Juxtaposition

This kind of thing was going on long before "phishing" was coined. It's the same thing in a different technology medium.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Scott Thomsen April 25, 2007 phone: 206/615-0978 pager: 206/386-4233

BILL COLLECTION SCAM TARGETS WEST SEATTLE
Customers Urged to Protect Credit Card Information from Con Artists

SEATTLE - Seattle City Light is urging its customers to be on guard against telephone con artists posing as utility bill collectors who appear to be targeting customers with Asian surnames in the West Seattle area.

In the past few days, several customers reported they received phone calls from people claiming to be City Light employees. One customer’s account was fraudulently tapped for more than $3,000.

In the scam, the callers claim there is a problem with payment of the customer's bill by check and demand credit card information to resolve the matter. This is similar to incidents reported to City Light in January and earlier this month.

Carol Dickinson, director of customer relations and account services, said City Light wants to help its customers protect themselves from such scams.

"We do not make outbound calls to customers asking for money to pay their bill or to ask for credit card payments or personal account information as part of our daily work," Dickinson said. "We respect customer privacy and take security of customer account and payment information seriously. We take many proactive steps to ensure that customer information is kept safe."

City Light sends at least two written warnings to customers who are about to have their power turned off, asking them to contact the utility directly to make a payment.

City Light also would like to remind customers:

• Seattle City Light never asks customers over the telephone for credit card information to pay their bills.


• Seattle City Light does not call customers on weekends.

Seattle City Light employees carry identification with the City Light logo and will always display it when asked.

All City Light customers are advised to take down the name and telephone number of anyone who calls and represents themselves as a City Light employee. Also, before customers provide any credit information, they should call City Light at 684-3000 to verify that the request is legitimate. If a customer believes he or she has been contacted by a con artist, they are urged to contact the Seattle Police Department at (206) 625-5011 to report the incident.

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This is pretty funny, to Hannity:  "You seem to have never read any of the arguments against your viewpoint".  Hannity's immediate response was, "Yes I have.  I've read them all."  Oh brother.

Crooks and Liars » Hitchens vs. Hannity on Religion and God

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This is also one that puzzles me.  I think it is primarily that some people dislike some of the causes that the ACLU has taken up (e.g. against ridiculous religious wackos trying to instill their brand of religion or morality as the law of the land) and so they discard the whole organization out of pocket.  But their slogan, "Freedom can't defend itself" speaks to exactly what they are here for:  to defend The Bill of Rights.  You know, the Bill of Rights is what gives the religious people their freedom to practice religion.  Too bad they don't see that the ACLU is also fighting for their rights too.

Card-carrying genuine patriotism at Pandagon

In terms of venerable institutions that are the target of right wing rage, the one that always puzzled me the most is the ACLU. I mean, I don’t doubt why it’s the target of so much hatred—wingnuts are well-known for thinking the word “freedom” looks good on a bumper sticker but shoudn’t actually be practiced as a matter of policy—but I’m shocked that even mainstream Republican politicians indulge in blatant disdain for an institution that defends the most fundamental principles of our democracy. The facade that Republicans care about individual liberty completely falls apart when Bush Sr. use the term “card-carrying member of the ACLU” as an insult.

The predominant theology of the early Colonial period was Deism, the idea that God created the world but then had no further role in its functioning, Holmes explained to the audience.

“It’s wrong to see [Washington] as other than a Christian,” Holmes said. He added that the best description of Jefferson’s religion was Unitarian while noting the author of the Declaration of Independence called the concept of the Trinity “Greek arithmetic.”

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