Airport Security Madness Alive and Well Today!

     Recently I tuned into a local radio show coverage of the highly controversial airport security laws being questioned by some of the local New Jersey elected officials (bravo). There seems to be opinions flying about that airport security measures have been taken to the unnecessary extremes sacrificing our American travelers right to privacy and or freedoms for the sake of terrorist threats abroad. The radio show host Keith Gerhart from 101.5 FM radio station (somewhat extreme right channel) seem to not accept the rights of individuals to privacy and that we must all sacrifice our civil liberties for the sake of safety while flying at whatever the cost (lots of fear). So we should ask ourselves whether or not the terrorists actions from the 911 incident (and others) have won and made us all a bit more scared to do anything then we should be and sacrifice our rights so quickly? The answer to that is pretty clear, they have won and the proof is in our collective actions and acceptance to sacrifice our American rights to travel. I have to wonder if we had gone in the wrong path when the threats were more related to the improper follow-up of these questionable individuals by the FBI and other government offices as we now know after various investigations of the 911 incidents. Plus the fact that in other countries where terrorist really do reside, we don't demand that they receive the same level or better of scrutiny. Why not have these dangerous and really unnecessary body scanning machines placed in those questionable countries that pose a real known threat and also lower the level of hassles involved with Americans traveling through the our countries airports. The costs to travel both in privacy and financially we can give our thanks to the terrorists abroad but our highly incompetent elected officials just brimming for the chance to spend our taxes just to hassle us unnecessarily while the terrorists abroad laugh at our actions and travel much more comfortably then Americans that did nothing. Now some may say that the risks are just to high but has anyone really looked at the facts of statistics involved that would justify our exaggerated airport security here in America, I don't think so. I know I do not personally relish the thought of traveling anywhere inside the USA or abroad by airplane because of the hassles involved, privacy breaches, radiation threat, and the airlines justified reasons to charge extra for just about anything from baggage to others services. Americans have easily given into the terrorist threats and made us a less American nation by sacrificing so much unjustly giving into fear (the terrorist primary weapon). Just as an added note, I remember when 911 first affected air travel and I was at an airport waiting to travel abroad. Our group refused to give into the terrorist trying to scare us into a corner and not travel. In fact our air travel was the most congested when others barely had travelers seemingly from the scare of recent events of 911. Let us all hope this will change and that more reasonable minds prevail in the future in our security issues with real facts, real statistics and just plane common sense.

Veterans Travel Pay Problem Revised!

After many days of going back and fourth and several communications with both the VA representative and the local senators office here in New Jersey, a temporary conclusion on the problem of travel pay deductions was reached. I was informed by the local VA representatives that the travel pay deduction exemption are not automatic and must be requested by the veteran despite there qualifying factors  and a means test submitted at the travel office every fiscal year (mostly at different times then the means test) after meeting with both income and percentage of benefits requirements. I was told that they are working on trying to implement an automatic system in the VA travel compensation pay process but currently it is not available at this time so all military veterans have to be aware of the issue and make an extra effort for this very important and often abused benefit against the veteran in question. If you are a veteran of the US armed forces within the VA system and have any questions about this topic or any others, you should talk to your local patient advocates office or contact your elected legislatures if ignored. I will try to keep you informed as I am able to on this blog. Current update is that a card has been issued for those qualified veterans plus a list held at the travel offices but it is unstable and not well defined standard practicing procedures as per the Veterans Handbook issued every year. This newer adaptation still does not resolve the problem of most military US veterans inside the VA system, falling through the cracks when it is really not necessary.  Neither does it properly cover in our federal VA handbook as standard practicing procedure for obtaining these types of benefits, not to mention the real lack of knowledge about this benefit from clerks that attend veterans when claiming travel pay and tend to deny vets their just benefit.

Credit Card Companies Outsourcing causing Security Breech!

Most people with a store or regular credit card do not think about what their respective companies are doing to protect your very important personal information. It has become common place to outsource customer services to questionable countries who many times barely speak enough proper English to keep both the customer and the rep from frustrating situations but it cost less for these companies to do so. In keeping their costs down they are sacrificing our privacy and personal information that could be taken and used by any disgruntled employee (or unknown thief within the system ) or for what ever reason there may be. It took from me a very irritating phone call today trying to report my mothers lost store credit card from Macy's. After a series of what I thought to be excessive personal questions, I had to question the real need to do so since with just a few these questions of customers identity could be verified since really they would only know the answers to not to mention caller id phone number on record. The representative could barely speak proper english and resisted any attempts to transfer the call (once my mother was grilled with questions) to a line supervisor on duty ending with a quick hang-up. Problem cured right, not really I had to follow up not only by calling back to their main number but speaking to a line supervisor only identified as Manny who really defended the other reps actions justifying the multitude of unnecessary personal questions. This is not unique in today's customer service out sourcing epidemic making it hard on both the rep on the other line and the customer when it could be easily be fixed by either truing them more on speaking english or hiring employees here in the USA that do speak proper english. Another option would be for the rep to transfer out to another individual that can understand better the spoken language but that seems to be impossible within corporate American companies lacking in concern for their customers today. The Federal US government has to be more concerned about just how much of a security risk to their citizens this represents (or at least I hope so) especially in current circumstances and with so many terrorists salivating at the thought of false ID's being obtained, this really does represent a real threat to all of us. This is not really acceptable or necessary with so many US employees out of work and the high risk of having our identities stolen after all will these countries go out of their way to protect American consumers from abuse or is it the job of our elected officials? Be careful who and how much information you give out to these companies while on the phone even if you know who they are and protest your concerns always directly to them either by phone, letter or otherwise.

The Racial Divides of the Past Repeats in a morphed Version!

Our country is going through a difficult time that try out all of our patients and temper but this is not the first time in our history when this has happened especially when it comes to racial divides encouraged by the in power leaders and others. We have seen these conflicts before when the Chinese slave labor was used to build our great railroad system, the irish and other European slave labor work was used to conquer the wild lands in the vast areas of the then west, and of course the slavery of our african american brothers culminating in the nastiest war ever fought on American soil. Now once again our attention is drawn by force to the spanish community legal or not but those ignorant or many times intentionally driven political leaders have no clue to the pasts price when we as Americans take this course of action. Going to bed with a radically right wing fanatic group that is mostly white in the tea party seems to be backfiring on the republican leaders, the party of Lincoln who freed the slaves in a time that cost thousands of lives of the Civil war of the past. So what exactly is really the driving force to have us all Americans tune on each other by these ignorant and selfish leaders, money the root of all evil and not skin color or ethnic attachments. This mid term elections could be a decisive point in our current history especially if the morally & mental correct of us allow it to just happen and roll over to the actions of a stirred up fanatic group. I grew up appreciating everyone no matter what race or color and to respect their right to exist in this country but that is not the case with many closet hidden racists behind the scenes. Sure I may feel somewhat unfairly treated or even jealous when a racial group seems to be doing better then my own, it's only natural but it does not rule my moral way in respecting all people. The so called white majority need to do the same and see beyond the political boloney spewed out by the leaders who live in a different world then the rest of us, privileged or better yet well of financially unlike the rest of us whites included. The election of this countries first half African American and half other (I think Irish) should be something all good Americans should be proud of not the actions of the no party or some run off group of misguided fanatics like the Tea Party. I just hope white, black, hispanic, asian and all will wake up before it is too late and make sure they vote this coming election keeping the fanatics from gaining any real power. If these fanatics do gain power, whats next the Klan's party to rise again as some force in our country after we finally put those nuts in their place? I hope not. I trust we will see the light soon.

The Past and now in US Puertoricans Healthcare Wows!

A recent event has reminded me of my trials & tribulations I was faced when my father suffered his last major stroke in the island he loved so much and still does, Puerto Rico. I can remember it like it was yesterday, just how many hours we all spent in the emergency room of a so called quality high care institution of The Bella Vista Hospital in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. My father was totally ignored for the first vital hours of care to minimize the damage in that hospital while another celebrity patient was taken care of properly. He was talking clearly, moving about and his only complaint was some pain or discomfort in his bladder but the blood clots were running unchecked through his body and doing its damage. We spent hours in that emergency room (if you can really call it that) and it was emotionally exhausting despite my many attempts to bring his serious condition to the attention of the staff.

This happened at a time when most hospitals including this one was enjoying great funding both by medicare claims and other federal grants to the island but that made no difference at all in my fathers case then. Late that day or better yet the following day early in the morning, he was transferred to a room in the general care section, not intensive care as he probably should have been assigned. I spent the night with him holding his hand while the damage went wild unchecked, untreated, ignored and his only defense was a bag of saline (IV) with no monitors at all. The nursing staff at that floor could of cared less and did not monitor his vitals as they should of, and several times I had to plead for them to come into the room and attend to his internal bleeding and or clots coming out of his urine completely filling his hospital bed. He also became very agitated and wanted to get out of bed, a common symptom of major stroke victims I learned later. After a very long night doing the job of the staff at this so called great quality hospital, I finally spoke to our trusted doctor (Dr. Olivencia) who found enough time to address this very important health issue. I was given weak excuses for the lack of care and his bleeding and then he decided at that time (2 days later) to prescribe a blood thinner (too little too late, damage done). I, my mother and other family members spent round the clock vigil making sure my father (an admired and great individual) was properly attended to since the staff at the hospital was lacking. I called in my other siblings into the picture and they came quickly from the states (mainland US) to help us out. By the time they got to Puerto Rico me and my mother were ready to drop from exhaustion, not because they took so long to arrive, but because it was just that hard. When our doctor finally consulted with the family (me, my brother and sister), he recommended that we put him into a home and forget that he even exists. He explained that because his condition was that bad, he would be a major burden on to us to care. We refused to give up on our father and we told the quack doctor to have him released so that we could send him back to our home state of New Jersey. Healthcare at that time was much better then what we had received in the island and we were willing to take a chance on making his condition worse due to altitude of the plane (blood clots or guaranteed lack of care and or death).

Things have changed a lot since then especially here in New Jersey, but I don't regret moving back to my home state at all. Nothing is perfect and we do what we can to survive but at least my father is enjoying a better health care system here (even now) and has more time to enjoy his grand kids and close family. Now I hear that the island is improving in its care of patients, point in fact is my uncle's recent stroke and surprisingly being treated at the same facility where my father was with a much better outcome. I hope this is true and thank God that my uncle was properly treated to avoid what happened to my father from repeating itself again in my family. The hospital and Staff now (if true) is to be commended.

The U.S, one of the last super powers practicing colonialism!

I was watching a podcast from Anderson Coopers 360 podcast (an older one) and I was surprised by a statements made by one of the CNN's contributor (Mr. Crystal?) stating that "the United States does not practice or endorse by policy colonialism" (may not be the exact quote but you get the idea). In fact the United States of America has been practicing colonialism at least since 1898 in more then one area of the globe. One area close to my heart, is my beloved island of Puerto Rico. With an estimated population of close to if not over 8million naturally born US citizens (3rd generation and counting) and another currently estimated 5+ million residing on the continental mainland (Hawaii and abroad the world), this population of naturally born Americans deserve their right to decide. Some have direct ancestry to Puerto Rico, others are so called white Angelo Americans and still others from various nationalities (cuban, jewish, muslim, etc.). The island of Puerto Rico has many different social economical classes, not to mention white skin and darker skin people (African connected and native indian) with many mixed variations. They serve our country disproportionately higher then the mainland United States with honor and sacrifice, and unlike mainland US, they vote in all their elections at a higher rate. This is because they take their rights to vote seriously. Many Puertoricans are extremely talented in various fields of studies like the sciences and more and with talents that rival any independent nation in the world yet they have not been given the right to end their colonial status. I will not convince the crazy racist KKK types in America of this cause, I am sure (thank God a small fanatically group in my country and dieting off) nor the closet racists that exist today but I maybe able to open the eyes of the rest of us proud real Americans (the majority so far) of this hidden evil secret. Let the Americans that live in the historically rich and beautiful island of Puerto Rico decide for themselves between two real alternatives, statehood application or unconditional freedom or independence by spelling out clearly the two choices, both the positive and negative realistic aspects of their decision for all the residents of Puerto Rico that will be affected. Then let us end once and for all this evil hidden secret that exists within this great nation of ours, the United States of America. God bless the United States of America and God bless the island del Encanto, Puerto Rico (Borinquen querido).

Somerset Medical Cnter in Somerville, NJ under investigation!

It finally happened, the SMC (local hospital in Somerville, NJ) is under investigation by the Fed's for billing fraud. They have been accused of over billing and double billing their patients who attended the Sleep diagnostics facility in Hillsborough, NJ but this is the tip of the iceberg I believe. Being one of the parties that brought to attention the abusive practices of this facility to both patients and their families, I am very happy to see this take flight. I have no desire to see this facility closed or everyone else improperly being punished who has been doing a great job at the facility, just hold accountable those who violated the public trust and federal and state laws of acceptable behavior. The next stage I believe in this investigation is to broaden the it to all suspicious actions and policies enforced by the hospital administrators. It wasn't too long ago that SMC was in the news with the deadly nurse staff that help put to death terminally ill patients. It's coverage was brief and quickly swept under the rug in my opinion. This facility boasted last year roughly $9 million income with about $8 million dedicated to costs (profit of about $1 million or so) and I found it hard to believe or swallow considering the amount of traffic this hospital has had in the past and the many services that bill patients outside the internal hospital's accounting system (radiologists, physicians groups, etc..). Another interesting note is their claims that the majority of their income was obtained from patients with private golden insurance coverage and not public assisted coverage such as medicare and medicaid or charity care. When the facility in the Plainsfield area closed, the influx of that areas patients grew but yet I would be very curious to see just how many were attended properly at this particular facility and what their income to loss ratio was during this phase. Many hospital's have claimed they are loosing their shirts in providing healthcare services to the poor but has anyone really taken a good look as to the real facts hospital by hospital? I don't believe they have, and both the public and out government agencies (sate & Federal) need to look at the reality of these facts. More information needs to be made public as well like the amount of patients per racial group get treated or hospitalized with conditions, with the life expectancy data and also the income provided by the State and Federal programs. Like I said this is just getting started and I hope the investigation provides answers, punishments and accountability to this areas most important public health service. Here are a few links to some websites that are providing information about what I just wrote about:

Administrative Policy #: 16001

Feds investigating Somerset Medical Center billing practices

Federal authorities investigate billing practices at Somerset Medical Center

If your Racists & Rich, you Vote Republican?

It has become more and more clearly that the real spark behind the republican parties strategy to win back the White house and Congress is pure racism. Racism against minorities but even more surprisingly then that is social racism against those who just making it in this economy (98%) and those living the good life on the backs of us all (2%). There are radical racist people within the Republican party taking hostage of the whole party in general. A small fringe crazy group that would try to convince the rest of us that their way is the only right way to steer our country into. Some leaders of the Republican party are finally realizing just who they invited into their folds and how dangerous they have become. It would not surprise me to see the KKK support many of the Tea Party fanatics elected in the past primaries into office soon or at the very least quietly doing so on the side lines. What most nutty racist people do not realize is the other hidden agenda of the GOP to make them poorer while making their rich buddies richer at their delusional expense. Anyone can look up and see just how the state of our country really is by exploring on the Internet statistics. For example, most Americans do not make over $60k a year but less, and that the number of American households making over $250K per year is even less, yet the majority is being held hostage by the Republican lies. Ask yourself just how many people you know that makes over $60k per year or families making $250k per year and I'm sure you will not use more then one hand if you come across any at all. In my state it seems that we enjoy the presence of many rich people living a comfortable life while the rest of this state is in agony with bankruptcies, foreclosures and many losses of jobs while those who hold the future of working American live the lap of luxury while sending many of our jobs overseas. We are at a crucial time in history for this country where we must as a nation decide if we let a few crazy people run our affairs or we really take back this country and point the radicals out for what they are to the public before our coming elections.

Many Americans today practicing this hateful racism seem to forget their past in out nations history and how they too were targeted, we all have been in one way or another. For instance the Irish in the past when coming to this country to seek a better life had many of them indentured, little better then slaves back in the 1800's yet some of them just before the civil war with the luck to own a plantation supported slavery and fought to protect it even though others did not. Many Americans died in the nasty war of the past seeking to provide moral justice to a people (African Americans) that suffered the yoke of slavery, a pivoting point in our American history. The German Americans also suffered exclusion for many years yet their ancestors forget this and do injustice to their memory. Even the English that came to our great country was looked upon by their fatherland as less then human and this caused our American Revolution and independence, thank God. The Italian Americans were referred to as olive skin foreigners and were mistreated for many years in by the the other Americans at one time and just recently. So you can see that all ethnic groups of Americans suffered injustice and racism yet today their heirs do an injustice to their memory by marching at radical racist Tea Party movements and the Republican party. The party of Lincoln has turned their backs on the very moral character that made that party in the past great and all of us must see it for what it really is.

I have heard many times that the democratic party should not bring up topics like taxes and others but this party must grow a pair and start confronting these radical idiots that want to control our countries affairs and your quality of life. America is suffering from a sickness and its roots are in racism and ends in poverty. We must all take action at the polls.

New Credit Card Rules Start and banks try to circumvent it!

We should all know by now that just this past August 22nd, the new rules created by our government and signed into law by the president started but not without some resistance by the credit card companies or banks. The new law was designed to protect the consumer from abusive practices of all of the credit card companies that over charged us all in penalties and other fees in the recent past. One part of the new law says "Your credit card company cannot charge you a fee of more than $25" for late fees but there are some exceptions in the new law that the credit card companies are taking full advantage of. One such condition is that if "one of your last six payments was late, in which case your fee may be up to $35; or your credit card company can show that the costs it incurs as a result of any late payments justify a higher fee." Some credit card companies are stepping up by one month further then the new law permits of punishment (7, not allowed in law) like your Kohl's store credit card owned and operated by the Chase Banking system. There is also another protection against inactivity fees and or punishments that I'm sure these card companies will not follow. They also can not charge you for over-drafting (past credit limit) your account more then 1 time as opposed to several times that many have done in the recent past (Chase Bank & others). The rate increases (or APR) are another area that has been changed by the new law where if any changes are to be imposed on the card holder, they must be informed 45 days before such increases take place and they can not be a monthly changed or review for changes but only allowed every six months. They must also explain why the increase of your APR was justified, a weak spot for most banks. These rules are being implement by the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (the Credit Card Act) and hopefully monitored by the Federal government agencies responsible for credit card and bank actions against consumers. Some of the other changes are expected to take effect on or after February 22, 2011.

These credit card companies and banks do not like these new changes at all and are doing everything they can to bypass the new rules or even out right ignore them hoping the consumer and the Federal government turns a blind eye as they have done in the past. Many of the readers will think that these changes will raise rates for those people that are doing the right thing with their debts and paying them off on time in a responsible manner but I must disagree. The credit card companies abuse the least powerful consumers who have little or no knowledge as to their rights like the poor or middle class and who pay on time even with their pitiful and limited or low incomes (the vast majority). So now your $5 coffee fixes in the mornings that could exceed your credit limit purchase before work should not cost you an extra $100 or more in fees ($35+ x 3, Chase) like before. I believe the new laws are only as good as enforcement of them. Should the consumers be abused (despite the new laws), they need to know they can count on protection when eventually the credit card companies (and banks) decide to step over the line of the current laws. We will have to wait and see. More information can be found at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerinfo/ or at http://www.federalreserve.gov/creditcard/. If you feel you are being abused, REPORT IT immediately to all the proper government agencies and also make it publicly known via blogs or tweet it! Shine a light on abuse today and always.

VRPCWORLD 1st Podcast

The rising Tide of Racism or something else?

Not being able to sleep tonight, I am writing this post hashing over a conversation I had earlier with a friend. The conversation started with racist comments, and since I was going to loose my sleep anyway, I might as well write about this topic on my blog. It all started with a comment from a white friend of mine (Italian American) who stated in a conversation about problems of the poor in the US and the immigrant problem. It then started me into an interesting hashing out over the issues in more detail and logical thought, something sometimes lacking today. I'll try to replicate the points of my conversation in a fair and balance way (no I'm not Fox News).

My friend pointed out that illegal mexican immigrants have an unfair advantage to us born in the USA with getting help like through Social Service programs and others when it is needed. I don't really see how the illegal immigrants (mainly hispanics to clarify) have it so easy to get social service programs like food stamps, free rent, medical assistance and other benefits when the reality is they have no real verifiable documentation to use. Many in the Welfare and Social Services office asking for help know just how difficult it really is to get qualified for various programs of assistance so exactly how would we think it is any easier for someone here illegally with little or no documentation? That is reality people, the hype pushed is a myth. Every day the local Social Services offices, Hospital's and other government agencies turn away sometimes perfectly needy US citizens from their services and if you don't believe me then you not aware of what is really going on today. So you really have to ask yourself why this need to keep us at each others throats fighting among ourselves? It's simple, the problem is really not racial but social classes. The middle class in need of help (and especially the poor) are treated by the upper class blue blood royals of our country little more then peasants to be abused and stepped upon when they get out of line. Keeping us busy with false allegations of one group taking advantage of another or receiving a bigger portion of the pie (aid & benefits at these offices) then the rest. The upper blue bloods prefer to keep us guessing by creating a racial divide among us all so that the real causes of out problems are never addressed properly like their financial rape of this country at the cost of the rest of us Americans.

It is more true today then ever before that there are two separate generational views on racism against other minorities in this country and even the gay community. Many can reflect upon our current young men and women who are more tolerant and have mixed views that are not always shared by some of their parents and the rest of us. Another example is today's military ability to change their views about gays serving in the military, views mainly being supported by the new American youth who serve this nation. You can even walk into any school today and see just how tolerant, acceptant and even ignorant our school children are of many racial or sexual divides currently despite some of their parents attempts to change it. They are not perfect of course, there will always be some level of healthy competition between the children in school and even abusive behaviors but nothing like early in our past American history. It is unfortunately a few of my generation and the older ones that are rehashing old American defective practices that kept this great country to prosper.

So where is America going in this racial war of minorities created and stimulated by the upper class to keep us guessing? Do poor whites really believe that the real enemy or cause of their problems is another group within the American society like immigrants (illegal or not) or are they being mislead to believe it to keep them from seeing the real devil in this problem? How about our great black community, some of them are so convinced that the cause of their problems is due to our latin community who is hogging up the benefits being denied to them or is everyone being denied for the sake of keeping the money in the hands of the most financially fortunate? These are the questions all of us Americans today need to truthfully ask ourselves and find the answers un-biosly and logically without the garbage spewed out. I will quote a statement from our American fabric which states "One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all", except illegal immigrants, muslims, non-whites, gay and only for the rich of our nation. Maybe we should add that to our American statement and then it could be the perfect United States of Nazism. All you bigots out there who are occupying space in my country, you are welcomed to move to the Antarctic continent where hardly nobody lives and start your own perfect country leaving my America alone.

The growing anti hispanic racism & bigots taking action!

While watching the news podcast I usually see (in particular from MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olberman), I was shocked to see the level of anti-hispanic sentiments from elected republican officials in Texas calling us terrorists unjustly and with desire to take American citizenship from babies. In case some of my readers that ARE bigots and racists do not know (thats an oxymoron), I want to give them a small level of education about the American hispanic community's place in this country I like to call "the best democracy in the world". Hispanics like many other minorities that serve honorably our country in the military today and in the past (sometimes even non-American citizens), loose their lives while serving unlike most bigots that choose to stay home and criticize us including our elected officials. I'm also an American Hispanic and proud of it (always) and will not sit back silently while these idiots have their way in the public forum without fear, it's my duty as a proud American to do so. Not only do we serve our country in the military honorably (both in the past and also presently) but the ratio in which our hispanic population sacrifices our lives serving is much higher then any other minority group to date, yes I said minority because you so called white racists are a minority in my great country the United States of America. It doesn't end there people, hispanic's are also the fastest growing minority today creating maybe fear among the white bigots I reference in this blog with the right to speak and vote. Please do not misunderstand me when I refer to whites, thank goodness the majority of the various minority white community are descent people who don't carry this idiotic stances. If your wondering why I am always referring to whites as minorities, it's true when you break them down to specific European country ties like Polish, the English, German's and Italian's then you can see there is no such thing as a true white majority. If we really breakdown all ethnic races from their origins, then WE ARE ALL MINORITIES. That's just what our great nation is made of (thank God) and it is what makes us unique among other countries. If you take into account the mixing of races, it is virtually impossible to separate us into a unique race unless you know some personal information of the individuals or don't believe in our many years of mix marriages. What may appear to be Irish by name and face, is really half Irish and half hispanic, that is just one example among many if white skin is important to you bigots. In fact the last census acknowledged the fact that white skin or last name doesn't necessarily mean white or even in the black community, names can be deceiving unless you are face to face with the individual(s). We are all equal under the law and we all have rights as US citizens under our constitution (all minorities) but we must be vigilant.

We live today with two generations with different views as to who is REALLY an American. Most of our young adults so far do not hold the racist and bigotry views of our old school parents (gays serving in the military, Muslim's, Hispanics legal or not, etc). It seems that the older people like our republican politicians and the Tea party (a minority and concern but growing) are of the ones that push these racist views that we see in the news but hide it behind other reasons like terrorism, national security and immigration reform. Let us call them out and acknowledge exactly what it is. racism and stop hiding it behind other false titles. I for one will not keep silent in this important topic in either in the polls, in public, my vote or any other forum I can use to draw the light of day to this shameful act and neither should you, if you are a TRUE American like me. A suggestion to the racists and bigots of this great country of mine, Antarctica has no great population of other minorities and I am sure the seals would welcome you if you move their and create your own perfect nation of bigots, or maybe I could be wrong? The moon is too available!

CHASE creates Phantom user credit Accounts Plus!

It has come to my attention that some clients (quantity unknown) have been the victim of abuse in another no so uncommon way with the powerful Chase Bank. It seems that the phantom revolving credit accounts are being created without the permission of the client or their knowledge. These accounts also seem to be used by unknown persons and quietly paid off then closed so that the clients are unaware of its existence unless they request a credit report where it will show up. Even though these actions that could be consider to be highly illegal have been reported to federal and state agencies but no actions as yet has been made to correct, stop or investigate this. The Banks are trying to get away with anything they can possible do to take advantage of the consumers with what looks like a free hand and blind eye of the regulators. Hopefully this will change and the banking industry will be corrected soon. Who knows what else they are doing without our knowledge? If you have issues with your bank or Chase please voice out your opinions and COMPLAIN!

The devious 'Unlimited Data' plans of the Cell Phone industry.

While shopping around through the internet from the big 3 cell phone companies(only ones really), I discovered that the so called 'Unlimited Data' plans available for cell phones capable of using them are really a deception. All have an imposed 5GB per month limit on that so called unlimited plan and even more restrictions as it relates to each indivial cell phone provider. With so many new cell phones coming out that have the ability to view video online and other internet intense features, it is unrealistic this 5GB limit. I know my ISP provider (Comcast) has also imposed a limit on monthly use of the internet per month to only 250GB and when you consider just how unrealistic this policy is, you tend to wonder what is the future of the new multimedia on demand internet service will be in the future. Where is our expected watchdogs that protect consumers from this abuse, who knows. With the FCC loosing it's case just rescently with Comcast & others in court, the need for new consumer protection laws passed by congress is great. Maybe the cable industry is frighten by the dramatic increase of users to view content online rather then through their channels is scary prospect and this is one way to curtail it but demand will only grow with time.

Healthcare Woes!

What should a family or the patients expect when they go to a local hospital ? Well most people would expect at least to be treated with some level of dignity both as patients and the family members that accompany them to their local hospital when in need of hospital attention, especially when an unknown emergency event occurs. We all know that our healthcare system is in trouble currently but still most of us fall under the illusion that seriousness and consideration are at least two attributes and that an emergency is treated properly with hospital staff & employees but that is not always the case. Then you add to the fact as to how much insurance coverage the patient has and how that plays into how you are treated then circumstances begin to change. We have all seen how some hospitals discharge patients with mental issues and possible underlying health issue on the news every now and then but we (the so called normal people) don't expect that to happen to us especially if a real health issue is to occur. It only happens to others that deserve it (we may say in our minds) but guess what you may be wrong. What we allow to happen to the less fortunate crazies could also happen to us and our love ones when we are in most need of hospital care. I found this out to be true just this past weekend when I saw for myself just how bad some employees inside our hospitals treat patients and family. The funny thing is that as I was waiting in the hallway for my niece to get attention in the emergency room of my local hospital when I picked up their own pamplet stating that proper care is given regardless of income or insurance coverage of the patient, funny right (not really)? I always try to give the benefit of the doubt to my local hospital (and in general any entity, whatever private business it may be) but I was proven wrong that day by the staff & doctors that attended my niece. While my niece screamed in agony from pain and the lack of compasionate by the staff members and doctors, next to her was a patient who was treated with my fantasy like conception of decentsy. The nurse asked if she had any pain or discomfort (she was not screaming like my niece) and even asked if they wanted some food brought to her from the hospital kitchen. In the end my niece and family got taken out of the room and placed in the hallway for the remainer of the time until another very antagonistic doctor came to scolled her for lack of income and or insurance coverage and she ws discharged. No real discussion was made by this physician about my nieces health issue that brought to the emergency room in the first place via ambulance and no real test was made (just simple x-rays)to get to the bottom of it. My niece was just discharge with some limited pain medication to last her the rest of the day. The next following day, through the efforts of my sister (her mother), my niece was admitted by a private specialist who said to her and her mother that the immidiate need for hospitalization was required. So I ask myself why was this not done the day before? Is it an administration policy that is practiced by the staff or was that a decision made independently staff members of the hospital against the recommended policies I read in that pamphlet? I do not know but we as individuals (and possibly future patients) need to see it as it is, a real problem that will only get worse if it is not corrected by us and those involved in regulating & protecting the general public.

Comcast at Again.

I thought I was through this past year with complaining about Comcast's poor Internet service but I was wrong. Last year's dismal service was followed by this years equally bad service and also lack of follow-up logics on the part of customer service. Not only can they not read or follow my many posts of blogs on the internet but they seem to have issue with their own systems logs of complaints I am sure of they have on my account. This year started out again with the infamous replacement of the wires to fix the problem instead of a little good old common sense technology. Even though I had tried to explain the problem to them over and over and over again they refuse to listen. I asked that they look over the long list of logged speed tests online to see the documented consistency of low download speeds in the area but they insist that this is not a reliable source of data. Ok so 1 person may not be reliable enough but what about 2 or 3 or more, would that make the data more reliable? Apparently not to them. How about the fact that they as a company sold to me a double play package deal with a so called 'High Speed Internet' described online as 15Mbps and now said to be 8Mbps.I have asked with much resistance from customer service for a written letter stating exactly what service I am subscribe to be sent to me in the mail or some one call me with the information as to who I can contact to obtain such a written response. It just seems to me that this company is lacking the skills necessary to keep happy or at least content their customer base. When this company was called Patriot Media I had issues with their speeds too and also brought them to their attention and almost had them resolved then they sold out to Comcast. Since then I have been addressing this issue on a pretty regular basis sometimes with a bit of anger and other times with a bit of comedy especially online with tweets. Now I am trying to take a more serious approach and hopefully gain on the other side a serious and more sensible representative to attack or address this issue but still no luck so far. I have promised to the last contact from Comcast to test the line speeds for some time to see if the illogical approach to the solution of this problem tried out last works, we will see. Don't get me wrong, I do not think Comcast is evil or that all employees are bad just that some top level decisions made on issues about my areas problems (and not just me) are not being addressed with the seriousness it should be. This is not a free service and everyone who gets Internet service pays for it with real money so why not demand that the service promised be delivered as stated or why not just change what you advertise online and in the media?