

NewsMax Mast Head

Smiley Flag Waver Zogby reports that the generic Democratic edge is down to four points, having been as high as nine two weeks ago.

The Republican base seems to be coming back home. This trend, only vaguely and dimly emerging from a variety of polls, suggests that a trend may be afoot that would deny the Democrats control of the House and the Senate.

Control of Congress has gone from "lean Democrat" to a "toss-up." And that's progress for the Republicans.

Election Now a Toss-Up

~ Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006

The latest polls show something very strange and quite encouraging is happening: The Republican base seems to be coming back home. This trend, only vaguely and dimly emerging from a variety of polls, suggests that a trend may be afoot that would deny the Democrats control of the House and the Senate.
With two weeks to go, anything can happen, but it is beginning to look possible that the Democratic surge in the midterm elections may fall short of control in either House.
Here's the evidence:
Pollsters Scott Rasmussen and John Zogby both show Republican Bob Corker gaining on Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. in Tennessee, a must-win Senate seat for the Democrats. Zogby has Corker ahead by seven, while Rasmussen still shows a Ford edge of two points.

Zogby reports a "turnaround" in New Jersey's Senate race with the GOP candidate Tom Kean taking the lead, a conclusion shared by some other public polls.

Even though Sen. Jim Talent in Missouri is still under the magic 50 percent threshold for an incumbent, Rasmussen has him one point ahead and Zogby puts him three up. But unless he crests 50 percent, he'll probably still lose.

Even though he is a lost cause, both Rasmussen and Zogby show Montana's Republican Sen. Conrad Burns cutting the gap and moving up.
In Virginia, Republican embattled incumbent Sen. George Allen has now moved over the 50 percent threshold in his internal polls. (He'd been at 48 percent.)
Nationally, Zogby reports that the generic Democratic edge is down to four points, having been as high as nine two weeks ago.
None of these data indicates that the Republicans are out of trouble yet, but Democrats must win one of these three races: Ford in Tennessee, Menendez in New Jersey or Webb in Virginia. If not, they'll fall at least one seat short of controlling the Senate even if they succeed in knocking off all five vulnerable GOP incumbents in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Missouri.
Why are Republican fortunes brightening?
The GOP base, alienated by the Foley scandal and the generally dismal record of this Congress, may have fast forwarded to the prospect of a Democratic victory and recoiled. They may have pondered the impact of a repeal of the Patriot Act, a ban on NSA wiretapping and a requirement of having an attorney present in terrorist questioning - and decided not to punish the country for the sins of the Republican leaders.
Bush's success in dealing with North Korea and his willingness to reassess tactics in Iraq could also play a part in the slight shift now underway.
Then, too, some in the Democratic Party must be finally realizing what a disastrous decision it was to put Howard Dean in as party chairman. The Democratic National Committee is broke and borrowing, while the GOP can afford to fund fully its key races.
Right now, we would have to say that control of Congress has gone from "lean Democrat" to a "toss-up." And that's progress for the Republicans.