A caricature from the German antisemitic Der Stürmer, around Christmas 1929. It urged Germans to avoid buying from Jewish shops.

Texas Republican state Rep. Larry Taylor has apologized for urging an insurance association to do right by policy holders and not "Jew them down" at a hearing earlier this week.

On Thursday, Taylor spoke at a hearing on the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, encouraging the timely payment of claims to policy holders.

"Don't nitpick, don't try to Jew them down," he said, according to the Quorum Report.

Taylor then quickly tried to right ship, admitting "That's probably a bad term."

I first heard this terrible racial slur without knowing it was a racial slur in the fourth grade.

At age 8 or 9 it seemed that any capitalist bargaining involved some Jewing Down!

Although in my head I had thought it would be spelt Gooing Down or some such.

Don't Jew me down!

Don't Jew me down!

Don't Jew me down!

Well that is enough of that!

You buy something for a price or maybe several somethings for a discount and then you sell each unit for more.

The next buyer attempts to …..; taking away your profit somehow 'earned' by blood, sweat, tears and hard work!

We need a new term for this process I should think.

Repubing down?

Corping down?

Capitaling down?

BOAing down?

Madoffing down?

Merrill-Lynching down? (the lynching part does the job for me!)

About the same age I became more and more confused.

I mean the Jews were constantly tricking the gentiles with capitalistic ploys; but then again the Jews were Commies?

How that exactly worked and works is beyond my reasoning ability even to this day.

I mean Ebenezer Scrooge was hardly Jewish; was he?

And Stalin certainly was not Jewish; or was he hiding his true bloodlines like Hitler?

Anyway, screwing the public has been a tool of the moneyed pricks for time immemorial. Or is it for time memorial? I told you I get confused!

I find myself losted at 3 AM on many occasions; especially when I fall asleep at 6 PM and awaken at Midnight. Which reminds me; we shall see two Midnights tonight which is rather strange when you think about it. I guess we can thank Ben Franklin and a Congress that usually cannot agree on the time of day!

ROBOSTIR

The latest infomercial that really grabbed me was an ad for something called Robo Stir.

This gadget comes right out of the Jetsons.

You somehow put one or two of these thingies in your stew and without any cords or any mess, the Robo Stir which appears to be some sort of gyroscopic device runs circles around the pan and ensures that your gravy is consistent in its consistency.

It ensures that your bean soup will be well cooked and heated throughout and that you shall find no burnt particles in the bottom of your pan.

And all of your spices will be spread throughout every square millimeter of your stews.

What magic I thought!

Mariann says:

May 4, 2011 at 3:58 pm I ordered one RoboStir and received a card saying it was backordered and they would ship it in 30 days. If I wanted to cancel the order, just sign and return the card, which is what I did. About 2 weeks later I received 5 boxes. Each box had 2 Robostirs and 1 Scoop and Strain. That’s 10 Robostirs and 5 Scoop and Strains. They charged my credit card $105.92. I called customer service and was given a return authorization #. I asked if they would refund the shipping too and the man said they would but not the cost of shipping it back to them. That’s just wrong. It was their mistake and I have to pay $20+ to return them. There’s got to be something we can do to stop this kind of fraud.

I found a website that can help let others know before they get ripped off too.

http://www.asseenontvonsale.com/kitchen/robo-stir/#reviews

These complaints go on and on.

First, people think they have made one order and will get the second copy of that order for free. Well, they demand two orders so they end up with four boxes of whatever they think they ordered and are charged accordingly.

Second, the second 'free set' is not free, of course.

Third, the smarter critics end up purchasing the product at Walmart or Walgreens or their drug dealer rather than fork over their Credit Card numbers and still end up pissed off.

You have to read the complaints for yourself at the links provided.

Robo Stir has a battery life of 45 seconds.

Robo Stir might stir for awhile but it does not go around the pan.

Robo Stir has trouble with thick liquids. So that if you begin making some gravy, as it thickens the Robo Stir stops dead in its tracks.

IF THE DAMN THINGS CANNOT STIR THINGS IN A THICK LIQUID WHAT THE HELL GOOD ARE THEY?

SHAMWOW

I have had bloggers here and elsewhere defend Shamwow.

But I heard this comedian (I think it was Bill Burr) just damn this product as being totally worthless.

Here once again is the primary complaint concerning all infomercial calls to action:

I returned an order as I only order 1 and received 2. I refused the shipment and was charged 66.70 for the order and only credited 34.90 back the remaining 31.80 was for processing according to customer service. It is outragous they can steal peoples money like that. $31.80 seems a lot for processing as I didn't even open the package. I can understand 15.90 for the 1 order I had ordered but to have to pay for something I didnt even order seems wrong. More...

he experience was horrible and the charges are outragous. I originaly was ordering 1 set and received 2, I called after the order was placed and was told they couldnt pull it up in their system to call back on Monday which I did and the order had shipped. I refused the shipment and had it returned. They charged me $66.70 and only refunded $34.90 and charged me $31.80 in processing. That is outragous that is why people dont order off the the TV due to companies like this. I will be sure to tell anyone and everyone of the horrible experience to save them a headache and money. I can't... More

http://shamwow-reviews.measuredup.com/3117

DO NOT GIVE YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER OVER THE PHONE IN RESPONSE TO ONE OF THESE FELONIOUS SOLICITATIONS!

See, the customer gets confused about the single product and the 'free product if you act now' bullshite.

And when you add shipping and handling you are way up there on charges when you think you are getting away with some $9.95 or $19.95 deal.

WE OWN THESE AIRWAYS PEOPLE!

If you want a deal on handling, put your hands inside of your pants and......handle!

Oh and read the links. I have

RONCO

Yeah, I purchased these knives from Ronco, not amazon but since I always shop here and look for reviews here I just want you people not to waste your hard earned money. Here's my short review. All of the knives contain the following:
1.The Handles are all cheap plastic, by cheap I mean eventually it will
chip off or break.
2. The blades themselves are nicely polished. But every single blade in
my 25 piece set is DULL. Perhaps this is why they supply you with a
knife sharpener. I can run the blade across my skin.
3. Oh yeah, The pointy end of all the knives are also dull. Once again I
I can run it against my skin without injury. Yet they slice and dice
everything on the infomercial.
4. The whole kit is made in China, We all know what some of the quality
is like from some of their products.
5. If you buy these direct, they rape you on shipping. It cost us [...]
to ship it here to my home. The knives were [...]. I am going to send
these back ASAP so now is gonna cost another [...]! A total RIP
OFF! Learn from my stupid mistake, and don't bother doing business with RONCO.

I have despised Ronco since I purchased a Vego-Matic for Mumsy in 1966 for Mother's Day.

Ron Popeil is a crap head and lately he looks like Frankenstein.

He must have had plastic surgery on that ugly puss twenty times over the years with added Botox enhancement.

And Satan is supposed to be beautiful!

This lying sonofabitch should have been put in prison forty years ago and all of his property confiscated!

He stands there with a straight face and shows us this special chef's scissors.

Why I sell this piece alone for $30.00 'retail'.

I purchased that same exact scissors for $1.89 at the frickin grocery store for chrissakes.

And the complaints about this package or double package amount to what you would figure anyway. The handles on these WPM's are worthless and break off at the slightest provocation. The blades are not stainless steel but rather some substance overlaid on worthless steel. The blades are not sharp. Just read the complaints at the links.

And he does this two for one bullshite with shipping and handling separate and this is why I would like to see this bastard in prison before his face falls into some numb lump hanging from his neck—which he covers with a goddamn boa most of the time so we will somehow think he is 34.

Remember folks, S & H usually costs more than the goddamn worthless product being pushed on the airwaves to folks who cannot sleep and it is where the goddamn liars and thugs make their real bucks!

Okay, that is enough for today.

Except for the fact that the END IS NEAR.

NO, I MEAN THE END IS REALLY NEAR!

An asteroid a quarter-mile-wide will, astronomically speaking, narrowly miss Earth next week.

And while it is the closest an asteroid this size has come to the home planet since 1976, there's no need to call Bruce Willis ... yet.

"There is no chance that this object will collide with the Earth or moon," Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program office, told Reuters.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/asteroid-2005-yu55-earth-2011_n_1076838.html