Someone scanned and uploaded this 1939 Tests for Husbands and Wives onto Flickr and it’s been making it’s rounds on the webs. I rated myself, and I had a grand total of 13. (The whole thing is at the link.)
Oddly enough, I gained a merit point for “Has spunk-will defend ideals and religion,” but lost a merit for “being strident.”
All over the tubes, but via.
Keith Olbermann goes after Bush’s continuing belief that the wars were a good thing, he is a liberator and that giving up his golf game was a great way for a president to show his concern about the families of those killed in action.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Transcript under the fold.
There are two groups of people I feel for regarding the passing of the bill in Ohio that will cap interest rates on payday loans- those who will lose their jobs (and my cousin’s wife is one of them) when the PDL businesses flee the state for unregulated territory and the citizens of the community who are turning to these loans because they are their best chance. Quickly dispersed short term loans are, in theory, a good idea to have available to people that need a little bit of help when an unexpected cost or emergency arises. But there are alternatives to the Payday Loan offices.
StretchPay is a payday loan alternative that is offered at credit unions throughout Ohio (with a location or two also in Indiana, Michigan and DC). You can find a really excellent description of the details of StretchPay here but I’ll go over them below as well.
How does it work?
StretchPay loans are only available in increments of $250 or $500. The APR on these loans is set at 18% (remember, even after the bill in Ohio passes the payday loan rate will still be 28%). You will have 30 days to repay the loan. There is an enrollment fee ($35 for loans of $250, $70 for loans of $500) that you only have to pay once per year.
To compare it to a standard loan from a PDL office:
|
$250 loan |
Interest & Fees |
Loan Amount |
Annual Percentage Rate |
Term |
Total Finance Charges |
|
Sample Commercial |
$15 per $100 borrowed for each 14-day term |
$250 |
391.07% |
28 days |
$75.00 |
|
StretchPay |
18% APR, plus a $35 per year enrollment fee |
$250 |
18.00% |
30 days |
$3.70 |
|
You save |
$71.30 |
||||
|
$500 loan |
Interest & Fees |
Loan Amount |
Annual Percentage Rate |
Term |
Total Finance Charges |
|
Sample Commercial |
$15 fee per $100 borrowed for each 14-day term |
$500 |
391.07% |
28 days |
$150.00 |
|
StretchPay |
18% APR, plus a $70 per-year enrollment fee |
$500 |
18.00% |
30 days |
$7.40 |
|
You save |
$142.60 |
||||
If you do account for the annual fee, you would save $36.30 on the $250 loan and $72.60 on the $500 loan. That’s still a savings, even if you only plan to take out one loan in a year. If you need more than one loan, then that annual fee has already been paid and you’ll get the full savings the next time.
What’s actually better than the savings is that these loans are given out by credit unions. They are financial institutions- not some random office that opened up next to Subway. There are resources available there like financial counseling and advisement that can also help get you back on your feet if the monetary problem is reoccurring.
The California Supreme Court is set to rule tomorrow on whether the man-woman marriage laws violate the civil rights of gay couples.
The California Supreme Court says it plans to issue its long-awaited decision on whether to legalize same-sex marriage on Thursday.
The high court announced the pending opinion on its Web site Wednesday morning. Justices heard oral arguments in a series of cases brought by gay and lesbian couples, the city of San Francisco and two gay rights advocacy groups in early March.
The court has been asked to decide whether the state’s one man-one woman marriage laws violate the civil rights of same-sex couples.
If it rules in favor of the plaintiffs, California could become the second state after Massachusetts where gays and lesbians can legally wed.
As always, we’ll update the site when the results are in.
Update: It was just on CNN that the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriages by a vote of (I think) 4-3.
Update 2: It was a 4-3 vote. Best quote from the article:
“Our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation,” Chief Justice Ron George wrote for the court’s majority.
Both Marc Ambinder and CNN are reporting that John Edwards is endorsing Barack Obama tonight at an event in Michigan. From CNN:
CNN has confirmed that former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will endorse Barack Obama shortly at a Michigan campaign event.
The endorsement could help Obama reach out to white, blue-collar voters — a demographic group that Obama has failed to capture, most notably in the recent Pennsylvania and West Virginia primaries.
Terry McAuliffe responds by, well, by being Terry McAuliffe:
Clinton campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Wednesday that “we respect John Edwards, but as the voters of West Virginia showed last night, this thing is far from over.”
It’s hard to decide which is less relevant at this point: Edwards’ endorsement or Terry McAuliffe’s opinions on politics.
The story of a Burger King executive (vice president Stephen Grover) that signed on through his daughter’s screen names to leave vilifying comments about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (a non-profit, non-violent organization seeking worker’s rights) online broke in my hometown paper, the Fort Myers News-Press, thanks to reporter Amy Bennett Williams . It was then picked up by various sources including- most recently- The Nation.
The latest information, again, breaks courtesy of Ms. Bennett Williams:
Although Burger King won’t say which two employees it fired for vilifying the Coalition of Immokalee Workers online, the company’s main phone system contains no extensions for vice president Steven Grover or spokesman Keva Silversmith.
Both numbers worked Tuesday, the day Burger King announced the firings without naming which employees were let go, but this morning they didn’t.
An operator at the company’s Miami headquarters who declined to give her name said neither Grover nor Silversmith work for Burger King any longer.
Burger King also announced they are cutting ties with Diplomatic Tactical Services- the unlicensed (and shady) private investigation service whose owner “infiltrated” student groups that supported the plight of the CIW. A spokeswoman said that the company plans to meet with the CIW as soon as possible for negotiations.
This incident has been a public relations nightmare for Burger King. They would have been better off if they signed the agreement to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes when the deal was first presented. It would have saved them considerable time, effort and even money in the long run.
This is just disturbing:
The Buckeye State has been busy of late (yes, that rhymed and I apologize). The offices of Attorney General Marc Dann were raided this morning by investigators from the Ohio Inspector General’s office. The investigators seized electronics including video equipment and computers from the building.
What brought all of this on?
He has been under pressure to resign since a May 2 report by two of his office’s attorneys found widespread mismanagement, cronyism and tolerance for sexual harassment in his office. The report was triggered by sexual-harassment complaints filed by two junior employees who worked for a Dann friend, former condo-mate and section chief, Anthony Gutierrez.
Ohio House Democrats yesterday filed articles of impeachment against Dann.
Whether Dann will resign (which would at least stop the impeachment process) is being debated but it seems like the smoothest course of action:
While speculation remains rampant that Dann will resign, some of those close to the attorney general predicted he would not quit, and instead may launch a legal battle to halt an independent investigation of his office by Charles.
Some Dann advisers have raised the possibility of Dann raising a constitutional separate of powers challenge, since the inspector general normally does not have the authority to investigate the attorney general’s office.
Dann spent much of Tuesday attempting to broker a deal to leave office in exchange for calling off the inspector general’s investigation. However, his attempts failed; legislation expanding the inspector general’s authority passed both branches of the legislature and was signed by Gov. Ted Strickland last night.
Yesterday, several close to Dann said his resignation was “imminent” and he was looking for a graceful way to depart.
Dann, a Democrat, was elected in 2006 on a platform of cleaning out the “culture of corruption” in state government.
Yeah, elected politicians need to be careful about making the eradication of corruption their main selling point if they’re going to be throwing boulders in the glass house.
Update: Unsurprisingly, Dann has resigned.
Update: The Ohio State Senate has passed HB 545 by a vote of 29-4.
The Latest:
The Ohio state Senate Finance Committee approved House Bill 545 this morning. If the Senate approves it this afternoon (and they are expected to), it will move back to the House for final concurrence. Gov. Ted Strickland has already come out in favor of the bill.
Background Info:
I wrote a piece last month about how government officials in Ohio were trying to get legislation on the books that capped the interest rates the state’s payday lending industry could charge consumers. Currently, the interest rate works out to be 391% annual rate. A bill sponsored by Sen. Timothy J. Grendell proposed a 36% interest rate cap.
The bill recently passed through the Ohio House with a bipartisan vote of 69-26. What’s really surprising is that the bill places the interest rate cap at 28%- lower than originally proposed. The bill also seeks to limit the number of loans a borrower can take out in a year to four (to prevent an endless cycle of borrowing for repayment), ban online payday lending, create a PDL database and encourage traditional lenders to enter into the short term, small loan game. The payday lenders weren’t happy about that decision.
Payday loan industry officials have said the new rate cap will force them out of business in Ohio, a pattern seen in places like Oregon and North Carolina where rate caps sent payday lenders hightailing.
“You have eliminated a product that people need, and you have eliminated 6,000 jobs,” Darryl Dever, chief Ohio payday loan industry lobbyist, told lawmakers during committee testimony Wednesday morning.
The job loss aspect is really unfortunate since many people (including a member of my family) support themselves or their family by working at a PDL office. And the Ohio economy, already close to deadlining in some areas, is going to be a hard place to find a new job. But the government isn’t forcing the PDL industry to shut down. The 28% interest rate is likely to bring in more customers and could offset some of their losses. But if an industry can’t survive without charging a 391% annual rate interest it is proof of just how predatory they truly are.
As the bill moved into the Senate, the payday lenders tried to fight back harder. Television ads were run, lobbyists were hired and protests were mounted. The PDL industry tried to propose alternative changes to the industry- many of which were nearly identical to the system that is currently in operation. But the politicians weren’t biting. On Monday, the top two Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee rejected the latest PDL alternative and pushed the bill forward for vote.
Note to readers: I’m going to start blocking comments for this post that seem like they’re from PDL industry trolls. I’ve let a few through on good faith that could have just been PDL employees voicing their concern with losing their jobs. And if you are one of those people, feel free to comment. But it is getting easier to tell who is a troll and who isn’t since they all keep saying exactly the same thing.
Warning: if you can’t deal with some serious existential pain or if you’ve gotten all primal-screamed out over the last seven years, you’re better off skipping to the results threads.
Never let it be said that Bush lacks the capacity to amaze. Gaze upon this, courtesy of Politico:
“I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”
Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. The Commander-in-Chief feels that the best way to “be in solidarity” with the fallen is to stop playing golf. Nothing about actually attending a funeral or two, nothing about personal consolation, and certainly nothing about, oh, ending the fucking war. The big guy feels their pain, because he no longer plays golf. What a martyr.
Can it possibly get worse? What a foolish question!
Asked a question that was submitted online about skyrocketing gas prices, Bush said the problem doesn’t have “a quick answer.”
“It took us a while to get to where we are — very dependent on oil,” he said. “So my answer … is that the best thing we can do is to increase supply and to drill for oil and gas in environmentally friendly ways at home and build more refineries.”
Allow me to alter the quote to make an unfair analogy:
“It took us a while to get to where we are — very dependent on drugs,” he said. “So my answer … is that the best thing we can do is to increase supply and to grow more poppies in environmentally friendly ways at home and build more meth labs.”
You may, of course, play this game at home with any unhealthy dependency of your choice. It’s fun!
Yes, just one more — it was a two-page interview, and believe me, I’m seriously limiting myself here. This is his reaction to a slow government response to a recent natural disaster:
“We’ve been disappointed by the response. It’s taken these people too long to move. It’s almost as if they’re in a state of denial. But we’ll see. We’re beginning to make some progress there in terms of getting our aid in.”
Irony is dead. Why does the man feel the need to stomp on its desiccated corpse?
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