| Not Right to Joke, McCain? |
[Sep. 25th, 2008|09:41 am] |
McCain said Letterman was out of line to joke about McCain canceling his appearance at the last minute to do a CBS interview with Katie Couric, but as a Katrina Survivor I find it totally hypocritical that he would say that when he had a birthday party while my area was being hit by Katrina. Instead why didn't he tell Bush that he felt it was wrong to have a birthday party when people on the Gulf Coast were going through one of the worse hurricanes in history so he would suspend his birthday party and urge the President to take care of the people in harm's way.
How does McCain expect this to not sound like a political move when he didn't even care enough about Katrina Victims and Survivor to suspend his own birthday party? No the man is not interested in the welfare of the people of the USA and as one who has suffered from his neglect in the past, I demand he issue an apology to the Katrina Victims at the debate at Ole Miss on Friday. He should be part of it since it is held in a state that still hurts from Katrina. Oh that's right, he had a party that day didn't he? |
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| McCain Suspense Campaign? |
[Sep. 24th, 2008|02:53 pm] |
Oh McCain has to be kidding! When we were having lives suspended due to Katrina, McCain didn't even suspend his birthday party with George W. Bush and yet he wants us to believe he is going to suspend his campaign for PRESIDENT?
First, there are NO meetings scheduled for Friday in the Senate, and there is no votes in the Senate since it goes to the house FIRST!
Secondly, how is his not appearing at a debate on Friday going to solve anything but his cowardly avoiding Obama who will eat his lunch anyway.
Thirdly, Can't he do more than one thing at a time? Maybe this proves he IS NOT fit to be President! |
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| FEMA has problems with doing it right |
[Mar. 13th, 2008|10:42 am] |
DID FEMA attack WQRZ because WQRZ and Jesse Fineran have spoken out
about FEMA obscuring the fact thatFEMA knew the Occupants of FEMA
trailers were suffers for the TOXIC Agent that was hidden in the
housing that FEMA leased to Hurricane Survivors. After being removed
from the position of FEMA mobile home operations in Hancock County in
December 2006 for speaking out about formaldehyde, health/safety and
core value issues, Fineran filed Equal Employee Opportunity against
The FEMA and Biloxi TRO for attempting silience me crys to protect
occupant and worker from the dangers of formaldehyde. The Hancock
County EOC had requestred that FEMA protect these victims of FEMA
gassing in 2005, just weeks after the first trailer arrived. FEMA knew
the survivors were suffering. FEMA continues to retaliate against
Fineran, his family and now WQRZ. Fineran is disablied from back
injury in the 1987, WQRZ is operated by individuals who are
disabled, appears that the bullies from FEMA have a history of picking
on the disablied. FEMA designed and had trailers constructed to
house the injuried and disablied, it is interesting that these unit
contained more poisons that models that were available to the general
public. Children are more affected by what FEMA training manuals
identify as a toxic chemical agent, Katrina took our homes and FEMA is
taking our babies lives.
CDC acts like this is an opportinuty to do a study on the health
issues, and offers nothing to the families they thier malfeasance may
have facilitated injury.
Lawyer: Documents raise new questions about FEMA trailers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • MARCH 13, 2008
NEW ORLEANS — Federal officials issued trailers to Hurricane Katrina
victims even though some workplace safety tests detected high levels
of formaldehyde at government staging areas for the structures just
weeks after the storm, a lawyer for hundreds of occupants said
Wednesday.
Documents from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration raise
new questions about how much federal officials knew about the units,
which were sent to tens of thousands of displaced residents, said
attorney Anthony Buzbee. But they don't say whether the tests in the
weeks after the August 2005 storm were conducted inside or outside the
trailers.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which issued the trailers,
has been moving residents out for several months because of health
complaints.
Recent tests on hundreds of FEMA trailers and mobile homes in
Louisiana and Mississippi found formaldehyde levels about five times
what people are exposed to in most modern homes, the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention announced last month.
At its peak, more than 143,000 trailers were in use by Katrina victims
across the Gulf Coast. About 34,000 are still occupied.
Buzbee said he reviewed a 10-page summary of test results from air
sampling at FEMA staging facilities in Mississippi that found
formaldehyde levels exceeding maximums set for federal workplace
safety. Buzbee said the documents show some tests were performed as
early as Oct. 11, 2005, and as late as Jan. 17, 2006.
"This is astonishing," Buzbee said Wednesday in an interview. "How
could they feign ignorance that this was an issue even before they
sent these trailers to residents?"
It was unclear whether the tests were performed by OSHA or FEMA. Clyde
Payne, OSHA area director, said he couldn't comment on the test
results obtained by Buzbee.
FEMA spokesman James McIntyre wouldn't immediately comment on Buzbee's
allegations, but he said formaldehyde tests at work sites are required
under federal law.
"These are just safety tests for personnel," he said. "They were never
designed for the occupants."
Formaldehyde, a preservative commonly used in construction materials,
can cause respiratory problems and is believed to cause cancer.
FEMA lawyers had discouraged officials from investigating residents'
health complaints because of liability concerns, according to
documents released by a congressional panel in July 2007.
Buzbee wrote about the test results in a letter Wednesday to Louisiana
Gov. Bobby Jindal and several members of Congress.
Adam Sharp, a spokesman for Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said the
information provided by Buzbee will be fodder for a congressional
panel's review of FEMA's response to formaldehyde concerns.
"One of the essential questions this investigation will answer is,
'What was the timeline?"' Sharp said. "How much of a lag existed
between when FEMA became aware of the (formaldehyde) dangers ... and
when did they first start notifying trailer occupants about the
dangers?"
In testimony before a congressional panel last week, a CDC official
said problems with formaldehyde in trailers date back to the 1980s.
Howard Frumkin, director of the CDC's National Center For
Environmental Health, said the problem seemed to "recede" until FEMA
used tens of thousands of travel trailers to shelter victims of the
2005 storm.
"FEMA has never denied that trailers have formaldehyde," McIntyre
said. "We haven't tried to hide anything."
Times Picayune
EDITORIAL: Blowing the deadline
Monday, March 10, 2008
After Hurricane Katrina, thousands of New Orleanians waited for months
for FEMA and the federal bureaucracy to deliver post-disaster housing
-- and the agency blamed most of the delays on the catastrophe's
magnitude.
That the federal government was unprepared to house tens of thousands
of people after Katrina was one thing. But the Federal Emergency
Management Agency really has no excuse now, more than two and half
years later, for not having come up with a comprehensive strategy to
house survivors of the next big catastrophe.
Congress ordered FEMA to come up with such a plan post-Katrina and set
a July 2007 deadline. Eight months after the deadline the agency has
not delivered. On the contrary, at a congressional hearing on
emergency preparedness last week, the agency said the plan won't be
ready until April 1.
Sen. Mary Landrieu appropriately chastised a top FEMA official for the
delays, which put survivors of future disasters at risk of getting the
same misstreatment Gulf Coast residents suffered after Katrina. A
California earthquake could strike at any time, and the next hurricane
season is less than three months away.
Harvey Johnson, FEMA's acting deputy administrator, told the committee
that the plan has been delayed while the government figures out how to
deal with possible formaldehyde contamination in more than 34,000
travel trailers still occupied along the Gulf Coast.
But FEMA officials were alerted of the formaldehyde issues shortly
after the storm -- they simply chose to ignore complaints until last
year. Even then, they have had months to come up with an emergency
housing plan that takes into account the formaldehyde problem.
"These are very difficult issues," Mr. Johnson said. "There are very
few simple answers."
Whining that the task is hard won't house disaster victims.
FEMA's lack of preparedness has already affected its response in a
much smaller disaster. After tornadoes ripped through several states
Feb. 5, the agency said it would use some of the thousands of unused
trailers stored in Hope, Ark. But a few days later it said there would
be a two-week delay while the trailers were tested for formaldehyde
and aired out.
That's the result of not being prepared -- and that's why Congress
needs to keep pressure on FEMA to complete the emergency housing plan. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 20th, 2008|03:35 pm] |
I called FEMA and asked a press rep the following. She sent me this reply and thought I would share it with you.
Below is response and links to information that you requested.
When was FEMA first aware of formaldehyde? See link for information we have provided on formaldehyde: http://www.fema.gov/media/fortherecord.shtm
Who will do the AR testing? This has not yet been determined, we are still in the contracting process.
What is FEMA doing for applicants in travel trailers and what is being done for personal property? FEMA’s plan of action can be found here: http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=42611
This should provide you a good deal of background information - let me know if you need anything else. |
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| Hillary, What is Important to YOU? |
[Feb. 18th, 2008|02:07 pm] |
Recently Hillary Clinton decided Barack Obama is guilty of using someone else's words and not crediting them properly. The questioned statement is not at all improperly used as it was stated as a question and doesn't legally meet the requirements of plagiarism. Another is the anger of a poor use of words by a MSNBC person about "pimping out" the former first daughter to get super delegate votes. The words were poorly chosen maybe, but doesn't state sexual allegations. The man does seem to have a history of sexist remarks, however in this case it is making inferences with a bit of a reach.
Hillary, why all the mud? Let's face it, Obama is a great speaker. I think it is making issues that any neocon would be tickled to use when we have serious problems that NEED addressing. How about the Katrina issues that still are very much creating death, mental stress, and denying aid they are in serious need of? How about immunity for criminal activities of telecom companies BEFORE they are even investigated for? How about credit bureau rip offs like Experian that keeps disputed information up on folks without noting it is in dispute, and their other company, Triple Advantage who, in a round about way, charge for free credit reports, and this lowering credit scores with a "secret format" on how you get your credit rating? Also what about Iraq, Blackwater, and missing money in Iraq?
I have tried to contact Hillary's campaign to appear on my radio show, and to give them contacts on Katrina, but these request have not been even addressed. I also contacted Barack Obama's and they have contacted me. I am working with them on getting them on my show. I got to question why Hillary thinks republican tactics would win a Democratic Primary when we WANT ANSWERS not Mud.
Formaldahyde and FEMA News:
SEACOAST ECHO
> >
> > News
> > FEMA will 'never use trailers again'
> > By Dwayne Bremer
> > Feb 15, 2008, 16:29
> >
> > FEMA Director David Paulison and Center for Disease Control Director
> > Julie Gerberding speak Thurs. at a press conference in New Orleans.
> >
> > The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday it will never
> > again use travel trailers as a means of emergency housing after
> > results from a test conducted last December by the Center For
> > Disease Control (CDC) found that about one third of the trailers
> > issued after Hurricane Katrina contained a toxic amount of the
> > chemical formaldehyde.
> > "We will not ever use trailers again," FEMA Director David Paulison
> > said Thursday. "We may use mobile homes. But that (travel trailers)
> > is not a good housing alternative for us." The official report comes
> > after more than two years of complaints of illness caused by the
> > chemical and intense speculation and media scrutiny.
> > Paulison and CDC Director Julie Gerberding met with the local and
> > national media Thursday at a press conference at the FEMA
> > headquarters in New Orleans.
> > The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the results of a study of
> > 519 travel trailer units for the chemical formaldehyde.
> > Gerberding said the trailer sample was only a "snap-shot" of the
> > total number of trailers, but she felt like the sample was reliable.
> > "There is no magic cutoff for formaldehyde which indicates safe or
> > unsafe," she said. "A majority of the tests revealed a low level of
> > formaldehyde. About a third of the homes did have levels that could
> > be expected to cause symptoms to people who were vulnerable.We
> > recommend that all people living in travel trailers be relocated."
> > She said those most vulnerable would be young children, the elderly,
> > and anyone with respiratory problems, she said.
> > Paulison said the agency did not know a whole lot about the problem
> > two years ago, but it is now taking a very "aggressive" approach to
> > relocating the people still in travel trailers.
> > "Hindsight is 20/20," he said. "We can look back and say,' yeah, we
> > should have done something different.' We did the best we could do
> > with the information we had. We do care about the people.
> > "We did not have a lot of information two years ago, that is why we
> > asked CDC--who are the experts--to come in and test these trailers.
> > Our primary concern is health and well being."
> > But some people have said FEMA has known about formaldehyde for a
> > long time, but did little or nothing about it at first.
> > In an exclusive interview last July, Jessie Fineran, a former
> > hazardous materials specialist who worked alongside FEMA officials,
> > said he began informing FEMA and the Hancock County Emergency
> > Management staff about the potential problems in November 2005.
> > Fineran said that on request from Hancock County, the Occupational
> > Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducted tests on FEMA
> > trailers in Kiln in December. 2005, and found alarmingly high levels
> > of formaldehyde.
> > He said he personally told FEMA officials such as Sid Melton -- the
> > current Mississippi Director-- and former Director Benjamin Watson.
> > "They knew people were suffering," he said.
> > Several deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi--including the death of
> > an infant in Diamondhead--have been questioned and many think
> > formaldehyde could have had something to do with it.
> > Paulison said FEMA will now be taking measures to deal with the
> > recent findings.
> > "We are going to take a more aggressive approach," Paulison said.
> > He said part of that information is finding alternative housing
> > sources for people still in trailers and continued education about
> > the dangers of formaldehyde.
> > He said FEMA will be speeding up the process of getting people out
> > of travel trailers.
> > One hindrance, however, is local government restrictions on mobile
> > homes and trailers. While local entities allowed the travel trailers
> > at first because of the emergency state, mobile homes and the new
> > Mississippi Cottages have had to meet zoning approval first.
> > In Bay St. Louis, for instance, residents who have wanted upgrades
> > to cottages have had to go in front of the city council for approval.
> > Paulison admitted it may be a challenge to relocate some people
> > because of the local laws.
> > "We have no control over local and state law," he said. "All we can
> > do is talk to them and encourage them."
> > Currently there are 7,878 trailers or cottages in Mississippi. In
> > Louisiana, there are more than 25,000. At the peak, there were
> > 144,000 families in travel trailers.
> > Thursday's news that the government is acknowledging the problem and
> > taking steps to deal with it comes as a relief to some, who say it
> > is long overdue.
Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, a seven-firm law group which
represents thousands of Gulf Coast residents, was not allowed in the
room for the press conference, but did issue a statement.
"Although it took FEMA nearly two years to investigate the trailer
residents' concerns, the families we represent are relieved to see
that the long-term health risks, including cancer risks, associated
with formaldehyde exposure," Attorney Raul Bencomo said, "finally
has the attention of the federal government. The fact is that these
trailers represent a serious health risk. It was a good first step
to some trailers, but limited testing is not enough. The government
needs to test every single trailer."
FEMA and MEMA set up a hot line for any who think they are having
medical problems possibly associated with formaldehyde.
The number is 1-800-CDC-INFO.
(c) Copyright 2007 Bay St. Louis Newspapers, Inc.
You can contact me at sargeunn@gmail.com |
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| My Endorsement for President |
[Jan. 31st, 2008|04:42 pm] |
I have been carefully considering who I would choose to vote for and I have now decided that my choice is Barack Obama.
I went to his rally in Phoenix (over 13000 in attendance), and was very impressed with what he said and how the crowd left convinced that he would live up to his word.
I know many feel Obama doesn't have the long record of service, but like Obama said, he is a hope mongerer. Truthfully, what I see is experience of Pelosi and Reed covering the law breaking of the Bush Crime Family, and personally, I don't want this kind of "experience". Yes it is time for a change, and I think Obama should be given the chance to prove he will make that change.
To see and here the event go to http://arizona.barackobama.com |
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| Experiant, and other two needs reform |
[Jan. 15th, 2008|12:16 pm] |
Jan. 16th update on this story.
Seems this problem has grown out of control. I called the Attorney General's office of Arizona and was told there was no regulatory branch for the credit bureaus, but after contacting Christine Baker, I found this is not true. Seems that this industry has a very rogue method and spend mountains on making sure they keep their vile procedures in place. They even appear to lie to congress, as stated in the follow article. I strongly urge you to check out the following,
http://fight-back.us/forum/index.php?showforum=24
2) Ok, they suck, now what?
http://creditsuit.org/credit.php?/blog/comments/phase_3_hitting_where_it_hurts_stop_paying_the_banks/
Also from law.com site:
Consumer Lawsuits Against Credit Bureaus Are Multiplying
By Tresa Baldas
The National Law Journal
08-16-2006
The nation's three top credit bureaus are being slammed with a growing number of lawsuits filed by consumers who allege that the agencies are severely damaging their credit worthiness.
Scores of lawsuits challenging credit-report errors and low credit scores are pending in several states, including California, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina and Virginia.
Consumers allege that the bureaus -- Equifax, TransUnion and Experian -- are engaging in a practice that artificially lowers their credit scores, and that they are ignoring pleas to remove inaccurate information from the reports.
"It is becoming more and more prevalent that people are fighting back and suing credit bureaus and information furnishers who can't get it right without filing a lawsuit," said James Fishman of New York's Fishman & Neil, who has handled about 100 credit lawsuits in the last five years on behalf of plaintiffs.
"I've always told clients who come in and have been banging their heads against the wall, 'It takes a lawsuit to get your thing solved,'" he said.
Fishman, who settles about 99 percent of his cases, believes litigation works.
"When I go to court, the first thing I'm handed [from the defense] is a clear credit report," Fishman said. "You don't get that unless you walk into the courtroom."
Adam Taub, a Michigan consumer attorney who has handled numerous lawsuits against the credit bureaus and debt collectors, noted that "[i]n the last two or three years, just the number of calls on this particular issue has increased by 100 percent, probably more.
"Most of the people who come to my office are not particularly interested in filing a lawsuit right out of the gate," said Taub of the Lyngklip & Taub Consumer Law Group in Southfield, Mich. "Most of them have a problem. They're tearing their hair out. They're losing sleep. ... They're hopeful that the credit bureaus are going to do the right thing and remove the bad information."
But all too often, he added, nothing happens, so then comes the lawsuit.
"After being ignored over and over and over again, finally you have to do something to get their attention, and in this particular arena, it appears the only option is to bring a suit," Taub said.
ID THEFT SPURRING ACTION
Attorneys noted that in recent years, consumers have been spotting mistakes on their credit reports because they've been checking them more often, largely because of identity-theft fears. With free credit reports now available in all states, mistakes aren't hard to miss. And "credit-freeze" laws enforced in 22 states -- that bar lenders or anyone from reviewing a person's credit history -- also prevent identity thieves from opening fraudulent accounts.
There are also those who learn about bad credit the hard way: They go to buy a house or a car, and they are denied a loan or a lower interest rate because of a tainted credit report or a low credit score they were not aware of.
In both cases, plaintiffs allege that the credit bureaus are shirking their responsibility to maintain accurate records and thoroughly investigate cases involving false information, which is required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Plaintiffs making those claims got a recent boost from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled on July 24 that the credit bureaus are ultimately responsible for the reinvestigation of disputed information in their systems and cannot shirk that responsibility by blaming another group for the false information. Morris v. Equifax Information Services, 2006 WL 2043567.
Officials at Equifax and TransUnion declined comment for this story, as did attorneys contacted who are defending them in a number of lawsuits.
Experian also declined comment on the pending litigation, but defended its reputation as a gatekeeper of more than 215 million credit files.
"We have many decades of experience in both managing and safeguarding the privacy and robustness of the consumer credit files under our care, and we take that responsibility very seriously," said Experian spokesman Donald Girard.
"One of the newest challenges for Experian is the relentless attack of phishers, scam artists, identity-fraud cheats and others who would seek to exploit the nations' credit system for their own gain," Girard added.
"Experian has developed increasingly sophisticated tactics and tools to safeguard its databases ... and it will continue to do everything in its power to ensure that consumers' data is used only for the purposes allowed by federal law."
In a recent lawsuit that Equifax settled with a New Mexico woman who sued over an allegedly botched credit report, Equifax also defended its record-keeping tactics. The case involved a small-town teacher whose credit report contained information that belonged to another woman with the same name, but who had bad credit. The woman sued Equifax over the mix-up and for allegedly allowing the false information to remain on her credit file for more than two years. Apodaca v. Discover, No. CIV-04-0717 (D.N.M.).
"At all pertinent times, Equifax has acted in good faith and without intent to injure plaintiff," Equifax stated in court documents. "[A]ny alleged damages sustained by plaintiff were, at least in part, caused by the actions of plaintiff and resulted from plaintiff's own negligence, which equaled or exceeded any alleged negligence or wrongdoing by Equifax."
The woman's attorney, Rob Treinen of Feferman & Warren in Albuquerque, N.M., said that Equifax put up a tough fight, but eventually settled in May for an undisclosed amount.
"It basically takes a lawsuit to get these things sorted out," Treinen said. "Our client gave Equifax everything that they would need to fix that. ... They absolutely would not own up to what had happened."
Meanwhile, in South Carolina, the credit bureaus are battling a new kind of legal claim that has caught the attention of consumer rights lawyers nationwide. A consumer has filed three class actions against the bureaus claiming that they are engaging in a practice that is artificially lowering credit scores. The practice involves allowing credit card companies -- in this case, Capital One Financial Corp. -- to withhold a customer's credit limit from his or her credit file, which lowers the credit score. Harris v. Experian Information Solutions, No. 6:06-1808-GRA (D.S.C.).
Attorney William Narwold of Mount Pleasant, S.C.-based Motley Rice, who is representing the plaintiff in the suits filed on June 15, explains how it works.
Credit card companies typically submit two numbers to the credit bureaus: a high balance, or how much is typically owed over time, and a consumer's credit limit. The scoring system used by the credit bureaus compares the high balance against the credit limit. But if the company neglects to report the credit limit, the scoring software automatically assumes that the high balance and credit limit are one in the same.
For example, if the consumer has a $5,000 credit limit that goes unreported, but only a $1,500 balance, it will appear as though the consumer has maxed out his or her card at $1,500, which results in a lower credit score.
And that, argued Narwold, causes consumers to lose out on lower interest rates for cars, homes and personal loans.
"All of a sudden, their not reporting information costs you money," Narwold said.
Narwold's suits claim that by not requiring credit card companies to report credit limits, the credit bureaus are violating the FCRA by not taking reasonable steps "to ensure maximum possible accuracy."
"That's the magic language from the statute. It's a pretty tough standard," Narwold said.
TOUGH CASES TO PROVE
Attorney Ian Lyngklip, co-chairman of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, who trains attorneys in the area of identity theft and fair credit reporting, noted that there has been a growing interest among lawyers who want to litigate such cases. Currently, there are about 200 lawyers nationwide experienced in this area, he said, noting that as many as 270 lawyers have participated in his training seminars in recent years.
Lyngklip, whose Michigan firm is handling about 20 lawsuits against the credit bureaus over erroneous credit and is investigating another 40 such cases, stressed that credit-reporting lawsuits against the bureaus are tough to prove.
For example, he said, a credit bureau might remove false information from a file. But a debt collector will continue to go after the person, then submit another file to the credit bureau -- and the information pops up again.
"It's a very difficult suit to win," Lyngklip said.
Difficult, but not impossible, as Virginia attorney A. Hugo Blankingship III can attest to.
On July 14, a jury ordered Equifax to pay his client, an identity-theft victim, $351,000 over erroneous information that kept appearing on her credit report. Sloan v. Equifax Information Services, No. 1:05-CV-1272, (E.D. Va.)
Sloan had filed against all three bureaus, but Experian and TransUnion settled for undisclosed amounts. The case involved a woman who had her Social Security number stolen by a hospital employee while giving birth to her child in 2003. The employee used it to open numerous accounts and ran up huge debts.
The identity thief was arrested in March 2004 and later sentenced to two years in prison. But the victim spent two years trying to clear up her credit.
"She wrote letters. She called them. They saw the problem. They just didn't fix it," said Blankingship of Blankingship & Associates in Alexandria, Va.
Attorneys at Kilpatrick Stockton in Atlanta, the firm that represented Equifax in the Sloan trial, declined comment, as did company officials.
TransUnion and Experian officials also declined comment on the Sloan case.
Original Article:
Recently I found out I am a minor according to Experiant. This comes as a big shock since I have a daughter about 30, a disabled service connected Vietnam Era Vet, and yet I have to jump through several hoops to even get that status removed. I talked to a nice lady at Experiant as a media person, (since I have this site, as well as a radio show, I qualify to do so) only to find out any business can send in false information on anyone. I found the only way you get this mess straight is to mail in a letter to complain to Allen Texas, then they will tell you what they need in another letter, no phone calls are allowed even though they have 3 call in numbers. There are offices all over the world, but no matter you still have to send a snail mail letter to them without knowledge of what you need to get them to even consider taking off this false information.
My investigation also turned up that lawsuits against all of these credit bureaus have multiplied, and Experiant even has what is called Triple Advantage that promises a free credit check for a monthly fee. To cancel your membership in it, you have 30 days, probably like in my case, you have to snail mail a letter to get it even considered, although I have found in some cases some have gotten through on the phone to a hostile operator without success of correcting the false claims. The website for it does state you will be charged, but it is placed in the smaller writing and easy to overlook. My question is how can it be free if you have to PAY for it?
If any of you have had problems with these people, I would love to hear from you, and I might even do a radio show on this at some future date with you on it, or at least your story. Your name will be kept private unless you allow me to mention it. Please send me an email at SargeUNN@gmail.com or post a comment here, to give my your stories.
More on this later in more details. |
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| Truth about Obama and Muslim Email attacks |
[Jan. 14th, 2008|09:47 am] |
Contact Sarge at SargeUNN@gmail.com or sarge@unreportednews.net
Debunked Insight Magazine and Fox News Smear Campaign
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Printable Format
Contact: Tommy Vietor or Robert Gibbs, 202-228-5511
Date: January 23, 2007
Debunked Insight Magazine and Fox News Smear Campaign
In the past week, many of you have read a now thoroughly-debunked story by Insight Magazine, owned by the Washington Times, which cites unnamed sources close to a political campaign that claim Senator Obama was enrolled for “at least four years” in an Indonesian “Madrassa”. The article says the “sources” believe the Madrassa was “espousing Wahhabism,” a form of radical Islam.
Insight Magazine published these allegations without a single named source, and without doing any independent reporting to confirm or deny the allegations. Fox News quickly parroted the charges, and Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy went so far as to ask, “Why didn’t anybody ever mention that that man right there was raised — spent the first decade of his life, raised by his Muslim father — as a Muslim and was educated in a Madrassa?”
All of the claims about Senator Obama raised in the Insight Magazine piece were thoroughly debunked by CNN, which, instead of relying on unnamed sources, sent a reporter to Obama’s former school in Jakarta to check the facts.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/
Video: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/01/22/cnn-obama-debunk/
If Doocy or the staff at Fox and Friends had taken the time to check their facts, or simply made a call to his office, they would have learned that Senator Obama was not educated in a Madrassa, was not raised as a Muslim, and was not raised by his father – an atheist Obama met once in his life before he died.
Later in the day, Fox News host John Gibson again discussed the Insight Magazine story without any attempt to independently confirm the charges.
All of the claims about Senator Obama’s faith and education raised in the Insight Magazine story and repeated on Fox News are false. Senator Obama was raised in a secular household in Indonesia by his stepfather and mother. Obama’s stepfather worked for a U.S. oil company, and sent his stepson to two years of Catholic school, as well as two years of public school. As Obama described it, “Without the money to go to the international school that most expatriate children attended, I went to local Indonesian schools and ran the streets with the children of farmers, servants, tailors, and clerks.” [The Audacity of Hope, p. 274]
To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago. Furthermore, the Indonesian school Obama attended in Jakarta is a public school that is not and never has been a Madrassa.
These malicious, irresponsible charges are precisely the kind of politics the American people have grown tired of, and that Senator Obama is trying to change by focusing on bringing people together to solve our common problems.
Below please find facts and citations rebutting the claims in the Insight Magazine story to help inform your editorial discussions about this issue. Attached also please find a letter from an ecumenical coalition of religious leaders denouncing this brand of negative politics. Download file
CNN Reporter: I've Been to Madrassas in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Obama's Indonesian Elementary School Is Nothing Like That. On January 22, CNN Reporter John Vause reported, "I came here to Barack Obama's elementary school in Jakarta, looking for what some are calling an Islamic Madrassa, like the ones that teach hate and violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.. I've been to those Madrassas in Pakistan and Wolf, this school is nothing like that." [CNN, Situation Room, 1/22/07]
CNN: Former Students Said It Was A Mixed Public School That Did Not Focus On Religion. CNN's Vause reported, "There are religion classes once a week - most of the 450 students are Muslim, and are taught about Islam…the handful who are Christians, learn that Jesus is the Son of God. The deputy headmaster tells me he's unaware that his school has been labeled an Islamic Madrassa by some in United States, and bristles at the thought." Hardi Priyono, the school's Deputy Headmaster, said, "This is a public school we don't focus on religion…In our daily lives, we try to respect religion but we don't give preferential treatment to." Bandung Winadijanto, a classmate of Obama's, said, "It's not Islamic School, it's general, there is a lot of Christian, Buddhist also Confucian . . . so that's a mixed school." [CNN, Situation Room, 1/22/07]
Indonesian Embassy: Besuki School Attended by Barack Obama "Has Never Been an Islamic Madrasah Type of School." In an informal communication, the Indonesian Embassy stated that "Sekolah Dasar Negeri 04 Besuki in Menteng, Jakarta, Indonesia has always been a public school. It has never been an Islamic madrasah type of school." [Email From Indonesian Embassy, 1/19/07]
CNN Reporter: Obama's School Taught A National Curriculum of Science and Math, Students Were "Neatly Dressed In Uniform," and Teachers Wore Western Style Dress. In front of boys and girls playing in the quad of the school, Vause reported, "In the quadrangle of this elementary school - boys and girls, aged from 6 to 12, neatly dressed in uniform - playing together, just as a young Barack Obama would have done almost 40 years ago." In front of a science class, "Here they're taught science and maths." Vause said, the school, "'Besuki' elementary follows a national curriculum, just like it did in the sixties and seventies…take a close look at Obama's teachers, women and men, all in western style dress." [CNN, Situation Room, 1/22/07]
CNN Reporter: Obama's School Was One of the Wealthiest In Jakarta, Down the Road From the US Ambassador. CNN reporter Vause said, "Basuki is typical of almost all Indonesian public schools - except this is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Jakarta, the US Ambassador lives up the road...and this school is probably better off than most." [CNN, Situation Room, 1/22/07]
Time's Joe Klein: Attacks On Obama's Elementary School Are "Laughable" Given the Moderate Form of Islam Practiced in Indonesia, Especially in Those Days." Time's Joe Klein wrote, "The effort to slime Barack Obama has begun in the slimiest possible way." Describing attacks on Obama's elementary school, Klein wrote, "Now, this is nonsense of course. Obama's stepfather was not a Muslim extremist (among other things, he worked for Shell Oil). Obama attended public school for two years in Indonesia, in addition to the two years he spent in catholic schools--although, as Obama's staff points out, Indonesia is a Muslim country, so the public schools undoubtedly reflect the dominant relgious culture. The notion that the Obama's school was a Wahabi madrasa is laughable, given the moderate form of Islam practiced in Indonesia, especially in those days." [Time Blog, 1/22/07 , http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/01/disgusting.html]
Main Radical Islamic Movement in Indonesia Crushed in 1962; Obama Attended School There Beginning in 1967. Indonesia's indigenous radical Islamic movement, Darul Islam, was crushed in 1962 by Soeharto's army and because they "failed to gain support from mainstream Muslims." The vast majority of Indonesian Muslims remain tolerant and inclusive, as they have been traditionally described." Barack Obama attended school in Indonesia beginning in 1967. [US-INDO Conference, 2/7/02 ; "Dreams from My Father," 1995]
Militant Madrassas Linked to Taliban Did Not Emerge Until Late 1970s, Early 1980s. Madrasah is the term used to describe an Islamic religious school. However, the type of madrasahs linked to the Taliban did not emerge until the Afghan war against the Soviets. During that war (1979-1989), a new kind of madrasah emerged in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region -- not so much concerned about scholarship as making war on infidels, and financed by Saudi wealth. [PBS Frontline, 10/25/01 ]
Indonesian Islam is "Tolerant, Inclusive, [and] Compatible With Democracy." "Azyumardi Azra, Director of the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN), said it is 'simplistic' to think of Indonesian Islam as the same as Islam in the Middle East. Because of its slow, peaceful penetration over centuries, accommodating to and integrating with local beliefs and customs. The conventional wisdom of Indonesian Islam as tolerant, inclusive and inherently compatible with democracy is valid." [US-INDO Conference, 2/7/02 ]
FULL TEXT OF CNN STORY
CNN debunks false report about Obama
Story Highlights
• Report alleges Illinois senator attended radical Muslim school as a child
• CNN reporter visits Indonesia school in question, sees no radicalism
• Former classmate calls school "general," with multiple religions
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Allegations that Sen. Barack Obama was educated in a radical Muslim school known as a "madrassa" are not accurate, according to CNN reporting.
Insight Magazine, which is owned by the same company as The Washington Times, reported on its Web site last week that associates of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, had unearthed information the Illinois Democrat and likely presidential candidate attended a Muslim religious school known for teaching the most fundamentalist form of Islam.
Obama lived in Indonesia as a child, from 1967 to 1971, with his mother and stepfather and has acknowledged attending a Muslim school, but an aide said it was not a madrassa. (Watch video of Obama's school)
Insight attributed the information in its article to an unnamed source, who said it was discovered by "researchers connected to Senator Clinton." A spokesman for Clinton, who is also weighing a White House bid, denied that the campaign was the source of the Obama claim.
He called the story "an obvious right-wing hit job."
Insight stood by its story in a response posted on its Web site Monday afternoon.
The Insight article was cited several times Friday on Fox News and was also referenced by the New York Post, The Glenn Beck program on CNN Headline News and a number of political blogs. (Watch how the Obama "gossip" spread)
School not a madrassa
But reporting by CNN in Jakarta, Indonesia and Washington, D.C., shows the allegations that Obama attended a madrassa to be false. CNN dispatched Senior International Correspondent John Vause to Jakarta to investigate.
He visited the Basuki school, which Obama attended from 1969 to 1971.
"This is a public school. We don't focus on religion," Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster of the Basuki school, told Vause. "In our daily lives, we try to respect religion, but we don't give preferential treatment."
Vause reported he saw boys and girls dressed in neat school uniforms playing outside the school, while teachers were dressed in Western-style clothes.
"I came here to Barack Obama's elementary school in Jakarta looking for what some are calling an Islamic madrassa ... like the ones that teach hate and violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Vause said on the "Situation Room" Monday. "I've been to those madrassas in Pakistan ... this school is nothing like that."
Vause also interviewed one of Obama's Basuki classmates, Bandug Winadijanto, who claims that not a lot has changed at the school since the two men were pupils. Insight reported that Obama's political opponents believed the school promoted Wahhabism, a fundamentalist form of Islam, "and are seeking to prove it."
"It's not (an) Islamic school. It's general," Winadijanto said. "There is a lot of Christians, Buddhists, also Confucian. ... So that's a mixed school."
The Obama aide described Fox News' broadcasting of the Insight story "appallingly irresponsible."
Fox News executive Bill Shine told CNN "Reliable Sources" anchor Howard Kurtz that some of the network's hosts were simply expressing their opinions and repeatedly cited Insight as the source of the allegations.
Obama has noted in his two books, "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope," that he spent two years in a Muslim school and another two years in a Catholic school while living in Indonesia from age 6 to 10.
Also Snopes.Com runs their debunk of this vicious attack at http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp so why does Fox Noise continue as well as the mean spirited people who send this crap? How can anyone continue a well debunked attacked when our nation has so many more REAL issues of grave concern? It is time to quit buying the hate and lies folks, and GET INFORMED! |
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[Dec. 15th, 2007|12:53 pm] |
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Sarge |
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