Couldn’t Help But Notice (121206)
Yeah, this is good news (link requires subscription):
Homes for Sale in Metro Areas Fall
The number of homes listed for sale in 18 major U.S. metropolitan areas at the end of November was down 4% from a month earlier, according to data compiled by ZipRealty Inc., a national real-estate brokerage firm in Emeryville, Calif.
The decline is an encouraging sign for home sellers. Prices have been falling in recent months in many areas, largely because of a glut of unsold homes, and are unlikely to rise again until inventories come down.
Remember supply and demand, ECON 101? When supply falls in the face of lower demand, prices stabilize. This is good.
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How you know the legal system is out of control (link requires subscription): When the plaintiff’s lawyer tries to tell the judge that he doesn’t have to prove anything to win a claim:
The plaintiffs claim that BellSouth, Verizon, and the other Bells agreed among themselves to refrain from competing against each other and to prevent smaller telecom rivals from entering their respective markets. Mr. Richards had just finished explaining to the Court why “proving the facts alleged is not a plaintiff’s burden.” He said it was contrary to the Bells’ self-interest to stay out of each other’s territory and therefore a conspiracy can be inferred.
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Repeat after me:
“Fidel Castro has held dictatorial power for over 45 years, will never voluntarily give it up, has ruined his country’s economy, and has oppressed his people at a far worse and far more comprehensive level than the late Augusto Pinochet ever did.”
(listening…..) I can’t hear you….
(listening) Say it like you mean it! You KNOW it’s true.
(listening…..) That’s better.
(No dedicated leftist will get through the preceding exercise.)
Okay, NOW you can point out Pinochet’s faults. Then read this balanced, eyes-open OpinionJournal.com editorial (may require e-mail registration).
UPDATE: Call Guinness — The Washington Post, apparently not dedicated enough leftists (HT Instapundit), actually gets the Castro-Pinochet comparison, and even brings in the late Jeanne Kirkpatrick to bolster its case:
In “Dictatorships and Double Standards,” a work that caught the eye of President Ronald Reagan, Ms. Kirkpatrick argued that right-wing dictators such as Mr. Pinochet were ultimately less malign than communist rulers, in part because their regimes were more likely to pave the way for liberal democracies. She, too, was vilified by the left. Yet by now it should be obvious: She was right.
UPDATE 2: Accompanying Insta-Understatement — “The other contrast is that you can find apologists for Castro in pretty much every newsroom and university campus in America. Pinochet, not so much.”
