Things That Just Piss Me Off

There is no end to the people that want to take your hard-earned money away from you. On the Internet they do it mostly by email, but you need to know that a lot of your personal information is out there on the web, such as your phone number and items from your credit report can be obtained easily. They may call you on the phone as well.

The following is about how some scammers will get information about debts you owe and then act like a collection agency to get you to pay them rather than the actual creditor. You’ll pay that money to the scammer and still owe the creditor.

Beware Fake Debt Collection Agencies

Posing as a collection agency representative, the con artist will contact a victim by mail, email or telephone, claiming the person owes a specific dollar amount to a particular company.

To convince victims to wire money to pay the “delinquent accounts,” scammers will threaten to report “overdue bills” to credit bureaus, take some form of legal action or even drain money from victims’ bank accounts without their consent.

Ironically, real “deadbeats” probably wouldn’t fall for this scam, since they have no intention of repaying their creditors. But upright citizens may doubt themselves, thinking they’ve forgotten to pay a bill.

Take the time to check out who is demanding money from you. Call the creditor, (not a phone number the scammer gave you in your email), look up the creditor’s phone number yourself. Resolve it with them directly if it is real. If it isn’t you can click the link below for more info on how to deal with these scammers.

Bill O’Reilly likes to call people pinheads whenever they say anything that disagrees with him. He’s the real pinhead.

Why is it that republicans who support George Bush think that saying anything bad about him is disrespecting “the office” of president?

US President is an exhalted term that goes way beyond any single person. A statement that is against Bush is not downgrading the value of the presidency.

Instead it’s something that republican supporters of Bush use to hide behind when they have no real response to what is said about Bush.

It’s not the only crutch they use either. Here are some examples you see used regularly.

If you do not support the war in Iraq you are not a patriot.

If you do not support the war in Iraq, you do not support the troops.

If you do not support torture, you are not a patriot.

If you actively oppose the war in Iraq, you are aiding the terrorist and you are a traitor or they say you are giving comfort to the enemy.

If you do not support everything Bush does, you are not a patriot.

I long for the day when republican supporters of Bush have real arguments rather than slogans they use to answer every question.

More and more every day American Companies are selling stock in their companies to foreign investors. It’s a great deal for the corporations and stock brokers becaus ethese foriegn investors are willing to pay a lot more than the stock is worth to make the aquisition.

No matter who the investor is, they don’t do anything for nothing. You have to ask that if they are willing to pay more than something is worth, why are they willing to do that?

>From The NYTimes

Shares rose on Monday after a billion-dollar investment deal between Merrill Lynch and the Singapore government raised hopes that wealthy foreign investors would come to the rescue of America’s ailing investment firms.

Investors were cheered by news that Alcoa, the aluminum producer, was selling its packaging and consumer businesses to a company in New Zealand for $2.7 billion. Reynolds Wrap, the kitchen staple, will no longer be an American product.

>From the Washington Post

A report issued by Morgan Stanley economist Stephen Jen estimated that funds such as the United Arab Emirates ADIA ($875 billion), Russia’s stabilization fund ($32 billion) and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings ($100 billion) collectively hold $2.5 trillion in assets — a sum equal to about 18 percent of the value of the S&P 500.

General Electric sold its plastics unit to Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), which is 70 percent government owned. The private equity firm Blackstone Group announced that China’s State Investment Co. is buying a 10 percent stake for $3 billion.

This phenomenon presents opportunities for Americans… Portfolio managers on Wall Street are salivating at the idea that China’s government may start rolling cash into the S&P 500 index, for example.

Of course they are salivating. It allows them to make huge commissions while they sell these corporations to foriegn investors. They don’t care what it means to America. They care that they can buy another really cool car or another vacation house.

When governments own companies, that creates the potential for geopolitical mischief. Hugo Chavez has used the Venezuelan government’s shares of Citgo … to poke his fingers in the eyes of the U.S. government. In Russia, Vladimir Putin has used state control of energy companies as a political tool against domestic enemies and a diplomatic tool against Russia’s neighbors.

Foreigners own 45 percent of U.S. publicly held debt, in the form of low-yield government bonds. As long as we pay the interest, the debt doesn’t entitle the foreigners to any say in how we run our Government.

But stock investors have a say in how the corporations they own are run. … One could imagine a day when the Chinese or Saudi government is a top shareholder in blue-chip companies.

What’s more, the foreign state-affiliated companies tend to cluster in industries that have a bearing on national security: logistics, infrastructure, oil, petrochemicals, airlines. Remember the outrage when Dubai Ports World wanted to buy a British company that operated U.S. ports? Or when the Chinese-government-controlled petroleum company CNOOC tried to buy Unocal in August 2005? Expect more of these episodes. China is thought to be setting up a $300 billion investment fund…

Other concerns arise from the prospect of foreign governments acquiring big chunks of corporate America. Fortune 500 companies such as General Electric are comparatively enlightened employers when it comes to issues of gender, race, sexual orientation and religion. Can anybody say the same about Saudi Arabia? What kind of future might a female Jewish engineer with G.E. plastics have at SABIC?

These governments could buy up the controlling interest in these huge corporations. These are the same corporations that exert a huge amount of influence on our politicians and provide the money for their campaigns.

That means that foreign governments could soon be controlling our foriegn policy and even domestic policy. Are you ready for election reform yet?

We either need to get the money out of politics or make laws about how much stock major corporations can sell to foreign investors.

source

That’s the real question here. Are we as Americans ok with anything as long as the end justifies the means? The subject of waterboarding has been in the news a lot lately. There is one case that the administration says that due to waterboarding they got information that saved millions of lives.

Even in 9-11, the worst terrorist attack in history, there were not “millions” of lives lost. But we are supposed to believe that they received information by waterboarding someone that saved “millions” of lives.

They aren’t going to give us actual information to back that statement up. They will say they cannot do that due to national security. So they can claim anything they want without having to provide any proof whatsoever.

But let’s say they really did get information by waterboarding that saved whatever number of lives. Should we then be ok with pulling out people’s fingernails? How about electric shock? How about poking out someone’s eyeballs? How about skinning a person alive? How about burning them with fire? How about using brands to scar them until they talk? How about cutting off their testicles?

How far are we willing to go? The administration wants us to believe that as long as they can claim to get results that whatever they do is ok? We talk about waterboarding, but what if that isn’t enough to make someone talk? Can we go ahead and take it a little further?

How about caning people, which the US condemns when other countries do it? How about using a whip on people like was done to the slaves in our own history? Would those be ok too?

Jesus was tortured. The republican administration and GW Bush say they are christian. Christians are supposed to strive to live like Christ lived. We are not perfect like Jesus was. But we are supposed to try.

So I have to ask the question;

Who would Jesus torture?

This was a comment by one of my subscribers that I wanted to share with others and make sure as many people as possible see it.

In a desperate attempt to get a job, my wife was lead to believe such thing, by heartless telemarketers !!!!

“The U.S. Postal Service is hiring for full-time and part-time employment. Hourly salaries start at $25 an hour. For employment information, call 1-800-555-5555.”

Have you seen advertisements like this in your local newspaper? Postal Inspectors warn that if you should call these promoters for “employment information,” you are probably going to very disappointed.

In most instances, you will find that you are going to have to pay about $30 to receive information of very dubious value. The con artists may lead you to believe you are talking to someone from the U.S. Postal Service, but no postal jobs will be offered.

Frequently, the con artists promoting this “service” offer to provide you with training that they say will help you pass a required Postal Service pre-employment examination. Naturally, this training is expensive and requires you to purchase books, study guides and other training materials.

Those who complete the promoter’s training are often told by the scammers that they will be placed in Postal Service jobs. This produces further disappointment.

Other promoters advertise that they can guarantee that you will be placed on a U.S. Postal Service register of applicants from which new hires are selected. Postal Inspectors warn that such guarantees are false.

For accurate information about career opportunities or application requirements for the U.S. Postal Service, call your local postmaster. This information is free to the public.

Please Note: The United States Postal Service offers study materials free of charge at www.usps.com or your local post office. Publication 60-A is a 32 page orientation guide for exam 473. Publication 60-E is a 32 page orientation guide for exam 460.

http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/uspsjobs.htm

Thank you for the heads up on this scam Vic.