dictionary.reference.com/browse/nimiety
:-)
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MONEY: Negotiate rebate up front!
Friday, January 22, 2010*** begin quote ***
Redeeming rebates for hardware and software is a pitfall-filled process, as contributing editor Scott Dunn’s Jan. 7 Top Story pointed out. But reader Walter Donavan says he’s found another way to play the rebate game:
“Scott omitted one possible method of dealing with rebates that is 100% certain — if you can negotiate it. Simply tell the vendor by phone or e-mail that you want the product and will buy it, but only with the rebate already included in the price. For example, ‘$50 after mail-in rebate of $100’ becomes ‘$50 price now.’ Never mind the risky $150 price before rebate.
“I will no longer buy a product that depends on a mail-in rebate. If the vendor won’t give me the post-rebate price up front, I hang up. It’s very satisfying.”
*** end quote ***
Sounds like a good policy for everyone all the time.
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MONEY | Tagged: economic freedom | 
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Posted by reinkefj
RANT: The car dealers got screwed; us too. Enjoy it?
Friday, January 22, 2010http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100122/D9DCJHOG1.html
About 600 car dealers try to get businesses back
Jan 22, 12:34 AM (ET)
By TOM KRISHER
*** begin quote ***
India Johnson, an arbitration association senior vice president who is in charge of the hearings, said she expects 700 to 800 dealers to seek binding arbitration before the deadline. Not all will get hearings, she said. Some filed paperwork to preserve their appeal but may not proceed, while others may settle with the automakers before hearings, she said. The hearings, which must be held in the dealership’s home state, are likely to cost both sides a lot of money. Some dealers may lack cash to pursue them because they’ve closed their businesses or aren’t making as much as they once did. Wolf said dealers who appeal are gambling the legal fees in an effort to keep franchise agreements that alone are worth $500,000 to more than $2 million. The nonprofit arbitration association will do all it can to keep costs down, Johnson said. In some cases, dealers may represent themselves without an attorney, and arbitrators in some cases may cut their hourly rates, she said.
Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has said the automaker may challenge the constitutionality of the arbitration law in federal court, but spokeswoman Kathy Graham said Thursday that no decision has been made.
*** end quote ***
Disclaimer: Frau lost 5k in GM bonds while America lost its liberty!
Clearly, the “auto company bailout” was:
- Mis-named. It was, in fact, a bail out of the UAW.
- Unconstitutional seizure of the bondholder’s property.
- A violation of the rule of law. What happened to the bankruptcy code?
- Socializing the losses while allowing the fat cats in “management” and labor to escape with the profits.
- A Nazi-style nationalization of the car companies; just like the banks.
Obama, in the style of FDR, seized the economy. And, like fascists and socialists have always found out, it doesn’t work. The economy is in the toilet. In a large part, due to the uncertainty that the Obama administration has introduced. Tax your bonus, windfall profits tax, taxes upon taxes, cap ‘n’ tax, healthcare taxes — all scare private investment to the side lines.
Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: economic freedom, Obama | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
QUOTE: Hitler’s a footnote
Friday, January 22, 2010“If every Jewish and anti-nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic.”
– – – – Aaron Zelman, co-founder of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
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Leave a Comment » | Quotes | Tagged: Quotes, VICTIM DISARMAMENT | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: Obama’s health agenda
Thursday, January 21, 2010WITH APOLOGIES TO ONE OF MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS:
*** begin quote ***
Coakley took the hit, but Obama can’t let one vote derail his agenda and his Presidency. Seat Brown, then have the House pass the Senate bill as is and sign it before the State of the Union address.
*** end quote ***
It’s NOT just one vote.
This bill is a DISASTER. Both personally and for the country. It’s not about “heath”, “health care”, or even “health care insurance”. It’s about putting the gooferment in charge of people’s decisions about their lives.
Personally, my wife needs her doctors to work hard on her case; not playing games to satisfy some gooferment bureaucrat deciding what care she will get.
Nationally, we can’t afford this monstrosity. The gooferment already “runs” Medicare (broke!), Medicaid (breaking Fed and States), the VA (hated by most vets and underfunded), and Indian Health System (hated and goes broke every June). Let them “fix” one of those and then revisit the issue.
As a little L libertarian, I’d prefer that they just leaves us alone. If they can’t do that, how about some things that EVERYONE can agree on: (1) interstate competition; (2) eliminate the unfavorable tax treatment on self-purchased health care insurance; and (3) some limits on malpractice awards?
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Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Health Care, Obama | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: Sic transit gloria mundi
Thursday, January 21, 2010http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,673192,00.html
01/21/2010
The World from Berlin
The World Bids Farewell to Obama
*** begin quote ***
Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes on Thursday:
“Obama made a serious misjudgement. Right at the beginning of his first year in office, he saved the banks, rescued the automobile industry from collapse and passed a huge economic stimulus package. He had hoped that these enormous deeds would give him the space to address those issues which are dearest to him: health care reform, climate change and investment in education.”
“Those issues, however, are clearly not priorities for people in the US at the moment. Scott Brown campaigned on two promises, both of which apparently struck a nerve with the electorate. He wants to block health care reform and he wants to find ways to reduce the enormous budget deficit. It is here where the roots of dissatisfaction with Obama are to be found. His reform agenda, in its current form, is highly suspect to Americans. And they have the impression that, if he continues piling up debt, he will be gambling away the country’s future.”
*** end quote ***
He’s misjudged the meaning of his election. And, for all the talk of tough Chicago style politics, he wasn’t so tough. He caved to Wall Street. He should have said to little Timmy, Helicopter Ben, the Labor Unions, the Trial lawyers, Nancy, and Harry: “Howdy, now get lost!”. They sunk him. Along with Big Sis, and all the hangers on weighing him down. I believe he missed one key factor. Wall Street has a unique survival mechanism. Self-preservation. If he had zipped the public purse form the bail outs — all of them — magic would have happened. All these folks with “no way to survive” would have figured it out WITHOUT a bail out. And, after the first one was rejected, there would have been NO QUEUE for more “worthy contenders”.
He should have focused on the message of Bill Clinton. Like Kennedy, he could have had the Obama tax cut to small business. Figure out a complicated formula to ensure it went only to the little guys. They make the jobs any way. Then go after the sugar and milk price supports to bring down prices to the people. Then, repeal the minimum wage and put youngsters back to work. Minorities would have been helped. He could have gone after the absurd “war on some drugs” and emptied the prisons of non-violent drug offenders.
Then, maybe he could have done all sorts of good things. He went for the big brass ring and fell off the ride. He should have, in consultant speak, gone after the low hanging fruit. Quick easy wins that score big points.
Sad.
All glory fades.
Seeking to be a JFK, he winds up a Carter. At least, he not a joke like Clinton. “Democratic” President don’t seem to work out too well.
(It is interesting how the UK, German, and International press is so much better than the US counterparts.)
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Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Health Care, Human Factors, Obama | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
JOBSEARCH: A relo is a test of faith?
Thursday, January 21, 2010http://www.irishcentral.com/ent/Conan-OBrien-will-leave-Tonight-Show-81160232.html
Conan O’Brien will definitely leave ‘Tonight Show’
By ANTOINETTE KELLY
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Monday, January 11, 2010, 2:43 PM
*** begin quote ***
“Conan uprooted his family, his life and moved to Los Angeles and they have not given him enough time” the friend said. “It is outrageous what they have done to him.” O’Brien’s family is extremely upset that the massive lifestyle change they made and the new responsibility O’Brien assumed has been taken so lightly by NBC.
*** end quote ***
It certainly is a good lesson to anyone considering a corporate relo deal.
I remember one fellow getting axed as his plane was enroute from Sweden to Houston and he was so screwed.
To relo, you MUST HAVE a contract. History is replete with lessons. If they won’t give you one, how can you trust them?
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Leave a Comment » | JOBSEARCH | Tagged: economic freedom, Economics, employer's responsibility, Human Factors | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
UNCATEGORIZED: Unfathomable accident
Wednesday, January 20, 2010http://www.ocregister.com/news/skiing-229614-telluride-king.html
January 19, 2010 8:30 AM
Snowboarder who died had proposed
By ANNIE BURRIS and JON CASSIDY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
*** begin quote ***
Helitrax Guide Hilaree O’Neill was skiing right behind her, and tried to take off King’s helmet, but her hands went numb in the frigid water, she told the Telluride Daily Planet.
Only King’s head was trapped underwater in the shallow creek. Her snowboard and legs lay on the bank. The creek was 12 to 16 inches deep, Helitrax officials said. It took “considerable” force to pull her free, Helitrax director Aaron Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez, who was downhill with a second group, was helicoptered up to the accident to help. The rescuers tried to dam the water from running over King’s face, but by the time she was pulled from the water, 10 minutes had passed. King had no pulse and was not breathing; she was pronounced dead at the scene about noon.
San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters called the death “one of those freak things.” Coroner officials said she died of drowning.
*** end quote ***
A sad tragic accident! Stunning. I bet a lot of people will be kicking themselves for a long time about this one.
But, we know not the day; nor the hour!
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Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Right to Life | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: The View on healthcare
Wednesday, January 20, 2010Whoopi: “I want what all the guys and girls in Congress have. Gimme what you got! Why do you get better than me?”
AGREED! Why should the employees have better than the poor people paying the bills.
Joy on preexisting conditions.
DISAGREE! Hey that’s why the call it “pre-existing”. And, it’s insurance. Otherwise it’s welfare. You can’t buy fire insurance when your house is burning down. Or as some Californians discovered, when the neighborhood it threatened by wildfires. Why should you be able to buy “insurance” AFTER your diagnosed with the condition. The problem is the way the gooferment has mucked up insurance coverage in this country. If you bought “health” insurance like you buy car insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, pet insurance! The problem occurs when health insurance is connected with your employment. Lose your job; lose your insurance. You don’t lose your car insurance. Argh! You could buy a high deductible policy (i.e., 5, 10, or 25k) even today and never ever hear about pre-existing conditions. Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Health Care | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
TECHNOLOGY: Paywalls
Wednesday, January 20, 2010*** begin quote ***
it’s been our experience that, quite often, papers initially made available for free online will eventually disappear behind the pay wall at some point. So if we post something you think you might want to reread or use in the future, grab a copy of the full text as soon as you see it. No telling how long it will remain freely available.
*** end quote ***
It’s a shame that has to happen. If it’s not “pay” to start with, then why “pay” after a time.
Unfortunately, the inet isn’t a library. And, as I find out more and more, Google ain’t that good!
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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
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