Prophet and Loss
A litany of business failures suggests Pat Robertson
is losing his Midas touch
By Matt Thompson

Boy will this piss mom off! (Oh wait, she never reads blogs...)

If you haven't tried it yet, go check out Mongo Travel. It's my new web venture, and uses the same engine as Expedia and Hotels.com. We are adding our own tours, the first are Scottish and Irish castle tours. The cool part is, if you're a member, you get up to 8% of your travel bill back, depending on how much the vendor pays us. (We give 90% back to members)
It's all Mongo, all the time.

Wrong Door

by Radley Balko and Joel Berger

The Supreme Court ruled this June that evidence seized in an illegally performed "no-knock" police raid can still be used against a defendant. Though disturbing in its own right, Hudson v. Michigan touched on only a small part of a larger problem -- the trend toward paramilitary tactics in domestic policing.

Take a look, it's disturbing but true...

Lingo Sucks!

Just a quick blog to tell anyone, if you're thinking of getting VOIP, don't use Lingo. If you Google them, you'll find out why. I ordered their service, it worked for a couple of weeks then quit. I emailed them lots of times and once got an email back suggesting that I turn the modem on and off. Mostly they just ignore emails, however. When I attempted to call, they never answered their customer service line. I cancelled my service via email, and THEN they emailed right back, saying that they only accept cancellations by phone! Of course, it's the same phone number they never answer! Anyway, I cancelled in writing to their parent company, Primus. Shortly thereafter, I get an email that says they've just changed their policy, and now accept cancellations online. Anyway, they kept billing my credit card (which they never had permission to charge in the first place) so I had to close that account. Months later, I get a "Final Notice Before Collections" claiming I owe them money from the month AFTER I cancelled! (To understand how crazy this is, you have to know that they bill in advance.) So beware. If you want to cancel, make sure you write their parent company at this address:

Primus Telecommunications, Inc.
7901 Jones Branch Drive, Ste 900
McLean VA 22102

It probably helps. I'll be posting more about how you can complain to state and federal regulators.