Good assumptions:
1. All governments are desperate for money and will do anything and everything to get it.
2. That means you and I will be hit with all sorts of spurious fees, interest charges and MASSIVE penalties.
3. Local governments are not easy to reach. Perhaps deliberately so.
4. Governments can go to court, get a summary judgment against you.
5. They can then take the summary judgment to your bank and say, “Pay up.” Your bank will take the money out of your account. And you won’t be any the wiser — until you look at your monthly bank statement. You’ll also be hit with a $100 legal fee — from your bank’s legal department.
I don’t make this stuff up. I had an old tax situation going with California. I tried for months to contact them — including phone calls, certified letters, etc. They ignored me.
They held a court hearing that I knew nothing about. They got a judgment without telling me. Then they simply took the money (penalties, interest, etc.) out of my bank account without them (or the bank) telling me. I knew the IRS could do this stuff — but Califronia to New York where I live?
MITT went at $20. The fllippers kicked out through the first day of trading, driving the stock down and losing money for themselves. I bought some on the way down yesterday.
I don’t believe it will stay down long. The stars are presently aligned favorably for the mortgages REITs, like MITT, NLY, AGNC, TWO and ANH. Worth reading: Analysis by Porter Stansberry.
NYC’s case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is blowing up. His accuser is a liar and involved in really nasty stuff, like drugs and money laundering. She is not a credible witness. The New York Police have egg on their face. The New York prosecutor has doo-dooh on his face. The Defense attorneys, I’m guessing, dug all this dirt up on the accuser. Brilliant job on their part. For more on this sad case, read this morning’s New York Times.
Imagine they drop the charges and he sues the city for wrongful arrest, for loss of job, for loss of the presidency of France, etc. Amazing stuff.
I’m not upgrading to Firefox 5.0, for now. Some of my favorite Firefox plugins have not been upgraded. I’m waiting a few weeks.
Outlook is not your filing system. All of us leave too much in it — too many files, too many large files. Outlook is not a database like Oracle. It’s a Microsoft afterthought. Outlook blows up regularly (at least mine does).
Solution: Find the file Scanpst.exe on your PC or laptop. Set up a shortcut to it. Then run Scanpst on the file Outlook.pst, which you’ll find buried somewhere on your hard drive. Running Scanpst.exe will take a few minutes. Don’t bother making a backup. When it’s through, your Outlook will run faster and cleaner.
Greatest money-saving tip. My savvy real estate lawyer, Larry Rose, lives in Brooklyn. He bikes to the ferry. Then bikes from the ferry to his midtown office.
NY Waterway charges him $1 to carry his bike. But if he folds it (he has the same Dahon I do), his bike rides for free. Guess what savvy Larry does?
2011 Wimbledon TV Schedule. The Finals are this weekend. It’s on live – ESPN2 and NBC (All times Eastern) The Tennis Channel runs re-runs (called Encores or Premieres) at night.
Friday, July 1, 7 am – 12 pm, Men’s Semifinals, ESPN2
Friday, July 1, 12 pm – 5 pm, Men’s Semifinals, NBC
Friday, July 1, 8 pm – 11 pm, Men’s Semifinals, ESPN2
Saturday, July 2, 9 am – 2 pm, Women’s Final, NBC
Sunday, July 3, 9 am – 3 pm, Men’s Final, NBC
Harry Newton who wonders why many of his friends are in denial about stuff I call “body plumbing” — cataract removal, new knees, new hips, stomach-made-small operations, hearing aids, etc. Then there are the friends who won’t exercise often, but eat too much. I’m totally boring on the benefits of playing tennis and biking each day, and taking regular 30-60 minute naps.
Great news. My daughter, Claire, and hubbie, Ted, are visiting this weekend. She is a young lawyer. While I’ve never been a big fan of lawyers, I will state categorically that
1. She’s a really good lawyer, and
2. I really enjoy talking to her about the law in general and most especially about the Constitution. She now has me reading the Federalist Papers in my search for the meaning of the words “pursuit of happiness” which are found in the Declaration of Independence. We’ll talk more this weekend, which celebrates our nation’s founding and my wife, Susan’s birthday. She was born on July 4. I wonder if she’ll take an electronic copy of the Federalist Papers in lieu of an expensive bauble?
Claire Newton, the apple of daddy’s biased eye.
Harry- My Firefox upgraded to 5.0 automatically just recently. I clicked on the browser and when it came up, I got the message congratulating me on my upgrade to 5.0. I was a bit upset at first, but I really don't notice a difference from before. All my plug ins seem to be working and everything looks and feels the same. If not for the message, I wouldn't have known I'd been upgraded.
Big Brother government, most beloved by liberals and democrats, likes the power to do what it likes, including redistributing the wealth, Harry. It's part of their core beliefs. You have done very well financially, Harry, therefore big government and its fans love you! And are helping you redistribute your wealth. Don't even need to tell you!
Went to renew my CA drivers license a few weeks ago. Stop! Our national traffic violation systems shows I have an outstanding issue from Mass. Call them and “yes” their records show “a speedy ticket” from May 5, 1990. Only 21 years ago. Seems the federal government set this system up, then made it mandatory, since some states elected to not join it, for all states to use it or lose their highway funding. And no statue of limitations. Still working my way through the government labyrinths, so can't share the cost ($160 to date) or time taken to renew my almost perfect driver's license.
Big Brother at work.
We don't get what we deserve: we get what we vote for.
Peter, it seems that you almost got away with that speeding ticket, huh?
I was probably visiting my daughter in college back there when I apparently got the ticket. As memory serves me, I called the prosecutor and tried to negotiate a reduced fine with my guilty plea, usually no problem. No deal, so I must have then just ignored it.
Poor Mr. Strauss-Kahn getting accused of trying to rape this women and now we find out that “she is not a credible witness.” Obviously he is innocent, thankfully the New York Times is writing to clear his name in what has most certainly been a rush-to-judgement. And yes Harry, I'm sure it was his defense attorneys who through their diligence, and who knows maybe a little help form the NY Times, to have been able to unveil his accuser. If only the guys of the Duke Lacrosse Team has been as fortunate to have had such wonderful defense attorneys, then maybe that case wouldn't have had to stretch on for as long as it did. I forget, didn't the NY Times come to the rescue of those young men from Duke? Well, at least Mr. Strauss-Kahn doesn't have to deal with the “justice brothers.” Has anyone hear from the Rev Al and Rev Jesse regarding this case? Maybe the accuser doesn't fit the Rev's profile. I'm all confused now…..but at least we all know the NY Times wouldn't KAHN any of us. I wish I could afford to get this women her own bunch of wonderful defense attorneys…..yea, rush to judgement, what a joke.
Happy fourth of July to all…….
why the sarcasm? If you are privy to some evidence (not just ideology) please share with us.
The case against Strauss-Kahn is falling apart not because of machinations by Strauss-Kahn defenders – but because of the prosecution's admission that their case is “damaged goods” and is blowing up. From today's news, should you care to read it:
(CBS/AP) The hotel maid who accused former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault admitted that she lied to a grand jury about the events surrounding the alleged attack, according to a letter sent from prosecutors to Strauss-Kahn's defense team. (Get it? Letter sent from prosecutors to the defense.)
The 32-year-old woman from Guinea accused Strauss-Kahn of chasing her through his luxury suite in May, trying to pull down her pantyhose and forcing her to perform oral sex.
Strauss-Kahn's semen was found on the woman's dress and she reported the alleged assault, but not as quickly as first thought. In a letter dated June 30, she admitted [to prosecutors] that she cleaned another room following the encounter with the French politician and then returned to Strauss-Kahn's room and cleaned that as well, contradicting what she told the grand jury … [A chunk of text omitted here.]
In the day following her accusations against Strauss-Kahn, the woman had a phone conversation with a man imprisoned and charged with possession of 400 pounds of marijuana. In the conversation, which was recorded, she spoke about possible benefits of pursuing the case, two officials told the paper.
Et cetera. There's a bunch of additional tacky stuff regarding the maid, but it's not directly relevant to this post, and in any case doesn't absolve Strauss-Kahn of being a piggy bottom-feeder, when it comes to sexual encounters.
What is relevant is that your preconceived notions regarding scheming defense attorneys or the weighing in of “liberal media” hold about as much water as the hotel maid's protestations that she was some sweet, innocent thing taken advantage of by the big, bad man.
Yea, and and O.J. Simpson was innocent too.
A wonderful comparison! Let's see … on the on hand we have a famous American male, a wealthy and renowned sports icon and movie figure. On the other, an utterly obscure and penurious woman, whose working status in the U.S. is of dubious legality. On the one hand, the man is the defendant – accused of a notorious double murder, his wife being one of the victims. On the other, the woman is the accusator – claiming that she was sexually attacked by a man she had never previously met. On the one hand, the male hires the best legal defense that money can buy – the “dream team.” On the other, no one knows who legally represents the woman.
The case involving the male defendant goes to trial and the defense team – in an extraordinary and protracted effort that raises many serious questions regarding the efficacy and fairness of our jury system and the role that money plays in that process – succeeds in getting their client off the hook. An outcome as notorious as it was clear-cut. The case involving the female accusator will never (or so it certainly seems) go to trial, because the prosecution has found her to be less than truthful and the case otherwise to be full of holes. An incident that stands to recede into obscurity, with no definitive outcome ever to be arrived at.
Any reasonable person considers O.J. Simpson to be guilty of murder. Any reasonable person, at this point, doesn't know what the heck went on in that hotel room between the maid and the Frenchman – of course, someone with an axe to grind will come to some other conclusion, one way or the other.
The only factor that anyone can find linking the two individuals in question is that O.J. Simpson and the hotel maid are both black. That makes you a racist – but that's your problem. The engineer running the train of logic that brought you to O.J. Simpson has his head up his caboose.
The New York Times is a joke. Recall during the Duke lacrosse scandal the NY Times had these poor athletes barbequed and declared guilty day after day with front page reporting. The athletes were portrayed by The Times as privaledged spoiled brats who had gang raped an innocent women. In the end the woman admitted she had made up the entire story. The Duke team had cancelled its season the coach dismissed, and the accused boys lives were ruined. There was no retraction or apology from the NY Times.
Harry,
re: Outlook is not your filing system..
I sent your comment to my son.
His instant reply was
“oh my god do not do this”
~omitting proper punctuation revealed his level of horror 😉
In reply to my “Why not?”
He wrote “…should always be making backups regardless…” of what your are doing.
I suppose the full 'geeky' answer would be beyond my ken.
“oh my god do not do this”
~omitting proper punctuation revealed his level of horror 😉
In reply to my “Why not?”
He wrote “…should always be making backups regardless…” of what your are doing.
I suppose the full 'geeky' answer would be beyond my ken.
My advice about Scanpst.exe is 100% valid. Do not believe Pam's son.
I have been running Scantpst.exe every week for years. It works perfectly. In fact, Microsoft itself calls Scanpst its Inbox Repair Tool.
Harry, sweetie
Untwist your knickers.
The advice from Pam's son “oh my god do not do it” only applies to Pam's son's mother.
For everyone else? Pam's son states: “I don't have a problem with the utility itself as it usually works.”
The sprawl and duplication within my previous message is perfect proof that computers and I are not the best of friends,thus son's initial response.
Happy 4th to you and yours.