This article kind of irked me today Basically we are all going to chip in to bail out people that are under water in their mortgages. Frankly I think it absolutely sucks. Let's reward people that took on irresponsible risk by saving their asses at your expense. Here I though this was Capitalism and for taking a chance at profiting you also accepted the possibility of losing. So as a guy that is just saving his money to maybe, "PUT DOWN A DOWNPAYMENT" I have to watch my tax money go to people that gambled and LOST. I mean if you're a Real Estate Developer and you lost you should not come to me to recoup your losses.

The sad part is that's it is criminal what say the Banks have done with people's deposits. Here is a Freaking Fine Example I seriously want to know what they were smoking when they though of that project. Here is my guess, (1. Real Estate only goes one direction, that is Up 2. We can always write this off 3. There will be some government bailout to help us out, so if the bank goes under FDIC Insurance will cover it.) Seriously the amount of money that is swishing around is just astounding.

Now we have people on people calling for serious restrictions on Commodity and Futures trading. This is the blame for the run up in Energy Prices. Look no one really cared for the last 7 years when Housing prices ran up. People were actually cheering when it was going on, "Flip that House, Flip that House, Flip that House" on A & E. There was never a cry for "Win fall Profits Tax" or the People that were banking the dough in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada were not going to SHARE THE PROFITS WITH YOU WHEN TIMES WERE GOOD! Then again, that's the coutry we live in now Privatize the profits & Socialize the Losses. It's OK to take a chance and lose money, but if you take a chance on a house it's not your fault. After all is it really too much to ask when you BORROWED MONEY & PROMISE TO PAY IT BACK? !?

Just think now in a couple of years as the 'Burbs unwind the Slumlords that have been sitting on property in the City for decades are going to be rewarded now that people won't be able to afford the white picket fence. Are they going to spread the money around as they start to say Cha-Ching after they can actually sell their stuff to people that are actually going to live there instead of flipping them to some "investor" on Craigslist that just can't pass up a bargin of a $25,000 house? I don't think so. We're just going to throw money down a hole on declining McMansions in the suburbs & exSuburbs as they turn into say Red Cross Offices as the Mansions on Delaware Ave did decades ago as the cost of keeping up those structures up just became too burdensome.

I just had a really start to what should have been a lazy Sunday. So what I ended up doing was just taking a Sunday drive of which I could just get away for a few hours & still come home at a reasonable hour. So I thought, heck why not drive down the 90 to check out the newest casino or in this case Racino (racetrack & casino) Presque Isle Downs Erie, PA.

Well I only lasted there 1/2 hour. The place was absolutely packed as the parking lot was just full. Once inside my friend got ID by security who then proceeded to ask questions about Seneca Niagara, since he has a room booked there next week or so. We basically told him that it was nice & if he wanted to try something different he could go to the bars on Third St. But Yea, The place was wall to wall people. You could not find a machine that was not occupied. The one aspect of the place that made me run was the smoke. Being so progressive in Canada and New York State it just drove me bonkers. I really wanted to check out the thoroughbred racing, but I just couldn't wait until then. So all in all we spend about 1/2 hour in the place. Although I have a few pics to prove it.






One more thing. How the stock of the parent company Moutaineer MNTG is only $5 I just don't understand. This place is going to be a goldmine. On the stupid shuttle bus I heard some slot players comment that the place was not this jammed packed when it had it's grand opening. Casinos in Pennsylvania are just going to be "CHA-CHING!" Yea, Mountaineer is going to some some people from Pittsburgh that are going to play at the Meadows & Wheeling Island, but all I can see for Presque Isle is Expansion. The people that mobbed this place today came from somewhere.


So other than just seeing this place, we went shopping at some mall in Erie & ate dinner at Quaker Steak & Lube. For the most part I just had to check the place out before they open up on Transit Road where Don Pablo's once stood in front of the Regal/Imax. I just had the wings with the cheese/bacon/scallions fries & it was pretty descent.

(e:jason) I think we may have found our answer to that problem...



;-)

I stopped by there on Saturday afternoon. For the first time I didn't go with any of my friends, I went with my Mom. For the first time in quite a while she was up north & available. So we went and it was an interesting time. The first lesson that was established was I really as a wuss compared to my Mom. The point to illustrate this was when I suggested we park in the Kleinhans Music Hall and for the most part it was cool since no one was in the lot, it was early enough before the event later that night and no one was really there watching the place. As we were walking out some guy very far away at the end of the lot was saying something about a ticket. I actually got worried, but my Mom was like, "Who Gives a Shit, If they ticket me I have the money." Yea, I have to admit even though I heard this there was still a bit of anxiety bubbling down below the surface. She has real balls, unfortunately more than I do I sadly admit.

It was funny to see her in action as after the AAF we went to Cafe Europa. After realizing that she could have had X,Y,Z @ Toro she went in there and asked for a menu, to keep! I guess from how she operates in FLA she basically has a book of menus from places to reference addresses, phone numbers and prices. The real fun part was going into LU Modern Classics and having her give her opinion on everything in the store. Good times for sure is all I can say.

So we walked the entire length of the show starting down at the bend of Allen St. I really only picked up a melted 7 Up bottle, just for the fact that it had the old label on it when it was still made with Real Sugar & not High Fructose Corn Syrup. For the most part it was different and cool to hear her really express her disappointment at the the majority of the booths. Heck, she even dragged me to church; Well kind of, it was the open house of the Trinity Episcopal Church. I ended up buying a $2 bottled water from there just for the privilege of checking out the stained glass donated by people that died 100+ years ago.

It was definitely not my usual AAF, as for the most part in years past we would just make it a bar hopping extravaganza. From what I saw most people did do it as I saw a ton of cups originating from Coulter Bay on the street. It was the right move as I just wanted to avoid my "friends" this year & the unbalanced relationships that I have had with them in their favor for many years.

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In my own personal take to (e:paul)
In a crazy way I can see her point, but not in the same light as she was referring. As I have explained to people before, I am one of the few people that would leave this area for the reason of finding a descent wife. Usually the cause if career/job but for me it would be for someone that I can relate to and find attractive.
There are attractive people in WNY, but to be honest I wouldn't want anything to do with the self absorbed hotties that are around here.

So I can agree with you that there ARE attractive people around here. The point I totally disagree on is that there are very few quality people to take them any further than 1 or 2 nights.

Although for me in reality that really isn't too much of a attainable goal. As for me I just can't keep up a "normal relationship" with a "normal girl" just for the sheer fact that I just can't keep up the facade that I must have to go on. Eventually anxious or mildly depressed me will come out & when he does it's all over. So I guess that's why I end up with the goth chicks or the one's with low self esteem/wight issues. Especially the goth chicks, as I actually brighten them up to an extent and they can deal with my semi-regular lows.

At the end of the day on that topic, Dr. Neil Clark Warren is so right; You can't enter into a marriage if you're depressed. Any descent person just won't put up with your moping and whining.

So there it is a vulnerable (e:strip) post. Usually I'll lock it away some place else.

It is kind of funny that the last real American mega brewer is going to be gobbled up by foreigners.
Although they are right in that no one really drinks "American" beer anymore unless it is light or low-carb, it does bring a significant end of an era. The consolidation of the 70's and 80's are going to leave us without a true national brew. Miller is South African & Coors is 1/2 Canadian. Really the only beer large scale national company will be Pabst and their collection of brands of yesteryear. Yea, they tried to do this when they bought Rolling Rock, but in doing so they did alienate the drinkers of the brand. Come one I drank to because it came from Latrobe, PA, not New Jersey where it originates now.

Yea, I do always find an appreciation for Michelob, but the real stuff is hard to find without light or ultra on the bottle. Then again I a friend of mine compared it to whole milk, "It's good when you have it, but you just can't drink it everyday."

it was Bud's fault for never really branching out. They could have bought out the smaller old man beers, but they only came up with brew products that never went anywhere. L.A. Beer, Bud Dry, Ice Draft (although I do miss Bud Ice Draft)

There is only real one weird thing in my mind. Is Busch going to survive Bud? I mean when Schlitz when faded away in the 1980's after people stopped drinking it, the secondary brand "Old Milwaukee" survived & is actually still thriving today. Actually Old Milwaukee is the best selling brand for Pabst. The only thing I can think of is that there are still a bunch of guys still thinking of this commercial: the ultimate misogynist beer as sex commercial ever!