Archive for October, 2007
October 31st, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
We’re back.
For real, yo. We ain’t, and I repeat, ain’t playin’. Tell your friends, your families, your friends’ families, your enemies’ friends, the friends of your friends who might have enemies within their own families, your hairdresser, your newspaper deliverer, your imaginary pal “Yodel” the dancing penguin, and your future funeral director (is that too morid? ah, screw it, this is the new Progressive Wednesday, and we’ve got a bit more attitude).
So, we’re going to have a slightly different tone, focus, format, photos, group of staffers, and lots of et cetera. Trust us. So to show you we really mean it (we’re talkin’ really, really, really mean it), here’s a taste of our new tune.
Enjoy…
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October 17th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
Problem:
Credit Cards. Credit Scores. Credit Reports. Credit. If you're reading this you've probably got them, for better or for worse. Unfortunately, if you're like most Americans (including us, until we did this research), you understand very little about them. But if you're not careful, they can sneak up from behind you and take control of your life. In fact, more often than not, they can take control of your life while staring you right in the face.
How many times this week has Capital One offered you a 0% APR with no annual fee and up to a $50,000 credit limit? Or 5% cash back on purchases and double air miles. Seriously, how many? My wife and I usually get three or four a week. Last Tuesday we got two offers each in a single day. We are not alone. Credit Card companies mail out over 6 billion offers each year. 641 million of those offers have been taken up and are responsible for $1.5 trillion (that's right, ta-ta-trillion) in consumer spending.
To pile the numbers up a little more, here they are in list form:
- 115 million Americans carry a balance on their credit cards from one month to the next, paying interest rates, in some cases, as high as 40%. The industry calls these customers “revolvers.–
- These revolvers carry an average balance of nearly $9,000, with an average interest rate of almost 18%.
- The total outstanding credit card debt in the US is more than $800 billion, equaling $128 billion in interest paid.
- The minimum payment on most of these cards in 2%. If a person pays the minimum, they are often paying little more than they are spending in interest alone.
- There is no legal limit to the interest rate credit cards can charge, nor is there a limit on late fees, returned check fees, or over-limit fees. These fees have reached as high as $40.
- If a late payment is reported on any loan, most other creditors automatically raise their interest rates.
- The Better Business Bureau receives more complaints about the credit card industry than any other.
Rather sobering statistics, eh? Here's the good news: we're here to help.
Make Progress:
Watch
A few months ago I recorded PBS' Frontline documentary, “Secret History of the Credit Card– on my DVR. When we decided to cover “credit– as this Wednesday's topic, the first thing I did to research it was sit down and watch this program. Then I sat and stared at a blank TV screen for what seemed like hours after it ended, blown away by what I had just learned.
The winner of both the 2004-2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 2006, this documentary will likely enrage you and possibly comfort you, both at the same time. The things that credit card companies are legally allowed to get away with will flash-boil your blood, and yet it was oddly calming to learn how many people are in even worse shape with the credit card companies. Oddly calming, yet highly motivating.
“Secret History of the Credit Card– is available online in five parts in either Windows Media or RealPlayer formats. There is also a collaborative website with tons of great tools to educate yourself and fight the fe-fi-fo-fumming credit card industry. Or to help out the good people at PBS you can order a copy of the DVD here. This might be good option; there's a copiousness of mind-numbing information packed into an hour's-worth of minutes. Plus, you'll want to show everyone you know. As the show points out at the end, we'll have to fight numbers with numbers.
Understand
In 1989, Fair Isaac Corporation began using an algorithm to create a score by which lenders could judge how big of a risk it will be to loan you money or issue you a credit card. By 1991, all three major United States credit reporting agencies made these FICO scores available, and in 1995 many mortgage companies began using them for evaluating applicants. Now anyone who has opened a bank account, applied for a credit card or taken out a loan has a score.
Now that you've memorized that bit of history (there's a quiz later on), you need to know how your FICO score can affect you, because affect you it can, deeply, and for a long time. Like the time you got stood up for your high school prom. That kind of affect. When you apply for a credit card, mortgage, auto loan, debt consolidation loan, etc., potential lenders look at your credit score to determine if you qualify for the loan, how much (if any) they are willing to loan you, and what interest rate they are going to charge you for the loan.
Your score is essentially all of your credit information boiled like a frog (but without the mess) down to a three-digit number, ranging from 300-850. The higher the better: this ain't golf. Someone applying for a $200,000 mortgage with a score of 780 would qualify for the best interest rates and have a payment of less than $1,200 per month. That same loan for someone with a score of 550 has a monthly payment of over $1,700 (check your payments here). So, it's 500-bucks-a-month-important to have a good FICO score and to understand why that number is what it is. Here's the breakdown, the elucidation, the “skinny– :
- 35% – Payment history: This guy's the biggest. Collections, unpaid bills, late payments, over-limit spending, bankruptcies, foreclosures– ¦. I know it's easier said then done, but avoid these at all cost. If you need help, we'll tell you how to get it later.
- 30% – Outstanding debt: This one's tricky. It's not necessarily the amount of debt you have that negatively affects your score, but rather, how close you are to your credit limits on your unsecured debt. In other words, try your best to keep your balance lower than 30% of your credit limit. Easier said than done, I know. Believe me, I know.
- 15% – Length of your credit history: How long have your accounts been open? The longer, the better. Between this and maintaining a low credit limit percentage, you might want to think twice before closing that card that you never use.
- 10% – Recent inquiries: Whenever you apply for credit, you create an inquiry which can negatively affect your score. But don't worry about shopping for the best mortgage rate or auto-loan. Inquiries of the same variety within 14 days of each other don't have a negative impact. The exception, of course, is credit cards.
- 10% – Types of credit in use: Having installment loans, like mortgage and education will help your score, while a lot of revolving accounts (credit cards) will hurt it.
That's what you need to know about how your credit score is derived. But how do you change it? Read on, dear friends.
Request
Your credit report is a record of your borrowing and repayment history made available to any potential lender. When you apply for a loan, they'll pull up this report containing everything you've borrowed, anything in collection, how much you owe, how often you're late with a payment, etc. In other words, all the things that are used to create a credit score. So in order to improve your credit score and make it easier to get a loan or a better interest rate, you have to know what's in that report.
Fortunately, on December 4, 2003, Congress passed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA). This law allows everyone with a credit history to access their credit report from each of the three main credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, once every twelve months at no charge.
There are hundreds of web sites that offer “free credit reports,– “instantly,– “hassle free,– “fast, free, and easy.– Beware of these sites. The last bit of information they ask for is a credit card number in order to enroll you in a monthly service. Don't do it, Daddy-o. The only web site that is authorized to fill orders for credit reports under FACTA is annualcreditreport.com. That's it. Fill out the information on that page and you will actually have a quick, easy, hassle-free, instant, yadda-yadda, credit report.
For you skeptics not comfortable filling in your information online, you can call 1-877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form, print it, and mail it to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
Once the report is in your hands, check it over. You have the right to dispute any information on your report that is not accurate and up-to-date. You should contact both the creditor that is in error and each credit bureau that has the error on file. The bureaus are required to investigate each claim and if they cannot verify the negative information within “a reasonable amount of time– (usually 30 days), the negative entry must be dropped.
Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union all have online dispute forms (click on each), or you can write an old-fashioned “snail-mail– letter to each. The FTC has a great sample letter that can be copied to increase your chances of winning your dispute as well as a very detailed description of how to go about doing it. It's hard enough to have a good credit report without having those inaccuracies on there. So get your report, then fix those errors. You work too hard for your money to have a creditor or credit bureau let bad information slip through and cost you moolah.
Oh, yeah. Looking over your credit report is also a surefire way to detect identity theft. That's a hassle you want to avoid like a wounded, hungry puma.
Call
The first act of the new Congress following the 2004 Presidential and Congressional elections was to pass the Orwellian-named Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. This law makes it much more difficult for consumers to file for protection from creditors, increased fees associated with bankruptcy protection, and made the consumer pay more to their creditors, while doing nothing to address the legal loopholes that allow multi-millionaires to protect their assets while they file for bankruptcy. All of this happened while most major bank and credit card companies were reporting record profits. 
There are no laws preventing credit card companies from raising interest rates on a whim. There are no limits to the interest rates they can charge, or the fees they can assess for going over your credit limit, making a late payment, or bouncing a check. It's time our representatives started legislating for the benefit of the middle and lower classes. So give your Senator or Representative (or both) a ring. You can find their numbers here. Need help with what to say? Try this:
“My name is (your name) and I am a voter from (your state and/or district) and I am outraged at the lack of consumer protection from credit card companies. If (your Senator or Congressperson) wants my support in their next election (he or she) will introduce legislation putting a cap on credit card interest rates, over-limit fees, and late fees. Thank you for your time.–
Get Help
Of course, you don't want to wait for politicians to solve this problem, so here I go again, sounding like a spam email or that annoying commercial that comes on at two o'clock in the morning while your blankly staring at a rerun of M.A.S.H., your credit card debt keeping you miles from sleep. But I'll say it anyway: Get some help now, before it's too late!
You may have considered using a credit-counseling agency before, but everything on “the tube– (or plasma, LCD, DLP, or projection) or online looked like a scam. Or maybe you haven't, but should. I know how confusing and difficult it is to sift through all the bogus ads to find a counselor that's too-legit-to-quit (sorry). But in my extensive, and I mean EXTENSIVE, research of this topic almost all of the reputable credit information sites point to The National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
The FTC suggests that if you can't develop a plan to rid yourself of unsecured debt in one year, you should seek credit help. The NFCC will point you to accredited and reputable services, either local or national, by phone, Internet, or in person. Some require a small fee or a monthly charge for their continued service, but they can save you a 50-gallon-drum's worth of cash in the long run.
If your debt is James-Earl-Jones’-voice deep they may suggest a Debt Management Plan (DMP). This is a way to pay down debt by making a monthly deposit to the agency, which negotiates with your creditors to reduce or eliminate fees and interest rates, and then uses the money to pay off your debt. In many cases, large debts can be paid off in as little as 36 months.
Whatever they suggest you do, it's worth a call. I recommend doing it sooner rather than later; each month that goes by that you're paying 25% interest rate buries you deeper and deeper. I speak from unfortunate experience: the smaller the debt, the less stressful it is.
October 9th, 2007 by Matt
Okay, it ain’t Monday, but, you know, most of the white-collar United States world had the day off, so here we are with a pick-me-up on Tuesday (particularly useful if you’re a Bills fan and watched a colossal disappointment on last night on MNF).
Instead of three, I’m only giving you one today, because I can’t pull myself away from this tune enough to come up with two others I’d rather hear, and therefore, rather share, dear readers. The song? “1234.” The musician? Feist. This number blends all the right things together, resulting in a bittersweetness morphed into an infectious hopefulness. It calls to mind the group singing of Polyphonic Spree, the avant-rock orchestral arrangement of Anathallo on “A Great Wind More Ash” and Arcade Fire on “Wake Up,”and the pure pop of Fiona Apple’s “Paper Bag” and Wilco’s “I’m Always in Love.”
And the lyrics? Check these out: “Sweetheart, bitterheart, now I can’t tell you apart. / Cozy and cold, put the horse before the cart. / Those teenage hopes, who have tears in their eyes, / too scared to own up to one little lie.”
In my book, “1234″ is the best of many worlds, and a welcome reminder of the power of music done “just so.” Plus, I’m a sucker for hand clapping, baby. So here’s the “official” video for the song, as well as live versions performed on Letterman (a must-see!) and O’Brien. Enjoy….
October 6th, 2007 by Eric
Last Month you learned the heinous truths about the credit card industry, and how quickly it can grab your life by the privy parts, not to let go for years, if ever. But, while we encourage you to carry as little credit card debt as possible (preferably none), we understand that in today's peregrin-falcon-paced society, they are a necessary evil. Plus, having a card or two can improve your credit if you pay it off every month.
So which card should you get? You've sifted through the “Mount Everest– of this week's credit card mail offers on your kitchen table and they all seem to promising the same things. But you know now that those promises can be reversed faster than a CEO chasing after dollar bill on a windy day. So you weigh the perks: airline miles, auto discounts, free gas. How about carbon offsets?
The Visa Greencard has teamed up with RePay International to come up with a formula to determine how much carbon is released into the atmosphere during the manufacturing of each product purchased with the credit card. The card then automatically purchases carbon offsets, in this case planting trees in Netherlands, Ecuador, and Uganda, in that amount.
What are carbon offsets?
Carbon offsets are the process of reducing a ton of carbon dioxide emissions in another location for the emissions you cause in either your home, office, commute, travel or other activities that use energy and cause emissions.
So, according to fastcompany.com:
A $300 airline ticket generates 2,037 pounds of CO2, which requires 46 trees; RePay foots the bill (from $5 to $18) for buying and planting the trees.
The card will be available later this month in the United States, and we'll link to it when that happens. So keep paying those balances off every month, and pay back our big, beautiful Gaia at the same time.
October 4th, 2007 by Matt
Besides being the greatest tune John Lennon inked post-Beatles, Instant Karma is a campaign being waged by Amnesty International to help stop the genocide in Darfur. Officially called “Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur,” the project is fairly simple in its action, fairly Incredible-Hulk-powerful in its aim.
As we noted on a previous Wednesday, the situation in Darfur, Sudan isn’t “a situation” at all: it’s a mass-killing, a raping and pillaging, and a starvation of innocent and helpless Sudanese people. In short, it’s one of the most horrific human rights catastrophe imaginable. And it’s happening while much of the world watches at best, ignores at worst.
So Amnesty International has teamed with Yoko Ono and 50 musical artists to record an album of Lennon’s songs. But it’s not limited to the music. The music is simply a vehicle calling for action.
According to the site:
The CD, “Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur,” [was] released by Warner Brothers Records and [arrived] in stores the week of June 12th. Additional singles from the album [were] released leading up to the full album, along with special product offers coupled with opportunities to take action. Proceeds derived from the entire campaign will go directly to support Amnesty International’s urgent work on Darfur and other human rights crises worldwide.
So you’ll get a disc with phenomenal covers of phenomenal songs, and you’ll help protect the innocent. Three of the songs — covered by Green Day, R.E.M., and Los Lonely Boys — are available for download through iTunes.
But if you swing by the site, you can do even more by taking simple actions of your own. From the Instant Karma “Take Action” page, you can sign a petition to President Bush urging him to use the UN to create a peacekeeping force that can protect the people of Darfur and of Chad, and to take the necessary actions to stabilize the region. You can also write your Senators and Representative in Congress to do several things in their power, not the least of which is funding the necessary peacekeepers. You can also join Amnesty International — it’s easy, trust us.
So, in short, look for the album in stores or in iTunes (I hear Regina Spektor’s cover of “Real Love” kicks some). Sign the petition. Write your members of Congress. Protect innocent people suffering atrocities we could only concoct in our worst nightmares. Let’s not wait a moment longer. It shouldn’t take another 300,000 people slaughtered to finally wake up.
October 3rd, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
Problem:
I have fired a gun once in my life. I was awkward, uncomfortable, and overwhelmed by the power that I had in my hands. While I was only shooting at a tin can (or, at least in the general direction of it) placed as far out of danger's way as possible, at that moment, I had the ability to take a life, human or otherwise.
That's what guns are for. I know that people collect them, shoot them at a bull's-eye, clay pigeon, or tin can, but when that gun comes off the manufacturing line, its purpose is to give its user a means to kill everything from people to pachyderms. A gun can be admired for its place in history, or even be intended for protection, but it can also accidentally kill someone, or at worst, be used to rob, rape, or murder.
I don't think that all guns should be banned. I just think that the laws governing the use of those guns should protect the innocent from the careless, violent, and unfit, regardless of the inconveniences to those who chose to own guns, even those who do it responsibly. As progressives and social libertarians we believe that one of the key roles of government is to help prevent us from harming each other.
Among the hoi polloi, there is strong leadership on both sides of the gun control issue, but they are as equally represented in the Federal Government as the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals are in the Major League All-Star game. According to OpenSecrets.org, since 1989, gun rights groups have given $17 million to pro-gun candidates, with the National Rifle Association leading the way with over $14 million. The NRA spent another $11 million lobbying those candidates. Gun control advocacy groups have given only $1.7 million (there's a decimal there) to like-minded candidates during that same time period.
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Make Progress:
Two months ago, Cho Seung-Hui walked into Norris Hall at Virginia Tech University and killed 29 people before turning the gun on himself. He cleared two background checks in spite of his mental health history. There was no waiting period in Virginia for purchasing a handgun and a permit or safety certificate is not required. He had no training. He bought his Glock 19 from a store that had four other homicides tied to guns that were purchased there. But until he pulled the trigger, Cho Seung-Hui had not broken a single law.
That needs to change. We all need to better understand the relationship between arms and the Constitution. We need to better understand the Constitutionally acceptable laws that do exist and those that should exist.
Read:
When I decided to tackle the ever-sensitive issue of gun control, I called a close friend of our family who owns many guns. He goes on hunting trips but does not shoot his rifle. He shoots his handguns at a range, and he keeps them safely secured when not in use. In other words, he is as responsible a gun owner as there is, though I'm pretty sure he only has them so that he can consider himself a “good conservative.–
We had the usual conversation about the meaning of the second amendment and the role guns play in the safe-keeping of our society and others, though I imagine our conversation was much more civil than many about this topic. I didn't change his mind, and he didn't change mine. Before we hung up the phone, I asked him if he knew what the second amendment was. His answer was straight out of the National Rifle Association's talking points booklet: “It gives us the right to keep and bear arms.–
That's true, but it's true in the way that President Clinton didn't have “sexual relations.– In other words, it's a half-truth. Here it is, the second amendment, straight from the brainpower of George Mason and James Madison themselves:
A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Let's parse this statement. We'll start at the end and work backwards. If left alone, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed– could be reasonably interpreted as, “anyone can have any weapon at anytime.– But when you include, “being necessary to the security of a free State,– it gets a bit fogged by the gun smoke. The key word here is “security.– Those charged with keeping citizens safe were small groups of civilians overseen by the state. Today we call them the police and members of the National Guard.
And so we arrive at the beginning of the second amendment. There is a great debate about the definition of the term “militia.– It's hard to know what the founders meant when they used it in this case. It could mean anything from any person of age not enlisted in the military to only those in the service of the United States. The Constitution gives us an idea of what they were thinking. Congress shall have the power to:
Article 1.8.15 – Provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.
Article 1.8.16 – Provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.
By not mentioning any branch of the military, Article 1.8.15 seems to refer to National Guard while 1.8.16, “reserving to the States,– almost certainly refers to local law enforcement.
Yes, I've heard the argument that “calling forth the Militia– could reference a military draft. But in the 1918 Supreme Court case, Arver v. United States, when it was ruled that the WWI draft was constitutional, Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Douglass White stated in the Court Opinion:
The fallacy of the argument results from confounding the constitutional provisions concerning the militia with that conferring upon Congress the power to raise armies. It treats them as one while they are different.
So private citizens are clearly not considered to be part of the militia by the United States Constitution. When you add “well-regulated– to the equation, the argument that the second amendment guarantees everyone the right to keep and bear arms goes out the bulletproof window. The government has the right to keep certain people from getting guns and the right to ban certain guns from everybody. As progressives we applaud the genius of the Bill of Rights to grant us freedoms, but also to recognize that it is necessary for some freedoms to have limitations.
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Visit:
In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, a.k.a. “The Brady Bill,– named after Press Secretary Jim Brady, who was shot during the assassination attempt on President Reagan. Brady's wife, Sarah, became active in the gun control lobby and was instrumental in getting the bill through Congress.
The primary effect of this law was to require a five-day waiting period in order to run a background check for all retail handgun purchasers. Only after the background check came back clean could the sale of the handgun take place. A year after the Brady Bill, a ban on assault weapons was passed, outlawing 19 semi-automatic firearms.
Did the legislation work? According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation:
Since the implementation of the Brady Act on February 29, 1994, through calendar year 2000, nearly 30 million firearm background checks were completed, resulting in 689,000 denials.
From 1993 to 1999, the number of firearm-related homicides decreased by an average rate of nearly 11% annually, for an overall decrease of 49%.
In 1998, the five-day waiting period was changed to an instant computerized background check and the assault weapons ban was allowed to expire in 2004. In the two years following, for the first time in over a decade, violent crime and murder went up almost 4%, while robbery increased almost 10%. Clearly these two pieces of legislation were a factor in reducing violent crime.
Thankfully, Sarah Brady has started the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to continue the fight for sensible gun laws. Their website is filled with useful information as well as effective ways to get involved in that battle. You can get up-to-date information, watch videos, sign petitions, donate money, or get involved locally.
You can also visit their partners in “un-crime,– each of who approach the issue of gun control from a different angle. Here they are in bullet form, you know, for irony's sake:
Give them a look and get involved. You'll never know if gun control laws save the life of someone you love, but you'll most assuredly know if they don't.
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Oppose:
Here are some statistics from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) on how frequently guns change hands and how frequently those guns are used in crimes.
- In 90% of gun crimes, the person who used the gun in the crime was not the person who originally bought the gun.
- 35% of crime guns were originally bought in one state and used in a crime in another.
- 35% of crime guns are less than 3 years old.
- 1% of the nation's gun stores are the source of 60% of the nation's crime guns (though they sell far less than 60% of the nation's guns).
- As many as 10% of crime guns are stolen and about 5% have obliterated serial numbers.
Usually we don't discuss politicians; we stick to the issue. But this one is a little difficult. Representative Todd Tiahrt, former Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman has included an amendment to the CJS spending bill that:
Limits law enforcement from sharing gun-tracing information and prevents it from being used in issuing warrants and prosecuting gun-related crimes.
More specifically, the amendment prevents law enforcement officials from having access to:
- A city's own aggregate crime gun data.
- Data from other cities and states.
- Gun trace data in order to hold dealers that break the law accountable.
- National Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms reports.
It isn't just about numbers and data; it's about people. Here is a commercial, sponsored by ProtectPolice.org, of a woman who lost her husband, a police investigator, when he was shot and killed by an illegal gun in the line of duty.
We can all agree that we should be able to use information about guns that have already been used in crimes to convict those who used them.
90% of Americans think that the Tiahrt Amendment should be eliminated and the current CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman, Senator Barbara Mikulski, has pulled it from the spending bill. But the Tiahrt Amendment can still be added before the Congress votes on it. So contact your Senator and Representative and tell them to start protecting cops and civilians instead of violent criminals. You can get their information here.
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Sell:
One of the most often-used arguments for keeping a firearm is for personal protection. Some parents feel safer if they keep a firearm in the house in case someone decides to break in and rob their home and/or murder their family. I even read an article where someone wrote that they wished just one person was carrying a firearm in order to stop the massacre at Virginia Tech.
On the surface these arguments might seem to hold a .50-bullet-shell full of water, but when you take a quick glance at those things we call statistics, it becomes harder to buy that argument than it is to buy an assault weapon, though that's not saying much. Here are some of those statistics from several different surveys and crime analysis with regards to armed break-ins, homicide, and children. Again, bullet point seems appropriately inappropriate.
- Keeping a gun in the home carries a murder risk 2.7 times greater than not keeping one.
- People are 21 times more likely to be killed by someone they know than by a stranger.
- There is no forced entry into the home in 84.3 percent of domestic homicides.
- 96.4% of homicides are not in self-defense.
- The highest rate of gun-related murder of females by state were Alaska, New Mexico, Wyoming, Louisiana, Nevada, South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Tennessee respectively. Those states also have some of the weakest gun laws.
- In 1999, there were 3,385 firearms-related deaths for children ages 0– “19 years.
To think that carrying or having a gun in the house for protection makes a few hefty assumptions: that the person using the gun would, in the heat of the moment, think to use it, be able to fire the weapon accurately, not hitting any innocent bystanders, and that the benefit would outweigh the negative impact that having those weapons would have on the crime rate.
My daughter will never be accidentally shot while in my home and my wife will never shoot me in a dispute because she has access to guns (and hopefully for other reasons, too). What I'll ask you to do only applies to those who have guns in their homes. Consider a gun buyback program. You can find one in you area by doing an Internet search for “gun buyback– and (your city), or by calling your local law enforcement agency. Usually, these programs are run every year and will offer money in exchange for any gun, no questions asked. If there are no guns in the home, a gun crime can't be committed.
Photo c/o this photographer
October 2nd, 2007 by Eric
As you probably know by now, we’re not big fans of Microsoft and their monopolistic, competition-smothering business practices. But, as we've said a few times before, Mr. Gates and his wife are rather altruistic when it comes to social responsibility. So if you just can't yet bring yourself to put free, open source zeros and ones into your collection of binary code, and you use Windows Live Messenger as your chatting software, you can still make a little social progress.Live Messenger is starting a new initiative that makes a donation to a progressive cause every time you CTC with your BFF (care to chat with your best friend forever). Here it is in their own words:
Every time you start a conversation using i'm, Microsoft shares a portion of the program’s advertising revenue with some of the world’s most effective organizations dedicated to social causes. We’ve set no cap on the amount we’ll donate to each organization. The sky’s the limit.
Which organizations are involved? Glad you asked.
- The American Red Cross
- Boys and Girls Clubs of America
- The Humane Society of the United States
- The National AIDS Fund
- The National Multiple Sclerosis Society
- Ninemillion.org
- Sierra Club
- StopGlobalWarming.org
- Susan G. Komen for the Cure
- U.S. fund for UNICEF
All you have to do is decide which cause you want to support, then plug the text code that corresponds to that organization in the “display name– field. There are more complete instructions here.
It'll take 30 seconds. So check it out, plug in the code, and start spending Microsoft's money to save the world.
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