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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bentway who wrote (295317)	7/17/2006 1:59:49 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572171

The charge that the American government is in any way fascist is just nonsense. The US has interests and allies all over the world. That fact provides plenty of justification for a large sophisticated military force. Whether the current size and deployment of our armed forces is justified or not is something that reasonable people can disagree about, but it isn't an issue of fascism or coercing Americans to support the military (at least not beyond the point that taxation involves coercion and so any government activity is supported by coercion.) Tim

To: bentway who wrote (295317)	7/17/2006 2:10:40 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1572171

The next real-estate boom: New Orleans By Susan Saulny The New York Times NEW ORLEANS — In a market spurred by speculators and bargain hunters, an extraordinarily large number of houses in the flood-ravaged metropolitan area are being sold, according to real-estate analysts, who say volume and sales prices exceed levels before Hurricane Katrina. The higher prices are largely due to an increase in value in suburban areas, many of which were not heavily flooded, or in dry areas of New Orleans. But flooded houses in the city are being bought as well, often at deep discounts of as much as $50 a square foot less than they would have sold for before the hurricane. "We have a stronger housing market than before," said Wade R. Ragas, professor emeritus of finance at the University of New Orleans and the president of a local consulting firm, Real Property Associates. "The strongest buying activity is, in general, closest to where it did not flood or where there was under 2 feet of water." Across the nine-parish region that includes New Orleans, 7,506 single-family homes were sold between January and the end of June, compared with 6,449 in the same period last year, according to statistics from real-estate groups. The average price so far this year is $221,244, compared with $193,097 in the same period last year. The renewed interest in buying and selling and renovating has confounded some people who thought the housing market would be crippled for years. But it is just one of many counterintuitive contrasts that are defining the area and making easy predictions unreliable. Some experts say speculators are taking a significant risk. In addition, there has been a 20 percent increase in the cost of construction materials, and the city continues to have a shortage of workers, experts say. Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company thestreet.com