Very long investigative article in the L.A. Times this morning does a DeLay Smackdown
Check it out!
Nice find - Jolly, I get the LA Times at home, but I rarely have time to even open it up on weekdays...
Remember how much trouble and stigma Al Gore earned for his vague connection to unethical fund-raising? Gee - I wonder if Tom DeLay will even get one tenth of that trouble...heh...he'll probably just re-district himself out of trouble...
I love this part "Ney and Feeney, through spokesmen, blamed others for any filing errors" - not only will they not take any responsibility, they don't even have the balls to pass the blame in person...
All of this is corruption, pure and simple, we Americans have gotten to used to the belief that there is no (or minimal) corruption in our political system - I'm thinking about doing a post next week on the topic of corruption (Enron, Halliburton, no-bid contracts, lobbyist-paid trips, etc.)
Lol! I've been there, done that, Bloogey. Have ignited the 2X4 next to the pipe my husband and I (do-it-yourselfers) were welding. (Husband clenching teeth and narrowing eyes trying to finish weld joint while I was holding the two pipes together and puffing frantically on the flames.)
I personally destroyed a toliet trying to replace a washer (note to self: do NOT cinch down one side of toliet tank completely before starting on the other side. Porcelain under stress explodes.)
So after many similar adventures and getting too old for this shit, last dead waterheater was taken care of by professionals. The tank cost $150. The removal of the dead body, the installation, and the bringing up to code cost over $600. Wasn't illegal, just jaw-dropping.
Worst rip-off was the time I tried to check a stuck attic fan and used a screwdriver to block the blades while I reached through them to oil the motor. The resulting spark fried the hotbox and shut off power to part of the ho
The resulting spark fried the hotbox and shut off power to part of the house. The electrican who fixed it wandered about the house for the prescribed time checking all the outlets, while we kept telling him to go up and detach the fan and test the hotbox. (Southern California and in the summer. Probably was waiting for the attic to drop below 200 degrees.) When he whipped out a laminated price chart, I knew we were in trouble. $600 for that mistake, too.
Now I go by word of mouth and call neighbors to see if they recommend anyone for a particular job. The cost goes up by several hundred if they think you are desperate.
ellroon, that's some pretty funny stuff - I haven't gotten to the point of exploding toilets, but I figure if you do this stuff enough you see about everything...
Funny how stuff that sounds so dumb after the fact (WTF was I thinking?!?) seems perfectly reasonable as you're holding two pieces of pipe together and frantically trying to blow out the flames...
I have to say, though, there is some pleasure to be had in 'doing the job yourself' - and the stories are priceless!
HI, BLOOG..I'M A WIDOW WHO HIRED A GUY TO WORK ON MY HOUSE..FOUND OUT AFTER HE LEFT TOWN, HE ORDERED TWICE AS MUCH AT THE HDWRE STORE AND TOOK EXTRA BACK FOR CASH REFUNDS....THE HDWRE STORE CALLED ME A DAY TOO LATE..MY NEW ROOF IS LEAKING...ARGGGGH
Hi - sorry to hear about your leaking roof - you should call the police (if you already haven't) - what that guy did to you is criminal.
Best of luck - what really gets me about the scams lately is that they always target their criminal behavior towards people whom it hurts the most...
I could complain about the plumber I hired to do some work because, frankly, I was lazy but had the money to have someone else do it for me -- & ended up redoing all of his work myself anyway. However, I've run into an even more nasty situation involving my 401 (k) & a previous employer.
Now, I've been thru the cycle of being hired, filling out the forms, leaving an employer & after a few months being told by the former employer that they can't afford to manage my retirement account & I need to roll it over. (I'm in IT, so this is pretter much the norm.) It's happened this way even when my former employer went bankrupt. (That's happened to me twice: both times, not only do I gt the money, but *all* of the matching funds, whether I'm vested or not.)
Sorry for the wind-up, but it's needed to explain why the following took me by surprise.
Said former employer had about $1500 of my money in a 401 (k) when I was let go. I waited for the usual letter telling me to take this
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I waited for the usual letter telling me to take this money off of their hands -- which never came. I didn't have a number to call their HR people (who were in another state) until very recently -- over a year after I left. So I had to insist on getting the funds transferred to another account.
While this was happening, I notice that money was being withdrawn from this account: one month about $40, the next about $140. I call the investment company & ask what is going on. The person I talked to had no idea, & had to determine that these were withdrals authorized by the former employer -- who had made themselves trustees of this account.
The final insult was that they took $50-- out they day I closed the account.
I called & asked for an explanation several times, but the only person who knew anything evaded my calls. I finally had to send a certified letter to get a response -- which was that they were "fees" they were allowe
(end of essay -- sorry for the long rant)
I called & asked for an explanation several times, but the only person who knew anything evaded my calls. I finally had to send a certified letter to get a response -- which was that they were "fees" they were allowed to levy per the DoL website. (He referred me to a URL that does not exist.) Invesment funds charge at most $50 A YEAR for this service.
I'm presently at the stage where I'm working with a lawyer to get my money back. We'll see what happens next.
Sorry about that llywrch - I'm lucky in that I never worked for a company which went bankrupt.
Seems like the last thing a CEO of an about-to-be-bankrupt company does is sell all his stock and give himself a nice big cash bonus. I keep trying to figure out why that isn't criminal, but if the whole Ken Lay saga tells us anything - make sure you give a piece of the pie you're stealing to the right people and everything will be all right...
I think that if they gave Martha Stewart 5 months, Ken Ley should get the electric chair!!!
And who are the biggest ripoffs? Medical profession that's who!
Damn right Kevin - doctors always complain and whine about mal-practice insurance - but they still make at least $150,000 per year. That's *five times* the average US income!
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