E-mail Overload?

Debtor’s Rights!

The economy is pretty tight  right right now and you may be behind in making payments so you’re getting those calls from debt collectors.

You may not be aware, but federal laws set down a specific set of rules that third-party debt collectors must follow when contacting you about a debt. Debts covered under this law includes auto loans, medical bills and credit card bills.

The following are TEN important rules that a debt collector must follow when contacting you about an unpaid bill.

No early morning or late night calls.

A debt collector may not call you before 9 a.m. or after 8 p.m. unless you agree to the call. Whatever debt you may owe, you still have the right to a quiet morning and a quiet evening. So if debt collector tries to reach you early in the morning or late in the evening, politely refuse the call.

No calls at work, once you request it.

Debt collectors may not contact you at work if they know your employer disapproves of such calls. So make it clear to a debt collector straight away that calls at work are unacceptable.

No repeated or continuous calls.

Debt collectors may not harass you by calling numerous times a day about an unpaid bill. 

No verbal abuse.

A debt collector may not use threatening or profane language when contacting you about a debt. A debt collector may not falsely imply that you have committed a crime by failing to pay a bill. Recently, I received a call on my cell phone from a creditor who was attempting to collect a debt from someone else. I told him he had the wrong number and that I did not know the person. He kept asking me questions and I finally told him to stop asking me questions or I would report the call. He got testy with me and said "Who are you going to call? If you don’t answer my questions, I will not remove your number from our list." That is verbal abuse!

No informing friends, neighbors, co-workers, or family members about a debt.

A debt collector may contact people that know you, but only to find out your address, your phone number, and where you work. In most cases, a debt collector may not tell anyone other than you or your attorney that you owe money.

The Last Eleven Days of Abraham Lincoln

I just finished reading "Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard. I have read many books about the assassination of President Lincoln. This  one approaches the tragedy from the last few weeks of Lincoln's life. Beginning with final days of the siege of Petersburg to the surrender at Appomattox and the final weeks of the conspiracy leading up to his tragic death. I highly recommend it.

The siege at Petersburg lasted nine and a half months. 70,000 casualties, the suffering of civilians, thousands of U. S. Colored Troops fighting for the freedom of their race, and the decline of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of No. Virginia all describe the Siege of Petersburg. It was here Gen. Ulysses S. Grant cut off all of Petersburg's supply lines ensuring the fall of Richmond on April 3, 1865.


Six days later, Lee surrendered.

Eleven days later, Abraham Lincoln was shot on Good Friday, April 14, 1865 at 10:15 p.m. by John Wilkes Booth, but he did not pass away into death until the early morning of Saturday, April 15.

The following, from pages 229-230 of "Killing Lincoln" , reveals how fragile life is. For all that anyone may accomplish in life, death is only heartbeat away. This is very poetic, descriptive prose of the soul  and death of Abraham Lincoln.

"The human brain is the most complex structure in all the world’s biology, a humming and whirring center of thought, speech, motor, movement, memory and thousands of other minute functions. It is protected on the outside by the skull and then by a layer of connective tissues membranes that form a barrier between the hard bone of the cranium and the gelatinous, soft tissue of the brain itself. Lincoln’s brain, in which a Nelaton’s probe (a long porcelain, pencil-like instrument) is now being inserted in hopes of finding a bullet, contains vivid memories of a youth spent on the wild American frontier. This brain dazzled with clarity and brilliance during great political debates. It struggled with war and the politics of being president, then devised and executed solutions to the epic problems of the times. It imagined stirring speeches that knit the country together, then made sure that the words, when spoken, were uttered with exactly the right cadence, enunciation, and pitch. It guided those long slender fingers as they signed the Emancipation Proclamation, giving four million slaves their freedom. In side his brain, Lincoln imagined the notion of "One country, one destiny." And this brain is also the reservoir of Lincoln’s nightmares – particularly the one in which, just two weeks earlier, he envisioned his own assassination.

Now, thanks to a single round metal ball no bigger than a marble, Lincoln’s brain is finished. He is brain-dead."

Boston - Summer of 2012

This summer was really busy with  trip to Austin, mediations, speaking to LCA Annual Convention, preparing for depositions, jury trials and taking some time to visit David and Jessica Elston in Boston.