| Say No To The Vocoder
No matter who becomes President, this election year is sure to bring change in Washington. Both parties are presenting candidates who want to learn from the mistakes of the Bush years and regain America's standing throughout the world. Today, the Hip-Hop community represents an ever expanding range of backgrounds, ethnicities and experiences, so we have a responsibility to combine our vast resources to correct what may be the biggest tragedy of the last several years: the resurgence of the Vocoder. To be fair, the worst offenders actually use variations on the device like the Sonovox and Autotuner, but all of them are children of this mighty beast. Once an innocent vocal effect to help sing a song of love between a boy and his computer, the Vocoder family has since become a studio trick to cover up the fact that many of today's Pop singers can't actually sing (like, at all).
Recession unlikely to hit Bay Area in '08
But the Bay Area won't lose jobs, the way it did during the dot-com crash. And the region's economy should start to recover in 2009. "I'm saying we're going to skirt the recession, but I'm not saying it's happy days," said economist Paul Fassinger, the association's research director. His prediction came with a caveat. If the United States as a whole sinks into a recession, the Bay Area will follow, Fassinger said. But it won't be anywhere near as severe as the last economic downturn, which wiped out 400,000 jobs here. "If it is a recession," he said, "it will be a mild one, and it will be short." The association acts as a regional planning agency for 101 Bay Area cities, towns and counties, and the local economy's health shapes everything those governments do.
O'Malley unveils home aid
These are really, really tough times," O'Malley said. "We are seeing a national economic downturn, and we are also seeing a real unprecedented crisis when it comes to foreclosures."
The administration also announced yesterday the "Bridge to HOPE" program to provide interest-free loans of up to $15,000 so that homeowners can catch up on their mortgage payments and avoid foreclosure. Raymond A. Skinner, secretary of the Department of Housing and Community Development, said his agency has moved $400,000 from its existing budgets to be able to make the loans with state dollars.
The HOPE loan program, announced last summer by O'Malley, didn't meet expectations. It would have directed $100 million to assist hundreds of homeowners refinance, but only 14 homeowners have qualified.
Housing slump's impact not expected to be too severe here: Area's ...
The government never tries to avoid a recession, but they will try to make it short and shallow," Finucane said. "And they are moving very, very quickly. That will be good for the regional economy as well." It's a psychology of economics. Finucane explains the Paradox of Thrift: What's prudent for an individual to do in terms of saving might cause a problem at the national level if enough consumers reduce the flow of spending. "Expectations become very important," Finucane said. "Businesses, consumers and investors will base their decisions on what they think will happen in the future." Consumers worried about their jobs will be more cautious in their spending, he said. Businesses will second-guess what consumers will be buying. If consumer confidence declines, businesses are less likely to produce, then corporate profits drop.
Updated 11:23 A.M.
The next thing they know, the 16 year old they're looking for is arrested in Nashville, Tennessee at around 7:30 p.m. our time. The TSA says he was arrested for a probation violation. The FBI says he plotted to hijack an airplane. Agents found the teen with rope, duct tape, and handcuffs. He never tried anything on the plane. They say he is suicidal. The TSA says nothing found with the teenager is prohibited, not even the handcuffs. On its website the agency says this is a lesson to watch for suspicious behavior as much as for items. The U.S. Attorney's office in Nashville says it is reviewing the case to see if federal charges are appropriate. Wet Weather Weekend Posted by Christie Smith at 11:14 a.m.
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