With the economy in a "slump" more and more people are finding themselves unable to pay their debt.  When people can't pay their debts, the debt collectors start calling.  If you have been getting calls from debt collectors it is important to know your rights.  Most people do not know their rights and debt collectors will use that to their advantage.

Below the fold you will find five things that you MUST know when dealing with debt collectors.

Yesterday I posted about an email promoting disunity that was sent out to the mailing list of the Lyon County Democrats.  I forwarded this email to various people and then did some investigating on my own.  Initially I believed that Carrisa Snedecker was behind the email.  I believed this because I knew she had access to the mailing list and that she had misused this information in the past.  She has also behaved unethically while holding leadership positions in the local party.  While I still believe that Carrisa is ultimately behind this attempt to disrupt the party, the email did not originate from her.

How do I know?

NEVADA LYON CO. DEMS---

TO ALL OF YOU HILLARY SUPPORTERS... You don't HAVE TO fall in line!!
It's not over!   Nationally:    http://18millionvoices.blogspot.com
      locally:  http://hrclinton.blogspot.com/...

--If you are for Obama, and you are having second thoughts!
          It's not over!   Nationally:   http://18millionvoices.blogspot.com
      Locally:   http://hrclinton.meetup.com

--If you're, just...Obama's:  May the best man win in August!!    

Thanks all for your time!
nevadavoices@yahoo.com

What could be the cause of the latest banking crisis?  

Irresponsible lending? Nope.  

Lack of regulation?  Nope.  

Inflation?  Nada.  

Chuck Schumer? Bingo!

That's right, Senator Charles Schumer has single-handedly destroyed IndyMac and thrown the housing market into depression.  So says the right.

It's difficult to argue our side without knowing their side.  So here is a brief primer on the McCain Healthcare "Plan."

McCain's plan is to offer a refundable tax credit to individuals and families to help pay for healthcare.  His campaign says they will give $2500 to individuals and $5000 to families. That averages to $208 a month for individuals and $416 a month to families.  His campaign estimates that his plan will cost $3.6 trillion over 10 years.  His plan to cover that cost is to eliminate the current tax deductions that employers receive for providing medical benefits.

Here are some problems with his plan:

I met your wife in August of last year.  I was already a supporter, but she sealed the deal.  I realized as I listened to her that a woman like her would never settle for anything less than extraordinary.  Her words and her passion moved me, and inspired me to be a better person.  

When I first started volunteering for your campaign I was as low as low could get.  I never would have thought that I could be successful at anything.  Now, because of how you and she inspired me, I am getting ready to go into my second year of college, and will be transfering to UNLV in the Spring to enter a nursing program.  You and your wife have made me a better person. I hope that I will be the kind of nurse that will honor the strength I have gotten from you.

Thank you Barack and Michelle Obama for giving me hope and helping me find the better part of me.

MediaCurves has conducted surveys on two McCain energy ads.  The results are a little bit shocking.  After viewing the McCain ads there was a dramatic shift toward McCain.  More below the fold.

Since there isn't any real dirt on Obama, how is the right planning on taking him down?  By taking his narration of Dreams from my Father out of context.  Over the last few weeks YouTube has been flooded with videos featuring audio clips from Dreams from my Father that remove the words from context and offer no explaination or background.  

Just the other day I saw these same audio clips aired on Fox News with the subheading "Obama takes criticism for drug use and racism."  On Fox News it was implied that 527s will be using these clips in smear ads.

As I drove home from school this afternoon I stopped at Sonic to get a cherry slush.  I glanced to the right and noticed a sign in front of the Jiffy Lube flashing the time and temperature.  When I pulled into the drive-in the sign said it was 105 degrees F.  By the time I pulled out, less than 10 minutes later, it was 108 degrees.  With summer heat waves sweeping across the nation several groups are at risk of illness and death from conditions such as heat stroke.

Senior citizens are at the most risk.  As people age their bodies are less able to regulate temperature, making them more vulnerable to extreme weather.  Many senior citizens are also low income and cannot afford the energy bills associated with heating and cooling.

The homeless are also at a high risk from heat related illnesses.  The homeless often find it difficult, if not impossible, to find shelter away from the scorching rays of the sun.  This combined with limited access to potable water puts them in great danger.

As temperatures rise, however, there are things we can do to help.

By organizing the following events on election day we can reduce turnout of McCain supporters and improve our chances.

1. All day BINGO marathons.

2. Pin the blame on the illegal immigrant festivals.

3. The one day only 24-hour early bird special at Denny's.

4. A live Wayne Newton concert on pay-per-view.

5. Anti-doesn't-think-exactly-like-me parades across the country featuring Evangelical leaders reciting leviticus.

6. Shut down a street near the polling place and set up huge bright orange detour signs pointing out the exact directions in big black letters and watch as they still go to wrong way.

7. A matenee triple features of The Passion of the Christ, Expelled, and Steel Magnolias.

8. The first ever live execution, for best results should feature a minority.

9. "Throw the pie at Bill Clinton" events across the country.

10. Polling places in areas that will require them to turn left.

No, I'm not referring to the act of aborting fetuses based on gender, but instead giving men the right to "abort" their parental rights.  

Here is my take:
I support a man's right not to be on a birth certificate or have responsibility for a child he does not want.  In my opinion it is simply not fair that a woman can make this choice but a man cannot.  But really, it is not about the man at all.

I don't think any child has ever benefited from having a parent in their life who does not want them.  In fact, it is even more serious than "not benefitting."  I think forcing someone to care for a child they do not want is emotional abuse of the child.  A child is better off with no father than with a bad one, in my opinion.

The main issue is that it absolutely must not be reversable.  A man who choses to give up his parental rights must not be allowed to show back up 10 years later wanting to be a father.  Male abortion should be just as terminal as actual abortion.  Also, I feel like it must be done before birth.  

The media has been pushing the meme that you can't trust the black guy for weeks now.  Many of you are eating it up like candy, and now you've gone and done it:

Sen. John McCain is making surprising headway with religious conservatives - that part of the Republican electoral coalition he was expected to find the most resistant.
-- http://www.washingtontimes.com/...

Not more than a month ago Obama was meeting with Evangelical leaders and it was looking like they might back him instead of McCain.  So what's changed their minds so quickly?

But Mr. Burress also said that social conservatives simply do not trust Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

This will be short.

A year ago when the media insisted that Obama was an "empty suit" with no clear positions, it would drive me crazy.  Having been a volunteer for his campaign from the very beginning, I was very aware of his positions.  I had seen him speak numerous times, both in person, online and on television.  I had heard him make definitive statements about what he believes in, and what he plans to do.  

I could not understand why the media refused to acknowledge that his speeches were more than just inspirational platitudes.  "How could these people be so stupid?", I would think to myself.  I guess I was just naive.  It hadn't occurred to me that by keeping the general public ignorant of Obama's positions they were setting him up for the most absurd media smear campaign imaginable.

I got back from the park a little bit ago.  I was at our city's 4th of July festival registering voters.  One of our Democratic candidates for State Assembly was there and, you know, if he had been the first Democrat I ever met I would have walked away hating Democrats.

First, he complained that there were too many 4th of July celebrations in the county.  He said he thought they should just have one celebration in the county seed because it is too hard for the candidates to get to all the people.  Funny, I didn't realize the 4th of July celebrations were about the candidates.

Then he went out to pass out his literature.  He was gone about 15 minutes and came stomping back like a two-year-old.  He proclaimed that he wasn't going to walk around anymore because it was a "waste of time" because "half these people aren't even registered anyway."  Mind you, we had clipboards with voter registration forms at the booth.

But you know what really bugged me?  He got on a soap box about healthcare and then actually said that if a patient does not follow the doctor's orders exactly they should be allowed to kick them off the healthcare plan and refuse to treat them anymore.  The fu..?

It seems that almost every day the media is jumping on some "new" thing Barack Obama said that they perceive is somehow different from what he was saying before.  The problem is that the "new" things are, for the most part, not new at all.  They are the same things he has been saying since the very beginning of the primaries.  They are the same things he has said in stump speech after stump speech across the country.  They are the same things that I personally heard him say at events in May 2007, December 2007, and January 2008.

So, I totally expect this from the media, what bugs me is that there are constantly diaries here about them.  I don't know if these are McCain trolls or what, but it is getting really annoying.  So, I have an idea.  For those people who apparently have no idea what Barack Obama is really about go here.  That is Obama's YouTube page.  It includes everything from ads to speeches to news reports.  You can also go here.  That is the issues section of Barack Obama's website.  There you will find the "Blueprint for Change," which has been part of the campaign since Iowa.

How do I feel about telecom immunity?  Honestly, I don't even know.  In the wake of 911 The President of the United States asked the telecoms to help with surveillance and said that it was legal.  At least, that is my understanding of how it went down.  This whole telecom immunity thing just feels like a distraction from the most important issue, the President of the United States asked them to break the law and lied to them about it.

This administration has mastered the art of diverting attention away from their misdeeds, and this feels like just another example.  While we bicker about telecom immunity they are sneaking away into the night with our civil liberties.  I guess I really care a lot less about whether or not people can file civil suits against the telecoms than I do about whether or not Bush and Co will face criminal prosecution for their actions.

Now, there have been times when I have disagreed with Senator Obama.  But you know, I expect that.  I am smart enough to know that the only way there will ever be a candidate who agrees with me 100% is if I'm the candidate.  And since I don't plan on running for any office ever, I look to the candidate who agrees with me more than not, and who I trust.

Joe Horn a 62-year-old man from Pasadena, TX who shot two men in the back, killing both, has been cleared of all charges by a Harris County grand jury.  Horn called 911 when he noticed his neighbor's house being robbed.  While on the phone with 911 he indicated several times that he was going to go out and kill these two men.  The 911 dispatcher tried several times to talk Horn out of going outside.  Eventually Horn went outside, he can be heard on the 911 call shouting "Boom.  You're dead." which is followed by several shotgun blasts.  Horn then tells the 911 dispatcher that he "had no choice" and that the guy was coming at him.  The autopsy reveals, however, that both men were shot in the back.