08:03 – We have ten kits to ship today, which is the first time in a couple of months that we’ve shipped double figures in one day. Kit sales are still running well behind last July’s numbers, but at least we’re now within striking distance of matching last July. With five days left in the month and the start of the autumn semester fast approaching, it might well happen. Our all-time record so far is shipping 34 kits in one day. I’m sure we’ll eventually beat that. Eventually, I’d like to see that become a routine day.
Saturday, 26 July 2014
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I see more libturd congressdooshes are taking the “live the minimum wage” challenge. Like that means anything for a couple weeks. What’s the point? All it shows is it can be done. How do these turds get elected? Geez.
Oh yeah, and Obummer planning on giving all crimmigrants a work visa. Defacto amnesty. All the people who do it legally are going to be pissed. Maybe Obummer should refund all the money they spent from his pay.
“How do these turds get elected?”
Let me count the ways: by lying, stealing, cheating, and by the electorate believing in the lies and excusing the stealing and cheating in the mistaken belief that THEIR guy or gal will get them stuff, free of charge.
So now the whole process is just a huge joke and anyone who still bothers to vote is either being paid to do it in some way or is terminally moronic and doesn’t mind being lied to and fleeced or his kids being sent off to the wars and his job being off-shored to South Asia. And then we have some pointy-headed intellectual types who pretend that libertarians have any chance at all anywhere and that the one-one-hundredth of one-one-hundredth of one-percent of the population that buys the ideology will ever make any kind of difference beyond the occasional local election where they become curiosities and objects of wacky fun in the media.
Actually, I’ve seen several surveys that say conservatives are in the plurality at around 45% of the population, libertarians next at about 30%, populists at around 15%, and liberals bringing up the rear at around 10%.
That’s using the modern definitions of those words, with conservatives believing the government should be hands-off our wallets but should control what we do in the bedroom, liberals believing the opposite, populists believing the government should be in control of both and libertarians believing the government should control neither.
What is hard for me to believe is that this illegal immigration is all about turning The Great State of Texas blue. The socialist utopians, such as Obummer, believe that Texas is all that stands in their way of turning the USA into a socialist state and then into a utopian state. Funny how the socialist to utopian transformation never happens.
The Texas population is growing at over a million people per year right now. We are seeing massive influx from California, New York State and Michigan in addition to south of the border. People are hiring here like crazy as the Houston area unemployment just dropped below five percent. Texas may turn blue just on legal immigration alone.
I have a particularly hard place in my heart for Michigan. My brother in law, a kind and gentle man, was killed by two immigrants from Michigan in 1982. They shot him in the back with a .357 for his car and $65 in his wallet.
I hope they caught and killed the SOBs.
The Fort Bend County DA plea bargained the men down to 18 months as my BIL had a marijuana conviction and the men claimed it was a drug deal gone bad. Even though they had run him off the street in his car (they followed him from his job where he cashed his paycheck in the register). My BIL also had a baggie in his car. One of the guys was still there trying to start his car when the police showed up. My FIL wanted to wait for them outside the prison and shoot them but he decided not to.
Just because one is a pothead does not mean that one is not deserving of justice. I hate the the War on Some Drugs!
“My FIL wanted to wait for them outside the prison and shoot them but he decided not to.”
Bad place and time to do that sorta thing; much better scenarios exist. If one doesn’t mind waiting a bit and doing some planning.
“…the modern definitions of those words…”
Rather pointless nowadays; and we have our own definitions, don’t we? For me everyone to the left of Patrick Buchanan, the late Joe Sobran and the late Sam Francis are liberals or lefties. I keep that opinion to myself in actual practice most of the time because me and my genuine conservative allies are so few in number here. And Patrick, for example, still believes in government and elections, though we’ll see how he might change in the next few years.
Agreed 100% with Mr. Lynn on the War on Some Drugs; what an utter disaster. Like all our damned stupid wars. Every last one of them.
Driving Mrs. OFD to the airport in Montreal tomorrow so she can take a puddle-jumper flight up to Bathurst, NB, to be met by her 86-year-old mom, so they can close out the cottage not too far from there, on the surging north Atlantic. Gone for the week, then back for a couple of days, and then down to Albany for a week, and then Mordor for a week, and then central MA for at least a week. I might see her again here regularly around Labor Day.
Fed background checks on me are hitting a repeat stumbling block, as it turns out; incorrect information with my credit file at one of the big three reporting agencies; there is an option to dispute it online but I need my report and the ID number; I tried paying for it twice so far online and get a blank white page after typing in all the stuff twice. The background check people ping this agency first and if there’s a nit like this one they stop right there and dump it, no further progress made. So all this time I could have been working three miles up the street.
They have me down for a non-existent mortgage and a non-existent installment plan from four years ago at business entities with which I have never had any dealings in my life.
We turned cartwheels and hassled for months to straighten out our IRS crap and now this. As the late Ezra Pound used to say…”it would take a bile specialist…”
That’s sad Mr. Lynn. I also hope The Great State of Texas stays red.
They have me down for a non-existent mortgage and a non-existent installment plan from four years ago at business entities with which I have never had any dealings in my life.
How special. You might want to contact a lawyer.
I also hope The Great State of Texas stays red.
Me too. One hopes that all of these people moving here remember why it sucked in their home states and fight the urge to change Texas to be like that. Sadly, that seems to be small minority of the immigrants. Most of them want Texas to be just like home. So do the illegals which makes no sense whatsoever.
“How special. You might want to contact a lawyer.”
Isn’t it, though? And it has been like pulling teeth to even extract this much information, which still isn’t specific enough, coming from the background check people in Virginia. I’m jumping through the established hoops first via filing a dispute with them and getting the letters one way or another to show the folks in VA, like we had to do with the IRS. But we’re rapidly coming to the decision to consult a lawyer on both of these matters; in the latter case we’re paying a monthly nut that not only doesn’t reduce the principal, it goes higher each time. That’s insane; we’d never get out from under that kind of loan-sharking b.s.
In the former case we’re dealing with an organization that so far has made it pretty difficult to retrieve the basic information and one of its “competitors” has been caught dumping millions of peoples’ personal and business financial data all over the universe.
And to make the evening even more miserable, I just read an article about how so many formerly middle-class people not only can’t retire but are sliding further downhill in their financial and living circumstances, living out of RV’s and campers and doing the wandering gypsy thing all over the country for shitty p.t. and minimum-wage jobs at places like Wall-Mutt and gigantic Amazon warehouses in the middle of nowhere. They lost their retirements and savings thanks to the banksters and other financial speculators and rely mainly on SS payments, which barely pay for their gas and they often have to live on five bucks a day for food. No med insurance, of course, as they get even older, with more ailments and injuries, doing slave labor work that would kick a 20-year-old’s ass.
Before I end up like that I’ll go out in a blaze of glory. I didn’t come back here after three wars and then more years as a street cop to spend my last decade or two doing donkey scut work for peanuts and living like a homeless person.
@OFD: I feel for you. When I still lived in the US I had a very minor round with the credit reporting agencies. I wanted to buy my first house and at the time, I had *never* looked at my credit reports. I was pretty shocked at the number of supposedly active credit accounts I had. Some of which, iirc, with companies I had never done business with in my life. Others I had declined to open a store credit card, but there it was anyway – probably some employee got a bonus for signing up customers.
What I find a bit shocking is that the federal background check just takes the your credit info at face value. Surely they know that stuff isn’t reliable, and could have the decency to tell you about it? How did you find out this time?
On the subject of Congress critters living on a minimum wage: sure they are. The thing is, they start out with a house (or several), a car in good running condition (or several), a full tank of gas, a full medicine cabinet, etc.. It’s living on the edge for month or years that depletes your reserves – something they won’t experience. This is nothing but a publicity stunt…
“What I find a bit shocking is that the federal background check just takes the your credit info at face value. Surely they know that stuff isn’t reliable, and could have the decency to tell you about it? How did you find out this time?”
I reckon they’re just Fed drones at this level who routinely scan tons of paperwork and the minute they see some potentially negative info, regardless of whether it might be false, they simply discard it, and the person’s candidacy for a Fed job. This, of course, makes one wonder why I am having such trouble but other guys get right in, like that dude at the Navy Yard a while back. Then you ask, WTF? How did I find out? Well, I didn’t find out much; it was a process of elimination, mainly, thanks to two recruiters I talked to by phone, who nimbly dodged around the one possibility; they normally don’t wanna know what the negative info was.
The clincher came last night when I attempted to grab a current credit report from this one agency and after typing in all the ID info on myself I got this:
“We’re sorry… We cannot display your Equifax credit file disclosure as the identifying information you provided does not match data currently in our system.”
This is bullshit, of course. Either the data in their system is badly out of whack, or maybe just one punctuation mark or capitalized letter is, but the background check people don’t tell you. So the onus is on me to find out and fix it, naturally, on my time and my dime. Now they want me to snail-mail supporting ID documents to them, which I will do, and also call their 800 numbers for laughs.
“It’s living on the edge for month or years that depletes your reserves – something they won’t experience. ”
Exactly; the people I read about in that article had had decent jobs and careers and houses and cars and nice vacations, but their retirements and savings got blown away and now they’re in their 60s-80s and SS doesn’t cover living expenses. No more house or car or vacations. I’d normally ask where their kids are, but the one example they gave of that was that one woman’s kids had moved into a smaller apartment and after living with her for years they didn’t have room for her anymore. To be a fly on the wall for that conversation, as they kick their old mom out on the street.
So the Congress ass-hats need to ditch the house/s, car/s and meds, too, and then have a major life-changing event, like loss of job, illness or injury, jail time for some minor offense but now a record, etc. Millions of people currently live on the edge and just one incident or event can send them over it; which I think is also emblematic of this country.
Social Security was never meant to be a living income. It was meant to be a supplemental income for your savings. The problem is that very few people save anything at all for retirement. Or their IRA / 401K savings got blown out during one of the stock market upsets and they extracted the rest before its time to buy a new car or some other toy. Or, they never had an IRA / 401K and never worked at a job with a pensions. Or said pension was promised but never properly funded and ran out early. Lots of people, especially politicians, make promises in speeches that they know cannot be given out in real life. Bread and circuses, you know the drill.
That said, some of my relatives live like a prince on SS. It is very good for people at the bottom rung in the USA, paying to 2X to 3X what they put. Me, I doubt that I will see 0.5X what I put in and suspect that SS will be means tested soon and turned into welfare for all these illegal immigrants.
The other problem (most would call it a blessing) XXXXX the other fact is that people are living way longer than they used to. Modern drugs and technology are awesome and can keep us alive with a little bit of care and a couple of procedures well into our middle 80s. Social security was never meant for 75%??? of the populace to receive it. it used to be that most men retired at 60 and died of a heart attack the next month. Stents are freaking awesome if you can make it to the cath lab!
And cancer used to be a death sentence, now 90% of people survive it for 20+ years. My wife is a 9 year survivor of advanced breast cancer now and should not have lived for two or three years. A radical mastectomy, lots of chemo, an new experimental genetic drug (herceptin), very expensive, and down the road we go.
To be a fly on the wall for that conversation, as they kick their old mom out on the street.
And do they keep her SS? Old people are actually valuable nowadays for their SS.
“We’re sorry… We cannot display your Equifax credit file disclosure as the identifying information you provided does not match data currently in our system.”
Umm, do you have an identify thief here? Are there 100 OFDs out there?
And I do not like anyone using credit checks for anything other than credit. I do not like the fact that homeowners insurance here in Texas is looking at your credit report and pricing accordingly. What does credit have to do with home insurance?
Kicking their mom out on the street – the thing is, I can see this. I got along really well with my mom, but in doses of 2-3 weeks at a time – pretty much the definition of “distance makes the heart grow fonder”. After that, she would slowly drive us batshit crazy. And she – and we – are pretty normal people. Folks with abusive, or alcoholic, or psychotic parents – who can blame them for saying “my home is not your home”.
Our taste of desperation was never really that awful, but we had it. We were determined to make a go of our own IT business, but it turns out that building a really good product is not the same as selling it – who knew? It also turns out that I am absolutely terrible at sales, marketing, networking, and all that crap. But this attempt took me out of the job market in my forties, and when we realized it wasn’t working, it took me a couple of years to finally land a position and get back to paying work. Lots of sleepless nights during those years…
I’ll be curious to see if I get any Social Security. Theoretically, even having expatriated, the US is supposed to pay out. Strange as that may seem, but I did pay into the system so it’s fair enough. I’ll believe it when I see it.
I do not like the fact that homeowners insurance here in Texas is looking at your credit report and pricing accordingly. What does credit have to do with home insurance?
That is common practice unless there is a state law specifically forbidding using credit information when doing the rating. The theory is that if you have bad credit you are more likely to file a claim. Actual practice is there are no numbers to back up such a claim. The insurance companies are also rating your automobile insurance using your credit report.
My auto insurance climbed a lot at one renewal. I did a lot of digging with some attempted stone walling from the insurance to find out why. Turns out I had opened two credit cards in a six month period. One was a gas credit card to get the 3% cash back, the other was a credit with a $100.00 limit for my aunt in assisted living so the staff could purchase diapers for her (until I found out the place was using her diapers for others) and to purchase other minor supplies. Insurance companies consider that a red flag and jumped my rates almost 40%.
Insurance companies look for any reason, except skin color, to raise rates. Oh, the city moved the fire hydrant 5 feet further away, ding ding, rates go up. Oh, you now have a dog (lab), ding ding, rates go up. You got a riding mower, ding ding, rates go up. Trivial things just to raise rates. But file a claim and they look for ways not to pay. They now depreciate the shingles on a roof based on a 20 year life span. Hail damage on the roof that is 21 years old, they only pay for installation, not the shingles as the shingles were old.
Experienced much of that on my recent wreck. Got money taken off because of a couple of parking lot door dings. Got money taken off because the floor mats (not the carpet) showed signs of wear. Got money taken off because the seats showed signs of use. Yep every little thing they could find including a chip in the windshield even though the windshield was busted in the accident.
Now they want me to snail-mail supporting ID documents to them, which I will do, and also call their 800 numbers for laughs.
Since you were denied a job because of information the agency maintained you are entitled to a copy of the report at no charge. Dispute anything on the report in writing that you feel is not correct. The agency must indicate in their records the information is disputed and must investigate on their own to prove the information is correct. If they cannot prove the information is correct it must be removed and they must go by what you say. It is the law and failure to comply carries significant penalties.
The reporting agency may have a local office where you can in person and get a copy of the report while you wait. You can also dispute the information while you are there.
I get a credit report every four months, one from each of the primary agencies. I have disputed many items. The key is to do the dispute in writing using certified return receipt mail. They have 30 days to respond from the receipt of the letter. In all of my cases the information was removed as it could not be verified. In many cases they don’t even bother to verify as it takes to much time and there is no profit for the agency.
Accounts that are old and closed will roll off in 10 years. Any account that shows as not closed and has a zero balance and no negative information is not a problem. In fact that works in your favor as it establishes longevity. Biggest problem is from companies that you pay off the amount owed and the company does not report the payoff. I have had that happen several times. The account showed a balance, no negative items, but the last report date was years in the past. I made them correct those accounts when I found out.
Accounts that are active will generally show a balance that is a month old. Not a big deal.
There is also another agency, used to be called ChoicePoint now called LexisNexis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChoicePoint, that aggregates all the information about you and your property. Any insurance claim you have ever done, any claim against your current property, all licensed drivers, credit information, public records, driving record, tax records, just about anything they can find are maintained by this company.
I had a run in with them when I refinanced a mortgage. Seems they listed my indebtedness as $500,000 because they simply added up the total of all loans regardless of the paid status. I tried to get it corrected and was unable.
I then got a local TV station consumer advocate involved. After the story appeared ChoicePoint decided that how they reported indebtedness was incorrect and they would change their method. They claimed their intention was to show how much you borrowed over your life. Bullshit. They knew better and just got caught. It was a method to cause people to get higher loan rates (they were part of Experian) and higher insurance rates.
So also get a report for LexisNexis. They are required by law to provide you a report of all information they have on you once a year at no cost. You send them a letter along proof of identity and mailing address and you get the report. You would be shocked to find out how much information they have gleaned about you and your property.
Thanks much, Mr. Ray; I copied and pasted all that into a Notepad file and saved it and will be proceeding accordingly this week.
“Umm, do you have an identify thief here? Are there 100 OFDs out there?”
That is the speculation of two recruiters so far, one of whom said it had happened to him a few years ago and it took him well over a year to straighten it all out. My real name is not wicked common but neither is it that uncommon, being fairly standard English/Scottish background. Oh shit–I just thought of something; there is another guy in this state with my same name who is a field director for the Green Mountain Club and we saw his picture some years ago and we look eerily alike, too. Oh wow; this just struck me as I was thinking about it. Now I wonder….will be looking into all of this over this next week. Damn.
Thank god for European privacy laws, and even more for Swiss financial privacy. Any company here that tried to consolidate all that data would find its directors in jail.
I always found it insane that companies report your transactions to these companies. And that they believe everything reported, no matter how ridiculous, because verification costs money.
@OFD: best of luck getting it all sorted…
OFD = Oh a Frickin’ Doppelganger.
Yup. Looks to be same height and build with same facial hair and specs. Probably younger than me somewhat and in bettuh shape.
This could be interesting; we’ve occasionally gotten his phone calls here.
You think that’s confusing. As I’ve mentioned in the past, a guy who happens to be named Robert Bruce Thompson, MD moved into the house Barbara and I used to live in, immediately after we lived there. When we moved out to 4231 Witherow Road, he followed us and bought a house on (IIRC) 4321 Wycliff Road, one block over from us. I used to get deliveries for him, and vice versa.
Holy smokes! OFD has been cloned!
And RBT has an evil twin! No, wait. MDs are by definition good people, according to the AMA, so… Holy smokes! RBT is the evil twin!
We all knew RBT was evil.
Have you seen his annual attacks on Santa?
The thing about RBT (the evil one) that threw me off is the beard. The evil twin is supposed to have a goatee, not a full beard. On the other hand, growing misleading facial hair is exactly what we should expect the evil twin to do.
I keep telling you that I have an MD and two Ph.D.’s that I bought on-line.
I had a sweet young thing I bought online, but “she” turned out to be a katoey. So not only did I get totally ripped off, but I got endless calls from the INS and the UN Human Rights Commission. Word to the wise: when you’re buying a living sex toy online, check the seller’s reputation before buying.
“…but “she” turned out to be a katoey.”
Hahaha…during my sentence, whoops, service for Uncle in the lovely northeast provinces of Thailand, near the Laotian and Cambodian borders, we pronounced the word “kuh-toy” but dialect and accents up there were a mite different from those in Krung Thep (Bang-cock). A guy in our squadron got hooked up with what he thought was a cute young thang in the downtown of Ubon Ratchathani and it was a katoy, who slashed him across the face with a big “X” when he got pissed off about it.
I was ripped off online some years ago buying a laser printer via Ebay; they cashed the check but never sent the merch. And lately I’ve been getting ripped off by a credit reporting agency; I’m thinking of buying Mr. SteveF’s katoy off him and sending it to their CEO and then uploading the resulting imagery all over the net.
And here I thought it was bad when there were two other guys with my first and last name in the same Zip Code, one of whom voted at the same polling place. At least we all had different middle names.
To this day, I get regular mailings from the Wake Forest University medical school. That’s been going on for 25 years now. I have tried to convince them that they want Robert Bruce Thompson MD, who just happens to have lived in the same house that Barbara and I did, but they remain convinced that I’m him.
Hey, it’s a UNIVERSITY, so you MUST be him, Dr. Bob.
Listen, I’ve had some recurrent lower back pain, what do you recommend? Also, hot flashes, ‘sup wid dat?
Torrent a yoga stretch video Mr. OFD. I’ve got the 25 minute stretch vid of Focus T25. My back feels great after that. Hot flashes? Cold shower? 🙂
Sorry, MrAtoz, you don’t have an MD like Mr. Bob. You might be a quack.