JSOnline
Thanks to the Milwaukee Journal for this investigation! Remember this when fire fighters call for donations.
Dec 31, 2010
Allegation: Firefighters' fake expense reports are double-dips
Mercury Blues
I'm sure you've heard by now that the Ford Motor Company has permanently ended production of the Mercury.
I would like to cruise in that cool 1949 Mercury that James Dean drove in “Rebel Without A Cause” so many years ago.
Here's a close look at many models. The car not only starred in movies and hot rod shows--it also had songs written about it.
Dec 23, 2010
Young people stealing and scamming prescription drugs
The Janesville Gazette has documented the problem of young people stealing and abusing prescription drugs in Rock County. Some kids steal from parents and grandparents, and burglars often target prescription drugs.
And now Milton police warn about a young man who allegedly infers he works with the department’s prescription drug collection program and offers to make pickups.
I learned about a similar incident at a law enforcement seminar for seniors where the statewide problem of prescription drug abuse was discussed.
Dec 22, 2010
Dec 18, 2010
Dec 17, 2010
It's good to see Sarah Carlson back anchoring on Madison TV. During my appearances with her, she always made my consumer protection stories better with her insight and enthusiasm. She is just as intelligent as she is beautiful.
The same can be said of her former co-anchor Christine Bellport who I worked with for a long time. Christine has a wonderful sense of humor and would tell of her rip-off experiences to help illustrate my consumer protection topics. Her dad watches her every day on the internet at his California home. He has a wonderful daughter.
Christine and Sarah were a great team and remain among the best of TV in Wisconsin.
Christmas Past
This week I enjoyed a Christmas concert and party at St John Vianney school in Janesville.
Seeing all the children took me back to Christmas parties that started 40 years ago when I was a consumer advocate in Green Bay. This is a half-hour TV program of kids having fun and opening presents.
Dec 10, 2010
Mark Twain's Lake Tahoe Adventure
Two years ago, GM workers crowded around the last Chevy Tahoe rolling off the Janesville assembly line.
Although it was a sad and difficult day for these folks facing relocation or unemployment, they were proud of the work their families had done here for generations.
You still see a lot of those big, beautiful Tahoes in Janesville…the name itself is so appealing, reminding us of wonderful vacations.
Mark Twain was one of the first white men to vacation in Tahoe, taking a break from unsuccessful gold and silver mining.
Later he became the most celebrated author in the world and even visited Janesville on a lecture tour.
Twain wrote about Tahoe and traveling west by stagecoach in one of his finest books, “Roughing It.”
Dec 4, 2010
Glen Loyd video posted on Wisconsin Arts News
My video--Mark Twain's Pompeii--was selected recently as "Video of the day" by Wisconsin Arts News, published by the Wisconsin's Arts Board:
http://artsboard.wisconsin.gov/docview.asp?docid=20706&locid=171
What would Mark Twain say?
"Whenever I enjoy anything in art it means that it is mighty poor. The private knowledge of this fact has saved me from going to pieces with enthusiasm in front of many and many a chromo."
Credit: http://www.twainquotes.com/Art.html
More Mark Twain Videos at
http://marktwainvideos.blogspot.com/
Dec 3, 2010
Nov 27, 2010
10 gadgets that will be trash tomorrow
I think there is a lot of guessing and exaggeration in these predictions, but it is an interesting assessment.
MSN Money
Seven Smart Money Moves for the Holidays
WSJ.com
Pretty good advice except for Number 3: "Give cooking classes. A spa treatment. Tickets to a game."
After receiving consumer complaints for decades, I know that some of these kinds of gifts may not get used or they have time limits, or the company goes out of business.
Nov 25, 2010
Nov 19, 2010
At FTC’s Request, Judge Imposes Ban on Marketers of Kinoki “Detox” Foot Pads
FTC
Ads for similar foot pads are running in at least one Wisconsin newspaper.
FTC: "The defendants falsely claimed to have scientific proof that the foot pads removed toxic materials from the body, according to the FTC complaint. The defendants also advertised that when applied to the soles of consumers’ feet at night, the food pads could remove toxins, metabolic wastes, heavy metals, and chemicals from the body; treat headaches, depression, parasites, fatigue, insomnia, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, cellulite, and a weakened immune system; and cause weight loss."
Nov 13, 2010
Pompeii: Mark Twain's horror human-interest story still electrifies!
You may have read that an important ancient building in Pompeii just collapsed. This comes at a time when I have made seven Mark Twain videos and the one above deals with Pompeii.
Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during an eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD which mummified many residents in stone. The city was lost for over 1,500 years before its accidental discovery in 1599.
Mark Twain visited Pompeii 143 years ago, but his horror human interest story still electrifies!
Keep your eye on contractors in your house (This warning appeared last summer, but it is still good advice)
In Wisconsin, ask contractors for proof that they are insured. If they aren't, they are questionable.
Nov 6, 2010
Oct 29, 2010
Oct 23, 2010
Gadgets for older seniors
This is an interesting story, but trying to get some older seniors to deal with technology may be difficult.
Oct 22, 2010
Oct 16, 2010
Is MoneyGram Up to its Old Tricks?
Connecticut Watchdog
Wisconsin residents and consumers around the nation lose thousands of dollars when con artists convince them to wire money. Any time a stranger asks you to wire money, look out!
Oct 9, 2010
Oct 2, 2010
Sep 24, 2010
I respect Mouse Print, but I don't agree with this criticism of McDonald's charity advertising
Mouse Print
Let me give you the other side of the story. Visit a Ronald McDonald House and you will know that McDonalds means what it says about helping children. There are great human interest stories there, too. It's one of the best charities I know and helps people in our communities.
Here is a summary from McDonalds: We provide families stability and resources so they can keep their child healthy and happy.
Whether those problems involve how to stay near and support a hospitalized child, how to afford staying together in another city while a child is undergoing treatment, or even getting basic medical and dental care in a vulnerable community.
We not only help families address these problems, we provide solutions for these and other issues related to the health and well being of children through:
•Our 276 local Chapters in 53 countries and regions
•298 Ronald McDonald Houses
• 151 Ronald McDonald Family Rooms
•39 Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles
•Grants to non-profit organizations that also focus on the needs of children
•Scholarships to students across the United States
•Chapters around the world creating country-specific programs
Thirty-five years of experience help us address these needs every day, as do 30,000 volunteers and staff members, our connections with medical communities around the world, partnerships with respected companies and our generous donors. We couldn’t do it without all of you.
Sep 18, 2010
Sep 11, 2010
Wisconsin Dells: When Bessie the Cow isn't enough
To get in the proper frame of reference, a travel writer recommends that Illinoisans going to Wisconsin Dells stop in Janesville to see the giant statue of Bessie the Cow.
My Janesville family loves Bessie ... so it isn't surprising that we headed for the Dells this summer. My granddaughter said her favorite attraction was Ripley’s Believe Or Not where she saw a snake slithering up a man's nose and out his ear.
Some of us preferred the boat trip.
Sep 10, 2010
Sep 4, 2010
Enjoy the kids
My wife and I took our grand daughter to Van Buren School in Janesville this week and enjoyed seeing all the children and their teachers. If you get a kick out of kids, take a look at this old newsreel from the 1950s.
Aug 27, 2010
Fake check scams getting better
Akron Ohio News
At one time, Cynthia Sich, the consumer protection official quoted in this article, was a consumer protection manager with Wisconsin Consumer Protection.
Aug 21, 2010
Aug 15, 2010
Aug 13, 2010
What They Know - WSJ
WSJ "Marketers are spying on Internet users -- observing and remembering people's clicks, and building and selling detailed dossiers of their activities and interests. The Wall Street Journal's What They Know series documents the new, cutting-edge uses of this Internet-tracking technology. The Journal analyzed the tracking files installed on people's computers by the 50 most popular U.S. websites, plus WSJ.com. The Journal also built an "exposure index" -- to determine the degree to which each site exposes visitors to monitoring -- by studying the tracking technologies they install and the privacy policies that guide their use. "
Aug 7, 2010
Allegation: "Taco Bell eyed as CDC looks into salmonella outbreak "
Courier-Journal
A related article mentions Wisconsin.
Jul 31, 2010
When Mark Twain came to Janesville, WI
Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.
Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.
Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
--Mark Twain
125 years ago, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York, the Washington Monument was dedicated, and Ulysses S. Grant died after winning the Civil War as military commander and serving as President of the United States.
It was also the year that Mark Twain came to Janesville and lectured at Myers Opera House (which later become a movie theater and was torn down in 1977).
Mark Twain is as relevant today as he was 100 years ago. Like many of us, he loved the latest gadgets and inventions. For example, he was one of the first adopters of the typewriter and telephone. And like us, he had the feeling that life was getting too complicated when he wrote: “Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.”
Twain could be gently humorous and uproariously funny. But as the Chicago Sun Times noted he also could be “raw, jeering, and pulverizing.” The New York Times added: “the attitude is that of Swift, the intellectual contempt is that of Voltaire, and the imagination is that of one of the great masters of American writing.”
Jul 30, 2010
Is Reiki's hands on healing "nonsense?"
Steven Barrett, M.D.Here's what the National Institutes of Health says, "If you are thinking about using Reiki:
- Do not use Reiki as a replacement for proven conventional care or to postpone seeing a doctor about a medical problem.
- Find out about the Reiki practitioner's background, including training and experience treating clients.
- Be aware that Reiki has not been well studied scientifically, but research on whether and how Reiki may work is under way."
Here is a scam e-mail I received from some skunk
Apologies for having to reach out to you like this, but I made a quick trip to the UK and had my bag stolen from me with my passport and credit cards in it. The embassy is willing to help by letting me fly without my passport, I just have to pay for a ticket and settle Hotel bills. Unfortunately for me, I can't have access to funds without my credit card, I've made contact with my bank but the best they could do was to send me a new card in the mail which will take 2-3 working days to arrive here.I was thinking of asking you to lend me some quick funds that I can give back as soon as I get in. I really need to be on a last minute flight that leaves in a few hours.
I can forward you details on how you can get the funds to me. You can reach me via....
Jul 24, 2010
The steam airplane
(From my video blog on the Janesville Gazette web page)
What really blows me away is that natives of Wisconsin and neighboring Iowa were responsible for the first steam-powered, self-propelled vehicle in the United States and the first practical steam airplane!
In 1873, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the car was designed and operated by John W. Carhart of Racine.
And down river from Rock County at the turn of the century, a Davenport, Iowa couple had little George and William, the Besler brothers who grew up to power an airplane with steam.
They developed the airplane in California and demonstrated it for Popular Science magazine and a large gathering of newspaper reporters and newsreelers. Popular Science noted the plane made little noise and you could hear pilot William Besler shout a greeting from the sky.
Jul 23, 2010
Parents stealing kids' Identities (for things like credit) in alarming trend
Adult children steal the indentities of parents and grandparents, too.
Jul 16, 2010
Jul 9, 2010
Money in the Bank? No, Sandwich in a Can
Is putting a sandwich in a can and calling it a “Candwich” the next can’t-miss billion-dollar idea?
NYTimes.com
Bully Landlord?
The Consumerist
Failure to return security deposits is a common problem in Wisconsin. If you are having trouble getting your security deposit back in Wisconsin, fill out this complaint form.
Jul 3, 2010
New Company Helps Fraud Victims For Free
Have you ever been ripped off by a business? When you become a victim of fraud, where do you go for help? A private company has been formed to help assist victims of consumer fraud recover their losses for free.
This new company, Eye To Eye Detective Agency, was created by David Tatar, a former Consumer Protection Manager. Mr. Tatar recently retired from state service where he managed investigators in Wisconsin’s State Consumer Protection Agency. Tatar, a former police officer, has over 30 years experience in enforcing Wisconsin laws.
Many private attorneys often hire investigation firms to gather evidence and compile consumer cases for legal action. Tatar’s goal is to provide consumers that fall victim to fraud with that bridge to the legal services they so desperately need to recover their losses.
“Unknown to many, some private law firms will represent victims for free, Tatar says. If I can present them with a solid case of fraud provable in court, they may consider pursuing recovery on behalf of the victim free of charge. And since I also do not charge consumers for my services,” Tatar says, “people may be able to get all of their money back without bearing the extra costs.”
If you are a victim of fraud and would like assistance in recovering your losses, you can contact Mr. Tatar at 608-635-8831 or by email at eyetoeye@centurytel.net. All consultations are confidential.
Jun 25, 2010
Jun 18, 2010
Now is the time to find a deal on computers
Consumer Reports Electronics Blog
Your local library will have Consumer Reports free of charge.
Jun 12, 2010
WKOW-TV keeps pounding away at WI Consumer Protection
WKOW-TV keeps pounding away at WI Consumer Protection. The premise seems to be: Everyone who contacts CP is supposed to be helped. If they are not, CP isn't doing it's job.
Is this fair? Does everyone contacting WKOW's own Call for Action Helpline receive help? Of course not!
Having worked at CP, I know it helps a lot of people...just as WKOW-TV is helping consumers.
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