For What It’s Worth

Lance Armstrong will confess to Oprah that he’s a lying, cheating, drug addled snake.  Since no one even knows where to find Oprah these days, his secret will be safe with her.

Proper English style demonstrated

From our Irish correspondent, this tale of old Ireland, still flourishing: Irish family cited for towing horse behind their car

A MOTHER-OF-FOUR has been convicted of driving without due consideration after she was caught on the road with her husband in the car-boot, leading a horse.

Heather Josiah (29) pleaded guilty to the offence before Judge Desmond Zaidan, who was so astounded by the evidence, he asked Inspector Jim Doyle to repeat it.

Gardai found Ms Josiah at the head of a long stream of slow-moving traffic on Farrington Road, Athy at 4.30pm on March 20 last year, and were surprised to see her husband sitting in the open boot of the green Peugeot 406, leading a horse on a rope.

California loses its young

In 1970, California averaged 21 seniors for every 100 working-age adults. By 2030, that ratio is expected to rise to 36 seniors per 100 working-age adults, according to the report. That retirement wave will place “massive pressure on institutions and programs for an aging population,” the report said.

Today’s children will be the workers who pay for those programs and who take jobs vacated by boomers in the state’s high-technology hub in Silicon Valley, its entertainment industry in Los Angeles and its farm belt in the Central Valley.

“Unless the birthrate picks up, we are going to need more immigrants. If neither happens, we are going to have less growth,” said Mr. Levy. The report wasn’t optimistic, saying that “with migration greatly reduced…outsiders are much less likely to come to the rescue.”

Investments in the state’s education system will be vital to meet labor-force needs and prevent the economy from contracting, said Mr. Levy. With less migration to the state, the skills and human capital necessary to keep California’s economy afloat will need to be homegrown, both Mr. Levy and Mr. Myers said.

Many of those future workers, however, will have grown up in poverty. More than 20% of children in California now live below the federal poverty level.

Somehow I don’t think this will end well.

God you’re easy

NYT: Obama’s war on women.

….Mr. Obama has put together a national security team dominated by men, with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts nominated to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as the secretary of state, Chuck Hagel chosen to be the defense secretary and John O. Brennan nominated as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Given the leading contenders for other top jobs, including chief of staff and Treasury secretary, Mr. Obama’s second-term inner circle appears likely to be dominated by men.

Dumpster Duck

30 Rapids Lane asked $2.450 million 600+ days ago, sold for $1.375. 2.88 acres of rocks and wet stuff, but close to town, off Winding Lane.

15 North Street

15 North Street sold for $3.9 million. Owners paid $4.550 for it in 2006, and though they started at $5.1 in May, 2011, $3.9 isn’t too bad a drubbing on a 2006 price.

421 Indian Field

And 421 Field Point Road has reemerged from the recycling bin and is once again ready for the marketplace. This grand old home, located on Belle Haven peninsula if not in Belle Haven itself (I can’t keep track of the exact boundaries of the association), has been for sale since 2007, when it started at $10.995 million. Today it can be yours for just $6.995. I showed this to clients some years back and, while they appreciated its beauty, thought that it felt “too old” for them. They’re a young couple with small children and I agreed (in fact I’d warned them ahead of time but they still wanted to see it).  But it is a nice house, especially for someone with a  more formal living style than is usual today. Upstairs, Downstairs, perhaps, if not quite Downton Abbey.

We’re in!

Muslim Brotherhood claims six of its members have infiltrated Obama administration. So far, it’s only five: Chuck Hagel’s confirmation hearings haven’t even begun yet.