AP: Wholesale inflation slows in April after March increase

WASHINGTON - Inflation at the wholesale level slowed in April following a huge increase in March although prices for a number of items from prescription drugs to pasta shot upward.The Labor Department reported Tuesday that wholesale inflation increased by 0.2 percent in April following a 1.1 percent jump in March. Outside of food and energy, prices rose by 0.4 percent in April.

Reuters: SQUATTERS TARGET FORECLOSED HOMES

Squatting is on the rise across the United States as foreclosures surge, eviction notices mount and homes go unsold for months, complicating the worst U.S. housing slump in a quarter century and forcing real-estate brokers to enlist the help of law enforcement and courts to sell empty houses.

In some regions, squatting is taking on new twists to include real-estate scams in which thieves “rent out” abandoned homes they don’t own. Others involve “professional squatters” who move from one abandoned home to another posing as tenants who seek cash from banks as a condition to leave the premises — a process known by real-estate brokers as “cash for key.”

Boston Herald: No English? No Income? No Problem! ; One Woman’s $1M Mortgage Mess

During the frenzied days of no-down-payment loans and cursory credit checks in the early 2000s, two out-of-state lenders gave more than $1 million in mortgages to a Dorchester woman who lives in public housing and barely speaks English, the Herald has learned.The loans, originated by New Jersey-based Equity One Inc. and the now-defunct Meritage Mortgage Corp., foreclosed last year, making 243-245 Washington St. and 16 Dacia St. among the 233 foreclosures to hit Dorchester in 2007, city and land records show.Torres said a Boston real estate broker, Eloy C. Mariluz, helped her buy the properties.

PARKING LOTS FOR THE HOMELESS

CNN: here are 12 parking lots across Santa Barbara that have been set up to accommodate the growing middle-class homelessness. These lots are believed to be part of the first program of its kind in the United States, according to organizers.
The lots open at 7 p.m. and close at 7 a.m. and are run by New Beginnings Counseling Center, a homeless outreach organization.

Sad… and scary.

HEAD OF COUNTRYWIDE BEING HIS SENSITIVE SELF

A Real Countrywide Email From the Office of Angelo Mozilo - Email Below Calls Homeowner Disgusting

MOMENTUM: THE HOLLYWOOD MOVIE ON THE RACE BEFORE IT ENDS

TD: COMMENTARY ON THE FILM IRON MAN (NICK TURSE)

PUBLIC TV MAY BE HURTING BUT NOT MANY OF ITS EXECS

WTTW Pres/CEO: ‘05 compensation $329,555; deferred comp/other $77,805
KQED Pres/CEO: ‘04 compensation $354,467; deferred comp/other $50,399

Suspension of SABC chief executive overturned

A South African court ruled Monday that the suspension of the state broadcaster’s chief executive had been unlawful. The SABC board suspended Dali Mpofu earlier this month, a day after doing the same to its news division chief, in a shake-up at the broadcaster which has been accused of bias by supporters of ruling party leader Jacob Zuma. Mpofu told Reuters the High Court judge had ruled that the meeting at which the decision was taken to suspend him was unlawful. The SABC board suspended Mpofu in part over allegations that he failed or refused to follow decisions it had taken. Zuma backers have accused the radio and television service of favouring President Thabo Mbeki in the contest to lead the African National Congress at a party congress in Polokwane in December. Zuma won overwhelmingly. (Reuters via Media Network Weblog)

LETTER

Rick Miranda writes about my piece on the orchestrated drop of the dollar:

Just wanted to commend you on another excellent piece. This is a huge story that will be eclipsed by so much tired entertainment news, today it will be American Idol. I have been following this for some time as it relates to oil costing relatively more as a result of the crappy dollar. Your article provides much more context that I am grateful for. Since Bush is likely guilty of war crimes and will not be traveling much after Jan ’09, I guess he decided that a reasonably priced dollar doesn’t matter.

I look forward to reading your next article.

Fay Reed Writes about China and Palestine:

Remember the China of 3 weeks ago? That would be Evil China, persecutor of Tibetans, nemesis of the Dari Lama, and target of myriad Olympic protests. Today, there’s a new nation occupying that spot on the globe: That would be hard-hit, hard-working China, admirably struggling under catastrophe to give assistance to earthquake-damaged areas. You can be sure that, by the time the T.V. cameras and journalists leave for home, China will be rendered heroic in the American public’s eye. Part of this, of course, is because of the obvious contrast to the Myanmar Junta’s response to a similar set of circumstances.

It’s amazing how deeply public opinion can change about a nation because of what’s reported. I’m thinking now about the countries that border Israel: The West Bank, Lebanon, Gaza Strip, and so forth. Such massive suffering, such horrible press. Palestinian kids with rocks vs. Israel’s guns, and yet we always are shown Israel as the victim. Let’s imagine a week of stories about citizens in Lebanon or Gaza rebuilding their community after an Israeli rocket attack, or a makeshift hospital in the West Bank thrown together to treat people caught in the cycle of violence. You don’t think these things exist? Of course they do. I know for a fact they do. One reason we never hear about them is that the Arab militancy that goes along with any self-help efforts is distasteful and that the only group that can outdo Israel as casting itself as perennial victim is the nations that surround Israel. For readers and viewers in the U.S., the victim-tone gets old very fast.

But I’d sure like to see what would happen if a few journalists tried to place stories about health workers in the West Bank, or contractors moving through mortar-struck sections of Beirut trying to repair their city before the next round of rocket blasts begins. Can you imagine such stories, but leaving out the victim-talk? Leaving out the “poor Palestine against Mighty Israel” talk? I mean, we all know there’s two sides to every conflict, so how ‘bout just save the self-pity for now? Instead, let’s see the workers, the doctors and builders trying to get a job done. If such stories appeared in US newspapers, I think we’d see a first. I think we’d see a significant number of Americans wanting to help the Palestinians rebuild their cities and neighborhoods. Now, the way this narrative usually runs is that the American-Zionist conspiracy would never let such stories ever be published, but really, I think it has more to do with the whining. How about some stories that instead, just show the good work that is being done by Palestinians and Lebanese to rebuild their nations? Forget the chest-thumping. Forget the “Everything Is Israel’s Fault.” Just show what’s being done.

WHEN NPR WORKED WITH FOX

National Public Radio foreign correspondent Anne Garrels allowed for a moment of levity during her Monday lecture at Northwestern University covering the war in Iraq, telling the audience of about 60 at the McCormick Tribune Center the story of the “most unlikely of partnerships” between NPR and FOX News.

Garrels, who spoke as part of the Crain Lecture Series, said NPR had been struggling with power; they received electricity from Baghdad’s grid for only two hours a day.

Someone from FOX News offered to share the station’s generator with NPR, which Garrels said it initially rejected.

“My boss said, ‘Not on your Nelly,’ ” Garrels said. “But no FOX, no power and eventually saner minds prevailed. People do help each other out in Baghdad a lot.”

Netflix unveils Web-to-TV device - Yahoo! News

THE NEWS I MISSED-FROM HARPERS.ORG

Chairman John Conyers said that Karl Rove had a week to appear before the
committee. “Someone’s got to kick his ass,” said Conyers. House Republicans began using a new slogan, “the change you deserve,” which turned out to be the slogan of
the antidepressant Effexor. The California Supreme Court struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage, surprising legal experts because six of the seven judges are
Republican, and the Vatican’s chief astronomer said that it’s not a contradiction of faith to believe in aliens and that we may have intelligent, God-created
“extraterrestrial brothers.”

Morehouse College in Atlanta named its first white valedictorian. “I support him and
his mission to be successful in life,” said a junior. “I just kind of wish he had done it at a different institution.” The invasion of tasteless Chinese truffles threatened the primacy of the European Perigord black truffle, and billions of hairy, reddish-brown “crazy Rasberry ants” (named for a local exterminator) were swarming through the greater Houston area. “They have nowhere to go, just running crazy wild,” said one
resident. “You know what it’s like to sit down on the commode with crazy ants running everywhere?”

AND FINALLY, JUST WHEN YOU HAVE HAD ENOUGH AND CAN’T TAKE NO MO’,
A NY RESTAURANT RAISES THE PRICE OF ITS HAMBURGER TO $175.

At the same time, NY Teachers are photographing diving into garbage bins for food.

No, I don’t know what its like to eat a $175 burger, or run with ants. Nor have I seen a frog march, but as your faithful servant, i just bring these dissections to you every day in hopes they offer something of meaning.

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