Maria Chevalier
BCD Travel

hey can be a good choice for business travelers, as well as for travelers on a budget. Chains such as Days Inn, Econo Lodge, Motel 6, Red Roof Inns, Rodeway Inns, Super 8 and Travelodge are upgrading mattresses and towels. Some are offering loyalty points — redeemable at restaurants such as Denny’s and Olive Garden and merchants such as Blockbuster and Home Depot. The chains usually offer breakfast but no other meals — however, low-cost restaurants are typically nearby. And budget chains often include amenities that more-expensive chains charge for, such as high-speed Internet access.

It seems that the catholic church is at it again. They have revised the inquisition to put pressure on our legislators to re write Guam’s marriage law. As it is Guam’s marriage law reads “a contract between two people.”

Isn’t that how it should be? Two people, simple. But along come the biggest organized group of professional pedophiles and all around sex offender’s on the planet. That would be catholic priests. I say this as a practicing catholic because it is true.

The catholic church has paid our billions. Billions to settle claims of child molestation, the faithful who have been supporting their parishes with donations for decades have had the church close their doors because the church had to sell their parish to pay for the priest’s deviant sexual habits.

Does the catholic church do anything to address the continual molesting of our children by these butt rustlers? NO! The catholic church is meddling in the happiness of gays.

They are forcing our inane legislatures to re write the law to say “a contract between a man and a woman.” I starting to accept the contention that the catholic church has been one of mankind’s worst influences.
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Senator Blas Introduces Measure To Clarify Guam Marriage Law

Written by Josh Tyquiengco, Pacific News Center – Guam, Saipan, CNMI, Asia-Pacific

Friday, 19 June 2009 17:40
Guam

Guam- Senators Frank Blas Jr. and Tina Muna Barnes have introduced a measure to clarify the definition of marriage.

Senator Blas says his research on Bill 158 was spurred by the Same Sex Civil Union Bill introduced by Senator BJ Cruz, but adds that it is a completely different kind of legislation. Blas mentions that he discovered Guam’s law on marriage needs to updated because it is currently defined as a contract between two persons.

In his proposed bill, Blas states that “Marriage is a personal relation between one male and one female arising out of a civil contract, to which the consent of parties are capable of making that contract necessary. Consent alone will not constitute marriage; it must be followed by solemnization authorized by this Title.”

Blas adds that since the Same Sex Civil Union bill is not calling for gay marriages, proponents of that measure should not have a problem with its intent. To view Bill 158, log on to http://www.guamlegislature.com
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Peter

Nigerian scam artists have wised up to the fact that many of us no longer get taken in by the Nigerian email scam from phony government or bank officials offering to split multi-million dollar fortunes or inheritances, or Nigerian scams involving forged overpayment checks that require us to send untraceable money-wires back to them.

So, they’ve developed new ways to try to convince us that their money-grubbing cons are really genuine.

New variations of the so-called Nigerian 419 scam (named for the section of the Nigerian constitution that deals with this crime) appear almost weekly.

Some of them are pretty clever. But with the right degree of healthy skepticism, you can still see through them.

We’ve got the low-down on three new tricks (or variations of existing Nigerian scams) to help you spot them.

After bogus checks, prepare for forged cash.

Those checks that came with letters telling us we’d won a lottery or had been selected to become mystery shoppers are so yesterday.

Today’s Nigerian scammers try to convince us with the “real” thing — $100 bills.

In a new trick, seen for the first time in Kansas in April this year, a scammer sent $3,000 worth of forged bills to a man and asked him to use it to buy a Moneygram.

The victim had been corresponding by email supposedly with a woman in Nigeria. He received the “cash” from a person claiming to be the woman’s uncle, who asked him to send the Moneygram to her so she could come to the US.

He fell for it, but the forgery was spotted at the Moneygram office.

A few days later, a Nevada man tried the same thing, after receiving $3,000 of forged notes. He was told he could keep $500 and tried to buy a $2,500 Moneygram with the remainder.

Action: Watch out for more of these tricks in the coming months. Bluntly, never send Moneygrams on behalf of someone you don’t know, whether you receive cash or a check.

Piling on the PayPal pressure.

We wrote previously about the use of forged PayPal emails used in Nigerian scams, supposedly confirming that your account has been credited following a sale you made on eBay.

Now it seems that the Nigerian scam crooks have developed a whole suite of “PayPal” messages they send out in swift succession, aimed at forcing you to send the item.

Relying on people’s trust that PayPal is a safe way to do business (which it is, if you use it correctly), the scammers bid for an expensive item you’re selling, then spoof a message to you from the online payment service saying the payment has been received.

Our advice, when this first happened, was to sign on to your PayPal account and check for yourself that the money was in your account.

To get around this, the scammers now send out a message, again claiming to be from PayPal but saying the money will not be credited to your account until you send confirmation, with a tracking number, that the items have been shipped.

If you reply to either of these emails questioning the arrangement, the scammer sends another “PayPal” message threatening to close your account unless you complete the sale.

Action: PayPal doesn’t hold money pending a shipment nor does it threaten account closure in this way. As we previously advised, check your PayPal account. If the money isn’t there, don’t send your sale item.

(Another giveaway, by the way, is that the bogus messages usually have misspellings and poor grammar — Nigerian scam artists haven’t wised up to that yet!)

Here’s “proof” of my story.

As we mentioned at the start, one of the most common, longest-standing Nigerian scams is the invitation to share in some ill-gotten gains.

To get your hands, supposedly, on the dough, you have to either supply personal bank account details (for ID theft) or make a money-wire or credit card payment to get the money released (which, of course, it never is because it doesn’t exist).

To deal with the inevitable skepticism, the scammers often supply a link to a true story, usually about someone (the benefactor) being killed in a road accident.

A variation is the Nigerian scam email message, supposedly from a US soldier who got his or her hands on a slice of Saddam Hussein’s fortune.

Now scammers have knitted together a clever variation of these ruses by pointing to a story about money in Iraq that really has gone missing.

Usually purporting to come from “Sgt. Martin Hems,” this letter points to a BBC story about hidden money in Iraq and the fact that five soldiers were questioned after some of the cache of cash went missing.

Action: Don’t put 2 + 2 together and make 5. Just because there’s a true story doesn’t mean that a claim to be linked to it is true. The money may be missing, but it still isn’t coming your way!

Bottom line — just don’t believe any story that you’re in for a cut of someone else’s fortune. It’s 99.999% unlikely — and you can get a lawyer to check out the remaining 0.001%.

More Nigerian Scams

Every week, scores of reports about Nigerian scams cross our desk.

Other current tricks that are doing the rounds include:

Hacking into Facebook accounts, then sending messages to all the listed friends claiming the account owner is in trouble and asking for cash to be wired for their rescue.

Collecting names and email addresses of people who leave messages on obituary site guestbooks and contacting them with a request for money, supposedly on behalf of the bereaved person.

Sending complimentary messages to bloggers and article authors (both online and in print) as a way of establishing a friendship that, sooner or later, results in a cash-call attached to a tale of woe.

Offering to buy your Internet domain name, then asking you to visit a site (their site) where you have to pay to have it valued.

Using Microsoft Word documents as attachments. These contain details of the scam story but, because they are not in the main body of the email, they often don’t get picked up by phishing and scam detectors in your security software.

The one thing you can be sure of with Nigerian scams is that they may not be worded well, but they are big-time sneaky in the way they try to fool us.

And you can be sure Nigerian scammers will find even more new tricks to test our gullibility. Count on us to help you stay one step ahead!

That’s all we have for today, but we’ll be back next week with another issue. See you then!

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?GUAM – Sales of both the Denver and Philadelphia mintages of the Guam Quarter are still going strong. A June 17 Numismaster update reports that 9,304 100-coin bags of the P-Mint edition and 8,624 100-coin bags of the D-Mint edition have sold. Meanwhile, 1,431 1,000-coin P-Mint bags and 1,247 1,000-coin D-Mint bags have sold.
Total sales of 100-coin Guam Quarter bags = 17,928
Total sales of 1,000-coin Guam Quarter bags = 2,678
On June 7, Guam News Factor reiterated a Numismaster finding that the Guam Quarter had become the scarcest of the new 2009 quarter designs.
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Hafa adai

Anna

WhY do PeOPle WriTE liKe tHiS? — Guam teacher wants to know

BY MICHELLE DRESBOLD • OASIS NEWS FEATURES • JUNE 19, 2009
Dear Handwriting Doctor,I’m a high school teacher and would like to know what your take is on people who mix both lower case and upper case letters when writing. This often irritates me, as I cannot tell whether or not they know when to capitalize a word. They may think it’s stylish, but I don’t think it’s proper. I enjoy reading your column and would appreciate your expertise on this. Thanks! (Sorry no examples …)
P.S.: Perhaps you can interpret my handwriting too. It’s a bit sloppy though…
Sincerely, “Concerned” in Guam
Dear Concerned,
WhY do PeOPle CoMBiNe UpPeR CaSe aNd LoWer CaSe LettErs wHen TheY WriTE????
There are several reasons why people improperly mix upper and lower case letters. The first reason is, simply, that they are poorly educated and don’t know the rules of written language. However, it’s another story altogether if the writer is educated. Just as their handwriting is a little mixed up and unpredictable, so are their actions. These discombobulated writers are the type that might be your best friend at 4:02 p.m., and then, for no rhyme or reason, snub you at 4:03 p.m.
P.S.: About your handwriting!!! You write: “It’s a bit sloppy though…” Sloppy? You remind me of the person who invites me into her house and says, “Please excuse the mess.” For a second, before I walk through the door, I think: “Hey, she’s a bit like me…we make the beds, we do the dishes, and six months later, we have to start all over again!” But NO…as the door opens, I realize that dust wouldn’t even think of landing within 20 feet of her abode!
In other words, you are a perfectionist. If there is one itty-bitty, teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy thing out of place … you will find it. Hey, come to think of it, I could use a stickler for details to proofread The Handwriting Doctor column. If that teaching job doesn’t work out … how about giving me a call?
Michelle Dresbold is a nationally known handwriting expert and personality profiler. She is the author of “Sex, Lies, and Handwriting,” published by Simon & Schuster’s Free Press. Mail your doodles, handwritten questions and comments to: The Handwriting Doctor, P.O. Box 1161, Monroeville, PA 15146.
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Hafa adai

Anna