Give a country a democratic system, and pretty soon the poor will figure out how to use it for their own purposes. Their leader and voice in Thailand was Thaksin Shinawatra, an ex-cop from humble origins who became a telecommunications billionaire. He was a demagogue who cut as many corners in politics as he had in business, but he genuinely did represent the poor, both urban and rural, and they voted for him in their millions. [1] OK class, the Mickey Mouse club is adjourned. Just follow the link, sit back and let one of the world’s leading warfare analysts…
Read more…

Derided by elitists as phony, the tea-party movement is spontaneous, decentralized, frequently amateurish and sometimes shrill. If it has a father it is CNBC’s Rick Santelli, who called for holding a tea party in Chicago on July 4. Yesterday’s gatherings were made up of people who may never meet again (there’s no central collection point for email addresses). But the concerns driving people to tea parties are real, growing and powerful. Politicians ignore them at their peril. [1] Thanks bud. Until you outed yourself I thought we’d have to post an "eat crow" apology on our own sidebar

According to data from ARMLS, (Arizona Regioinal Multiple Listing Service) home sales in the Phoenix metropolitan area have seen a year-over-year increase every month since June 2008.  Inventories have been declining, foreclosures were down in March and the government has unrolled new foreclosure prevention measures.  Does this mean that we’re likely to see the median sales price, which has been falling since March 2007, stabilize any time soon? Don’t count on it.  Here’s several reasons why: Sales About those increasing sales, take a look at the percentages of homes sold in different price ranges March 2009 versus the previous couple…
Read more…