Free Republic

>>Last week, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said home prices fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter, the largest drop in its 17-year history and only the second quarter of price declines recorded.<<

Someone needs to tell Texas and New Mexico. I've been closely watching home prices in west Texas and in New Mexico for months and I have not seen a drop in prices. The overpriced house next door to mine in Albuquerque sold in less than 30 days.

Coyotes are not listed as threatened or endangered under the Federal ESA. However, States may have their own protection mechanisms.

Americans who are still studying in the National Archives are just starting their research so there is always a lot of "scurrying" among excited "new discoverers." In the D.C. area, the Library of Congress is "where it's at" with more books on your particular American family lines than you can read in a lifetime.

Since our children are getting so little knowledge of American history in our public schools beyond the fact that Thomas Jefferson may have had black children, a personal study of one's own American heritage has become the home study course for real American history. Also, knowing where one comes from gives one a better sense of where you need to go.

BTW, anyone need a LOC copy card with $20 or $30 still left on it? :) I had only the opportunity to scurry around the place for about five years when more urgent retirement plans took me out of the City of Information.

BTW, the LDS Genealogy Center at Kensington, MD is another good place to scurry about.

Reminds me of the time New York City wanted to bury their human waste in New Mexico. My thought is you make it in your State, you bury it in your State. The same goes for for nuclear waste.

Let me see if I get this right. OPEC and oil speculators do everything in their power to drive up the price of oil and fuel prices in order to increase their profits. This is smart business. Rising fuel prices result in an interest in alternative energy sources and American farmers find themselves handed a golden goose. However, for farmers to cash that goose they must be greedy?

Consumer interest in ethanol, as well as rising prices for food and consumer goods, only follows skyrocketing fuel prices. To say that using grains for fuel is the only cause for food shortages is the sort of analysis that selectively picks its facts. Ethanol production is only a middle link in a chain of events that led us to this point.

>>"I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms. But just because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can't constrain the exercise of that right," he said.<<

And just because Article II of the Constitution established the Office of the President, whose to say we need one?

Route 66! Yep, I remember that TV series. Martin Milner and George Maharis starred in it. I live just a mile or so from Route 66 and occasionally can be found in the Route 66 Diner in Albuquerque. That 'Vette that Milner had in that series was I believe a 1960 model. It would be worth more than a few bucks nowadays. My favorite is the 1962 model.

Who knows I may buy a Corvette yet. Who needs teeth and what's there worth hearing anymore?

The rules of frugality also work in another way as well. When I was 18 years old, I wanted a Corvette but did not buy one instead electing to put my money in the bank. Now that I’m sixty and have the money to buy a Corvette, I don’t want one and can spend my savings for teeth and a hearing aid.

No, the dog would probably be allowed to take a taxi home.

God bless your uncle. He sounds like he was a very unselfish person. I once knew Mr. Ed Dean, head of the Texas High Plains Cotton Growers, Inc. who almost died during the Bataan Death March. He too was amazing fellow.

Most Americans would put their mother in the trunk for a 5” black and white TV. For a large flat screen, they’d tie her to the roof.

>>18 years ofcontinuous use required by state law in order to assert the squatter's-rights law.<<

In Texas the "public" may take your property in only six or seven years.

For those who don't know, this small west Texas town built a street across my lot a couple of summers ago while I was away one weekend. They did this without my permission or a "right-of-way." By Monday, the public was already using the street. A strategically placed 40' railroad tie and a meeting with the City Manager stopped what was essentially a land-grab by the City government.

I can't speak for the rest of the world but for the U.S. who still has significant amounts of farm land, the last census revealed that farm kids are just not staying on the farm. Just yesterday I (a retired 60 year old) was offered a job at $100 a day driving a grain combine because the owner can't find dependable workers. His employees last summer tore the automatic transmission out of his tool truck in Colorado and one left the diesel tank cap off one of the semi-trucks during a rainstorm and very expensive injector work was required.

This all doesn't speak well for the continued health and welfare of the human species at least in America.

>>Yeah likely the libs, but ethanol? <<

My thoughts exactly. It's a piecemealed logic at best to overlook the ever-rising prices of diesel and gasoline used in the harvest and transport of the limes. Even the interest in ethanol can be blamed on high gasoline and diesel prices.

McCain said he knows very little about how the economy works. If gas prices are truly driven by market pressures, removing the taxes would be expected to have little effect on the price at the pump. And too, even if (and it’s a very big “if”) retailers and wholesalers actually passed the savings toward the consumers, increased demand would drive the cost right back up. It’s an idea not well thought out.

As a crew chief on the now-defunct F-111 fighter-bomber in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it is my understand that had I gone to England with the aircraft in the 1970s, I could not give blood today. One F-111 pilot actually died from the disease.

Much of this nonsense derives from the many U-Haulers and retirees who are now flooding the State from their own socialized-sickened States. Just go to City-Data forum for New Mexico and read some of the threads about those planning to move to New Mexico. The State is actually thriving during these tough housing market times. See that story here. It's a great time to sell my Albuquerque home to one of these U-Haulers and headback west Texas, one of the few refuges left for conservatism.

My family’s prayers are certainly with you. My 86-year old mom fell during Hurricane Rita and broke her arm when the family had to evacuate the Texas Gulf coast. From that accident her health declined rapidly and in June of 2006 she exited this short sad life and began an eternal happy one.

When the birds start feeding on the mice in my garages and barns, I’ll defend them against the feral cats that inhabit this west Texas property. Also the cats keep the obnoxious European Starlings away. Right now, my vote is for the cats.

There’s a rumor fast spreading that Werner Trucking has filed for bankruptcy due to the rising cost of diesel fuel. Apparently this is NOT true.

You are right but remember that it is the high price of petroleum that initiates an interest in ethanol. Your choice is simple. You can pay the middle-Eastern oilman or you can pay the American farmer.

BTW, I read here in FR somewhere in recent weeks that 160 ethanol plants were built in the US last year. It's getting difficult to believe that enviros are solely responsible for the non-construction of petroleum refineries. It seems more cogent to believe that the oil industry has little interest in spending money on anything that would lower the price of their product.

I would say Al Gore is more inconsequential than anything else.

>>An array of unintended consequences is wreaking havoc on the economy, food production and, perhaps most ironically, the environment.<<

Geez! And I thought it was caused by $3.30 gasoline and $4.00 diesel?

Looking for love (and money) in all the wrong places.

Many years ago I had a male Boston Terrier who, after being badly injured in his hip area when he tangled with a large neighborhood dog, learned to walk on his front legs. He could even go up and down steps and it was quite an astounding sight. His wounds eventually healed and he went back to a normal all-fours posture and we could never get him to do it again. I probably have pics of Stubby walking around the house on his front legs but they are probably on Super 8mm. Boston Terriers are an amazing breed to be sure.

Yes there are a couple of the counties, including my own, that are up here in the Panhandle. Our problem is we have a lot of county roads to maintain and only one small town of about 5,000 people.

My brother-in-law’s grandmother (a McGarrah) was from McKinney in the 1860s. I grew up in deep east Texas but I just can’t take that humidity anymore.

>>Tennessee sucks rocks......<<

It's been a lot of years since I visited Tennessee but the Grand Ol' Opry and the horse farms around Murphysboro, were GREAT.

Texans don't believe it! Tennessee is a beautiful State and Texans won't even have to lose their accent or change their music.

You made me curious. Apparently they mine uranium down there. Now that’s a new one on me.

I’m willing to bet this Mr. Sussman was a “newcomer” from the North to New Mexico. One doesn’t just find “an alternate route” in New Mexico. Most times you’re dang lucky to have the main road.

I've been in many Texas counties but can't recall ever even driving through Karnes or Kenedy Counties. There must be someone down there willing to pay those high taxes?

Texas taxes continue to be a mystery to me.

Collin County appears to have some fiscally responsible County leadership. It is one of Texas' lowest rates and has been so for some time. Here are the rates from 1991 to 2006:

1991 - 0.2209

1992 - 0.26

1993 - 0.26

1994 - 0.26

1995 - 0.26

1996 - 0.26

1997 - 0.26

1998 - 0.25

1999 - 0.25

2000 - 0.25

2001 - 0.25

2002 - 0.25

2003 - 0.25

2004 - 0.25

2005 - 0.25

2006 - 0.245

Source can be found here.

I was incorrect in my first post. The highest rate belongs to Duval County, Texas with a rate of $1.03 per $100 appraisal value. Here are the 32 highest Texas counties for total property taxes.

The rates are shown as cents per $100 of appraisal value and are shown with their county seats. All are rural counties.

1. Duval County (San Diego) $1.03

2. Jim Hogg County (Hebbronville $0.9936

3. Throckmorton County (Throckmorton) $0.98704

4. Fisher County (Roby) $0.95

5. Foard County (Crowell) $0.9417

6. Delta County (Cooper) $0.932296

7. Lynn County (Tahoka) $0.9145

8. Falls County (Marlin) $0.8498

9. Crosby County (Crosbyton) $0.8497

10. Culberson County (Van Horn) $0.80732

11. Motley County (Matador) $0.8

12. King County (Guthrie) $0.7942

13. Karnes County (Karnes) $0.7885

14. Haskell County (Haskell) $0.7803

15. Oldham County (Vega) $0.78

16. Collingsworth County (Wellington) $0.77558

17. Lamb County (Littlefield) $0.7642

18. Atascosa County (Jourdanton) $0.7595

19. Knox County (Benjamin) $0.7566

20. Kinney County (Brackettville) $0.7554

21. Childress County (Childress) $0.754

22. Frio County (Pearsall) $0.753

23. Bailey County (Muleshoe) $0.7446

24. Runnels County (Ballinger) $0.74296

25. Zapata County (Zapata) $0.736096

26. Swisher County (Tulia) $0.71

27. Coleman County (Coleman) $0.7211

28. Dewitt County (Cuer0) $0.72236

29. Zavala County (Crystal City) $0.723206

30. Kenedy County (Sarita) $0.70671

31. Red River County (Clarksville) $0.70473

32. Jasper County (Jasper) $0.7005

NOTE: Texas has 254 counties.

* Rates are based on 2006 rates.

Here are the 2006 total property tax rates for the Texas counties. These are given in cents per $100 of appraisal value.

Travis County (Austin) $0.4499

Denton County (Dallas) $0.23192

Tarrant County (Fort Worth) $0.3715

Harris County (Houston) $0.40239

Bexar County (San Antonio) $0.326866

I have property in a Texas county with a total rate at almost $0.75 so all of these I would consider to be very low. The 2006 property tax rates in Texas counties were as high as $0.9936 and as low as $0.23192. However, it is my guess that most people did little tax research before moving to Texas. They were just moving away from long winters and snow.

>>Does anyone know the Texas Two-Step?<<

Yes but then I am a Republican. When performed by Democrats it is called the Chinese Fire Drill.

>>Money has all but disappeared.<<

Had he said "The dollar has all but disappeared." he would have gotten one prediction right.

Again I must say,sorry for my delay in replying. I had a reply prepared yesterday morning but my server crashed right in the middle of it. My reply basically said that I am a retired biologist for the USDA and etc., etc., etc. but my reply was not so important. Better that I just mention that my family's prayers are with your family as your sister faces a terrible disease. I just called my oldest sister yesterday and wished her a happy 67th birthday.

I had better get this posted before my ISP goes down again. Good talking with you.

Sorry for my delay in reply but my ISP has been going down mid-morning for the past week.

While I agree with you on the the importance of bees for pollination purposes, Africanized bees have not been useful for commercial bee pollinators which are used to pollinate much of America's mono-agriculture. Like the coyote and the cockroach, Africanized bees are not likely to be exterminated even by well-intentioned urban lawmakers. It simply means that agriculture, and consumers, will have to adapt to changes that are sure to come in food production.

>>that Africanized bees are better than NO bees....<<

Having had Africanized bees set up housekeeping in some old tires in one of my old barns, and having been stung numerous times when trying to mow around these buggers, I respectfully disagree.

Okay. Sorry.

If you read Obama's supposed speech at Drudge it would appear that Obama is going to "pull the race card" when in fact the real issue is about the possible lack of judgement of a Presidential candidate. Maybe he can camoflage his lack of judgement by painting it with racism. But then, what does one expect from one who would remain for twenty years in a hate-filled church.

I had thought your first reply to me was to that cartoon (picture) as it was posted at #92.

My cartoon implies nothing as to racism or bigotry but I would most definately disagree that these two issues are not important in an election. As a black, white, yellow or red man and whether a person is a Catholic, Southern Baptist, or a Mormon, one has to be very concerned when a possible racist and/or bigot seeks the most powerful office in the world.

My cartoon simply implies that it is rediculous to think anyone could "sleep" through fire and brimstone sermons for twenty years. If they did, they do not to be in the Whitehouse.

Don't worry Dems. After Obama admits today that he is a racist and anti-American, you girls should be be back to one nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Hmmm? On second thought; maybe that will cause more Demwits to swing to Obama?

A half million dollar for agricultural public relations? Little wonder gasoline is $5.20 a gallon on the left coast.

Although it's difficult for many Americans to understand:

It's the "change" stupid!

>>a BOATLOAD of white hating, America hating fellow travelers will be installed in thousands of positions of power.<<

Hmmm. Sounds like after the Civil War except the political Parties have changed.

My thoughts exactly. Next GM will be bringing back the Corvair or the Vega.

I wonder if Stephen Alford is any kin to my old Lufkin High School biology teacher, “Frog” Alford? I’ll bet he is. Everyone in Angelina County is kin.

I'm about ready to take the Jubilee down myself. Luckily I'm not having to go into the motor though. I went through that last summer on an 8N. The Jubilee needs a new fuel tank so why I've got the hood off I'll break out the sandblaster and paintgun.

I refurb these old tractors as a retirement hobby. Here's a few of the ones I finished in the last four years. I've actually done about twenty or so.