It's fast becoming apparent that food from China is dangerous. Despite the FDA's attempt to stop the tide, Chinese shippers are cleverly just trying again trying not to be in the 1% of checked shipments twice in a row.
Tags: China, FDA
It turns out that West Virginia has kicked out these sleazebag lendors. Now if every other state would follow their example, we'd have something.
Tags: Payday Loans, Predatory Lending, Scams - Ripoffs - Dirty Tricks, West Virgina
This has promise. Apparently, the Credit Card Act of 2007 will ban some of the less consumer friendly practices of credit card companies.
Here are some of the provisions and what I think they mean (I am obviously not a lawyer):
SEC. 101. PRIOR NOTICE OF RATE INCREASES REQUIRED Not only do they have to give you advance warning that your rate will increase, but they can only apply the increase to balances that you add after the date of the increase. That means the new rate doesn't apply to your old debt.
Well duh. I can't believe they get away with this now.
SEC. 102. FREEZE ON INTEREST RATE TERMS AND FEES ON CANCELED CARDS If the terms, fees, or interest rate is going to change, you can cancel the card and keep the rates and terms from before the change. In other words, you can't be forced into new terms just because you have an outstanding balance.
My friend called me last night (literally) to ask me about this very question. I guess if there's a law in the works to "fix" this, then it's definitely broken now. I told him his only chance was to transfer the balance to a new card and I guess I was right (for now).
SEC. 103. LIMITS ON CHARGES OR FEES FOR TIMELY PAYMENTS OR NON-USE You can't be charged a fee for paying more than the minimum balance. You can't be charged for paying the card off. You can't be charged for not using the card.
Holy Guano Batman! There are companies that do this?
SEC. 104. PROHIBITION ON OVER-THE-LIMIT FEES FOR CREDITOR-APPROVED TRANSACTIONS You can't be charged a fee for going over your limit when it was a transaction the credit card company approved.
Because they approved you after all.
SEC. 105. PROHIBITION ON UNIVERSAL DEFAULTS This limits the ability of the credit company to raise you rates based on your credit score.
This doesn't actually prevent it entirely, but it requires that if they do, they have to make it extremely clear in the agreement before you get the credit.
SEC. 201. PAYOFF TIMING DISCLOSURES and SEC. 202. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO LATE PAYMENT DEADLINES AND PENALTIES
These both have to do with being clear about the timing of your payoff balance and fees. This happened to me where I paid a card off completely only to find they charged the interest just before the payment hit thus leaving me a tiny balance to discover later. Bastids.
SEC. 301. EXTENSIONS OF CREDIT TO UNDERAGE CONSUMERS You can't give credit to minors unless there's parental permission, the minor shows the means to pay the debt themselves, and they have a certification of having attended a consumer credit counseling session PRIOR to taking the debt.
This one's a bit of a rub. Minors can already walk away from any debt because you can't enter into a contract with anyone under 18 anyway. I'm not certain that this changes anything other than for minors who don't realize thay can tell the credit company to shove off if that company is stupid enough to give them credit in the first place.
According to recent testimony, Bush's crony, Gonzales, tried to go over the head of acting Attorney General James Comey and coerce John Ashcroft who was deathly sick and in the hospital to re-authorize the spying program in 2004.
When the White House officials appeared minutes later, Mr. Gonzales began to explain to Mr. Ashcroft why they were there. Mr. Comey said Mr. Ashcroft rose weakly from his hospital bed, but in strong and unequivocal terms, refused to approve the eavesdropping program.
“I was angry, ? Mr. Comey told the committee. “ I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me. I thought he had conducted himself in a way that demonstrated a strength I had never seen before, but still I thought it was improper. ?
I don't have the strength left to argue anymore, but this just seems like a bad idea (read it for yourself). Anyway, after Gonzales spent over a year under presidential directive to come up with a plan to fight ID Theft, but completely failed to endorse the one working solution, Gonzales' lack of competence is clear. And that's before I learned about the various allegations of wrong-doing against him.
Tags: Alberto Gonzales, Copyright, FDA
A former FDA chief speaks out against the agency saying that it's "broken". Well duh.
Do a little research online and you can find all kinds of stories of how the FDA doesn't do it's job.
Tags: Accountability, FDA
So the House has confirmed that FISA is the ONLY way that surveillance can be secretly done in the US. Um… duh?
Is there anyone that understands this whole mess? Bush breaks the law along with the Telecommunication companies. He gets away with it because no one seems willing to challenge him. He tries as hard as he can to get immunity for the Telco's too.
Congress has repeatedly rejected all attempts to circumvent FISA in new bills, but even if they HAD passed a new law, Bush is still guilty of violating the first one! I just don't get it.
Tags: Accountability, Congress, FISA, George Bush
Verizon, who I was pretty certain hadn't handed over any customer records according to them, is now saying that it's ok for them to do it, it's free speech.
Essentially, the argument is that turning over truthful information to the government is free speech, and the EFF and ACLU can't do anything about it. In fact, Verizon basically argues that the entire lawsuit is a giant SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suit, and that the case is an attempt to deter the company from exercising its First Amendment right to turn over customer calling information to government security services.
So they don't have cameras watching the TSA employees as they check the luggage? It's no wonder abuses like this keep happening.
Don't check valuables! You have to assume that anything worth more than 5 bucks that you check is going to be stolen. It's not pretty, but it's the world we live in.This is unacceptable. When there's a string of employee thefts and in particular done by security personnel, there's no justification for ignoring the problem.
Tags: Big Brother, Theft, TSA
Assuming the bill is written well, this is a very good thing. Congress is pushing through a law that would prevent discrimination based on genetics. If you don't understand what this means, check out Gattica, a movie that explains the risks better than any other I've seen.
Tags: Congress, Discrimination Genetics, DNA, Good StuffIf you want to learn more about my professional background, click here to learn more.
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