Earn easy money at home by just listening to me...

OK, Time for you to collect what you are due. The world was mean, it wasn't your fault, and you are OWED!

Readers of MY blog will be rewarded. Line up at the trough and get your piece of the American Pie. This service is brought to you by our absurd system of lawyers and class action suits. I know what you are thinking: "I can't be part of those class action suits because I am a defenseless poor person, unable to exert monetary damage on anybody else." That may have been true yesterday, and most certainly will be true tomorrow, but TODAY you can join the masses and collect what is due to you. Now if you are one of those goody two shoes that feels that ethics and morality should interfere with your daily scramble for cash, you can rest easy: The money is either going to YOU or it is going to someone else. And they don't deserve it.

This is exactly like the CD wholesaler's lawsuit that I told the Annual4th folks a couple of years ago that we all profited from.

You tell them your name, they send you and 12 million of your closest friends a check for $25, and then they write out a big check for $36million (plus expenses) to those nice lawyers who were only looking out for your best interests.

It seems that the credit card companies were having a little problem with their math when they converted foreign currencies through your credit card. American Express did their math correctly, but MasterCard, Visa, and Diners Club may not have had your best interests in mind. If you used a credit card for ANY overseas purchase or ATM transaction (yes, Canada and Mexico are now overseas) between February 1, 1996 to November 8, 2006 you are eligible for this simple refund. In fact, since it is so darned difficult to track those nasty overseas transactions they are making it simple for you: "If you traveled outside of the U.S. for less than one week or had foreign transactions of less than $2,500 using your eligible cards during the 1996 to 2006 period" you are eligible for this $25 refund.

"But wait Mr. Moneybags, I traveled MORE than one week and used my credit card when I was there!" you may be asking...

Well, as a matter of fact, Mr. Moneybags and his wife Beth had gone on a cruise or two, and tested the CAN/AM border crossing procedures a few times. In fact I even took an engineering class in Montreal for eight days and blew loads of money trying to eat enough to stay warm, but I still went for Refund Option 1 to get the EASY $25 by filling out the GREEN FORM.
For you folks that want MORE than $25, there is Refund Option 2, the BLUE FORM, and you simply make estimates of how much time you were un-American.
For the accountants among you (Psssst, David) there is Refund Option 3, the RED FORM which you supply receipts and they send you bags of money in return.

Ain't America Great? Grab your piece of the pie TODAY!
You can't apply more than once, so choose your options carefully.
Don't worry, the helpful lawyers will still get their $36,000,000 dollars plus $5,000,000 for expenses plus settlement expenses EVEN if everyone you know applies for a refund. Lawyers are very careful to do THEIR math correctly.

So what are you waiting for? Go get your money at http://www.ccfsettlement.com/.
Thank you for listening, my finder's fee is only 4% which you can hand to me the next time you see me, if you are so inclined. Or a hug. Or a drink.

New Hampshire Primary Day

There are some people that have not experienced what it is like to be in New Hampshire during Primary Season. It is absolutely amazing. EVERYBODY takes it very seriously. It is an important job and they don't take it lightly. I don't think that you could get the same candid response from a large state. The candidates would not be able to traverse California to meet people everywhere and would end up parking themselves in front of a TV camera, which just doesn't give you the same feel.
The phone NEVER stops ringing, the mailbox and diners are stuffed full of politician stuff.
The citizens hate being bombarded but accept it as part of the job.
I was watching TV with some teenagers recently and I explained to them during one of the candidate's "very important messages" to the American people during an episode of "Grey's Anatomy" that the rest of the country is still seeing KIA's "Maniac dancing salesman commercial" and are still being told how important "Super White" clothing is and that they haven't lived until they have eaten a breakfast burrito with "real egg byproducts" included with the other secret ingredients. In New Hampshire, these commercials are gone. America's economy can go to hell, there is only one thing to advertise: the candidates. The teenagers in this state just assume that the entire country is being bombarded like this.
Surprisingly the stores are still in business and I looked around and in this little town, the whites are still "SUPER WHITE" so obviously everyone is still buying the correct laundry detergent.
Maybe we don't need quite as many ads as the companies think that we do.

Somebody remarked on TV recently that New Hampshire is one of the only states that EVERY registered voter in the state has at least once been in the same room and listened to a person that has become the President of the United States of America. We listen, we switch sides, we jump ship, and we lend our support to the various candidates based on what they actually say, not on the little sound-bites that are fed to us. Sometimes we meet the candidate and they only speak in sound-bites and there is no real substance behind it. They have to be weeded out.
What the folks in New Hampshire vote for is only our opinion. A lot of thought has gone into it, but it is only one voice out of 50. Our voice IS the most important voice on this particular day because we put so much research into it, but the other 49 states can redirect everything down the correct path if that is required because of new information.
Almost HALF of the state's voters are "Undeclared" which is New Hampshire's legal term for "Independent". We don't just vote for who we are told to vote for, we vote for who we WANT to vote for, tempered of course by the little dance of "electability" and "throwing you vote away" and other little strategy items that cloud the waters.
This year was our first year that we voted in the big city of Keene. They have different checklists and lines for different parts of the alphabet! They didn't even recognise who we were! In Antrim we used to announce who we were because that is the law, but they already were flipping to the correct page before you even speak up. There were no cookies as a reward for doing your civic duty, I REALLY missed the cookies. But Keene did have a nice touch, they had a table right next to the ballot box so that you can switch back to "Undeclared" immediately after voting for a candidate in one of the two major parties. So you don't have to be a full-time Democrat or Republican for more that the two minutes that it takes to check-in, vote, and checkout. I really feel kind of trapped when I am officially in one party or the other because of all those brainless statements that politicians make when "the other side" is accused of something. So Keene makes it very easy to open both ears again. In Antrim you had to loop around to the checklist person again and change your affiliation and sometimes you could forget to do it what with the cookies and talking and jokes an' all that you get at a small town.

Small town or big town, everybody that I know participates and takes it seriously. Of course I have some friends that consistently vote for the wrong people but I don't hold that against them, they think that they are right even though they are so obviously mistaken. My vote counteracts one of those poor misguided souls and somebody cancels somebody Else's vote. We could actually save trouble if we coordinated our cancellation votes and only have those seven people that don't have a counterpart make the decisions, b-b-b-b-but there is the chance that those seven people would vote wrong, so I guess we will keep doing what we do.
I know ANYBODY reading this in New Hampshire has already voted, but if you live in one of those other states make sure that you weed out the propaganda from the candidate and VOTE.
A helpful hint: If the talking head on TV or on the radio sounds like he is frothing up, what he is saying is probably not entirely based on reality, I mean, you could do as well getting your facts from THIS website (which you shouldn't) than you would from a talking head that is just a leeeetle too excited. Entertainment versus News, step carefully.

Remember that during the primaries you get to actually vote for a person. As soon as the primaries are over you are voting for an administration. The candidate is just the public face for the folks working behind the candidate. As Bob Goldthwaite said a few presidents ago "You can't blame Ronald McDonald because you get a bad hamburger". So vote for the figurehead that you think has a leeeetle more skill than the others and during the actual election you should vote for the administration that is slightly less corrupt and self serving than the other one is. Every short term decision has long term ramifications. We are still recovering from stupid decisions made a long time ago that were obviously stupid and short sighted when they were made. The figurehead did not make the decisions, but the administration that is hiding behind the curtain did. We are paying for it this year, and next year. Saying "nobody could predict this would happen" is a lousy excuse when the people that weren't immediately profiting from the decision were saying that it was a bad decision way back when the profiteers were pushing it through.
Profiting for short term results = BAD
Planning for long term results = GOOD
This rant is over.

faaaarm livin is the life for thee....

OK, nuthin new here... Sorry.... Maybe this afternoon. It warmed up here from "unbelievably cold" to just "unreasonably cold" and ALL of the snow on the barn slid off at once.
I have to shovel the heap-o-frozen-snow so that it doesn't flood the stalls.
I thought it would be more fun to add sharp edges to the horseshoes and they could practice their skating skills but I have been told to shovel instead.
I am also hoping to take advantage of the warm weather to get the tractor running. I understand engines. The horses are about as exciting to me as gigantic guinea pigs.