Very Local News

• "No one is buying new cars." Sales were down 2.x% or 4.x% last quarter. I guess that means no one. I would not have thought that vehicle sales would be the first big thing to go south in bad times. People have a hard time getting credit.  I would as well right now. The country is tightening it's belt a notch.
  
• That flipping dune buggy video I put on the blog last night was cool. It had a bunch of related videos that for some reason I could not get to play. I was too worn out to track down the videos by hand or fix the problem. It has something to do with MySpace and Flash. <groan> I think of that combination and feel weak. It turned out my pop-up blocker was preventing the stupid Flash thing from opening a new window. Does any one on the internet still allow pop-ups?
  
• People keep saying the dollar is stronger. It isn't really. The rest of the world is being drug down by the tanking dollar. The Euro is down against the dollar because inflation caused by the falling dollar is affecting the Euro.  The price of Oil is not really dropping. The same thing is happening there. The affects of inflation and dropping demand are dragging the price down temporarily.  The same cycle will happen again next year at about the same time. Though, I don't think the powers that be can blame the rise on Summer travel next year. Summer travel didn't really happen this year. I bet it is down next year as well.
• Pelosi has competition. Sheehan is running against Pelosi. As much as I am disappointed in Pelosi's leadership, I think Sheehan will be worse. No worries though. Sheehan is running as an independent. She doesn't have a chance in our two party system. I wonder if Sheehan is serious. I bet she is ready to spend a fortune of other people's money on a useless cause that will ultimately only piss off the people who are on her side.
  
• The U. S. has little respect in Bolivia because of the war on terror and war on drugs both of which have gotten a lot of people locked up. The U. S. is also giving sanctuary to some prick who the Bolivian courts want to lay their hands on. It is a bit like the Shaw of Iran hiding in plane sight in the U. S..
  
• The house where Lizzy Bordon's parent's were killed is now a bed and breakfast. You can get a t-shirt that says "I survived forty whacks" or something like that. It is now involved in a lawsuit with a place that wants to call itself the Lizzy Borden Muslim.
  
• Next year, China will overtake the U. S. as leader in manufactured goods. This will be four years earlier than predicted by someone several years ago.How hard is it to learn Chinese?