The Screaming Viking

There’s an article in the in-forum that says verasun is asking farmers to pay back 80% of what they got for selling their corn to the company.  The people they are asking to pay the money back are the ones that sold 90 days before the company declared bankruptcy.  On the surface something like this seems pretty stupid, but we don’t know what kind of deal the people that are being asked to repay the money worked out with the company.  I would say it’s likely it was contracted corn…they “sold” a certain amount at the price the company had at the time but they don’t have to deliver the corn until a specific date.  I can’t see how the company could get money back on corn they have already received, but I can see how they would try to wriggle out of paying for a delayed shipment type deal.

Either way, I think my response would be the same…

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Farmers who sold corn to bankrupt ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. have been receiving letters asking for repayment of funds due to “bankruptcy preference.”

The Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation says the letters are telling growers who sold corn to VeraSun in the 90 days before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that they have until Sept. 30 to repay 80 percent of what VeraSun paid them for their corn.

National and state corn growers associations are telling their members they might have defenses and they should consult with an attorney.

Sioux Falls-based VeraSun filed for bankruptcy in October 2009 after tightening credit markets erased its lifeline to weather the swings in corn and fuel prices.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

We better look at licensing, background checks and possibly banning the Leatherman.

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NEW YORK — The college student accused of slashing a taxi driver because he was aMuslim has been taken to a New York City psychiatric ward.

Correction Department spokesman Stephen Morello said Michael Enright, of Brewster, N.Y., was taken from the Rikers Island jail to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday night.

Authorities said that on Tuesday a drunk Enright attacked a Manhattan cab driver, Bangladeshi native Ahmed Sharif, who had identified himself as a Muslim during a conversation.

The cab driver told police that the two struck up a conversation before Enright turned on him, screaming “This is a checkpoint, mother—-er! I have to put you down.”

Enright reportedly proceeded to stab the driver’s neck and face with a Leatherman knife. Authorities say Enright uttered an Arabic phrase before slashing Sharif’s face and neck.

The baby-faced student was drunk and incoherent at the time of his arrest and was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.

He was later taken to court and remained jailed without bail Thursday on hate crime charges.

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Enright’s attorney told ABC News on Thursday that Enright does not harbor any enmity toward Islam or Muslims.

‘Counter to everything that New Yorkers believe’
The attack has raised concerns among some in the Muslim community that the debate around a Islamic community center planned to be built two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has sparked anti-Muslim fervor.

FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko told msnbc.com , however, that New York City has not seen a change in the number of hate crimes reported by Muslims so far this year, but every report is taken seriously.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said authorities do not believe the attack signifies a trend in anti-Muslim crimes.

Meantime Mayor Michael Bloomberg met Thursday at City Hall with Sharif.

In a statement, the mayor said it was impossible to know the motive but connected the attack to the debate about an Islamic center planned near ground zero.  “This attack runs counter to everything that New Yorkers believe no matter what god we pray to,” the mayor said in a statement.

Sharif, for his part, told reporters the project did not come up in his conversation with the passenger.

However, after meeting the mayor with his family, the driver said the motive was religion. “Of course it was for my religion — he attacked me after he knew I was a Muslim,” he said.

Suspect’s notebooks reveal no anti-Muslim sentiment
Enright once volunteered with an interfaith group that has supported the proposal for a mosque near Ground Zero.

He was found with two composition-style notebooks on him that contained details of his experiences embedded with U.S. forces in Afghanistan but did not appear to contain any anti-Muslim rants, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

Enright was carrying the journals in a bag along with an empty bottle of scotch, the official told the AP on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

I read Mark Cuban’s blog via RSS.  Mostly he posts things I really don’t care about…and some of his money comments are over my head.  If there was one thing I wish I’d have studied more in college (or at all) it would be business/investing.  I really don’t understand how it works.  His latest blog posts a few quick hit ideas about how to maximize your money in the short term the safest way possible.  To my uneducated ass it sounds pretty spot on and quiet easy to do.  The only thing I would change is instead of using “cash” for everything, I really prefer to use my Credit Card and pay it off before interest accrues.  The reason being I rack up “points” that give me “free money” at scheels.

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The Best Investment Advice You Will Ever Get

Aug 25th 2010 9:24AM

I’m going to simplify what I consider to be the best investment advice I have ever been given and share it with you.  Here you go:

1. If you have any credit card or other type of consumer debt on which you pay 5pct or more interest, pay it off.  Compound interest is your enemy.  The chances of you earning more on your money than you are paying in consumer interest rates are slim. Pay it off.

2.  Cash is King. Now that Madoff is in jail, no investment can offer returns with zero risk. If you don’t fully understand the risks of an investment you are contemplating, it’s ok to do nothing. In times of massive uncertainty like we are facing today, doing nothing is a valid and IMHO preferable investment strategy. Just put your money in the bank.

3. Cash Creates Transactional Returns.   What does this mean ? It means that you should analyze what you spend money on over the course of a year. You will get a better return on your money by being a smart shopper and taking advantage of  cash, quantity or other types of discounts than you will in the stock market.  Saving 15pct on the $1k dollars worth of items you know you will absolutely spend money on is a better return on your money than making 15pct in a year on a $1k investment  because you don’t pay taxes on it.

If you have under 100k dollars in liquid assets,  your net worth will be higher in one year if you follow this advice  than if you follow ANY other investment advice any broker or banker will give you this year.

Apparently the temperature in hell is 95 degrees with 90% humidity. 33 Chilean Miners are trapped 2,258 feet below ground in 600 square feet with enough food to last 3 days…they are on day 28. They have apparently dug for some water. Rescuers have to drill down to get them out…and might have them free in 4 months. It will be nothing short of a miracle if they make it out…not to mention the physical and mental toll this will take them if they happen to make it.