Impressive Op-Ed piece in the Paper of Record yesterday by Frank Rich.

Like all students caught up in the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, I was riveted by the violent confrontations between the police and protestors in Selma, 1965, and Chicago, 1968. But I never heard about the several days of riots that rocked Greenwich Village after the police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn in the wee hours of June 28, 1969 — 40 years ago today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/opinion/28rich.html

Q. In February 2008, my parents purchased a dream cruise around Europe through a company called Vantage Deluxe World Trave. The Vantage agent encouraged them to buy the company’s “Passenger Protection Plan,” suggesting that if they bought the insurance and had to cancel their trip, they would receive a refund.

One month before the planned departure, my father suffered a heart attack. My mother canceled the trip and requested a refund. However, Vantage Travel responded by sending my parents vouchers for credit for future travel with Vantage. Apparently, in one of the many mailings there was fine print indicating that the “refund” would be in the form of credit.

Full letter and Haggler's response: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/your-money/28haggler.html

Here's my reply:

This seems like a good case of "caveat emptor," and a good reason to ask questions before you buy. Not all "protection" is a scam. My friends and I who've rented a beach house on the Outer Banks a couple of times have done well with the travel insurance we've been offered. Evacuated inland due to approaching hurricanes both times, we were able to get reimbursed for our inland hotel rooms, and received a prorated portion of our week's rent back. Not only wouldn't I visit a hurricane zone without such coverage in future, I'd consider offering my own "travel protection" services. "Hey, North Carolina? For a fee, I'll stay away!"