RANDOM READS

The can't protect our borders but when it comes to keeping "an endangered species of mouse from being trampled by cattle," you get the idea.

Commissioners in Otero County voted 2-0 on Monday night to authorize Sheriff Benny House to open a gate allowing nearly 200 head of cattle into the 23-acre area despite Forest Service restrictions. A third commissioner was out of town for the vote.

We are reacting to the infringement of the U.S. Forest Service on the water rights of our land-allotment owners," Otero County Commissioner Tommie Herrell told Reuters. "People have been grazing there since 1956."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/13/us-usa-newmexico-cattle-idUSBREA4C0XV20140513?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
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When housing prices before the subprime-led crash were running amok many claimed it was only a bicoastal thing with California, Nevada, Florida and parts of the east coast. Turned out to be more national than many thought.

Those who've been ballyhooing the most recent recovery in home prices are trying to sell a different  tune this time along the lines that the rising tide has lifted all houseboats. Well, maybe. But there are some signs it ain't so.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/7-places-where-property-prices-are-falling-2014-05-13
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French President Francois Hollande appeared yesterday to be grabbing a page from a fellow EU bureacrat, ECB President Mario Draghi, suggesting that the country was on the road to recovery. According to one report, Hollande's intent was to allay fears about tax hikes and spending cuts two sore spots with union members.

If the French recovery, as Hollande says, is any where at hand no one has seen it yet. So we have Draghi searching the horizon far and wide any signs of inflation and Hollande on the lookout for recovery.

Elected two years ago among some high hopes for change, Hollonde's popularity ratings recently hit an all-time low with just 18 percent of voters approving his performance as France still has a record 3 million-plus out of work. This is just one of the reasons the French are hardly interested in any provisions that smack of German economic probity and a strong euro.

Nobody likes austerity policies less than unions.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-13/hollande-economic-recovery-elusive-as-french-face-taxes-cuts.html
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