The Dollar Vigilante has a new feature — a monthly advice column called “Dear Slavey.” It started off with a bang on July 2, when “Slavey” advised some poor credit-card serf to “Just. Don’t. Pay.” No surprise, this drew feedback and some heated back-and-forthing about the morality of keeping one’s pledges. Slavey’s position is that banks are corrupt from top to bottom and unilaterally change their “agreements” with us at will, so eff ’em all. Besides, businesses walk away from billions of dollars in debt without an eyeblink. He does warn, however, that in some states you can now be…
Category: Money
Posts about being frugal, getting out of debt, staying out of debt, spending practically and splurging joyfully. This category may also contain posts about hard money and what the government is doing to all that “soft money” it creates.
Show this to the innocents in your circle the next time one of them says if you obey the law you have nothing to fear. Whole family loses everything and goes to jail for … failure to speak Spanish when the feds use a Spanish speaker to frame them. Should we ban the word “trillion”? Naw. Good think piece, though. “Pry the Big Gulp from My Cold, Dead Fingers.” (H/T MJR) Sheldon Richman gives another good whack to David Brooks. “Why My Child Will Be Your Child’s Boss.” (Hint: because my child isn’t being turned into a risk-averse ninny.) (Tip…
In the news you can use department: “Situational Awareness” by our own MamaLiberty. Nice work, Mama. Though I’d like to know more of the background of this particular incident, it appears that the War on Food continues to ravage the Country Formerly Known As the Land of the Free. (H/T/ JS) “A Biblical Threat to National Security.” And you plan to persuade Muslims how? that the U.S. military isn’t conducting a holy crusade against them? (Tip o’ hat to J.B.) “Who Destroyed the Middle Class?” Sooooooo, do you think PBS would report this sympathetically if a Caucasian family decided to…
Thank you from Sweetie I was supposed to wait for a cute new picture before giving this thank you. But since Sweetie doesn’t seem to have developed thumbs yet, no photo is forthcoming. So … THANK YOU. Thanks to your greatheartedness, Sweetie the troubled, deaf, dislocated, heartworm-positive heeler now has more than enough to complete her heartworm treatment. AND more than enough to buy a vibrating training collar! AND enough to keep her in kibble for all the time she’s likely to be in foster care! YOU are an amazing bunch. Barring something truly unforeseen (knock wood), we shouldn’t have…
Update on Sweetie’s heartworm-treatment fundraiser. You good Friends of Sweetie are doing it again. 🙂 After 36 hours, we’ve received a total of $605 via PayPal ($580.83 after PayPal fees) from 18 donors. About half are repeat donors, half new. In addition, two Friends of Sweetie have pledged to send checks totaling $150 to the non-profit our ACD expert works with. And a good friend of Sweetie’s and mine has sent his third contribution, amount unknown, via snail. So thanks to you, Sweetie will get her heartworm treatment and be on her way to being a healthy, adoptable dog. We’ll…
UPDATED with new photos. We have some good news, some more good news, and some bad news on Sweetie the deaf heeler. The first good news: Sweetie continues to do well. Linda, our ACD expert, has concluded that psychologically there’s nothing wrong with her. Except that she’s a deaf cattle dog with PTSD and an exaggerated startle response, not enough obedience training, and a dislike of sharing her home with other dogs. But basically a devoted little cuddlebug. The second good news: She’s free of microfilariae. That means the slow-kill heartworm treatment she’s been on since coming into rescue is…
Still deadlining. Picked up a couple more small assignments over the weekend. Sanity retreats again — but I shall chase it down and catch up with it! Dogs (and not wolves) use humans as tools. Every dog person knows that; now scientists do, too. (Tip o’ hat to MLS.) Yes. Really. The border fence is to keep the Mexicans IN. Methodists (good for them) demonstrate against private prisons. Would you like your state to make a deal with CCA guaranteeing to keep all its prisons at 90% occupancy for 20 years? Microsoft cautiously and wimpily begins to back away from…
Of course! This is exactly what the U.S. needs: a federal government that can do more. Now why didn’t we think of that? How exactly does a “civil servant” steal $30 million from a town of 12,000? Ten completely ridiculous (and not necessarily SFW) road signs. (Tip o’ hat to C^2.) SOPA is dead. Long live CISPA! Or maybe we should say SOPA is dead; will somebody fer cryin’ out loud put a stake in its heart and bury it at the crossroads??? Does that take-away-your-passport-if-you-haven’t-paid-your-taxes law that’s making its way through Congress also give the IRS the authority to…
Sorry to use the blog for something obscure and personal. But I’ve got a car-parts question that’s puzzling me. And I’ll bet anything one or more of you geniuses can help. I’ve acquired an old beater car that needs work. Specifically it needs a new ignition coil. I’m buying my own online because the auto shop’s price was more than I can justify for this vehicle. The part they want is a Standard (SMP) UF355. If I buy that brand, the absolute lowest price I’ve found is $122 (including shipping cost). That’s lower than the shop’s price. However, I see…
From Sheila Bair, former head of the FDIC. Fix the economy and end income inequality by giving us all low-interest $10 million loans just like the banks get. 🙂 Cool! Where do we sign up?