Free Republic

Minnesota nonprofit that's on the front lines of a growing debate over student-loan debt. Bloomberg Businessweek profiles Educational Credit Management Corp., one of the 32 “guaranty agencies" that oversee student loans for the U.S. Department of Education and try to recover money. Its bill collectors can be highly rewarded. ECMC's top collector took home $454,000 in just one year, twice as much as the U.S. secretary of education. The CEO of the group made $1.1 million in 2010. The company moved from downtown St. Paul to Oakdale a few years ago.

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Dec. 30, 2008) - President George W. Bush signed into law the "United States Army Commemorative Coin Act of 2008" on Dec. 1, authorizing the creation of a series of commemorative coins to recognize and celebrate the establishment of the United States Army in 1775, and to honor the service and sacrifice of American Soldiers of both past and present, in wartime and in peace. These will be the first U.S. coins ever issued to celebrate and honor the Army and its 234 year heritage. The U.S. Mint will work on six coin designs, front and...

Bernice Gallego sat down one day this summer, as she does pretty much every day, and began listing items on eBay. She dug into a box and pulled out a baseball card. She stopped for a moment and admired the picture. "Red Stocking B.B. Club of Cincinnati," the card read, under a sepia tone photo of 10 men with their socks pulled up to their knees. The card itself was dirty and wrinkled in a few places.

Guitar legend Eric Clapton increased his fortune by hundreds of thousands of pounds when a Norfolk auctioneer put his collection of bespoke shotguns under the hammer. Clapton is an avid collector of ornately-crafted British weapons - and decades of rock royalties means he has been able to amass a sizeable collection of the finest available. But in an effort to make some space in his gun room, the man who - lyrically at least - “shot the sheriff” with his 1974 hit single, accepted bids for seven lots at the sale by specialist auctioneers Holt's. The lots sold included a...

First off let me say that I have my own cell phone. I use it to text all of my buddies over on Dogster throughout the day. So it was with great concern I read about Andy Fanelli, a Lhasa Apso, getting hassled by Verizon for not paying his bill. SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than 70,000 consumers complained about third-party debt collectors in 2007, but one Sacramento couple said they have good reason to bark about the bill they received. Steve Fanelli received a bill from AFNI collections claiming an Andy Fanelli owes Verizon Online $142.34. And although Steve Fanelli...

Suit: Military Deducted Money From Service Members' Gov.'t Benefits or Tax Refunds U.S. soldiers and veterans have been illegally hit up by Pentagon debt collectors for millions of dollars in payments over military credit card debt, according to the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. "It is shocking that a U.S. government agency would illegally take this money from veterans who have served our country well," said Deepak Gupta of Public Citizen. Public Citizen and consumer lawyers have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Army and Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES), which issues credit cards to U.S. service members to buy...

THE LIST Names for collectors May 23, 2007 There are a number of special names for people who collect things: Archtophilist: a person who collects teddy bears Bibliophilist: collects books Brandophilist: collects cigar bands Conchologist: collects shells Deltiologist: collects postcards Lepidopterist: collects butterflies Numismatist: collects coins Philatelist: collects stamps Philographist: collects autographs Plangonologist: collects dolls Receptarist: collects recipes Vexillologist: collects flags SOURCE: FACTMONSTER.COM

I found a copy of Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" for $9.99 at Family Fare. Widescreen & special features. W00t. BUT. My glee was made sad when I saw the SECONDARY STICKER (in other words... a sticker placed upon the shrink-wrap): "DISC MADE IN MEXICO" haha. ah hah

Divorce can uncork nasty custody battleAlmost 300 cases of the finest wine, and it evaporated like morning mist. Five-hundred-dollar bottles. Thousand-dollar bottles. The French Bordeaux from his children's birth years, which he planned to uncork at their weddings. The 1966 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild he wanted to share one day with his brother. The only vintage that remained in his ransacked office, Doug Eisinger said, was a single bottle of 1990 Dom Perignon. "I plan on drinking that on the day of my divorce," he said. Eisinger, 37, who lives in Sherwood Forest in Anne Arundel County, claims that his estranged wife,...

...The interest in coins comes as sophisticated investors are increasingly looking for assets outside of the U.S. stock market, which many market observers expect to post only modest gains during the coming year. In buying rare coins, individuals not only acquire a collectible asset, but they are also getting exposure to precious metals. The prices of gold and silver, from which many popular U.S. coins are made, are both rising smartly. The Internet and coin-grading services are playing a part in drawing a new breed of coin investors. The Internet allows collectors to buy and sell rare coins at locations...

Looters are systematically stripping many of Iraq's 10,000 archaeological sites and should be shot on sight by coalition forces, an expert said yesterday. Gangs of up to 400 people are stealing antiquities for the international market and some sites have been largely destroyed, said Elizabeth Stone, an American archaeology professor. "I would like to see helicopters flying over there shooting bullets so that people know there is a real price to looting this stuff," said Prof Stone, of Stony Brook University, New York. "You have got to kill some people to stop this." Prof Stone, who has been at the...

Voluntary Alternatives to Taxation Stuart K. Hayashi Most Americans believe paying taxes is a patriotic duty. Yet this very nation was founded upon people evading taxes in 1776. When individuals don’t pay taxes, the government goes after them with guns, even though they haven’t used force on anyone else. Thus, taxation is an initiation of physical force against the individual’s right to life, liberty and property. Because taxation is forcible extortion, it violates your right to property. If you don’t pay taxes, you can be jailed, hence depriving you the right to liberty. And if tax “evaders” fight tax...