Below the Beltway is on top of it.
Crystal Gail Mangum
Wow–don’t it make my brown eyes blue.
Is that her stripper name? What’s her real name?
This didn’t really warrant its own post I guess, but I didn’t want to leave that comment on someone else’s site.
Helping People Avoid Foreclosures the Right Way
Brad Warbiany has it right when he talks about the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America:
…these guys (a private group) are helping people, so I’m not going to criticize them in any way.
This is how people are helped in a free market. Those with a vested interest in the success of the individuals who borrowed money from them try to make the best of a bad situation.Â
Unforunately, there are plenty of other people, Charles Schumer for instance, who want the federal government to bail out people who borrowed money they can’t pay back, which is basically helping the companies who shouldn’t have loaned them in the first place. Never mind the fact that the federal government itself already runs at a deficit.
I’ll spell it out for you on simpler terms, with the middle man removed. You and I will be forced to provide someone else with housing by paying back a loan they took out with a bank who shouldn’t have loaned them the money in the first place.
Surely the banks will expect this money back with no interest. Right. Here’s an article that tells the whole story without the common sense slant I just provided.
Free Market at Work in the Blogosphere
There is quite a soap opera going on at Just Another Pretty Farce regarding Mrs. Coble’s issues with JL Kirk & Associates.
Here’s a quick synopsis:
- Mr. and Mrs. Coble felt ripped off by an employment agency, and she blogged about it.
- JL Kirk & Associates got mad about that, and one of their employees posted some comments on to her post on Mrs. Coble’s site (that was stupid). These comments were rather nasty, especially coming from a company trying to defend itself publicly.
- Mrs. C. has now received a letter threatening a lawsuit if she does not remove her post(s) about JL Kirk & Associates as well as all associated comments. I suspect this has little to do with their desire to eliminate her original post, and more to do with the venemous comment one of their own employees left there.
- Countless people will now read the account of what happened, most of whom probably would not have read the account had she not been sent a threatening letter and had it picked up by the blogosphere.
- Many more people will view JL Kirk & Associates as scam artist jerks than ever would have before. Whether they are scam artists and/or jerks is beside the point. They’ve gone a long way through their comments on Mrs. C.’s blog and by sending a letter to give that impression.
Their own actions will hurt them significantly more than Mrs. Coble’s ever could have. You have to love the free market.
Here are some highlights of the comments left by a JL Kirk & Associates employee in her original post:
And by the way, in Mrs. Cobles’ [sic] case, we would recommend (free of charge) to further her writing “career†she learn to spell “wizardry†and polish her grammar and punctuation skills.
Well, couldn’t we all use a little help there now and then? But free of charge? That’s going above and beyond helpful!
…Mr. Coble has had difficulty with sustained upward mobility.
Is the writer trying to stoke some sort of class warfare fire?
That comment is simply stupid.
This could be broadly applied to most comments on most blogs, but usually isn’t what one says when trying to win over an audience. I seriously doubt you’ll hear that in a presidential debate, although it wouldn’t be untrue.
Mrs. Coble’s spiteful meanness precluded her from asking me about it.
Mean and spiteful? I like Mrs. Coble!
Do a Google search on Katherine Coble! She is an angry, opinionated basher of many things
I don’t need to do a Google search. This statement sold me. From this day forward, I vow to be a reader of Katherine Coble’s blog and to never do business with JL Kirk & Associates out of fear that they will send certified junk mail to my house and an unprecedented amount of traffic to my blog.
On second thought…
Jeopardy Odds
Carl Bialik blogs on numbers for the Wall Street Journal. Here’s a fun post about the recent 3-way tie on Jeopardy. It mostly talks about the accuracy of the calculation that the odds of a three way tie on Jeopardy is 25 million to 1. Very interesting.
I don’t know why it never occurred to me before reading this article to wager on Jeopardy. I used to watch it with friends faithfully, and it seems like a natural thing to gamble one…way better than horse racing or football.
Don Imus
Okay. I’ve officially spent too much time on this.
Let’s get on to something important, like who’s getting custody of Anna Nicole’s baby.
NEXT!
Apologies to the Thompsons
Looks like I inadvertantly angered a couple of Fred’s relatives who read Bob Krumm. Sorry about that…didn’t mean to issue fuedin’ words.
If you are a fan of my biting humor (I did it mostly for you, Shizzle Van Dizzle) and sarcasm you may find it worth a read. If you are not, that means it has probably been directed at you in the last few days and you are still pouting about it. When you get over the fact that I hurt your feelings and realize that everything I say is mostly joking with a little bit of truth, go back and read it.
Seriously, Bob maintains a really informative site with frequent updates, good regional information, and some great original thought. Because his site is ad-free (unlike mine), you know he’s doing it just because he loves it. I read it every day. Check him out.
Bank Robbery? Me?
Here’s something that doesn’t happen to you every day…
This morning on my way to work I passed an Alcoal police officer who quickly turned around and pulled me over. I wasn’t speeding or doing anything else wrong, but oh well. I rolled my window down and he motioned me out of the car. He told me it was actually nothing, that there had been a bank robbery and that it obviously wasn’t me. My plates and vehicle description were close to that of the suspect.
I told a co-worker about it as soon as I got in, and he forwarded a news email he’d received from WNOX‘s Dave Foulk. The suspect was a female (obviously not me). She was driving a silver VW Jetta (I drive a silver VW Golf), and the robbery happened at Northshore and Pellissippi (I’d driven by there moments before).Â
Good job by the Alcoa police for a well-executed stop. I think the officer was smart to pull me over. Volkswagens look pretty much the same from the front, so a silver VW was a good reason for him to turn around and check it out.  The possibility also existed that a witness had seen a Golf, but thought it was a Jetta. Additionally, the two of the last three digits of my plates matched that of the suspect.
Most importantly, he quickly realized I’d done nothing wrong, explained the situation, and told me to have a good day. I wish all traffic stops were handled that well.
***UPDATE***
The KNS has more.
More Important Legislation–Wheelies
Michael Silence reports on the new “wheelie ban” in Tennessee. This piece of worthless legislation was the gift of the generous Vince Dean. There was, however some opposition.
House Judiciary Chairman Rob Briley questioned the need for the legislation, since police can already pull over motorcyclists for wheelies.
“We ought to leave well enough alone with the current law,“ said Briley, D-Nashville.
Dean amended his bill to exclude inadvertent wheelies, and those performed in parades by adults riding slower than 30 mph.
So let me get this straight. Continue reading “More Important Legislation–Wheelies”
Turning Libertarian…I Really Think So
Carol J. Lancaster has had an epiphany:
Even with the best intentions, governments are inefficient, bumbling, heavy-handed and sometimes corrupt.
Sounds about right. And what do we get when the intentions of those in control are not the best? And they seldom are.
