Monthly Archives: January 2004

Not for my Sherriff

This entry was posted in Culture Election 2004 Internet Marketing on by

The opponent telling him to drop out looks right on:

A candidate for Denton County sheriff who posted faked pictures of “friends and supporters” on his campaign Web site has replaced them with pictures of animals.
The original series of pictures on John Dupree’s site showed people in various settings holding signs supporting the Republican candidate. They were taken from Web sites that offer generic photos of people holding up blank signs, Dupree said.
Dupree said his webmaster told him the fake pictures were being used as placeholders until they could be replaced with pictures of real supporters. The webmaster didn’t think to include a disclaimer, he said.

If this wasn’t just an ‘innocent’ mistake this guy doesn’t have the sense or the ethics to be anyone’s sheriff. And, his webmaster(s) should get a permanent note in their resume that they screwed up royally as well.
Via Charles Kuffner.

Rental Car Blues

This entry was posted in Capitalism Libertarianism Marketing Taxation on by

More often then not folks renting cars are in a hurry. For instance, your plane just landed and your luggage is waiting, etc., so you do not read all that fine print in the contract and, of course, the fine customer service rep working with you has likely been trained to only say things that might maximize revenue. What happens next?
Well, Dan Gillmor tells us

about a man who was charged more than $3,000 for a car rental because he took the car out of state without realizing that would violate his contract. How did Payless, the rental company, know? It was using satellite-assisted tracking equipment to spy on the customer.

The original article is here.
The charge of $1/mile for driving outside the state of origin is surely excessive. I do not even understand the logic of the charge. And it is not nationally common. Example, fly into Cincinnati I mean Kentucky to go to Cincinnati. I have done this quite a few times and not been charged anything extra.
Sure, the guy should have read the contract. But I argue that failure to disclose and explain potential extra charges in big print on the front page may be deceptive given the context of the typical rental transaction.
And, the Oregon proposal (mentioned in the comments) to use GPS to calculate your driving miles as a basis for taxes is just broken before it gets out the door.

Get Serious

This entry was posted in Drug Laws on by

The Professor has this right!:

More generally, we keep electing politicians (on both sides of the aisle) who once used – or, for all we know, still use – recreational drugs. Once they get into office they perpetuate the so-called war on drugs, with all of its racism, unfairness, and failures. Why do we put up with it? It is time to have a serious debate about legalization without all the posturing.