On July 26, 2006, the owners of local grocery store/pharmacy Ralph's Thriftway filed a lawsuit against the state of Washington's Board of Pharmacy and Human Rights Commission in federal court. The complaint, filed on behalf of Stormans, Inc. and two pharmacists who are not employees of Ralph’s, contends that newly adopted state administrative codes that require pharmacies to fill prescriptions without discrimination violate the “Plaintiffs’ unalienable right of conscience on matters of religious and moral conviction free of government coercion.”

Despite Ralph’s insistence that it is a community-minded, locally-oriented store, the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based organization, is masterminding this lawsuit. The complaint is signed by two attorneys from Seattle law firm Ellis, Li & McKinstry, as well as Benjamin Bull, Byron Babione, and Amy Smith of the Alliance Defense Fund, with an address in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian non-profit organization with a stated purpose of “defending the right to hear and speak the Truth [sic] through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.”

Bill O’Reilly, conservative “culture warrior” and ADF booster, has encouraged listeners of his radio show to donate money to the ADF, calling it the “antidote to the ACLU.” According to the Washington Post, the ADF handles litigation itself, as well as underwriting legal fights for such organizations as the American Center for Law & Justice, which was founded by Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell’s Liberty Counsel.

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There was yet another stabbing at the downtown bus station at around 5:15 or so. I saw the aftermath, a young man on a stretcher with a wound to his lower back. He looked okay concidering. That makes two assaults in a row. Of course, this is going to bring the "blame it on the bums, libs, and greeners" crowd out of the wood work for sure.

I just caught this on www.cnn.com  or here for the article. Any thoughts?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices have shown few signs of any turnaround, and a new report sees the downward slide continuing.

On Tuesday, Standard and Poor's said its nationwide S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index fell 3.2 percent in the second quarter, compared with a year ago. For the three months ended June 30, prices dropped 0.9 percent from the first quarter......

The slump in housing prices began in mid-2005 when appreciation rates first started to slow and then reverse. During the past few months a credit crisis and a huge jump in default rates and foreclosures contributed to market declines.

Defaulting home owners have unleashed many new homes onto already sizable inventories. It's the biggest glut of homes on the market in about 16 years. There's now a 9.6 month supply of homes on the market at current rates of sale.

Demand has fallen as home loans of all types have become harder to obtain, taking many potential home buyers off the market. First, it was subprime borrowers who began having trouble arranging financing. Then Alt-A mortgages (usually low- or no-doc loans) dried up.

Lenders have also tightened the screws on jumbo loans. These big-ticket mortgages do not have a guaranteed secondary market because they exceed the dollar limits that of loans Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the government sponsored agencies created by Congress to add liquidity to housing markets, will buy.

The story must be told.