I thought I'd do a bit of public service, and post this forwarded email I received today from a listener named Stella.  One never knows when a scam might happen to them.

(I don't know where this report came from so I cannot credit the writer.  If anyone knows, I will be happy to give full credit.)

Crimes via Text Messaging

"A woman has changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag,  which contained her cell phone, credit  card, wallet, etc.was stolen. Twenty  minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking
about our Pin number  and I replied a little while ago.'
When  they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had  actually used the stolen cell phone to text hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of the lesson:  do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list.  Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby,Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc.  ... and very importantly, when sensitive info is asked of you through texts,  CONFIRM by calling back.

Also, when receiving  a text from your friends or family to meet them somewhere that is not planned or usual, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you  don't reach them, be very careful about
going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you."

My addition: If you are in Israel, be very careful about this, that you are not lured by Arab terrorists posing as a contact of yours, to meet them somewhere. This has happened already once with a young man who was lured through computer chat, by an Arab young woman to meet him, and was then taken away in a car and kidnapped. They found his body later on.)

Another story that actually happened to me personally, about 2 years ago....  I was reading one of those emails that warned people about a phone scam where someone would call and tell you that one of your family members was in an automobile accident and was rushed to the hospital.  They told you that they had no details, but that you must immediately call a special number to find out where he/she was taken and what condition they were in.  In actuality, this number they gave you and asked you to dial was a number that enabled call forwarding.  For Americans, I believe the number they told you to dial was 72# followed by other numbers.  In Israel, I believe it is *72.  When this number is dialled, the customer is billed for the forwarded calls, which could include additional collect or long distance charges. In America, there was a scam that involved prisoners calling from an inmate facility.  They also manipulated people with this story to gain access to your phone line to make long distance calls.

         PHONE SCAMS

I remember reading that email, thinking, hmmm, what will people do next?  And then deleting it thinking these things never happen to me.  Well, I was wrong.  It was about half a year later that I received a telephone call in the afternoon from a man, with an Arab accent, telling me that one of my family members was rushed to the hospital, that he had no details other than that I must call a certain number to get more details.  My first thought was my parents...  that perhaps something had happened to them, but then I remembered that they were away in the USA visiting their other grandchildren.  That canceled them out, and I knew they were safe.  The next panic-y thought I had was my children, even though they didn't drive at that time. Perhaps one of them had left school early, traveled to Jerusalem for some reason and somehow was involved in an accident? All these thoughts racing through my mind, but something didn't feel right, it was too vague, and my kids schedule just didn't fit this situation.  It was then that that email snapped back into my memory, and I realized I was being conned.  

To my personal training, (I try to teach or psych myself out, that in times of danger, not to panic, but to get angry.  Panic or fear, tends to make one freeze and not function correctly.  Anger makes one bold and to take charge. To my delight, my personal psych training kicked in and I got angry.  From somewhere in me, I yelled at this caller that I knew what he was doing, that it was a sin, and that Allah would curse him for his evil. He was in shock, expecting me to be needy or in hysterical fear, instead I continued raising my voice and telling him how I hoped he would suffer for his evil, and that his Allah should curse him, and curse him and curse him.  - he answered, "lamah?" which means, 'why? in Hebrew.  What audacity!  I continued to unfurl even more of my anger on him for his evil acts and chutzpah.  I was surprised myself at how I was raising my voice and being so forceful.  One of my kids was home from school already and even he looked up to see who was his mother hollering at on the phone. There was silence on the other end of the phone line, I guess he was speechless, not knowing what to say or do, and he hung up. 

So, well, it actually happened to me!  And that is why I ask you to pass these messages and warnings around (after you check on sites like Snopes.com etc.) to warn others.  I thought it would never happen to me.  It did.  And if someone didn't think to send me that email going around, who knows what would have happened? 

   "Hello? Is your Mommy there? No? Well, we have bad news, your mommy has been in an awful car accident and she was taken to the hospital.  You have to dial this number to find out where she is...."

After I had hung up, I was grateful that I had answered that phone call, and not one of my children. If I was not home and they had received a phone call like that, telling them that their parents were in an automobile accident and were in the hospital, -what trauma, fear and panic they would have gone into.  -Forget now, about the phone bill I'd be paying, that doesn' t compare to the trauma it would have caused my kids. It would be unforgivable to put them through something like that. I feel bad for all the other kids who have answered phone calls like this.

AT&T offers the following to warn the public about the 72# telephone scam:

"If you receive a call seeking assistance and asking you to dial numbers, be very leery. Educate family members not to accept collect calls from someone they don't know and not to follow instructions given by a caller they are unfamiliar with.

If an AT&T residential customer believes that they have been a victim to the 72# scam, they should first dial 73# on their telephone to deactivate the call forwarding feature.

If an AT&T residential customer feels like they have been victim of a phone scam, they should contact a AT&T customer service representative. Customers of other local telephone providers should call their respective customer service numbers."

Anyone have any other scams that we should all be aware of?  Please check them first on places like Snopes.com before passing on.  You could be helping someone just like me, and I am grateful to whoever sent me that email years ago.  

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I just remembered another scam...

This is part two in the 'Stop The World' article that I wrote in a previous blog.

In addition to the economy looking bleak, here's another disturbing item that doesn't sit well with our personal freedoms and privacy which we value so much…

When one thinks of the top one hundred richest entities in the world, one would think that they might be the USA, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, and forty other or so countries, Surprisingly, this is not true. In fact, 51% of the richest entities in the world are no longer nation states but mulitnational corporations.

Corporations can easily come into a country and buy it's candidates by contributing to their campaigns. They are also able to woo politicians already in government positions to pursue their own goals and interests. There's the old saying by US financier & politician Simon Cameron (1799 - 1889) , "An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought". So, one might think they are voting for someone who will represent them, but in fact, he will not be beholden to you, the voter, but to his 'corporate sponsor'. Go watch 'Mr. Smith Goes To Washington'. Stop the world, I want to get off. ------------

According to the BBC News, "Microsoft has launched a new platform, Windows Azure, in which data and applications will not be stored on individuals' computers."

To see video of the information storage center, click HERE.

In fact, your private information will now be stored in a central data base. They will market this fact as something to your advantage: "Now, wherever you travel to, if you don't have your computer, you can use any computer at hand and have all your information ready to download from our central location! No more lugging your lap top, and no more worrying if your hard drive burned out. You won't lose anything."

Hmmm, somehow this doesn't sit well with me, having my personal information stored in a central place where a person has no reach or control?  That means someone else, or some government clerks possibly will. Big Brother Internet Special. Stop the world, I want to get off.

Another great video to pound this point in about corporations taking over and nation states that protect your culture and rights losing its power, watch this gem.

Stop the world, I want to get off. Scotty, beam me up.

How ironic, that the same week B. Hussein Obama is elected president of the United States, the weekly portion of the Torah is "Lech L'cha"  (And you should go out)

Is G-d giving our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora a message?

I was cooking and preparing for Shabbat on Friday while listening to a radio station from Tennessee.  I like listening to radio stations from around the world through the internet.  It gives me a taste of what is on the mind of the people in different areas of the world.  On came the oldie song by Marty Robbins - El Paso, about a man who fell in love with a Mexican beauty at a tavern. Many men wanted her but he was determined to fight for her to have her for himself.  One of the lines in the song hit me, which was, "My love is stronger than my fear of death".  And I thought about all the 'Mikes' and others out there that prefer to stay away from what they claim they love so much.  …And I believe them.  I believe Mike when he says how important the Land of Israel is to him.  But the question is, HOW MUCH?

No love is perfect.  Our spouses may have caught our eye and our hearts, but they still can drive us mad some times.  Should we walk away from the marriage because of it?  What does love mean anyway?  Is it a feeling, an adjective? Or is love a verb? 

For those of us brought up on Hollywood movies, we naturally come to the conclusion that love is a feeling, an adjective.  Love is portrayed as an overwhelming, passionate, emotion.  But real life, and Torah, tells us differently.  Love is actually a verb.  It is what we DO for the object of our love, that really shows our love and commitment. 

I remember when I was a little kid playing with and petting our dog and saying in a cute voice over and over again, "I love you Skipper".  Everyday I would pet and tell my dog how much I loved him.  Then one night my father came home from work on a rainy night.  The dog was outside and he asked if anyone of us (siblings) had brought the dog into the house and fed him.  None of us did.  We were warm inside and watching TV.  He said to us, "you love, love , love your dog, but did you feed her today? No.  Did you bring her in for the night? No.  Don't give me your love, love, love statements anymore.  That's not what love is."  He turned and walked away to take care, feed, and 'Love'  that dog.  I always remembered that.  It was one of those wake-up lessons of life that happen in childhood.

And so it is for Israel.  The consensus here is that most of the people presently in the government are either corrupted or in politics for their own personal advancement.  They are not people who serve the nation.  They are not lovers of the Land of Israel.  They are people who say they care, but use their elected status for their own pleasures, -like we did as kids, for our dog.  So, …love, shmove.  The same goes for our friends in the Diaspora who say that they care about Israel, but yet, they stay away. 

A country singer can write lyrics about a man whose love for a woman is stronger than his fear of death.  What about our brothers and sisters away out  there in the Diaspora?

Is their love (for Israel) stronger than their fear of death?

For our boys who go to fight the Hizbullah and Hamas, it is.

Is their love stronger than their fear of going to jail?  For our youth who are as young as 12 years old, it is.

Is their love stronger than their fear of chucking it all and coming to a foreign culture?  For all the Jews who made Aliyah it is.

Is their love stronger than their fear of an uncertain future?  For all the Jews living here it is.

Do the key board-pounders in the Diaspora who claim they love Israel,  work the land, clean up the thorns, move the rocks, caress the soil, plant the seeds to make The Land bloom again?

Do the key board-pounders marry and have children here and raise their families here?  Do they strengthen the Jewish  population here?

Do they do ANYTHING here?

For the Jews living here, in the Land of Israel, our love is stronger than our fear of death.

NEW LYRICS for this song, sing along! 

Out in the Western part banks of the Jordan
I fell in love with the soft rolling hills
Nighttime would find me in Joseph's tomb praying
Music would play in my mind and bring chills

Blacker than night were the eyes of Fatima
Wicked and evil while casting a spell
My fear was deep for this knife wielding maiden
I'd have to shoot, but in vain I could tell

That night Fatima's Imam came  to kill me
Wild as he tried to catch me, eeeeeeee
Dashing and darting, I fought to escape
From Wicked Fatima, her Imam and flee.

So in anger I challenged his right for the Land that he squatted,
Down went his hand for the gun that he wore
My challenge was answered in less than a heartbeat
I punched Hamas-nik' down flat on the floor

Out through the back of the Tomb I had ran
Towards where the settlements were
I got home back to my house on the mountain
Holding my stake in the land till we could?


Ok, enough for me, you can do the rest of the lyrics. I wanted to post this a few days ago, and I thought I'd have time to finish this song, but you are all creative.  Give it a try.

Tsk tsk tsk, The American people were fooled. We are all witnessing history, as a once great nation has willfully decided to destroy itself from within. Some of it is due to ignorance and a poor education. Some of it is due to guilt feelings, thinking that by voting for a minority candidate, it shows how enlightened and 'hip' they are. (I want to say here that I think it is wonderful that a person can get elected no matter what their race, religion or skin color. That's the greatness of America.) But some are just fools. Lazy thinking, dumbed down fools.

A guest I had on my show once stated, there are two things that have to be fought for or worked at: Your health & your freedom. One has to work at their health, keeping the body fueled with proper foods and exercise, if they want to be healthy. The second thing, freedom, also has to be fought for and worked at. No one will give you freedom or let you keep it unless you are willing to defend it.

Another guest I had on my show stated something very true as well. For American citizens thinking that they will always be protected by the constitution, that beautiful document, think again. The constitution is only as strong as the people willing to fight for it.

The American people, and many of you reading this, were raised with honest, decent and great work ethics. We knew that and education with hard work, coupled with humility and gratitude would produce it's rewards. We could sit back and enjoy our hard earned blessings knowing that we got them honestly. This new generation was raised with getting too much, too soon, and growing up too fast. Add to that a massive influx of immigrants who came to America, not looking so much for freedom and a chance to make something of themselves, but of people who came - to make money and live a more affluent life. Nothing so wrong there, but if money is your #1 goal, moral decay takes place.

Today's generation wants it all without taking responsibility. We want to be swept away by a Prince Charming who will promise he will take care of us. But this Prince Charming is only 'charming' us. Soon the wedding night will be over and then daylight will break, and it will be grey skies.

These videos below will show what (unfortunately) many (not all) Americans have become today,,, dumbed down, lazy, poorly educated, and people wanting to live above their means. People who thought nothing of feeding their instant gratification, maxing out their credit cards, falling into debt, and wanting 'it all' without the honorable value of hard work and living within their means. This is one reason why promises of hand outs $$$ and 'change' won Obama the elections.

'Obama Supporter Thinks She Won't Need To Worry About Paying For Her Gas And Mortgage Anymore'

More dumbed down America: This is a clip from the Howard Stern radio show. He sent someone out to Harlem to ask residents there what they thought of Obama's policies. Instead, he took McCain's policies and switched them for Obama's. Hear what they said:

And last, see how the hip 'enlightened' are just as easy to manipulate, because people don't want to think,  Yup, they fooled you!

*** I have added another video for your viewing, see bottom of blog.

Folks, I was going to let this drop.  I am tired of the Obama topic. The guy is probably going to win the elections in the USA, but I just wanted you all to be aware of who you are choosing as your next leader and what kind of 'change' you may be getting.

I had on my show Dr. Jerome Corsi who talked about Mr. Hussein Obama, and his ties with Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga.  Now, before you fall asleep from more political talk, please read a bit further.  You really should know that your next president, is at least oblivious, or at worst, in bed with, Muslim radical extremists who want Sharia law, a safety net for Muslim terrorists, and a ban on public Christian worship.  Lest you forget, the Moslem extremist regimes are at war with the United States. 

I just can’t fathom people who would not only tolerate, but actually vote for a man who won't present his birth certificate to the American people when being asked, and then sued (what contempt he must have for the people, and this is before he even becomes president!)  and associates with people like Reverend Wright who says G-d d-mn America, William Ayers who bombed America, and Rashid Khalidi who probably supports the bombing of Israel. With a background like that, as one talk-backer stated, Obama wouldn't pass security to obtain the job of being his own bodyguard, yet he will hold the most powerful and sensitive office in the world.

In the videos below, you will see with your own eyes, Hussein Obama's support of Muslim Kenyan Raila Odinga, a man who once went to prison for his involvement in trying to overthrow the Kenyan government back in the 1980's. Hmmm, come to think of it, kind of like another William Ayers? Interesting company Obama keeps. But this is not 'company' this is 'family'.  Odinga just happens to be Obama's (first?) cousin.   In an interview, Odinga told BBC's "The World Today" that Senator Obama's father was his maternal uncle. Hear it here.

Obama is reported to have raised money – up to a million dollars, for Odinga's campaign, to oust the religiously tolerant Kibaki government of Kenya. Odinga lost the presidential election in the end, but the anger of that loss resulted in a backlash of deadly violence in Kenya from his supporters, which left an estimated 1,000 members of the nation's Kikuyu tribe dead and up to 500,000 displaced from their homes.

According to reports on World Net Daily.com,  Odinga's supporters damaged or destroyed up to 800 churches in Kenya, including perpetrating a horrific scene of herding several Kenyan Christians into a church and setting it on fire with the Christians inside, copying what the Nazis often did to the Jews during the Holocaust.

But Hussein Obama, the probable next U.S. president, backed his Muslim side of the family, his cousin, who will work to bring in sharia law in Kenya, make a safe haven for terrorists, and forbid Kenyan Christians from displaying their Christian worshipping and practices in public.  See the 'Islamification' Pact that Odinga signed Aug. 29th, 2007, with some of Kenya's radical Muslims.  It seems to me, that that goes against American values of tolerance and religious freedom.  Truly unbelievable the issues here, and one wonders why the mainstream media does not let you know this.