GO SAM GO!!

Sam Seder was losing his shit tonight on the Majority Report. And I mean that in a good way–some Rape-ublican lurker called in saying that “hate speech” on Air America was turning him off and that Seder was entitled to “his opinion” about Plame-gate. And Sam let him have it, citing facts about the Plame/Libby/Cheney/Wilson case and screaming at the caller “What part of what I just said is ‘opinion’” and so forth...it was great. I think I like the show even better when Janeane is away (not that I don’t like Janeane, but Sam gets to go the fuck off a lot more often when she’s not there).

Check 21

Remember Check 21? You know, you used to be able to “float” a check, i.e., write a check even when you knew you didn’t have the funds at the precise moment you wrote the check but could be reasonably sure that the funds would be there by the time the recipient deposited the check? And how all that changed with Check 21?

And do you remember why they had to take that small privilege of “floating” away from millions of wage earners? Terrorism–something that may one day happen (I mean, there is a strong likelihood that there will be another Sept. 11, but no one knows that for sure–except those planning it and they ain’t tellin’), but has really only happened once on the magnitude of Sept. 11.

Anyway, banks don’t operate on that same principle in reverse. The Consumer's Union website puts it this way:

"You may not get access to the funds from checks you deposit any sooner, because the new law does not shorten check hold times. After 30 months, there must be a study on whether banks are making funds available to consumers earlier than the allowable hold periods."

For example, recently I deposited a healthy sum of money in an account on Saturday and then a slightly less healthy amount of money in that same account on Monday morning. Then my wife and I both tried to make withdrawals against that money later in the day on Monday.

But guess what? Our debit cards were rejected, even though the amounts we were trying to use were way below what the balance should have been. Finally we talked to someone at the bank who told us, with a straight face, that “weekend deposits aren’t posted until Monday night.”

Fucking excuse me? I can’t get my money two days after I deposit it but you’re going to punish me for writing a check a little earlier than the money will appear in my account? Isn’t all of this debit/credit shit at banks just computer data anyway?

Anyway, that’s how fear and use of the bogeyman argument affects my everyday life–and probably yours. Why in fuck's name are we putting up with this bullshit?

Cheney Cheney Cheney Cheney Cheney Cheney

You suck, ya vindictive bastard...