Soon To Be Featured on MTV Cribs

Can a black man get treated fairly in this country? Oh yes he can, especially if he is an influential U.S. senator. More than fairly, in fact:

Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois.

The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a "super super jumbo." Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates.

Compared with the average terms offered at the time in Chicago, Obama's rate could have saved him more than $300 per month.
***
In Obama's case, he received a lower rate than the average offered at the time in Chicago for similarly structured jumbo loans. He secured his final mortgage commitment on June 8, 2005, and during that week, rates on similar loans for which information is available averaged 5.93 percent, according to HSH Associates, which surveys lenders. Another survey firm, Bankrate.com, placed the average at 6 percent.

"It's certainly safe to say that this borrower did better than average," said Keith Gumbinger, an HSH vice president, noting that consumer rates vary widely. "It's a good deal."
***
The Obamas had no prior relationship with Northern Trust when they applied for the loan. They received an oral commitment on Feb. 4, 2005, and locked in the rate of 5.625 percent, the campaign said. On that date, HSH data show, the average rate in Chicago for a 30-year fixed-rate jumbo loan with no points was about 5.94 percent.

Jumbo loans are for amounts up to $650,000, but the Obamas' $1.32 million loan was so large that few comparables are available. Mortgage specialists say that many high-end buyers pay cash.

Read the whole Washington Post story here. Oh, one other thing:

Since 1990, Northern Trust employees have donated more than $739,000 to federal campaigns, including $71,000 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Mushrooms Good for You

Yet another study that says psilocybin can be helpful for addiction, and paitents with fatal diseases:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The "spiritual" effects of psilocybin from so-called sacred mushrooms last for more than a year and may offer a way to help patients with fatal diseases or addictions, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

The researchers also said their findings show there are safe ways to test psychoactive drugs on willing volunteers, if guidelines are followed.

In 2006, Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues gave psilocybin to 36 volunteers and asked them how it felt. Most reported having a "mystical" or "spiritual" experience and rated it positively.

More than a year later, most still said the experience increased their sense of well-being or life satisfaction, Griffiths and colleagues report in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

"This is a truly remarkable finding," Griffiths said in a statement. "Rarely in psychological research do we see such persistently positive reports from a single event in the laboratory."

Full article here.

Scooter Bleg

I'm interested in buying a used (but working) scooter. If there're any readers in the extended Baltimore/DC area trying to sell one, or if anyone knows someone who's trying to unload one, send me an e-mail at tothepeople_at_gmail.com. Thanks.

PS -- If any city dwellers who own a scooter would like to give me a brief rundown on the how-to's of successfully parking your scooter (ie, the scooter is still there when you come back) I'd appreciate that as well.

A 3rd Bush Term

Obama's bold plan...To continue and expand faith-based programs:

CHICAGO - Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans that would expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and -- in a move sure to cause controversy -- support their ability to hire and fire based on faith.

Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks today at Eastside Community Ministry in Zanesville, Ohio. The arm of Central Presbyterian Church operates a food bank, provides clothes, has a youth ministry and provides other services in its impoverished community

Full story here.

Truckers Now Spending Whore Money On Gas Instead

The economic downturn continues to impact honest, hard-working folks, according to this AP story:

RENO, Nevada (AP) -- Rising fuel prices are putting a pinch on the world's oldest profession.

Nevada brothels that cater to long-haul truckers are offering gas cards and other promotions after seeing business decline as much as 25 percent from a year ago, industry officials said.

Geoffrey Arnold, president of the Nevada Brothel Owners' Association, said truckers account for up to 75 percent of business at the state's rural brothels along Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 95.

He said business is down about 19 percent at his two northern Nevada brothels along I-80: Donna's Ranch in Wells and Donna's Battle Mountain Ranch.

"We're being affected by the economy like everybody else," Arnold said. "Times are tougher ... and truckers have less money to spend. They're not high-rollers anymore."
***
Hardest hit are independent truckers, who must pay for their own fuel, said George Flint, a lobbyist for the brothel owners' association.

"So there goes your disposable income to have a little fun," Flint told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Since January, the number of long-haul trucks based in Nevada has dropped by 4,100, or 12 percent, said Paul Eons of the Nevada Motor Transport Association.

So, there is a Nevada Brothel Owners' Association and it has a lobbyist? Wow, how does one get that job?

Pack Shack Foils Howard County at Every Anti-Pornography Turn

Is this the definition of having nothing better to do?

For 11 years, Howard County officials and some residents have fought to close the jurisdiction's only adult bookstore.

They've passed legislation and waged costly legal battles, only to be thwarted time and again.

And now, despite a county law designed to force the Ellicott City store to move away from nearby homes or close, the Pack Shack appears poised to prevail again - maintaining its "Adult Video" sign along a busy stretch of U.S. 40, along with shelves of explicit movies, skimpy lingerie and sex toys.

The store's solution? Filling its basement and other little-used areas with a broad selection of used books that most customers may never see.

"I'm very bitter," said John Baronas, an Ellicott City resident who first protested the store in 1997 and fears that pornography spurs sex crimes. "Why, if [Rudolph W.] Giuliani can clean up Times Square, can't we get rid of an eyesore?"

It doesn't say in the article, but I'm pretty sure John is bitter because he doesn't have a brain. To begin with Ellicott City isn't Times Square. It's Ellicott City...In Howard County, MD. One of the richest, crime-free counties in the Baltimore-Washington area. There isn't a rape epidemic, or any crime epidemic in Howard County because of one porno store called The Pack Shack (which incidentally is a great name). In 2007 there were 19 rapes (yet county police only arrested 6 suspects) in the entire county to go along with 4 murders within a county population that is over 270,000. The rape rate is nearly half of what it is for the rest of Maryland, and homicide rate doesn't even come close to the state average.

And just a reminder for John: It's 2008 and we are blessed with computers and the Internet, both of which allow scumbags like myself to stay up until all hours of the morning watching completely free and completely disgusting porn in my very own home. While I'm sure The Pack Shack gives its customers a helluva' selection you could no more stem the flow of pornography into your county by unlawfully closing one porn shop than you could slow the flow of white yuppies in Howard County by closing down one Starbucks.* However, that isn't an argument for closing The Pack Shack; it's a business that follows the law and clearly has a market, and just because some activists and silly county executives don't like it doesn't mean that's a good enough reason to close it.

More here including how the county blew $187,000 in taxpayer money.

*Disclaimer: I own a very small amount of Starbucks stock that like most everything else in my portfolio has lost me a lot of money in the last 3 months.

Translation: After 3 Years Americans Will Do Anything They're Told

Iowa becomes the newest smoke-free state starting tomorrow:

The state expects to make roughly 800 "compliance checks" during the first year of a statewide smoking ban scheduled to take effect Tuesday, but that number should drop to nearly zero within two years.

Bonnie Mapes, a division director in the Iowa Department of Public Health, told state Board of Health members Friday that her office expects 3,000 to 4,000 complaints about public smoking during the first year of the new ban. But only 800 or so of those complaints should require someone to visit the location in question, she said.

Based on the experiences of other states, site visits in response to complaints should drop by half in the second year, Mapes said: "By the third year, it's a community norm and virtually nothing needs to be done."

State board members on Friday approved 13 pages of rules governing how the smoking ban, approved by the Iowa Legislature in April, will be implemented beginning Tuesday.

Amazing...What can't 3 years and 13 pages of regulation accomplish?

Libertarian Candidate Spotlight: Sonny Landham

Mr. Landham is running on the LP ticket in Kentucky, targeting Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. Who is Landham? Well, he's a movie actor who appeared in such films as 48 Hours, Poltergeist and Predator. Before that he appeared in porn movies, something that he now argues is no big deal:

"That was 30 years ago," he said with a laugh. "If you've seen the porno movies, you've seen my shortcomings."

Checkout his personal website here (sfw).

So, Even if You Don't Plan On Raping a Child, You Might Want to Avoid Louisiana

Christ, this seems a tad extreme. Gov Bobby Jindal Signs Castration Law.

I feel better about executing a convicted child rapist than I do about chemically, or even physically castrating him. This couldn't seriously get through the courts, right?

Throughly Ineffective Ban Declared Void

The only thing better than reading about the Supreme Court's overturning of the DC gun ban in today's paper is reading the hissyfit reactions of pro-gun control columnists.

The Hardest Working Dead Man in Show Business

Death Row records was sold this week to some faceless company called Global Music Group. The label that defined hip-hop in the 90s fell on hard times thanks to the legal woes of its owner, Suge Knight.

So what does the new owner get?

[T]he Tennessee based-indie took immediate ownership of the label’s entire catalogue, including 20 unreleased records by the late Tupac Shakur.

20 fucking albums? Tupac has already been more prolific in life than he was in death and he's still got 20 more albums ready to go? Wha?

Back in '98 or so a friend told me he thought Tupac had faked his death because he was still releasing albums. I laughed at him. I wouldn't do that today.

The Do-Nothing Congress? I Like the Sound of That

The Washington Post's David Broder declares that gerrymandering voting districts is a bad, bad thing because:

Gerrymandered, one-party districts tend to send highly partisan representatives to the House or the legislature, contributing to the gridlock in government that is so distasteful to voters.

Distasteful to Washington Post editorialists maybe. For the rest of us, a Congress incapable of passing any bills is about the best we can hope for.

It's Not Just Fines Anymore

You can now get the cops to come to your house and arrest you for speeding past those traffic light cameras.

Headline of the Day

Toilet only casualty as MILF attacks Army base--spokesman

No, not that kind of MILF. The Islamic fundamentalistic kind. Read the whole story here.

Obama Too Cool....for Scarlett?

Obama moves to knock down any rumors that he has an "e-mail relationship" with Scarlett Johansson:

LOS ANGELES -- As he headed to a Hollywood fundraiser, Sen. Barack Obama downplayed the idea that he hobnobs with actress Scarlett Johansson.[...]

She said Obama had responded to one note about a debate, commenting to her that the questions were "silly."

But speaking to reporters aboard his campaign plane, Obama said the actress doesn't have his personal email address. "She sent one email to Reggie, who forwarded it to me," Obama said, referring to his 26-year-old personal assistant, Reggie Love. "I write saying, 'thank you Scarlett for doing what you do,' and suddenly we have this email relationship"

Wow. I'm starting to reconsider my position on Obama. The steel reserve of this man to downplay any contact with Scarlett Johansson instead of grabbing the nearest mic and announcing that "yes, I AM having sex, all kinds of sex, with Scarlett" is admirable. No idea how he does it, but that's composure.

Via Mickey Kaus. Full post at The Trail, here.

A New Breed of Pointless Protestors, Growing Up In Front of Our Very Own Eyes

Lessons in Parenting 2008: Worthless Complaining for Kids 101:

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Sadie and Pyper Vance have had just about enough of high gas prices. The sisters are still years away from being old enough to drive, but that doesn't mean the $4 per gallon price tag isn't hitting them as hard as anyone else.

Cable TV was one of the family's budget-cutting casualties, leaving Sadie, 9, and her 7-year-old sister without their favorite cartoons and shows.

"Gas prices are too high," Sadie said. "I just decided to come and protest so they'd go down."

We Get Mail

I don't think this qualifies as a cease and desist; or if it does this goes down as the greatest cease and desist letter ever. From Serg G (it's long but well worth reading the entire thing):

Hello dear ladies and gentlemen!
I would like inform you that Scarlett Johansson (actress) actually is a clone from original person, who has nothing with acting career. That clone was created illegally by using stolen biological material. Original person is very nice (not damn sexy), most important - CHRISTIAN young lady!
I'll tell you guys more, that clones (it's not only one) made in GERMANY - world leader manufacturer of humans clones, it is in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, North Bavaria, Mr. Helmut Kohl home town. You can not even imaging the scale of the cloning activity. But warning! Helmut Kohl clone staff 100% controlling all their clones spreading around the world, they are very accurate with that, some of them are still NAZI type disciplined and mind controlled clones, so be careful get close with clones you will be controlled as well. Think wise..
Apparently those clones are very actively shown on your website. This is just a warning, because original person is not happy about those images and video, rumors and etc., in that way it would be really nice if you try slow down that ''actress'' career development on your website, original Scarlett's parents will really appreciated that. Please do that, do not wait until FBI agent give you a call with questions. Please remember that original family did not authorize any activity with stolen biological materials, no matter what form it was created, it all need to be return back to original family control to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Original Scarlett is not engage!
Her close friend Serg G.

Wow. What a piece of spam.