One of the people that I spent many long hours on the highways of America with last weekend was Missouri State Representative Jim Guest.  This is a great and couragous man.  He is standing up against the central party politic of his republican party to do the right thing.  Here is a breif video just released by Representative Guest regarding the Real ID card.   Put your seatbelts on folks, this could get a little rocky.

There are an estimated 6,500 collection agencies in the United States, and complaints against them rose 26 percent in 2007, and 43 percent in the last five years, according to the Better Business Bureau.

For the past three years, in fact, debt collectors have been the subject of more complaints than any other industry, according to The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Among the top complaints:

• Using vulgar language
• Trying to collect more than they’re owed
• Sharing the person’s debt information with friends and family
• Trying to collect extra fees such as late fees or court costs

It’s quite common for debt collectors to use this type of harassing, intimidating behavior to try to get you to pay … but it’s not always legal for them to do so.

If a Debt Collector Calls, What Rights Do You Have?

Knowing your rights is the first step to protecting yourself from a collection agency, and your first right is to have proof that the debt is yours. Ask the debt collector to send you written proof of the debt.

Otherwise, it’s possible the debt may actually belong to someone else with a similar name. Also, before you agree to pay anything or state that you do owe the money, find out if the debt is still enforceable. Depending on your state, certain debts have statute of limitations that range from three to 15 years.

If, in fact, you believe you don’t owe the debt, you can get a debt collector to stop contacting you by sending them a written letter stating you do not owe the money. While the debt collector may not contact you after this point, you can still be sued for the money if it’s determined that the debt is yours.

What CAN the Debt Collector Do?

The collector may contact you by mail, in person, by telephone, telegram or fax. However, they may not contact you at unreasonable times or places, such as before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you agree.

If you have an attorney, the collector is required to contact him or her instead of you. However, if you don’t have an attorney a debt collector may contact other people, typically only once, to find out where you live or work, or to get your phone number. The collector may not tell anyone other than your attorney that you owe money.

What CAN’T the Debt Collector Do?

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires that debt collectors treat you fairly and prohibits certain methods of debt collection. According to the FTC, debt collectors may NOT:

• Use threats of violence or harm
• Publish a list of consumers who refuse to pay their debts (except to a credit bureau)
• Use obscene or profane language; or repeatedly use the telephone to annoy someone
• Falsely imply that they are attorneys or government representatives
• Falsely imply that you have committed a crime
• Falsely represent that they operate or work for a credit bureau
• Misrepresent the amount of your debt
• Say you will be arrested if you do not pay your debt
• Say they will seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages, unless the collection agency or creditor intends to do so, and it is legal to do so
• Say actions, such as a lawsuit, will be taken against you, when such action legally may not be taken, or when they do not intend to take such action
• Send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency when it is not
• Use a false name
• Collect any amount greater than your debt, unless your state law permits such a charge
• Deposit a post-dated check prematurely
• Use deception to make you accept collect calls or pay for telegrams

Consumer Justice

If you feel you have been harassed or abused by a debt collector, report the problems to your state attorney general’s office and the Federal Trade Commission.

You can also sue a debt collector you believe has violated the law up to one year from the date of the violation. You can recover damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs, along with up to $1,000 additional. A group may also sue a collector for up to $500,000 in damages or 1 percent of the collector’s net worth, whichever is less.

If you do enter into negotiations with a debt collector, make sure to get everything in writing BEFORE you pay anything. Along with the amount you agree to pay, ask for the negative information to be removed from your credit report, or at least listed as “paid in full” rather than “paid in settlement.”

One final tip, debt collectors’ commissions are based on the business they do each month. So negotiating near the end of the month may give you some leverage.

The number you get on the news only includes those who die in place.  If they make it to the helicopter before they die they are not included in the official media count…  are you tired of the lies yet?  I got this information directly from the department of veterans affairs website.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, May 2007, Gulf War Veterans Information System reports the following:

Total U.S. Military Gulf War Deaths: 73,846
– Deaths amongst Deployed: 17,847
– Deaths amongst Non-Deployed: 55,999

Total “Undiagnosed Illness” (UDX) claims: 14,874
Total number of disability claims filed: 1,620,906
- Disability Claims amongst Deployed: 407,911
- Disability Claims amongst Non-Deployed: 1,212,995

Percentage of combat troops that filed Disability Claims 36%

The most basic principle to being a free American is the notion that we as individuals are responsible for our own lives and decisions.  We do not have the right to rob our neighbors to make up for our mistakes, neither does our neighbor have any right to tell us how to live, so long as we aren’t infringing on their rights.   Freedom to make bad decisions is inherent in the freedom to make good ones.  If we are only free to make good decisions, we are not really free.

Socialist ideologies blur this line between self reliance and government control because the mistakes of the individual are spread to everyone else.  Thus the government becomes very interested in your decisions and way of life, with the justification that you could make a mistake others will have to pay for.  The end result is, of course, that everyone loses privacy and control over their own lives.  Whether they realize it or not, they are no longer truly free.

This week in Congress brought some examples from both sides of the aisle on these issues of freedom and personal responsibility.  We talked about online gambling quite a bit with the markup of some legislation dealing with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.  Now, I am not someone who enjoys throwing money away, but I am someone who understands issues of freedom and self-ownership.  As such, I strongly support the right of free people to do with their hard-earned money as they please.  Gambling is ultimately a matter of personal choice, and some people find it entertaining.  As long as I am not forced to underwrite their losses, it is none of my business what gamblers do with their time and money.

There are those that feel online gambling is morally wrong and financially irresponsible, which I do not argue with, but they also feel that because of this, the government should step in and prevent or punish people for taking part in these activities.  This attitude is anathema to the ideas of liberty.

However, most of the same anti-gambling crowd sang an entirely different tune when we discussed giving away free birth control in schools.  All of a sudden, they did not want others making decisions about their lifestyles and families, while the other side felt the need to interfere.  It is interesting that the same group that feels parents have the absolute right and ability to control how and when their kids get birth control, are powerless to monitor their internet activity and must enlist government regulatory assistance to protect against gambling or predators.  Which is it?  Are parents the ones to parent, or not?  Both sides switch their positions based on the subject at hand, but the philosophy of liberty is elegantly simple and consistent. 

I can assure you of this – once the government gains a foothold into regulating the internet, even for benevolent reasons, the wonders of the free internet will soon be a thing of the past.  Parents, with modern day technology, are quite capable of monitoring their children’s internet activity.  The internet must remain a government-free zone to maintain its integrity and usefulness to modern society, and that is something for which I will continue to fight. 

Posted by Ron Paul (06-30-2008, 01:44 PM)

In 1941 the American inventor and businessman Henry Ford built a car both made from and fueled by hemp.  Imagine a weed that we spend billions of dollars a day trying to destroy, replaces both steel and oil…

No wonder this stuff is illegal!!! 

If I owned a US senator or two and I fed my family by selling steel, oil, gas, drugs, paper, corn or cotton, it would certainly be in my best interests to get together a few of my friends and use our governmental and media connections to both outlaw and publically slander anything to do with this incredible weed.

 Tuileries Plaza is hosting a free Summer Concert Series every Thursday for the Summer 2008 Season!

TODAY, June 26, Thursday, HotHouse will be performing!
http://hothouseinthehouse.com/

HotHouse is known as Kansas City’s premiere variety dance band. Since they started in 1989, HotHouse has been a popular favorite amongst locals. They pride themselves on having “Kansas City’s #1 Diva,” Debra Cordero.

The concert is Thursday, June 26 at 7:00 PM in the Tuileries Courtyard. So come down with your blanket and chair, enjoy the summer evening, and dance the night away…

Don’t forget, there are many upcoming concerts. Here’s what’s coming up next:

July 3: New Kansas City Seven-Kerry Strayer
July 10: Neon Blue
July 17: Project Chameleon
July 24: Maximus
July 31: Private Stock
Aug. 7: Ida Mc Beth

For more information on any of these concerts, please visit www.tuileriesplaza.com

River Market Brewery

8pm

Speakers and Performers

Tom Mullen - Private citizen, patriotic American, and our grassroots representative, with an important message for our servant government.

G. Edward Griffin – founder of Freedom Force International and author of The Creature from Jekyll Island, shares his in depth research and analysis concerning the Federal Reserve System and the forces behind its inception.

Charles Goyette – syndicated talk radio host based in Phoenix, Arizona to discuss a return to the country’s constitutional traditions of sound money and limited government, the foundation upon which a viable economy can be rebuilt.

Marcy Brooks – Juror in the tax trial of Whitey Harell v. State of Illinois (featured in Aaron Russo’s America: From Freedom to Fascism will talk about the responsibility of being a juror in tax evasion cases.

Thomas E Woods Jr - author of “Who Killed the Constitution?: The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush” to discuss how the federal government has circumvented the Constitution and is systematically dismantling the rights and freedoms that are the foundation of a Constitutional Republic.

Naomi Wolf – advocate of progressive politics and author of “The End of America: A letter of warning to a young patriot”. Ms. Wolfe will take a historical look at the rise of fascism, outlining the 10 steps necessary for a state to take control of individuals’ lives.

Jack McLamb – Military Veteran, retired police officer, and radio talk show host to discuss the potential for martial law to come to America.

Howard Phillips - Chairman of The Conservative Caucus since 1974, will discuss the multifaceted plan to turn the U.S., Canada and Mexico into a North American version of the European Union.

Terri Hall – Founder and Director of Texasturf.org to discuss among other things, the ranches that are being unconstitutionally confiscated to build the Trans-Texas Corridor (NAFTA Superhighway).

Congressman Jim Guest - MO representative to discuss the potential loss of U.S. Sovereignty; U.S. jobs that will permanently be lost; and environmental issues among other things, with the Kansas City Smart Port.

Jeff Lewis - co-founder of Fire Coalition to discuss the economic impact illegal immigration has had on the country as well as the tie between the lack of enforcement of our immigration laws and the NAU, as well as discussing why we are fighting a war on terrorism when our borders are still not secured.

Michael Scheuer – 22 year veteran of the CIA and bestselling author of ‘Imperial Hubris’ to discuss American foreign policy and its implications on terrorism, security, and Iraq

Chuck Baldwin – Constitution Party Presidential Candidate, Pastor, and radio talk show host to speak about hope for America and a new breed of politician.

Ron Paul - to speak about the future of the Revolution.

*Additional speakers are pending.

In order to bring you this fabulous list of entertainers and speakers we still need your financial help: www.revolutionmarch.com to donate. If you are looking for transportation and lodging options, please visit our travel page.

 If you don’t learn from your past mistakes, you are doomed to repeat them. Some people do the same thing over and over again, but yet never do anything about the source of “why” they are doing them.

So guess, what, they will repeat them.

Now, keeping those quotes in mind, consider this… 

• Huge expenditures from a massively expensive war are coming home to roost.

• The U.S. economy and stock market are stalling; unemployment is rising.

• In an attempt to pull the economy out of its funk, Washington is printing money like there’s no tomorrow.

• Inflation - our cost of living - has begun rising.

• Oil and gasoline prices are at all-time highs.

• Food and raw materials are in increasingly short supply and prices are soaring worldwide.

• Gold and silver prices are on a tear.

• Congress is already controlled by the Democrats and voters are set to throw the Republicans out of the White House.

Have I left anything out?

Wait. You think I’m talking about TODAY’S headlines? 

Sorry. No. I was reading the above headlines 30 years ago - in the mid-1970s! 

Recently Congress sent the latest Farm Bill to the president.  The bill features brand new federal programs, expansion of existing subsidies, more food stamps and more foreign food aid.  This bill hits the taxpayer hard, while at the same time ensuring food prices will remain elevated.  The president vetoed the bill, citing concerns over its costs and subsidies for the wealthy in a time of high food prices and record farm income.  Nevertheless, this over-reaching, government-expanding Farm Bill will soon be law.  

The truth is most farmers simply want honest pay for honest work.  However, if the government is providing competing farms with advantages, and one wants to remain a farmer, one must seek a proportional advantage from government.  It is a difficult position for the farmer.  Some are better at qualifying for taxpayers’ largesse than others as evidenced by the fact that more than 60% of the subsidies go to just 10% of recipients, edging out the small family farm.  This entire system is unfair and demoralizing.  It disproportionately benefits big agribusiness at the expense of struggling family farms.

Third world countries also lose with these continued government manipulations.  Agricultural subsidies lead to overproduction, which leads to foreign food aid as a form of dumping.   By “dumping” government-created agricultural surpluses, agrarian economies are artificially kept in a constant state of economic depression.  The would-be third world farmer cannot compete with “free” grain, thus he and his countrymen remain perpetual beggars rather than competitive producers.  Also, by keeping food prices high, we keep more of our own citizens dependent on government food stamps, instead of paying fair market prices for food.

Free trade helps farmers and consumers much more than this convoluted system of subsidies, surpluses and central planning.  Newly opened markets would create increased demand for what we produce.  There is absolutely no reason we trade with China , yet not with Cuba .  With energy and transportation prices as high as they are, opening up trade with a country as close as Cuba just makes sense.  The recent power shift from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul, and the somewhat positive steps he has taken, provides an opportunity to lift the embargo.  

Removing unreasonable, confiscatory tax policies would also make good farm policy.  We need to permanently repeal the estate tax, which would again take a devastating 55% cut of family farms upon death of an owner.  This tax will force the sale of many family farms, and further huge corporate agriculture.

Those who believe federal farm programs benefit independent farmers, should take note that after 70 years of this type of government intervention, small farms continue to struggle while large corporate farms control an ever-increasing share of the agricultural market.  Subsidies for agribusiness should be stopped and the free market should be allowed to work.  With commodity and food prices on the rise, Congress had an opportunity to scale down government controls and taxpayer funding of agriculture.  Instead, despite the warning sent by an 18% approval rating, Congress stubbornly opted for more of the same.