DUCK AND COVER

From the Newsfeed: 1st Congressional district candidate Bruce Braley has cancelled an appearance with Senator John Kerry of Messachusetts. I wonder why?

Kerry told an audience of students in California: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

In the past, Braley has had his own loyalty to the troops questioned...

Waterloo Courier - Saturday, May 20, 2006 - Braley attacked for troops statement

Braley said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should be fired, and expressed disappointment that troops would not be coming home this year. Braley said he would vote to cut funding to bring troops home.

"That’s what Congress does. They appropriate the money. If the administration is not carrying out the wishes of the people of this country, Congress has to start making choices," Braley said

Is the war in Iraq really a winning issue for Democrats? Why wouldn't Bruce Braley - who is well recognized as an anti-war candidate - not want to appear with John "reporting for duty" Kerry?

LOADED CONTENT

I finished with the major work on the new website. Just a little touch-up left, but there it is...enjoy.

YES, A NEW LOOK

I will be changing some more things over the weekend.

These are NOT the final colors...believe me. Having difficulty with the HTML coding in sync with the scripts...(insert contents of one bottle of Advil in mouth)

Again...please excuse the construction in progress.

MORE ABOUT UNCLAIMED CASH

We have a lot of politicians running around these days promising to spend our cash for us...but on the topic of yesterday's post, I found a story about a politician that is returning someone's unclaimed cash and funds for them...

From the Jackson Michigan Citizen Patriot (link opens another window):

Mortimer Helps Find Cash For Constituents
Thursday, October 26, 2006

By Chad Livengood

When state Rep. Leslie Mortimer meets with constituents, sometimes she brings them money.

Their own money.

Since taking office two years ago, Mortimer said she has found $300,000 in unclaimed property and money in a state database that residents of her 65th House District did not know they were owed.

That's nice, don't you think? She's a Republican and she's helping the little guy find his unclaimed cash...free cash that they didn't even know they had. It may seem like a small amount of cash, but that's just the amount of free money she has found in her own district.

And this is just one of the possible ways to find only one kind of unclaimed cash and funds. The website I linked to yesterday is an awesome way to find money you probably don't even know you had. It's at Your Unclaimed Money. You have to sign up, but the money you find may be more than worth it. I'm not done finding all mine, but so far, I've identified two accounts where I have money and I had forgotten all about them...

One was a checking account I used for some stock purchases years ago...I had cashed out the stock and the money was transferred to my account, but I never actually withdrew the money...it's now more than $200.00. The other account of unclaimed cash and funds was more than $2700.00.

It's like finding money in the couch...only in stacks of dollar bills.

Later in the Michigan article...

The state's Department of Treasury holds millions of dollars from dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, valuables left in safe-deposit boxes and stock certificates.

Mortimer, R-Horton, has made it her mission to raise awareness about the fund and get people their money.

"They're not advertising this, and they're OK if you don't come and get it," Mortimer said.

If people don't claim the money, the government collects the interest, Mortimer said.

"If people don't claim the money, the government collects the interest"...and just think about the incentive they have NOT to advertise the easy way you can go about collecting your unclaimed cash, money, stocks, bonds, property...and more.

Some states have revised and refined their various unclaimed property laws, resulting in over $35 billion in collections; currently held for the benefit of owners whose whereabouts are at least temporarily unknown.

And you just know they're not trying really hard to find those people, don't you? As I said, you can do this on your own...and the website I found (Your Unclaimed Money) has all of it in a searchable database of unclaimed cash.

I'm reading another story today about the process in Nevada for unclaimed cash and property. Imagine how much money is sitting there! I'll have more tomorrow. Here are some highlights:

(Nevada's) Economic Forum on Wednesday projected the so-called "minor" revenue sources feeding the state treasury will produce $792.2 million over the next biennium.

Very similar to our own Revenue Estimating Committee (which is a lovely way of saying "expert guessers")

Anyway...these "minor" revenue sources include the unclaimed property and unclaimed cash acounts in Nevada...

Panel members pointed out there was a huge increase in that account in fiscal 2006, leaving more than $22 million for the general fund even after using $7.6 million out of it to bolster the Millennium Scholarship program.

So, they already took $7.6 million dollars from the account trusted with keeping the unclaimed money from people...

Like I said...NOBODY else is advertising this. I wonder why...

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BTW: I'd appreciate it if you would consider emailing this information (email the post link in the footer of each post) to some of your friends - I have taken the added measure of putting a subscribe me button at the top of the blog. All you have to do is enter your email address and submit. You can unsubscribe at any time. You'll automatically be notified when there's a new post...but only the headline.

Other than that, the re-design is on-going...and going well.

THE GREAT IOWA TREASURE HUNT

Faithfully, I read the "unclaimed money" area of the local paper when it comes out. I never really know when it does, but I'm sure that I have some state unclaimed money, or government unclaimed money...some kind of unclaimed money somewhere. I've lived in a number of states and can't remember a lot of times where I still have money stashed.

Over the past few months, of course, I've had to really sit down and think about this kind of stuff. If you've ever moved, had a bank account or paid taxes, you probably have some unclaimed cash somewhere. You may be owed the money. I guess thousands of people are trying to find this stuff out and collect money they never knew they had...but I've always had to wait for the newspaper to print a list. Never figured I could do a search for it on my own. Duh. But when you're out of work or transitioning to a new job or whatever...that money can come in handy.

I guess money you didn't know you had could always come in handy, eh? Night on the town? Enough for a toy?

Some might prefer getting your unclaimed money before the end of the year to find a nice, safe, non-taxable place to put it...or even give it to charity. Heck, you're not missing it anyway...why not give it away?

I mean, just think about all the unclaimed funds that could be out there - old insurance policies, over paid taxes (not during the Clinton years of course), stocks and dividends, old checking accounts (I found one recently that I forgot I had and it had more than $200 in it!), government funds, unclaimed property.

It seems stupid, really...and it's kinda hard to admit that in the speed of the everyday - keep up with the Jones - I forget where the money is. I finally found a way to look for it all...all at once.

While state laws vary in periods of dormancy (inactivity), a wide range of reportable property includes but is not limited to dormant checking and savings accounts, uncashed money orders, cashiers checks, unclaimed insurance benefits, mineral royalty payments, safe deposit box contents, unused gift certificates, unclaimed security deposits, cash dividends, stock, court deposits, and utility deposits.

With the website I found, you can search beyond just the border of your state...in fact, you can search in several states at once. Simple...not time consuming, and the small fee to get the info is definitely worth it.

According to the FAQ area of the "Your Unclaimed Money.org" website - The origin of the unclaimed property law dates back as far as the colonization of America. Since that time, states have revised and refined their various unclaimed property laws, resulting in over $35 billion in collections; currently held for the benefit of owners whose whereabouts are at least temporarily unknown.

Unless you lose other things like ID's and other documents too - its easy to re-claim money and property that is owed to you. In most cases you will need to provide identification and documentation to help prove the money actually belongs to you. All states have specific procedures, filing requirements and forms to use when claiming unclaimed property - nearly all states maintain the unclaimed asset as custodian forever.

So, no more waiting for the newspaper to print my name alphabetically, I'm taking the money and cancelling my subscription to save even more.

<<---"Your Unclaimed Money.org" May Be HERE--->>
Click weblink above for Info

If you find any, let me know. You're welcome.

WEIRD HOW THAT HAPPENS, EH?





I have previously announced that the website is undergoing some re-modeling...and while I was considering a name change for the blog, I posted a temporary title.

To Be Announced

I kind of like it as is...don't you? Sort of like NPR's All Things Considered...hmmm?

I have a new sponsor, Radio Flyer has come on board via RedWagons.com and you can see the link to the left of the home page. It's one of the happiest memories of my childhood...the old Radio Flyer we had with the removable side panels. I see they still make them, and some even fancier versions. Great company. Great product.

It reminds us all that you can still have fun with something for children that doesn't need batteries, instructions, doesn't make annoying songs that haunt you in your nightmares...and allows a parent to have as much fun remembering as the children do creating their own memories...

Anyway...back to work. Enjoy some of the early new updates. Stay tuned for the whole new version of the site...and offer your suggestions.

THANK YOU, DEAR READERS...

For your continued support. The website and blog are/will be undergoing a major restructuring and re-design over the next several weeks.

This will include changes in the name, look, and functionality of the entire site.

Please excuse the construction in progress.

Have an idea? I'd love to hear it...

EMAIL

THE DEMS ARE GOING TO LOSE THEIR SHIRTS

Everyone...and I mean everyone...is predicting or betting or resolved to the fact that the Republicans will lose enough seats in the US House or Senate in order to lose control of one or both. Confused? Basically, it comes down to the fact that the Democrats have so much more going for them and are going to "run the table" on Republicans on November 7th.

I think they're wrong...and I have proof:

NYTimes: New Laws and Machines May Spell Voting Woes

It's a story about voting irregularities...3-weeks before the election. Apparently these new fangled machines that they desperately wanted in order to fix the problems with punch cards and the like...are so difficult to use and program and...

As dozens of states are enforcing new voter registration laws and switching to paperless electronic voting systems, officials across the country are bracing for an Election Day with long lines and heightened confusion, followed by an increase in the number of contested results.

“We’ve got new laws, new technology, heightened partisanship and a growing involvement of lawyers in the voting process,” (THANKS, Al Gore!) said Tova Wang, who studies elections for the Century Foundation, a nonpartisan research group. “We also have the greatest potential for problems in more places next month than in any voting season before.”

Election officials in many of the states are struggling with delays in the delivery of machines before the election as old-fashioned lever and punch-card machines are phased out. A chronic shortage of poll workers, many of them retirees uncomfortable with new technology, has worsened matters.

Folks...it's just excuse making. The media is setting up for the possibility that their predictions of a Democrat-controlled House or Senate are wrong. And since liberals are never "wrong" about anything, they've got to have something to blame it on.

Meanwhile, votes in about half of the 45 most competitive Congressional races, including contests in Florida, Georgia and Indiana, will be cast on electronic machines that provide no independent means of verification.

“In a close race, a machine error in one precinct could leave the results in doubt and the losing candidates won’t be able to get a recount,” said Warren Stewart, policy director for VoteTrustUSA, an advocacy group that has criticized electronic voting.

A recount like in Florida where we had people deciding on the true intent of a voter based on how pregnant a chad looked?

Mark my words. Republicans will maintain control of the Senate and House...and not lose more than single-digit numbers of seats. And it'll be George W Bush and Karl Rove's fault for stealing the election again.

UNCLE ALBERT, ADMIRAL CLINTON?

Noted with passing interest the fact that the former President of the United States, George H. W. Bush had an aircraft carrier named after him.

The USS George H.W. Bush left it's slip into the water over the weekend.

I'm just curious and I don't have any time right now to research it, but are there ANY Naval - or anything else for that matter - named after the other former President, William Jefferson Clinton? Even Carter has a submarine named after him (primarily because he served as a bubble head in the Navy)...Reagan has an aircraft carrier...

Is there anything? I'd think maybe it would be a submarine - because of their cigar shape - but I don't know of anything named after him. Anyone else know?