11:45 p.m.

• So I was flipping channels earlier today and came across some hippie Vh1 show that showed mini-videos. Eh. Oh well, this one got a laugh out of me. While I'm sorta on this subject, I actually like that Gene Simmons show on A&E. I don't watch this program on a regular basis, but if there is nothing else playing I'll put the remote down. I'm not a huge fan of Kiss, but the fact Gene is so obsessed with money makes him one of my heroes.

7:30 p.m.

• I’ve bitched about this before, but I don’t care.

The lights are still on inside Foreclosure No. A200642668—so while there's time, have a look around.

 

Here's the living room, still covered in the worn blue shag Angela Sneary always intended to replace with the sheen of hardwood. And downstairs, through a curtain of plastic beads, is the basement where husband Tim was going to knock out a wall and put in a foosball table.

 

Step this way and the Snearys point out the places where they never could find the cash to hang a ceiling fan, install a hot tub, replace the siding ... a long list of abandoned ambitions that seem almost too big to squeeze into the modest four-bedroom tri-level.

 

Owning a home is all about finding humor in unfinished projects. But in the house set back from a bend at 11030 Eudora Circle, the Snearys never had the luxury.

They ran out of money first. Then, they ran out of time. Soon, they'll almost certainly be out of a home.

 

Buying a home is the American dream and a record number of Americans—nearly 70 percent—are living it.

 

Many families, though, likely never would have become owners if not for the tremendous growth over the past decade of a new kind of mortgage business called subprime lending. It long seemed like a winning proposition for all parties. Now the costs are becoming apparent—and they are very unsettling.

 

Subprime lenders peddle new kinds of mortgages, often requiring no money down and made at "teaser" interest rates that soon rise. They target marginal borrowers with weak credit or questionable incomes who previously might not have gotten a loan at all.

Boo-fucking hoo. If you can’t afford a home, then don’t get a subprime loan you stupid fucks. I know owning a home is the “American Dream” and all that shit, but go at it the right way. Make sound choices in your life. Don’t live beyond your means. And for the love of Christ, don’t get an adjustable mortgage rate. Unlike the family mentioned above in this pseudo-sob story, don’t worry about the foosball table and hot tub until after you get financial matters in order. Oh this shit pisses me off. Sometimes life can throw you a curveball, but if you are prepared for it you have a better chance at properly reacting to whatever comes your way. It pays to hold out for the best possible deal rather than instantly gratify yourself and have it come back to bite you in the ass later.

• If we don’t help out citrus farmers, the terrorists win.

A bill promising $40 million in federal aid for a citrus industry recovering from this winter's deep freeze is likely to collapse because it's attached to an Iraq supplemental funding bill that the president is expected to veto.

Actually, this type of shit goes on all the time in politics – attaching some pork, err, orange, to a bill that has nothing to do with the added spending. But since Democrats are now in charge I’m OUTRAGED!

• I’m sure this guy, if convicted, can get the East Valley Tribune for free in the prison’s library.

One of the two men accused of terrorizing Phoenix in a series of random late-night shootings thinks his notoriety deserves compensation. Dale Hausner called the East Valley Tribune from jail and requested a discount Tribune subscription as a reward for generating newspaper headlines. Hausner called himself "Dale the Innocent" when placing the collect call, and said he deserves a "sweetheart deal."

 

"I've sold a lot of newspapers for you," Hausner told the paper Wednesday.

 

The Tribune declined Hausner's request.

 

Hausner, 33, and Samuel Dieteman, 31, are accused of shooting at numerous people over a 14-month period as they cruised Phoenix-area neighborhoods during the night. Hausner is charged with seven murder counts and Dieteman faces two murder counts, plus charges related to dozens of other shootings of people and animals. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

 

Hausner has sent several letters and made several phone calls to the Tribune since his arrest in August. Dieteman has declined media requests for comment.

 

Both have pleaded not guilty.