Why you should always send your tax return with delivery confirmation!

May 12th, 2010

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I am waiting for the IRS to process our income tax return. I do believe I also mentioned the importance of always sending any correspondence to the IRS with delivery confirmation from the post office. Having had past experience with the IRS putting false delivery dates on mailed items, I KNOW how important this is.

I just wanted to tell you that… sure enough… they are falsely dating my documents again. I sent our tax return via Express Mail with delivery confirmation and signature required. My delivery confirmation shows it was delivered and signed by the IRS on 4/7/2010. I just got off the phone with them and they are trying to tell me that it was delivered 4/28/10. That is a whole THREE weeks later!!! Of course, the lady I spoke with wasn’t helpful at all. She just kept telling me there is nothing I can do about it. BS!!! She then told me to write a complaint to the office that received my return.

This is ridiculous. That is the IRS for you, trying to be sneaky and buy themselves more time to delay. For anyone who doesn’t know, these dates are very important if you want anything done in a timely manner.  The IRS employees have time frames to abide by.  I am being told I have to wait 8 weeks from the date they “received” it for them to process it.  So they conveniently tack on an extra 3 weeks saying my return didn’t arrive when it really did.

So, here we go.  Yet another reason why you have to stay on top of the IRS at all times.  And had I not called and questioned them repeatedly about my refund status, I never would have known they put the wrong delivery date in.  Don’t trust the IRS people!!

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Posted in Taxes | 2 Comments »

The horrors of dealing with a car accident settlement and trial.

April 22nd, 2010

In 12/2008, I was in a car accident.  This man, Roger Lamb II, ran a red light in my neighborhood and t-boned my brand new Toyota Camry.  I had only had the car for 6 months and it only had about 5k miles on it.  He hit me in the driver’s side doors with his pickup truck.  He hit me so hard he smashed the doors and frame in a good foot or so.  The front, side, and side curtain air bags deployed, shredding the seat material and blasting me in the head, face, and left arm.  The car was beyond repair and had to be totaled.

I had sat through an entire red light cycle just  half a block down the street from my Grandmother’s house (whom I had just left).  I remember watching a guy pull up to the light on the cross street and come to a complete stop as his light had just changed from green to red.  He was sitting in the left turn lane.  My light turned green and I proceeded forward through the intersection, turning left.  I saw Roger Lamb down the road a way with ample distance to stop his vehicle.  I looked at the other guy who was already stopped in that other left turning lane as I would be driving past him.  I looked to the right to make sure everyone over there was stopped and wouldn’t hit me.  By the time I looked back left again towards Roger Lamb, I realized instantly that he was not stopping.  In that moment, I knew it was too late to get out of the way.   So I did the only thing I could do, put my foot on the brake so I wouldn’t roll into something else, leaned in toward the center of my car, and braced for impact.  I closed my eyes.  I felt the impact like a train.  It was a hard smash against my body.  It seemed like an explosion with the air bags going off.  I felt the car spin in a circle, screech to stop, and shut off.  I felt like maybe I momentarily blacked out.  I opened my eyes to white smoke and particles in the air around me from the air bags.  Like I was in a fog.  It was very surreal.  The inside of the car suddenly felt foreign as the entire sidewall was smash in and deformed beside me.  I couldn’t see out the left window because the airbags were in the way.  So I couldn’t see Roger Lamb yet.  But I could see the other guy who had been stopped in that left turn lane the whole time staring at me in amazement.  I went into what I can best describe as mental shock.  I just kept saying “oh my god” over and over and started crying.  My neck felt very strange.  Tight and tingly.  But there was no pain at the moment.  It had to be adrenaline stopping it.  Crying, I did my best to pull the air bag out of the way so I could look out the left window, which I had rolled down prior to the accident.  I saw Roger Lamb pacing beside his truck holding his hands to his head in panic.  He kept saying “I KNEW I shouldn’t drive today!  I TOLD my dad I shouldn’t drive today.  I can’t believe this!  The second accident in a row!”  He hadn’t seen me looking at him yet.  I said through my tears “What were you doing??!  Your light was RED!”  He ran over to me uninjured, hesitated for a minute, then said (as if trying to convince me) ”No… YOUR light was red.”  I immediately knew I had to secure witnesses.  I just stopped talking to him that instant.  I had to unbuckle my seat belt, crawl to the passenger side door, and exit that way.  It really felt strange like it wasn’t really happening.  It felt weird standing in the middle of the intersection as people stared at me.  I quickly walked over to that guy sitting in the left turn lane and said “please don’t leave!  That man is trying to say I’m the one who ran the light!”  The witness said “Oh no, he’s the one who ran the light.  I will stay.”  I thanked him, all the while still crying.  I walked back to my car to where I could see the damage for the first time.  When I rounded the driver’s side, I just lost it even more.  My brand new beautiful blue Camry was destroyed and mangled.  I was so upset.  I just went back around the passenger side and sat down.

My grandma had heard the accident and came running down the street.  I reassured her that I was alive.  The police showed up and the officer took my information.  He asked if I was ok and I said I didn’t know.  That my neck felt strange, but that I thought I was ok to drive myself to the hospital.  Ambulances are expensive.  I told him about how Roger Lamb (didn’t know his name at the time) had run the light.  That the witness had seen him do it.  And what Roger had said about a previous accident and trying to tell me it was my fault.  The officer later confirmed that witnesses verified it was Roger Lamb’s fault.

When the officer was done with us, I was able to start the car and drive it to the urgent care which was just a couple of blocks away.  Because of their insurance/payment situation, I ended up having to go to a different hospital.  Over a period of several months, I went to Urgent care again, my family doctor, and physical therapy.  I had many x-rays and an MRI.  All confirming that I had really bad whiplash and injury to my left shoulder.  The physical therapy was quite lengthy, but was prescribed by all the doctors I had seen. 

I unfortunately had become unhappy with the service at that particular therapy center and stopped going just before my treatment was over.  One of their staff members was making sexually suggestive statements to me and my husband.  So that is a pretty legitimate reason to leave, I would say.  I was running out of money for treatment at that time because I had already used up all of my medical benefits through my auto insurance.  My individual health insurance has a super high deductible.  So I had to wait a while before going to a new therapist.  The therapy had helped with the pain, but it gradually came back.  I finally broke down and went to a new therapy center (recommended by my doctor again) almost a year later.  This therapist was much more helpful and I was done after a few months.

I continue, to this day, to have neck and shoulder problems.  I cannot drive long distances or sit for long periods at the computer (thank goodness for auto save).  I cannot walk for long periods without pain.  I had to help move to our new home and was in agony for days after.  I continue to take anti-inflammatory and pain medications.  I get headaches and my neck is stiff a lot.  My left arm aches a lot of the time.  The doctor’s told me it’s typical to have pain for the rest of your life after a car accident like that.

From the beginning, Roger Lamb’s insurance company (Progressive) has tried to weasel out of paying for everything.  They initially tried to get me to personally agree over the phone for some piddly amount when I hadn’t even known the extent of all the bills and damage.  My lawyer pursued the matter.  Even though it was factually Roger Lamb’s fault, Progressive continued to make ridiculous low ball settlement offers that wouldn’t even cover 50% of my medical bills.  They tried to find any way to put the blame on someone else.  They tried to say I went to therapy for too long.  They tried to say the therapist made me worse.  They tried to pick at my lost wages claim and find ways to make it go away. 

So, we filed suit and have a court date pending.  Progressive is just now offering Roger’s policy limits which still is nowhere near enough money to cover everything.  The guy was under-insured.  We had no choice but to accept the policy limit from Progressive.  Then move on to pursue the rest from Roger Lamb.

All the while, my doctor’s bills were piling up, getting behind, and some going to collections.

Let’s just say I was SHOCKED to get a bankruptcy notice in the mail stating that Roger Lamb filed bankruptcy and is trying to include my claim in the bankruptcy!!  WHAT?!!  Are you kidding?!  I was furious!!!  My lawyer intends to petition that to try to keep my claim out of the bankruptcy.

We now have to pursue MY insurance company to make use of my under-insured motorist coverage.  I shouldn’t have to use that!  Why should MY insurance company have to pay for his mistake?  But, I have no choice unless I want to end up bankrupt.  So, we are in negotiations with them now.

The final alternative is to take this to trial.  And what pisses me off more is my lawyer says that jurors don’t respond favorably towards victims in accident cases.  I can’t believe that.  He says most likely, we would have a worse outcome if we take this to trial.  What kind of a world are we living in?  That is ridiculous!

Not only have I suffered mentally and physically, but there was a lot of my life that was disrupted.  I used to have a motorcycle, but sold it because I can’t wear the helmet long anymore.  I lost all the money (including the GAP insurance) I invested to buy the Camry he smashed (that I only had for 6 months!).  I sat in the Toyota office for a whole day waiting to get that car.  I had to scrounge around MORE MONEY to go back and get ANOTHER car!  I didn’t get ANY money back from that car being totaled.  I had to cut back on the activities at the gym.  I still have troubles lifting objects and not paying for it later.  My credit has suffered.  I wasted a LOT of my time in therapy and doctor offices.  I lost business clients when I couldn’t complete my projects in that first two months.

And yet, everyone wants to treat me like it’s all my fault or my therapist’s fault.  I have lost all respect for Progressive after this.  Even a small bit for my own insurance company American Family because they tried to also say I was in therapy too long and they don’t want to give me what I am owed.  Who are they to make that call??  They are not doctors!  We, the policy holders, pay out the a$$ for these coverages and just as soon as they are needed, the insurance companies tuck their tails and run.  They try to point the finger at everyone else to get out of paying.  It’s all a big joke and scam to take our money and not give back.

This whole thing leaves me very disgusted and disappointed.

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Status update on IRS Offer In Compromise (OIC), tax return, and First Time Homebuyer Credit Allocation

April 22nd, 2010

If you haven’t read my previous blog regarding this, you should read it first.

My husband and I finally decided to break down and send in our tax return with the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, despite our concerns of possibly losing $4k because of my old tax debt.  We just really needed the money now, so much that $4k is better then waiting until next year for $8k.  Ugh.

I still had no 100% firm answer from the IRS on whether or not they would take half of the credit and apply it towards my back taxes.  But the general consensus was that we get to designate where the credit goes, not the IRS.  It’s hard to accept that the IRS would ever let you decide something like that when you owe them money.

So we filed our taxes by mail this month.  I sent it certified, which I recommend everyone do.  I have had times where the IRS would actually input a later date then when it was really delivered.  Thank goodness I had delivery confirmation.  I had to send that in to them and they updated my account.  If I hadn’t had that, it would have been seriously delayed in processing.  And trust me, if you are filing an injured spouse form, have an offer in compromise, or are applying for the First Time Homebuyer Credit, they will take their sweet time. 

Anyway, it was delivered 4/7/2010.  I called yesterday to see if there were any updates, but they told me it’s too soon for them to even see it.  I was told it would take something like 8 weeks to process.  I can almost gaurantee it will probably take longer because I have so much going on with it.  Which is really irritating.  I will keep you all posted though when I hear something.  I will be calling and checking in periodically.  Which I also recommend anyone in a similar situation do. 

Last year we filed the Injured Spouse form.  There were all kinds of issues.  A lot of back and forth, send this, send that, nonsense.  And I tell you, me calling and hounding them was way more productive then waiting for mail correspondence.  I would find out important things that had to be done by phone, then get the notice about it needing to be done in the mail, two weeks later.

Oh, and be SURE to include a copy of your HUD-1 settlement statement from your home purchase WITH your tax return AT THE TIME YOU MAIL IT.  I believe they initially didn’t require that before they revised the tax credit.  If you send it separate from your return, it could delay things.  And I also do not believe you can file electronically if applying for that credit. So be prepared, because filing by mail takes way longer then what you might be used to when filing electronically.

I also want to add, for anyone who might be wondering, we use TurboTax for our taxes.  I buy the business package because I am self-employed.  For anyone who thinks you need to pay a tax guy to do your tax return, you really don’t.  And my situation is complicated.  I have my business, my husband’s W-2 income, student loan interest paid, Making Work Pay credits, Offer In Compromise, Injured Spouse, expenses of running a business out of my home, vehicle expenses, equipment write offs, and the First Time Home Buyer Credit.  But, in all my years of using Turbo Tax, I have never had a problem getting everything in there correctly.

We have bought our home and are finally moved in.  So even though I have to deal with all this IRS nonsense… I couldn’t be happier!

Posted in Buying Our First Home | 1 Comment »

How the IRS Offer In Compromise effects the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

March 10th, 2010

I have run into quite the dilemma!  If you have been following my blog, then you know that I had my IRS Offer In Compromise accepted in 2009.  When you have an OIC accepted, you must agree to let the IRS take any tax refund you are entitled to for the year the OIC is accepted.  So for me, any refund I am owed for 2009 will be kept by the IRS. 

 The tax debt I owed on was acquired prior to myself being married and was a very long time ago.  So my husband is considered an “injured spouse” in IRS terms and none of his refund is ever taken to pay my tax debts.  So we know with certainty that his income tax refund will go to him and not be used to pay my old tax debts even though we file jointly (we did this last year too).

My issue here is that my husband is buying our first house this year.  It’s going to be in his name only, not mine.  So he will be be getting the first time home buyer tax credit.  If he files taxes separate, he only gets $4k for the credit.  If he files jointly with me, then he gets the full $8k credit.  Which makes it seem like me being added to the taxes involves doubling the credit… which would make it seem like 50% of the credit is considered mine.  My concern is that the IRS will take that additional $4k (50%) as if it were my half and apply it to my old tax debt. 

Now I have looked all over the Internet for information on how the two work together, but there is NOTHING that I could find.  So I called the OIC department and asked the lady who accepted my OIC.  She told me she “believes” that the IRS will not take any of the first time home buyer tax credit to pay my back taxes per my OIC agreement.  She was not 100% sure of that though.  I told her I wanted a firm answer and something in writing.  She refered me to the IRS Tax Law department.  The woman there said the same thing… that she was pretty sure they wouldn’t take that money from us… but she wasn’t 100% sure.  She refered me to the Injured Spouse department.  The guy there explained that the there is no set rule designating where those funds must be allocated in any certain situation.  That the IRS will apply them however we say to on the Injured Spouse form we must fill out.  So basicly, my husband has to put that the whole $8k is supposed to go to him.  This IRS guy could not give me any documentation to support this and I didn’t feel very confident about what he was saying.  I can just see them saying that, we fill out the form saying the money goes to my husband, and then they say “no… it doesn’t work that way”… and they take the $4k from us.

We really need the money now.  Being that we have to borrow against it in order to get our house.  But at this point feel like if we file for it on our 2009 taxes that we are taking a huge risk of losing 50% of the credit to the IRS.  We can always wait until 2010 tax filing to claim the credit in full, but that will make things hard on us as we would have to come up with the money to pay back the loans for our purchase expenses. 

Does anyone out there have any firm information on this situation?  It would be greatly appreciated.

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Posted in Taxes | 2 Comments »

Getting closer to owning our first home!

February 3rd, 2010

My husband and I are much closer to being first time home buyers!  It’s been such a long drawn out process!  We are working our way toward closing.  We are purchasing a HUD foreclosure home in Ohio.  Working with HUD and their property management staff has been a bit difficult.  They have a lot of ridiculous rules and seem to be slow about responding to communications.

We got our estimates for our contractors that will be installing a new water heater and carpet.  We are now waiting on our bank to get a second appraisal that will give them the “improved” value.  Once that is done, then we can apply for our first time buyer grant money with the Columbus Housing Partnership.  Then we just have to wait for that to come through and hope it shows up before our closing date at the end of February.  Otherwise, we have to pay HUD a $25 per diem.  That is really annoying.

I want to say that not all banks are created equal.  Definitely do your shopping around and be thorough about it.  We have gone through 4 banks in the process.  Their costs were all different and the way their procedures vary as well.  Also make sure that they have experience with the grant program you plan to use.  I had banks telling me totally different things and practically calling each other liars.  It’s been insane.  Also, be prepared for the numbers they give you in the beginning to change a lot.

In the end, I chose a bank that was a small amount more expensive just because their customer service blew the other banks away.  My mortgage banker with Union Savings has been absolutely fantastic.  He has gone above and beyond.  He made himself available late at night, on the weekends, and was always super fast at getting back with me.  Let me tell you from personal experience, customer service is VERY important.  The other bankers didn’t seem like it was very important to them.  Like they didn’t care if they got our business or not.  You get what you pay for I guess.

More updates soon!

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Posted in Buying Our First Home | Add Comment »

IRS Offer In Compromise complete and my tax liens are released!

February 3rd, 2010

Hello everyone!  If you have been following my progress with the IRS Offer In Compromise, then here is great news!  I have reached the final steps in this whole awful process!  I mailed in the $100 payment a few weeks ago that I had offered as my final payment to get the OIC.  I called the IRS to confirm they received payment.  They did and they released my 2 federal tax liens on 2/1/2010!  Yeay!!!  My tax balance is officially zero!

Thank goodness because I swear, once you get under the belly of the IRS… the fees and interest make it impossible to get out from under them.  It’s like the student loan that you can never escape.

This couldn’t have happened at a better time.  With my husband and I buying our first home, I never could have been on the deed with those tax liens.  That really would have bothered me.

Please know, I do believe in paying your taxes.  It makes the world go ’round.  I have been paying my taxes on time and in full for many years.  One bad year a long time ago can screw everything up for you and it can seem like there is no way out.  So, I am grateful for the immense help I just received from the IRS.

Now I am waiting for the letter of lien release.  Then the final step will be to get the liens updated on my credit to show released.  I’m not sure just yet if they can be removed completely, but I will work on that.

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Posted in Taxes | 1 Comment »

Toyota recall and my experience as a 2009 Camry owner.

February 3rd, 2010

I leased my first 2009 Camry in 6/2008. Had it for 6 months until a guy ran a red light and t-boned the driver’s side with his truck. The car’s safety features performed well. Both side and side curtain airbags deployed and the safety shut off activated. The car had to be totaled and I have some long term injuries, but the Camry did save me from a much worse fate.

I immediately went back and leased ANOTHER 2009 Camry in December 2008 because I was so pleased with the car. My second lease has not been pleasant. After taking the Camry home, I realized it was pulling noticably to the left. I took the car in to service FIVE times!! Each time, they told me they fixed it, but the problem was still there. They even tried to give me some ridiculous story about what they supposedly fixed until they realized I knew they were full of it. I used to work on cars and they were saying something completely unrelated. Extremely angry, I took the car in the last time and they finally told me the factory had a batch of cars where the machine “installed the struts incorrectly”. They finally fixed it.

I was also told by numerous service staff that I would still get my two free oil changes that came with my first Camry… to use on the second Camry since I basicly had paid for them, but never got to use them. And also because I came right back and leased another one. Toyota scored over $25k when the insurance totaled that car. So of course, when I tried to use that extra free oil change, the service manager told me no even though the person who scheduled my appointment over the phone had confirmed it would be ok. I was mad because I had been told by several other people in service that I would be able to use them. I told him that if I had been told no from the beginning, then I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I told him I had come there prepared to not have to pay for it. I was mad and said “had I known this, I would have went somewhere cheaper”. So he said “Why would I give it to you for free then if you are just going to go somewhere else after you use all your free oil changes? How would that benefit us?” I couldn’t believe he said that. So I said “are you telling me that you would refuse someone their free oil changes if you knew they were taking it somewhere else after that?” He said “no”. Then he questioned me for the names of who told me I would get them free. I didn’t remember. I am horrible with names. So then he talked to me as if I were lying and said rudely “how am I supposed to correct this situation with my staff if I don’t know who said it?” I yelled “Have a staff meeting and tell EVERYONE!!!” I slammed my hand down and said “NEVER MIND! I’M GOING SOMEWHERE ELSE!” He stopped me and said irritably “I will take care of this one, but that’s it.” I said “FINE.” and stomped off.

Now for this recall… what bothers me most is that the only way I even knew about it was to hear it on the news. All this time and I have not got one letter or phone call from Toyota explaining anything to me. I realize they did not have the answers or fix, but they should have sent everyone a letter of explanation immediately. My Camry IS a part of the recall and I still have not heard anything from Toyota. I called Tansky Toyota where I bought my Camry and they said they had no information except what to do if I experience a problem. They told me I have to wait until I get a recall notice in the mail. What is ridiculous is that they expect drivers to make a split second decision to put the car in neutral, hit the brake, or turn the car off. So what happens if you have a car in front of you that slams on their brake for whatever reason, you let off the gas, but the car keep going. You have a couple of seconds to stop that car. Everyone knows that your brain does not have instant reaction time. I think their advice is dangerous. They should be telling people not to drive them instead. Just now, I heard that the Secretary of Transportation in Ohio said “stop driving the effected vehicles”. That’s just great. How am I supposed to get anywhere?

I saw the video of the conference with Toyota higher ups and it was sad. They blatantly admitted to cutting corners financially on safety and quality. I was disgusted with Toyota after seeing that. You should watch it! So now, I don’t even want this car anymore. I don’t want to pay a lease payment for a car that I won’t even own in the end. It will be sitting parked until it’s fixed. Who knows when that will be. Why should I have to pay for this? Who would pay for a rental car that they can’t drive?? And you know, they probably won’t even provide me with that either… a rental car!

I also want to add in response to the people comparing foreign to domestic recall practices… it shouldn’t matter what company we are talking about. NONE OF THEM should behave this way. It doesn’t matter if one responded worse then the other. What matters is that they aren’t handling things the right way. In my 15 years of driving, I have experienced a few minor recalls by domestic dealers (mostly Ford) and they were all fixed promptly. Toyota has left a bad taste in my mouth!

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Americans and their habits of charity and helping.

January 23rd, 2010

I am sure I will probably get some tough criticism on this blog post, but I feel very strongly about this and just have to get it off my chest.  I am all for helping others and being charitable.  If someone is in need, I would love to help them.  I have always been that way.  But the way Americans “help” others just really pisses me off some times. 

Since the disaster of the horrible storms in Haiti, all I ever see on American television now is “donate to help Haiti”.  Do this, do that, so on and so forth to help Haiti.  On nearly EVERY channel the other day was the same exact benefit show for the people of Haiti.  I couldn’t escape it.  That’s great.  Kudos to the people who help Haiti.

However, what upsets me, is that I NEVER see Americans pull together this much for their own people.  If we have a major catastrophe, there is a momentary flood of people wanting to “help” and then it’s like everyone forgets it happened and the “help” fizzles out.  America has huge numbers of homeless and unemployed people.  We have actual “tent cities” where our own people have lost their jobs, their health insurance, their homes, and everything else and have no one helping them.  American homeless living in tents that our government put together for them.  Many people don’t even have THAT luxury and are just living on the streets. 

I saw on the news about the American woman who is adopting two little girls from an orphanage in Haiti.  What about all the orphans here in America?  Why aren’t they being adopted??

Our economy is in a horrid state.  People are losing everything they own and their jobs.  Insurance companies are raping us.  Disease and illness are killing us because the insurance companies don’t care.   And instead of putting their money into our failing economy and supporting causes to improve our situation, we are sending it to every other country that needs anything.  Think of all the money being poured into other countries for aid and war support… then think of how all that money could help us get off our feet.

Our nation is riddled with crime and drugs.  We are fighting the “war on drugs” here with no money to support it.  Our police are being laid off because we can’t pay them.  Our schools that teach children not to become criminals, are being closed down and stripped of funds because we can’t afford to support them.  Yet we continue to funnel our money into wars and to support countries at war so that THEY can become strong and safe.  We continue to send money to other countries to educate THEIR children.

Please… please… please… know that I am all for supporting other countries.  It’s just that… well… why do Americans even THINK that we are in any position to help everyone else when we can’t even help ourselves??  If we stopped trying to help everyone else, just long enough to become a strong and healthy nation again… just IMAGINE how much we could really help other countries then!  We would be in a much better financial position to help other countries.  Americans do everything backwards!

I want to see Americans making benefit shows to improve the American economy.  Benefit shows to aid all the homeless Americans.  Benefit shows to keep our schools open.  I want to see the news showing daily coverage of homeless families living in these tent cities.  Coverage of the little girl who lost her mom to cancer because her insurance company denied their claims… and her father committed suicide because they lost everything and he felt like a failure… so now she is orphaned and no one will adopt her because they already adopted a child from another country.  That’s what I want to see on the news!  American families struggling to survive day to day.  Why don’t I see this??  Sure, the news does  a short blurb on the state of unemployment… or the state of home foreclosures… but I don’t see graphic images of homeless people living on the streets of America in need of help.  Freezing out in the cold snow and rain.  I don’t see charity organizations producing commercials saying “just one quarter will put shoes on this American orphan girls feet”.

WHY?!  Because Americans live in this dream world of DENIAL.  We don’t want to see that our nation is in shambles.  So no one REALLY talks about it.  Instead, we focus on other countries and their misfortune. 

Am I the only one who sees what is happening here????

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Posted in Charity & Aid | Add Comment »

Dolphin slaughtering! “The Cove” Taiji Japan

January 2nd, 2010

If other intelligent life happens to find us here on earth, we are going to be known as the species that abused and murdered every living thing on our planet!

I was at a RedBox the other day looking to rent a movie while my hubby was at band practice.  I had seen just about everything in the RedBox.  There was this one particular DVD called “The Cove” that had caught my eye a couple times before, but I always passed it up.  That day, I decided to take a closer look.  It appeared to be a documentary about something terrible happening to dolphins in Japan.  I thought… “eh… why not?” and so I rented it.

I am so glad I watched this by myself because it was horrifying and I was in floods of tears half way through the documentary.  This was yet just another part of human behavior that left a permanent mark on me.  It traumatized me.  It’s been on my mind ever since.

In Taiji Japan, it is regular practice and part of Japanese “culture” (so they claim), to drive dolphins into this particular cove and slaughter them in a very inhumane manner.    Dolphins are extremely sensitive to sound.  These dolphin “farmers” make intollerable loud noises with large numbers of boats to drive hundreds of dolphins into the cove with nets.  Once the dolphins are trapped, they are left there over night.  You can hear the dolphins cry out to each other.  It’s it’s very disturbing.

All the while, the Japanese men who run this operation try with all their might to keep people out.  They will threaten, yell, and some times get violent if you try to photograph or videotape the scene.  Many activists who have tried to stop them have been murdered.

The next day, the men come back and herd the dolphins into a tight compacted area at the back of the cove.  They have tried to put up barriers to prevent people from seeing what they are doing.  The people who filmed “The Cove” exposed the full horror.  Next, the men take long poles with spears and hooks and stab at the dolphins repeatedly.  Again, you hear the dolphins crying in pain.  As the men continue torturing and stabbing the poor defenseless creatures, the cove begins to turn crimson red with blood.  It no longer looks like water.  It’s a blood bath.  The dolphins flip in the air trying to get away.  I watched as they struggled to stay afloat for air, would sink down, struggle back to the surface, then disappear into the ocean of blood.  Some would just thrash constantly due to the agonizing pain.  Some of the men were actually swimming in the blood.  I will never forget it.  It was like watching some horror film that only a disturbed person would imagine up.

You might think, “well how is that any different then fisherman netting fish?”  It is VERY different.  Dolphins are said to be one of the most intelligent creatures on earth.  They are friendly with humans, they have families, they communicate, they show what can be related to depression in humans, and much more that makes them “sensitive” beings that can suffer just as we do.  In my eyes… this is no different then Jewish people being “collected” and slaughtered during the Holocaust for some selfish dillusional man’s ideas.  It is equally horrid.  Person… or dolphin… the horror that is experienced is the same.

Many of the citizens of Japan claim they do not know about this.  I could see how a corupt government might hide that.  Taiji has gone out of their way to paint a picture of a town that loves dolphins in a good way.  Maybe the people really are fooled?  I don’t know, but the word is out and if they don’t do something about it, then the blood is on their hands now.  No more excuses.  Of course, it seems that the people of Japan are afraid to stand up for what is right.  Afraid the people of higher powers will kill them or worse.

The plot of this story does not just end there.  There is a long history of a corrupt government, lies, and cover ups.  And I am sure you can guess what all this is over… good old fashioned money.  The dolphin farmers insist it is their culture and not the money that drives them.  That’s a bunch of crap if you ask me.

Dolphin farmers have been caught in some major issues before.  Dolphins contain toxic amounts of mercury due to chemical dumping into the oceans.  Toxic enough to kill people.  But primarilly, they cause mental problems and birth defects.  Other dolphin farming operations have been previously shut down because the meat was discovered to be causing widespread illness and death due to the mercury poisoning.  There is nothing different about these dolphins.  They are just as toxic and deadly.  All they did was pick a new place to harvest them.

Knowing that… shouldn’t you ask yourself… “what are they doing with the meat?”  Well that would be an excellent question.  At one point, they were trying to supply the local schools the meat for their lunch menu.  That’s right… SCHOOLS.  As in… feeding the toxic mercury filled meat to the CHILDREN.  After much protest and with the help of some officials who risked their lives and stood up for the children, they claim to have put a stop to that.  However, activists have done DNA testing on the “fish” meat products that are sold in Japanese markets to find that meat labeled as fish products actually contained dolphin.  These dolphin murderers are passing the dolphin meat off to unsuspecting people who think they are buying safe fish products.  So just how far does this go?  How is it getting into the fish products?  Just who is really in on this?  In the documentary, you can see that it clearly seems that the government is in on it.  It wouldn’t suprise me.  So not only are all these people promoting the torture of dolphins, but they are poisoning their own people.  It seriously has me thinking twice when I open a can of tuna to eat.

What these people don’t seem to realize is that a HUGE part of the problem here is the way in which they kill the dolphins.  They literally torture them.  They jab hooks into them, slash them open with knives, and let them bleed and drown to death in horrible pain.  We fight and protest over the inhumane ways our meat products are raised and killed, why should it stop at dolphins??

If you want to support a cause, this is most certainly a worthy one.  More and more people are becoming aware of the situation.  Kudos to those who made that documentary possible.  They truly risked their lives and their freedom to film it and get it produced.  You wouldn’t believe the extremes they went to in order to get this footage.  They were absolutely brilliant.  If you watch it, you will understand. There is a clip on the official website for the documentary “The Cove”.  Visit their website, http://www.thecovemovie.com for more information.

I found this short documentary clip on YouTube about this.  Take a look. 

This is also happening in other countries.  I found this one on YouTube as well.  It’s extremely graphic, but shows you how inhumane and purely murderous this process is.

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Posted in Animal Welfare | 1 Comment »

Worthless Spammers

December 17th, 2009

I get a ridiculous amount of people spamming my site on a daily basis both in the blog and in the forums.  I really don’t know why they even bother.  I have really good spam filters in place that pretty much block all spam before anyone could ever see it.  You would think they would realize… hey… there’s no spam on this site.  Or… hey… none of my spam posts are showing up.  Duh.

What is more irritating to me is that most of these spammers are pushing prescription drugs.  Yet another example of those who don’t care what it is they are pushing on others or how it may harm them.  They are in it for the money.  They don’t care how annoying they are or that no one wants to see that crap on this site.  All they see is money in their pocket.  Just another reason why you cannot trust what people are telling you.

People who spam are pretty low on the food chain if you ask me.  It’s like getting athletes foot.  You can’t stand it and you try and try to get rid of it… but it’s bound and determine to be irritating and annoying and not let you forget about it.  No one likes a spammer.  Why would you want to be “that guy”?

Thank goodness for the brilliant people who put forth measures to stop these idiot spammers.

Posted in General Blogs | 1 Comment »

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