Holy cow.

Quoted: Chinese officials misused or embezzled about $35 billion in government money in the first 11 months of the year, according to a national audit released this week.

The announcement is the latest indication of how widespread corruption has become among government agencies and how difficult it will be for Beijing to root it out.

This is exactly why vaccinations are necessary for public health. A sick person for a disease like measles, which is highly contagious, can infect many more innocent people - like infants, children and those with weak immune systems.

Quoted: Because most people in this area are vaccinated against measles, the risk to the general population is low, heath officials said. Persons who are unvaccinated, pregnant women, infants less than 6 months of age and persons with weakened immune systems are at higher risk if exposed to measles and should contact their health care providers promptly if they develop an illness with fever or an unexplained rash illness.

Quoted: In the past year (from October 2008 to October 2009), home prices in Seattle have fallen 12.4 percent, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which are monthly reports that track home prices in 20 major U.S. cities. The only U.S. markets with bigger declines during that time were: Las Vegas (down 26.6 percent), Phoenix (down 18.1 percent) Tampa, Fla. (down 15.2 percent), Detroit (down 15.1 percent) and Miami (down 14 percent).

Although the Fed is holding the rate low and steady, the mortage interest rate cannot stay low forever. It's going to continue a general trend of inching up, although it's still very, very low now and I think it will still be in the range of being low over the next 12+ months.

Quoted: The average fixed rate on a 30-year mortgage was 5.05% this week, up from 4.94% last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The last time rates ...

Quoted: The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze. It’s time for a green revolution, a reseeding of our stubborn animal minds.

Quoted: All signs suggest the economic recovery will end the year on firmer footing despite a report Tuesday that the economy grew at a 2.2 percent ...

This is positive news, but my greatest concern is the last line in the quoted sentence, "The government's tax breaks have spurred sales to their highest level in nearly three years." What happens when the tax break ends in June? We cannot afford to extend the credits indefinitely - or can we afford not to?

Quoted: Stocks got off to a positive start after a report from the National Association of Realtors said home resales jumped 7.4 percent in November. That was much more than the 2.5 percent increase analysts expected. The government's tax breaks have spurred sales to their highest level in nearly three years.

Still far below the national rate, but it's increasing.

Quoted; RealtyTrac Inc. said the report also shows one in every 417 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in November. In Washington state, there were 3,288 foreclosure filings last month, with one in every 835 housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in November — a 15 percent increase from November 2008.

But sales were up...a lot.

Mixed string of news about the market over the past year, which is why I'm so hesitant to say we have recovered. The economic and housing situation is not simple; many factors still at play that are influencing pricing, demand from buyers, and supply of housing being released.

Quoted: According to data collected by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), the average sale price of a home in King County last month was $415,581, down from $421,521 in October and well off the average sale price of November 2008 of $440,062. The median (half sold for more, half for less) sale price in King County last month was $337,000, down from $349,950 in October and down from $365,000 in November 2008.