Barack Obama and When Evil is Called the Good of Humanity

One of the directives Jesus gave while He walked the earth was to “recognize the seasons.” This is something that all men but, believers in particular, need to be heeding. The times are evil. And I do not say this because of the passage of what Obama calls “his legislation” on Sunday. That, however, was a fruit of it.

September 11, 2001 changed the face of the world. “Terrorism” began to take on characteristics and features. And it was defined enough for a great country like the USA to basically declare war on it even though “it” had no country. It may be masked in the borders of Afghanistan and Iraq, but neither country claim terrorism and seem to be victim of them their selves. There is now indication this is spreading to other countries, like Yemen for example, and this unbordered demographic called terrorism continues to be on the move.

Although it has been subtly introduced into our political makeup over many decades, the events of 9-11, and subsequent national elections have seen a shift towards a new form of evil. An evil of which Jesus, Paul, and several of the prophets warned of when they said “Woe to those who call evil good.” This has come to a very blatant fruition in this last year with the election of Barack Obama as president. Don’t get me wrong, I think there are Republicans who do the same thing, it has just been more blatant within Democratic circles because of their current power status.

One could argue whether politics is a necessary evil, I suppose, but it would stem from the question “Is evil necessary?” and if so, why? However that could take volumes to explain. Evil, however, is a tool of man’s history in which the goats get separated from the sheep. Evil does not create good, but it has been a tool in which to refine it.

Democrats during the 2008 election used their “lie” in a more blatantly “in your face” way than it has ever been before. The change in this cycle was that it would become clearer later on that they had in fact lied. But there would be no apologies. Lying seemed to now be the way of the party. It became very clear during what little public debate the Democrats allowed over their health care bill. They denied people would be fined and even after posting the bill so that everyone could see it had new sanctions on abortion, they still denied it was there. Michigan’s Rep. Stupak was no pro-lifer with convictions. He played the game for them, and then got on the House floor and said (on the day it was passed) that the bill had nothing to do with “pro life.” Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barack Obama, among others are the new poster children for “The times are evil.” And they are wrapped up in our American political system and with the desire to maintain their status quo as the party of power and the party “of the people.” The welfare of humanity is the alibi in which tyrants lay their claims. We have seen this come full circle in the health care debate.

We have also seen this emanate from the white house in a bold way when Obama hired a “czar” in which citizens were asked to report anyone who was giving out disinformation. “Disinformation” in this case was anything that disagreed with the White House position. Even if it meant the white house was lying, it was against this administrations policies to have anyone label their lies as lies. Sen Joe Wilson was being clear and honest when he hollered “You Lie” at Obama on the senate floor. The Democrats spent more time being bothered by lack of protocol and spent little to no time trying to clear themselves of the accusation. The reason? They do not care.

Listening to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs is an exercise in futility. He gives no credible information and mocks that which he disagrees with. And Obama gives him his stamp of approval. Pelosi, Reid, Obama, Stupak, Landrieu, Biden, and a host of other Democrats believe the process is irrelevant in order to reach their goal. Even if it means lying. The US Constitution is ignored and is irrelevant to them. And who can stop them? On top of that congressmen are bribed left and right with incentives for their support.

There are voices for the right, in particular people like Sarah Palin and Michel Bachmann, but the voice of the grassroots, though present, is largely being ignored by most media outlets. Talking heads like Keith Olbermann rant and rave lunacy and insults to intelligence, but at the same time are applauded by their networks, in spite of the fact that their ratings have dropped considerably. It should be no surprise that MSNBC and CNN both finished with lower ratings than the cartoon channel in recent ratings. The Cartoon Network is more credible. It does not pretend to be a news channel like MSNBC and CNN.

Its not clear what the future holds. Pessimism rules and optimism seems a bit out of touch with reality in many respects. Clearly, the light of truth needs to shine over, above, and beyond American political system. Politics has come to the place in which it creates more problems than answers. It has not, or never should have been, an answer to life’s woes. As long as it is pursued as such, though, it will grow and it will at some point own–and I mean literally, own ALL Americans.

Woe to him, however, who calls evil good.

Share

Bad Debt and Evil Debt Collectors

Dianne McLeod is suing her mortgage company, Green Tree Servicing, for the wrongful death of her husband, Stanley. McLeod said she thinks he would be alive if not for the stress caused by Green Tree’s debt collectors. She said they sometimes called up to 10 times a day and also called the McLeods’ neighbors. “I think they were a major contributor to his death because of the stress and what I saw it doing to him,” she said.

“He would begin to sweat; he would also get very red in the face and complain about chest pains,” McLeod said. “We were worried he was gonna have a heart attack right there on the phone.” Stanley McLeod had a heart condition and in 2002 was airlifted to a hospital after a second heart attack. He went on disability and Dianne McLeod says they fell behind about three months on their mortgage payments.

This is a message left on the their home answering machine, allegedly by a male Green Tree representative:

“Stanley McLeod, you need to call Green Tree and get your act together and make your payments on your mortgage and quit playing these games….Why don’t you have that helicopter pick you up and bring that payment to the office?.”

“It was so inhumane to talk to someone like that and to take an event that was traumatizing to him and to make a jest out of it,” McLeod said. Stanley McLeod died of heart failure in 2005.

“The collection activity did not lead to his death. The claim is meritless,” said Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brian Corey of Green Tree Servicing. “We deny that the content, the number or the timing of the calls had anything to do with him dying in 2005,” Corey said.

Debt collection is regulated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which forbids harassing consumers. Companies can be fined $16,000 per incident. This year, as the economy plunged, consumer complaints shot up. More than 45,000 complaints had been received by the FTC through the end of June, up about 20 percent over last year. But, I will tell you that for the FTC to do anything on behalf of any of the complaints will probably require something more than a plaintives death. I would presume it would only take action if it was against them.

The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals represents about 5,500 companies in the industry. “The vast majority are very ethical, caring individuals who look for resolution to problems,” said Adam Peterman, the organization’s director of federal government affairs. “A bad apple can spoil the bunch too often, so we have to keep pushing that rock up the hill to help prevent that,” he said.

Billy Howard is an attorney who runs the Consumer Protection Division for Morgan & Morgan. Howard represents McLeod and has about 500 similar cases against companies who use what he called “Tony Soprano tactics,” a reference to the fictional organized crime leader who was the central character in the HBO drama “The Sopranos.” “I think it’s frightening because these companies go after people and they utilize tactics people just don’t know are illegal,” Howard said. I think they do know its illegal, but, they know that most people who are in debt cannot afford an attorney to sue along with the FTC being such a worthless organization. So what do they have to fear?

“Scare tactics work. They’ve worked for years. That’s how the mafia made so much money. That’s how these mafia-like tactics result in so much money. People are scared,” he said.

Howard says one of his other clients had this message waiting on the answering machine: “You’re a piece of s—. That’s why you turned your phone off. Mother f—–. But that’s OK….You haven’t heard the last of me. But if it takes me a year or takes me two, believe me, I will find you. You better move. But if you move, you better move to California, ’cause I do travel. And I like traveling. Goodbye.”

And then there was this one: “When I see you. I’m gonna f— you up. I want my money, and I want it now. I hate people who lie to me and abuse my company. … If you bring my money back, you don’t have to worry about me, just disregard my message.”

The FTC said it receives more complaints about debt collectors than any other industry. Complaints are also filed directly with attorneys general in all 50 states, which can open state investigations. Of the 45,000 complaints received by the FTC in 2009, the agency opened one investigation. According to FTC officials, their primary role is to be a backstop to lawsuits brought by consumers, which is the primary way to fight the alleged abuse. However, the FTC is useless when the defendant is trained in the art of “Deny, Deny, Deny.”

“We don’t have the manpower to individually investigate all of the complaints,” said Tom Pahl of the FTC’s division of financial practices. Which is why they are useless.

The FTC urges consumers with complaints to report them to their state attorney general, to the FTC and to consider filing suit against the company they believe is harassing them. You may have a little better edge with the state attorney general, however, very slim. 9 times out of ten theywill tell you to contact the FTC. The FTC will send you a pre-made pamphlet which tells you to contact the state attorney generals office.

Anna Inglett is president and CEO of PHG Financial Recovery Services in Tampa, Florida. “Those companies that do that will eventually put their own selves out of business. … We want them gone. We want them all gone,” she said.

But she also said debt collection is an important part of the economy. And this comment is very revealing:

“If we did not have debt collectors that helped businesses get the money that’s owed to them, then who voluntarily would pay any bills?” she said. In other words, they enforce morality. So, the comment made to McLeod on his answering machine would certainly be a logical step in enforcing this moral issue, would it not?