Dear Friends and Family,
I recently signed up to run in the Vision 5K on Father’s Day-June 20, at Boston College and I am asking you to join my team. My daughter Emily will be my sighted guide, and I have committed to pushing her pace beyond her expectations. This is an exciting race that is for blind and visually impaired elite runners from around the world. They will be running along side weekend runners and walkers just like Emily and I.
This unique event raises money for four charities here in Massachusetts, that touch the lives of thousands of men, women, and children. The funds aid in supplying greatly needed services in literacy, daily living skills, mobility, and independent strategies to help blind people become contributing members of their communities. Emily and I, along with my co-team captain Alicia Caswell, will be running on behalf of the Carroll Center for the Blind located in Newton, Massachusetts.
As many of you know, I have been totally blind since 1988, and I left my position with the state in August of 2007. After leaving state employment, and un-sure of my future, I went to the Carroll Center for the Blind for eight weeks of unique intensive computer training by highly specialized staff. The training I received from the Carroll Center has widened my scope of possibility, enabled me to form my own company, and to design and manage a website, Directcomplaint.com.
As a member of my team, you can help me by making a tax deductable donation to my team (The Jonny G Runners), asking others to make donations, and/or signing up to join my team and run or walk along side me. If you have a family or children, please consider participating in this event, and asking your family to contribute to our team in the spirit of Father’s Day.
On behalf of my team, and the Carroll Center for the Blind, I would like to thank you in advance for your support and your tax deductible contribution.
If you would like to make a contribution or learn more about my team and this wonderful event, just go to http://www.vision5k.org/goto/jonathangale and learn more.
Don’t let collection agencies scare you!
I hate it when collection agencies call people and make threats, or offer payment plans that people can’t possibly keep. All too often, the collection call or letter will put fear and fright into a persons mind.
The fact is, collections agencies are suppose to adhere to specific federal and state standards, (FDCPA) Fair Dept Collections Practices Act established by the federal government, but many of them use tactics that go way beyond what the laws allow. Often, when an agency can not collect from you, the account is given to another more aggressive agency that will stop at almost nothing to get your money. In some cases, the agency calling you is a scam. They get your information from credit reports, or boxes of collection agency reports improperly discarded.
Here are a few suggestions I recommend when you are first contacted by a collection agency.
Keep an accurate record of the agency name, the callers name and ID number, and the time and date of the call or each letter you receive.
If you don’t believe the bill is yours, send them a letter or e-mail requesting all of their supporting documentation, including original credit applications if applicable. This is not only your write, but a legal requirement if requested. Remember to keep copies of any letters or e-mails you send to the agency.
If you don’t want to be called at home or at work, send them a letter, e-mail or fax to let them know. If you tell the agency in righting, they have to stop the calling.
Never, and I mean never give anyone your Social Security number, date of birth, or banking information. Ask the caller what they have for information, and only verify the accuracy. Do not correct the information if it is incorrect, just politely tell the collector it’s not accurate, but don’t ever correct it for them. Scam artists will often use the information YOU provide to gain access to your credit or banking information.
If the letter or especially the caller is threatening or rude, contact the original creditor, and file a complaint about their collection practices.
Don’t panic if they threaten or begin legal action. If you don’t owe the money, can’t make the payments they offer you, or even if the bill is not yours, and you can prove it, you stand a much better chance going in front of a judge or clerk magistrate.
If you are on a fixed income, such as Social Security, veteran’s benefits, or public assistance, offer to send the agency proof of your limited income. Federal law and the laws of some states prohibit collection agencies from using certain public or government assistance as a form of repayment.
Lastly, if you have already made payments to the original creditor, or another collection agency, offer to send proof of your payments, but only after you verify that the company is a legitimate collection agency. To do this, you can check with your states Attorney Generals office, or your states consumer protection agency.
If you need help, or an advocate to help you, you can call us at 877-969-3463, or log on to www.directcomplaint.com to fill out a Collections Complaint form in our Consumer Complaint Center, or send us an e-mail at www.support@directcomplaint.com
As a consumer, even when it comes to collections, the power is in your hands, use it.
Airport Security and Full Body Scanners
Full body scanners are quickly coming to an airport near you, but are they safe, too intrusive, and what about the data they collect?
Let’s face it, any time you go through any type of xray machine, you are exposed to a little bit of radiation. According to many experts, the amount of exposure received by a single body scan is about one percent of the exposure we get with a dental xray. If you are a frequent flyer or you just happen to work in the food court on the other side of the screening locations, well then, you might eventually light up in the dark.
What about the intrusive nature of the scanners, is our safety worth a look between our legs? I think it is, but the body scanners can’t do cavity searches, and while on one hand that is a relief, that might be the next place the bad guys, and girls put their weapons of mass destruction. What about the screeners sitting in front of the computer screens, viewing our body shapes more intimately then even our closest friends. What if the screener has a criminal past that was not checked, or an ass fetish, what then.
Perhaps my biggest concern is for the potential storage of my body image for future use. Did you know that most of the body scanners that will be used have the capability to store and distribute the images they collect? The government has said that our body images will never be saved and stored, but that could change at any time. It is possible, that eventually our body images will follow us from airport to airport. Could that mean that in the not to distant future I will be stopped if the recognition software detects a new mole on my back, a tattoo on my leg, or a big pimple on my but? How far will we go to protect our safety, our freedom, and our way of life? I say, bring it on, it’s all fine with me. I will draw the line how ever when the TSA begins requiring all passengers to give a urine sample before going through the body image scanners.
Check out these links to learn more about the scanners, and what the government has to say about their use.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/us/13scanners.html
Texting While Driving
Texting and Driving don’t mix; at least that’s what the federal government thinks.
We have all heard arguments for and against using our cell phones for texting while driving. I would even bet that most of us who do text while driving have been asked on at least one occasion to stop texting by passengers in the car. If you have young children in the car or mini van, and you are texting while driving, you are probably already distracted by the children, and they don’t have a voice to ask you to stop texting.
I am totally blind, and there are not many things that scare me, but hearing the driver text while he or she is going sixty miles an hour down the highway does not leave me with a safe feeling inside.
The federal government via congress, seems determined to get into the argument. Pending legislation would link the amount of federal highway funds a state receives directly to their texting while driving laws. In affect, the federal government won’t tell individual states what they should pass for laws, but they will with hold valuable resources if states don’t conform to the federal mandates.
As a passenger, I want to be able to talk on my cell phone, and if I could see to text, I would do that too. But, if I were a driver, I would not talk on the phone, and I definitely would not text, even if the texting screen is in the middle of the steering wheel, no way, not me.
What do you think? This is an important issue that will effect us all in the future. To learn more about proposed legislation check out the link provided.
