Jury Duty Continues, But With Limited Absence

Yesterday was the second day of jury duty and it went rather fast given that it was just a repeat of the first day.

Here in Cobb County, Georgia, there is a voice mail number for jurors to call for updates. We normally call each evening after 6 p.m. for instructions before the following day.

The first update on Monday evening (after my first full day of being bored beyond reason even with my own created jury duty survival kit) said that my panel should report for jury duty at a later time (9:30 a.m.) than the 8:30 a.m. Monday report time we had.

On Tuesday evening, the update said to call the next day at 10:30 a.m. while not having to be physically present.

Then the update for today said to call back after the evening update is posted.

This essentially keeps you on the hook of jury duty responsibility while being able to do other work.

The biggest observation gained is that you can only consume so much content at one time no matter how many interesting things you have to read and listen to.

The essence of being cooped up like chickens within a room full of relative strangers with diverse backgrounds and concerns with little if any real interaction just caused me to look for a better way.

As a result, an idea popped up late yesterday that we will run a test to see if it can get any altitude.

We obtained the domain name jurydutysummons.com as a result and more is to come later.

Wyteria had a great idea that we will seek to possibly implement.

More to come later!

1st Day of Jury Duty Ever

I'm on jury duty this week for the first time ever in my life. It's mind-numbing boring, but I have music (via my MP3 player), books, and internet access to help keep me awake;)

I found out this evening that I have to report for a second day tomorrow and I hope that it goes by faster while not requiring us to stay in town for the Fourth of July.

More Missing African-American Women Listed within Essence Magazine

An article within Essence magazine that appears online was just brought to my attention on various African-American women that are missing nationwide and who are not receiving much media coverage if at all.

Video of Excessive Force in South Carolina

Here is a video of the recent usage of excessive force in making an arrest in Dillon, South Carolina.

When we visit SC, we are usually in Dillon County the most.

An article from a regional newspaper is available online as well.

Industry's Dirty Secret on Identity Theft and Credit Issues

With all of the reports on identity theft and the fraud surrounding credit cards and reports, there has yet to be an inquiry on the real problems behind it all.

I started a credit repair company back in 1987 after graduating college named Credit Guard. I saw a lot of credit reports and practices by small businesses, large corporations, credit bureaus, and consumers alike.

It still amazes me that years later the industry has changed very little in spite of the laws and regulations enacted by Congress.

The dirty secret is really that the credit reports of Americans have been ruined for years by mismanagement on all sides of the table (companies that report to credit bureaus, credit bureaus themselves, and individual consumers) and that our society has really grown into a caste system based upon your credit report and scores.

The caste system allows temporary justification why certain people are charged more in terms of interest rates and other terms that a sane person (with good credit or paying cash) would not agree to otherwise.

People with good credit are not going to fight for the rights of people with supposedly bad credit. This is America where you have the right to succeed or fail if you want to.

Everything seems justified (harassing collection calls, customers lying on the phone, etc.) only because a credit report declares that a person may present a higher risk to do business with (credit and collection departments cost a ton of money when customers do not pay on time).

But this situation only creates a negative vicious cycle in which people with poor credit scores feel that they really have nothing to lose if they ever face a temporary financial setback or other priorities take precedence on a certain day of the month.

There are some companies that report to credit bureaus with credit departments that have been more than ready, willing, and able to give a customer a bad credit rating if the customer did not comply with their wishes before, during, and after the financing had taken place.

Being judged to have bad credit creates an easy way out of long-term fiscal responsibility for everyone involved and leads to more bad financial decisions in the short term when the credit reports (within their current form) are not to be (or should not be) really trusted anyway.

With capitalism being our mode of operation within America, there are thousands of corporations listed on the various stock exchanges that are propping up mismanagement and/or poor performance (within their primary line of business) by investing in companies that cater to people with poor credit ratings.

No individual or company with a high Standard & Poor's rating is found liable for society's woes when they invest in smaller companies using various names that charge people through the nose until the person chooses a bad credit report for a limited period of time versus paying extortion fees of interest in order to keep a good, clean credit report.

People with bad credit are charged astronomical interest rates bottom line. The additional profits from the higher interest rates sustains weak performance by the corporation within its other divisions and endeavors.

So whenever you read an article or hear a news report about identity theft and credit reports, know that someone somewhere is making more money as a result (in ways both legally and illegally currently).

The only real difference this time around is that there is a greater transfer of wealth taking place nationwide in declaring more people to have bad credit (or supposedly become victims of identity theft).

As more credit reports are suddenly declared poor, bad, and/or high risk, it is seemingly the only way for many corporations to keep their stock values and the overall expectations and hope of our nation high enough to prevent anarchy from taking place.

No wonder the income and wealth gap within America is increasing more than it ever has in the past.

But then again, the companies that rushed to declare their own customers a bad credit risk now face a dwindling pool of customers willing to buy from the company ever again (since the overall birth rates are not skyrocketing as the number of people who are now bad credit risks are). There are also not enough customers on the internet worldwide willing or able to do business with companies that were once local in nature only.

This is why local stores of various chains have to close and why companies go bankrupt altogether. For example, what furniture store you know of has been in business for more than 20 years?

Sears is proably one of the few businesses that sell have sold furniture for an extended period of time. The reason that Sears stays in business is that it is one of the few willing to forgive a customer in order to generate a future sale.

I wonder if Wal-Mart, eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, and other household brands have been financing many people with their various entities with high interest rates?

Whenever a well known company decides to provide credit in order to stimulate future sales, there is going to be a longer term negative effect as those who later declared to be bad credit risks start failing to pay other companies that they owe because company A suddenly declared them to be a high risk.

Is there a solution? There are several.

One potential solution is that more variables of a short, medium, and long-term nature should go into the decision to grant credit.

There are variables that have been removed in the past from credit applications (and it is illegal to ask a potential or present customer these questions) in order to grant women and minorities the opportunity to buy items on credit.

More questions should appear on credit applications to determine whether a individual or family is going to be a good credit risk long-term (or until the debt is paid).

The recent changes to the bankruptcy laws are not going to reduce the risks but increase the number of years a person is held liable for paying their debts or better yet, limit the number of ways a person can get off the hook of paying a company back.

Attorneys are going to make the most money in the short-term as many people will file bankruptcy in the short term and then sort things out later.

I do believe that it will take a financial market meltdown and era worse than depression to really correct the system overall.

Another solution will be that credit limits will have to be lowered which ultimately would lead to a lower standard of living nationwide. I do not believe that this option would be chosen due to our current way of living.

A third solution is that more Americans will owe and more American based companies will be owned by more foreign investors and the current credit issues simply go global in nature and awareness.

A fourth and possibly more digestible solution is that a more personal approach will be implemented by companies who respect their customers and feel that we are all in this together. How a company might achieve this mindset is the million-dollar question.

Companies with billions of dollars in cash on their balance sheets might be able to grasp this concept while enduring the short-term hit on their stock value, but not many companies will be able to go this far.

Maybe credit reports should reflect the type of business being done with. An individual consumer doing business with a higher-grade company should be ranked higher than an individual consumer doing business with a company known to charge high interest rates and/or low stock or bond value.

Companies should be really evaluated by stock analysts whether the company has attempted to legally inflate its stock value by inducing more people with credit and eventually selling the bad debts to another company. Or better yet, give the companies less time to collect money owed to them or lower terms. Then companies would have to create products and services that would either last longer or have a lower cost overall.

The bottom line current goal of most corporations is to reach higher level of shareholder equity by investing in the debts of others. There are very few companies that invest within the equity of others. This is the unreached paradigm shift that America needs.

There is an opportunity for companies to be developed around the idea of either sustaining or replacing the commercial parts of the credit triad industry (customers, companies reporting to credit bureaus, and credit bureaus).

I am sure that more ways of extending and repairing credit will take place as the "buy here pay here" concept as firmly held its ground.

Arbitration (and immediate credit repair itself) should be possible even during the buying process. A company might finance a consumer's purchasing decision by really evaluating if mistakes were made and by which party before granting credit.

Another company seeking to be a credit bureau itself might declare (within its credit reporting system) a negative credit mark against a consumer's report null and void if the company reporting the negative mark has a history of penalizing customers with negative marks or inaccurate credit reporting or catering to consumers with bad credit reports.

This is America after all.

There is no reason that the dirty secret has to remain a secret---that is, unless the secret is profitable and serves the greater good of us all.

Sleep Does A Body Good

I went to bed last night at 9 p.m. shortly after putting our daughters to sleep. I have not felt this fresh in the morning in a long time.

Wyteria was working last night.

We used to have a doctrine of 'going to sleep when the baby is asleep' with Rachel that we got away from since Rachel (our oldest) sleeps fewer hours than Hailey (our youngest).

But I think that I will return to the doctrine on the nights Wyteria is working.

I mentioned to Wyteria this morning "Staying up to 10 and 11 at night is not going to cut it when the two girls are likely to wake up before 8 a.m. and keep you going for the rest of the day nonstop".

"If TiVo does not get whatever is on tv, then it won't be gotten";))

The funny thing is that I could still go for another hour of sleep;)

Great Article on Skype

BusinessWeek has an article that provides a lot of information on Skype and why it is becoming more popular and important within the telecommunications industry.

One reason given for the success of Skype is the sharing nature that takes place behind the scenes.

The old virtue of sharing is now creating financial success as well as character.

Missing from SC: Tamika Huston

Here is a missing person named Tamika Huston from our home state of South Carolina.

The news of her missing has not gotten a lot of press coverage, but it seems to be increasing month after month with the stories of runaway brides and the missing Alabama teen in Aruba.

There is growing speculation that the lack of press coverage is due to Tamika being a black woman and not a white female.

More information can be found on 2 separate pages from the search results on Google and Google News.

News on Missing People Varies by Race among other things

I just read an article on the news coverage of missing people on Black America Web.

There is another missing person report that has gone unnoticed from South Carolina as well that I will create another blog entry for.

Impartial Media Cannot Be Both Judge and Jury

There were a ton of people who have risen to fame due to the legal issues surrounding Michael Jackson and other celebrities.

One ironic thing is that their newfound wealth is a by-product of his celebrity whether they personally love or hate him.

Unfortunately, such critics and experts of opinion are able to create a new version of truth for those who fail to do their own research and multiple industries and lifestyles are affected daily as a result.

Here is a link on the personal opinion of one is now supposed reality and truth for all by commentator Nancy Grace who appears on both Court TV and CNN's Headline News.

I wondered if she called in sick the day after the verdict was read, but since the announced verdict temporarily raises her stock value she had to be available to give her opinion.

It is going to be interesting to see what such commentators do as their main target seeks greater privacy.

Audioblogger Test

Create an audioblog entry yourself with Audioblogger!

Yahoo Updates on Natalee Holloway

Yahoo! has a website that is providing a lot of news on the missing girl from Alabama named Natalee Holloway.

Photo revealing the lack of understanding the concept of Governing Dynamics

Marquita Jackson, left, and Crystal Hunt, of Fayetteville, N.C., stroll down Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Friday during "Black Bike Week." Neither of the 21-year-old North Carolina women was aware of the NAACP's 5-year-old boycott of South Carolina. (Willis Glassgow/The Associated Press )

Posted by Hello

More Links on SC, the NAACP, and African-American Economics

Here are a few other links:

Blacks should vacation along Grand Strand

5 years into boycott, effect tapers

TIMELINE | Events surrounding the boycott

Confederate flag still divisive symbol for many Americans

NAACP Boycott of South Carolina Has Fallen Apart

As the Memorial Day Biker Weekend was approaching, I wondered if the boycott of South Carolina was still intact.

It turns out that it supposedly was still going on even though there were members of the civil rights organization monitoring the events for the new traffic management plan implemented by the local law enforcement agencies.

The traffic plan caused more traffic than it resolved while the weather kept everything to a bare minimum (pun intended).

Here is an article in a Salt Lake paper on the boycott and the potential aftermath for the NAACP.

I did not know that Mississippi has been facing a boycott as well.

Death Trappings of Success

A few days ago I surprisingly read about the sudden death of an internet guru that was a multimillionaire.

Corey Rudl started a business online with only $25 and his business grew as well as the business of his students. He had a home-study course as well.

I have been a member of a mailing list that Corey started for a few years now.

Corey was only 34 years old and the driver of the Ferrari was 39.

When I read the news of their deaths which appeared as an obituary entry within my local paper's website, I thought that they had died while driving within one of the growing sport of NASCAR racing driving schools.

But they did not attend any type of driving school at all (to my knowledge from any of the articles online) and this omission may have directly led to their deaths.

A few weeks ago on a CNN show (similar to both The Apprentice and any type of extreme makeover show) called The Turnaround, there was a driving school in North Carolina that boasted of having a perfect safety record.

It turns out that the deaths of the two men occurred on a race track in California that was rented by a local Ferrari club that was able to use the high-speed track when races were not taking place.

Unfortunately, the wealth of the Ferrari owners did not go as far as to buy any instructions or strategies on how to drive their toy-cars capable of reaching 100 mph plus speeds as quickly as possible.

I just saw photos of the crash and the absolute destruction of the car as well online.

See the damage and ask yourself if your future success may cause a blind spot that your current state could now prevent.

Make the necessary changes now as well as to know what you should do before you enter the gateway of prosperity.

Were There Any Real Chaperones from Alabama in Aruba?

Recently I had lunch with another pastor and the topic of the missing girl from Alabama came up.

I mentioned several scenarios about what I thought could have happened and why.

When the absence and/or hands off approach of the chaperones and classmates was brought to my attention, nothing else seem to make much sense.

Ever since our lunch on this past Thursday, every update on the case seems to confirm the thought that since the students had already graduated the sense of oversight was reduced to the mindset of "you are grown now, so do what you want".

There were over 120 students for only 7 chaperones.

Clearly the school district and/or group providing oversight to the group is going to be sued and/or needs to be.

Great Customer Service @ Chili's Restaurant

I had lunch at a Chili's restaurant in Austell, GA yesterday and it was great.

I ate alone, but the most significant thing is that they allowed me to add an item from a separate meal without any hesitations or "I'll have to talk with the manager first" type of stuff.

It was truly like 'whatever you want, you've got it' throughout the entire experience.

I had a glazed shrimp on a sugarcane skewer (I have not had real sugarcane in years) with seasoned rice (possibly jerk seasoning since it was spicy), fresh vegetables, some kind of mango salsa (it cooled down the spicyness-thank God).

The add-on was a skewer of steak that was available for only $2.99 more. When the dish arrived, it also had a skewer of jerk chicken which I did not know that it would. I did not send it back and actually ate the chicken first;)

I will definitely eat there again! I tip well too!

Taste Test Results on POM

There have been various media reports on the benefits of drinking pomegranate juice.

Yahoo! has an online news article and WebMD has one also.

Then over the weekend, a fraternity Brother (thanks Brother Henderson) recommended POM and gave a testimony of his experiences with the juice.

This afternoon while running a few errands, I decided to purchase a bottle. I read in a newsletter/catalog from Costco that they have the juice available for sale.

But when I mentioned to my wife Wyteria my intentions for the day, she mentioned that the local grocery stores would have it as well.

I went to a regional grocery store Publix and discovered that they had 5 flavors available: regular/plain, blueberry, mango, tangerine, and cherry. Only the regular/plain flavor is available in two different sizes.

So I picked the smaller bottles in all of the flavors and decided to do my own taste test.

This is my first experience with pomegranate juice whatsoever as well.

I tried the regular flavor first and it poured with the same consistency of grape juice.

The regular flavor was a little stronger or richer than grape juice in flavor.

The testimony of my fraternity brother mentioned that it made him feel peppier.

I could really see that pomegranate juice could compete with coffee very well (especially for those who prefer coffee cold). It made me think that it had a natural caffeine effect although this is only my opinion.

The juice was located in the refrigerated juice section in Publix. I also discovered POM in the national grocery chain Kroger. POM was only available in a larger sized bottle. The regular/plain flavor was the only flavor available. The price was cheaper in Kroger as well. POM has its own unique bottle shape as well.

Publix has the variety while Kroger has the lower price.

The blueberry flavor had a huge injection of flavor and I could smell the blueberry aroma immediately upon opening the bottle.

Blueberry may become my favorite flavor for POM since it captured everything in essence about blueberries.

The tangerine flavor was next within my test and I was surprised that a citrus flavor could be created for such a juice. The tangerine flavor did not have an effect on me either way and I do not fully remember what it tastes like now.

The cherry flavor was next and it would become my second preferred flavor. It was just as powerful as the blueberry flavor, but cherry as a flavor is not one that I am normally in contact with and this is what makes blueberry more preferred.

I tried the mango flavor last since I had previously had a bad experience in tasting something that was supposedly a mango flavor. But this flavor was not nasty at all compared to the previous experience;) Mango tastes very close to having a slight banana twist to it. I would consume the mango flavor again if possible.

Since Wyteria did not join me on the taste test, I know that there are 5 bottles of pomegranate juice in the refrigerator. I believe that she will drink some at some point so I will not have to drink them all.

The flavor does not seem like one that small children will readily drink although I could be wrong. The cherry or mango flavors would possibly taste best for children.

Again, the regular/plain is not bad at all and since it is the only flavor available in the larger-sized bottle, it may be the one bought most of all.

Since POM did not have any negatives that came to mind, I will slip it into our grocery cart on our regular food buying excursions.

Finally, I would like to taste a smoothie made with the flavor as well. It would probably be very good. My next plan is to buy some real pomegranates and see what they taste like raw.

Until then, I do drink POM!

Peace!

Hurricane Hugo Was Worse That I Thought!

After I created the last blog entry, I went and clicked on several of the links found on the Google results for Hurricane Hugo.

It turns out that Hurricane Hugo did more damage and caused more changes before and after it hit than previously imagined.

I also discovered some news regarding the aftermath that is directly related to my next book that on the surface was appearing more the exception than the rule.

Overall, hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornadoes are nothing to play with as any of God's hand within nature and the weather.

I remember plenty of days in Nichols, SC when my cousin Adrian and I would have to stop playing and be quiet at the commands of our grandmother the late Willenar B. Tart due to a thunder and/or lightning storm approaching the area.

Check out the link above on Hurricane Hugo and visit the various websites yourself.

I am even more grateful to God to survive the storm and know that only God has richly empowered the masses that experienced Hurricane Hugo to live another day.