According to research by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy:

* Unemployment, at 7.5% is 60% above the national average.
* Michigan is tied with North Dakota for the highest outbound migration rate.
* Per-capita income, in a free fall since 2000, is now 7.8% below the national average.
* Home values are plummeting; foreclosures are at their highest level in recent memory.
* Private-sector wages are 18% below the public sector, on average.
* Local and state tax burden is about 11th highest in the nation.

who in the HELL wallpapers over unprimed drywall?!?!?!?!?!

sick

i never have to watch american idol again.

i'm sorry melinda, it was inevitable. each year the person i want to win gets taken out at number 3. vonzel, elliot yamin, chris daughtry, and now you, amazingly talented melinda doolittle.

le sigh.

so, things are well underway. i have spoken with a mortgage lender (a nice guy who graduated from Hope) and he said all looked good. i just have to get full time by the time we close (which should forsure happen). we are meeting with him wednesday afternoon to go through the paperwork and decide which kind of loan we want. very much looking forward to it.

the only thing i'm super nervous about right now is the seller. i know i'm simply being paranoid, but i didn't hear back from him tonight (i left him a message on his cell) and it has me worried. i'll just have to try again tomorrow night.

well i suddenly lost motivation to write (i think i'm tired). but yay!!

this is great news.

Court Backs Ban on Abortion Procedure

Apr 18 10:18 AM US/Eastern
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure Wednesday, handing abortion opponents the long- awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench.

The 5-4 ruling said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.