patrick.net

Given your love of fine food and cats, I thought you might appreciate this:

No, thank you.

Ok, I know that last quip was pretty crude (apologies all), but halting the entire thread??

It /has/ been a rather quiet thread...

It /has/ been a rather quiet thread…

Very. If a thread does not reach 100 comments in 24 hours it should be halted.

The threads have a case of the 'Mondays' or something.

Have you ever tried delivering the "case of the Mondays" line to someone? It seems to encourage interesting reactions.

/whistles innocently

@requiem,

No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.

I hope I live long enough to see the criminalization of hiring the non-documented. Too many companies and small business especially in So Cal have prospered far to long with this form of cheap slave labor. It's been killing the taxpayer for decades which lowers the standard for middle class trying to pull themselves up. If businesses risk jail\heavy fines to hire them we won't have jobs for them and if there are no longer jobs they stop coming.

I am third gen half mex\dutch. My grandparents had to assimilate and get educated and establish in this country and this was before the welfare state. I think the so called back breaker jobs should go to the lowest working class who are at least legal. It's a tall order but maybe with the housing correction and end of mexafornia it will once again be the California Robert Cote' spoke of.

I'm with Sylvie. The illegal alien problem will only be solved through the pocketbooks of the businesses.

You fine businesses 100k per illegal per year, and it'll clear up quickly.

Randy H Says:

> We won’t hear from all those who didn’t. (I’ll be most
> impressed if anyone posts and declares, without shame,
> that they paid someone else to scrub their toilet for
> them. It’s sorta like ma$turbating. Amazingly, no one
> does it when asked.)

I pay people to clean vacant apartments, but almost always do a little cleaning myself when I inspect them to make sure they are “rent ready”. Just last month I noticed a toilet had some kind of scum in it and when I couldn’t brush it off I used an old trick my Dad taught me and I poured in a little pool acid and cleaned the bowl before I ran out to get some fresh air (I’m pretty sure that you will die if you breath enough of the fumes from pool acid, but there is no other cleaning product that works as well to make the bowl sparkle)….

P.S. My parents have never paid anyone to clean their home (even after parties) and I’ve never paid anyone to clean my home (unless you count the dinners for girlfriends who were trying to impress me with how domestic they are)…

I said:

> Most liberals feel sorry for the illegals and
> don’t want to send them home.

Then CB Says:

> I would have to say this is a misconception, if you
> look at Chronicles (sfgate.com) online polls, most
> issues are voted overwhelmingly liberal (capital
> punishment, anti-war sentiments), support for allowing
> the illegal immigration stauts quo never is very high
> even among the sfgate voters.

The SF Gate polls are a joke, since every now and then a way right or way left newsgroup or BLOG posts a link and a ton of people from outside the area vote. There is not a single elected official in San Francisco that has come out saying we need to arrest illegals. Anyone that came out with a tough immigration stance voted out of office by the liberals who feel sorry for the poor immigrants (and who don’t want to lose the lady that cleans their toilets for $5/hr cash).

Just last month DA Kamala Harris (who feels so sorry for poor people that she only sends 4 out of 100 people arrested to prison vs. 40 out 100 for the San Diego County DA) sent out a press release that said that despite the “Federal” crackdown on illegal immigrants the “City” and “County” of San Francisco is reaffirming is “Sanctuary City” status and will do nothing to any illegal….

I don't care what it takes, I want our borders secure. I would like to see an adequate legal immigration policy where sufficient numbers of Mexicans are allowed in as residents who are not eligible for social services, but can become citizens after 5 years. Illegal immigratin is a horrible situation where people are exploited and live in squalor because they live in fear of discovery.

My position on housing is that immigration (legal or illegal) does not lower housing prices. Obviously immigrants for the most part don't move to the nice neighborhoods but they do move to the spillover neighborhoods which increases those values in turn increasing the nicer area prices.

It does however, contribute to crime and blight probably because it creates an underclass who live in a black market economy and society. Legalizing entry for the desireable ones will help this situation by allowing some sort of control over who comes in. Two things I would propose is English only in this country, you would have to be proficient to enter as a resident. The other thing would be to make it a real crime with a 10 year federal sentence to be an illegal alien.

LOL

ROFL

LMFAO

LMFAOROLF

I'm glad to see that admitting to masturbating is far more socially acceptable than admitting you pay someone to clean your toilets.

I believe the answers just about as much. I'm sure there are people with means who clean their own toilets from time to time, like after a bad round of family flu. There are days men don't masturbate too, on just about as rare occasion.

I didn't use the word hire, although that should carry a criminal charge as well. Specifically there needs to be a serious deterrent to being here illegally. Deporting does not work, a stiff jail sentence is the only thing I can think of to clenase the problem here. There should be a six month amnesty to declare themselves as here illegally, and then have that time to straighten out their affairs and then they have to leave. They can file whatever court papers they want, but at the 6 month mark they need to leave, and would have to pursue their case from overseas. At their expense they need to come back in on a visa if they wish to make court appearances. I want a fair, reasonable, sensible system.

The other thing would be to make it a real crime with a 10 year federal sentence to be an illegal alien.

Do you want to overwhelm the already-overwhelmed prison system?

I am a practical person. Sending illegals to prison will not work. We should make it extremely difficult to stay underground instead.

There should be a six month amnesty to declare themselves as here illegally, and then have that time to straighten out their affairs and then they have to leave.

No one will declare themselves illegal.

How about a six month grace period for them to pay a penalty (say 25K per head) for a conditional status? If they cannot afford to pay, they can be issued loans.

US mortgage crisis forces homeowners to take refuge in their cars

This vehicle?

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/gmc-pad.htm

Well, you can live in your car but you cannot drive your house.

All hail Peter P!

I should have put in a tongue-in-cheek when I said that. :-P

Does anyone else have a problem with www.zillow.com ? My computer crashes whenever I use it - especially if I try more than 1 comp.

Peter P Says:

Who determines what is considered wrong?

"Someone must. The cost of not making such determinations is higher than that of making wrong determinations occasionally.”
_____

Actually, quite a brilliant and honest assessment.

Huh?

Either way, I do not care.

At least I am not someone who is afraid of making moral judgments.

Michael Holliday posted:

“It’s an old saying in social services that most people are one to six paychecks away from being homeless. But if you can’t make your mortgage, it’s more like a month or two,” said William Wise, of the relief agency St Vincent de Paul”

I hear this quite a bit and last time I asked I don’t remember seeing a response. Is there anyone out there who will be sleeping in their minivan with the wife and kids of they don’t get a paycheck for a month or two?

How about a six month grace period for them to pay a penalty (say 25K per head) for a conditional status? If they cannot afford to pay, they can be issued loans.

How about, pay the fine or go to jail, or get out and if we catch you again it's 10 years. Pick your poison, I'm fine with any of them.

I don't believe in being able to just buy your way out of a crime though, and I think my original idea would not overwhelm the jails since only a portion of the 10 million would risk it.

Does anyone else have a problem with www.zillow.com ? My computer crashes whenever I use it - especially if I try more than 1 comp.

Works fine for me.

I hear this quite a bit and last time I asked I don’t remember seeing a response. Is there anyone out there who will be sleeping in their minivan with the wife and kids of they don’t get a paycheck for a month or two?

Unless I send money in such a case, many of my family back in Ohio would be.

Peter, we are definitely in agreement on a guest worker program. I believe that should be very easy to apply for. I also believe, and would like to see, 'alien' driver's licenses to help with uninsured drivers. That too should carry an extra penalty for aliens who drive without insurance.

I consider myself practical as well, but I must take issue with your original challenge that we can't be tough because we would overwhelm the system. Firstly that is basically a departure from my and I guess the majority's value system to not prosecute criminals because it is too much trouble. Secondly, as I said but to clarify more, I believe in cases such such as this; once you make a very public example and people actually see someone in shackles going to a federal penitentiary 90% will toe the line.

Uncle Bob long since sold the cows to pay the debts, as you put it earlier. They have no reserve that isn't provided by the government either as agricultural subsidies or direct aid.

Ahah! An illegal from Ohio!

The page on it is sized too big for my computer…so that I can’t see the comps…or the squiggle with the 4 numbers on it so that I can get the taxed amt. Don’t quite know how to fix it…

Change your screen resolution.

Try increasing it, it should shrink the image.

since only a portion of the 10 million would risk it.

You want to bet on that?

We need strong enforcement, not draconian punishment for the selected few.

Jailing employers who knowingly hire illegals would be more appropriate.

But again, the mess is a message: the system is broken.

I consider myself practical as well, but I must take issue with your original challenge that we can’t be tough because we would overwhelm the system.

Oh we should be tough after providing a reasonable alternative, namely the guest worker program. I just have a problem with stuffing people in the prison system, which is expensive as hell. I propose caning!

I saw a link on this page that said debt is slavery. I happened to have that thought today as I am often pondering strengths and weaknesses of living in a free society. Today I had a revelation that someone who loses 100K on a recourse home loan will basically be a serf for the rest of his life. (assuming no bankruptcy protection, many people won't be able to file because you can only do it every 7 years, and the debt in between bankruptcies can't be discharged anyway.)

LILLL, congrats! You now have an excuse to buy a new computer! :)

I was so happy my old laptop broke.

"Oh we should be tough after providing a reasonable alternative, namely the guest worker program. I just have a problem with stuffing people in the prison system, which is expensive as hell. I propose caning! "

In the end then we agree that there should be a penalty scary enough to force compliance. The goal is definitely to have as few people go to jail, definitely not my intention. I would even buy into the guest worker program as a way of implementing my 6 month registration plan. Then that puts a nice control point in the system. Declare yourself or become a criminal --> 6 months to get out or within 60 days apply for a guest visa which requires proficiency in English. The guest visas can be good for a year, but if you are denied, you have to be out of the country 6 months from the date of your declaration. Who can argue against the concept (not nitpick the details but in general)?

We can even impose a fine if they choose to apply for the visa but that would deter compliance. Impose the fine if they are here after 6 months, and if they are caught here again then 10 years.

Here in San Diego it has already nose dived.

Are open houses really generating traffic in SF?

CurrentOwner says:

Hey, u guys really think the market is going to crash in 2007 now? Prices are up pretty hefty in the city already. Have you gone to any open houses in SF? It’s like a mob scene!

The laughs never quit coming this evening. I did see a home in Larkspur went $200K UNDER asking after only 23 days on market. Sure, even at $1m it was probably overpriced by a good $300K, but hey, that's nearing halfway towards normalcy.

Any "mob scenes" you're seeing are almost assuredly frauds orchestrated by desperate, idle realtors who think they're being clever. I know those "madhouse bidding sprees" in Mountain View turned out to all be fake.

Maybe an enterprising lawyer out there can find some poor recent home buyer who got duped by a coven of realtors pulling off this scam and sue their asses off for fraud? Just an idea.

Realtor numbers show 7.5% YoY declines in N County which is scaring the pants off of the FBs. Some of the coastal areas are still way overpriced but are starting to look like 2003 2004 era prices. Pacific Beach is back to 2004 levels.