News, Views and Musings...
Whether it's international, national, state, local or just thoughts from here and there, find it HERE!
This section presents news and commentary. Legislative updates, political activities and events are important components. We try to keep it current and interesting. If you have ideas for topics that would be of interest please send a note to contact@mrwnc.org.
Is it True? Here's our process for checking!
We want our members to know that we make every effort to confirm the truth of anything we print that we claim is factual. Jokes and cartoons aside, when we learn of an issue and alleged facts, we will continue to try to learn the full story before publishing. And if there's another side and we fail to point it out to our readers, we hope they will let us know "the rest of the story".
Here are 18,000 men preparing for World War I service in a training camp at Camp Dodge, Iowa. Eighteen Thousand Men!!!
What a priceless gift from our grandfathers...
Lindsey Williams Video - Watch This!
America has everything we need on
the north slope of Alaska. Not one drop has come to the United States of
America.
Lindsey Williams, who has been an
ordained Baptist minister for 28 years, went to Alaska in 1971 as a missionary.
The Transalaska oil pipeline began its construction phase in 1974, and because
of Mr. Williams' love for his country and concern for the spiritual welfare of
the "pipeliners," he volunteered to serve as Chaplain on the pipeline, with the
subsequent full support of the Alyeska Pipeline Company. Because of the
executive status accorded to him as Chaplain, he was given access to information
documented in his eye opening book, The Energy Non-Crisis. After numerous public
speaking engagements in the western states, certain government officials and
concerned individuals urged Mr. Williams to put into
print
what he saw and heard, stating that they felt this information was vital to
national security. Mr. Williams firmly believes that whoever controls energy
controls the economy. Thus, The Energy Non-Crisis. Check it out for
yourself - we hope and pray it's not true, but it rings true! Editor.
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This report is from the May 5, 2008 issue of Newsweek
...
May 5, 2008 issue of
Newsweek
'Questions for Obama' by George F. Will
"Senator, concerning the criteria by which you will
nominate judges, you said: 'We need somebody who's got
the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to
be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what
it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or
disabled, or old.' Such sensitivities might serve an
admirable legislator, but what have they to do with
judging? Should a judge side with whichever party in a
controversy stirs his or her empathy? Is such
personalization of the judicial function inimical to the
rule of law?
. Voting against the confirmation of Chief Justice John
Roberts, you said: Deciding 'truly difficult cases'
should involve 'one's deepest values, one's core
concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world
works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy.' Is
that not essentially how Chief Justice Roger Taney
decided the Dred Scott case? Should other factors-say,
the language of the constitutional or statutory
provision at issue-matter?
. You say, 'The insurance companies, the drug companies,
they're not going to give up their profits easily when
it comes to health care.' Why should they? Who will
profit from making those industries unprofitable? When
pharmaceutical companies have given up their profits,
who will fund pharmaceutical innovations, without which
there will be much preventable suffering and death? What
other industries should 'give up their profits'?
. ExxonMobil's 2007 profit of $40.6 billion annoys you.
Do you know that its profit, relative to its revenue,
was smaller than Microsoft's and many other
corporations'? And that reducing ExxonMobil's profits
will injure people who participate in mutual funds,
index funds and pension funds that own 52 percent of the
company?
. You say John McCain is content to 'watch [Americans']
home prices decline.' So, government should prop up
housing prices generally? How? Why? Were prices ideal
before the bubble popped? How does a senator know ideal
prices? Have you explained to young couples straining to
buy their first house that declining prices are a
misfortune?
. Telling young people 'don't go into corporate America
,' your wife, Michelle, urged them to become social
workers or others in 'the helping industry,' not 'the
moneymaking industry.' Given that the moneymakers pay
for 100 percent of American jobs, in both public and
private sectors, is it not helpful?
. Michelle, who was born in 1964, says that most
Americans' lives have 'gotten progressively worse since
I was a little girl.' Since 1960, real per capita income
has increased 143 percent, life expectancy has increased
by seven years, infant mortality has declined 74
percent, deaths from heart disease have been halved,
childhood leukemia has stopped being a death sentence,
depression has become a treatable disease, air and water
pollution have been drastically reduced, the number of
women earning a bachelor's degree has more than doubled,
the rate of homeownership has increased 10.2 percent,
the size of the average American home has doubled, the
percentage of homes with air conditioning has risen from
12 to 77, the portion of Americans who own shares of
stock has quintupled. Has your wife perhaps missed some
pertinent developments in this country that she calls
'just downright mean'?
. You favor raising the capital gains tax rate to '20
percent or 25 percent.' You say this will not 'distort'
economic decision making. Your tax returns on your 2007
income of $4.2 million show that you and Michelle own
few stocks. Are you sure you understand how investors
make decisions?
. During the ABC debate, you acknowledged that when the
capital gains rate was dropped first to 20 percent, then
to 15 percent, government revenues from the tax
increased and they declined in the 1980s when it was
increased to 28 percent. Nevertheless, you said you
would consider raising the rate 'for purposes of
fairness.' How does decreasing the government's
financial resources and punishing investors promote
fairness? Are you aware that 20 percent of taxpayers
reporting capital gains in 2006 had incomes of less than
$50,000?
. You favor eliminating the cap on earnings subject to
the 12.4 percent Social Security tax, which now covers
only the first $102,000. A Chicago police officer
married to a Chicago public-school teacher, each with 20
years on the job, have a household income of $147,501,
so you would take another $5,642 from them. Are they
undertaxed? Are they too rich?
. This November, electorates in four states will vote on
essentially this language: 'The state shall not
discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment
to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex,
color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of
public employment, public education or public
contracting.' Three states- California , Washington and
Michigan -have enacted such language. You made a radio
ad opposing the Michigan initiative. Why? Are those
states' voters racists?
. You denounce President Bush for arrogance toward other
nations. Yet you vow to use a metaphorical 'hammer' to
force revisions of trade agreements unless certain
weaker nations adjust their labor, environmental and
other domestic policies to suit you.
Can you define cognitive dissonance?
. You want 'to reduce money in politics.' In February
and March you raised $95 million.
See prior question.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Cognitive dissonance
is a
psychological
state that describes the uncomfortable feeling when
a person begins to understand that something the
person believes to be true is, in fact, not true.
Similar to
ambivalence,
the term cognitive dissonance describes conflicting
thoughts or beliefs (cognitions) that occur at the
same time, or when engaged in behaviors that
conflict with one's beliefs. In academic literature,
the term refers to attempts to reduce the discomfort
of conflicting thoughts, by performing actions that
are opposite to one's beliefs.
Thanks, Norma |
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS!!!
Moore Republican Women - What to Read?
Here are some suggestions for you to read and view. We have NOT alphabetized the titles. Maybe there will be time for that in the times to come. For now, Control/F for find will allow you to enter part of a title or author's name, and you'll be led to the book title/author if we have them on this page.
If you have suggestions of other books, send us a note at contact@mrwnc.org.
Fleeced
Dick Morris' Book Hits No. 1 on Amazon
Top political analyst Dick Morris’s new book “Fleeced” has shot to the No. 1 spot on Amazon.com’s list of best sellers just three days after it was published.
"Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran ... Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It!" co-authored by Eileen McGann, is a hard-hitting call to arms spotlighting the hundreds of ways American taxpayers are routinely fleeced.
Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad
by Andrew McCarthy
Andrew McCarthy tells a terrifying story of a nation's leaders - unsure of how to wage battle against an enemy with no rules of engagement, no concern for political correctness, and legions of zealots control through religious fanaticism. Their solution? To prosecute a handful of individual terrorist while thousands of their follows plan their assault on our shining city on a hill.
McCarthy was in the courtroom and led the successful prosecution of the jihad organization that carried out the 1993 World Trade Center attack and now he takes you behind the scenes when law enforcement and intelligence agencies underestimated the threat of the terrorist movement growing around us. This was not a battle that could be won in the courtroom. We learned that terrible lesson on September 11, 2001.
As last week's news demonstrates, there are still many in Washington that don't believe this is a war. A Memoir of the Jihad shows in stark and shocking terms the human cost of this approach. This book arms you with the facts about what the jihadists are doing as they operate within America's borders, boldly targeting our cities and seeking to destroy our way of life.
Bill Bennett said after reading McCarthy's book, "In any intellectual street fight or battle, I want Andy McCarthy on my side - he is a smart and forceful intellectual ally. In a time of war, this is all the more so, and America is lucky to have him on hers."
Townhall.com review, and offer of a deal on the book. Check it out! Editors.
Rediscovering God in
America: Reflections on
the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History and Future
by Newt Gingrich
The secular Left's relentless effort to drive God out of America's public square is not only destructive -- it is deeply dishonest. All it takes to see just how important religion was to our nation's Founders -- and to generations of their successors -- is to take a stroll around Washington, DC. That's exactly what former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich does in Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History and Future. This "Walking Tour" of the significant monuments, memorials, artifacts and documents in our nation's capital serves as a rebuttal to those who seek to write God out of American history. Step by step, you will see the concrete case for defending the place that America has always acknowledged for the Creator in our public life.
The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister
by John O'Sullivan
How three great conservatives -- Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and Margaret Thatcher -- together changed the course of history.
The Truth About Hillary
by Edward Klein
Proof she repeatedly lied to the public, and lacks the character to lead the nation.
Review from Norma Cappelletti: For more than a decade, countless journalists and biographers have struggled to pin down the character of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Yet despite all the security, no one - until now - has explained her many contradictions and deceptions.
The Fight for Jerusalem:
Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City
by Dore Gold
The battle for Jerusalem: how it could embroil the world in a nuclear Armageddon.
The Right Words:
Great Republican Speeches That Shaped History
by Wynton C. Hall
Secrets of great oratory revealed - in the best Republican speeches ever given.
A Republic, Not an Empire:
Reclaiming America's Destiny
by Patrick J. Buchanan
"Our country is today traveling the same path that was trod by the British Empire. -- to the same fate"
Michael Moore Is a Big Fat Stupid White Man
by Jason Clarke and David T. Hardy
EXPOSED: The Left's biggest (and we do mean biggest) liar and hypocrite, Michael Moore.
Deliver Us From Evil:Defeating
Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism
by Sean Hannity
From Sean Hannity: how Democrats exploit our national crisis for political gain -- and how we can fight back to defeat terrorism, despotism, and liberalism.
Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder
by
Michael Savage
Michael Savage diagnoses "the mental disorder of liberalism" -- and offers a comprehensive cure-all.
Something That Will
Surprise the World: The
Essential Writings of the Founding Fathers
by Susan Dunn
In one volume: key speeches, letters and essays of the Founding Fathers.
Bankrupt: The
Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of Today's Democratic Party
by David Limbaugh
Why the Democrats are the party of moral and intellectual bankruptcy -- and richly deserve to lose in 2008.
The Professors:
The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America
by
David Horowitz
From David Horowitz: the 101 most dangerous -- and we mean dangerous -- professors in America.
Treason:
Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism
by Ann Coulter
From Ann Coulter: a blistering exposé of liberal treachery against America -- from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism.
Slander:
Liberal Lies About the American Right
by Ann Coulter
How prominent liberals are leading a "Big Lie" propaganda war against conservatives ... and how the media is letting them get away with it.
Who's Looking Out for You?
by Bill O'Reilly
How to protect yourself when the government, the media, and the legal system threaten your freedom and livelihood (plus how to get the edge at work and at home -- as explained by Bill O'Reilly).
Real Change:
From the World That Fails to the World
That Works
by Newt Gingrich
He’s smart, and has an understanding of America’s history. We believe it’s about time someone wrote a book that isn't a down in the mouth, whimpering review of how bad it is. Newt Gingrich shows us how we can grab a future we'll be proud to leave our children and grand-children. Real Change doesn't attempt to reach only Republicans, but makes arguments that should appeal to all Americans.
Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel
by Mike Adams
"This book is a must read, it's fun and funny, real life descriptions of life on modern day American University campus. This book shows the curious phenomenon that occurs when a group of people lose ideological contact with the majority of people. A person or group of people on the far left (or far right) cannot communicate with the vast majority of people that reside in the middle of society. It's like their minds never reach any understanding of the other. Today on the American University campus, most Professors have lost ideological contact with the American people that pay their wages and permit Professors to teach. What a sad day this is." Review on Amazon.com by Samuel Baldwin.
Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches
by John W. Dean
John Dean has become one
of the most trenchant and respected commentators on the current state of
American politics and one of the most outspoken and perceptive critics of the
administration of George W. Bush in his New York Times bestsellers
Conservatives Without Conscience and Worse than Watergate.
In his eighth book, Dean takes the broadest and deepest view yet of the
dysfunctional chaos and institutional damage that the Republican Party and its
core conservatives have inflicted on the federal government. He assesses the
state of all three branches of government, tracing their decline through the
presidencies of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. Unlike most political
commentary, which is concerned with policy, Dean looks instead at process--making
the case that the 2008 presidential race must confront these fundamental
problems as well. Finally, he addresses the question that he is so often asked
at his speaking engagements: What, if anything, can and should politically
moderate citizens do to combat the extremism, authoritarianism, incompetence,
and increasing focus on divisive wedge issues of so many of today's conservative
politicians?
With the Democrats now in control of both the House and Senate, the stakes for
the 2008 presidential election have never been higher. This is a book for anyone
who wants to return government to the spirit of the Constitution. Review from
Amazon.com.
THIS WEEK IN IRAQ, THE
OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE - IRAQ
We are introducing on a weekly basis This Week In Iraq, The Official Newsletter of the Multi-National Force - Iraq. Click here and we'll do our best to bring the news to you as it comes to us. It is in PDF format, and you will need to have Acrobat Reader to open it. MRWNC web site editor.
Take a look at some videos from
youtube at this link -
http://www.youtube.com/mnfiraq. Multi-National Force - Iraq
established this YouTube channel to give viewers around the world a "boots on
the ground" perspective of Operation Iraqi Freedom from those who are fighting
it.
Video clips document action as it appeared to personnel on the ground and in the
air as it was shot. Video clips are only edited for time, security
reasons, and/or overly disturbing or offensive images.
...And we wonder why gas prices are soooooo high!
![[]](gas%20prices.jpg)
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Wednesday, June 4, 2008
 Dear Friend, We launched our “Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.” campaign last week, and the response has been overwhelming. Already, more than 318,000 people have signed the petition urging Congress to start drilling for oil domestically. Next week, it’s our goal to deliver more than 1,000,000 signatures to the United States Senate as a first step toward stopping the destructive Warner-Lieberman bill which would raise the cost of gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, natural gas and coal. I hope you'll sign the petition now and join me in sending a message to Congress that we need real solutions to stop the pain Americans are feeling at the pump.
Thank you for standing with me for real change. Your friend,
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Cal
Thomas, Syndicated Columnist, on America's Dependence on Foreign Oil:
"According to government estimates, there is enough oil in areas accessible
to America -- 112 billion barrels -- to power more than 60 million cars for 60
years. The Outer Continental Shelf alone contains an estimated 86 billion
barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Had President Clinton
not vetoed exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWAR) in 1995,
when oil was $19 a barrel, America would currently be receiving more than 1
million barrels a day domestically, all of it taken by better technology than
existed more than 30 years ago. That was when the Alaskan pipeline was built
despite protests from environmentalists who claimed it would destroy the
caribou. It didn't, but the environmentalists are back with the same discredited
arguments. Because most of the oil remains 'off-limits,' we are becoming more
dependent on foreign oil."
Thanks, Lois.
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Dick Morris' thoughts on
what MCCain has to do to win...
To sum it up: A candidate (Obama sic)who cannot get elected is being nominated by a party that cannot be defeated, while a candidate(McCain sic) who is eminently electable is running as the nominee of a party doomed to defeat. In this environment, McCain can win by running to the center. His base will be there for him; indeed, it will turn out in massive numbers. Wright has become the honorary chairman of McCain's get-out-the-vote efforts. It would be nice to think that race isn't a factor in American politics anymore, but it is. The growing fear of Obama, who remains something of an unknown, will drag every last white Republican male off the golf course to vote for McCain, and he will need no further laying-on of hands from either evangelical Christians or fiscal conservatives. So McCain doesn't have to spend a lot of time wooing his base. What he does need to do is reduce the size of the synapse over which independents and fearful Democrats need to pass in order to back his candidacy. If the synapse is wide, they will stay with Obama. But if they perceive McCain as an acceptable alternative, there is every chance that they will cross over to back him in November. Except, of course, for Iraq. This is his biggest problem -- the one issue that impales the Arizona senator and hampers his ability to induce liberals to cross the line. Earlier in the race, Iraq might have been a deal-breaker. But a kinder, gentler war has emerged. U.S. Combat deaths are way down, and the de facto U.S. Alliance with Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province against al-Qaeda in Iraq seems to have dramatically improved the security situation. Still, most Americans don't like the war, and McCain must deal with their opposition if he wants to win. The solution is to draw Obama out -- to ask the untested senator what he would do if al-Qaeda in Iraq took over the country . . . Or if Iran did . . . Or if the Iraqis who backed the U.S. Mission were being slaughtered by the thousands . . . Or if Islamist terrorists seized control of the country's oil wealth. Obama, not wanting to appear weak, would no doubt rise to the bait and agree that he might need to send troops back in under certain conditions. He would assure us that sufficient forces would be available at nearby bases to get the job done. To avoid coming across as indecisive and timid, he would put on a sufficiently hawkish face to reassure the voters. And in doing so, he would blur the war issue vis-a-vis McCain. It will make little difference to most Americans whether our troops are in Iraq (as McCain wants) or in Kuwait (as Obama can be pushed to suggest), so long as U.S. Casualties are dropping. And with the economy in tough shape, Iraq will fade as the election's be-all and end-all issue. Which brings us to George W. Bush, the least popular president of modern times. Unlikely as it sounds, the soon-to-be former president needs to get out of the White House, reenter the political arena (much as it will pain him) and go around the country telling us two things: First, we are winning in Iraq; second, the economy is not as bad as most people think. With the Dow at around 12,800 and unemployment at 5 percent, Bush can make a good case that things aren't really headed for the rocks. And he'll have to. Republicans cannot win with an incumbent president with rock-bottom ratings. Bush can help McCain, but that doesn't mean that McCain should support Bush. As Bush makes the case for himself, McCain must put distance between them. A lot of distance. Once, McCain ran against Bush. But since then, he has basked in the glow of Bush's warm welcome back to the mainstream of the party. Now McCain needs to free himself of Bush's spell, go out again into the cold and show the country the difference between his agenda and Bush's. Meanwhile, McCain should highlight his credentials as a reformer and a maverick to attract Democrats and independents who worry about Obama. Forget about the base. It will be there. Obama's liberalism, his pro-tax agenda and his proposed weakening of the USA Patriot Act -- as well as fears that he would appoint to office people such as Rev. Wright and William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground -- will all assure the full mobilization of the right. Immigration reform and McCain's other acts of apostasy will be forgiven for the sake of beating Obama. So McCain needs to go after the swing voters: Lash out at the corporate greed that landed us in the subprime mortgage crisis. Attack the golden-parachute pensions, the ill-gotten commissions and the maddening lending fees. Go after credit card companies' interest rates, late fees and consumer gouging. Demand action on global warming (as McCain began doing last week, including hawking "Eco-friendly" campaign T-shirts). Call for a ban on all congressional earmarks, with their inevitable waste and pork, and insist that Congress appoint a permanent ethics special prosecutor to police itself. Attack big tobacco, and blast the movie industry for helping sell its poison. Pledge to make hedge-fund managers pay full earned-income taxes on their incomes, rather than the undeserved capital-gains treatment they currently get. But not all of McCain's moves should be aimed at pleasing the left. He should also: Attack Obama for favoring federally subsidized health insurance for illegal immigrants. Criticize Obama for slavish devotion to the teachers' unions and willingness to compromise educational standards. Go after the Democrats for their proposals to lower sentences for crack cocaine to make them equal to those for powder cocaine. (Instead, McCain should urge raising penalties for regular cocaine.) McCain need not depart from long-held principles to wage any of these battles. He has always embraced these causes as a senator, and he needs to do so ever more forcefully as a candidate for president. The danger for McCain is that he will forget that he has already won the Republican nomination and retreat to safe GOP positions, which will alienate precisely the Democrats and independents whom he is uniquely positioned to attract. Meanwhile, the right wing will carry the attack against Obama. McCain is not a mudslinging politician by nature, but he doesn't need to be. The collected quotes of Rev. Wright will be a bestseller this summer. Obama once had to prove to us that he was not a Muslim; now he must convince us that he never really went to church much. Just as Sen. John F. Kerry was buffeted by veterans who had less than heroic memories of their service with him in Vietnam, so Obama will have to weather the recollections of his fellow parishioners. Count on several to surface and claim that they sat next to him during some particularly incendiary sermon. The American public will not ultimately doubt Obama's patriotism; that is a bridge too far. But we will come to think less of his credibility and strength as he fumbles his way through awkward denials. Obama's ex-pastor may have faded in the primary fight with Clinton, but Wright will loom larger in the general election. McCain is in an excellent position to exploit the openings that Obama will offer -- if, and only if, he moves to the center. |
During this political season let us be reminded of these wise words.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
Abraham Lincoln
IDENTITY THEFT
Maureen Krueger
Moore County District Attorney
IDENTITY THEFT is a serious crime. It occurs when your personal information is stolen or used without your knowledge to commit fraud and other crimes. Identity theft can cost you time and money. It can destroy your credit and ruin your good name. Your identity is a valuable asset that should be vigilantly protected.
Unlike many traditional crimes, identify theft is on the rise. There are several factors that contribute to the rise of this crime. First, it is relatively easy to perpetuate. Our personal information is readily accessible to many others. Criminals may access our personal information in totally legitimate ways, but they chose to use that information in a criminal manner. Second, identity crime is a low-risk/high-reward crime. There is little risk involved because the criminal rarely risks his or her own personal safety in executing the crime. They don’t have to assault the victim or break into the victim’s home in order to access the information. In fact, given the low cost of most household goods and electronics, it can be more profitible to a criminal to steal your identity instead of stealing your property. Finally, identity fraud can be very hard to detect and determine the source of the fraud. Since so many credit card companies and banks “write-off” the loss, many perpetrators are never even arrested.
You can protect yourself from becoming a victim of identy fraud by following the three D’s: DETER- DETECT-DEFEND.
Deter identity thieves by safeguarding your personal information.
Shred financial documents and paperwork with personal information before you discard them. Protect your Social Security number. Don’t carry your Social Security card in your wallet or write your Social Security number on a check. In most cases, you can use some other identifier. Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you know who you are dealing with. Never click on links sent in unsolicited emails; instead type in a web address you know. Use firewalls, anti-spyware, and anti-virus software to protect your home computer and keep them up-to-date. Don’t use obvious passwords such as your date of birth, your mother’s maiden name, or the last four digits of your Social Security number. Keep your personal information in a secure place at home, especially if you have roommates, employ outside help, or are having work done in your house.
Detect suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your financial records and billing statements.
Be wary of bills that do not arrive as expected. A late bill may seem like an extra-long ‘grace period”. In reality, your mail may have been diverted to disguise illegal activity. Unexpected credit cards or account statements should rouse your suspicion. Even though you may just assume that your spouse has opened up another account, it could be a stranger instead. You should be suspicious if your credit is suddenly denied or you receive unexpected calls or letters about credit. It is a good idea to routineley inspect your financial statements and credit reports. This is easy to do, and you are entitled annually to a free copy of your credit report from the major nationwide reporting companies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Visit annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228 for more information.
DEFEND against fraud as soon as you suspect it.
Immediately place a fraud alert on your credit reports and review the reports carefully. The three nationwide consumer reporting companies have toll-free numbers for placing an initial 90-day fraud alert; a call to one company is sufficient: Equifax: 1-800-525-6285 Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742) TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289. Placing a fraud alert entitles you to free copies of your credit report. Look for inquiries from companies you haven't contacted, accounts you didn’t open, and debts on your accounts that you can’t explain. Close Accounts that have been tampered with or established fraudulently. Call the security/fraud department of each company the account was opened or changed. Follow up in writing. Keep copies of documentation and make notes of conversations about the theft. Visit ftc.gov/idtheft for ID Theft Affidavit and to report your theft to the Federal Trade Commission. File a police report and follow up with prosecution.
You can protect yourself from becoming the victim of identity fraud. Awareness is an effective tool in fighting identity theft. By being aware of how your identity can be stolen and monitoring your personal information, you can take actions quickly should problems arise. Prevention and early detection can make the identity thieves’ job harder.
About Health Care...From Star Parker, GOPUSA.com
The entire article is worth taking the time to read. Link here.
"Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama can't grasp that our perverse health care economics result from over-centralization and bureaucratization, so they propose even more. They put more responsibility on employers and give government an even stronger role to define what health care is and how much it should cost. They propose to lower costs through subsidies financed by massive tax increases.
McCain's approach will use markets and consumer power to drive down costs and open the door to innovation in health care products and delivery.
One such innovation of recent years has been health savings accounts. America's Health Insurance Plans has just reported that the number of these accounts has increased 35 percent over last year. This impressive growth came without the more attractive tax treatment that would be afforded such plans under McCain's proposal. The fastest growing market for health savings accounts are small businesses."
SCHOOL CHOICE IS THE ANSWER
"This week's revelation that 17 of the nation's 50 largest cities have high school graduation rates below 50% surely saddened many. But it surprised few people attuned to the state of U.S. public education. Proponents of education choice have long believed that dropout rates fall when families can pick the schools best suited for their children.
"...Inside of two decades, charter school enrollment in the U.S. has climbed to 1.1 million from zero. Two tiny voucher programs in Maine and Vermont blossomed into 21 programs in 13 states and the District of Columbia. Tuition tax credits, once puny and rare, are now sizeable and commonplace. The idea that teacher pay should be based on performance, not just seniority, is gaining ground.
"Not bad for a small band of education reformers facing skepticism from the liberal media and outright hostility from well-funded, politically connected heavies like the National Education Association.
"...The fact that vouchers and charters have been unable to completely transform the system inside of two decades does not mean public education is immune to market forces. School choice is clearly making a difference for the better, which justifies expanding it, not abandoning it."
- Wall Street Journal editorial, 4/5/08
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True Friend:
Bush Is the Real Helper of Black
Americans
This article
appeared in the Friday, March 28th issue
of The Pilot. We are proud of Bob
Levy's piece, and delighted to reprint
it here with his permission.
Congratulations! Bob is web master for
the County Republican web site,
www.moorecountyncgop.org. Thank you
for the positive, true picture of
President George Bush! Dee
Here was also
the first president to call a black
person, Condoleezza Rice, not only
his secretary of State and national
security adviser, but also his best
friend. He appointed not only the
first African American as secretary
of state, but also the second.
And,
even though his efforts to
help the black victims of
Hurricane Katrina were at
best ineffective, he still
disregarded race and
undertook the largest and
most concerted natural
disaster victim bailout
given to whites or blacks in
American history.
Yet African
Americans, for the
most part, have
never voted for
George Bush, nor
will more than a few
vote for his party
in the foreseeable
future. For his
part, Mr. Bush never
calls attention to
his efforts in
bridging the racial
divide. For him,
race simply does not
matter.
Even for America
at large, no
press calls
attention to the
fact that black
Cabinet members
of the Clinton
administration
were essentially
minor players
whose
appointments
were secured by
their political
connections or
campaign
contributions.
It is doubtful
that Gen. Colin
Powell or Ms.
Rice were
significant
players in
back-room
politics or
front-room
financing.
History
will
remember
black
appointees
of
George
Bush for
their
successes
and
failures,
the fact
that
they
brought
us
closer
to
security
or
deeper
into
war. To
history,
their
racial
makeup
will be
a
footnote.
The
content
of their
character
will be
a head
note.
Meanwhile, most African Americans will vote for Sen. Barack Obama in our upcoming primary. They are, for the most part, registered Democrats and would never consider that the party of Lincoln is still the party in which race matters least. Sadly, they will vote for Obama not because he can do more for the interests of America, but simply because he is black.
There will be similar support for Hillary, too. So many Democrats will vote for gender instead of genuine ability.
It is ironic that the person to whom the content of character is more important than skin color or gender will get no accolades.
President Bush will help to cure African AIDS and be universally condemned at African American gatherings everywhere. The man who saw it as his goal to liberate the female slaves kept hidden behind robes in the houses of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan will be assailed as the architect of nothing but war.
His predecessor, Bill Clinton, in spite of his recent racial gaffes, will be hailed as a hero in the African American community even though he gave only lip service to the sufferings of blacks in America and around the world.
Clinton will even be revered as a great friend of working men and women when his only contribution to labor was to pass NAFTA and destroy most industrial jobs and most industrial unions just as blacks of both genders were gaining seniority and income in our now-phantom factories.
In America, life is perception, not reality. People who believe that race and perception matter will continue to vote Democrat. But people who look beyond race must look beyond Hillary and beyond Obama as well as his pastor.
Is it possible that the character of an old, white war hero is better for the nation than a young, black William Jennings Bryan who nods his agreement while his church prays that America be damned? Could character trump gender? Could black people join with white people and pray that this country be blessed rather than blown apart in a racial divide?
If so, then all Americans, black and white, can look to the content of the character of those persons vying for the presidency rather than the gender of their bodies or the pigmentation of their Oval Office posteriors.
If so, then the pollsters and pundits may, indeed, all be surprised.
Robert Levy is a Southern Pines businessman and former California Republican nominee for Congress. He can be contacted at Law52@Prodigy.net.
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A Note from the Internal Revenue Service regarding the Economic Stimulus Package:
Starting in May, the Treasury will begin sending
economic stimulus payments to more than 130 million households.
To receive a payment, taxpayers must have a valid Social Security number, $3,000
of income and file a 2007 federal tax return. The IRS will take care of the
rest. Eligible taxpayers will receive between $300 to $600 if single or $600 to
$1,200 if married filing jointly. Millions of retirees, disabled veterans and
low-wage earners who usually are exempt from filing a tax return must do so this
year in order to receive a stimulus payment.
Many people who receive Social Security
benefits are not required to file a tax return. But they need to this year to
get the stimulus payment. Many can use the simpler Form 1040A.
For more information,
visit http://www.IRS.gov.
Failed School
Voucher System Ends Up Failing Students
Paul R.
Hollrah
Late in the
morning of Friday, February 29th,
This was not
an uprising in a
According to
a New York Times story in
early 2007, of those students who took the
ACT college admissions test in 2005, only
51% achieved the C-level benchmark in
reading comprehension, 41% in mathematics,
and 26% in science.
In response
to this horrible record of under-achievement
in public education, Republicans have for
many years proposed a system of school
vouchers that would allow parents to take a
pro-rata share of the money that local
school districts would spend on each of
their children and use it to pay tuition in
the private school of their choice – either
parochial or nonsectarian. The principal
motivation of vouchers would be to inject an
element of competition into public
education, requiring public schools to
compete for education dollars.
The concept
has met with little success in Congress
because of opposition from teachers unions,
primarily the American Federation of
Teachers (AFT) and the National Education
Association (NEA), two of the most powerful
lobbies in
For example,
the State of
In the six
years of its existence, the program
attracted some 733 students in 53 schools.
One such student was Adrian Bushnell.
Without the voucher program, Adrian, who is
black, would have spent his entire high
school career attending troubled Miami
Edison, the school wracked by violence this
past week, which has a 94% black student
body and a small minority of non-Hispanic
and white students.
Instead, as
John Tierney of the New York Times
tells us,
Besides
helping Adrian, who was planning on a
college career after graduation, the
But all of
this is now but a memory for Adrian Bushnell
and 732 other
The lawsuit
to scrap the voucher plan was brought by
anti-voucher parents and joined by liberal
organizations such as the AFT, the NEA, the
ACLU, and, much to their eternal shame, the
NAACP.
What was the
reasoning behind the majority decision? The
majority ruled that the program violated a
As John
Tierney laments, groups such as the NAACP
that once battled the segregationists’
fiction of “separate but equal,” signed onto
the notion that there is something admirably
“uniform” about a public school monopoly
that keeps students like Adrian Bushnell
trapped in segregated, inferior schools.
We don’t know
what has happened to Adrian Bushnell. If he
is on schedule he would be set to graduate
in June 2008. But even if he has been able
to survive the daily horrors of Miami
Edison, what kind of education has he been
able to acquire while sharing the classroom
with thugs, gangsters, and drug peddlers?
What Democrats have done to black kids in
FamilySecurityMatters.org
Contributing Editor Paul Hollrah is a Senior
Fellow at the Lincoln Heritage Institute.
read full author bio
here
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John
McCain's remarks were made after the recent appeals court's ruling in
California, with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance. Senator John
McCain's recollections are very appropriate.