Nothing irks me more than to walk into a convenience store, parched and with no cash, grab a soda or iced tea, go to the register, and be met by a sign that reads “$5 minimum on credit cards.” There’s one store down the way from my office that has a $5 minimum on debit cards but no minimum on credit cards! I do everything electronically these days, including using a debit card for 99% of my brick-and-mortar purchases. It’s easier and often faster than cash and it makes getting those transactions into Quicken a no-brainer as I can download them directly from the bank.

Taking it one step further is the KFC I sometimes go to. They have signs everywhere that read, “ID required for all credit and debit card purchases.” That’s BS. The card companies guarantee payment to the merchant as long as normal procedures are followed during the transaction (the card is swiped, the slip is signed, and the signatures on the card and the slip match).

I did a quick search on these practices because I had a hunch they violate some credit card company rule, and I was right. The following comes from Visa’s own “Rules for Visa Merchants” booklet:

Always honor valid Visa cards in your acceptance category, regardless of the dollar amount of the purchase. Imposing minimum or maximum purchase amounts in order to accept a Visa card transaction is a violation of the Visa rules.

Over at MasterCard’s site, I quote from their “MasterCard Rules” booklet under the “Prohibited Practices” heading:

5.9.3 Minimum/Maximum Transaction Amount Prohibited
A Merchant must not require, or indicate that it requires, a minimum or maximum Transaction amount to accept a valid and properly presented Card.

How about asking for ID? Back to the Visa book:

Although Visa rules do not preclude merchants from asking for cardholder ID, merchants cannot make an ID a condition of acceptance. Therefore, merchants cannot refuse to complete a purchase transaction because a cardholder refuses to provide ID. Visa believes merchants should not ask for ID as part of their regular card acceptance procedures.

Now, I realize that trying to buck a store’s policies by arguing with the poor, minimum wage cashier will probably get you nowhere. However, you can still print out the relevant sections of the manuals and ask that they be given to management. You can also complain directly to the card companies, which I’m planning to do. I picked up the following information from an accounting information web site:

When merchants violate the policies described here, report them to Visa, MasterCard, and  American Express.  Address your letter to:

Visa USA
Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 8999
San Francisco, CA 94128

MasterCard International
Public Relations
2000 Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577

American Express
Customer Service
PO Box 297812
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl 33329-7812
1-800-297-1234 (U.S.) 336-393-1111
(collect) 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., EST

In your letter, give the name and location of the merchant and a copy of a credit card sales slip. The sales slip is needed by Visa and MasterCard to track down the offending merchant. American Express provides card-members with a toll-free number to call if they have difficulty with a merchant. Make sure you have the complete details about the merchant and the problem before you call.

If a merchant is uncooperative, take your business elsewhere.

‘Nuf said.

When I started reading this essay, I nearly started shouting, "Yes." Hal Lindsey so succinctly writes exactly the article I’ve had rattling around in my head but could never get down in words. This should be required reading for anyone and everyone who wants to make an informed opinion about the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. Here is the beginning of the article:

As the current Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza continues, the worldwide propaganda assault against Israel grows exponentially. In the light of this, it’s important to review a little history about Gaza. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and completely turned its administration over to the Palestinian Authority. All of the Jewish settlements were disbanded and their residents forcibly removed. The Israeli agricultural, commercial and residential assets – which were considerable – were left for the Palestinians.

They promptly trashed and destroyed these valuable assets that would have greatly helped them feed their own people. They were given the freedom to develop what easily could have been something like a "Hong Kong" of the Mediterranean. Many nations poured billions of dollars into the coffers of the Palestinian leadership to help them realize that dream.

Instead, the Palestinians used the money to build a terrorist army. They purchased weapons and munitions to equip that army. They smuggled into Gaza a formidable arsenal and began to launch daily attacks on Israel’s cities.

They didn’t even pretend to build an economic infrastructure that would enable the Gazan citizens to support themselves. That’s why the partial Israeli closure of the crossing points has made life so difficult for the average Palestinian. Most of them can only find work in Israel. There is none in Gaza.

Why? Because all of the economic development money was poured into terrorism. Despite this glaring fraud, the world insists on rewarding the Palestinians for their open deception.

This is the war with Hezbollah all over again. The U.N. demands a ceasefire and promises to send in peacekeeping troops to mediate the situation. When Israel complies with world opinion, their enemies ignore the mandates and take the quiet time to rearm for the next time, which is a clear violation of the U.N. agreement. Hezbollah now has three times as many rockets as before the 2006 conflict, many with longer range, even though the U.N. promised it would stop that from happening.

When is the U.N. going to dispense with their idiotic political correctness and see the situation for what it is? The international community would never tolerate one country shooting rockets into another anywhere else in the world. Yet, Israel is expected to sit on its hands and allow Hamas to indiscriminately target its citizens. And, of course, Iran is giddy that attention has been diverted away from their nuclear weapons program so they can finish their bomb in peace and finally blow Israel off the map.

I applaud the U.S. for blocking U.N. resolutions calling for a ceasefire. I just hope the incoming administration sees it the same way. And I’m still waiting for an answer to the question of why members of a "peaceful" religion (Islam) want to annihilate an entire population that just wants to be left alone to live their lives in peace.

Celebrity must really suck sometimes. Even before taking office, Barack Obama has said he regrets the loss of being able to just take a walk. The paparazzi essentially killed Princess Diana with their incessant hounding of her, right to the point of her driver making a fatal mistake while trying to avoid them.

Steve Jobs has been living with rumors for close to a year now that he is dying. It’s undeniable that he’s been losing weight. Some people have tried to say that his health is a private matter, while others argue if his health is deteriorating, he owes it to Apple stock holder to come clean. Well, he finally caved to pressure ahead of MacWorld and released a statement disclosing exactly what’s going on. Now perhaps those people will go out and get a life.

When I first saw this photo, I immediately thought some turkey doctored McCain’s face to match his body stance. However, it’s a completely unretouched photo. The Reuters caption reads, "U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reacts to almost heading the wrong way off the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at the conclusion of the final presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, October 15, 2008." Now, which candidate looks more "presidential" to you?

Given the last few posts, it should be clear that I’m a Barack Obama supporter in the upcoming election. I just took a test over at glassbooth.org and it turns out I should really be voting for Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party. Our views match with a 73% similarity. However, while I do support the idea of candidates running with party affiliations other than the big two, in this case, I think it would just be throwing my vote away to do so. The same quiz puts me at 71% similarity with Obama, so I think I’m safe continuing on my present course.

Here’s another great piece about the whole Bill Ayers controversy that appears to be the meat and potatoes of the GOP campaign these days. It’s written in a level-headed, even-handed style that is long on facts and short on hyperbole, which is the opposite of how Sarah Palin approaches the issue.

Now the Republicans are trying to downplay the implied association and are instead claiming that Obama lied when confronted with the accusation. Reading the above article and its treatment of the facts, we see that Obama really was telling the truth regarding his connection with Ayers, and, again, the Republicans are caught with their pants down.

I just wish every voter would read this type of treatise, since far too many "Joe Six-packs" are going to vote based on the 2-second sound bites the MSM is feeding them, courtesy of the Republican spin machine. Just look at that stupid woman who claimed directly to McCain that Obama is an Arab, or the guy in Florida who yelled out "kill him" (referring to Obama) in response to Palin’s hate-filled speech. It’s a shame that negative campaigning is so effective. It’s just not possible to run a winning campaign these days based on facts and issues, though Obama is doing his best to do so.

While Keith Olbermann takes Sarah Palin to task for her attacks on Barack Obama over his passing association with William Ayers, another columnist points out John McCain’s own questionable associations with one-time shady characters, whom he’s since seen fit to forgive and praise for the good they’ve gone on to do. (Should Palin Forgive Bill Ayers?) Did Palin not learn anything from the Bible that she so firmly holds onto and throws in people’s faces? Are the Republicans grasping for straws and running scared? You betcha!

This is one scathing commentary. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann takes on the latest Republican mud slinging by pointing out numerous truths about Sarah Palin’s own past associations and her complete lack of credentials to be a vice presidential candidate. I don’t know who’s running the Republican campaign, but it seems to be one public relations screw up after another. If McCain/Palin end up winning, it’s going to absolutely reek of voter fraud (the same way it did when GW won a second term). The segment is a little long, but listen to the end. It’s well worth it.

I eat at Subway at least a few times per week, so it’s always fun when they run some kind of game or promotion. I end up winning the occasional free sub or cookie.

They just started a new Scrabble game that will be running into October. I was poking around their web site and happened to look at the FAQ entry for the odds of winning. Your odds of winning the $100,000 prize is a whopping 1 in 42,492,348,847! That’s right—billion…with a B! The odds of being killed by lightning are only 1 in 2,320,000. The only event with less likelihood of happening, according to this web site, is your house getting struck by a meteor.

So I guess it’s OK to run a promotion even when you have no intention of having to pay out. Very nice.