Bank of America now in the business of home invasions?!
Bank of America Corporate Center - Charlotte, NC
Reading the Wall Street Journal today, an article on the 3rd page caught my eye. Apparently, Bank of America has gotten into the business of home invasions and parrot-napping (NY Daily News).
Angela Iannelli, a 46 year old from the Pittsburgh area, came home to find her door padlocked, her house ransacked, and her 11-year old parrot – Luke – missing. A Bank of America employeed royally screwed up, believed her property to be vacant (it wasn’t, nor was she behind on her payments), and sent a contractor over to install a new lock and “secure” the property. I guess in Pittsburgh, the method of securing a property is to cut the power and water, cut electrical lines inside the house, damage floors, damage furniture, pour anti-freeze into the toilets, and take animals. Maybe the contractor should be lucky it was caught after the fact, because there is a good chance that somebody might have gotten shot.
When Ms. Ianelli returned home, you can imagine what went through her mind. The biggest thing to her was that her parrot was missing. She claims to have stayed with friends until he was returned.
Bad enough that the bank goofed, even worse was the lack of response or helpfulness from the bank when she called. They denied knowing where he parrot was, then eventually was told she could drive the 80 miles to the contractor’s office and retrieve Luke herself.
Needless to say, she is suing the bank for more than $50,000, and she rightfully should. If I had been her, I would’ve wanted to make sure that I received enough to repair all of the damage, pay my lawyer, give myself a little, and, most importantly, had them wipe away my mortgage. Why? Just as we are judged by trustworthiness by the bank (i.e. credit score), we need to have trust in the bank too. Just because they hold the lien doesn’t give them to right to waltz in and out whenever they please, especially when it involves damaging the property.
The bank issued an apology this week after the lawsuit went public. Too little, too late. I’m rooting for you, Ms. Iannelli. Did I mention I have a Bank of America mortgage too?
We have a date with Casey Anthony
May 9th, 2011. Judge Strickland has made that the start date for Casey Anthony’s trial. But with the way her defense team works, I bet it’ll be 2012 or 2013. She might as well confess to the damn thing and get a life sentence at this point, jeeze.
She’s also requesting that the state, err, the Florida taxpayers, pick up her tab for legal costs. Uh, yea, sure thing there, let me write a check. And stuff it in a shotgun shell 
All I can say is I’m glad I’m not a Florida resident. I’d rather piss my money away to political pork barrel spending. Better than giving it to a child murderer.
And for those people who go on with the crap “oh, this is America man, innocent until proven guilty/” yea sure, we’ll buy that. I’m all for that, but when you supposedly haven’t seen your own young child for a month before you file a missing persons report? I don’t care if you are innocent or not, you are guilty. You failed as a parent to worry about your child even in the slightest bit. We won’t go into all of the other things that tattoo a big fat “I DID IT” on her forehead.
Going through, here are some more evidence photos of Casey, including probably one of the few that affect me: Casey playing with Caylee. Just makes this so much more sickening.
- Don’t ask me to explain why. I have yet to sell my soul so I do not know.
- She might want to get used to this look in prison
- Pray to your God
Is there anything worse than being broke?
I'll sell you my tie
Some people will say so. Most of them aren’t broke so, do their opinions really matter? I mean, I can look at the bright side, I have my family, my health, my house, etc. Ok, well, the health is questionable (large amounts of stress does that to people), stress in the family, and the consistent fear of losing my house and everything.
Simply put, being broke is about one of the worst things that can happen to you. Not because of the lack of money, because it’s true, money doesn’t buy happiness. It’s the fear and anxiety surrounding the future. An unknown future.
For the last year I have been on unemployment, simultaneously looking for work and going to school. I’ve managed to get by, even with all of the income that is no longer coming in (we made roughly 50% less in 2009 than we did in 2008). I was proud of myself, putting us in a position where even with both of us losing jobs and taking substantial cuts in pay, we could still squeak by.
With summer nearing, I began seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I’m a semi-finalist of a major scholarship which would give me a livable stipend (starting at $25,000 a year). I’ve got realistic chances for great internships that would provide decent pay and a wealth of experience. It looked like all of my hard work may be beginning to pay off. All of the restless nights working on school work, studying and forcing myself to understand and apply the concepts, working hard on teams to complete projects and set up conferences. Then yesterday I found out my unemployment benefits are tapped out, a couple of weeks shy of a full year.
Fear, anxiety. How am I going to get by? How am I going to keep paying the bills, keep a roof over our heads, put food on the table. This is where broke is the worst. It isn’t that you aren’t being a man or a woman, doing everything you can to make things right. It’s the lack of any control, knowing you are powerless to fight back.
I’ve applied for my extension, and even though everything appears to be ok, but who knows. I have no power to make them do anything, and now all I can do is hope and wait that that check keeps coming. In the mean time I will keep doing what I do, yet deep down slightly unhinged by the fear.
McDonald vs Chicago – 2nd amendment at stake
Oral arguments in McDonald vs The City of Chicago were made March 2nd, 2010
As much as I love Chicago, I couldn’t live there. No point moving to a city where the bad guys (correction, kids) can shoot you, and you can’t do much about it. That’s right, the wonderful 1982 handgun ban. Obviously these kids never got the memo, because murders committed by handguns has only increased since the ban was enacted. Imagine that.
Otis McDonald is challenging this ban in the U.S. Supreme Court. The big question is if the 2nd Amendment applies to states as well. Uh, yea. Hopefully the court will agree with my position.
Now don’t confuse me with the gun radicals, who think anyone and everyone should be allowed to own any gun that they damn well please. Obviously guns should be kept out of the hands of convicted felons, mentally deranged/depressed/etc., and we have no need for fully automatic guns. But we do have a right to protected, or to protect ourselves. It is not the police department’s duty to protect individual citizens. As one Illinois court put it, such a duty “would put the police in the position of guaranteeing the personal safety of every member of the community.” (Detroit News). Banning legal citizens from handgun ownership, yet not giving provisions for the protection of those same citizens. It’s a recipe for disaster.
For the moral crusaders who support the gun ban, put this in your pipe for a moment. Pretend I’m a person planning on killing someone. I shoot them dead. Am I concerned about possessing a handgun? Probably not.
Now consider the other side of the equation. You have Otis McDonald, a 76 year old from Chicago. His house has been burglarized, his life’s been threatened. What can he do to protect himself and his property? They have the guns. Maybe the police can stake out his place for a while, right? Good luck on that one. If you want, go hold your breath and I’ll come and get you when the police arrive.
That’s why all law-abiding citizens in Chicago, especially in the city’s highest crime districts, should be hoping that McDonald wins. In fact, those in other cities with tight handgun restrictions should be hopeful too. If the Supreme Court shoots down this ban, many places are going to have to make some major changes.
As they should. I am a law abiding citizen, and a handgun owner. I am thankful we have laws here to provide for legal gun ownership. I’m not running around the hood shooting people because I’m an idiot who thinks its cool to be a gangbanger. But it someone tries to come bursting through my door, trying to put my family’s life and property in danger, they need to reconsider. I have a right, an unalienable right, to protect myself. It is a cornerstone that this country was founded on…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – Declaration of Independence
Gun bans go against this, signing away our rights to hoodlums and gangbangers, anyone who refuses to accept the laws that the common of the people agree to live by. As law abiding citizens, we have a right to protect ourselves, and a right to reasonably choose how we would want to do so. As the old adage goes, “in order to have peace, you must prepare for war.”
A full transcript of the oral arguments made before the court in the case of McDonald vs. The City of Chicago (08-1521).
More information on the history and implications of this case and the ban in Chicago is available at CNN.
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Where are we from?
Times Business & Tech- Mark Hurd: Who Will Hire the Ousted Hewlett-Packard CEO? September 4, 2010
- Lights, Camera, Groceries!: Tesco Supermarket Turns Film Producer September 4, 2010
- Toyota: New Car-Safety Issue Hits Company After Recalls September 4, 2010
- Study: Young, Single, Childless Women Earn More Than Men September 4, 2010
- Seeking Alpha Financial News
- The Cost of Bernanke's Failure-Aversion September 4, 2010
- Hurricane Earl, And Other Threats to Insurers September 3, 2010
- Will the FCIC Report Be a Whitewash? September 3, 2010
- Friday FX Interest Rate Monitor September 3, 2010
