Perhaps I will post up one day on the chump subject but my post today is about change. Change is an arena that some play in with total and absolute control while others do not. I endured a great deal of change as I grew up. I lived at 18 different addresses up to the time I was 20 years of age. Those addresses stretched from the hills of southern Appalachia to the concrete jungle of Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida to Montgomery, Alabama to Tallahassee. I endured changes to new classes and teachers to new jobs and circumstances and so forth. These multiple experiences seem to catch my attention, lately change is an anxiety promoting and filthy beast.
I am speaking of the most minimal change. For example this website that you may be viewing this blog on. I have had the same website since 2003. The people who hosted it decided to sell this side of the business and I had to change. I went from Myers to LinkU. I always was able to fix my website any way that I wanted, in any fashion I wanted. It was easy. Now I have a whole new administrative quadrangle of approaches to accomplishing a particular function. It is decidedly difficult. I have become a pariah to the nice techie people at LinkU. They are nice and patient and always get me to the end point desired. However, I find myself lying in bed at night distraught by the fact that I could not figure it out for myself.
On another front, I very recently went from using a Blackberry to an I-Phone. I had used that Blackberry about five years. It got to where it would not hold a charge for the entire day and some keys stuck and so forth. My children told me that if I was going to change phones then I should get the I-Phone. " It has all sorts of apps that you are just going to LOVE !!!!! " gushed my son-in-law. The one with the IQ north of 150. For about two weeks I could not even answer the phone much less download an app to watch water buffalo drink from a river in Kenya. Needless to say I lost tons of sleep obsessing about how to remember the 6 or so passwords I had created to download apps from the app store via my I-Tunes account. I-Tunes account ????? Nothing like good old Looney Tunes, that I have loved since I was six.
Change is a daunting and terrifying concept. I believe the more advanced you become in age the more daunting it becomes. My wife and I follow the same routine day in and day out. Up at 6:00 to meet our little Bellamy. Bellamy is our little 20 month old grand daughter. The one with the IQ north of 160. Lunch at 12:30, dinner at 7:00, to bed at 10:00 and so forth. Any deviation from that schedule induces meltdown and insecurity.
As my sensibiliies have become more and more lulled by the sameness I have occassional lapses of wanting a change in routine. Ah, a wakeful moment. However enticing such a desire might be I fight it and remain in the endless rut that I am in.
I suppose that there is security in the sameness. I think about the people who are forced to evacuate their homes due to Isaac the hurricane ( same old big wind, different name). Their lives get changed whether they want it or not. I worked a Katrina, Red Cross, temporary shelter here once. As you looked into the faces of the refugees and engaged them I could see the unsettling anxiety I speak of with them.
Change is hard. Sometimes it is necessary for the common good but man it comes at a cost. Not a very successful political slogan " Hope and Sameness". Hmmmmmm, perhaps I could get behind such a candidate. Nah, that would be a complete juxtaposition to that which makes our kind the creatures in charge of this planet. Someone has to find out what is over that mountain. What makes that little blob of matter tick? Bellamy knows all about this from the many episodes of Sid the Science Kid that she makes me watch with her. Maybe there is hope for me. After all I have learned to use my I-Phone and I am making progress on my website. Evidence this totally non essential and boring post to my blog today.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Tallahassee Home Sales
I read an article in the local fish wrapper yesterday morning. It had to do with the fact that home sales were up 18% points. Now I appreciate the attempt at painting the home market in some sort of positive light. The fact is that it is just hard to find any encouraging news concerning the sale of homes in this current market. We are in the worst real estate market since the Great Depression.
If you like graphs and reports that will make your head spin take a look at the following. This is put together by our Tallahassee Board of Realtors and Timberlane Appraisers. You may have to copy and paste it in your browser.
http://www.tbrnet.org/uploads/file/Snapshot/2012cumulativeJan-Jun.pdf
The take away from this statistical monstrosity is this. We had the worst year on record in Leon County 2010 to 2011. Year to date sales of detached homes was 1645 through June 2011. We look at year to date sales of detached homes through June 2012 we see that we sold 1756 detached homes. That is an increase of 7% anyway you want to slice it.
Now we have a tepid increase in sales based on the worst year on record. That is hardly news that should start us dancing in the streets. The attempt to paint a strong positive trend on that news is sort of like putting the lipstick on the proverbial pig. It is still a pig.
A much higher % of distressed sales marks our current path. We are moving more and more properties onto the lis pendens list at the courthouse. Therefore we can predict that trend is going to continue.
The bad news is that house values continue to be driven down by the mix-in of the financially impaired sales. Note current trend past six months average selling price of detached homes is $199,400 as compared to the earlier one year trend with value at $201,100.
When my friends call me about putting their homes on the market I tell them the same thing. If there is any way that you can stay in it, please do so. Try to wait it out. If you simply have to sell then price it lean and mean. Also, make sure you take the professional realtor with you.
If you like graphs and reports that will make your head spin take a look at the following. This is put together by our Tallahassee Board of Realtors and Timberlane Appraisers. You may have to copy and paste it in your browser.
http://www.tbrnet.org/uploads/file/Snapshot/2012cumulativeJan-Jun.pdf
The take away from this statistical monstrosity is this. We had the worst year on record in Leon County 2010 to 2011. Year to date sales of detached homes was 1645 through June 2011. We look at year to date sales of detached homes through June 2012 we see that we sold 1756 detached homes. That is an increase of 7% anyway you want to slice it.
Now we have a tepid increase in sales based on the worst year on record. That is hardly news that should start us dancing in the streets. The attempt to paint a strong positive trend on that news is sort of like putting the lipstick on the proverbial pig. It is still a pig.
A much higher % of distressed sales marks our current path. We are moving more and more properties onto the lis pendens list at the courthouse. Therefore we can predict that trend is going to continue.
The bad news is that house values continue to be driven down by the mix-in of the financially impaired sales. Note current trend past six months average selling price of detached homes is $199,400 as compared to the earlier one year trend with value at $201,100.
When my friends call me about putting their homes on the market I tell them the same thing. If there is any way that you can stay in it, please do so. Try to wait it out. If you simply have to sell then price it lean and mean. Also, make sure you take the professional realtor with you.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Tallahassee vs Tallahassee
Posting today on a weird subject. I think it highlights how comedic and entertaining watching government operate is. I walk in my 40 year old NE Tallahassee neighborhood mostly every day. I have noted a vacant house of an acquaintance of mine and wonder about the disposition of the property. Today I noticed that there was some sort of a declarative poster on his door. So I wondered up to the front door to read it. The notice was from the division of compliance for the city. It said something to the effect that numerous attempts have been made to contact you about the code violations existent on your property. This notice serves as a summons and you are to appear at the hearing that is scheduled before the city commission on August 2, 2012.
The notice was printed on official City of Tallahassee letterhead and signed by an official's official. Mr. Herman VanSnoot, Esquire. The ending paragraph declared that failure to appear could result in one or more liens being placed on your property. Later on in the day I am going to call Mr. VanSnoot and ask him if he would, please, let me know if my friend appears at that hearing. That will be immensely newsworthy because, you see, I attended this man's funeral approximately 18 months ago.
Now, let's see, it makes you sort of wonder if the city's computers are networked at all. I would assume that there was a death certificate created when my friend passed away at 87 yoa. It would seem to me that there should have been some sort of data collision within the system when measures were taken to engage this property in code enforcement, allowing that the owner is all dead and stuff.
Sequel this out and you have to imagine that at some point, with the city not being able to collect property taxes on this residence, that perhaps the city would end up owning the property. In that case the city would have placed liens on property that they own. Thusly, the city would have to bring a legal action against itself at some point in the future
.Sort of reminds me of an Andy of Mayberry episode. Old Luke who lived just within the city limits had a dilapidated old house. The town condemned it and placed liens on it and property taxes were delinquent so Sheriff Taylor was given the directive to go down and evict old Luke. Whilst delivering the eviction notice Andy discovered that Luke was in possession of a war bond issued by the township 100 years prior. Andy did some quick math and determined that Mayberry owed Luke over one million dollars.
The town could not pay this debt. So they bartered themselves into the position of helping Luke fix up his house. The city commissioners, mayor, Andy and several locals happily worked replacing shutters and windows and painting up the old place. They did this shoulder to shoulder all the while picnicing and drinking Aunt Bee's famous lemonade having a wonderfully collegial time.
At the end of the episode someone determined that the bond was issued during the Civil War and was worthless as it was to paid in confederate currency. They all laughed it off and Luke was able to stay in his home and all was well.
Can you just imagine that happening today? Even in a small fry city like Tallahassee we are so paralyzed by law and regulation that there is no amount of compassion that could ever be transacted in most any business that comes before the commission.
What was it Mark Twain called it? " Man's inhumanity to man."
The notice was printed on official City of Tallahassee letterhead and signed by an official's official. Mr. Herman VanSnoot, Esquire. The ending paragraph declared that failure to appear could result in one or more liens being placed on your property. Later on in the day I am going to call Mr. VanSnoot and ask him if he would, please, let me know if my friend appears at that hearing. That will be immensely newsworthy because, you see, I attended this man's funeral approximately 18 months ago.
Now, let's see, it makes you sort of wonder if the city's computers are networked at all. I would assume that there was a death certificate created when my friend passed away at 87 yoa. It would seem to me that there should have been some sort of data collision within the system when measures were taken to engage this property in code enforcement, allowing that the owner is all dead and stuff.
Sequel this out and you have to imagine that at some point, with the city not being able to collect property taxes on this residence, that perhaps the city would end up owning the property. In that case the city would have placed liens on property that they own. Thusly, the city would have to bring a legal action against itself at some point in the future
.Sort of reminds me of an Andy of Mayberry episode. Old Luke who lived just within the city limits had a dilapidated old house. The town condemned it and placed liens on it and property taxes were delinquent so Sheriff Taylor was given the directive to go down and evict old Luke. Whilst delivering the eviction notice Andy discovered that Luke was in possession of a war bond issued by the township 100 years prior. Andy did some quick math and determined that Mayberry owed Luke over one million dollars.
The town could not pay this debt. So they bartered themselves into the position of helping Luke fix up his house. The city commissioners, mayor, Andy and several locals happily worked replacing shutters and windows and painting up the old place. They did this shoulder to shoulder all the while picnicing and drinking Aunt Bee's famous lemonade having a wonderfully collegial time.
At the end of the episode someone determined that the bond was issued during the Civil War and was worthless as it was to paid in confederate currency. They all laughed it off and Luke was able to stay in his home and all was well.
Can you just imagine that happening today? Even in a small fry city like Tallahassee we are so paralyzed by law and regulation that there is no amount of compassion that could ever be transacted in most any business that comes before the commission.
What was it Mark Twain called it? " Man's inhumanity to man."
Friday, March 16, 2012
Magic's Paradigm
I recently watched an ESPN made for TV movie about Magic Johnson of the L A Lakers, basketball fame. It was called The Announcement. As you recall, back about 20 years ago Magic announced that he was HIV positive. He had contracted the disease through one of his multiple 100's of heterosexual encounters as he starred for the Lakers. This announcement shocked the world as this ailment had been pretty well qualified as a gay man's disease, prior. Now that you were to understand that you could contract the illness through a sexual encounter of your own choosing with some loose floozy at the orgy du jour everyone was more petrified of this disease. There was an enormous amount of misinformation flying around about it. If you will recall, Karl Malone, the star of the Utah Jazz declared he would not play on the same court with Aids infested Johnson for fear of being infected by casual contact.
I worked in the pharmaceutical industry and our company had a candidate for treatment. The government was making all sorts of tax concessions to the pharm industry to come up with treatment for this dark illness. At the time of Johnson's diagnosis there was one drug only, ATZ. This was a antiretroviral drug classified as an NRTI, nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor. After 100's of millions of dollars of research there are 20 or so compounds today that treat the virus. Protease Inhibitors, Non Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, and on and on. Research is still pressing for a vaccine. The greater bulk of the disease now is found in Africa, amongst children who are born to HIV positive mothers. Little children who had no choice in the matter are afflicted with this fatal disease. The most famous child who was dx'd early was a young boy with hemophelia named Ryan White. He died at 17 from fully engaged AIDS.
Nowadays, if you are dx'd with HIV you get on the meds. You are placed on cocktails of the various drugs and are able to proceed though life living pretty normally. That is if you have access to 10's of thousands of dollars to procure the meds. If you are so unfortunate to live in South Africa where the median income is $500 per year then you are out of luck. You are going to die.
I had an acquaintance through my church who died from the illness in the early 90's. He was an attorney who had contracted the virus through a gay lifestyle. He found the Saviour and changed his lifestyle. He was a brilliant fellow and worked for a prestigious Association of high level corporations. He ultimately became one of the sickest people I had ever laid eyes on. I had been around these patients at a rotation I went through with my company. They were Hatians and the attending physicians at Jackson Memorial Hospital told us that they really did not know how that disease was transmitted. For all they knew, at that time, it could have been airborne during one of it's phases. He had told me that he had the ailment and how he had contracted it. As I mentioned, he had become my friend through our church association. He died at the young age of 37. If he had lived now he would have the prospects of a long life into the 80's. He would simply need to swallow the pills.
In America most of the HIV drugs are purchased through third party payers, the largest of course is Medicaid and Ryan White Title 21 funds. President Obama just signed a new version of the Ryan White funding. It makes it a little more understandeable why there are so many people in our country looking to pass a national healthcare bill with or without individual mandate. The country we live in has the highest standard of healthcare on the globe. Used to be if you had AIDS you wanted to be in the prison system because they were fighting desperately to contain the AIDS epidemic. You sure would not want to be a south African with the disease even today. Not unless you owned a diamond mine.
One thing we know about the disease is that it is spread through serum to serum contact. If you really think about that it gets down to a pretty earthy conclusion. You can greatly reduce your risk of infection by practicing safe sex simply by using a $1 condom. If you want to totally avoid the most minimum chance of contracting AIDS then keep your intimate, serum producing, body parts to yourself. That is until you have qualified a sexual partner through appropriate blood testing and within the holy bonds of matrimony.
Simple conclusion from a simple lesson. Thanks for the Magic lesson Mr. Earvin Johnson.
I worked in the pharmaceutical industry and our company had a candidate for treatment. The government was making all sorts of tax concessions to the pharm industry to come up with treatment for this dark illness. At the time of Johnson's diagnosis there was one drug only, ATZ. This was a antiretroviral drug classified as an NRTI, nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor. After 100's of millions of dollars of research there are 20 or so compounds today that treat the virus. Protease Inhibitors, Non Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, and on and on. Research is still pressing for a vaccine. The greater bulk of the disease now is found in Africa, amongst children who are born to HIV positive mothers. Little children who had no choice in the matter are afflicted with this fatal disease. The most famous child who was dx'd early was a young boy with hemophelia named Ryan White. He died at 17 from fully engaged AIDS.
Nowadays, if you are dx'd with HIV you get on the meds. You are placed on cocktails of the various drugs and are able to proceed though life living pretty normally. That is if you have access to 10's of thousands of dollars to procure the meds. If you are so unfortunate to live in South Africa where the median income is $500 per year then you are out of luck. You are going to die.
I had an acquaintance through my church who died from the illness in the early 90's. He was an attorney who had contracted the virus through a gay lifestyle. He found the Saviour and changed his lifestyle. He was a brilliant fellow and worked for a prestigious Association of high level corporations. He ultimately became one of the sickest people I had ever laid eyes on. I had been around these patients at a rotation I went through with my company. They were Hatians and the attending physicians at Jackson Memorial Hospital told us that they really did not know how that disease was transmitted. For all they knew, at that time, it could have been airborne during one of it's phases. He had told me that he had the ailment and how he had contracted it. As I mentioned, he had become my friend through our church association. He died at the young age of 37. If he had lived now he would have the prospects of a long life into the 80's. He would simply need to swallow the pills.
In America most of the HIV drugs are purchased through third party payers, the largest of course is Medicaid and Ryan White Title 21 funds. President Obama just signed a new version of the Ryan White funding. It makes it a little more understandeable why there are so many people in our country looking to pass a national healthcare bill with or without individual mandate. The country we live in has the highest standard of healthcare on the globe. Used to be if you had AIDS you wanted to be in the prison system because they were fighting desperately to contain the AIDS epidemic. You sure would not want to be a south African with the disease even today. Not unless you owned a diamond mine.
One thing we know about the disease is that it is spread through serum to serum contact. If you really think about that it gets down to a pretty earthy conclusion. You can greatly reduce your risk of infection by practicing safe sex simply by using a $1 condom. If you want to totally avoid the most minimum chance of contracting AIDS then keep your intimate, serum producing, body parts to yourself. That is until you have qualified a sexual partner through appropriate blood testing and within the holy bonds of matrimony.
Simple conclusion from a simple lesson. Thanks for the Magic lesson Mr. Earvin Johnson.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
The Phantom Buyer
He called on a Saturday morning. With his unique British accent he advised me that he was relocating to our area. He owned a string of nursing homes in Seattle and had his house under contract there for $790k. His plan was to buy a home here in our area. He would be paying cash for that home and needed it pretty quickly.
The code of ethics of our national association is to ask the question, " Are you currently working with another real estate agent?" He told me that he had been but they had undergone a parting of the ways and he was no longer working with them.
Times are hard in real estate so you at least meet with such a prospect to flush them out. I met them at a small motel in the lobby. We spent some time looking at properties on my computer via the motel's wi fi. He was with his wife who barely said two words. They had been married 30 days earlier. She was from West Virginia.
They had no car. He told me that he had just been released by our local hospital after having been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. They had no cell phone as she had dropped the phone into the commode at the $49 per night motel. Neither did they have a computer. They had no car as he had been forbidden to drive because of the seizures associated with his brain cancer. He had surrendered his license. She had never had a drivers license and did not drive. I asked them how they were going to purchase real estate without photo ID's. He told me that they had passports and that there was no better identification than those.
I elected to show them some vacant homes and spent the next couple of hours taking them to look. They had no cash to swing through McDonalds to get a sandwich. I told them that they took credit cards. His answer was that they had left those in their room. He liked one of the properties we looked at and was most likely going to make an offer.
They were pleasant. He was almost likeable except he dressed badly and needed some deodorant. I dropped them back at their motel and he told me he would call me the next day. I went home got on the internet to try and find a trace of him there to no avail. I checked the property appraiser's database back where he said he was from and there was no record of him owning property there. I smelled a big, fat rat.
He called me back the next PM which was Sunday and wanted to go take another look at one of the houses we had looked at. I told him that before we loaded up to do anymore looking I wanted to see the contract on the home he was selling in Seattle or a letter of financial capability from a banker, attorney or someone back in Seattle. He told me that I would be recieving such in my e-mail in box the next morning. Monday was my golf day.
I loaded up to play golf with my friend who is also a realtor and making small talk told him about the Phantom client. He sells new homes in one of our new neighborhoods here. He described the phantom buyer to me and told me that one of our local brokers had brought him into one of their model homes and that he had met him. Same sort of variation on the no car, from Seattle, had a home under contract there and was paying cash for their home purchase. I called the agent to whom he referred. I advised him that this phantom buyer had called me on Saturday and I put him into my car and showed him property after he had told me that they had parted ways. He told me that he was meeting with this man that very afternoon to look at more houses and that they had never parted ways. Later in the week he advised me that he had discovered that our friend was working with at least 3 other agents.
Now what is the phantom buyer up to? He is obviously not who he says he is and their circumstances are cloudy. I thought back a to visit I had with my Aunt who worked for Traveler's Aid in Los Angeles more than twenty years ago. She was a social worker and had an office in LAX. She described to me her full time responsibilities. She advised me that there was a huge cadre of mentally ill people who travel all over the country constantly. They beg, borrow or steal money for airfare. When they run up against the wall in their hustle they came to them for help. She advised that that they had a budget to assist such travelers. They could help them with lodging, food and transportation to an extent. They would then move on down the road and play some other role to a different audience.
My son who is a law enforcement person told me that there was no law that he knew of against being crazy. I had just lost 3-4 hours of my life entertaining these people. he said that they were usually harmless and just traveled around getting by.
I was a bit bristly about being hustled and wondered how I could measure out some retribution. However, I played a decent round of golf and enjoyed being with my friends. I got home to a loving wife in our comfortable home, pulled my car into the driveway next to my other car and retrieved nourishment from my refigerator. I then thought of the phantom and ultimately began to feel somewhat sorry for him. I suppose that is just what drives him onwards to another town to another realtor, medical provider, social worker to play the same game.
The code of ethics of our national association is to ask the question, " Are you currently working with another real estate agent?" He told me that he had been but they had undergone a parting of the ways and he was no longer working with them.
Times are hard in real estate so you at least meet with such a prospect to flush them out. I met them at a small motel in the lobby. We spent some time looking at properties on my computer via the motel's wi fi. He was with his wife who barely said two words. They had been married 30 days earlier. She was from West Virginia.
They had no car. He told me that he had just been released by our local hospital after having been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. They had no cell phone as she had dropped the phone into the commode at the $49 per night motel. Neither did they have a computer. They had no car as he had been forbidden to drive because of the seizures associated with his brain cancer. He had surrendered his license. She had never had a drivers license and did not drive. I asked them how they were going to purchase real estate without photo ID's. He told me that they had passports and that there was no better identification than those.
I elected to show them some vacant homes and spent the next couple of hours taking them to look. They had no cash to swing through McDonalds to get a sandwich. I told them that they took credit cards. His answer was that they had left those in their room. He liked one of the properties we looked at and was most likely going to make an offer.
They were pleasant. He was almost likeable except he dressed badly and needed some deodorant. I dropped them back at their motel and he told me he would call me the next day. I went home got on the internet to try and find a trace of him there to no avail. I checked the property appraiser's database back where he said he was from and there was no record of him owning property there. I smelled a big, fat rat.
He called me back the next PM which was Sunday and wanted to go take another look at one of the houses we had looked at. I told him that before we loaded up to do anymore looking I wanted to see the contract on the home he was selling in Seattle or a letter of financial capability from a banker, attorney or someone back in Seattle. He told me that I would be recieving such in my e-mail in box the next morning. Monday was my golf day.
I loaded up to play golf with my friend who is also a realtor and making small talk told him about the Phantom client. He sells new homes in one of our new neighborhoods here. He described the phantom buyer to me and told me that one of our local brokers had brought him into one of their model homes and that he had met him. Same sort of variation on the no car, from Seattle, had a home under contract there and was paying cash for their home purchase. I called the agent to whom he referred. I advised him that this phantom buyer had called me on Saturday and I put him into my car and showed him property after he had told me that they had parted ways. He told me that he was meeting with this man that very afternoon to look at more houses and that they had never parted ways. Later in the week he advised me that he had discovered that our friend was working with at least 3 other agents.
Now what is the phantom buyer up to? He is obviously not who he says he is and their circumstances are cloudy. I thought back a to visit I had with my Aunt who worked for Traveler's Aid in Los Angeles more than twenty years ago. She was a social worker and had an office in LAX. She described to me her full time responsibilities. She advised me that there was a huge cadre of mentally ill people who travel all over the country constantly. They beg, borrow or steal money for airfare. When they run up against the wall in their hustle they came to them for help. She advised that that they had a budget to assist such travelers. They could help them with lodging, food and transportation to an extent. They would then move on down the road and play some other role to a different audience.
My son who is a law enforcement person told me that there was no law that he knew of against being crazy. I had just lost 3-4 hours of my life entertaining these people. he said that they were usually harmless and just traveled around getting by.
I was a bit bristly about being hustled and wondered how I could measure out some retribution. However, I played a decent round of golf and enjoyed being with my friends. I got home to a loving wife in our comfortable home, pulled my car into the driveway next to my other car and retrieved nourishment from my refigerator. I then thought of the phantom and ultimately began to feel somewhat sorry for him. I suppose that is just what drives him onwards to another town to another realtor, medical provider, social worker to play the same game.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Groundhog's Day
Happy Groundhogs Day to all my friends, relatives and the other two people who might follow my BLOG. I just watched Punxsutawney Phil's prediction from Gobblers Knob in Pennsylvania. They held the chubby little fellow up and took him to his podium where the President of the Punxsutawney Phil club via his magical cane deciphered for us what Phil's prediction was. Today it was for 6 more weeks of winter predicated on the length of shadows cast about on the Knob and of course, Phil’s own shadow.
One of my favorite movies, starring one of my favorite actors, Bill Murray, is Groundhogs Day. Of course the plot is a train of recurring days that are just alike in every detail. I sort of feel like the election cycle we are in is sort of a Groundhog’s day. Every day we hear the same stuff, almost verbatim, from the same candidates.
In place of the President of the Punxsutawney Phil club on Gobblers Knobb, Pennsylvania we have the ever present news media to interpret what the candidate is really saying. The left media takes whatever the right says out of context and vice versa. Ergo the final product we have going into our ears is about as reliable as the same pronouncement we had from Phil this morning. America has largely given up thinking for themselves and judging by their own shadows the remaining days of winter or who is right in the Presidential posturing. We have our own “Phil” prognosticator be their name, Beck, Limbaugh, Krauthammer, Malkin, Palin, Coulter, Hannity, etc.
It is enough to drive you mad as the meteorologist played by Bill Murray in the movie. Let me give you some advice. Stop listening to all of them. Get yourself a good book and read it. Watch C-Span. It is so boring it will coagulate your blood but it truly is fair and balanced. That is except for the crazy people who call in on the open lines who all have anger issues, dementia and just downright mean spiritedness.
So for those of you who believe that a groundhog can predict the weather, get a life. I used to shoot those things back on our farm in West Virginia. They are very destructive to pasture land and golf courses ( reference another Bill Murray movie “Caddy Shack’). For those of you who think all the talking heads have any more insight than you do about who needs to be President, rethink that issue. Determine who has the tool sets to fix the economy, keep us safe and lead the country and vote. Forget all the vindictive chatter that America likes to feed on. You will be better off.
One of my favorite movies, starring one of my favorite actors, Bill Murray, is Groundhogs Day. Of course the plot is a train of recurring days that are just alike in every detail. I sort of feel like the election cycle we are in is sort of a Groundhog’s day. Every day we hear the same stuff, almost verbatim, from the same candidates.
In place of the President of the Punxsutawney Phil club on Gobblers Knobb, Pennsylvania we have the ever present news media to interpret what the candidate is really saying. The left media takes whatever the right says out of context and vice versa. Ergo the final product we have going into our ears is about as reliable as the same pronouncement we had from Phil this morning. America has largely given up thinking for themselves and judging by their own shadows the remaining days of winter or who is right in the Presidential posturing. We have our own “Phil” prognosticator be their name, Beck, Limbaugh, Krauthammer, Malkin, Palin, Coulter, Hannity, etc.
It is enough to drive you mad as the meteorologist played by Bill Murray in the movie. Let me give you some advice. Stop listening to all of them. Get yourself a good book and read it. Watch C-Span. It is so boring it will coagulate your blood but it truly is fair and balanced. That is except for the crazy people who call in on the open lines who all have anger issues, dementia and just downright mean spiritedness.
So for those of you who believe that a groundhog can predict the weather, get a life. I used to shoot those things back on our farm in West Virginia. They are very destructive to pasture land and golf courses ( reference another Bill Murray movie “Caddy Shack’). For those of you who think all the talking heads have any more insight than you do about who needs to be President, rethink that issue. Determine who has the tool sets to fix the economy, keep us safe and lead the country and vote. Forget all the vindictive chatter that America likes to feed on. You will be better off.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
I am a Mormon
I am posting up on this subject today to make a point. The point is that we live in a nation principally built upon the basis of freedom of religion. I converted to the Mormon church in 1963 in Montgomery Alabama. My family lived next door to a family of Mormons. He was a Navy Chief assigned to Gunter Air Force base in Montgomery. I had never heard of the Mormon church. I was religious having attended many churches my entire life. I had been Presbyterian, Baptist, Church of Christ, Jehovah’s Witness until I was 16 and joined up with the Mormons. I was granted a bachelor’s degree by Huntingdon College. Huntingdon is a small private college owned by the Methodist church. I never heard anything in that four year curriculum to convince me that I was practicing my faith in a cult. The formal name of our church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have had many people tell me that I was not a Christian. How can that be if my church carries His name?
Now I will have to admit that over the almost 50 years that I have been a member of this church in the south, I have felt the sting of bias, bigotry and intolerance. At one time, if you were a Mormon, and lived in Missouri there was a standing gubernatorial extermination order issued by Governor Lilburn Boggs in the 1840’s. That extermination order was only recently rescinded by the legislature of Missouri. In my lifetime of membership in this church I have seen it grow from 1 million members when I joined to a number rapidly approaching 15 million members worldwide. It is the fourth largest congregation in America. It follows Catholicism, the Southern Baptists and the Methodists.
I married a girl who was born into the church. She was as all American as any girl could ever be. Her Mother raised her in the church. She was immensely popular in her school. She was a cheerleader, a beauty queen, a beta club member and always set an example of living her life to a very high standard and does that to this day. She attended and graduated from Brigham Young University in 1970. Mitt Romney was her classmate.
She and I have raised 3 children in this church. Our son is a college graduate and is a law enforcement officer for one of the biggest agencies in Florida. He played baseball in High School and some in college. He served a two year mission in Argentina. He speaks fluent Spanish. He married a Mormon girl who is cut from the same bolt of cloth as his Mother. She is superlative in any way you want to analyze her. She is beautiful, hard-working, a faithful wife and Mother and a college graduate. They are raising their little daughter in the church.
Our oldest daughter has always been a top performer in anything you would like to measure her in. She graduated from a high school of more than 2,000 students. She was top 50 in her class. She played softball, was all Big Bend. She was a member of the National Honor Society. She was elected prom queen and was a member of the homecoming court. She went on to graduate from Florida State University, cum laude. She married a young man who served a two year church mission in France. He speaks french fluently. He graduated magna cum laude from Florida State and from their medical school. He and my daughter completed a medical residency in Pensacola where he was chief resident. He is a practicing Obstetrician/Gynecologist. They have three wonderful, bright and popular little girls that they are raising in the church.
Our youngest daughter is immensely talented and is a graduate of the University of Florida. She attended the University of Florida on an academic scholarship. She has always worked hard and made fabulous decisions. She played tennis in high school . She is beautiful and has an immense cadre of friends. She married a young man who served a mission in Venezuela. He speaks fluent Spanish. He holds a BA from U of F and an MA from Florida State University. He worked as a software consultant for a worldwide company. He traveled internationally and performed well for them. He currently works for the Florida State University helping to administer their People Soft program. They are raising their three children in this church.
I worked for a Fortune 400 company for thirty years and advanced to work at an executive level . I currently run my own company as a sole proprietor. I have volunteered as a little league president, boy scout leader, been a Kiwanis club member, volunteer at the local homeless shelter, etc.
All of this information is in order to communicate to the reader that my Mormon faith has contributed to making my family MAINSTREAM American. At the same time we are in the midst of a presidential race and a frontrunner to the nomination is a Mormon. Most of the talking heads characterize him as unelectable. They soft shoe around the reason why. It is not that he is too moderate, too rich, too much of a flip flopper, too this and too that. The basic reason that most people proclaim him to be unelectable is that he is too Mormon.
Bias, prejudice and intolerance reigns supreme in the hearts of way too many Americans. We are a better country than that.
Now I will have to admit that over the almost 50 years that I have been a member of this church in the south, I have felt the sting of bias, bigotry and intolerance. At one time, if you were a Mormon, and lived in Missouri there was a standing gubernatorial extermination order issued by Governor Lilburn Boggs in the 1840’s. That extermination order was only recently rescinded by the legislature of Missouri. In my lifetime of membership in this church I have seen it grow from 1 million members when I joined to a number rapidly approaching 15 million members worldwide. It is the fourth largest congregation in America. It follows Catholicism, the Southern Baptists and the Methodists.
I married a girl who was born into the church. She was as all American as any girl could ever be. Her Mother raised her in the church. She was immensely popular in her school. She was a cheerleader, a beauty queen, a beta club member and always set an example of living her life to a very high standard and does that to this day. She attended and graduated from Brigham Young University in 1970. Mitt Romney was her classmate.
She and I have raised 3 children in this church. Our son is a college graduate and is a law enforcement officer for one of the biggest agencies in Florida. He played baseball in High School and some in college. He served a two year mission in Argentina. He speaks fluent Spanish. He married a Mormon girl who is cut from the same bolt of cloth as his Mother. She is superlative in any way you want to analyze her. She is beautiful, hard-working, a faithful wife and Mother and a college graduate. They are raising their little daughter in the church.
Our oldest daughter has always been a top performer in anything you would like to measure her in. She graduated from a high school of more than 2,000 students. She was top 50 in her class. She played softball, was all Big Bend. She was a member of the National Honor Society. She was elected prom queen and was a member of the homecoming court. She went on to graduate from Florida State University, cum laude. She married a young man who served a two year church mission in France. He speaks french fluently. He graduated magna cum laude from Florida State and from their medical school. He and my daughter completed a medical residency in Pensacola where he was chief resident. He is a practicing Obstetrician/Gynecologist. They have three wonderful, bright and popular little girls that they are raising in the church.
Our youngest daughter is immensely talented and is a graduate of the University of Florida. She attended the University of Florida on an academic scholarship. She has always worked hard and made fabulous decisions. She played tennis in high school . She is beautiful and has an immense cadre of friends. She married a young man who served a mission in Venezuela. He speaks fluent Spanish. He holds a BA from U of F and an MA from Florida State University. He worked as a software consultant for a worldwide company. He traveled internationally and performed well for them. He currently works for the Florida State University helping to administer their People Soft program. They are raising their three children in this church.
I worked for a Fortune 400 company for thirty years and advanced to work at an executive level . I currently run my own company as a sole proprietor. I have volunteered as a little league president, boy scout leader, been a Kiwanis club member, volunteer at the local homeless shelter, etc.
All of this information is in order to communicate to the reader that my Mormon faith has contributed to making my family MAINSTREAM American. At the same time we are in the midst of a presidential race and a frontrunner to the nomination is a Mormon. Most of the talking heads characterize him as unelectable. They soft shoe around the reason why. It is not that he is too moderate, too rich, too much of a flip flopper, too this and too that. The basic reason that most people proclaim him to be unelectable is that he is too Mormon.
Bias, prejudice and intolerance reigns supreme in the hearts of way too many Americans. We are a better country than that.
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