FreeCreditReport.com Really Works
Posted by Mitch on May 27, 2008
Different kind of post today. I’m hawking FreeCreditReport.com because they really work. How do I know this? I’m a member, of course.
Here’s my story. I went to this site last September and signed up to get my free credit reports, just like the commercial stated. Then I went ahead and signed up for the monthly credit alert. This followed my wife and I being turned down for a line of credit at the bank where our mortgage is.
Then I started noticing different agencies looking at my report. I knew this because FCR (that’s what I’m calling them for now) sent me alerts each time there was an inquiry. Next thing you know, I started getting phone calls and letters from collection agencies, even though I knew I didn’t owe anybody. So, I finally took a good look at the report. I noticed that there were two derogatory reports on there, and I knew I had paid at least one of those for sure. I thought I’d paid the other one, but I wasn’t sure.
The one I was able to take care of fairly quickly, as I had something proving that the account had been settled years ago. The other one, in my heart I knew I’d settled it, but I wasn’t sure I could prove it. Credit agencies are wild, though. They don’t wait too long to decide to get to the escalation process. What’s also funny is that multiple agencies will be going after the same amount; I believe that’s fraudulent, but so be it.
Then I got a break. I found a letter that showed that I had set up the agreement to pay back an outstanding debt. I remembered the phone call and I remembered the guy, and I had his name on the letter outlining the agreement. Now I was set. I contacted Experian through FCR, and I also contacted the company that I’d paid this account to, back in 2004, of all things. Like the other company, they had never reported it as being satisfied, and, of course, now I know why we got turned down. Sheesh!
Now, here’s the upswing. Just by sending my request through FCR that I was disputing the derogatory statement, my credit score jumped up 60 points. I now have the letter proving that, indeed, the account is satisfied, though the weasels didn’t back date it because they said they didn’t have full access to records that old (yet we’re supposed to have everything if they happened to contact us, right?), so the letter is dated fairly recently. My credit score should jump up a bit more, as this will mean I have nothing bad on my report. Course, it would be great if their letter showed that it was taken care of four years ago, but hey, we take what we can get.
So, it’s been worth it for me to have FreeCreditReport.com following the activity on my account, and I can wholeheartedly recommend them. Of course, you don’t have to pay anything if it’s your first inquiry, or if the last time you checked was more than a year ago. Per federal law, we all get one free credit report a year. But these guys have done well for me; and there you go.
The Truth Behind The Oil Crisis
Posted by Mitch on May 14, 2008
I’m not usually a conspiracy theory kind of guy, but sometimes a guy comes along with a delivery and a message that’s just so compelling that you want to share it.
Lindsey Williams is the author of the book “The No-Energy Crisis“, and he seems to have been an inadvertent insider, of sorts, on some of the conversations about oil and it’s future way back in the early 70’s, around the time that the Alaskan pipeline was just starting to make a name for itself. He’s a former preacher who undertook a goal of becoming a counselor for the men who worked on the pipeline, and was invited to become a non paid board member, where he heard some of the most amazing stuff. It bothered him greatly, and thus he’s made it his crusade to tell the world, or at least the United States, what’s going on, and offers his own opinion as to what needs to be done about it, but why it won’t be done.
I was fascinated by it, and I have to admit that parts of it are hard to swallow. But he’s got some proof, and that’s more than most conspiracy theorists have, so everyone can watch this and make up their own minds. It’s kind of long, so either watch it in chunks, or watch just the first five minutes and make a decision off that. But if you actually make it through the whole thing, well, it will give you lots of stuff to think about.
As a teaser, there’s supposedly a good chance that, before it’s all over, we could see gas prices between $6 and $8 a gallon; that’s worth watching this bad boy.
Gotta Be Responsible For The Children
Posted by Mitch on May 4, 2008
A quick deviation from the norm to make a comment on a couple of recent stories.
The first is the story out of Austria of the man who kept his own daughter locked up in the cellar for 24 years and fathered 7 children with her. The second is the story of the offshoot religious sect that was raided, had over 400 children removed, and have now had tests show that more than half the girls between the age of 14-17 have been pregnant, and most of the fathers were over the age of 40.
I think we’re heading down a road to bad intentions when we continue hearing these stories of abuse of children without something being done much sooner. Sure, there are some bad kids out there, but the overwhelming majority are good kids who end up in bad situations of some sort. And these days, it’s not the guy down the street who’s trying to trick kids by offering them candy one has to worry about as much as the members of one’s own family.
At what period in time did family responsibility end and monstrous behavior take over? And when did the rest of us decide it was okay to turn our heads and look the other way, even when we knew that something bad was going on
In the case of the man in Austria, people said he was an overly strict father who forbade his children and wife from going into the cellar, ever. How does one person have the power to keep everyone else out of a room of the house, and a rather large one at that, and not have someone think “hey, that’s kind of odd”. Did anyone see the pictures? Either this guy was a great builder or he had help, and if he had help, someone knew something.
In the case of the cult (yeah, I’m calling it a cult), how could these mothers not realize that having 10-20 children was out of the ordinary, when very few of them had really grown up that same way, and how it had to seem strange that not only were most of the fathers older men who took multiple wives, but that you have security guarding everything, not to keep others out but to keep you in? By the way, I have watched conversations over the last two weeks with people, male and female, who have escaped or been thrown out for whatever reason, and I’m thinking that they’re tales were enough to have gotten law enforcement in there much earlier than now; what am I missing about our laws anyway?
Truthfully, I don’t care what any adult decides to do with their lives. However, when children are brought into the mix, there has to be a higher level of accountability and responsibility. We’re not keeping up with what’s right, folks, and as long as we, the people of this world, keep failing at that, we’re going to decline as a civilization, and that’s not a good prospect at all.
And now, back off the soapbox.
The Pregnant Man
Posted by Mitch on Apr 4, 2008
Last week, I sent a link to a news story to all my friends talking about a pregnant man. One of those friends sent me a different link indicating that it might be a hoax, which was fine with me.
Then I saw previews that indicated this pregnant man was going to be on Oprah, and I was stunned; so much for hoax. Or was it; after all, though the show was being broadcast on April 2nd, it could have still been an April Fools prank, right?
Nope, it was real. I knew it was truly real when the man came out on Oprah’s stage and she felt his belly. And, from that point on, I had to start to deal with it all.
Of course, we all learned that this was a transgendered male, who was actually a gorgeous woman, beauty queen, Miss Teen Hawaii at some point in his past, who always wanted to be male. And he went through some of the operations to become male, but not the genitalia, and not the reproductive organs, because he said he still wanted to someday have children, even though he wanted to be male, and said the choice of wanting to give birth had nothing whatsoever to do with whether he was male or female.
That one, of course, is hard to reconcile, being male my whole life. The idea of giving birth has never crossed my mind, and, not being a transgender male, that would make sense. This guy, named Thomas, did stop taking testosterone for two years before attempting to get pregnant, as his wife (yup, he’s legally married), was unable to conceive. Something else I can’t do, stop taking testosterone, nor will taking estrogen give me the ability to get pregnant.
Still, once I got my mind around it, I don’t have a problem with it. I can’t say I’m enthusiastic about it, nor would I become a champion for every transgendered male to start having children across the board, but hey, to each his or her own, right? It’s their choice and their life, and it’s not illegal. Freaky to me, maybe, but that’s my problem.
Nutraloaf; A Prison’s Best Friend
Posted by Mitch on Mar 25, 2008
My politics are fairly liberal, but I’ve always been a big proponent of prison, for violent criminals, being tougher than they seem to be. I mean, many of these guys get out of prison stronger and more criminally educated than when they went in. They get to watch cable shows, have Playboy, play basketball and all other sports including weight lifting, and get their three squares a day.
And of course they misbehave, because even in prison they don’t feel they have a right to be disrespected by anyone else, whether it’s other prisoners or guards, and some of the behavior is downright disgusting.
So, it was with some, well, I’m not sure I want to say glee specifically, but something along those lines, that I read this story online about a nutritional meal “glob” of some sort called nutraloaf that’s given to some of these guys when they misbehave in certain ways. What is nutraloaf? It’s a mixture of cubed whole wheat bread, nondairy cheese, raw carrots, spinach, seedless raisins, beans, vegetable oil, tomato paste, powdered milk and dehydrated potato flakes. And it looks horrible, I’d have to admit.
It’s used in many states across the country for modifying the behavior of prisoners that act up, but now, in Vermont, the Supreme Court is about to take up the case as to whether it constitutes as punishment or not, because, I guess, if it’s truly “punishment”, then prisoners are allowed to have a hearing to determine if the “punishment” is too severe for what they’ve done.
Man, prisoners seem to have more rights that most other people have in this country. No wonder so many of them are ready to exhibit such bad behavior; outside of worrying about getting shanked or raped, prison sounds like a country club. No bills, free food, free clothing, free cable, free books, free movies, free music, 3 square meals a day,… and even if you don’t behave, you get to have a hearing; sheesh.
I’m thinking nutraloaf needs to become a staple in prison, along with cutting out some of the other amenities. I’m not looking to shackle these folks, or torture them. I want them kept clean, but man, I want them softened up also. I want their spirit broken, and I want them educated by teachers, so that when they do get out they have some skills that may help them get jobs and stay out of trouble; who’s heard the recidivism rate lately?
As for the nutraloaf? I know it’s supposed to be eaten without utensils, but maybe some butter and salt would help it out. Couldn’t hurt.
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