Ad Nauseam

There are repeat ads on the radio that have come to the point of making me sick. They really turn my stomach.

They are for "we can help you get out of credit card debt" ads, and they are lies, from companies that prey upon the desperate.

These companies are, at best, a rip off in the bit of help they do give you. At worst, they just steal your money and leave you even worse off than before.

Each one begins by talking about being "government approved" or "part of the bail-out" or some such nonsense. Each talks about how the credit card companies are supposedly "settling" for less than what you owe.

It is true, if you are very far behind, and you can scrape together some cash, you can sometimes get a credit card company to take less than what you owe as settlement in full. You have to get it in writing, and give them no electronic access to your checking account, ever, for any reason. All transactions with them, when you are that far behind, must be by cashier's check overnighted to the credit holding or debt collection company.

These so-called bail out companies just take your money, keeping most of it as a fee, and wait until you are so far behind the credit card company is ready to settle, and they send whatever is left after your fees to settle it for you. It is all stuff you can do for yourself without paying them.

The ads are nauseating. I never thought anything could be worse than all the holiday advertising. I was wrong.


Today is:

Bonifacio Day, Philippines

Computer Security Day

Cyber Monday

Ham and Roast Beef Night

Independence Day, Barbados

National Meth Awareness Day

National Mousse Day

Squirrel Hunt Day

Stay Home Because You're Well Day (sponsored by the Wellness Permission League -- if you get in trouble with the boss, make sure they will take the fall!)

Saint Andrew the Apostle's Day (patron of Scotland, Greece, Russia,

golfers, fishermen, sailors, spinsters; against gout, neck problems)

St. Frumentius' Day


Birthdays Today:

Clay Aiken, 1978
Ben Stiller, 1965
Bo Jackson, 1962
Billy Idol, 1955
Shuggie Otis, 1953
Mandy Patinkin, 1952
David Mamet, 1947
Abbie Hoffman, 1936
G. Gordon Liddy, 1930
Dick Clark, 1929
Robert Guillaume, 1927
Richard Crenna, 1926
Shirley Chisholm, 1924
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., 1923
Gordon Parks, 1912
Winston Churchill, 1874
L(ucy) M(aude) Montgomery, 1874 (Anne of Green Gables)
Mark Twain, 1835
Jonathan Swift, 1667


Today in History:

Amsterdam bans assembly of heretics, 1523
Death count by plague in Venice is officially set at 16,000, 1630
Beijing earthquake causes 100,000+ deaths, 1731
Britain signs agreement recognizing US independence, 1782

Peter Leopold Joseph of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, promulgates a penal reform making his country the first state to abolish the death penalty. November 30 is therefore commemorated by 300 cities around the world as Cities for Life Day, 1786

Spain cedes her claims to Louisiana Territory to France, 1803
First ground is broken at Allenburg for the building of the original Welland Canal, 1824
First Welland Canal opens for a trial run, 5 years to the day from the ground breaking, 1829
Work begins on the first US underwater highway tunnel, in Chicago, 1866
The first international soccer football game is held, in Glasgow; Scotland-England 0-0, 1872
The first commercially successful AC electric power plant opens, Buffalo, NY, 1886
A German engineer patents front-wheel drive for automobiles, 1900
American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, Kid Curry Logan, is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor, 1902
Pike Place Market is dedicated in Seattle, Washington, 1907
The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park London destroyed by fire, 1936
Baseball's Negro National League disbands, two years after major league baseball integrated, 1948