Verizon's "IN" network: just don't assume

Robin's Commentary

Chances are if you're a Verizon customer, you've heard about the Verizon's "IN" network that allows customers to talk with unlimited minutes from Verizon to Verizon customers.

I'm a long time Verizon customer and I also subscribe to the "IN" network for the unlimited minutes to another Verizon phone. While I think it is really a great option, as I found out with both of my cell phones, just because you are a Verizon customer does not mean that you are automatically enrolled in their "IN" network.

On several different occasions, I have called Verizon to verify that my cell phone is included in the "IN" network, and I have even entered the phone number on their website which is supposed to also tell you whether or not you are "IN".

In both cases, I was informed that my cell phones were included, only to find out on my bill that they were not.

To give Verizon credit, they did adjust my bill on one of my phones without any hassle, however, my other phone which is still on an older plan had to be updated to the "family share" plan in order to be included in the "IN" network which also left me owing an extra $60 on my phone bill for the minutes that I was told at the time was included.

The point, if you're a Verizon customer, just don't assume and start racking up minutes without verifying that your phone is part of the "IN" network first.

Another child suffers the consequences of their parents decision to break the law

the Oregonian

Alejandra Trujillo a 20-year-old college student who was arrested on misdemeanor fraud charges on November 16 for producing incorrect identification when she went to have her drivers license renewed at the Hillsboro DMV office, is now being held indefinitely by ICE.

Trujillo who has been in this country since she was eight years old, will be deported to her native country Mexico.

Lorie Dankers, spokesperson for ICE, said that the agency regularly scans the rolls of county jails looking for individuals that are foreign-born and has the authority to flag an immigrant in custody if they have probable cause to believe that an immigration law has been violated.

"The sentiment across the country is these people are committing crime across our community, and they're not even here legally," Dankers said. "Do you want those people as your neighbors?"

Trujillo's friends and family along with other community members marched in front of Washington County Jail Wednesday with signs reading "no human being is illegal" and feel that deporting Trujillo does a disservice to the community.

there is no mention in the article about Trujillo's parents legal status. In either case, it is very doubtful that Trujillo came here by herself at the age of eight into this country.

Personally, I feel that bringing any child into a country illegally which will result sooner or later in that child facing federal authorities for being illegal should be considered child abuse by the parents.

California residents pass ordinance allowing ID cards for illegal aliens

The New York Times
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave preliminary approval to an ordinance to make life easier for the large number of illegal immigrants by allowing municipal identification cards to anyone living in the city regardless of their immigration status.

“I think it’s admitting the reality of the situation that we depend on, our tourist and hotel industry depends on, a labor force that’s supplied by, for lack of a better term, undocumented residents,” said Tom Ammiano, the supervisor who sponsored the bill. Mr. Ammiano described the measure as “a passport of sorts,” to “take the kid to the library or open a bank account, or report a crime without being deported.”

San Francisco already has a "sanctuary" policy forbidding local law-enforcement and other officials from assisting with immigration enforcement.

personally, I think this sends a message that enforces the opinion about the lack of respect for the law.

so why stop at illegal immigration?

How about issuing a "free pass" to people that have committed other types of crimes so they do not have to worry about being arrested when they go out in public?

Seriously, what's the difference?

A Carbon Tax?

the Oregonian
Portland -- city officials plan to charge hundreds of dollars for each new home that is not extremely energy-efficient in order to curb the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, it would require an energy efficiency report as part of every existing home sales.

The "carbon fee" would be levied upon builders who merely just comply with the energy efficiency requirements of the Oregon building code.

"Builders in Portland on Wednesday were already pushing back.

"There is no way the homebuilders will ever support a mandated program," said Jim McCauley, vice president of government affairs for the Homebuilders Association of Metropolitan Portland. "This has largely been a totally internal conversation with only select invited parties." "

The plan would also help maintain the city's reputation for "green living" and creates friendly competition between Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and Austin, Texas to try and "out green" each other.

"City Commissioner Dan Saltzman acknowledged that home builders may react strongly against it. To ease the industry into the fold, he said the plan would include a two-year period of city-funded technical support and education for builders."

Saltzman said that the idea for inspecting the energy efficiency of existing housing would be to disclose the information to home buyers, sellers, and the city.

The plan will go before Portland residents, in hearings, in January. With passage, the carbon-fee rules would be in place by 2010.

sounds to me like the only thing "green" about this proposal, is the tax revenue that it would generate.

restrict over-the-counter drugs Kulongoski pardons a woman convicted of using meth gets arrested again

Statesman Journal

Springfield woman, Kathy Kelly Sue Lee, 42, who was pardoned by Kulongoski in March 2006 after she was convicted in 1989 of dealing meth from her house and endangering her children, was recently arrested again after police uncovered evidence of methamphetamine use, including a glass pipe found in her purse that tested positive for meth residue.

"In her pardon application, Lee, said she had gone back to school to become a legal secretary and needed the pardon so she could get a better job that provided health insurance for herself and her two children. She said she had changed since that 1989 conviction and "would never do something like that again."

while I do not know the exact particulars of the 1989 conviction, and why Kulongoski has pardoned this woman, to me it seems rather two-faced, that our Governor, who required some over-the-counter to require a prescription, and including some medications which are no longer available at Oregon such as "Bronkaid" [which made my allergy season horrible] would pardon a woman for methamphetamine use and endangering her children.
It just seems rather odd to me.

Dog the bounty hunter show has been suspended

BBC News

Duane "dog" Chapman's show "Dog the bounty Hunter" has had his show pulled by the A&E network for racist comments.

The National Enquirer released a recording of the private phone call to his son Tucker urging him to break up with his girlfriend.

The five-minute recording captured Chapman's use of the "N-word" six times.

Even though Chapman has apologized for the use of the word in a "private" phone conversation, several civil rights leaders are requesting that the show be ditched.
granted, the use of the word was wrong,however, this is a PRIVATE conversation between Chapman and his son that was however recorded without Chapman's knowledge and then released to the media.

The result of which resulted in Chapman's show being suspended for an undetermined time.

In Oregon, a person is allowed to record a phone conversation as long as one of the two parties is aware of the conversation.

While I am not a lawyer, I would suspect that releasing a copy of that conversation especially to the media, which resulted in embarrassment to Chapman and the A&E network, in addition to the show being suspended, would be a liability issue to the person who recorded and released the recording to the media.