ExecutiveMom's Safety and Self Defense Blog

5 Rip-Off Pitfalls to Avoid

A lot of people are after your cash, and you, quite understandably, would like to hold on to as much of it as you can.  It won't be easy.  Today, as I was thinking about what to write for my Newsletter, I read a story about a family who was ripped off by a Craigslist scam: 

The Reeves family consists of nine members and they lost their savings after falling for an elaborate rental scam listed on Craigslist. The Reeves family was new to the Arizona Valley area and they thought they had found the perfect home to rent, listed in Craigslist. Matthew Reeves and his wife met a man and his wife, Jim and Jaime Williams, that they thought were the owners of the house, painters were painting, but other work needed to be done to make the house ready for occupants. They made arrangements to do the carpets, maintenance and get the locks changed in return for a discount on their deposit. They signed the lease and got their receipt for $1,500. Then they went home to celebrate.
The next day they went and started cleaning the home and then on Saturday, they started the move but when they got there Pam Dambley, the actual owner of the house was there. (http://www.azfamily.com/news/homepagetopstory/stories/Surprise_local_news_072908_craiglist-family-scam.152b221e.html)

This family like many others are "tricked" out of their funds by dubious scam artists.  But what about those scams that aren't quite so "obvious"?  What about those "so-called" bargains that don't "pay off"?

1.  Payday Loans - With gas prices rising & grocery bills doubling, I see more and more TV ads for Payday Loans or "title loans". According to the Center for Responsible Lending, payday lenders rake in $4.2 billion a year by charging a whopping 391 to 500 % in interest. For many people these loans become like financial quicksand.  For example, a CRL study reports that these loans turn the average borrower's debt from $325 to a $793 repayment.

· Advice: If you're in a pinch, opt for a cash advance on your credit card (at 28% plus transaction fees) or if you belong to a credit union, you can usually get up to 18% interest on small unsecured loans.  Definitely better than the alternative above.

2. Rent-to-Own Merchandise:  The $6.8 billion rent-to-own industry offers TVs, computers, appliances, jewelry, and furniture for "low, easy payments" with no money down.  But many of the three million people who shop in chain stores like Rent-A-Center end up buying over time - and paying exorbitant rates.  I remember renting a large TV for a Super Bowl Party.  The LG flat-screen TV that retails for $1300 can be rented for about $36/week.  After 142 weeks, you own the TV. That means you've just paid $5,100 for the TV. 

· Advice: Spending $36 to rent a big-screen for a Super Bowl party might be a great deal. But over the long term these rental fees are exorbitant and if you miss a payment, the item will be reposed immediately, with the loss of all your money.

3. Extended Warranties - Now here is something my father hates! And for most things in today's society where technology is "outdated" as soon as you walk out the door and items can be replaced cheaper than they can be fixed, I agree.  The only time we've had one of these warranties work is on the purchase of a projection TV.  The cost of one replacement bulb within the TV was more than the warranty cost - it was worth the investment.  But, even when they are legitimate, "extended warranties are usually always a sucker's bet" says Tod Marks, a senior editor at Consumer Reports. You're gambling that your new product will malfunction. 

· Advice: Bank the money you would have spent on the warranty and save it. Not everything you own is going to "fall apart" at the same time.

· Scams to look out for:  I don’t know about you but recently, on my husbands SUV, we have received several urgent-sounding notifications claiming that the manufacturer's warranty is about to expire.  These are often phony notices trying to get money from us.  Yet, they come from firms with the words dealer and warranty on them and the create a very official illusion to take my cash while my warranty is still in effect - BEWARE.

4. Medical Insurance Clubs - When we opened our own business, we had to seek out medical insurance.  Since I had been in the medical industry for 18 years and had worked with HMO contracting, I was used to having "good" insurance coverage.  We invited several sales people over to the house to give us their product "pitch". One afternoon, we had a very nice, young gentleman come over.  He was enthusiastic about his services and made it all sound fantastic.  Dental discounts, drug discounts, and for the group membership fees: tons of discounts for fun things like travel, etc.  It sounded fantastic and wasn't too expensive.  That should have been our first "Red Flag".  As I had done with everyone else, I asked him to leave his information.  I began to thoroughly read everything and compare it to the services of Anthem BC/BS.  This service was just what they said:  A Club.  It tried to negotiate "discounted fees" on my behalf with physicians and hospitals. It gave me a % off of my drug costs.  Most of these things, I could have done on my own without their monthly fees and membership dues.

· Advice: Beware of discount clubs - they are growing in the medical arena as people are looking for a variety of ways to control their health care costs. Remember, if you don't have insurance or go to a doctor or hospital that isn't covered in your network: they will negotiate a "pay off" and payments with you.  As a cash paying patient, even with the lower negotiated price, they will be getting paid more than they do from the insurance companies. There are also a number of discount drug cards available for free - it just takes the time to find them and fill out the appropriate forms.  Don't waste money on dues.

5. Travel Clubs:  Consumers have filed thousands of complaints about travel clubs with the Better Business Bureau in the past 3 years.  These clubs promise "insider deals" but with a little effort and "Google", individuals can often get better prices on their own.

RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR:

· Claims that you've won a "free" prize, or a fee to collect your "winnings" - for a contest you never entered.

· Companies that offer freebies to entice you into attending a high-pressure sales presentation.

· Sales people who pressure you into signing an immediate commitment or into signing a contract you haven't read

· Companies that won't put their prices or promises into writing

· Firms that do not provide contact information or that only provide e-mail addresses or P.O.Boxes.

IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT:

· Send your complaint to the company in writing - if you have used a credit card, you can dispute the charges through them (I recently had to do this against Best Buy and with the help of a wonderful agent at Chase, Best Buy finally helped me with my refund).  If it's a local business, consider small claims court.

· Go to your State's Attorney General (www.naag.org)

· Check out the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov) for information on common rip-offs and scams

· Check the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) for consumer complaints and issue your own online complaint.

(as I am writing this I also received an email from Bank America Online regarding my Account Access - looks real..has all kinds of important looking marks and security information AND they want my personal information...SORRY - don't bank at Bank America...another wonderful scam example - don't update these things online or through emails - CALL and verify first!)

Your turn to "sound off" - any other scams you can think of? Stories of being "had"?

Family Of Nine Loses Savings Because Of Craigslist Scam

Without warning, my week began as a Fall Asleep On The Couch Ridiculously Early Monday which unexpectedly turned into a Pukey Migraine From Hell night. The next thing I knew it was the afternoon of Brutal Painkiller Hangover Tuesday which then predictably lead to Catch Up On My Whole Life Wednesday. But, amid my Running Errands All Over The City afternoon, I had to stop and share a story of safety and scam artists who prey on the “unsuspecting”. (and I wonder why I get head aches?)  With the rising costs of fuel and food and the cut backs in jobs and benefits, why should individuals trying to do their best by their family have to deal with criminals like these?  I hope they catch those involved, I pray for more people like the real home owner and I warn others to double check anything – emails, get rich quick schemes, ads online, those offering too good to be true refinancing offers, etc.

My Safety Newsletter this month will be listing 7 new rip-offs to avoid - Sign up HERE to learn more!
   

Here’s the story:

The Reeves family consists of nine members and they lost their savings after falling for an elaborate rental scam listed on Craigslist.

The Reeves family was new to the Arizona Valley area and they thought they had found the perfect home to rent, listed in Craigslist.
Matthew Reeves and his wife met a man and his wife, Jim and Jaime Williams, that they thought were the owners of the house, painters were painting, but other work needed to be done to make the house ready for occupants. They made arrangements to do the carpets, maintenance and get the locks changed in return for a discount on their deposit. They signed the lease and got their receipt for $1,500.
Then they went home to celebrate.
The next day they went and started cleaning the home and then on Saturday, they started the move but when they got there Pam Dambley, the actual owner of the house was there.
She recounts her conversation with the Reeves':

“I said, ‘Excuse me, you live here?’ And he says, ‘We just rented it,’ and I said, ‘From who?’

Matthew Reeves says he and his wife just cried.

The $1,500 they had given to the fake owners was all they had.

The Dambley's, showing compassion that not many would, felt for the Reeves family and allowed them stay and gave them August for free since they had lost all their money. The Reeves refer to her as their angel.
Peoria Arizona police are asking for the public's help in looking for the scam artists responsible. They are described as "a short heavyset woman and a man with crooked teeth and a heart tattooed on one hand. They were last seen driving a white Chevy Blazer."

The advice the police give to people looking to buy or rent a home is to check with the County Assessors Office to see who the actual homeowner is.
You can also go to companies like www.Titlesearches.com or other companies that provide the same type of service, and do a title search, it cost a relatively low amount of money, but they provide information about the current owner, the mortgage, tax information about how much taxes are paid for the home in question, and they also provide a copy of the warranty deed.

Scams like the one the Reeves' family became victims of was a rental scam, but title searches are just as important for those buying a home because one doesn't wish to invest their savings into a home that is about to go into foreclosure just to have the owners leave town with your money.

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When good drugs go bad

BECOME A HEALTHY SKEPTIC

When we go to the doctor, we assume that the drugs he or she prescribes have been carefully tested to make sure they are both safe and effective. Most times they are. Yet sometimes the drugs cause more problems than they solve. Adverse drug reactions kill tens of thousands of people annually; one widely cited study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 1998 puts the number at more than 100,000. Recently a series of drug recalls have pulled back the curtain to show how the media, the public, and some doctors can misinterpret medical studies or take them out of context in ways that make medical treatments look safer and more effective than they actually are.

To a greater degree than ever before, powerful forces in the marketplace are impacting the quality, use, and safety of prescription medications. Drug manufacturers are spending more to promote their products while being subjected to tighter regulation and greater pressure for financial returns. The media are talking up each new “miracle cure” in headlines and television segments. Doctors have to navigate a tangle of administrative and medical concerns, one physician noting that “if you have a patient in your office, you can’t say, ‘Oh, I’m going to look at the drug company’s online database about Zyprexa.’ Most doctors don’t even know the databases exist. But even if they did, the next thing you know, three or four hours have gone by and you’ve missed all the patients waiting to see you.” Insurance companies and even the stock market play a role too. And consumers, increasingly subject to pharmaceutical advertising, are routinely urged to demand the best and the newest for their health. All together, this is a perfect storm for prescription drug problems.

How often do today’s medical “breakthroughs” become tomorrow’s discredited science? John P. A. Ioannidis, an epidemiologist at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and the University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece, studied the question. He examined the most-cited clinical studies published in the top three medical journals between 1990 and 2000 to see how well researchers’ initial claims held up against subsequent research. His findings, published in JAMA, show that the key claims of nearly one-third (14 out of 49) of the original research studies he examined were either false or exaggerated. Small study size, design flaws, publication bias (failure to publish negative results or duplication of positive results), drug-industry influence, and the play of chance were among the problems Ioannidis found that caused false or exaggerated claims.

Studies can be designed and interpreted in ways that make even ineffective drugs seem like lifesavers, says Curt Furberg, a well-known cardiovascular epidemiologist and former chief of the clinical trials branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Furberg, a tall, square-faced man with a Swedish accent, wants more objectivity in medical research. “We need more publicly funded studies,” he says, adding that manufacturer-sponsored research tends to minimize risks and exaggerate benefits.

A score of studies support his opinion. Among them is a 2003 analysis by Cary P. Gross, an associate professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine, that was published in JAMA. In his survey, one study found that industry-sponsored research was positive 87 percent of the time compared with 65 percent positive for research that was not industry sponsored. According to Gross, the evidence was overwhelming that “industry sponsorship was likely to yield pro-industry results.” A 2006 analysis published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that 90 percent of manufacturer-sponsored studies of antipsychotic drugs led to claims that the study drug was as good as, or superior to, every other drug in its class. Shannon Brownlee, an award-winning medical writer based in Washington, D.C., ascribed this to the “Lake Wobegon effect,” which renders every drug “above average.”

Furberg’s efforts to debunk overly enthusiastic interpretations of medical studies have led to occasional clashes with his colleagues. In 2004 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was preparing to hold hearings on the safety of painkillers known as COX-2 inhibitors, including Vioxx, which David Graham, an official in the FDA’s Office of Drug Safety, said may have caused an estimated 39,000 to 60,000 heart-attack deaths in just five years. At the time, Furberg was a member of the FDA Advisory Committee on Drug Safety and Risk Management. But after he told The New York Times that the COX-2 inhibitor Bextra also caused heart attacks, the agency made a surprising move: It removed Furberg from the advisory panel. Sandra Kweder, acting director of the Office of New Drugs, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA, told a reporter that Furberg’s comments showed he could not be objective. Furberg now asks, “If bias was a concern, why did they allow 10 advisory members with ties to the manufacturers to be seated?” He was reinstated to the panel two days later and vindicated when the FDA announced that it had asked Pfizer to voluntarily withdraw Bextra from the market.

Part of the difficulty in detecting drug side effects, Furberg says, has to do with study size. Drugs go through a regimen of tests prior to receiving approval from the FDA. During the first two stages, called Phase I and II trials, an experimental drug is tested on just a few hundred volunteers to look for side effects. If no serious problems are detected, the drug is tested for efficacy in a Phase III trial. But efficacy trials often involve only several hundred to a few thousand patients. And while a study of 200 to 300 arthritis patients is large enough to show whether a new drug relieves pain, just one such study isn’t large enough to pick up less-common—but potentially deadly—side effects. Furberg says, “If only one in a thousand patients will die from a heart attack, an efficacy study of 200 or even 2,000 patients is simply too small to get a reliable answer about rare side effects.” Seemingly rare side effects can take tens of thousands of lives when millions of prescriptions are written.

Such limitations in a study’s design can escape detection even by top peer reviewers and medical editors. Marcia Angell, the former editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), says that most doctors are ill equipped to critically assess the conclusions of researchers. A trim woman with a warm smile, Angell leans forward in her seat at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and says, “Let me tell you the dirty secret of medical journals: It is very hard to find enough articles to publish. With a rejection rate of 90 percent for original research, we were hard pressed to find 10 percent that were worth publishing. So you end up publishing weak studies because there is so much bad work out there.” Doctors, Angell says, are not skeptical enough about what they read in top journals. “They should say, ‘I don’t believe this; prove it to me.’”

The truth in any drug study can be camouflaged by how it is reported. “One way that’s been done—for many treatments is to use combination end points.” Here’s how it works: A single drug can be tested for a variety of outcomes; for example, a cholesterol-lowering drug can be tested for its effect on cholesterol level, blood pressure, and/or rates of heart failure, heart attack, or death. By combining two or more of these outcomes to create a single category, you can say it helped “A and B” even if it only helped A and not B.  David L. Brown, chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at the State University of New York, Stony Brook School of Medicine, calls the use of combination end points a “brilliant marketing tool.” Brown says that while combination end points have a legitimate purpose when researchers are testing drugs for a rare or infrequent outcome, far too often researchers use the information in ways that “mislead both doctors and the general public.”

Another way to make drugs look better and safer than they are is to report or cite only successful studies while ignoring those with bad outcomes. The problem of cherry-picking studies is a very real one, especially for antidepressants, says Erick Turner, a former FDA reviewer, now an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Oregon Health & Science University. Turner recently published research in NEJM showing that “when studies of antidepressants were negative, they were reported as negative only 8 percent of the time—but when studies were positive, they were reported as positive 97 percent of the time.”

John Abramson, a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and author of Overdo$ed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine, says he grew concerned when he learned that the authors of professional guidelines recommending an expanded use of statins had ties to the drugs’ manufacturers.

Jerome Hoffman of UCLA, saying it is a shame that in the face of so many medical and pharmacological advances there is such an exposure to risk. “It’s ironic that one of the unintended consequences of the publication of so many untenable claims, based on poorly done research and spin, is that it can obscure true advances when they do occur,” he says. Citing the number of great successes medical research has brought us—lifesaving drugs from penicillin to insulin, along with invaluable treatments and medical devices—he adds, “It’s one more reason why we have to be appropriately skeptical, unafraid to speak out about misleading claims, and insistent upon holding clinical research to the standards of science.”

FOR MORE ON LIFE IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY - CLICK HERE TO BUY THE BOOK - ESCAPE FROM THE PHARMA DRUG CARTEL by Kimberly Cheryl (as featured in the British Medical Journal and the Crikey)

Book Photos

   

                               

How to Escape From Stress & Replenish Your Spirits

The weekend is finally upon us and we are all waiting for the clock on the wall to slowly make it's way to 5pm so we can make a "mad rush" for the door and escape for a few short days of - well, whatever helps you relax. 

I really do believe that stress has a huge effect on us - even when we say we "can handle it".  When I'm overly stressed, I get more stomach aches, more migraines, I'm more worn out.  (oh and my kids will tell you I have a very SHORT temper).  For others who "burn both ends of the candle", it means high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers and strokes.  Some turn to smoking, alcohol and drugs - all of which have their own side effects and issues.

This is a very stressful time we are living in. High gas prices, lower wages, lost jobs, expensive medical care and home foreclosures which sadly are leading people to kill themselves over the thought of the impending problems with no foreseeable solutions.

Since I work out of my house, there are times I have it easier to "just walk away" for a few minutes to relax and regroup.  I don't wait for the weekend. On the other hand, it is with me ALWAYS and like last night I'm up until 2 am doing work related items.

I guess as the weekend approaches, my question to you is, what do you do or where do you go when you are "frazzled"?  Is this something you can do throughout the day or week so you don't have to wait until the weekend and "everything that's been bottled up blows"?

I read yesterday about a new place that you can go and have a pedicure with your feet in a pond of carp. Not quite my idea of relaxing, could do that in the creek on our farm but I do go on our deck and listen to the water fountain my husband built.  The soothing trickle of the water triggers memories of the days I spent at home with my parents and sisters (we had a waterfall off of our deck there).  What wonderful carefree time.  Then there are times I wonder off to the corner of the yard to our forgotten sand box that the kids have outgrown and sit by myself and build a sandcastle.  It makes me feel like a kid again but it also conjures up images of vacations on the beach, relaxing, reading a book, watching the kids run and play and giggle.  Just a moment to "regroup" and collect myself and my inner peace.

So what is it you do in these crazy times that helps you regroup? (Would love some new ideas.  Although there are days I would love a nice, quiet, little, padded room, it is cheaper than a trip to the psychiatrist that's for sure! :)

Have a SAFE weekend - to order self defense supplies for your peace of mind and security visit us HERE

Is Your Purse Worth a Bullet?

As the news wires churn out stories, I can't seem to find too many that are positive about our fellow citizens.  One day follows another with one tragedy after another.  Today?  As two 15 year old girls walk home from a friend's house on a cool summer night, they are approached by two thugs looking for easy money. 

A gun is drawn and threats are made.  In fear and reluctance the girls clutch their purses, one runs the other is shot in the chest.  I am still sitting her shaking my head in disbelief.  Disbelief that a gunman would go to the extremes of taking a life for a purse that may have nothing more in it than a young girl's cell phone and make up. (How much money do you think a 15 year old with out a job carries around with them? Well, okay - mine has more money than I do but still...that's just because she's sucking up all my funds as her "allowance" and saving it while I continue to pay for everything else :)

The other sad part of this equation is that the young girl felt her purse was worth her life.  Maybe it's the coolest purse she owned, maybe it had a lot of hard earned babysitting money in it, maybe.....
Was it worth a bullet? What would you have done if faced in this situation?

In our seminars, the one thing we say is .... give it up - no matter what it is. It's an object, a possession, something that can be replaced (unlike a young life).  Another quick tip is Do you know what's in your wallet should it be stolen?  If you don't make sure you go through it right now and make a copy (front and back) of all the items you have so if you should find yourself in a similar situation or should lose your wallet in a variety of other ways - you can call and cancel all of your credit cards immediately and notify all pertinent entities that need to be notified.

Again, what would you have done? And our prayers go out to a speedy recovery for the little girl and her family.

Do Emergency Responders All Need Bullet Proof Vests Now?

Okay, it's a Monday morning - WE ALL hate Monday mornings...it means schedules, work, whatever...commitments.  Second, here in the Midwest it has gone from flooding to dry, humid and over 100 degrees (at least constant 90s) - agreed, it's miserable (and my son says if he dies at baseball camp today it's all my fault).  Third, it's been a full moon for a week (and I do believe in its affects on people).  Finally, we are in a spiralling downward economy - depressive for us all for our own reasons. Yep - not a fun summer if I say so myself and I LOVE Summer!

But what is this world coming to? Sure, we have tons of excuses for not being happy right now. Sure, some of us are worse off than others (hey - I have a HUGE sob story to tell) BUT when and WHY is it okay to take our frustration out on so many innocent people?

My husband had spent more than 2 months in the University Hospital here and one day the heli-vac team came flying in.  They brought a wounded EMT worker to the room next to him.  This man was doing his job - he went to work to help US - the public whom he doesn't know anything about.  He ended his day in the hospital with gun shot wounds because he received an emergency call to help someone who had been shot (apparently, the opposing party / or shooter didn't care for the help the victim was getting).  He was just doing his job....

Now, Today, a 22 year old fireman (10 months on the force - born to be a fireman they said) gets up goes to work on a blazing car fire.  His job - to put out the fire for someone in need - someone he doesn't know, someone who has requested his help.  He does this NOT for the pay let me assure you (we don't pay any of these people well enough for the danger they place their lives in)!  He does this because he DESIRES to be a public servant and HELP US! Wish there were more like him...someone willing to put his life on the line for me - a person he doesn't know (just like our military, police, EMTs).  Except TODAY this young man ISN'T going home...he doesn't even get the chance to make it to the hospital for a recovery stay. He is shot and his family has lost a son, a brother, a friend....FOR WHAT?

Unfortunately, it's not just him who is hurt - 2 of our police officers "go down" in this brutal, needless attack as well. 

Last week, I spent my week with my company, Executive Defense, educating over 250 people at local corporations on personal safety and anti-victimization. The sad part about today is that no matter how "prepared" you are, no matter who you are or your "size" when you are "ambushed" there is really no way to protect yourself.....

So, I guess on this sad, warm, Midwestern afternoon I ask 3 questions: 1.  Do we need to now arm ALL Emergency workers so they are prepared for an attack (even when they are just going to put out a fire or help someone in need?) 2. Do these public servants ALL need to start wearing bullet proof vests? 3. If you are mad, upset, suicidal - shoot YOURSELF, someone will miss you - why do you feel the need to take so many innocent lives with you?

Our prayers go out to all those involved....

A Pill for EVERY ill - Placebos for kids - what are we thinking?

As I continue my rant against the pharmaceutical industry and their lack of concern for patients or drug safety (as they now question the safety of the HPV vaccine they so heavily pushed last year), I am amazed at how WE the consumers are to blame for some of this problem. We look at our medical care, not as a "right" like police and fire protection but as a consumer product. We WANT a drug to "fix" all of "life's" ills, we WANT to live forever.

   

 WE as consumers want something in a Pill to cure us…well, here is a "mommy" who is now marketing and selling placebo pills - as of June 1, 2008.  I think this is absolutely AWFUL!   We are just continuing to promote a concept that is unhealthy and unnatural and we're teaching our kids to be reliant on medications for whatever is wrong with them.  Until we change our attitude as a society, we will continue to be victims of the pharmaceutical industry because we allow it and perpetuate it.

   

Placebos pushed for parents

The latest trend in the US is placebo pills (read that as cherry flavored chewable tablets) marketed to parents for treating their children when real medicine isn't appropriate and a hug and a kiss are not enough.

   

Launched earlier this month under the brand name of Obecalp, the placebos   are sold by a company 'Efficacy Brands' link started by a mother of three young children who has banded herself about the US media in a bid to publicize her 'inspiration'.

At just under $6.00 a pop, Obecalp (placebo spelt backwards for those of you who hadn't already guessed) contains no drugs and is claimed to be the first standardized placebo.

But some doctors are questioning   the ethics of parents giving their children placebos. Writing in the BMJ   this week (link), Dr Douglas Kamerow says it reinforces the "pill for every ill" message and may undermine a child's trust in their parents if they discover they are being treated with dummy pills.

   

"A placebo pill for children seems like a deeply bad idea,   however well intentioned. Children don't need a sugar pill, and they   certainly don't need to be deceived into thinking that it's the   pill's magic, and not Mum's or Dad's, that helped them feel   better,^" he says.

   

I believe in the "placebo" effect and saw it in many studies (espcially those with patients & psych meds) but to give it to our kids because a hug & a kiss "just won't do"? 

I don't wish someone trying to be in business "ill will" - this just isn't the right idea or what we want promoted to children OR parents! This is one idea I hope does not catch on….

   

what are   your thoughts / feedback?

14-Year old Abuse Survivor Launches T-Shirt Websites To Help Victims of Sexual Assault

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Midwest, Missouri (PressExposure) July 16, 2008 -- Who hasn’t seen the press about all the muggings, rapes and killings in cities across the United States? Have there been any of these crimes in your city or town? Have you personally been affected by crime? Can you imagine the fear these victims are experiencing? As a victim of abuse, 14 - year - old Tivona can. (you can find her full story at: http://www.execdeftech.com/programsforteens/tivonasstory ... )

Today, everyone is touched, one way or another, by sexual assault. They have either been faced with the devastation of being assaulted or know someone who has. One in 10 houses is affected by sexual assault and a child is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes. Do you think this is all stranger danger? Sorry to say, statistics show 90% of all assaults are by people known to the victims. Unfortunately, these crimes are either not reported (88%) or are not prosecuted (only 1 in 16 CSA cases are criminally prosecuted with only 6% of those people ever going to jail!). It is time to fight back!

Tivona is a 14 year old trying to find a VOICE in a legal system that doesn’t want to "listen". She is working for change for other Teens like herself. She has been speaking for the YWCA and has started a web site to promote T-shirts with her artistic characters to help raise money for her goals. Her work can be found at http://www.animewithattitude.com .

You are sure to find a product you will like at Anime with An Attitude. Have a look around the website. There are hundreds of items from which to choose. You can also sign up for a Newsletter to stay abreast of safety topics and product specials at Execdeftech.com. It is a family friendly self defense website and is proud to serve our public.

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