No. 127 – May 8, 2012

THAT GATE-MOUTH SMILE

Granted, we are all living in hard times.  People are out of work while others are hanging on to the job they have and hoping that, sooner or later, things will begin to get better.

There has, however, been a real uptick in scams and outright theft among people on a personal level.  Not only are there shows on TV that chronicle these tricksters, Greed in America et al, they are actually living among us on a daily basis.

Last evening I was talking with a friend who loaned a family member $5,000 to help him get back on his feet after being laid off from his job.  Luckily for his friend, he landed another job – but had to move to a different city to begin his employment.  That was over 9 months ago – and he has not seen a dime of his money since.

He feels like he was “punked” and probably will not ever see a cent of the loan come back his way.  He asked me what I thought could be done to get reimbursed for his loan.

I related to him my own situation in which I loaned $12,000 to a past real estate mentor and associate, who I thought was a friend, to help him save his home from foreclosure.  Not only did his home get forclosed upon but he has since simply quit repaying the loan.  As it stands today this Bellingham real estate broker still owes me approximately $8,000.

My friend wanted to know what I did about the situation.  I told him of the paper trail that I had and that I had spent over a year listening to his lame excuses, one after another, until I finally gave him an ultimatum to either try to repay the outstanding debt or I would have to seek other measures.

“What do you mean by other measures?” he asked.  “I don’t want to go to court over it.”

I told him that I claimed it on my 2012 IRS as a “bad loan” and submitted it for consideration as a write-off.

He was very surprised to learn that you could even do this.

I also told him that I was going to write the IRS directly and inform them of the person’s name – so they could check and see if he properly listed the $12,000 on his IRS form from two years ago.  If he failed to do that then he faces an audit from the Internal Revenue Service.  If found that he did not report it as income he could face a fine or imprisonment.

My friend was unaware that any of this was even possible.

Yes, it is possible.  And it is not that difficult to do.

I have to mention, at this point, that I gave the man who I loaned the money to almost a year to try to repay – but he simply chose not to do so.

In time, he will be hearing from the IRS.

The reason I am writing about this is because it is not the first time I have heard stories such as this.  Most people just write it off as a bad loan and go about their lives.  Needless to say the perceived “friendship” is over.

In hard economic times you tend to encounter situations like this.  But the times need not be tough to get “taken” by a so-called friend or family member.

So here are a few tips that I have culled from my three bad loans in my life.  It seems that all three of these people had similar traits, so I thought I would list them for other people who might be considering “helping” out a friend in the future.

Here they are:

1.  That Gate-mouth smile – all con artists have that “toothie” smile.  Your know what I am talking about.  They can smile the pearly whites, and disarm you with their charm and “sincerity.”  But they are highly capable of lying through those teeth to the extent that you “want” to believe them – even if you have your doubts.  We have one occupying the White House right now.  A charming gate-mouth smile is hard to resist – and the con artist knows this, and exploits it to his total advantage.

2.  The con artist will tell you anything to make his story more compelling.  But more than this he will have an answer to every one of your questions.  They know how to put on the “sad line” of how things are “just not working out right now but will get better in a couple of months” kind of story.  They would lie on their mother’s grave if they knew they could get money from you.

3.  This type of person can, in time, wear you down with a constant type of pleading, and in doing so can actually make you feel guilty if you don’t  lend them the needed funds.  I finally gave in when I had to consider if I did not loan this past “friend” of mine the money – he would lose his home to foreclosure – and, in essence, it would be my  fault.  The con artist has a very astute way of making you feel guilty for not loaning them money.

4.  If you end up loaning the money, their repayment is  always the same.  The first two or three months, they pay on time.  But after the third month, the excuses start to come – instead of the of money.  Then the repayment amount is reduced to half the amount over a longer period of time.  After a few more months of half payments – the excuses get sharper and the money simply stops.

5.  The Promise – comes when they say they will repay you in full as soon as they “get back on their feet” but for the time being they can’t come up with any more payments.  And that is the end of the repayment schedule – and the so-called “friendship.”

But you do not have to just “let it slide.”  And this is the point for me writing this section of the newsletter.

You do have an avenue of reclaiming your funds – without the help of a lawyer.  Most people cringe at the thought of retaining an attorney or going to small claims court on their own.  And the con artist know this and exploits this fear with a vengeance.

But what many of them fail to understand is that you can legitimately file with the IRS and claim it as a bad loan.

If the person did not list the money as “income” then he is in deep trouble.  The last thing anybody wants is for the IRS to audit their tax returns.

And if you follow up with a personal letter to the IRS stating the person’s name and the surrounding circumstances, this will really get things moving.

So, if you have ever loaned money to a friend or relative, and they refused to pay you back, then you can take this approach if all other attempts to collect it on a friendly basis have failed.

It also lends credence to a couple of maxims that I penned a few years ago:

Lend a hand – lose an arm.

Lend money to a friend – lose both in the end.

BACK TO POLITICS

The Taliban is back in Afghanistan.  After Obama draws down the US Military there will be a bloodbath in that desolate country that will make the Killing Fields look like child’s play.

And the women of Afghanistan will take the brunt of the return from these maniacs.  Every woman in Afghanistan will be fair game for “religious retribution” for them “aiding and abetting” the enemy.

But, of course, the Taliban will gang rape them by the thousands, and then stone them to death.  Or simply shoot them with their Russian supplied AK-47s.

What will Obama do in this situation?  Exactly the sme thing he has done in Syria.  Nothing.

What will the staunch and upright defender of women’s rights – Hillary Clinton – do to help?  Absolutely nothing.

No, this is not another prediction.  I am tried of predicting the obvious – and taking heat from those simply too myopic to see what is right in front of their noses.  So I will just state this as a fact and let it go at that.

When Egypt fell, I predicted that the Muslim Brotherhood would eventually get into power – and was told how racist and “anti-Islamic” I was.  Well, the Brotherhood is back.  And the Taliban will also be back in Afghanistan, too.

SO WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT TO US?

Simply stated, would you like to befriend America – only to see your trust be totally betrayed in the end?

We need only to see what happened in Vietnam – when America chose to cut and run.

In every instance, when America has initially gone in to help another country, and then decided to back away, a bloodbath has followed in its wake.

The only rule of war is to win.  There are no other rules.

Am I advocating staying longer in Afghanistan?  Certainly not.  We should have never gone there in the first place.  But those “in the know” decided to ignore what history was telling them, via Alexander the Great and the Russians.  You cannot win a war in Afghanistan.  We should have stayed out when staying out was an option.

But the temptation of billions of dollars in illicit money flows – not to mention cornering the Opium Market on the World Stage – under the veil of a war of liberation was just too lucrative to resist.  So in we went.

And make no mistake about it – the Afghanistan War is Obama’s war.  He is the one who bears total responsibility for sending in 60,000 extra troops – when ALL his Generals asked for double that amount.

Obama could have completely drawn down at that point – which he promised to do.  Remember that Gate-mouth smile when he was running for President of the United States?  The naive souls who fell for his lies are in the mood to fall for some more of his deceit and deception come this November.  And, they too, will be responsible for the murder, rape and pillage – once we abandon Afghanistan.  But then it will be too late.

OBAMA’S MIDDLE EAST POLICY

The American Foreign Policy in the Middle East is in a shambles.  Not only does Obama not know what to do, neither do the people around him have a clue as to what is really going on.  Hillary Clinton is floundering like a ruptured duck trying to take off from a languid pond.  According to an LA Times article, “Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta appealed to American troops to refrain from misconduct that has complicated the war effort in Afghanistan.”

Can anybody read between the lines on this one?  US Troops have complicated the war effort?

Who is going to take the blame for losing in Afghanistan?

Of course, it is the returning Veterans’ fault.  It is not Panetta’s.  And I guarantee Obama is not going to take the blame.  So, it falls onto the Military men and women to take the brunt of the situation.

Can anybody spell Vietnam Veterans?

So here we have Syria under siege – with outright murder being committed by the Syrian Government – on their own people.  They are not fighting a war.  They are simply killing their own kind.

Where is Obama?  Probably at another fundraiser.

Obama lost Iran when the students pleaded for his help and support.  Many were jailed, tortured and never seen again as a result of Obama’s dithering.

Which leads us to Israel.  I am not sure what Benjamin Netanyahu has up his sleeve by calling an election in September.  It seems somewhat odd that he would do this now – unless it is an outright bluff to finally gain support for his own party.  An election in September seems like not enough time to mount support and then enlist a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities – before the November Presidential Election here in America.

Unless, of course, Bebe is pulling a real “fast one” with a colossal gamble to dragl the rest of his government into line.  We will have to wait and see if this is the case.

With the Americans “hemming and hawing” all through the Middle East – it is sending real worries through not only that area of the world but also Asia.  And there is where the real problems are going to come to the fore.

In dealing with China – and Russia – one must deal from a position of strength.  Weakness only invites antagonism from other nations.  So far, President Obama has not impressed anybody in the Asian sphere of influence.  He is regarded as an exceptionally weak leader – one who is more interested in getting re-elected, instead of doing the job he was supposed to do in the first place.

All in all, American Foreign Policy is in the toilet – and will remain there until there is a new tenant in the White House.

THE SILENT MAJORITY?

Remember when Richard Nixon said that a “silent majority” will propel him to the presidency?

Well, I am starting to hear a lot of rumbling about this silent majority beginning to wake up yet again.

Who is the silent majority this time around?  The old folks.  Those people who are starting to finally see the writing on the proverbial wall.  And a lot of these old-timers who voted for Obama in 2008 – are not going to vote for him again.

They have finally started to see through his, contorted rhetoric and outright lies, and they don’t like what it portends for their declining years.  If Obamacare is passed they know, now, that they are screwed.

More and more “senior citizens” are waking up to the fact that this will literally be their last chance to take a stand for them to live in relative comfort – and dignity.

And they are mobilizing – albeit very quietly.

The real secret is that the “elder generation” actually gets off their collective duff – and vote.

And therein lies one of the greatest threats to Obama’s reelection bid.

So I have a suggestion for all of you readers.  I know most of you have not taken an active part in this upcoming election.  Yes, everybody is busy.  I have heard that one far more times than I care to admit.

But everyone can actually do something on November 6th.  Try to find out elderly people who don’t vote by mail, but who actually go to the polls to cast their vote.  If you know of anyone who needs a ride, offer to drive them to the voting booth.

Contact your local senior housing residences, places of worship, clubs and service organizations in your area and offer to drive them to the polls.  Call friends and neighbors and see if you can give any one of them a lift.

And while you are driving them to vote, talk with them, get to know them.  You might be surprised at how well-informed – and involved – those old folks really are.

After all, they are members of the Greatest Generation.

That is it for now.

Keep thinking positive, smile and never give up!

The best days for America are still ahead of us.  But it is up to WE THE PEOPLE to make it happen – again.

Take care,

Lawrence Klepinger
Editor/Publisher
THE AMERICAN TELEGRAPH

 

 

Comments:

8 Responses to “No. 127 – May 8, 2012”

  • Dick Jones Says:

    It is thrilling to see working class Americans and retired people actually taking part in American politics! The tea party brought them out with the promise of ” taking back our broken government”, but just became a part of our broken government! They became straight line republicans, which is not taking anything back, but helping to elect rich politicians that don’t care anything about the people once they get elected. I am a former Tea Partier who is supporting Ron Paul, the candidate they keep minimizing in the controlled media.
    Every time they “push him off the stage” I Know he is doing something for the people, which the MSM can’t stand.

  • Dick Bachert Says:

    Larry,
    Given its duplicitous history, it’s amazing that ANYONE trusts the American government. Here’s a very partial 20th century list.
    At the end of WWII in Europe, Stalin demanded the return of ALL former Soviet and Soviet satellite state citizens and military who had fled to the Allies during the war because they wanted to avoid being conscripted into fighting for a communist system they knew to be wrong or they wanted to spare their families the ravages and horrors of that war. Many of them fought side-by-side with Allied troops against the Nazis.

    When Stalin’s demand came, Eisenhower and the US State Department (which Joe McCarthy PROVED was filled with Soviet agents) authorized what was known as “Operation Keelhaul.”

    As news spread in the camps in which most of these former Soviet subjects lived, they BEGGED to be allowed to remain in Allied controlled Europe. Their pleas were rejected and the roundup and return began.

    British and American troops charged with the physical roundup would frequently enter the barracks housing the prospective returnees to find that many of them had thrust their heads through the glass window panes, sliced their jugular veins and bled to death rather than return to Stalin’s “tender mercies.”

    The fate of nearly all the others who DID return was not any better: As the Allied guards who had transported them watched, they were herded off the trucks, lined up and shot on the spot by the receiving Soviets.

    Then there was the aborted 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Quietly egged on by elements of the US government, the Hungarians did rise up and tried to throw off the Soviet yoke. They were holding their own until the Dulles State Department sent a cable to Moscow saying “The Government of the United States looks with disfavor on the establishment of a government hostile to the USSR on the border of the USSR.” Thus emboldened, the Politbureau ordered Soviet tanks and troops into Budapest. From a rebel held hilltop radio station came frantic cries of “For the love of God, will SOMEONE help us” as students died while throwing dinner plates and pans resembling anti-tank mines in front of the advancing armor.

    No “help” came.

    Then there was the Bay of Pigs fiasco when elements of the US Government encouraged Cuban patriots planning to overthrow Castro and tole them that we would provide air cover for their grossly outnumbered and outgunned ragtag force. At the 11th hour, Kennedy PULLED THE PROMISED AIR COVER. Those who died quickly on the beach were the lucky ones. Most of the others were treated to one of Fidel’s favorite “toys”. They were placed in a sealed phone booth size enclosure the floor of which was covered with several inches of finely pulverized glass. Beneath the glass, hundreds of air jets were activated, filling the booth with the dust as the occupant vainly tried to breathe. Fidel and that hero of so many American morons, Che Guevara, often watched the festivities as they enjoyed fine Cuban cigars.

    There are hundreds of other examples but you now know why the word of the American government just isn’t worth a damn to any who know that history. Sadly, it’s no longer worth a damn to her citizens (if it ever was).

    And as regards getting more of us old fogies to the polls, we’d also better not forget to GET THEM REGISTERED TO VOTE before November 6th. Barring that, they COULD affect a thick latin accen, tell the poll workers they just swam across the Rio Grande, have this note from Eric Holder authorizing them to vote and DEMAND they be allowed to cast a ballot.

    Just a thought.

  • joe winstead Says:

    Hello Larry-

    Having been burnt on several personal loans I have been for many years a firm believer in the old axiom ‘no good deed goes unpunished’.

    I tried to personally save the world for years (at least my immediate world) and after loss of much sleep and treasure I finally gave up. I only wish that I would have surrendered much earlier. Had I done so, retirement would now be much more comfortable.

    Afghanistan is a real quandary- but we dug the hole just like in Nam. We should have totally pulled out years ago. The problem is that we will eventually – and the longer we stay the worse the retribution on the Afghans will be. Go now and get it over with.

    The Syrian deal is a little more complicated. In Assad’s defense, at least he wears a coat and tie, instead of a rag around his head. Could this is some way be a manifestation of his secular leanings?

    When he is overthrown, and the Muslim Brotherhood assumes control (as you are complaining about in Egypt), what do we then do? If he wants to kill his own people, why should we intervene? Why does most everyone think that America has the right, authority, and moral high ground to police the world? Life is tough, especially in dung holes like Syria. If they wanted freedom and democracy – what have they been doing for the past two thousand years?

    It would be a nice thing if we had the money (see first paragraph) and lots of men and women who are interested in sacrificing their lives for people that hate their guts. Maybe its time to thin the herd and bring back the draft in order to provide for world security. At a minimum it would at least get a bunch of fat ass kids in good physical shape and provide jobs.

    I really think we should try to save America first- and in the meantime let the third world fend for itself. If we don’t, we will quickly join them.

    If we haven’t already.

  • Michael Kruse Says:

    Hey Larry, one of my favourite quotes from Shakespeare:

    “Neither a borrower not a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” (Polonius’ advice to his son, Laertes, in Hamlet).

    As for Afghanistan… The problem with both Afghanistan and, many years ago, with Vietnam, is that niether are or were winnable. Too many people in Nam wanted communism and too many people in Afghanistan want the Taliban. It’s horrible for those who’d prefer freedom, but there’s not much you can do when a nation is bent on a mistaken course, except hold your nose and wait for them to grow out of it. Which they will, eventually.

  • Doc dolan Says:

    @Dick Jones. I agree with a lot of what you have to say … However, we are at a major turning point in this country right now. I also personally like a lot of what Ron Paul has to say, and at the proper time, I would back him. But, I am a realist as well. Here comes the big but … right now Paul DOES NOT HAVE enough followers to be a viable winning candidate.

    Republican parties all over the nation are expending large amounts of money, time, effort, and dedication to teach people exactly what I am posting here – when they should be spending all of those things getting Romney elected! They can’t because they HAVE to stop Paul from running! They are WASTING all of that time, money, and effort!

    Not enough people realize how very bad things are, even though many of us try our damndest to educate them, they still just don’t seem to get it!

    Herein lies the problem. Under the current situation in this country, we MUST get this administration, and as many of its’ followers as possible OUT, forever, to save America! To do that, we MUST get someone else elected. Almost ANYONE!

    By far, very far, Romney is not my first choice! But he is far better than the Obummer, and I will campaign for, and vote for him!

    With the Chicago Political Machine (a VERY effective machine it is too) pulling out all of the stops to keep their boy in power, any opposition to him, and his gang of thugs, is going to have to be centered on ONE, and only one, Republican/ Conservative candidate.

    As much as I agree with many of Paul’s ideas and objectives – HE SIMPLY IS NOT ELECTABLE AT THIS TIME! There is just no way he can win this year!

    His third party candidacy will do nothing except pull votes away from someone who should be able to beat the Obummer, if everyone opposed to the Obummer votes for Romney!

    Every vote for Ron Paul in the general election … is the same thing as a vote to keep what we have in The People’s House right now!

    Third Party candidates are always known as “spoilers” … and it is true!

    Look what happened in my own state of Nevada! Before one fraudulent campaign was exposed, and overcome, (I am sure there are many frauds that were not found out, some even I know of!) the Reid Machine had (read this as paid off the guy and funded his campaign through a 3rd group) someone run for office on the conservative side, AGAINST Reid, as a third party candidate … and that candidate had the Republicans, and many other independant conservatives, DIVIDED over who they were voting for … that equals 2 small blocks of voters, neiother with enough votes to actually win, overcome by the Democratic Party … who were all voting for Dingy Harry! So we got stuck with another term for that asshole!

    They KNOW, and use, every dirty trick in the book, and they started in January of 2009!

    If Paul runs as a Third Party Candidate we get 4 more years of Obama style socialism, and our country is totally doomed.

    Please understand this! It is not that so many conservative people are AGAINST Paul, it is they are FOR getting the Obummer out! We have to stand together for ONE person, one who has at least a chance of winning!

    I am not typing this to make you mad, or to encourage a debate on policies and ideals, I am only posting this to hopefully make people realize just how dangerous a 3rd candidate is for our country – hopefully some will read what I have written and vote for Romney, removing the criminals from Washington this November!

    If Paul runs … Obama wins, a simple truth that the Democrats know and have benefitted from in the past. History shows this fact, very clearly!

    Please don’t believe me … if you have the time, do you own research, you will find I am correct. Whenever one party,or idealistic group, has more than one candidate running – the opposition almost always wins.

    We cannot afford 4 more years! We just can’t!

    Doc is off his soapbox now … Goodnight all!

  • John Says:

    The trouble with the world situation is with those who come to power in a country who are the “rebels” of the world. i.e.:Germany, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Iraq to name a few that have had them. What’s the solution? Eliminate them before they come to power! Ya, how do you do that one?

    Larry, you talk about Obama paying more attention to getting relected. Well, that is what the first time is all about, 2nd term is do as I dam please and the hell with the people. That’s what term limits have initiated.

    1st, we have to rely on the voters to quit voting for the same person year after year. Until then, NO CHANGE!!

    Your words of truth, fact, experience, knowledge, and wisdom is just another piece of mind to give others a way to put out thier own opinion and not really listen to what they read. Yes then we hear what we want but not hear what is really said.

    I learned one thing from you. The power of using words and what a sentence is saying. To bad other cannot see, read, or hear all that!

    As for comments to your Newsletter; Check out this web site: http://www.elkgroveonline.com/ click on the “blogs”. This is what should be happening here!

  • Brian Springer Says:

    Yep, just what we need. Lets try to police the world. Just think where we would be if GW had not gone into IRAQ and gone to Afganistan to get Osama and left quickly? What about whats going on in parts of Africa today? Yes, America the big policeman. Oh, and what about the budget deficit? Yes, America the big policeman. And we need more F-22’s designed for plane to plane combat at over 400 million a piece. Who is really pulling who’s strings here?

  • Jacy Says:

    I agree with Doc – this is not the time for a third party candidate. I too, am not happy with Romney nor am I thrilled with the Republican party. Ron Paul has some great ideas and solutions for domestic policy but his foreign policy and national security ideas are for the most part dangerous. This election, if there is one – Obummer has set himself up for a potential martial law – will be the difference as to whether we remain a Republic or a Marxist/Socialist third world country.

    The Democrats plan to steal this election as they did in the last with felons, illegals and the dead voting. They also bussed in street people as evidenced by a Democrat documentary filmmaker (which was shown on the web). This shouldn’t surprise anyone living in Washington State where we have had voter fraud. Illegals, who apply for driver’s licenses, are given a voters application! For over three years petitions have circulated to stop illegals from getting driver’s licenses but we could never get enough signatures – the Republican powers “to be” would not sign off on the petition to get it on the ballot. So it will take every citizen to vote for the nominee – it will take citizens to be watch dogs over ballots, which I understand will now be counted in Spain by one of George Soros companies.

    Sadly there is not one Republican in Congress who will stand up for an investigation into Obama’s Constitutionally ineligibility – he was not vetted by a complicit Congress who knew he was ineligible. The only way we can make certain Obama is not in the White House for another four years is on Constitutional ineligibility – either we abide by the Constitution on this matter or forego it in the future – the document that sets us apart from the rest of the world. It takes courage and guts to stand up for what is right and I wonder if this country, at present, where apathy has reigned supreme, has what it takes.