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.

February 17, 2009, analog television becomes a thing of the past. Are you ready?

the Oregonian

By government decree, February 17 2009, millions of analog television sets without a converter box will go dark, to be replaced by digital.

Federal officials estimate that 45 million (20%) of the households in the US, get their TV signals over the air. Others receive their signals via cable or satellite service. this translates to roughly seventy three million TVs that will have to be converted or retired.

"If TVs suddenly go dark, millions of viewers will be looking for someone to blame. "You will have a disaster on Feb. 18, 2009, and people will be screaming -- not at you but at us," Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, told government officials Oct. 17."

Beginning January 1, 2008, the national telecommunications and information administration, an arm of the Commerce Department will begin accepting applications for $40 coupons that can be used to defray the cost of conversion boxes, which will cost anywhere between $50 and $70.

"The last thing we want is some sort of pitchfork rebellion with viewers storming down Pennsylvania Avenue looking for revenge," said Dennis Wharton, spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, a trade group whose core membership provides over-the-air TV."

TV manufacturers since March have been required to equip all new sets with digital tuners and retailers are required to attach "consumer alert" to unsold analog TVs. The FCC has already sent hundreds of warning letters to retailers that have failed to display the disclosure clearly.


Federal Communications Commission and the Commerce Department are the two federal agencies principally responsible for the switch.

that is all good and well that they are willing to give us coupons to defer the price of the digital converters, but not everybody has the money to buy a converter, or for that matter even, want to mess with a converter.

To my understanding, what they're not saying in the article, is that the whole reasoning for converting from analog to digital, is that it uses a narrower bandwidth and more frequencies can be sold.

We will see how "smooth" the conversion will go when millions of people do not switch to digital and advertisers start losing money.

The kicker... would you prefer it as a check or as a credit on your taxes?

Oregonian --
The kicker refund check which is scheduled to go out in early December, will cost the state of Oregon an estimated $2 million in borrowing costs and an estimated $1 million to print and mail the check's.

"I think we need to understand is sending out this kicker as a Christmas present is costing us a lot of money," says Senator Ginny Burdick who chairs the Senate's interim financing revenue committee.

The idea of a credit instead of cash is part of Ted "tax and gouge me" Kulongoski's 30 member tax reform task force discussion before the 2009 legislative session.

They are always trying to find a way to keep our money aren't they?

" sanctuary cities would lose discretionary federal grants, as would colleges and universities that allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition."

KEZI--

Republican candidate Fred Thompson said Tuesday that the government should yank federal dollars from cities and states that don't report illegal immigrants and challenged presidential rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney by criticizing "Sanctuary City's" that bar city workers from reporting suspected illegal immigrants.

Thompson feels that money should not be provided to illegal immigrants and that his rivals are soft on illegal immigration because Giuliani, as New York mayor, sued the federal government to keep his city's sanctuary policy, and that Romney as Massachusetts Governor had also tolerated sanctuary cities.

" The immigration issue is important to many conservatives who influence Republican primaries. Some argue that illegal immigrants are straining schools and hospitals and taking jobs from U.S. citizens.

Thompson chose to announce his plan in Collier County, which has vast tomato farms that hire thousands of immigrants and last year was part of a two-county sweep that saw 163 illegal immigrants arrested in one weekend.

Thompson's campaign said 22 percent of the county's crime is committed by illegal immigrants. "

"Taxpayer money should not be provided to the illegal immigrants," Thompson commented in a roundtable discussion.

" Thompson said to Collier County, Fla., sheriff Don Hunter, "You've clearly been swamped with a particular kind of problem because the federal government, in large part, has let you down and has not done their part. "

Under Thompson's plan, sanctuary cities would lose discretionary federal grants, as would colleges and universities that allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition and has called for stronger laws forcing employers to verify that workers aren't illegal immigrants.

I'm back!

I have Internet service!!!

Not high-speed, but faster than dial-up.

It will take a day or two to get caught up on what is going on around the area, however I expect to resume blogging on Wednesday.

By the way, I'm looking into satellite Internet. Has anybody had any experience with satellite?

I look forward to blogging again and thank you all for your patience.

Robin