A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....05-12-03....Military Monday

Billie

[Dubya]

House Looks at Fair Credit Act Changes

(May 12) -- The U.S. House Financial Services Financial Institutions Subcommittee has launched a series of hearings on reauthorization of several provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). This law governs how consumer information is treated.

Seven provisions that preempt state law are set to expire at the end of 2003 unless reauthorized by Congress. The hearings are the vehicle for Congress to consider how the law has been operating since its last changes in 1996.

Witnesses included Wayne Abernathy, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury, and representatives from the retail industry and academia.

Witnesses testified to the importance of the FCRA's reach in creating the world's most efficient credit system.

The Treasury Department is developing a package of amendments to FCRA that is believed would include preemption reauthorization, identity theft protection, and simplified "opt out" form provisions. They have not completed their consideration of alternatives to date. In response to a question, Secretary Abernathy replied that the provision of a free consumer report to consumers is on the table, and that it may be useful in assuring the accuracy of consumer information. Further hearings will be scheduled.

NAR

[Dubya]

Hassle: Missed Mortgage Payments

---

(May 12) -- Many mortgage lenders reassure their customers they will do everything they can to help borrowers avoid foreclosure, but many homeowners wait too long to ask for help, says U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development asset management office deputy director Laurie Maggiano.

Even so, a number of borrowers and credit counselors blame communication inefficiencies such as lost faxes and unreturned phone calls for the delays. Experts says borrowers who have missed a payment should look over their mortgage contract; find out who currently owns the loan; immediately contact the lender's loss mitigation department, never assuming that information sent to the company has been received until confirmed; and consider working with a credit counselor.

Borrowers who call before their financial problems get out of hand can usually benefit from a forbearance or loan modification, but those who avoid the situation until the last minute likely will be forced to sell their residence in a pre-foreclosure sale or turn the keys over to the lender in a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

Source: Associated Press (05/11/03); Whitehouse, Kaja

[deadhead]

BoxerJam

dixie sass, haven't played boxerjam in a while, was a little addicted to it...LOL

LadyX, I love how you refer to Lucy as "Miss Lucy", my good friend Bill calls her that.

Billie, so nice to see you here this time of the evening :-)

dubya, looking forward to your future posts

All, Pleasant dreams

Colleen

[Dubya]

An Iraqi scientist known as "Dr. Germ" is in custody after surrendering
to coalition forces over the weekend, the US Central Command announced.
Rihab Taha, wife of the former oil minister, is considered the Saddam
Hussein regime's leading expert on weapons-grade anthrax and thus may
have key information.

[dixie sass]

Oh, how I love the tall ships. To see their sails unfurled, snow white against an early evening sky. Watching as they drift from the harbour, seeking all the treasures of the world. China tea, exotic spices, silks from Cathay, the rares perfumes from Araby, Venician Glass, sigh...

[Dubya]

On this day in .

* 1908, Nathan Stubblefield obtained a patent for wireless voice
transmission --- what would become the radio. Stubblefield first
demonstrated his invention in 1902 in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, when his voice was transmitted more than a mile

* 1932, the body of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh
was found in a wooded area of Hopewell, N.J.

* 1969, Chevrolet ends production of the Corvair, which was under
heavy attack in Ralph Nader's 1965 diatribe "Unsafe At Any Speed"

* 1978, the Commerce Department said hurricanes would no longer be
given only female names.

[Exit148]

I think you've come up with a good idea. The work all of you do is amazing, and as much as everyone enjoys it, it shouldn't take away your chance to roam the threads as the rest of us do. You hostesses put so much into these threads ---- but it shouldn't become a chore. I'm glad you came up with this idea.

"Military Monday" -- I like it! Bless our troops! Every night I send up a little request for their safety.

[dixie sass]

lol, I am trying to go slower when I type and when I talk, but my mind is racing so face that sometimes (well most of the time) my mouth and fingers can't keep up.

I asked the doctor about the problem with text, cause not just here. It has gotten somewhat better, but the brain doesn't heal overnight and neither does the body and my impatience is showing, I'm afraid. The brain is an exquisite tool.

[nicmarlo]

Someone turned the inmates loose!

Nah, you'll know when the inmates are loose when it's more like this:

<---dansdevil ...... Pippin---><--dixie sass
LadyX---> <------FreeTheSausages

MeekieThief --> <--wolfie
........The Thin Man ^
......................................................... <---nicmarlo

[Dubya]

Prime Minister Tony Blair may be good at winning wars, but when it comes to dusting and vacuuming, he's a total dud.

At least that's the opinion of his wife, Cherie, who was recently in Australia attending a women's rights conference.

The prime minister's wife told the audience, "I am always quite astonished when I read surveys about how many hours (of housework) men are supposed to do, because in my experience they don't do any at all."

I am glad that Mrs. Blair waited until the war was over before making this statement. I can just imagine what former Iraqi Minister of Information Saeed al-Sahhaf would have done with this:

"The infidel Blair and his cowardly mercenaries are committing suicide by the hundreds at the gates of Baghdad while their oppressed wives are forced to mop floors and brush their husbands' godless toenail clippings from the coffee table. God and the Iraqi army will roast their lazy spleens in hell."

Housework, of course, is an age-old source of friction between husbands and wives. I think a lot of the problem stems from the fact that women and men have a different definition of housework. To a woman, housework consists of horrible things like cleaning the oven or getting down on your hands and knees with a toothbrush and cleanser and scrubbing the grout of the shower stall.

A man's definition of housework, on the other hand, is throwing his beer cans in the general direction of the trash can.

But I fear that Mrs. Blair's comments have turned up the heat on this issue. After all, if the British Prime Minister cannot be excused from doing housework while he is conducting a major war in a distant country, what hope is there for the rest of us?

All of a sudden previous excuses that men used to get out of housework will no longer work, including:

"I'd love to help you with the dishes, honey, but I need to conserve my energy for my golf game tomorrow."

"Don't think of it as dust; think of it as the windblown remains of ancient prophets."

"Now's not a good time for me to vacuum; 'American Idol' is on."

"Large appliances frighten me."

"Layers of dirt and grime on windows provide protection from harmful rays of the sun."

"I don't want to disturb those piles of dog hair; I'm going to knit them into a rug."

"I'm too exhausted from flipping through all those channels."

"My allergist said I should avoid dust."

"If the bathroom's gone a year without cleaning, it can go another year."

"Why don't we just buy a new (oven, refrigerator, carpet, garage, house)?"

"Cleaning agents are harmful to the environment."

"If we shove it under the bed, no one will see it."

"Leave it for the maid."

[dixie sass]

OOOOOps, Hi Dubya! How was class today?

[Dubya]

Hi Things are going good today so far.

[Dubya]

President Bush May 8 thanked the
leader of the tiny Gulf country of Qatar for his nation's
steadfast support.

In brief remarks at the White House after the two leaders
met, Bush said Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani "showed great
leadership" in leading his country to join the coalition
that took on Saddam Hussein's regime.

U.S. Central Command located its forward headquarters in
Qatar before the conflict began.

Bush called the amir a "reformer" and "a strong example of
what is possible in his part of the world." Al Thani has
promoted a new constitution for Qatar that allows women to
vote and has appointed women to his cabinet.

"We in Qatar are very keen to have a very unique and strong
and distinct relationship with the United States," al Thani
said. "Our military relationship is very good."

Bush also announced he'd be sending Secretary of State
Colin Powell to the Middle East over the weekend for talks
on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The president said he'd be speaking to the newly appointed
prime minister of the Palestinian Authority about
encouraging the Arab world to "assume its responsibilities
of stopping the funding of terror and to working with the
Palestinian Authority to encourage the habits of democracy
and freedom."

[Billie]

Thank you, Dubya. I appreciate hearing that from you. :)

[Dubya]

Check out this power point slide show.

Mr. President Bush staring.

CLICK HERE FOR SLIDE SHOW

[Billie]

There's our bluebonnets. I still have my bluebonnets from you from last year when you were 'giving out' all these state flowers. :)

[dixie sass]

Cheesecake, oh lovely cheesecake - soother of hurt, custodian of care, taste of comfort and love - No he can't have the cheesecake. No Cheese cake doesn't have calories anyway. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, visualizing a piece of cheese cake with beautiful red cherries on it. ummmm, no he can't have it, no, no, no. Thin people need fattening food and Cheese is protein and cherries are fruit, nothing fatting about that!

[Billie]

'Nite, Colleen. Thank you. Sweet dreams. :)

[dixie sass]

Colleen, Shhhhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I am addicted to them especially the puzzles, but also Know It All.

[Billie]

Thank you so much for saying that, Jo-Ann. You've all been super today (well, like you aren't every day!) :)