Attention I.D Changers and Illegal Immigrants!
May I draw your attention to an interesting article in the March 15 '06 edition of USA Today concerning US drivers licenses.
The original print version contained a handy little diagram/map showing the 10 states where it is still NOT required to show proof of US citizenship in order to get a drivers license.
According to the article, these 10 states are currently : Washington, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Maine, Michigan, and Maryland.
The article goes into how these 10 states must comply, by May 2008 with the Real ID Act.
Below is the entire article [online version without map].
P.S. If you are an ID changer or illegal immigrant and you think the world is going to end because of this new law, then I have some encouraging news /comments to make. Please contact me via my website: http://www.onebornfree.com or just leave a question /comment here.
Getting a driver's license to get harder
By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
The cost of obtaining a driver's license could double, and renewing a license by mail would end by 2008, according to state officials responsible for enforcing a federal law aimed at thwarting terrorists and discouraging illegal immigration.
The Real ID Act, approved by Congress in May and scheduled to take effect in May 2008, requires people seeking a license to prove that they are in the USA legally.
State officials from California to Maine fear that they don't have the technology, staff or money to meet the new law's requirements.
"Many are reacting negatively to it," Matt Sundeen of the National Conference of State Legislatures says of state lawmakers. "Real ID ... will have significant fiscal implications for the states."
The USA has about 240 million licensed drivers, and roughly 12 million have state-issued identification cards, says Jarret Egan, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.
Real ID sets federal rules for obtaining and renewing licenses and state identification cards. Residents of states that don't comply with the law will not be able to use their licenses for official federal purposes such as boarding a plane or entering a federal courthouse.
"It's disappointing to hear from some (states) that it's inconvenient or too difficult to implement," says Jeff Lungren, spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., sponsored the law.
"The 9/11 hijackers used multiple driver's licenses and birth certificates ... to live openly in the United States while they planned their deadly attacks. Real ID is an effort to prevent that from ever occurring again. We gave (states) three years. This is a priority, and it needs to be treated as such," he says.
After Sept. 11, many states began giving greater scrutiny to applicants for licenses and identification cards.
Only 10 states don't require proof that an applicant is legally in the USA in order to drive, Sundeen says. States typically require new drivers to produce proof of age and one or two other forms of ID, usually including a photo.
Under Real ID, applicants would have to show proof of a Social Security number or why they don't have one, plus documents bearing their name, address and birth date.
The law's requirements for verifying such documents and features to make counterfeiting licenses more difficult will force states to make changes.
"Even though some states believe that they already comply with the Real ID act, in actuality none of them do," says Jonathan Frenkel, a director in the law enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security.
State officials are asking, for example, how they will verify records of people whose birthplaces no longer exist, like East Germany; how states, required to share information through a database, can prevent identity theft; and how much the new rules will cost.
"What do you do with people on the Gulf Coast, where so many records were lost?" asks Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, who says 85% of his state's vital records are scattered among libraries, museums and town offices.
"We have no argument with the intent of Real ID. Our concern is what (it) is going to force us to do. ... Is it really going to do what it's intended to do, improving national security and preventing identity theft?"
Congress has appropriated $40 million to the states to comply with the act.
Kentucky and New Hampshire have received $3 million each for pilot projects. State officials have estimated that annual costs could reach tens of millions of dollars.
Among states' concerns:
• The workforce at California motor vehicle offices would increase by 500 employees, or roughly 10%, says State Sen. Michael Machado, a Democrat representing the Central Valley. The $26 fee to renew a license could more than double, and the state's 23 million drivers who renew by mail or the Internet no longer will be able to do so, he says.
• In Maine, where driver's license fees have been used to fix bridges and build roads, "we'd go from being a revenue generator to a drain on our state highway fund," Dunlap says.
• New Jersey began upgrading procedures in 2003, including verifying Social Security numbers with the Social Security Administration.
"In a lot of respects, we're well placed," says David Weinstein, spokesman for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. "But like most of the other states, we're concerned we're not going to get direction in enough time to meet the (effective) date."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-14-drivers-licenses_x.htm
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Monday, January 23, 2006
The State of the World- What is to be Done?
What is to be Done"?
Here is a good article posted at: www.lewrockwell.com entitled "What is to be Done?', which pretty much reflects my own attitude about the world.
What he advise people to do, instead of complaining or trying to get governments to do what you think is right[ i.e shrink,grow, fund, not fund, bomb, not bomb, invade, uninvade etc.], is pretty much what I attempt to help people accomplish- its nice to read something that is a little closer to the way I think than I'm used to seeing.
article at: http://www.lewrockwell.com/latulippe/latulippe63.html
Here is a good article posted at: www.lewrockwell.com entitled "What is to be Done?', which pretty much reflects my own attitude about the world.
What he advise people to do, instead of complaining or trying to get governments to do what you think is right[ i.e shrink,grow, fund, not fund, bomb, not bomb, invade, uninvade etc.], is pretty much what I attempt to help people accomplish- its nice to read something that is a little closer to the way I think than I'm used to seeing.
article at: http://www.lewrockwell.com/latulippe/latulippe63.html
Investing versus Speculating: Continued.
Investing versus Speculating: Continued.
To follow up on my blog of 15/01/06 "Investing versus Speculating" , here is a good example of financial "experts" who claim to be able to predict future economic events. This time, the subject is the current yield inversion in the bond markets, supposedly an indicator of a coming economic recession. [If you don't know what a yield curve is, just read the article, as one thing it does accomplish is to explain the idea reasonably clearly.]
Onebornfree's Commentary [followed by article]:
This is just another attempt to predict future economic events. Although yield inversions have a fair record, they are not foolproof predictors of recessions. A properly balanced long term savings plan which allows for losses occurring via unforseen recessions [ the event supposedly predicted via bond yield inversons], and other unforseeable economic events , although not 100% infallible, has to be a lot safer bet than simply speculating on a recession by throwing all of your savings into 90 day t-bills or AA+ rated corporate bonds[ or whatever] for the duration.
If you believe a recession is imminent [for whatever reason] place your bet with money you can afford to lose, if you have any.
The article, from the Sovereign Society's [ http://www.sovereignsociety.com/ ] free email advisory named "The A-Letter":
"Dangers of Bond Market Inversion in 2006
Today's guest comment is by Eric Roseman, a member of the Sovereign Society Council of Experts and editor of Renegade Investor.
Dear A-Letter Reader:
Over the last two years, investors have barely kept pace with inflation in benchmark intermediate term US Treasury bonds. After enjoying a massive rally since 2000, bond yields hit a 40 year low in 2003 at 3.3%. Despite thirteen Federal Reserve rate hikes since June 2004, bond yields have actually declined twenty basis points (0.20%), a worrisome signal Chairman Greenspan called a "conundrum" last fall. Yield curve inversion is a dangerous anomaly because it portends to economic weakness; the last three inversions all resulted in economic recessions.
Indeed, the bond market might be signaling big trouble for the US economy in 2006. The benchmark yield curve, or the difference between the two-year and ten-year Treasury yields, inverted in late December. An inverted yield curve occurs when short-term interest rates yield more than long-term interest rates. This phenomenon is a rarity in bond markets and typically indicates that bond investors think the US Federal Reserve is tightening the monetary screws too aggressively. If this is the case, then there is a good chance that the United States might suffer a recession later this year, especially if the yield curve stays inverted.
Historically, US Treasury bonds have positively correlated to common stocks. In market history, that relationship did sever during the Great Depression as stocks collapsed from 1929 to 1932 while bonds surged. Another break in that relationship developed in the post 1997 era as the Asian economic crisis and the near demise of hedge fund Long Term Capital Management drove investors into Treasury bonds en masse. In fact, since 1997, every time the stock market has corrected sharply, Treasury bonds have provided a negative correlation to equities. This means that T-bonds potentially serve as an ideal asset allocation tool amid market mayhem, protecting portfolios.
If yield curve inversion continues through the first quarter of 2006, investors would be well advised to purchase long-term Treasury bonds. An inverted yield curve spells big trouble for corporate earnings; an investment allocation to bonds would offset any stock market losses ahead of a major economic downturn or bear market.
Bonds did a great job protecting capital during the last bear market from 2000 to 2002. I expect this relationship will repeat itself this year if yield curve inversion continues.
ERIC N. ROSEMAN, Montreal, Quebec
Editor, Renegade Investor
E-mail: enr@qc.aibn.com
Web site: http://www.eas.ca" [end of article]
To follow up on my blog of 15/01/06 "Investing versus Speculating" , here is a good example of financial "experts" who claim to be able to predict future economic events. This time, the subject is the current yield inversion in the bond markets, supposedly an indicator of a coming economic recession. [If you don't know what a yield curve is, just read the article, as one thing it does accomplish is to explain the idea reasonably clearly.]
Onebornfree's Commentary [followed by article]:
This is just another attempt to predict future economic events. Although yield inversions have a fair record, they are not foolproof predictors of recessions. A properly balanced long term savings plan which allows for losses occurring via unforseen recessions [ the event supposedly predicted via bond yield inversons], and other unforseeable economic events , although not 100% infallible, has to be a lot safer bet than simply speculating on a recession by throwing all of your savings into 90 day t-bills or AA+ rated corporate bonds[ or whatever] for the duration.
If you believe a recession is imminent [for whatever reason] place your bet with money you can afford to lose, if you have any.
The article, from the Sovereign Society's [ http://www.sovereignsociety.com/ ] free email advisory named "The A-Letter":
"Dangers of Bond Market Inversion in 2006
Today's guest comment is by Eric Roseman, a member of the Sovereign Society Council of Experts and editor of Renegade Investor.
Dear A-Letter Reader:
Over the last two years, investors have barely kept pace with inflation in benchmark intermediate term US Treasury bonds. After enjoying a massive rally since 2000, bond yields hit a 40 year low in 2003 at 3.3%. Despite thirteen Federal Reserve rate hikes since June 2004, bond yields have actually declined twenty basis points (0.20%), a worrisome signal Chairman Greenspan called a "conundrum" last fall. Yield curve inversion is a dangerous anomaly because it portends to economic weakness; the last three inversions all resulted in economic recessions.
Indeed, the bond market might be signaling big trouble for the US economy in 2006. The benchmark yield curve, or the difference between the two-year and ten-year Treasury yields, inverted in late December. An inverted yield curve occurs when short-term interest rates yield more than long-term interest rates. This phenomenon is a rarity in bond markets and typically indicates that bond investors think the US Federal Reserve is tightening the monetary screws too aggressively. If this is the case, then there is a good chance that the United States might suffer a recession later this year, especially if the yield curve stays inverted.
Historically, US Treasury bonds have positively correlated to common stocks. In market history, that relationship did sever during the Great Depression as stocks collapsed from 1929 to 1932 while bonds surged. Another break in that relationship developed in the post 1997 era as the Asian economic crisis and the near demise of hedge fund Long Term Capital Management drove investors into Treasury bonds en masse. In fact, since 1997, every time the stock market has corrected sharply, Treasury bonds have provided a negative correlation to equities. This means that T-bonds potentially serve as an ideal asset allocation tool amid market mayhem, protecting portfolios.
If yield curve inversion continues through the first quarter of 2006, investors would be well advised to purchase long-term Treasury bonds. An inverted yield curve spells big trouble for corporate earnings; an investment allocation to bonds would offset any stock market losses ahead of a major economic downturn or bear market.
Bonds did a great job protecting capital during the last bear market from 2000 to 2002. I expect this relationship will repeat itself this year if yield curve inversion continues.
ERIC N. ROSEMAN, Montreal, Quebec
Editor, Renegade Investor
E-mail: enr@qc.aibn.com
Web site: http://www.eas.ca" [end of article]
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Sinus Infections
SINUS INFECTIONS
Q: "This is only like the 2nd time I have ever had one and its driving me insane!! I have a prescription from the doctor to help it, but good grief, this is the 3rd week I have had it!! Headache...OMG!!
What does everyone do for this? Im using the shower ( steam ), drinking fluids ( lake Mayer is down 4 feet from me ), advil.......any other ideas? I see the doc again on the 24th. Do I truly have to wait to feel better? Do they normally last this long? Thanks.
Edited to add this...the prescription is NOT an antibiotic. Its to dry it up.
Onebornfree: "I've used both something called Colloidal Silver [best one I found is by a co. called "Source Naturals], and a product called [if I remember correctly] "Nettipot" which is an all in one sinus rinse kit available from health food stores like Brighter Day, as is colloidal silver.
Like Nettipots system, colloidal silver liquid is inserted into the sinus cavities [ say half a dropper full in each nostril, with head tilted back - retain for approx. 5 minutes or as long as is comfortable.
It's amazing what gets kicked out from the sinus cavities when you do either of these [green stuff!].
Drugs just mask the symptoms, which are often caused by food allergies, lack of stomach HCL, air born pollutants etc."
ps The New York Times had a good article on colloidal silver recently:
Q: "This is only like the 2nd time I have ever had one and its driving me insane!! I have a prescription from the doctor to help it, but good grief, this is the 3rd week I have had it!! Headache...OMG!!
What does everyone do for this? Im using the shower ( steam ), drinking fluids ( lake Mayer is down 4 feet from me ), advil.......any other ideas? I see the doc again on the 24th. Do I truly have to wait to feel better? Do they normally last this long? Thanks.
Edited to add this...the prescription is NOT an antibiotic. Its to dry it up.
Onebornfree: "I've used both something called Colloidal Silver [best one I found is by a co. called "Source Naturals], and a product called [if I remember correctly] "Nettipot" which is an all in one sinus rinse kit available from health food stores like Brighter Day, as is colloidal silver.
Like Nettipots system, colloidal silver liquid is inserted into the sinus cavities [ say half a dropper full in each nostril, with head tilted back - retain for approx. 5 minutes or as long as is comfortable.
It's amazing what gets kicked out from the sinus cavities when you do either of these [green stuff!].
Drugs just mask the symptoms, which are often caused by food allergies, lack of stomach HCL, air born pollutants etc."
ps The New York Times had a good article on colloidal silver recently:
Investing versus Speculating- Financial Safety and You-part 1 of 2
Investing versus Speculating- Financial Safety and You
For most of us, the biggest threat to our own financial safety is not the Government, liberals or neo-cons, George Bush, or even the Chinese, but our own beliefs and superstitions about economics, investing and saving.
Danger- False Assumptions!
False assumptions about investments and markets, and yours or someone else's "infallible" ability to predict their future performance, will cause you a lot of financial pain, sooner or later.
Investment Fallacy Number One
As far as financial safety goes, the single most damaging belief that you can have is the one that says the future performance of markets is knowable and predictable.
Reality Bites
In reality, the only thing that we can predict about the future is this: that it will be entirely unpredictable.
What This Means For Your Long Term Savings
As the future of all markets is entirely unpredictable, what this unfortunately means is that if you "invest" money you cannot afford to lose [ie long term savings] in any particular market , or group of markets, based on the predictions of future events, regardless of whether they are predictions from a highly respected investment advisor or economist, a "hard money analyst", the government, the Federal Reserve, your Auntie Mable who is "good with stocks", a "technical analyst", a "fundamental analyst", a tea-leaf reader or "Uncle Tom Cobley and all", you are not investing, but speculating [gambling], with money that you cannot afford to lose [i.e. your long term savings.]
Not that there is anything wrong with speculating [gambling]- the problem is that for most of us, when we believe we are investing for our future we are actually taking dangerous speculative risks, simply because we assume that "financial experts etc." can indeed predict the future performance of markets.
Investment Sanity- 4 Steps
The First Step
The first step towards investment sanity simply involves humility, a humility that leads to your own admission of your own inability to regularly predict the future performance of any market.
The Second Step
The second step involves an admission that no-one else can predict the future performance of any market either - that all of the so-called experts are just as stupid/blind as the rest of us !
The Third Step
The third step is to start thinking seriously about how to construct a long term savings plan that does not rely on _anyone's_ supposed ability to predict future economic events.
The Fourth Step
Review the information at my website under financial safety [www.onebornfree.com] then get in contact with me at: myquestions@onebornfree.com
For most of us, the biggest threat to our own financial safety is not the Government, liberals or neo-cons, George Bush, or even the Chinese, but our own beliefs and superstitions about economics, investing and saving.
Danger- False Assumptions!
False assumptions about investments and markets, and yours or someone else's "infallible" ability to predict their future performance, will cause you a lot of financial pain, sooner or later.
Investment Fallacy Number One
As far as financial safety goes, the single most damaging belief that you can have is the one that says the future performance of markets is knowable and predictable.
Reality Bites
In reality, the only thing that we can predict about the future is this: that it will be entirely unpredictable.
What This Means For Your Long Term Savings
As the future of all markets is entirely unpredictable, what this unfortunately means is that if you "invest" money you cannot afford to lose [ie long term savings] in any particular market , or group of markets, based on the predictions of future events, regardless of whether they are predictions from a highly respected investment advisor or economist, a "hard money analyst", the government, the Federal Reserve, your Auntie Mable who is "good with stocks", a "technical analyst", a "fundamental analyst", a tea-leaf reader or "Uncle Tom Cobley and all", you are not investing, but speculating [gambling], with money that you cannot afford to lose [i.e. your long term savings.]
Not that there is anything wrong with speculating [gambling]- the problem is that for most of us, when we believe we are investing for our future we are actually taking dangerous speculative risks, simply because we assume that "financial experts etc." can indeed predict the future performance of markets.
Investment Sanity- 4 Steps
The First Step
The first step towards investment sanity simply involves humility, a humility that leads to your own admission of your own inability to regularly predict the future performance of any market.
The Second Step
The second step involves an admission that no-one else can predict the future performance of any market either - that all of the so-called experts are just as stupid/blind as the rest of us !
The Third Step
The third step is to start thinking seriously about how to construct a long term savings plan that does not rely on _anyone's_ supposed ability to predict future economic events.
The Fourth Step
Review the information at my website under financial safety [www.onebornfree.com] then get in contact with me at: myquestions@onebornfree.com
Friday, December 23, 2005
Free Yourself From From Christmas?
Freedom From Christmas
Sleazons Greedings! [ as an old girlfriend of mine used to say.]
If you celebrate Christmas, ultimately, as with everything else in your life, it is because you choose to.
No-one forces you to buy, or even accept presents, visit relatives, send cards, attend office parties etc etc., you do it because you want to - based on what you [possibly mistakenly] see the consequences of not going along with the crowd amounting to.
My own life has improved dramatically [despite the difficulty this year in finding non-christmassy things to do and folks to associate with]since I stopped going along with the whole deal, because I made a decision based on my own values, which is not the same as saying that you should/could do what I did, because you are a unique individual with your own value system.
In order to stop, its "only" necessary to realistically assess the true costs [ie the over all price, consisting of elements such as alienation from friends, relatives and aquaintances, loss of prestige at work etc.], versus the true gains[ no more worry over christmas card lists and presents, no more re-gifting, no more pretense, monetary savings, possible new friends who admire your new found honesty and independence, etc. etc. ], and if the gains outweigh the losses, to go ahead and take drastic action -now.
So it is important to get an accurate picture of the losses and gains before you make a decision, no different than with any other area of your life, and then take action based on what the scales of your own personal value system tell you after your close analysis.
Sleazons Greedings! [ as an old girlfriend of mine used to say.]
If you celebrate Christmas, ultimately, as with everything else in your life, it is because you choose to.
No-one forces you to buy, or even accept presents, visit relatives, send cards, attend office parties etc etc., you do it because you want to - based on what you [possibly mistakenly] see the consequences of not going along with the crowd amounting to.
My own life has improved dramatically [despite the difficulty this year in finding non-christmassy things to do and folks to associate with]since I stopped going along with the whole deal, because I made a decision based on my own values, which is not the same as saying that you should/could do what I did, because you are a unique individual with your own value system.
In order to stop, its "only" necessary to realistically assess the true costs [ie the over all price, consisting of elements such as alienation from friends, relatives and aquaintances, loss of prestige at work etc.], versus the true gains[ no more worry over christmas card lists and presents, no more re-gifting, no more pretense, monetary savings, possible new friends who admire your new found honesty and independence, etc. etc. ], and if the gains outweigh the losses, to go ahead and take drastic action -now.
So it is important to get an accurate picture of the losses and gains before you make a decision, no different than with any other area of your life, and then take action based on what the scales of your own personal value system tell you after your close analysis.
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