Saturday, July 23, 2011

UNCONSCIONABLE CONTRACT OUT IN PAPERBACK

MY BOOK Unconscionable Contract: What Credit Card Companies Don't Want You to Know is Out in Paperback now at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Unconscionable-Contract-What-Credit-Companies/dp/1463532172/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1311451614&sr=8-6

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

DON'T ASK FOR RULES - Cozy Mystery

Out in Paperback and on Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Rules-Jana-Lynn-Shellman/dp/0964477084/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1309896869&sr=1-1

DON'T ASK FOR RULES is set in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a mythical small town nearby, Fairview. The town marshal of Fairview gained notoriety when he shot his wife, and claimed to have shot her in self-defense. Thereafter, the town marshal himself was found murdered, shot in the back of the head, at night while entering his residence. Our Heroine, POPPY HANNAH, is an amateur detective, with psychic abilities, persistence and resilience, as well as a sense of humor. She works as a paralegal in a law firm and uses her spare time and her working hours, as a sleuth to free those wrongly accused. Her employer, Attorney RALPH TAYLOR is a married man with three small children. His wife and children believe Poppy is perfect and the children are always saying, "Poppy knows everything." Ralph doesn't dare fire Poppy, his wife and kids would hate him. He strives to keep Poppy out of trouble. If anything happened to Poppy, his wife and kids would kill him. He recognizes Poppy's extraordinary talent, both as a paralegal and as an amateur detective. If he had his "druthers", he'd rather she stayed in the office and worked on the law. HAZEL WEAVER is Poppy's housekeeper. She takes care of Poppy and Poppy's house, and she is psychic. She gives Poppy guidance, and Poppy is never sure whether this is just practical advice, or whether Hazel's "guides" have given her the information. TOMMY SWIFT, Poppy's old boyfriend, is a detective with the Fort Wayne Police Department. He perseveres in his quiet pursuit of Poppy having already been shot down once when he tried to rush her into a romance. He comes to her rescue from time to time, and is always there to check the closets and under the beds to make certain she's safe.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Unconscionable Contract Up on Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/UNCONSCIONABLE-CONTRACT-Credit-Companies-ebook/dp/B0059MQVIY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1309816859&sr=8-3

INDEPENDENCE DAY

I watched a story last night where a reporter interviewed people at the beach about "The Fourth of July" and asked them what they were celebrating. A lot of the younger people just said "The Fourth of July", as if they hadn't a clue what it was we were really celebrating. I think it would be a good idea to teach our children what it really means by always referring to the day as Independence Day. We need to teach our children what Independence means to America and to us as her citizens.

Only two out of a couple dozen people actually knew that we celebrate Independence from Great Britain on the Fourth of July. Inasmuch as Britain is one of our allies at this time, just telling them that probably lacks a lot of reason without filling them in about what people came to America to get away from.

Then when we explain that many came to America to have freedom of religion (NOT freedom FROM religion, by the way!) they need to learn that at the time America was a British Colony, and we were expected to have only the religion of the British Monarch at the time. Many of those who came to America did so to worship God the way they believed God should be worshipped, not the way that the British Crown dictated they should worship God. They believed that God had a purpose for America as an outpost of religious freedom, that here God could be worshipped in freedom. I have always believed that America will survive anything because America is God's experiment in freedom.

We declared, once we got here, that we also wanted to be free from taxation without representation! Isn't that a joke on us at the present time!?! How many feel that we have any representation for how we are taxed, and how the money that goes into taxes is spent? We see now that special interests get a great deal of our money, and the special interests are buying our interests from our representatives, i.e., if they put a lot of money into a politician's pocket for whatever reason, they are effectively buying that representative's choices that ought to be for our good, from our representative. Lobbying by special interests should be ceased. If there's special legislation that should be presented to a Federal Congressional Representative or Senator, that information should be presented by a State Representative for individuals only, not for organizations or businesses.

I believe we are going through a test right now with Christians being denied the right to speak of their religion in public. This is truly not what the Founders had in mind when they wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In celebrating Independence Day we need to teach our children what Independence means for America now as well as what it meant in the 15th century when America was "discovered". We need to understand America was already populated by a people who understood what Independence and Freedom meant, the Native Americans. We need to understand that well-meaning, but ignorant clergy from Europe came and tried to take away the independence of the Native Americans by denying them the right to practice their own religion, by demanding they learn to speak English, and demanding they become "European" in their dress and manners.

Perhaps we should define Independence in another way. To me independence means:

* allowing others to make their own choices about the way they want to live.
* It means teaching children that in America they can CHOOSE to be anything they want to be.
* That they have responsibility, through their choices, for the way their lives turn out.
* That they ARE, as each of us ARE, responsible for where we find ourselves.
* That Government is not responsible for our decisions.
* That Government should not be relied upon for anything.
* That we are not "entitled" to anything.
* That Social Security was not supposed to be an "entitlement" but that it was to be funded from the income of the employee, and supplemented with a payment from the employer, until Congress was allowed to borrow it to use it for something else, and then didn't have the money to repay the fund, thereby turning it into an "entitlement".
* That Medicare was not supposed to be an "entitlement" but that it is paid for by the insurance premiums of those retirees receiving Social Security, until Obama confiscated a goodly portion of that fund with his "Obamacare" insurance package, effectively stealing the money from the seniors who had paid into it.
* That the retirement age can be moved forward to seventy or seventy-two because it is better for older folks to keep working, that statistics show that those who "retire" with nothing to fill their lives are more likely to die early than those who keep on working.
* That Americans are "entitled" to their own freedoms of choice in every area of their lives, and that no one in government should do more than make suggestions but in no case should government make rules and regulations altering the choices Americans make.
* Independence means the right to decide how we spend our money.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

MAKE YOUR OWN ECONOMY

Things aren't going so hot with the economy right now. In some areas the true unemployment statistics are nearing 25% if they haven't gotten there already. We are in a depression that may be greater than the "Great" Depression of the 20's and 30's of last century. Housing industry has nearly collapsed. Most of us have houses that we couldn't sell for the amount of the mortgage now on them, or we might just break even if we've been frugal.

We can't count on the government to save us from this, as it just isn't going to happen. The only thing we can do is look to our own survival and the survival of our families. We must work on ways to invent our own jobs, find our own food, plant a garden, buy meat from local farmers and have it butchered at a local butcher. Pack our own freezers with food.

We must make do with what we've got. Buy quality older American made products refurbished or refurbish them ourselves. Stop sending money to other countries for things we can get along without.

Nothing's impossible. There are empty factories around that could be acquired and turned into money-making industries again. It may be time to consider thinking outside the box for such industries, perhaps beginning them with a cooperative of small investors who all have a stake in the business, with experienced older workers who can lead.

It's time for Americans to prove they are still hard-working, intelligent thinking people who can survive.

COMING SOON

I'm putting the finishing touches on a new non-fiction book entitled UNCONSCIONABLE CONTRACT: What Credit Card Companies Don't Want You to Know, about how I found myself in trouble with my credit some 14 years ago or so, and couldn't meet my credit card obligations because of health problems. They sued me, and I sued them back. They said, "let's call us even." My premise was that credit card applications are not contracts. They have none of the elements of a contract, and a reasonable person would not agree to the terms if they knew how one-sided they were. One never actually contracts with the credit card companies and they were suing on breach of contract-type complaints. Also included in the book, are ways to protect your credit, how to file bankruptcy, and how to change your prosperity mindset. It should be up on Kindle on July 5, and out in paperback within 6 weeks of this date: 070211. Thanks.

Press Release

A FUN SUMMER READ

DON'T ASK FOR RULES

A cozy mystery re: a slightly psychic paralegal who doesn't listen to her boss.

Just published on Kindle and as a paperback, available at Amazon.com and elsewhere!!