More New Year Mishmash January 3, 2002February 21, 2017 GAJ Barry Basden: ‘Click here to find basic info on many preferred stocks, including: GAJ – Great Atlanta & Pac Tea Co, 9.38%, 8/11/04 [call date], $25.00 [call price], Rated BA1/BBB-. Had I more than a double in it, I would sell, too.’ ☞ See what a little homework will do? Thanks! (And, yes, a $25 call price in 2004 does limit the upside when the stock is trading at $24.35..) SAVE! Allan Tanner: ‘I’ve found really good deals on printer cartridges and cell phone batteries through stores on eBay. For example, I found a place on eBay that sold me black ink cartridges for my Canon Bubblejet BJC-4400 printer for $2.19 each. I had paid about $4.00 for generic cartridges at Priceless-inkjet.com, which is a good non-eBay merchant, and about $7.50 for Canon brand cartridges at Best Buy. My daughter Naomi’s Nokia 8290 cell phone needed a battery. By searching for “8290 battery” on eBay, I found a place called eForce Trading Co. that sold me a lithium battery for $15.00 delivered, rather than for the $59.95 that Amazon.com wanted, or the $79.95 that Best Buy wanted.’ FRANCO George Fescos: ‘Is Franco really gone? When I was in Spain a few years ago I was surprised to find that the bust of Franco was still on the coins. No new Franco coins have been minted for years, but the old ones lingered on. The obverse side had a bust of Franco along with the Spanish phrase, FRANCISCO FRANCO LEADER OF SPAIN FOR THE GLORY OF GOD (oddly there was not enough room for the whole phrase so the word glory was contracted to the letter G). The converse side had the symbol of the king of Spain, a military eagle, and the symbol of fascism, a bundle of arrows held together by a ribbon (the Latin word for bundle, fascis, is the root word fascism came from). The coming of the euro, and the end of the peseta, will put Franco nearer the grave.’ OSAMA From The Borowitz Report: January 2, 2002 *Breaking News* U.S. ATTEMPTS TO LURE OSAMA WITH AD IN PERSONALS Evildoer Has Not Had a Date in Months, CIA Believes . . . MUSSOLINI Kartic Mants: ‘You know, I agree with you. So what if Clinton is a sociopath? People bitch to this day about another probable sociopath: Mussolini. But, as has been said of Mussolini’s reign: THE TRAINS RAN ON TIME. It’s no small thing such benefits as the trains running on time, as those are what affect people’s daily lives. So what if Mussolini had a mistress, and harassed those who opposed him, Clinton-style? THE TRAINS RAN ON TIME. I’m glad to read of your indirect but whole-hearted support of Mussolini.’ ☞ President Clinton, however distressing you may find his private infidelities, and whatever paroxysms of sarcasm and illogic they may drive you to, worked tirelessly and with enormous success to improve people’s lives. Can you really say that of Mussolini?