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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: damainman who wrote (142008)	8/20/2008 11:31:31 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Bigfoot 'Just a Rubber Gorilla Suit' time.com (ATLANTA) —Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice — handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it — was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit. The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape. Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the "evidence" was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax. First, the hair sample was burned and "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair," Kulls said in the posting. The thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be "unusually hollow in one small section." An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed — and they were found to be made of rubber. Matt Whitton, an officer who has been on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department, and Rick Dyer, a former Georgia corrections officer, announced the find in early July on YouTube videos and a Web site. "Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," Whitton said at the time. Phone calls to Whitton and Dyer went unreturned on Tuesday. But the voicemail recording for their Bigfoot Tip Line — which proclaims they search for leprechauns and the Loch Ness monster — has been updated and announcing they're also in search of "big cats and dinosaurs. If you see any of those, give us a call." On Tuesday, Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner said he has not spoken to Whitton but processed paperwork to fire him. "Once he perpetrated a fraud, that goes into his credibility and integrity," Turner said. "He has violated the duty of a police officer."

To: damainman who wrote (142008)	8/20/2008 11:52:37 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 306849

Regional banks see bond prices decline cincinnati.bizjournals.com It’s not just stock prices that are skidding for regional banks like Fifth Third Bancorp, National City Corp. and KeyCorp – their bonds are sliding as well. Bloomberg.com reported Tuesday that Cleveland-based National City’s bonds have fallen by as much as 17 cents on the dollar since June, while Cincinnati-based Fifth Third’s and Cleveland-based Key’s bonds have declined significantly, as well. One of Fifth Third’s bonds, issued with an 8.25 percent yield and maturing in 2038, has fallen by 20 cents on the dollar in the last two months, according to the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc., through its Trace system. It traded at 100.9 percent of par value June 19 and is now at 80.1 percent of par. That puts its yield at a whopping 10.4 percent and indicates investors are now much less certain of Fifth Third’s ability to pay back the bond than they were in June. Investors in general have been pessimistic about the ability of the housing market to recover in the short term, and regional banks’ ability to work their way out of their mortgage loan losses. Bloomberg.com said.