Links and Minifeatures 09 13 Tuesday

ANNOUNCEMENT

Due to re-thinking of exactly how I want stuff to go, the main address of this site will be moving over to http://www.searchlightcrusade.net. That is, everything is the same except the extension, .NET instead of .COM Everything else will remain the same. I have staked a claim to both domains, among other extensions. I've checked and except for some minor counters and feeds, it all seems to be working the same, and I will change those over the next few days.

I've decided I want the .COM address to be the main URL for the commercial site that will be developed over the next month or so. The .COM extension will continue to bring you here until the commercial sister site goes live, and there will be a link here even then (we are talking sister site). The original target date was October First, but it appears that's going to have to slip due to factors beyond my control. (The important thing is for it to be right the first time when it goes live).

For those with advertising, you might want to email me specifics about your traffic and your rates. When the sister site is ready, I'm going to want to do some advertising.

(Word to the wise: Don't trust Sitemeter statistics! I just had a conversation with Chris at Powerblogs, my host for this site, and between the code and his assurances, let me say that compared to his logs for my site usage, Sitemeter is at least a factor of ten low every day. Maybe I've got it set up wrong - I'm not a real techie by any stretch of the imagination, but Chris's data is much more convincing)

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A sad day has arrived at last. Chrenkoff signs off.

The Good news is that Good News Central is picking up where he left off in providing us our counterbalance to the police blotter of the legacy Media. I added them to the roll on the right.

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Michelle Malkin takes on those playing race baiting politics of the disaster in the Gulf for personal gain. You want despicable? She shows you despicable. "My people" are determined by whether or not they act like responsible adult american human beings. I'm proud as hell just to be part of the same species as this young man. I'm ashamed to be part of the same species as Jesse Jackson.

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Syria next? Captain's Quarters says that the US Ambassador has told Syria that we're getting tired of them encouraging terrorists, allowing them to train, etcetera. I (and others) have been wondering if Syria is our next project in the War on Terror since Libya decided to clean up its act. It's no good cleaning up every fever swamp but one, and Iraq is far from the last.

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Carnival of Liberty is up! Recommended: Critical Mastiff

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Willow Tree asks the question: If this is peace, what is war?

The short answer is that this is war, but those who live in denial, and would have Israel live in denial because it makes their lives easier, have made this into a mockery.

Given the events of the past sixty years, I'd support Israel if they decided to conquer and displace the Palestinians once and for all. Certainly the Palestinians have done their best to convince us that ethnic cleansing is their highest ambition, and Israel has shown more restraint than any human or group of humans should be asked for. No one should have to endure daily attacks. No country's soldiers should be under fire without the ability to shoot back in the manner they deem most effective.

The Palestinians and their leadership have convinced me that the only peace Israel will ever have with them will be that of the grave. Since Israel has proven itself capable of coexisting with civilized human beings while the Palestinians have shown themselves incapable, I'd rather the grave involved was of the Palestinian ambitions than that of the Israeli state and people. Call me callous, call me horrible, call me monster. I do not care.

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Watchful Investor has a good piece on Life Expectancy. Mine comes up to 88, which barring greater than expected advances in medical technology is almost certainly an overestimate.

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Unrepentant Individual has a good post up about the FAIR Tax and "starve the beast!" libertarians. Speaking as a "starve the beast (at least in most ways)" type myself, I agree with him. The way to starve the beast is change the political concensus, not to avoid growing the economy. Okay, so the government gets 23 cents of every dollar (I think the number is larger, but I'll use his figures); I still get to keep the rest. So I'm better off with that dollar than without.

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Tom Rants has an article from September 10th here about a company requiring payment for a house flooded in New Orleans. Yes, Fannie and Freddie have given an automatic three month extension but that doesn't apply to loans held anywhere else. For many lenders, three months of no cash flow could be a real problem, and nobody is looking out for whether said lenders can pay their bills. I haven't worked in those states but in the states I have worked in, foreclosure takes at least 90 days, and that's from when they start foreclosure, whcih means they're usually 90 days past due at least. Regular lenders do not want to foreclose - they're in the business of home loans, not home sales.

Lest you not understand, there are no free rides anywhere. The unpaid interest from those people who aren't making payments is not going away. Somebody's going to pay it. Those who had good credit and had Fannie or Freddie buy their loan are sitting pretty from a cash flow situation, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea not to pay their loan, just that they have that option.

And not all lenders are susceptible to public pressure. If they buy their loans on the secondary market, you can't refuse to do business with them.

Well, time for me to go get the Hilda! Minimum day every Tuesday.