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Brigadier General Barack H. ObamaSupreme Allied Commander-in-Chief, Operation Minivan PoolAt ease, men.As your battalion commanders and General Axelrod have already briefed you, you embark today on an important mission to the Af-Pak Theater. The success of this mission will not only insure the future of democracy and human civilization, but also my Gallup net favorable index. I have every confidence that you will succeed in this great educational field trip, because you represent the finest right-sized, nonviolent time killing force ever assembled. Continued

With Barack Obama and even more Democrats in Congress come 2009, doesn't having a Freeper Island to escape to sound awfully tempting? I mean, if we only had one? It reminds me of a line from the Watchmen trailer: "God help us all."

Clinton blindsided by scheduled event with Palin By DEVLIN BARRETT – 19 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has canceled an appearance at a New York rally next week after organizers blindsided her by inviting Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, aides to the senator said Tuesday. Several American Jewish groups plan a major rally outside the United Nations on Sept. 22 to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The other day I was driving past a very busy Intersection in my neck of the woods and I noticed a Ron Paul Revolution sign had gone up. There were a couple more on the toll way that some farmer had put up. These were put there on private property by people that most likely were not paid to do so. That’s the way Ron Paul supporters are. They don’t have to be asked to do something for their candidate. They don’t have to be told to go out and campaign. They simply do what they can, or what they...

KUWAIT CITY: THE UNITED STATES IS PLANNING TO ATTACK IRAN'S NUCLEAR REACTORS AND OTHER NUCLEAR FACILITIES BY THE END OF THIS MONTH, SOURCES IN WASHINGTON TOLD THE ARAB TIMES TUESDAY. THESE SOURCES ADDED THAT VARIOUS WHITE HOUSE DEPARTMENTS HAVE ALREADY STARTED PREPARING THE POLITICAL SPEECH, WHICH WILL BE DELIVERED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. LATER THIS MONTH, ANNOUNCING THE MILITARY ATTACK ON IRAN. THE SOURCES SAY THAT THE U.S. WILL NOT RESORT TO A GROUND ATTACK BECAUSE THEY PLAN TO ACHIEVE THEIR AIM THROUGH AIR ATTACKS...

Feb. 13, 2007 — The story tonight in Iraq is not the arrival of more U.S. troops, but the departure of one of the country's most powerful men, Moqtada al Sadr and members of his army. According to senior military officials al Sadr left Baghdad two to three weeks ago, and fled to Tehran, Iran, where he has family. Al Sadr commands the Mahdi Army, one of the most formidable insurgent militias in Iraq, and his move coincides with the announced U.S. troop surge in Baghdad. Sources believe al Sadr is worried about an increase of 20,000 U.S. troops in...

Hundreds of Georgians lost their homes Tuesday. The houses, taken from debt-laden homeowners, were sold to bidders on courthouse steps statewide. The increasingly busy monthly auctions show that not all of the residential market is in decline. Foreclosures are rising. More than 115,000 properties across the country were in the foreclosure process in October — up 42 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks foreclosures. Foreclosures in Georgia are up a stunning 99 percent in the past year...

Prices remain the story in home sales, with Sarasota-Bradenton prices falling 18 percent in October, the second biggest drop in the state. The median sales price in the Sarasota-Bradenton market was $277,900 last month, compared with $340,700 during the same month in booming 2005. The Charlotte County-North Port market was not far behind, with a drop of 17 percent, from $243,900 to $202,800. Only Fort Myers-Cape Coral took a bigger fall, posting a 44 percent decline in median sales price, from $445,100 to $249,200, the Florida Association of Realtors reported on Tuesday. The median is the point where half the...

It seems like every month, I'm running into people passing out a slick new business card that announces them as a real estate agent or mortgage broker. Who wouldn't want to get a piece of the action? On certain Portland streets, housing prices are doubling in a matter of months. And when there's this kind of temptation to make quick money, greed can't be far behind.Insiders call it land flipping. Silent second. Straw buyers. Foreclosure fraud. Equity skimming. Air loans. If there's a thought to do it, there's a scheme attached to it."It's the fastest-growing white collar crime in the...

As rates creep up, borrowers with interest-only loans face sharply higher mortgage payments: Tina Gren Clarence saves $600 a month with an interest-only loan she took out about a year ago for a Petaluma home, yet already is considering heading off the financial hit when her monthly payments could jump. And Peter Shidler, whose low-payment-option loan could turn from a sweet deal into a potentially bitter one, is refinancing and still will pay $500 more monthly on his Santa Rosa home. Gren Clarence and Shidler, like two out of three Sonoma County home buyers and owners, joined the fast-growing club...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of homes entering into some stage of foreclosure is surging, according to a survey released Wednesday. In August, 115,292 properties entered into foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure sales. That was 24 percent above the level in July and 53 percent higher than a year earlier. Where foreclosures are jumping Year over year gain in homes in foreclosure. Click for more stats on each state. Nevada: Up 255% California: Up 160% Florida: Up 62% It was the second highest monthly foreclosure total of the year; in February, 117,151 properties entered foreclosure....

With millions of adjustable-rate mortgages about to reset this fall, experts expect a wave of foreclosures by Americans in every income bracket. Here's why they could soar in late 2006 and beyond: Those easy-mortgage chickens are coming home to roost. This fall the adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) that millions of Americans took out during the recent housing boom will be reset, and many homeowners will see their monthly mortgage payments shoot up by as much as 20%. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, of all mortgages financed in 2005, 36% were ARMs -- the highest ever. This is a matter of...

The economy's growth has never before been so driven by real estate. Now that engine is sputtering. Jiany Massad isn't quite ready to throw in the towel on his fledgling career as a Miami real-estate tycoon. But if the local housing market continues to head south, the 30-year-old real-estate broker is already making alternate plans. "I might restart my old business," he says of a home decorating company that specialized in high-end window treatments. "At least it's real-estate-related." With home sales down by nearly a third in Florida last quarter, thousands of those who hoped to cash in on the...

Millions of Americans bought into the real estate boom with adjustable mortgages and home equity loans. Now rising interest rates are forcing them into agonizing financial choices. Aug. 8, 2006 - When Shawn Howell saw the house in the summer of 2004, he thought he couldn’t lose. The location-close to family and in an upscale subdivision in Louisville, Ky.,—was perfect; the three-bedroom plus loft was just right. The price was a little high at $217,000—especially as Howell's wife, Niki, had just given birth to their second child. But the couple learned they could purchase it with no money down by...

NEW YORK -- Home prices in some parts of the country are falling. Builders are scaling back. Bubble or not, the biggest housing boom in recent U.S. history is coming to an end. Now here is the big question: How bad will the aftermath be? At this point, most economists expect a "soft landing," a gradual decline that won't derail the nation's economic expansion, now in its fifth year. But there is a good chance they are being too optimistic. The boom has depended heavily on the upbeat psychology of consumers, builders and lenders. As moods swing, the landing could...

Washington (Reuters) - U.S. consumer credit rose by a bigger-than-expected $10.27 billion in June on a surge in credit card debt, a Federal Reserve Report on Monday showed. ADVERTISEMENT Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting consumer credit to rise by just $4 billion after increasing by an upwardly revised $5.88 billion in May. Consumer credit outstanding rose to $2.186 trillion in June, rising at a 5.66 percent annual rate from $2.176 trillion the prior month. Revolving credit, which includes credit and charge cards, rose by an annual 9.80 percent rate in June to $820.65 billion after a 11.04 percent surge...

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- It is becoming increasingly obvious that financial advisers, real estate experts and parents will someday point to what is happening in the mortgage market today and use it as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when a buyer stretches to get too much house during a market that seems invincible. Real estate has been booming in most markets over the last five years or longer, fueled by interest rates that reached four-decade lows and by consumers who used new mortgage products to extend their buying power. Many home buyers stopped worrying about buying a home...

But we Americans seem to have short memories. What else could explain the fact that we, generally speaking, so-often lambaste the French, calling them “cowards” for not allying themselves fully with us in every instance? We constantly throw in their faces the fact that we came to their rescue in World Wars I and II. And we’ve all heard the jokes: “Surplus French military rifles for sale. Never fired. Dropped once.”

Many brokers thrived last year amid record home sales, but this year the industry has taken a turn for the worse. TAMPA — The sneeze came first: Home sales in the Tampa Bay area dropped by a third from last year’s peak. For symptoms of the developing head cold, plunge into the exhibition hall at the Tampa Convention Center, where the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers is holding its annual trade show. Puffed up to handle record-breaking home sales of last year, which poured money into savvy brokers’ pockets, the residential lending industry and affiliated businesses are mostly deflating this...

Urge to cash in on the housing bubble has spawned an industry of schemers: Every boom has a dark side. The merger mania of the 1980s produced insider trading scandals. The '90s stock bubble was busted for biased investment research. And so it is with real estate, the hottest market of the past eight years. The urge to cash in on rising home values has spawned a growing share of hucksters, schemers and rip-off artists. Learn how to avoid ten of the biggest real estate rip-offs or view Video: Real Estate Rip-OffsClick HereSo far, it is tough to know exactly...

WASHINGTON - The pace of U.S. home building fell more than expected in June as groundbreaking on single-family units logged the slowest pace in 1-1/2 years, according to a government report on Wednesday that added to signs of a broad cooling in the housing market. The Commerce Department said June housing starts fell 5.3 percent in June to a 1.850 million unit annual pace, from a downwardly revised 1.953 million unit pace in May. May’s rise had interrupted a string of three straight monthly declines. Economists had expected June housing starts to decline to 1.90 million units from May’s originally...

Law allows lenders to go after personal savings as well as the house, unlike original mortgage. Homeowners behind in their mortgage payments after hocking the house to pay for a major remodel or a new boat or car may be in for a rude awakening. If they previously refinanced and their lender decides to foreclose, they may not only lose their house, but the bank also may be able to go after their other financial assets including stocks, savings and their paycheck. And even if the bank doesn't go after their other assets, a foreclosure may mean a big tax...

Rising Interest Rates, Higher Gasoline Prices Make It Harder for Consumers to Handle Debt NEW YORK (AP) -- Rising interest rates and higher gasoline prices are putting the squeeze on consumers' budgets, and many are finding it harder to keep up with their bills. Credit counseling agencies say that consumers are coming in in droves seeking help. ADVERTISEMENT "My phones are going crazy," said Howard Dvorkin, president of the nonprofit Consolidated Credit Counseling Services Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "Consumers are carrying an exorbitant amount of debt -- and they don't have any savings to fall back on if things...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage applications fell last week as interest rates hit their highest in over four years, an industry trade group said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity for the week ended June 23 decreased 6.7 percent to 529.6 from the previous week's 567.6. Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.86 percent, up 0.13 percentage point from the previous week, its highest level since April 12, 2002 when it reached 6.92 percent. The MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase mortgage index fell 6.2 percent to 389.0....

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The tell-tale sign of a stagnating real estate market? When homes for sale start lingering - and that's exactly what real estate brokers and other industry watchers say they're seeing now. The National Association of Realtors does not maintain national time-on-market figures. But inventory - the number of homes for sale - spiked 37 percent for the 12 months through April 30, the most recent data available. Homes are staying on the shelf longer. Languishing in hot markets There are no official regional statistics for the time homes spend on the market. Here are estimates for...

WASHINGTON - Sales of existing homes fell for the third time in the past five months in May, with the weakness led by a big drop in demand in the Northeast. ADVERTISEMENT The National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that sales of previously owned homes dropped by 1.2 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.67 million units. The median price of the homes sold in May rose to $230,000 in May, up 6 percent from the same month a year ago. That represented a slowdown from huge double-digit price gains last year at the peak of...

NEW YORK - Young workers in the United States are twice as likely as older colleagues to steal office supplies for home use without thinking it is wrong, a new study says. And all those missing paper clips and pens add up to more than $50 billion a year. One in five workers age 18 to 24 did not feel it was wrong to take home office supplies, said the Spherion Workplace Snapshot, an online survey. Story continues below �« -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- advertisement -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Among those young workers, one in four said they had taken supplies home in the past year,...

WASHINGTON - Average interest rates on U.S. 30- and 15-year fixed rate mortgages reached four-year highs in the latest week, while rates on one-year adjustable rate mortgages rose to a level not seen since 2001, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said on Thursday. Rates on U.S. 30-year mortgages were at 6.71 percent, compared to 6.63 percent the previous week, a rate not seen since June 2002. Fifteen-year mortgages rose to an average of 6.36 percent from 6.25 percent. They were last higher in May 2002, at 6.37 percent. One-year adjustable rate mortgages also climbed to 5.75 percent from 5.66 percent,...

CINCINNATI, Ohio (Reuters) - When Keith Gersin saw the perfect four-bedroom house in southern Ohio four years ago, he jumped to buy it before anyone else could snap it up. When he finally sold it last month, it went for $30,000 less than he had hoped -- and that after seven months on the market. In retrospect, the 41-year-old physician admits he overestimated the U.S. housing market, which has begun cooling after five years of record-breaking sales and double-digit price appreciation. "I was naive," said Gersin, who sold his Cincinnati-area home in May to move to North Carolina with his...

One of the nation's most prominent hedge funds, Pequot Capital Management, is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible insider trading, according to government officials briefed on the case.

NEW YORK - Stocks dropped in early trading Friday after a report showed the first back-to-back decline in big ticket factory goods in two years, a surprising sign that the economy is modereating at a faster pace than many expected. ADVERTISEMENT Durable goods orders dropped 0.3 percent in May after a sharp 4.7 percent drop the month before. Economists expected orders to rise 0.4 percent. That raised concerns on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, while fighting inflation, could slow the economy more than needed. With the Fed meeting Wednesday and Thursday — and widely expected to...

It's not stagflation, but what is it? Rising inflation, rising unemployment and slowing growth in the 1970s created stagflation, a phenomenon that led to double-digit interest rates in the early 1980s as the U.S. Federal Reserve tried to fix the damage made by loose monetary policies in the previous decade. Then as now, there was unrest in the Middle East and an oil shock that drove energy prices sharply higher. There were also steep U.S. budget deficits. The dollar was falling and commodity prices were rising. But economists say it is unlikely that the economy will slump into the painful...

Foreclosures rising with debt, job losses Adjustable rate mortgages surprise some homeowners By BECKY YERAK Chicago Tribune CHICAGO - Foreclosures on home mortgages are on the way up. Nationally, foreclosures are up 38 percent, higher than in any quarter of last year, property tracker RealtyTrac said. The numbers are even grimmer in the Midwest. Michigan and Ohio, battered by automotive-related job losses, together recorded 45,000 mortgages entering some stage of foreclosure in the first quarter. Those are increases of 91 percent and 39 percent, respectively, compared with last year's fourth quarter. There are many reasons for the growing number of...

Herb Weisbaum -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- • Profile • E-mail There’s no denying it any longer. In most parts of the country, the sizzling house market has cooled. The latest numbers tell the story: Sales of existing homes are expected to drop 6.8 percent this year. The people who make their living selling homes prefer to put a more positive spin on these numbers. They say the marketplace is just going back to normal. “It’s not normal to have 15 offers on a property,” says Jim Warkentin, a Realtor in McLean, Va. “That’s just crazy.” For the most part, those crazy days are...

Twin Cities home sales for May were down from a year ago, as the housing inventory continued its record growth, the local Realtors associations reported Monday. There were 5,039 closed home sales in May in the 13-county metro area. That is down 9.3 percent from a year ago, but up 28.6 percent from April. The median sales price rose 1.1 percent to $230,000 in May, compared to $227,501 a year earlier. There were 5,749 pending sales in May, down 14.5 percent from 6,726 a year ago. New listings continued to soar in May, jumping 16.6 percent to 11,419. Following several...

They are the new breed of mortgages, and home buyers in high-cost real estate markets can't get enough of them: interest-only and payment-option plans that cut monthly payments sharply in the early years of a loan. Lenders have marketed both types of mortgages aggressively -- often to people who need to stretch their incomes to afford homes -- but have said often that their borrowers have solid credit histories and excellent credit scores and that they fully understand the risks once payments reset in a few years. In some parts of the country, the share of buyers using interest-only and...

The housing spin There's nothing funnier or more satisfying (for me, at least) than watching the National Association of Realtors (NAR) change its tune these days. The latest news release from this sunny-Jim industry group finally fesses up to its past fiction, but even when it admits the bubble's going to pop, it can't muster the courage to just come out and say it. Nope, according to the news template the NAR released to the press on June 6, "The housing boom has ended, but sales at historically healthy levels will continue." Wow, sounds great! What about all those poor...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The number of people applying for home loans fell last week, an industry group said Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity for the week ended June 2 fell 1.4 percent to 534.4 from the previous week's 541.9. Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.60 percent, down 0.06 of a percentage point from the previous week. The MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase mortgage index rose slightly to 395.6 from the previous week's 395.5. The index is considered a reliable gauge of U.S. home sales. The trade group's...

Realtors call for Fed to stop raising rates as market grows ‘vulnerable’ The National Association of Realtors cut its 2006 forecasts for both existing-home and new-home sales. The housing industry's biggest trade group Tuesday lowered its forecast for U.S. home sales this year and called on the Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates because parts of the housing market are “vulnerable.” “Experiencing a slowing from a hot market is a good thing because we need a solid housing sector to provide an underlying base to the economy, and slower appreciation will help to preserve long-term affordability,” said David Lereah,...

“It feels like a solution in search of a problem,” says Pete Bonnikson, vice president of mortgage operations for E-LOAN, describing the latest product to hit the home mortgage market: The 50-year mortgage. Reportedly the problem this hyperextended loan addresses is affordability for homebuyers in high-cost areas. By stretching the repayment calculation over 50 years, so the argument goes, monthly payments fall by enough that borrowers unable to qualify for any of the other dozens of mortgage options can get a loan. For certified financial planners like Nancy Flint-Budde in Salem, N.Y., it is a tossup as to whether helping...

The second quarter is proving to be troublesome for homebuilders. They have been cutting their full-year earnings projections in droves as orders look weak and cancellation rates rise. The latest salvo came Monday after Standard Pacific (SPF:NYSE - news - research - Cramer's Take) and Technical Olympic (TOA:NYSE - news - research - Cramer's Take) announced weak order numbers, sending builder shares lower across the board. The selloff suggests that investors are having trouble seeing a bottom for the group and would rather not buy into a sector that may represent a value trap. "If it is not already painfully...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The Dow industrials sank below 11,000 for the first time since March Tuesday as investors digested hawkish comments about inflation from a string of Fed officials. The 30-share Dow (down 61.15 to 10,987.57, Charts), the world's most widely watched stock market gauge, fell below the benchmark level in midday trading. The last time the blue-chip index closed below that level was on March 9. Video More video How do U.S. federal interest rates affect your mortgage? CNN's Alan Chernoff does the math. (June 3) Play video The Dow has now tumbled more than 650 points, or...

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Kathy Chen is an accessories shopowner in Taiwan struggling to pay huge credit card debts on a modest income. ADVERTISEMENT She is the new breed of "credit card slave." Hundreds of thousands of Taiwan's credit card holders have racked up mountains of debt, undermining consumer sentiment and underlining the risks facing export-led Asian economies that are trying to crank up domestic consumption as an engine of growth. Besides Taiwan, where American Express stopped issuing credit cards this year due to rising defaults, Thailand and China are among those that have tightened supervision to avoid the experience of...

Overall construction activity suffered the first setback in 10 months in April as residential homebuilding dropped by the largest amount in more than two years, the government reported Thursday. (SNIP) Another report Thursday also showed housing activity slowing. The National Association of Realtors said its index for pending home sales fell for a third straight month in April, dropping by 3.7 percent from the March level. This index tracks sales of previously owned homes where a contract has been signed but the deal has not yet gone to closing.

As rates rise, home foreclosures surge Adjustable-rate mortgages make it hard for many to make payments h • Foreclosure rate climbs May 25: Remember the refinance craze of the not-too-distant past, where millions of homeowners jumped on those low-interest, adjustable-rate mortgages? As NBC's Ron Mott reports, those days are over and foreclosures are on the rise. Nightly News

29% of borrowers who took out home loans in 2005 owe more than the value of their houses US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said today in Chicago, that he is concerned about the rising number of home loan delinquencies in the US. His remarks coincide with a report in today's Wall Street Journal that soaring housing prices and aggressive mortgage lending have saddled American home buyers with ever greater levels of debt, and early signs are now emerging that more people are unable to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments. The Journal says that recent studies by several...

Small Asteroid Passes Between Satellites and Earth By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer posted: 22 December 2004 10:24 am ET Astronomers spotted an asteroid this week after it had flown past Earth on a course that took it so close to the planet it was below the orbits of some satellites. The space rock was relatively small, however, and would not have posed any danger had it plunged into the atmosphere. The object, named 2004 YD5, was about 16 feet (5 meters) wide, though that's a rough estimate based on its distance and assumed reflectivity. Had it entered the...

The object, named 2004 YD5, was about 16 feet (5 meters) wide, though that's a rough estimate based on its distance and assumed reflectivity. Had it entered the atmosphere, it would have exploded high up, experts figure. The asteroid passed just under the orbits of geostationary satellites, which at 22,300 miles (36,000 kilometers) altitude are the highest manmade objects circling Earth. Most other satellites, along with the International Space Station, circle the planet at just a few hundred miles up... the second closest pass of an asteroid ever observed by telescope, according to the Asteroid/Comet Connection, a web site that...

He "bobs and weaves" when asked about running for president in 2008, according to the Washington Post's Al Kamen. But Kamen says that New Mexico's popular Gov. Bill Richardson is telling friends his hat is in the ring for the presidency. Kamen describes Richardson as "the former congressman, energy secretary, ambassador to the United Nations, globe-trotting troubleshooter" and notes he was in Washington last week to promote his new autobiography, "Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life." During a Beltway dinner, Kamen writes, Richardson spilled the beans to dinner companions. Questioned about his presidential plans, Richardson told friends, "You...