As IF Times

Center City race has candidate outed as straight | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/22/2010.

At this very moment, Senator Lindsey Graham is being challenged to come out of the closet and admit like pop singer Ricky Martin, that he is a “fortunate homosexual man”.  If the events described in the linked article are any indication, Graham needn’t worry.  If anything, his admission, if he has one, will probably make him more popular than by keeping his lifestyle a secret.

Or perhaps that’s just the case if you happen to live in Philadelphia where this “Onionesque” set of circumstances is developing.  According to this article,

“…Veteran Rep. Babette Josephs (D., Phila.) last Thursday accused her primary opponent, Gregg Kravitz, of pretending to be bisexual in order to pander to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender voters, a powerful bloc in the district.  “I outed him as a straight person,” Josephs said during a fund-raiser at the Black Sheep Pub & Restaurant…”

To which the candidate in question responded, ” I swing both ways”, in order not to totally disenfranchise the straight vote.  Well, this IS the city of brotherly love.  As for me, I vote him politician of the year if not just the winner for Philly.  It may be amusing to have this guy in office if only for the comedy of his tenure.  You know he will be inclusive.  Gays, straights, bi’s, all will have equal representation in his government.  If you think about it, it’s a cost savings.

In our part of the world, Vancouver, it’s not uncommon for politicians to pander to ethnic votes by donning ritualistic headgear when attending cultural events.  The Americans put us to shame as far as pandering since it appears that their politicians will  adopt a whole  sexual persona to get votes.  The wearing of turbans in Sikh parades or cowboy hats at western events here are pretty lame in comparison to the lengths pursued by American politicians to get elected.  Maybe it’s just pragmatism, after all if you think about it, everywhere you look, gay is the way.  Being gay is so mainstream, even Archie comics are rumored to be introducing its first gay character.  Society has jumped from merely accepting the gay lifestyle to now requiring that as the ticket to entry. 

I’m unsure of why having that particular proclivity enriches anyone with any more ability to make political, economic and especially national security decisions than their sexually more boring counterparts.  You can see where all this is leading.  There are certain professions which are famously populated by gay people if only by reputation; florists, hairdressers, ice-dancers etc.   This actually puts pressure on these people.  If their work seems not up to snuff, they’d better be prepared for accusations of straightness and some proof of their gayness. 

You know it’s only a matter of time before all kinds of subsets of society put forth candidates that mirror their particular group as if that were a good measure of ability.  Soon we’ll see left handed candidates, red headed candidates, fat candidates, candidates that sing, people with walleye or perhaps people who have IQ’s lower than some arbitrary amount.  Oh wait, we have that already.

link Mexican govt slams Arizona immigration law – Yahoo! Finance.

I’m not sure of the tack taken by the Mexican government on this issue.  According to this article:

“…The Mexican government criticized Wednesday a tough immigration law approved this week by Arizona legislators, saying it could result in rights violations and racial profiling and affect cross-border relations…”

Well let’s look at this logically.  First of all, the targets of the Arizona crackdown are ILLEGAL immigrants who are FLEEING Mexico in order to live presumably in a more desirable environment.  If things were hunky dory back at the home hacienda, presumably they wouldn’t be trying to break into another country.

Secondly, the crackdown is in response to increasing violence allegedly caused by many of the criminal element of the trespassers.  The murder of a rancher recently was a spur to action for the lawmakers who have experienced significant upticks in criminal behaviour in the border towns, much of it linked to illegals.  It’s unlikely that people who flee to another country to try to better their lives will draw attention to themselves by engaging in overt criminal behavior.  More likely, these are actually criminals who are involved directly in the drug trade expanding their turf and influence.

Notwithstanding this, the people who enter illegally should be returned to Mexico and made to apply legally as others have before them.  Nobody is against immigration.  People just don’t seem to care for people who blatantly flout the law.  The article goes on to state:

“…Mexico also said the bill “opens the door to the inappropriate use of racial profiling….”

As to profiling, well there IS a chance that illegal immigrants will look Mexican, so I guess cops will gravitate towards those fitting that appearance.  I suppose they could be inclusive and stop blue eyed blondes and red heads to enquire as to their citizenship status.  Elin Woods look alikes, be warned.  They could hang around the Phoenix airport and scrutinize the people getting off planes from Canada.  Yes, you can’t be too careful, illegal Mexican immigrants could be anyone, therefore profiling is just an ineffective and racist tool.

Imagine if you hired an exterminator to get rid of wasps on your property and he frisks dogs and cats to be inclusive. 

Finally, I wonder what is meant by “jeopardizing cross- border relations”?  Is the implication that Americans crossing the border into Mexico are causing havoc with their criminal behaviour? Will they consider shutting down the access for Americans to cross the border into Mexico?  That would be drastic.  How will Americans then satisfy their need for cheap trinkets, tatoos and Corona beer? 

 Mexico has enough problems at the moment with it’s exploding war on drug gangs.  I suspect the real reason they don’t want the illegals picked on is because they don’t want the drug guys back.  I think it’s only fair though that the U.S. be allowed to send off their undesireables to Mexico as compensation.  Most of Hollywood for example.  A certain ex vice president.  That’ll teach ‘em.

link In Vancouver, logic has left the housing market – Canada – Macleans.ca.

But it’s not just Vancouver, it’s a phenomenom that is being experienced the world over from Vancouver to Dubai, from Shanghai to London.  These are some of the hottest spots for real estate prices in the world today.  Investment and speculation in real estate has been the surest way to building wealth for as long as the baby boom generation has known. 

In the days pre 1970, real estate price increases were fairly moderate, for the most part, in line with the cost of living.  In fact, it was a detriment in many cases to own real estate because there were costs involved; maintenance, taxes etc.  At least in the North American experience, as the baby boom demographic pushed it’s way into real estate in earnest, supply and demand for the favored areas gradually drove prices up and houses became for most people, the single largest store of wealth for this generation.  There is no doubt that valuations in real estate are correlated with the wealth of the local inhabitants, but it can cut both ways as residents in Las Vegas, Arizona and Florida have recently found.  Wealth tends to beget wealth and so prices can really climb when a local economy is hot.  Of course access to favorable financing is another significant factor as the multiplying effect of this tool excerbates demand for product and therefore prices.

People of course need a place to live, but in the areas mentioned above, the notion of buying a house as shelter is but a quaint notion.  The entire objective and major consideration for buying real estate in Vancouver, is as a means for hitching a ride on a fast moving train.  No rational person who makes a nominal salary of $75,000 per year, perhaps netting $50,000 after tax, will try to carry a mortgage on a $900,000 house.   According to a recent listing on Vancouver’s west side from an article in Canada.com:

“…At an asking price of $889,000, the Second World War bungalow in the 3100-block West 10th Avenue in Vancouver seemed like a bargain to realtor Terry Flahiff yesterday.With the average price of a detached home in Greater Vancouver nearing $921,000 last month, Flahiff’s listing could be considered a bargain…”

It’s interesting that the news headlines have just recently finished with Bernie Madoff’s collapsed ponzi scheme and have now turned their focus to the questionable products manufactured by Goldman Sachs.  Naturally, the media are chomping at this and the clamor for more regulation is now building.  Surely people must be protected they will say.  In reality, the largest ponzi scheme running, for the longest time and with the most institutionalized support is the real estate market.  While Madoff’s and Goldman’s activities  affect a directed segment of people, the promotion of real estate is directed at the mass of the population.  Everyone is programmed to believe that real estate is the surest way to riches.  That’s a difficult premise to refute given the past 40 years of experience. 

But as the people in Nevada and Florida, once the poster states for real estate speculation found out, when the music stops via interest rate upticks, the damage is devastating.  Ponzi schemes work by constantly finding new buyers to support the earlier buyers.  Eventually, you run out of those.