Mathews's Blog

We keep hearing from different sources we need to check and update our credit report. Well, if you plan on doing this, plan on pulling out a large portion of your hair. Once you get to the credit reporting web site it might take a few minutes to find the area you want to go to. They are going to try and get you to pay a fee for the free credit score they told you about at the start of this search. Once you start looking at the report you will most likely find a few errors. Some of these you have no idea how they got there, like a current address you haven't had in 20 years, or the fact you have a wife you didn't know about. Mine even had my Father's middle name as mine. Now we get to the good part. You find a mistake and file a claim that something is not right. You wait for a couple of weeks and you get a letter from them saying they have checked with company you filed the error about and there is nothing wrong with the information they have on file from the company. They tell you to get in touch with the company in question, which you do, and they tell you that isn't the information they reported.  Now this dosen't sound to time consuming but with the electronic phone systems today, it may take a couple of hours to get through all the prompts and people transfering you from one person to another.  This dosen't include the people in India who you  are switched to and can't understand. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against these people. They are just trying to make a living like te rest of us. Out-sourcing seems to be the way we do things today. Now you finally talk to someone and they say the information from credit bureau is not what was reported.  Now you start the process all over again and in the end you have wasted many hours and much hair pulling only to have gotten no where. In todays world it seems it is always somebody elses job or we aren't responsible for that and you need to call this number. Anyway, I hope other people have a better ending than I did. I have been dealing with this for three months and not any better off than I was from the start. Good Luck!

Well, here we go again.  Seems they get younger and younger when they do things I, as a child, knew better not too.  Third graders, oldest being nine, planning on how to hurt a teacher they or one of them don't like.  If I had even thought of such a thing, I would not have been able to sit down for a week.  Not only did they think of it, they made plans to do it.  I know things have changed a lot since I was that age and I don't want to blame it all on games and movies kids can play and see, but I am sure that has something to do with it.  I think the biggest problem is we all try to live above our means.  I know famlies that both parents have to work in order to have that new car and big boat and big house.  Oh, and don't forget the kids new or almost new cars.  I still think if we scaled back our lives a little and tried to live our lives a little more simply it would help. Before I go any further, let me say I do not have any children, but I do remember growing up that my Mother always knew where I was and who I was with.  If I went some place I wasen't supposed to be, she knew about it before I got home.  This is because people knew their neighbors and didn't mind getting involved if they saw something they knew wasn't right with the children.  We didn't have a lot but we never went without food or shelter and I didn't buy my first car until after I joined the service.  Again, I know things have changed and it might be hard for people to live like we did when I was a child.  Parents seem to depend on the schools and other public organizations to raise their children.  The parents are too busy trying to make the money to keep up the life style they live.  Computers, cell phones and all the other electronic stuff seem to make our lives more complicated even though they were supposed to do the opposite.  I think if parents took charge of their children again and had those sit down suppers like we did and talk about what happened during the day it might help to know your children a little better.  I know this is not the only problem but we need to start some place.  I also know some are going to say I don't have a clue but I know things are getting out of control.

Well, I am not sure what all I can say here but here goes.

I was in favor of the war when we started, but this weekend  we reached 4000 for a number of killed young men and women. I support the troops because they are there and I have to make sure they have all they need to do their job and protect themselves. I now believe we went in that country not knowing what was going to happen. Those people have been fighting for hundreds of years and there are too many religious groups trying to rule that country. There is no way we can settle the dfferences they have and I don't think enough preplanning was done before we went in to that country. Someone should have known we couldn't settle in a year orwo what they haven't been able to settle in hundreds of years. I think we should have taken our time and not have been in such a rush to get involved. I was in the Air Force back in the 60's and I don't claim to know anything about war. I never left the states while in the service, but I did process paper work for one of the first killed in Vietnam before most people even heard of the place. He was an air crew memeber killed while we were spraying the jungles with that bad orange stuff.

The local people in charge in Iraq know we will stay as long as they ask us to and do their killing for them. If we can train our troops in a year to go over there, why does it take so long to train their people to protect their country?  These people are going to be fighting long after we leave, if we ever do. I don't think we will as no matter what anyone says, we need that oil and we need to protect it.  If the politicians would stop taking money and favors from those opposing new energy. The oil people have a lot to hold on to and they will lobby everyone they can to get what they want. If our politicians would worry more about this country instead of their 40 years in congress or senate and how much money they can retire with we would all be better off. I really don't think our founding fathers had it in mind to spend their whole life doing one job.

Again, let me say, I don't know all that goes on in our government, and I am sure I would be upset if I did, but the people need to stand up and let these people know we don't always agree with them and if they don't start looking out for us as a country, they won't be in office much longer.

Thank You