Networks take different paths in covering Glenn Beck 'Restoring Honor' rally

Fox News, MSNBC and CNN all say they will treat Beck's rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial like any other newsworthy event. All three networks have assigned reporters and camera crews to monitor speeches by Beck, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R) and other dignitaries in what is being billed as a "nonpolitical" rally. Beck has drawn criticism for scheduling on the same date and in the same location as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, although he has said the timing is accidental. But in the days leading up to the rally, the three networks have looked at the same story very differently. One important factor may be that Beck is a popular Fox News host, and that the rally's star attraction, Palin, happens to be a Fox News contributor. Over the past month, CNN has mentioned Beck's connection to Fox News and the rally only once as of Friday evening. On the eve of the rally Friday night, CNN aired an interview of Al Sharpton by talk-show host John King in which Sharpton criticized Beck for saying he's "reclaiming the civil rights movement." On the same day as Beck's event, Sharpton has organized another rally in Washington to honor King. MSNBC has made numerous references to Beck and to Fox, though usually in disparaging fashion. One host, Cenk Uygur, while substituting for Ed Schultz, called the rally "ridiculous" and an "ego trip" and branded Beck "a bad guy." MSNBC host Keith Olbermann has been particularly aggressive, asking one guest on Thursday, "Are we expecting to see [Beck] part the Reflecting Pool?" Fox News says that it has no official connection to the demonstration, explaining that Beck has organized it separately from his duties as a weekday host. Still, the network's tone has been much more friendly when it comes to the rally. In addition to dozens of mentions of it on his own show, Beck has appeared on "Fox and Friends," the network's morning program, and on Bill O'Reilly's evening program to discuss it. "Fox and Friends" directed viewers to Beck's Web site. The rally's organizers -- the Beck-affiliated 9-12 Project and Mercury Radio Arts -- have told the National Park Service in their permit application that they expect 300,000 people to attend. That figure would place it among the largest demonstrations in the Mall's history, although some have doubted that the rally will draw anything close to it. if None of the cable networks would say on Friday how much time they will devote to the Beck and Sharpton rallies, or how they will describe Beck's and Palin's affiliation with Fox. Fox News says it won't pre-empt its regular two-hour bloc of business news programs on Saturday morning for coverage, although Michael Clemente, Fox's senior vice president of news editorial, left open the possibility of giving some coverage to the Beck rally during brief news "breaks" during the morning. Beck and Palin are scheduled to speak between 10 and noon. "We're treating it like so many events that happen on the Mall and draw a big crowd," he said, comparing it to anti-abortion marches and the Million Man March. He added, "It will be judged on the merits, by what people say, how many people are there and by how the crowd reacts to what's said." MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said his network will have reporters doing live hourly reports from both rallies during the morning. He declined to say whether Beck's employment on Fox News would be mentioned. CNN spokeswoman Edie Emery said her network will cover both rallies "like we'd cover any other political news event," but also would not comment on how its reporters will refer to Beck and Fox. The "Restoring Honor" rally is described by its organizers as a celebration of "our heroes, our heritage and our future" that "pays tribute to America's service personnel and other upstanding citizens who embody our nation's founding principles of integrity, truth and honor," according to its Web site. The event will feature a "Lincoln Memorial Re-dedication Ceremony." In addition to Beck and Palin, speakers include baseball superstar Albert Pujols and St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa. When Beck announced the event last fall on Fox News and his syndicated radio program, he promised to unveil "The Plan," a 100-year outline designed to "save the country." But the focus of the event quickly changed, with Beck opting for an event that would raise money for a Tampa-based group called the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a philanthropy that assists the families of fallen or injured special-forces personnel.

High School Football Rankings have Trinity (Texas) Tops in the Nation

Pre-season High School football rankings have Trinity High School of Euless, Texas ranked No. 1 overall following a 14-2 campaign a year ago. Each of the first three teams in the rankings are from either Texas or Florida, two national football hotbeds.Following Trinity is No. 2 Miami Central of Miami, Florida, and No. 3 Abilene from Abilene, Texas, according to the USA Today poll. Seven teams out of the 25 are from either Texas or Florida, including six in the top nine.Of Trinity, which pulled down the top ranking, USA Today notes the team started slowly a year ago but finished with 13 consecutive wins en route to their third 5A-I state championship in the last five years.Florida and Texas often dominate these sorts of lists, but the fact of the matter is nothing is a less exact science than ranking high school football teams across the entire nation. The sheer number of schools in all corners of the country makes it a nearly impossible task.So, yes, Trinity is likely one of the best teams in the nation. But can anyone unequivocally say it is the top team in all the land? No way. There's just no possible way that every team in the country can be accounted for.Of course, the idea of a pre-season poll isn't to predict the finish but rather to establish some sort of hierarchy. It could be that experts believe the same at the end of the season.Of course, national high school polls are good for bulletin boards and little else. Each team is chasing a state championship in its respective locale and isn't particularly worried about national rankings, since there is no national championship showdown.So take the rankings for what they are: An approximation of who some of the most talented teams in the country may be.

Nicki Minaj and Drake Married Announced On Twitter

Nicki Minaj and Drake got married. At least thats what they are telling the world via their twitter page. It all started when Nicki Minaj challenged Drake's manhood by tweeting "U scurred? @drakkardnoir u ready to make the announcement or wha?"

My initial thoughts were more along the line of 'What exactly would that announcement be? Maybe Drake would tell the world they'd be dropping a new song a new song? But MARRIAGE? Really?

Drake replied by tweeting "@nickiminaj Baby I am never scared. PROUD is more the word I would use."

Followed by "Please refer to @nickiminaj as Mrs. Aubrey Drake Graham and dont stare at her too long. She's finally mine. :)"

Nicki Minaj cosigned the whole thing by replying "Yes, its true. Drake and I tied the knot."

So it looks like Drake got the cookies! Congrats Drake. He's getting a track record. Do you believe them?

Bank of America online banking glitch at BankofAmerica.com - BAC Stock Trades Up

Bank of America customers were without their online banking service for at least four hours on Friday. This came due to a glitch involving the BankofAmerica.com website. With online banking services down, the BAC stock seemed unaffected though.

According to MyFox8.com, the Bank of America banking service suffered an outage on Friday due to a "temporary system" issue. There was no specific reason given as for the bank website's down time though. Customers were unable to access the website for over three-and-a-half hours on Friday August 27, 2010.

Bank of America is based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Service was finally brought back after 5:15 PM EST, after the outage had started around 1:25PM EST. This particular Bank of America online banking glitch only affected the only account access, but did not affect any BOA ATMs or banks.

It's been reported that service is back for the banking website, but due to volume customers may still experience slow load times or trouble logging in. At the close of the stock market on Friday, Bank of America stock (BAC) had traded up by .17, and was up 0.04 in after hours trading.

Glitches like this can be costly for both customers and banks. Many people enjoy using online banking services from the comfort of their own home so when a glitch takes the service offline for hours, it hurts. There's also been plenty of customers not happy with the Bank of America service in general, especially during the financial implosion that occurred within the past several years. Bank of America is still considered a top bank stock despite today's four hour outage, so it probably won't shut down too many investors.

However, even though BAC stock seems unaffected, the Bank of America banking service is still questionable. Could this latest glitch make more customers move to other banks with more secure online services and less fees?

People: Leonardo DiCaprio embroiled in 2nd stalker case

This week, the actor won a restraining order against a woman who says she's his wife and allegedly has been harassing DiCaprio with letters and showing up to meetings and public functions he's attending.

That came a day before a Canadian woman who allegedly slashed DiCaprio's face with a bottle five years ago was formerly ordered to stand trial in Los Angeles on a charge of felony assault with a deadly weapon.

A California judge granted DiCaprio's request for a temporary restraining order against 41-year-old Livia Bistriceanu of Chicago, who, according to court documents, believes she is DiCaprio's wife and that she's carrying his child -- which she says is baby Jesus.

Technically, one could consider that a compliment, but we doubt DiCaprio sees it that way.

He said in his petition for the restraining order that Bistriceanu repeatedly tried to contact him "sending me unwanted and unsolicited letters in which she expressed delusional thoughts and irrational feelings, calling and showing up at business meetings I am associated with and, most recently, locating and traveling to my private residence," where she acts "aggressively "... yelling and screaming." He also claimed Bistriceanu told him she believes she and DiCaprio are destined to meet up in the afterlife and raise their Baby Jesus together.

A Los Angeles judge ordered Bistriceanu to stay

Meanwhile, Aretha Wilson will stand trial on one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon after a ruling Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court that prosecutors had enough evidence to carry on with their case. Wilson was arrested in Toronto in 2008, three years after her alleged attack on DiCaprio at a Hollywood party, and was recently extradited to the U.S. to face the allegation. She has pleaded not guilty.

MORE CELEBS JOIN 'DANCING WITH THE STARS': Bristol Palin, Margaret Cho and Jennifer Grey have been added to the cast of the upcoming season of "Dancing With the Stars," reports said this week.

Grey should have a leg up on the competition if she can remember the smooth moves she used in the movie "Dirty Dancing" about 150 years ago. Plus, she's reportedly being paired with everyone's favorite stud muffin, "DWTS" pro Derek Hough.

JOHNSTON KEEPS BURNING PALIN FAMILY: Levi Johnston has been through a lot of stuff lately, not all of which has cast him in the most favorable light. Does he regret any of it?

Yes! He wishes he had never publicly apologized to Sarah Palin for talking smack about her family. This was when he got engaged to Bristol for, like, a half-hour a month or so ago.

"The only thing I wish I wouldn't have done is to put out that apology (to Palin and family)," he said in an interview with CBS' "The Early Show." "'Cause it kind of makes me sound like a liar. And I've never lied about anything. So that's probably the only thing. The rest of the stuff I can live with." He said he made the apology to make "my fiancee happy."

Accident Health Insurance Plans

Guide to Accident Health Insurance Plans in the United States

Accident health insurance plans are attracting a lot of attention in the supplemental accident coverage market because it's so practical. This type of personal injury insurance plan falls into the indemnity category rather then the insurance category. Indemnity's compensate you for damage, loss, or injury in cash payments to you directly or the health care provider. These plans are guarantee issue and require no health questions when enrolling. Americans who have this clever type of accident plan receive benefits with any doctor, emergency room hospital, or urgent care type facility. Members can choose a benefit amount (policy face value) of $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000. These principal sum benefits are payed per accident (per injury). Typical deductible (deductible is the dollar amount person must pay before insurance company pays) is $100 dollars and all other hospital bills are payed up to the policy max. If someone has the $10,000 benefit accident plan and gets injured, resulting into a a $10,000 dollar ACL knee surgery, it could potentially only cost the member $100 dollars out of pocket. Member can also choose any surgeon for the procedure which is comforting.

Personal accident insurance are membership plans that have monthly dues. These association benefits clearly state they are not insurance but a type of accident medical expense plan. Coverage is for bodily injuries and not disease or sickness. Emergency room coverage is the core focus. Other names for this type of plan include supplemental accident coverage, emergency room insurance, accident medical expense benefit, accident health insurance plan, 24 hour accident coverage, and accident medical coverage. Anyone who's had a high deductible insurance plan knows that a lot of bills come from the emergency room.

Association based membership benefits isn't anything new. The main benefit to these plans are affordable monthly dues, everyone qualifies, and benefits are paid in conjunction with any licensed medical care facility or doctor. The applications don't have any health questions during enrollment but automatic acceptance is only up to age 64 or 70.

Everyone being able to qualify for a personal accident insurance plan is a good thing. Flexibility for members to choose any doctors office, medical clinic, or hospital emergency room makes sense because this is a type of accidental injury policy. When I was researching these plans and gathering all the sales brochures, having the ability to choose any doctor, clinic, or hospital ER was consistent and true. The accident medical coverage usually has a $100 dollar deductible and a per member coverage amount of $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000. Plans pay part of the bills you are charged at the doctor, hospital, ER, up to the maximum benefit chosen per covered injury. Another way to phrase that is a personal injury insurance plan pays for all bodily injuries from a accident, less the $100 deductible, up to the maximum benefit of $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000.

In most circumstances these plans pay accidental injury benefits. Except for injuries a member sustains while under the influence of drugs / alcohol, during act of war, or if also covered on workers compensation. These are standard rules for just about any health insurance product. Injury benefits are payed to members per incident or per injury. During coverage, each accident is treated as a new event with new benefit payments, but subject to another $100 dollar deductible. Benefits are paid directly to members or the health care provider. Some plans only pay the health care provider, and other plans clearly state they pay the member directly. You'll have to review the policy to see how payment is handled.

Specific benefits covered by this type of personal injury insurance plan include: doctors fee for surgery (inpatient or outpatient), ambulance expenses, doctors visits, hospital emergency room care, anesthesia services, prescription drugs, nurse expenses, hospital confinement, operating room, laboratory tests, x-rays, MRI's, dental treatment to sound natural teeth, physical therapy, hospital room and board.

During my research of checking out dozens of these accident insurance plans it was interesting to find out that a lot of these plans are underwritten by Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Company. This means that Guarantee Trust Life is "backing" this type of personal accident coverage and that hundreds of health insurance firms are marketing the plans for them. So there are a lot of different agencies selling these plans but the trail leads back to one main insurance company. Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Company has been around for 70 plus years and is located at 1275 Milwaukee Ave. Glenview, Illinois 60025. Of all the different firms selling these plans the best rates I've found so far is the following.

For individuals, a $5,000 benefit plan is around $22 a month, $7,500 benefit is $28 a month, and a $10,000 is $34 dollars a month. For families, $5,000 benefit is $35 a month, $7,500 is $41 a month, and $10,000 is $47 dollars a month. The $10,000 accident benefit plan at $47 dollars a month includes the entire family. Even if the family has six members, it's still $47 a month total. Bigger the family, the more that $47 a month membership stretches. Anyway you look at it, that is a lot of useful real world coverage for that price.

Personal accident insurance plans are sold by some health insurance agents to compliment their clients HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan). Due to medical inflation and the constant rate increases from insurance companies, typical deductibles these days are $5,000 and $10,000. Deductible is the dollar amount a covered person must pay before the health insurance policy kicks in. This basically means the insured has to come up with that $5,000 or $10,000 dollars before the policy pays anything. This is where the common complaint that "my health insurance plan doesn't pay anything" comes from. What people are saying is that when they rush to the emergency room from a accidental injury, odds are they will be paying that deductible out of pocket on top of the expensive premiums every month. It's for this reason that emergency room insurance plans offset that deductible exposure. Plans help pay the expenses associated with accidents which is realistic. This upfront accident coverage can pay off that huge deductible. In short, these accident insurance policies fill in the gaps perfect with the catastrophic high deductible plans being offered in the United States. Picking up a accident plan as a "stand alone" supplement is equally as smart.

Car Insurance Fraud

When you're on the road, several of your fellow motorists are looking to make a quick buck by scamming your insurance company. While this may seem like a tall task, it can actually be accomplished quite easily. Most instances of car insurance fraud involve a motorist intentionally causing an innocent driver to crash into his or her car so that he or she may make an insurance claim.

Since the objective of insurance scammers is to collect on your insurance policy, they will trick you into colliding with them. Though they caused the accident, it may still be considered your fault since your automobile is the one that initiated contact with the scammer's automobile.

Most of the schemes scammers employ are quite simplistic; many of them involve braking suddenly to cause the motorist behind them to crash into them. Some methods involve waving a driver into a queuing line of traffic, then speeding up and hitting the driver and denying having waved in the police report, making the other driver at fault.

Fraudulent claims can be quite costly not only to your insurance company, but to you. When you get into an accident and you are found to be at fault, your insurance premium may go up. Depending on what the other driver claims, your premium could increase even more. Some of the things insurance scammers tend to claim are:

Personal injury and medical bills
Car repairs
Rental cars
Lost wages

In many cases, it can be hard to prove fraud since many insurance scammers have phantom witnesses to testify against you. A phantom witness is a person who works in conjunction with the insurance scammer and was not at the scene of the crash but claims to be and says you were responsible for the crash.

Unfortunately, you can also suffer serious injury in an insurance fraud case. Just because you are the one who crashes into the other car doesn't mean that you are less likely to get injured. You may suffer whiplash, broken bones, or something even more serious. In these cases, when you think fraud may have been involved, getting a personal injury lawyer is in your best interests.

APS Sportec Audi S5 V6

The latest project from APS of Brackley, UK importer for the Swiss Sportec is a new performance upgrade Audi S5 quattro coupé and cabriolet, 2009MY and above, that are powered by the 3.0-litre supercharged V6 TFSI engine. They call it the 'Stage One' upgrade, even though there’s only one plan and there’s no stage two! What’s really important is that the package adds 97 bhp to the output of S5’s V6.

So instead of 328 bhp at 6000 rpm standard you get 425 bhp at 6640 rpm, while the stock car’s 440 Nm (325 lb.ft) is now upgraded to 520 Nm (379 lb.ft) at 4250 rpm as well. They say it considerably enhances the in-gear and fast cruising performance of the car, in keeping with its luxury GT credentials, but don’t expect much as the acceleration time from 0 to 60 mph is reduced by 0.5 seconds and the top speed is still limited to 155 mph.

Car Wash Sunday, August 29 11a-2p in Greenwich

Hey everyone
Just a reminder that the Car Wash for Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is this Sunday. Its 11am-2pm in the Richard's Parking Lot on Greenwich ave in Greenwich, CT. It'll be $15-$20 for a wash depending on the size of the car and an extra $10 to have your mats vacuumed. Thanks for all the support !
Amelia and Mairead

Saving money !

Money has been tight for everyone lately. I myself have been trying to come up with ways to save some cash. So I made a list of my monthly expenses. Then looked at each individual item, and attempted to come up with ways to save on each one. What paid off the most was shopping my car insurance. Using my net book and blackberry I got online and received several quotes which only take about 10 minutes at the most to complete. I ended up going from Geico to Progressive. This move is going to save me $800 a year, and will be providing me with almost the exact same level of coverage slightly less or better in some areas!. My question is what are some things everyone else does to save money? Does anyone use technology to save?

Aviva Car Insurance - Car Insurance

Aviva Car Insurance
Firstly, for those of you not already familiar with the change, Aviva is the new name for Norwich Union. I guess the marketing men finally had their say and have successfully reduced the brand to a single word – think ‘Amazon’, ‘Google’, ‘Yahoo’ etc..

More importantly there seems to be a battle out there in UK motor insurance land in respect of offering 12 months cover for the price of 10 or even for the price of nine months?! This trend seems to be being fought out by two of the biggest players – Aviva and Direct Line.



Get the Aviva deal…
Currently offering great deals on car insurance without compromising on quality (their words, not ours). If you’re a new customer with 4 or more years’ no claims discount, you could make a big saving with their 12 months’ car insurance for the price of 10 offer*. And that’s on top of an online discount of up to 15%.

Some Great Tips To Help Sports Car Owners Save On Car Insurance

Getting insurance on a sports car can be more expensive than what you are looking to spend. Sports cars usually require a higher rate every month than most other cars. At most all sports car owners want full coverage on their prize winning jewels. Even though getting insurance on your 350z will never compare to getting insurance on your family mini van, there are however a few things that a sports ="" do="" to="" get="" lower="" fares.="" of="" these="" four="" tips="" can="" help="" an="" owner="" keep="">sports car prices lower than any before.

="" do="" to="" get="" lower="" fares.="" of="" these="" four="" tips="" can="" help="" an="" owner="" keep=""> In the first place, a homeowner check to see whether membership will give discounts on prices. Sometimes a member can be substantially reduced prices. Teachers and state employees in general to achieve the reduction, but rarely see. Always ask your agent if there are clubs you can join your rate to decrease. Typically, a club willyou lower rates than if you hadn't joined one.

="" do="" to="" get="" lower="" fares.="" of="" these="" four="" tips="" can="" help="" an="" owner="" keep="">Next, you should always compare the prices of rates from different companies. It does not take a long time for you to call around and compare the rates for your car. You might find a really low price from an agency you may have never though of. There are aids available to help you compare these rates; these can be the best place to find your really low rates. Although, you may get better offers it will pay off to call around. Most always an agent with the knowledge of the info you need may be able to save you hundreds of dollars by switching to there company.

="" do="" to="" get="" lower="" fares.="" of="" these="" four="" tips="" can="" help="" an="" owner="" keep="">After that, you may get even more by bringing multiple policies to your agent. A lot of insurance companies can help you with lower rates if you use them to insure everything you have and own. You can save a lot by having all your vehicles insured by the same agency. You can most likely save more by making these deals under the table. The savings may not be pointed at your sports car. Instead you may find cost savings just from having all your cars insured with them.

="" do="" to="" get="" lower="" fares.="" of="" these="" four="" tips="" can="" help="" an="" owner="" keep="">At last, ask your agent if there are any special programs that you can get into that can lower your rates every month. Some agencies may lower your rates if you take a course online for defensive driving. If a kid is driving a car, there may be lower rates for good grades. Most agencies will offer to lower your rates if you remain accident free for a period of time.

="" do="" to="" get="" lower="" fares.="" of="" these="" four="" tips="" can="" help="" an="" owner="" keep="">It is of great interest to get good insurance for your sports car. Getting cheaper coverage can lower your rates, but more than likely can leave you unprotected.

="" do="" to="" get="" lower="" fares.="" of="" these="" four="" tips="" can="" help="" an="" owner="" keep="">If you remember to ask about memberships, compare, and take all your business to one agent they will most likely save you a whole lot on your rates, you can more than likely get the lowest rates around.

Ways to Lower Car Insurance Premiums - Part 1

It may seem to be an impossible notion, but believe it or not, there are effective ways of being able to lower the cost of car insurance premiums that are coming out of your pocket. Below you will find some of the most common ways that countless consumers take advantage of every single day, to benefit from low rates on their vehicle coverage costs.

Stay away from cars that are considered to be a high-risk Yes, this does include sports cars! - The thought may be very appealing to be able to cruise around town in one of the most popular vehicles on the market, but you can bet your bottom dollar that you will end up paying an arm and a leg for the high cost of automobile insurance if you do decide to purchase a high-profile vehicle.
Age always has been, and always will be a factor - It is safe to say that not one single person can add a few years onto their age so that they will be able to take advantage of cheaper insurance rates. However, there IS something that can be done to lower your rates. Taking it upon yourself to register in various driving courses that most cities offer is a benefit that will help out a great deal in the long run.
Try to prevent the need to turn in automobile insurance claims - As the years add up, this is one key factor that can effectively reduce the high cost of car insurance premiums. After years have been accumulated of not filing a claim, there are even some agents that provide their clients with rates that are discounted for being such a safe driver.
Keep your foot of the gas pedal! - It is no fun to learn the hard way just how much speeding tickets can affect the cost of your automobile insurance premiums. If you get too many citations, you may even find yourself without any coverage at all, because most companies will drop clients that show a habit of having a lead foot.
Anti-theft and safety devices - Although many of the newer model vehicles have these types of devices already installed on the vehicle, if you drive a vehicle without these devices you can also purchase them separately and have them installed yourself. Doing everything you can to prevent car wrecks and theft is an advantage that you will also notice in your wallet. This is because most car insurance companies offer special deductions for vehicle owners that drive automobiles with these extra features.

Special Delivery

I saw a report which made me laugh...then sigh.

A stonemason in the Rhone Valley took out professional insurance to cover his fledgling business, which cost him an arm and a leg.
He then discovered that other companies charged about half what he was paying and asked his insurers for a reduction.
You can imagine the upshot of that little initiative.
They had his money and they were sticking to it.
In fact, they sent him a bill, just to rub his nose in it.

Somewhat indignant, he bethought himself of what to do about it and inspiration struck.
Taking a large block of stone and the tools of his trade he wrote...or chiselled...a cheque in stone.
Everything legally required was there...names, amounts, order to pay...and he even took a bailiff with him to witness that payment had duly been made.

It can't be often that a bailiff has been asked to accompany a massive block of stone in an ancient van on a journey through the Rhone Valley, but I suppose it made a change from banging on doors demanding to seize the television.

The stonemason, the stone and the bailiff duly arrived....only to find that the insurance company's office had closed one hour earlier than usual.
This being France, clearly someone had denounced him!
Probably the journalist from the local paper whom he had summoned to photograph his arrival.

Disappointed, he asked the bailiff to witness that he had done everything in his power to deliver the cheque...well, short of flinging it through the window which would have resulted in the unwelcome attentions of the police, taking his statement from his hospital bed while he recovered from the hernia operation....and returned home, announcing that if the insurance company wanted their cheque they could come and get it.

Why do I suspect the journalist of being less than sympathetic?
Because he ended his report with the lugubrious statement that the stonemason would probably find that his bank would close down his account...for chiselling their name on the stone without their permission.
I expect he was on the bank doorstep first thing the next morning with a photograph as evidence.

The stonemason appeared to be quite a young chap, or I would have suspected that he had been inspired by A.P. Herbert's tale of the negotiable cow, published in the 1930s....the reported attempt of one Albert Haddock to pay what he regarded as an unjustifiable tax demand by writing a cheque on the backside of a cow of malevolent aspect...not forgetting the then obligatory fiscal stamp attached to one of its' horns.....and delivering the animal to the offices of the Inland Revenue...or the Inland Revenge as a disgruntled friend used to call it.

It is rare for an individual to express indignation in France...they go in for collective action - the solidarity bit - to make it more difficult for the police to pick them off and their employers to discriminate against them, though this relative safety cannot be relied on by bands of youths from the urban high rise estates when the police manage to outnumber them.

Gypsies, 'gens de voyage', 'manouches', call them what you will, are good at collective action, thus proving that they are, as they proudly claim, French and not foreigners.
In the recent events at St. Aignan following the shooting of a manouche by the gendarmerie, a crowd wearing balaclavas managed to take over the town centre, cutting down trees with chainsaws which, as one of them claimed, were lying unattended on the ground and breaking into and robbing the baker's shop!
What happened?
Well, about three of them were taken to court and had their hands slapped. Thus the value of collective action.

I did see one incident of individual action when I had not long moved to France.

It was in the days when banks would have outposts in the villages....usually just a room...which would be open on one or two afternoons a week, as a service to local customers.
Given some of the customers I saw going in there I used to suspect that the banks had these little branches to prevent some of their less salubrious customers from lowering the tone of the branch in town, nattily attired as they tended to be in sagging trousers, vests bearing the signs of their last three meals and torn tartan caps.

Passing the village branch one afternoon on my way to see a friend I was astounded to see that a huge pile of manure had been deposited in the doorway....and that the bank clerk was waving frantically from behind the window.
Now, in a village where the eyes behind the shutters missed nothing, from the priest falling out of his car having drink taken to the unexpected sighting of Madame Machin wearing her Sunday best during the week, the arrival of such an unusual deposit could not have gone unnoticed....but nothing was stirring in the heat of the afternoon except the flies busy working the heap.

I now know that I should have ducked out of sight and continued to my friend's house by the back alley behind the church, but I was relatively new to France and did not know the form.
I approached the window.

'Can you 'phone the town branch for me?'
'Don't you have a 'phone in there?'
'No....the bank don't want the expense.'
'What shall I say?'..........Thinking that if I were the person at the other end of the line when some foreigner called to say that one of their clerks was imprisoned behind a pile of manure I would not tend to take it seriously, putting the whole thing down to a lack of familiarity with the language and an over familiarity with the bottle.
''Tell them Camille says to send Jean-Aymon and his tractor and trailer down here right away.'
'What about the gendarmerie?'
'They don't have a tractor and trailer.'

He gave me the number and I went to the call box by the mairie...shuttered and silent...to call his bank.
I told them what he had told me to tell them and there was a sharp intake of breath at the other end and then a pause while someone higher in grade was informed.
A man then came on the line, identified only as Claude, who instructed me to return to Camille with the news that Jean-Aymon had been contacted and would be on his way.

I returned to the window and gave the clerk the news.
Was there anything else I could do?
No, but I would be very welcome to open an account with his bank once he got the door open.

Awarding him full marks for a sang-froid almost British in its' nature, I went on my way to my friend, accompanied by a few hopeful flies keen for a change of diet.

She...and the gaggle drinking coffee and cognac in her kitchen...knew all about it, of course.
Apparently, there had been a falling out between the bank and Monsieur Lacroix, farmer and vigneron.
Unable to come to an agreement, Monsieur Lacroix had closed his bank account and then sent down his workman with a load of manure to close the bank door.
There was general agreement that this was not fair on Camille, who was not responsible for the actions of his superiors and who did not have access to a lavatory and that Monsieur Lacroix should have taken his manure to the town branch, except, of course, that even the local town police could not overlook a steaming heap of the best dumped in the main square,and there would have been unpleasantness.

There may be unpleasantness ahead for the stonemason, however.

Once you have signed a contract with a French insurance company, that contract is automatically renewed unless you cancel it...usually some three months before its' expiry date and by registered letter.
Not that they take much notice.
Eight years after cancelling with one company, their computer still churns out demands for payments and threats of bailiffs every year...that's how I can tell it's October.

I suspect the stonemason will find that he will be renewing the acquaintance of his companion, the bailiff.....when he arrives to bang on the door and seize the television for non-payment of his insurance policy.

How to Make Conservative a bad word: Use Facts

Since I was a kid the right or “conservatives” have worked very hard to make Liberal/Progressive a bad word and over the years they have somewhat succeeded. How many people respond to the question what is your political belief system? Well most people I know even though I know they are liberal say well I ‘am more of an Independent. When I get asked that question I say loudly and proudly, I ‘am a liberal progressive, you know the type that makes Rush Limbaugh mad. So why do people think Liberal is a bad thing to be, we all know the 30 year story of the right –wing attack on Liberals so I will not go into that. What his post is about is how to make Conservative a really bad word, which it should be. Conservatives has fought against advancement in this country since it’s founding.


So here is what you say and do next time someone asks you if you are a Liberal/Progressive/Commie, say “why yes I ‘am and I am very proud of what Liberals have done for this country”. Then ask them if they are a Conservative, if they say yes ask them what type of conservative are you, are you like the conservatives that didn’t think Woman deserved the right to Vote, or are you the type of conservative that didn’t or doesn’t think Blacks are equal to whites. Do you believe like Conservatives in the past that white people have a right to own other people, or that it is ok for a company to kill there employee’s? Ask them are you the type of conservative that thinks it is ok for a Company to lie about its product on TV and then not have to pay victims when the product harms them? Are they the type of Conservative that thinks that it is ok for companies to fire people just because they are gay or black or of a different political party? Do they believe like most conservatives that we should get rid of the IRS, FDA, OSHA, SEC, EPA and the Departments of Education and Labor? Do they agree with Conservatives that we should end Social Security and Medicare? Should Unemployment insurance be dropped? Should we allow senior citizens to fend for themselves when they get to old to work?

Now I can go on like that for some time and they get worse and worse and worse as you go, but you get the idea. The important thing is that the only way we have moved forward in this country is by doing Liberal and Progressive things and dismissing Conservatives and their “values” as we go. As you know I have not been a big supporter of President Obama on this blog but he did say something the other day that gets right to the point he said” to move a car forward you put the car in “D” and to go in reverse you but the car in “R” “now which way do you what to go, I like going forward.

So always remember “say it Loud and say it proud” I ‘am a liberal and then stay on the attack, you don’t need to defend being Liberal, history always does that.