Interesting Internet Research Blog called Truth Laid Bear.

Truth Laid Bear might be an additional research tool for you all to consider. I've set up the link above to go to stories related to Hillary Clinton that appear on all blogs.

You can simply type in your own search words to do a different search.

I like the way TLB lays out the search results like a newspaper. However, when I typed in various variations of "PUMA" or Hillary Clinton PUMA, I don't think I got that much. If anyone would like to share the optimal way to use this sites search box, please post in the comments section.

It seems like one might discover an interesting blog previously unknown. I don't understand how joining the site benefits one. You might want to try typing in your own name and see what comes up. Feedback in the comments section of this article about truth laid bear is appreciated.

Van Nuys Post Office, April 15th Deadline, Some People get Unfairly Penalized for being late when they are not.

The headlights were on but nobody was home on Sherman Way in Van Nuys California as about a dozen cars were temporarily abandoned while the drivers turned sprinters made a mad, but hopeless dash to get their income tax returns officially in by midnight, April 15th, 2009.

I think the Van Nuys Postal station does an excellent job overall of getting last day income tax filers accommodated, but the final 1/2 hour before midnight is when things start go wrong and some people get unfairly penalized even though they actually were on time.

Here's what happens as the IRS tax day clock approaches midnight, people start arriving who didn't finish their income tax papers but wisely realized getting to the station before midnight is just as important as arriving late with their return already completed. These unfinished income tax filers pull up just past where the drop off point is and park their car while they finish their return! These stop, fill out, and clog traffic filers end up penalizing those who already finished their income tax returns and just want to drop them off and go.

Factor in that others will park on Sherman Way just past the outside mail drop off point and then go inside the building to drop off their return, once again clogging the same drop off area and causing the line of cars on Sherman Way to unnecessarily back up.

To make matters worse, some of the streetside postal employee stations are being shut down prior to midnight because traffic flow does lighten up a bit from 11::30pm onward. The one outside drop off position that was still going strong in front of the Van Nuys Station included a postal worker heroically trying to help keep the line of traffic moving by asking motorists to honk their horns at the cars idling just a few feet in front of them. This postal employee probably helped some filers make it on time with her car honking strategy.

I would advise that when some of the outside mail drop off stations shut down before midnight that an employee or two shift to traffic control to help ensure traffic not clog up just past the one remaining pick up station in front of Van Nuys.

I don't know if IRS rules do not allow anyone standing in line inside a postal building to be considered on time even if it is after midnight, but they should. By extension to that rule, anybody still in line in their car, on the street, should be allowed to have their return be counted as on time as well.

I observed all of this after dropping off my envelope and then holding my protest signs against Chase Bank (CHASE BANK, KEEP YOUR WORD! and promoting Daily-Protest.com I made sure I was not a distraction to the street line of filers so I positioned myself after the drop off station. That was when I started to notice the late minute filers clogging up the street.

Suggestion for the Post Office and the IRS, allow a post office issue "Midnight Stamp" to be used on those who clearly were in line when midnight happened, but were victimized by those clogging Sherman Way just past the drop off point. The Midnight Stamp serves two purposes, it allows the Post Office not to lie about whether something was posted by the midnight deadline, and it provides some fairness for those who would have been on time if not for traffic bunching up on Sherman Way just past the drop off point.

Let us not judge why some people came at the last minute, lets just be fair.

Katalusis: Wake up, Mr. President: It’s the Failure of a Whole Model of Banking!

Katalusis: Wake up, Mr. President: It’s the Failure of a Whole Model of Banking!

A Challenge to Fox Television and Rush Limbaugh, STOP Encouraging Anti Obama April 15 Tea Party Protests and Encourage Protests against Chase Bank.

Daily-Protest.com
Daily-Protest.com

Can you see Fox News ever taking on the credit card industry with promos encouraging people to protest against the banks? If the idea of Fox News taking on the Credit Card Industry makes you laugh, then perhaps you should be offended that Fox News Television is instead egging people on to protest on April 15th about their government, their president, the bailout and taxes, even as Fox News says and does nothing about the banks.


Well Newt, will we ever hear you utter a negative word about what Chase Bank and soon to follow Citibank and are doing to the same americans that you want to convince should put all of their energy on blaming government and none on corporations?

Banks are actually doing more damage to blue collar america with their 250% monthly minimum payment increase on pre-existing low interest credit card agreements. The banks are "rushing" to get back to financial stability by financial suffocating trustworthy americans who have never been late on their low interest credit card payments just so they can put up slightly better numbers on Wall Street.

Daily-Protest.com

Speaking of Rush Limbaugh, would Rush Limbaugh ever go on the air and castigate the credit card companies for their recent actions in raising the rates on low interest accounts that were supposed to be fixed for the life of the loan? Maybe Rush should spend a bit more time fighting for the blue collar worker rather than getting his followers in a lather over political issues. This is about people Rush. When have you ever fought for People that are being directly attacked by Credit Card Companies.

Learn more about Chase and their evil, evil ways at Daily-Protest.com

Tea Party Protest Do's and Dont's. What NOT to Write on your Protest Sign if you don't want to be labeled a loon or Republican Operative by the Media.

Tea Party Protests started yesterday, April 11, 2009. My concern was that if Barack Obama, his alleged citizenship status, or if socialism, fascism, the bailout or the constitution were mentioned in any way, the protests would be labeled as Republican driven, making the protests somewhat easy to dismiss as the rantings of "bitter" Republicans or conspiracy types.

Apparently, in Los Angeles, that is sort of how the Chase Bank Studio City Protest event was reported by KABC-7 News. The Studio City location that I was invited to attend on Saturday had approximately 2 to 3 dozen protestors. Most of the protest signs were about issues that the protestors felt passionately about, but they did not convey a unified message. Because the protest was in front of a Chase Bank, I was able to use my "Chase, Keep your word" protest sign, along with my Daily-Protest.com sign.

-----rest of article below---------------

JOHN ZIEGLER ACROSS AMERICA TOUR
CLICK HERE TO SEE MEDIA MALPRACTICE SCHEDULE

------article continued below-----------

I believe that going after the banks and their cheating and thieving ways is neither a Republican or Democratic position. I fear that the April 15th Tea Party's are going to be minimized with accusations of Republican manipulation. FOX Promo doing more harm than good.

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Exposing the illegal suctioning of money from the middle class by the banks via change in terms on millions of credit card accounts is a big enough issue to be mad about.
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Exposing the theft of Frequent Flyer miles from American Express consumers so Citibank can acquire them in exchange for cushy loan deals with American Airlines is another non partisan issue.

On the Crooks and Liars website, notice how the Studio City, CA Tea Party Protest Discussion takes a turn for the positive when the discussion changes from labeling the protestors as bitter republican protestors to discussion about how Chase Bank is harming hundreds of thousands of trustworthy americans.

Rather than protest about Barack Obama, fascism, socialism, natural born, or the bailout itself, I believe if the April 15th tea party protests could focus on something most of americans agree on, we can change that one thing, rather than just be minimized by the media as being a republican based protest.

So I am asking, do you want to have the right to have your very specific protest heard and obfuscated by the media, or do you want to help affect change and save millions of americans upcoming grief when they open up their credit card statement and see a low interest life of the loan offer balloon from 2% to 5%, aka 200 dollars to 500 dollars a month payment!

At the Studio City Tea Party Protest, I was the only one protesting against Chase Bank and their illegal and incredibly destructive, anti-family credit card billing tactics even though the protest was in front of Chase bank, yet I got a much more positive response than any other cause being protested that day.

I don't just want to be heard, I want to help affect change that can instantly benefit millions of americans from the hostile, insensitive and illegal actions the credit card companies have spawned.

Arianna Huffington's new nickname for Barack Obama, The BankCentric Kid, and She's Right, for a Change, ahem.

For the past several weeks, I have had an uneasy feeling about all of those "meetings" Barack Obama has had with Wall Street Bankers and the financial "stall warts" that really don't relate to US.

JOHN ZIEGLER ACROSS AMERICA TOUR
CLICK HERE TO SEE MEDIA MALPRACTICE SCHEDULE

I've never quite felt comfortable with Barack Obama's ability to connect with the everyday person during last year's election because Obama also relied on the corporate elite banker to win the white house. These two groups couldn't be more polar opposite and don't relate to each other.

I do believe Barack Obama deserves a year before he is judged. However, I keep seeing the same type of pattern emerging that makes me wonder if it is going to be pointless to wait a year before judging.

Passing a heavy handed bailout package that has no support at all from the other major political party is what I call a forfeit victory. The other side didn't have enough players to compete effectively, so the game is called without being played and is called a forfeit victory.

WHO CELEBRATES A FORFEIT VICTORY?

In sports, the winning side must be very careful if they choose to celebrate a forfeit victory. In some baseball competitions, a team can get a forfeit victory by being ahead by either 10 or 15 runs. The winner is wise to not openly gloat about their "mercy rule" victory in front of the losing team and instead may wait until later, just as Barack Obama did after the bailout bill passed and celebrated at the white house. However...

If the other side did not have enough players to compete at the start of the game, this too can be called a forfeit victory. I can pretty much guarantee that NOBODY celebrates a forfeit win when the other side can't even field enough players at the start of the game.

When it came to the passage of the bailout bills, one could call that a forfeit victory as well as the Republicans could not even field enough congress people to prevent a "mercy rule" victory.

Barack Obama celebrated his bailout bill mercy rule victories at a white house party replete with 100 dollar a pound wagyu steaks imported from Japan. Welcome to Barack Obama's world, where celebrating a slam dunk victory when the other side could not even field enough players, is a way of life. Not much different than when Barack Obama had his opponents disqualified for technical reasons in past political races. The patterns seem to remain the same and point to someone who thinks he is growing even as he performs the same old tricks he always has.

While Media Matters disputed the 150-170 million dollar estimated expenditures for Barack Obama's Inauguration, was it really necessary to spend that much money while people were actually freezing to death in their homes across the country? What if Barack Obama had budgeted 150 million for the Inauguration, then practiced his budget cutting skills and cut his own inauguration budget to 75 million, and then used some of the saved money to pay the heating bills of people who instead froze to death?

Wouldn't that have sent a clear and loud message that Barack Obama was really going to "change" things? Wouldn't he have instantly mobilized and even won over some of his critics if he could have kept his inauguration budget to one dollar lower than the last inauguration?

Now Arianna Huffington, who IS HILLARY CLINTON'S BIGGEST NEMESIS on the planet, is calling Barack Obama and his administration a bankcentric driven team, and she doesn't like it one bit. Neither does George Soros. Barack Obama's team of rivals seems to be in the habit of looking for the next forfeit in which they can unanimously declare a victory and then celebrate with 100 dollar wagyu steaks. It appears they don't even buy their victory steaks from a US company. Wow.

The latest evidence of Barack Obama's next forfeit victory was his recent statement that little cracks of light are shining through the economic gloom as Wall Street indicators begin to brighten...even as the credit card companies are wreaking havoc on millions of customers who have stellar credit and payment histories!

When the credit card companies begin to steal frequent flyer miles from their most loyal and trustworthy customers, and when the credit card companies begin to increase monthly minimum payments by 150% on their customers who practice smart borrowing habits, can one really state that the economic gloomy clouds are lifting?

Perhaps the better question is, for whom are the gloomy economic clouds lifitng? Certainly not for the almost 2 million Chase bank customers who suddenly have to come up with as much as 500 dollars a month for a credit card bill they have never been late paying in the past or they will lose their super-low interest rate loan.

It seems to me if you believe in the everyday person Mr. President, and feel their pain, (ahem), you would want to harness those people's expectations and enthusiasm and guide them into creating their own success. Instead, I get the sense that the everyday person is really there to feed Barack Obama's world, and not the other way around.

Did you know that you You may be a Toxic Asset and not even know it! The reality that any american who accepted a low interest "until the loan was paid off" credit card offer from Chase Bank and other banks may now been labeled a toxic asset! These customers with low interest loan rates are being isolated for eradication by the credit card companies and is ANOTHER example of a Barack Obama team of rivals forfeit victory. The destruction of these smart consumers now know as toxic assets will generate more profit for the credit card companies as their credit rating gets slashed, thereby ensuring they pay higher interest rates on their debts, which creates more value on Wall Street. Is this the way banks are to operate so Barack Obama can then state that the economic clouds are lifting?

The amount of trustworthy credit card customers who were offered life of the loan, low interest credit card rates is relatively small, perhaps just a couple of million of customers who still have these great rates intact. Yet the bankers can't wait to destroy these customer's credit rating by raising their monthly minimum payment from 2% to 5%, a 150% increase above and beyond what they are already paying, with no opt out clause for the consumer!

If Barack Obama believes that labeling credit card customers with stellar payment histories "toxic assets" as one key to fixing the economy, then that is not the type of economy that needs fixing.

To Arianna Huffington, just what was in it for you to elect the "BankCentric Kid" in the first place since you now condemn his BankCentric approach?

TEA PARTY PROTESTS START TODAY, APRIL 11TH, 2009 COME OUT to STUDIO CITY, CA. CHASE BANK, 12051 Ventura Blvd, JOIN the PROTEST AGAINST CHASE BANK!

(Edit Note-Please see the more current Tea Party Article as well. TEA PARTY PROTEST DO's and DONT's.

If you live in LA, you are invited to a Studio City Tea Party Protest in front of the Washington Mutual Bank/CHASE BANK in Studio City.

Time: 1:30 - 4:30pm

APRIL 11, 2009 TEA PARTY PROTEST DAY, MEET US IN STUDIO CITY AT...

Date: April 11, 2009 (Saturday)

Where: Studio City
(on the corner of Laurel Canyon Avenue and Ventura Blvd)

Address: Washington Mutual Bank (Now CHASE BANK) 12051 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, CA 91604.

BE A PROUD AMERICAN
JOIN A TEA PARTY

TEA PARTY and PROTEST
STUDIO CITY, CALIFORNIA

-----------------------------

My Daily-Protests started last Monday, but this is the kick off of the nationwide TEA PARTY protests that will be running through April 15th. I plan on continuing after April 15th because there are specific, illegal things being done by the Credit Card companies that need to be immediately stopped, reversed, and apologies set forth by the executive boards of everyone of the major credit card companies. If you are interested in joining any of the protests, the goal of Daily-Protest.com is to donate one hour a day to protesting at a Chase Bank in your area.

You can learn more at Daily-Protest.com

BREAKING NEWS, AMEX, AMERICAN AIRLINES & CITIBANK may have CONSPIRED to STEAL FREQUENT FLYER MILES from AMEX Customers who were in GOOD STANDING!

Click here to see the most current DailyPUMA article.

I actually broke this story on DAILY-PROTEST.com but that blog is only four days old and I don't think it was picked up by many PUMA's.

Here is how the AMEX and CITIBANK CUSTOMER STEAL BACK FREQUENT FLYER MILES PROGRAM works. AMEX has been closing accounts of their best credit card customers who had already accumulated 100,000 FREQUENT FLYER MILES all the way up to 7 MILLION FREQUENT FLYER MILES, and perhaps even higher! When these credit card accounts are closed, ALL OF THOSE FREQUENT FLYER MILES ARE ELIMINATED AS WELL!

In the meantime, CITIBANK is negotiating loans and other financial deals with American Airlines and US Airways IN WHICH CITIBANK ACCEPTS FREQUENT FLYER MILES AS COLLATERAL FOR LOANS!

It appears that AMEX and CITIBANK have teamed up. AMEX terminates what could amount to a billion miles of CONSUMER FREQUENT FLYER MILES or more by canceling the accounts of their best customers, then CITIBANK receives those miles in exchange for loans to American Airlines and US Airways! If you have been following Daily-Protest.com we can see a pattern emerging in which the credit card companies are doing their utmost to create financial hardships to their best customers.

Who is allowing this credit card consumer swindle to happen? Who among our leaders has become so rotten to the core that these banks can continue to openly eat their very own customers? This is now two instances in which banks have attacked and devastated their best customers for instant profit, gain, and possibly a bump in Wall Street Share Share Prices once the next quarterly earnings report come out.

This is huge.

I'd like to thank KCBS and Joel Grover for breaking the frequent flyer rip off story. When I combined that news with my own research that Citibank is accepting frequent flyer miles as loan collateral, it becomes pretty evident that a quid pro quo involving the theft of millions of dollars worth of frequent flyer miles from good, on time paying customers is going on even as we speak.

Are you a Toxic Asset? Chase and Citibank may have you Pegged as a Toxic Asset, Especially if you Pay your Bills on Time!

Click here to see the most current DailyPUMA article.

Do you make all of your credit card payments on time? Do you scour the credit card companies for their best offers? Do you reject the credit card companies 6 month low interest rate offers that then skyrocket to much higher interest rates and instead hold out for the longer, LIFE OF THE LOAN, LOW INTEREST RATE credit card offers?

When you were offered LIFE OF THE LOAN, LOW INTEREST RATE CREDIT CARD OFFERS specifically because you have been a good customer who always paid your bills on time, did you ever think the banking industry would one day call your loan, and you, a toxic asset? 

Well let me be the first to tell you, YOU ARE A TOXIC ASSET IF YOU HAVE ALWAYS PAID YOUR BILLS ON TIME, AND YOU MUST BE CONVERTED TO SOILED GREEN.Soiled Green is the act of banks trying to SOIL your credit rating by increasing your monthly minimum payment 250%. When you can't afford this 250% increase (600 dollars a month for some customers) the banks then report your Toxicness to the credit bureaus and then charge you obscenely higher interest rates on the very same debt you previously had been paying down for years, on time.

In the movie Soylent Green, we discover the food source at the end of the movie is other humans. In this instance, we discover that the banks appear bent on destroying good credit scores of their most reliable customers so they can add fees and dramatically increase interest rates on them. Then these new found profits will be fed to those with poorer credit, resulting in even more loans at ridiculously high interest rates.

Once the formerly good credit rating is soiled, the customers OTHER CREDIT CARD LOANS will most likely get hit with much higher interest rates as well. Only then will Wall Street Be Happy because it means these robber baron banks have created more profit. At which point, the person with the formerly excellent credit history becomes a frightened worker bee whose only mission is to try and pay bills, nothing else matters nor do they care to get involved or protest basically illegal credit card actions out of fear they will fall further behind with their bills.

If americans do want to peacefully fight back against the credit card companies, please check out www.Daily-Protest.com. Not only will you be saving your fellow american, the one hour a day protest is turning out to be wonderful exercise!

When Chase and Citibank get through with you and you default on your long term low interest rate balance transfer loan because Chase and Citibank have increased the monthly minimum payment by 250%, Chase and Citibank can then file liens on your home, all the while charging you 1,000 percent more in interest on that same low interest, life of the loan credit card offer that you used to pay on time, and pay down, every month before the change in terms happened.

Chase and Citibank will now call you a toxic asset. In truth, you are actually a "Converted Toxic Asset". You were converted from being a solid, always paying on time customer, to a toxic asset, courtesy of Chase and Citibank and other banks that will soon follow their lead.A portion of the population was called "bitter" last year, now this year, additional americans are being converted to toxic assets by the banks who lent then money then changed the terms without giving these customers an opt out option.

For those of you who don't have these credit card loans and think this doesn't affect you, chances are a small business owner near has seen their business revenue decline because customers are now overpaying Chase and Citibank. Chances are a family friend or neighbor has been affected, and has internalized their problem rather than gone public.

Divide and conquer is a tried and true method and that is exactly what JP Morgan Chase Bank and Citibank are doing. Maybe you are not Bitter, nor a Toxic Asset, nor had your frequent flyer miles stolen and resold for better loan terms between American Airlines and Citibank, nor had a change in terms that you were not allowed to opt out, but most certainly some people who use your products or services have been affected, and that WILL affect your bottom line.

(edit note, Citibank seems to be waiting to pounce with their own change in terms plan, they may be waiting to see how much public outrage there is over what Chase Bank has already done before doing it themselves. I had been told by a Citibank worker that they were doing what Chase Bank was doing when I first wrote this article, but so far Citibank has shown far more integrity than Chase Bank by not following Chase Bank's path.)

George Soros Admits Banks are now Sucking the Lifeblood out of the Economy and their Local Communities.

From the blog Not Your Sweetie comes an interesting recap on what George Soros thinks about Banks and the economy. LINK - George Soros and Zombie Banks.

Full Original Reuters Article can be found HERE.

Good Catch by Not Your Sweetie as it directly relates to why I am protesting against Chase Bank and what they just did to tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of their best customers.

Daily-Protesting.com is convinced that protesting in front of Chase Bank is better than just accepting Chase's oppressive and destructive "solutions" to being "more profitable" at the expense of their best customers.

DAILY-PROTEST dot com is now online and Chase Credit Card is the first target.

The biggest threat to millions of americans may just be the change in terms to ALREADY EXISTING CREDIT CARD DEBT! Chase Bank has basically decided that they can rework any credit card agreement that they previously offered to their customers at any time, and do it to the severe detriment and hardship of their customrs.

Rather than give an incentive in exchange for changing credit card terms, Chase is actually punishing its customers with their change in term proposals.

Daily-Protest.com has additional stories about credit card companies abusing their best customers. Daily-Protest will also feature any blog that reports on anyone protesting Chase Bank.

But the problem is not just Chase. If Chase gets away with chasing down their past credit card offers and changing them in a manner that will cause tens of thousands of americans to default so Chase can close out less profitable accounts, other credit card companies will be pressured to do the same thing.

If Chase succeeds, other Credit Card Companies WILL FOLLOW.

CitiBank is allegedly about to do the same thing as Chase.

So just what did Chase do? First, Chase offered low interest balance transfers to blue collar, honest, always pay on time customers. Chase and other credit card companies enticed their customers to pay off higher interest debt by offering them low interest balance transfer loans FOR THE LIFE OF THE LOAN. Yes, these magical, 3.99 and 5.99 percent loans were to help the consumer pay off higher interest debt specifically because of a consumers excellent credit history.

Presently, all the attention seems to be on those with negative equity and those behind on their mortgages. I have no problem helping those that badly off to try and get by, but to do it on the backs of the middle class that have been diligently paying down these low interest credit card offers is just outrageous, especially when the middle class cannot afford these changes.

DAILY-PROTEST.com is a network of protest blogs that will be peacefully protesting directly in front of Chase Banks across the nation. There is no money or support being offered. That can surely be found right in your community among those that are about to lose their credit ratings due to the credit card companies mishandling of this situation.

REWARD! ONE MILLION DOLLAR REWARD to ACORN INSIDER who LINKS ACORN with BARACK OBAMA'S MAXED OUT DONOR LIST and FUZZY CREDIT CARD DONATIONS.

HAPPY AFTER APRIL FOOLS DAY FOOLS DAY JOKE.

Why doesn't some rich person offer a reward to any ACORN informant willing to explain how all of those fake names with authentic credit card donations made it into Barack Obama's campaign coffers?

At the end of the day, can any campaign and resulting presidency be allowed to legally stand for a full term if it is known that tens of millions of dollars were donated illegally through those closely associated with the Barack Obama presidential campaign?

Afghan law requires wives to have relations with their husbands every four days, Not much different than Dr. Laura's Viewpoint actually.

Afghan Law Requires Women to have Relations every fourth day.

I would add the following rules to this law.

Rule number one. Woman should not be forced to get married, nor should they be discriminated against when it comes to employment and wage earnings if they remain single.

Rule number two. If a woman agrees to marry, she should be read the intimacy requirement prior to the marriage and voluntarily agree to it, or have the husband waive the rule should she not agree to it but still want to get married.

Rule number three. The intimacy clause should be negotiable every so often by both sides.

Rule number four. The mandated time for sex for both parties must be the same. If the woman must put out every fourth day, then so must the man, presuming the woman desires it. To have it be 4 days for the woman to put out, and 4 months for the man to put out, is unfair.

Rule number five. Counseling and instruction must be made available at any time if either person is unhappy with the other persons performance.

In my opinion this law was passed too hastily. I also am dismayed that this story is being described as "legalized rape". What it is is not thoroughly thought out and woman were probably not allowed to contribute their viewpoint to the law. It is shocking sometimes to see how manipulative the original headline from the original new story can alter what the real story is all about.

For you Dr. Laura fans, you know she advocates "taking care of your man." Is Doctor Laura wrong for taking that position? If not, then lets focus on what is weak about the law rather than condemning it with a catch phrase such as "legalized rape". I don't see the AP proclaiming that Dr. Laura advocates legalized rape even if she agreed with the four day rule.

---------------------------------------------

Critics assail Afghan law that 'legalizes rape'
By FISNIK ABRASHI – 3 hours ago
KABUL (AP) — A new Afghan law makes it legal for men to rape their wives, human rights groups and some Afghan lawmakers said Thursday, accusing President Hamid Karzai of signing the legislation to bolster his re-election prospects.
Critics worry the legislation undermines hard-won rights for women enacted after the fall of the Taliban's strict Islamist regime.
The law — which some lawmakers say was never debated in parliament — is intended to regulate family life inside Afghanistan's Shiite community, which makes up about 20 percent of this country of 30 million people. The law does not affect Afghan Sunnis.
One of the most controversial articles stipulates the wife "is bound to preen for her husband as and when he desires."
"As long as the husband is not traveling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night," Article 132 of the law says. "Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband."
One provision also appears to protect the woman's right to sex inside marriage saying the "man should not avoid having sexual relations with his wife longer than once every four months."
The law's critics say Karzai signed the legislation in the past month only for political gains several months before the country's presidential election.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women, or UNIFEM, said the law "legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband."
"The law violates women's rights and human rights in numerous ways," a UNIFEM statement said.
The strongest criticism came from Canada, a country that has lost 116 soldiers fighting the Taliban and spent up to $8 billion to support the Karzai government.
"The concept that women are full human beings with human rights is very, very central to the reason the international community is engaged in this country," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said this week in London, where he's attending the G-20 summit.
Canada's Defense Minister Peter MacKay said he will use this week's NATO summit to put "direct" pressure on his Afghan counterparts to abandon the legislation.
The issue of women's rights is a continuous source of tension between the country's conservative establishment and more liberal members of society. The Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 banned women from appearing in public without a body-covering burqa and a male escort from her family.
Much has improved since then. Millions of girls now attend school and many women own businesses. Of 351 parliamentarians, 89 are women.
But in this staunchly conservative country, critics fear those gains could easily be reversed.
Fawzia Kufi, a lawmaker who opposed the legislation, said several of its articles undermine constitutional and human rights of women as equals and take the country backward.
"All the efforts that were made in the last seven years to enhance women's rights will be undermined," Kufi said.
Karzai has not commented on the law. A spokesman, Waheed Omar, said the president is "aware of the discussion surrounding the law, and is looking into the matter."
Brad Adams, the Asia director for the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the law is a "dramatic setback for women's rights."
"It directly contradicts the freedoms enshrined in the Afghan constitution and the international conventions that Afghanistan has signed up to that guarantee the rights of women," Adams said.
Safia Sidiqi, a lawmaker from Nangarhar province who condemned the legislation, said she cannot remember parliament debating or even voting on the law and she does not know how it came to be signed by Karzai. She called for the law to be recalled to parliament for debate.
"It is impossible in a two-month session for parliament to pass a law more than 200 pages long," she said of the 263-page law.
Sayed Hossain Alemi Balkhi, a Shiite lawmaker involved in drafting it, defended the legislation saying it gives more rights to women than even Britain or the United States does. He said the law makes women safer and ensures the husband is obliged to provide for her.
As Karzai seeks re-election later this year, he is courting voters in the Shiite community, Kufi said. Women voters are presumed to vote as their husbands do.
"Women's basic freedoms are being sacrificed for the political and electoral gain of a few parliamentarians," Human Rights Watch's Adams said.
Associated Press writers Rob Gillies and Charmaine Noronha in Toronto contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

How Come the Biggest Consumer Blogs fall short of condemning condemnable actions by JP Morgan Chase Credit Card?

I have a friend with a Chase credit card. Approximately 2 years ago Chase Bank offered this person a 5.99% balance transfer offer until their loan was paid off. They were required to make a 2% monthly minimum payment. They have good credit and had reduced the loan from 13,500 to 10,000 by dutifully making their monthly payments on time.

Their monthly minimum payment on the 10,000 dollar debt is presently 200 dollars. Chase Credit Card is now going to raise the monthly minimum payment on this account from 2% to 5%. Chase's latest gambit preys on customers who had a good deal with them will probably help ruing their credit rating while robbing them of food to feed their families with. My friend's monthly minimum payment with Chase Bank is set to go from 200 dollars, to 500 dollars!

A three hundred dollar monthly increase is probably going to lead to default for my friend. The problem is not that Chase wants their money nor that they want their money back sooner rather than later. The problem is that Chase set up the rules, the customer completely abided by the rules, and now Chase wants to change those rules WITHOUT GIVING THE CUSTOMER THE RIGHT TO OPT OUT before the changes are made.

Citibank and many if not all other credit card companies have opt out clauses in their credit card policy that protect the consumer. I fear that if Chase is allowed to destroy the concept of "OPT OUT, other credit card companies will follow suit.

My friend can keep their 2% minimum payment option if they agree to have the interest rate raised from 5.99% to 7.99%. This creates the equivalent of an escalating monthly penalty that starts at around 18 dollars a month. However, when we factor in that each and every month 18 extra dollars goes towards interest and 18 less dollars is applied to the PRINCIPLE, the penalty will continue to escalate and extend the life of the loan.

After one year, we are looking at a loss of 500 dollars, and each year forward it will increase at least 100 dollars per year. So this one move by chase will cost my friend 500 dollars this year, 575 dollars next year, 650 dollars the following year. By the time this card is paid off, I am estimating it will cost my friend over 4,000 dollars in extra payments.

Prior to this latest move, Chase began, then eliminated a 10 dollar a month usage fee to anyone using their credit cards. Now Chase has figured out a way to replace a one fee for all with another fee for those who had solid credit that Chase trusted enough to give them a solid loan offer. Is it Chase's goal to first lure, then destroy every tier of middle class customer that presently exists with their bait and switch credit card tactics?

Chase credit card company already had the option of raising my friends rates for a late payment. If JP Morgan Chase Bank wants to so violently change the rules, then please allow your customers the right to OPT OUT and keep the existing agreed upon rules in place. It is the respectful, rightful, and ethical thing to do.

If somebody from the government does not step in and stop what Chase Bank is doing, even as the US Government is giving these same banks billions upon trillions of dollars, then we can all be sure that nothing has "changed".

JP Morgan Chase Credit Card Hurts Consumers but Looks Good to Wall Street Investors. What's Good for Wall Street is not necessarily Good for US.

(Edit Note). This topic got me so angry that I have started a protest website against Chase Bank and anybody else who follows them down their racketeering path.

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Chase Credit Card already was lambasted by its customers for wanting to charge a 10 dollar a month "user fee". The 10 dollar monthly fee would have instantly made Chase a violator of their low interest fixed rate lifetime balance transfer offer, but Chase tried it anyways and had to be rebuffed by the New York Attorneys General office and Chase customers before removing the monthly fee.

In an effort to impress Wall Street by increasing their revenue, JP Morgan / Chase Credit Card has now decided that a customer's right to "opt out" to new changes in Chase's Credit Card terms no longer exists.

Chase Credit Card has opted out of allowing its customers to opt out of new Credit Card Rules that forces the consumer to increase their monthly minimum payment by 250 percent!

I believe Chase Credit card will probably have improved financial results next quarter because of their boorish tactics, and that Wall Street and the News channels will report Chase's "success" as "good news". The news statios will then conclude that the economy is recovering. What won't be reported is the misery the change in terms Chase has wrought upon good, honest people who were diligently paying down their debts and were not allowed to "opt out" when Chase raised their monthly minimum charge by 250 percent.

Hundreds of thousands of Chase Credit Card Customers accepted Chase's offer of low, fixed interest credit card rate balance transfer offers with rates that would never go up on the amount transfered if the customer was never late on their monthly payment. These customers have now been forced to accept a jump in their monthly minimum payment from 2% to 5%, or, they can keep the 2% monthly minimum payment but have their interest rate increased from 5.99% to 7.99%.

Ironically, I created a website a few years ago that demanded credit card companies raise their minimum monthly billing by a factor of 3 or 4 (aka 6% or 8%) called credit-card-cap.com. However, my idea was to raise the monthly minimum payment on new debt by beginning borrowers, NOT OLD DEBT in which such tactics can just burst a families tender economic bubble.

The changes Chase is making would be fine, as long as the customer had the right to "opt out" of these new changes. "opt out"means the customer is in essence closing out their account at the terms that were in play when the customer agreed to the original credit card balance transfer loan. When "opting out", the customer further agrees to continue to pay off the debt while no longer using the credit card. "opt out" is a fair and righteous protection that should be automatically granted to all consumers when dealing with credit card companies, yet the "opt out" option has never been given teeth by those who claim to protect us.

Our government, our consumer rights advocates, our president, and our congress people don't seem to think that you, the consumer, have a right to "opt out" and stick to the original credit card agreement that you signed up for. A deal is only a deal as long as the credit card companies can change it later on, without any recourse from you but to IMMEDIATELY pay off the ENTIRE debt or accept new terms which most often favor the credit card company and hurt the consumer.

Until credit card customers have the undeniable right to "opt out" from any sudden or new changes regarding the terms of their existing credit card agreement before the changes are made, the consumer will continue to get royally railroaded even as Wall Street and the financial news programs cheer the increase in revenue these leveraged consumer bashing manuevers will probably bring to the credit-card-companies.

Maybe the day is coming when ACORN will demand Barack Obama actually be for the consumer. Surely what Chase Credit Card just did is a strong start towards getting ACORN hopping mad, especially if Barack Obama does not intercede and demand that consumers have the right to "opt out" of changes made to their prior credit card agreement.

Domestic Abuse is out of Control. Nicole Word is Attacked in Court by Ex-boyfriend during her testimony. Judge Stops Attack, Media Idolizes Judge.

Remember the woman who called 911 because McDonalds STOLE her money and WOULD NOT give it back? McDonalds had run out of Chicken McNuggets and their solution was to give her a substitute meal of equal or greater value, but under no circumstances was Latreasa Davis or any other customer ever to get a refund. DailyPUMA wrote about it last month... ( Latreasa Davis is a Hero, not a Zero.)

Latreasa Davis had the guts to demand her actual money back from a McDonalds that was planning on giving her a substitute meal she did not want.

Davis was ridiculed by the media for calling 911 when in reality she was a heroic consumer advocate who wouldn't sit at the back of the bus after McDonald's refused to refund her money for a meal they could not produce. Davis's reward was to be charged with a crime for calling 911 while the media laughed at her.

It was not newsworthy for the media to report McDonalds stealing customers money and then giving the customer whatever McDonald's wanted to give, but it was newsworthy to taunt and ridicule Latreasa Davis for standing up and saying, "enough is enough".

This weeks female media victim is Nicole Word. Nicole Word, the Poster Woman for Repeat Domestic Abuse who so far had survived numerous alleged stalking attacks by her ex boyfriend, has now been dropped from her own story so the media could glorify the judge "who saved her".

Not only did Nicole Word have to survive repeated alleged threats against her life from her estranged "boyfriend", but just as she was testifying against him, IN COURT, he attacked her AGAIN! Click Above to see the RARE news story version in which Nicole Word is actually featured in the story along with the heroic judge.

Or click here to see the article and the video.

Sadly, the only reason this story even made the headlines was because of the video inside the courtroom. There would have never even been a story about the repeated domestic abuse attempts if the abuser hadn't then done it in court! So you would think that Nicole Word would be featured front and center. Nope. Instead, the story makes news across the county because of the "heroic" actions of the Broward County Judge, Ian Richards.

My question is, who is the real hero in this situation? Is Judge Ian Richards the hero for stopping an assault in his own courtroom, or is it Nicole Word, who fended off several alleged death threats and had to face her tormetor in court and then survive a beating by him in court?

According to the media, the judge is the hero, and Nicole is just a footnote. I base this conclusion on the following. I did several google searches. It was not until I put Nicole Word's actual name in that was I able to find a video that showed her being interviewed. In all other cases, the videos were all about The judges heroics in jumping over his own bench to save the female in distress from an attacker. GASP.

KCAL in Los Angeles ran the original video seen above, but has not archived this story in their own internet video library so after it ran on the air, it basically disappeared forever.

To glorify the judge without knowing about or hearing from the victim is just wrong. If you didn't already know the name of the female victim, odds are you wouldn't find the very scant coverage that included her own words about what happened.

The media has gotten adept at being wrong when it comes to how they view Women who are champions.

Ridiculing Latreasa Davis, Ignoring Nicole Word, Oblivious to unfair voting schemes that went against Hillary Clinton, or wrongfully championing Caroline Kennedy for a legislative position without her ever having even won a popular vote in her adult life, are all signs that our media is not able to repeat an original story without dumbing it down, especially when it involves courageous women in the news.

Addicting Kids to the Internet one Gogurt at a Time, Soupy Sales would be proud.

I like Gogurt yoplait yogurt because somebody I know who is very ill likes eating it. However, I don't like what I read on the individual packets that contain Gogurt yoplait yogurt .

There is a code number printed on each gogurt packet that entices the enticable to... Enter this code every hour for a chance to win!

If you enter this code number once an hour....

You could win a A Flip Ultra Camcorder. Enter at gogurt.com to see if you are a winner.

There are 32 yogurt packets in each box of gogurt and one could literally spend a good portion of each hour entering each of the 32 code numbers. I find this type of marketing to our youth unacceptable. Addicting kids to entering the same 32 code numbers "hour after hour" for a chance to win is manipulative. Not only does it get the kids hopes up, but it also probably gets the hit counting up for gogurt.com while addicting these kids to keep trying to win a prize.

This is just wrong. Yoplait, I love your gogurt product, but I hate the way you are getting kids to post to your site each and every hour. Back on New Years Day, 1965, Soupy Sales encouraged his viewing audience comprised of youngsters to go into mom's purse and Dads wallet and pull out the green stuff with pictures of men with beards on them, and mail them in. 80,000 thousand dollars, and one well deserved one week suspension, soon followed.

F Bombs and swear words may reduce how many googlers see your blog when they do a google search.

I recently read that if a blog uses profanity, including the f word, that the google search engine may automatically reclassify the blog as "adult".

Googlers can choose the "safety" level of their searches which includes an an option to avoid adult websites and blogs. Using the f-bomb in a headline or in an article may cause the google computers to reclassify a blog as "adult". Using the f word may just result in f'ing ones self when it comes to maximizing who will see a blog when others do a google search.