Your dormant accounts in peril

Australia Seizes 360M From Dormant Bank Accounts And All 50 U.S. States Are Doing This Too

By Michael Snyder, on June 12th, 2014

 

     

Do you have a bank account that you don't actively use or a safe deposit box that you have not checked on for a while?  If so, you might want to see if the government has grabbed your money.  This sounds absolutely crazy, but it is true.  All over the world, governments are shortening the time periods required before they can seize "dormant bank accounts" and "unclaimed property".  For example, as you will read about below, just last year the government of Australia seized a whopping 360 million dollars from dormant bank accounts.  And this kind of thing is going on all over America as well.  In fact, all 50 statesactually pay private contractors to locate bank accounts and unclaimed property that can be seized.  In some states, no effort will be made to contact you when your property is confiscated.  And in most states, the seized property permanently become the property of the state government after a certain waiting period has elapsed.  So please don't put money or property into a bank somewhere and just let it sit there.  If you do, the government may come along and grab it right out from under your nose.

In this day and age, broke governments all over the globe are searching for "creative ways" to raise revenues.  In Australia for example, the time period required before the federal government could seize a dormant bank account was reduced from seven to three years, and this resulted in an unprecedented windfall for the Australian government over the past 12 months...

The federal government has seized a record $360 million from household bank accounts that have been dormant for just three years, prompting outrage in some quarters amid complaints that pensioners and retirees have lost deposits.

Figures from the Australian Security and Investments Commission (ASIC) show almost $360 million was collected from 80,000 inactive accounts in the year to May under new rules introduced by Labor. The new rules lowered the threshold at which the government is allowed to snatch funds from accounts that remain idle from seven years to three years.

The rule change has delivered the government a massive bonanza with the money collected in the year to May more than the total collected in the past five decades combined.

Most Americans are not going to be too concerned about this because it is happening on the other side of the planet.

But did you know that this is happening all over the U.S. as well?

For instance, the waiting period in the state of California used to be fifteen years.

Now it is just three years.

And when California grabs your money they don't just sit around waiting for you to come and claim it.  Instead, it gets dumped directly into the general fund and spent.

If you do not believe that California does this, just check out the following information that comes directly from the official website of the California State Controller's Office...

The State acquires unclaimed property through California's Unclaimed Property Law, which requires "holders" such as corporations, business associations, financial institutions, and insurance companies to annually report and deliver property to the Controller's Office after there has been no customer contact for three years. Often the owner forgets that the account exists, or moves and does not leave a forwarding address or the forwarding order expires. In some cases, the owner dies and the heirs have no knowledge of the property.

And it is not just bank accounts and safe deposit boxes that are covered by California law.  The reality is that a vast array of different kinds of "unclaimed property" are covered...

The most common types of Unclaimed Property are:

Bank accounts and safe deposit box contents

Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends

Uncashed cashier's checks or money orders

Certificates of deposit

Matured or terminated insurance policies

Estates

Mineral interests and royalty payments, trust funds, and escrow accounts.

And when a state government grabs your property, the consequences can be absolutely devastating.  The following is an excerpt from an ABC news report from a few years ago...

San Francisco resident Carla Ruff's safe-deposit box was drilled, seized, and turned over to the state of California, marked "owner unknown."

"I was appalled," Ruff said. "I felt violated."

Unknown? Carla's name was right on documents in the box at the Noe Valley Bank of America location. So was her address -- a house about six blocks from the bank. Carla had a checking account at the bank, too -- still does -- and receives regular statements. Plus, she has receipts showing she's the kind of person who paid her box rental fee. And yet, she says nobody ever notified her.

"They are zealously uncovering accounts that are not unclaimed," Ruff said.

To make matters worse, Ruff discovered the loss when she went to her box to retrieve important paperwork she needed because her husband was dying. Those papers had been shredded.

And that's not all. Her great-grandmother's precious natural pearls and other jewelry had been auctioned off. They were sold for just $1,800, even though they were appraised for $82,500.

And some states are even more aggressive than the state of California in going after bank accounts.

In a recent article, Simon Black noted that the state of Georgia can go after "dormant bank accounts" after just one year of inactivity...

In fact, each of the 50 states has its own regulations pertaining to the seizure of dormant accounts. And the grand prize goes to… the great state of Georgia!

Georgia’s Disposition of Unclaimed Properties Act sets the threshold as low as one year.

In other words, if you have a checking account in Georgia that you haven’t touched in twelve months, the state government is going to grab it.

So much for setting aside money for a rainy day and having the discipline to never touch it.

As economic conditions get even worse, the temptation for governments all over the planet to grab private bank accounts is going to become even greater.

We all remember what happened in Cyprus.  When the global financial Ponzi scheme finally collapses, politicians all over the world are going to be looking for an easy way to raise cash.  And our bank accounts may be one of the first things that they decide to confiscate.

So please don't keep all of your eggs in one basket, and check on all of your accounts in regular intervals.

In this day and age, it pays to be diligent.

A New Lord Prayer

The Lord's Prayer - written by a 15 yr. old School kid - USA TODAY....

 WRITTEN BY A 15 yr. OLD SCHOOL KID who got an A+ for this entry (TOTALLY AWESOME)!

 The Lord's Prayer  Is not allowed in most

 Public schools in America anymore

 Because the word 'God' is mentioned.....

                                                

 Now I sit me down in school

 Where praying is against the rule

 For this great nation under God

 Finds mention of Him very odd.

 If scripture now the class recites,

 It violates the Bill of Rights.

 And anytime my head I bow

 Becomes a Federal matter now.

 Our hair can be purple, orange or green,

 That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.

 The law is specific, the law is precise.

 Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

 For praying in a public hall

 Might offend someone with no faith at all.

 In silence alone we must meditate,

 God's name is prohibited by the United States.

 We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,

 And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks...

 Guns are allowed, but Not the Bible.

 To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

 We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,

 And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.

 It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,

 We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong..

 We can get our condoms and birth controls,

 Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles...

 But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,

 No word of God must reach this crowd.

 It's scary here I must confess,

 When chaos reigns the school's a mess.

 So, Lord, this silent plea I make:

 Should I be shot; My soul please take! Amen

Creatures attacking People

A Senior Moment

This is a true account recorded in the Police Log of Sarasota, Florida:

An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and, upon returning to ...her car, found four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle.
She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her lungs, "I have a gun, and I know how to use it! GET OUT OF THE CAR!"
The four men didn't wait for a second threat. They got out and ran like mad.
The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and got into the driver's seat.
She was so shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition. She tried and tried, and then she realized why. It was for the same reason she had wondered why there was a football, a
Frisbee, and two 12-packs of beer in the front seat.
A few minutes later, she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down.
She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police station to report her mistake.
The sergeant to whom she told the story couldn't stop laughing.
He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four pale men were reporting a car jacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a large handgun.
No charges were filed.

Italian shopera in London

Sarawakian Adun Baru Bian on Islamic extremists

Date: 18 Jun 2014  PRESS STATEMENT

BARU BIAN: SARAWAK AGREED TO THE FORMATION OF A SECULAR MALAYSIA

Sarawakians (and I am sure many other Malaysians) are completely fed-up with the inane statements emanating from the mouths of tragically vacuous politicians and officials in Peninsula Malaysia that greet us each day. Within the space of one week, the bigoted Selangor Islamic religious authorities announce their desire to dispose of our illegally seized Bibles, a half-baked ‘academic’ convert berates Christians for building a big church, and an uninformed Minister gives us the unpleasant news that Malaysia is an Islamic state.

There have been some excellent rebuttals to the Islamic state claim, including an editorial in The Malaysian Insider and it is unnecessary to repeat what has been said. It is necessary however to point out to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Religious Affairs that while he was picking out various provisions in the Federal Constitution to support his claim of an Islamic state, he carelessly overlooked Article 4 which declares “This Constitution is the supreme law of the Federation…”. This point alone should be enough to erase any doubts in any confused person’s mind. Article 4 does not state that the Syariah is the supreme law of the Federation. The three branches of government, ie the legislative, executive and judiciary are subject to the Constitution and not the Syariah. The rights of the citizens are derived from the Constitution and not the Syariah. In their oaths of office, the Prime Minister and all members of
 Parliament, and the members of the Judiciary pledge to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ the Constitution, and not the Syariah. The supremacy of the Constitution puts paid to any notion of Malaysia being an Islamic state.

In addition, the Rukunegara, which states the fundamental principles of governance directed towards the creation of a just and democratic society, declares these tenets: ‘Upholding the Constitution’ and ‘Rule of Law’. It does not state ‘Upholding the Syariah’ or ‘Rule of Syariah’.

If the Malayan political, social and religious landscape in 1961 had been what it is currently in Peninsula Malaysia, I have no doubt that Sarawakians would never have agreed to be part of the Federation. The Malaysia Agreement would not have seen the light of day as Sarawakians would never have agreed to become partners with a country where arrogant racists and religious bigots are allowed to spout their unsavoury propaganda while an emasculated leadership cowers in the corner. Even as it was at that time, during the talks leading to the formation of Malaysia, the non-Muslim communities of Sarawak had voiced their reservations about Islam being the religion of the Federation. It was finally agreed that ‘While there was no objection to Islam being the national religion of Malaysia there should be no State religion in Sarawak, and the provisions relating to Islam in the present Constitution of Malaya should not apply to Sarawak’. The absence of a  state religion was key to Sarawak’s agreement to join in the formation Malaysia in 1963, due to the wisdom of our forefathers. Can Jamil Khir Baharom tell us what the position of Sarawak is, in this imaginary Islamic state of his? Please do not tell us now that we are part of an Islamic state; Sarawakians will not accept the unilateral changing of the contractual terms by one party.

There is enough evidence in our historical documents and legal judgments to establish that Sarawak had signed the Malaysia Agreement with a secular state. The founding father, BAPA MALAYSIA Tuanku Abdul Rahman stated it plainly in Parliament: ‘I would like to make it clear that this country is not an Islamic State as it is generally understood, we merely provided that Islam shall be the official religion of the State’ [Hansard, 1 May 1958]. How much clearer can it be that the INTENTION was the establishment of a secular state? Are the rabble rousing Islamic country champions going to tell us that Bapa Malaysia was confused? It is truly deplorable that the UMNO politicians are twisting facts to mislead the people for their political gain. It does not matter a hoot to them that they are riding roughshod over the rights of the non-Muslims and creating unhappiness and tensions in the community. Perhaps they are banking on Vladimir Lenin’s mantra "A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth", to make their fantasies come true.

The Prime Minister must make a stand to correct the wrong that has been done, otherwise he will be promoting bigotry and allowing extremists to be even bolder in their outrageous claims. We want these misguided rabid UMNO players in West Malaysia to desist from trying to shove their agenda down our throats. If Malaysia is indeed held to be an Islamic state, I will propose to the Sarawak government that our case be brought to an international forum for adjudication based on misrepresentation and fraud. For now, I ask that the parliamentarians from Sarawak and Sabah take a stand on this and be heard in and out of Parliament. Our Constitution and secularity must be safeguarded for the sake of our future generations.

BARU BIAN
ADUN N70 BA’ KELALAN

Truths and Myths

Persecuted Movie Trailer

A new US movie on the persecution of Christians will be shown in US cinemas in mid July 2014.

Seal in Greek in New Testament

σφραγίζω  The Seal    sphragizō

“Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” ( 1 Cor 1.21,22)

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,……..And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.( Eph 1.13; 4.30)

 

“And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.” (Jer 32.10)

 

We are considering the work of the Holy Spirit as the Anointed, the Seal and the Earnest, all of which are covered by 2 Corinthians 1. 21, 22 and we closed the section on the Anointed with,” What cause for praise we have for this adequate equipment through the anointing of the Holy Spirit!” It is to be noticed that all three aspects are God's work for "us" and are made good to us in the present. At conversion, therefore, the believer was anointed by the Holy Spirit for service, sealed by Him as being God's property and given the earnest of the Spirit as pledge of that inheritance to which grace has made him heir. As with the anointing, the subject of the seal is found in both Old and New Testaments and must, therefore, be seen as a whole if it is rightly to be understood.

 

The Seal and Authority.        In the Old Testament, kings used a signet ring as a seal upon their letters, attesting the royal authority in what was written. The use of the king's signet might be entrusted to others, authorized to act for the king. Pharaoh gave his ring to Joseph, who was deputed to act as his deputy, “And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck” (Gen. 41. 42) in the administration of Egypt during the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine. Joseph's decrees to the nation, as bearing Pharaoh's seal, came with the entire king's authority.

 

Jezebel put king Ahab's signet to terrible use when she wrote letters in the king's name and sealed them with his ring, in the matter of encom­passing the murder of Naboth, whose vineyard Ahab coveted. He was thwarted in acquiring this vineyard by Naboth's refusal either to exchange or sell the inheritance of his fathers, (1 Kings 21. 8). The ring of King Ahasuerus, taken from the deposed Haman, "the Jews' enemy", was given to Mordecai the Jew, recently promoted to high office in the king's domin­ions. By this ring, he was authorised to write and seal letters in the king's name empowering the Jews to defend themselves on the day appointed by Haman for their total destruction, (Esther 3. 12, 13; 8. 2, 10, 11). According to the law of the Persians and Medes, the terms of a letter sealed with the king's ring were irreversible, "Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse”  (Est 8.8).

 

King Darius, pressed by his courtiers to take action against Daniel concerning his daily intercession to God, which the king had forbidden by decree under pain of death, unwillingly had Daniel consigned to the lions' den. Darius was unable to reverse his edict, which the royal seal had ratified, "according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not", (Dan. 6. 8, 12). The stone which was laid upon the entrance to the den"the king sealed . . . with his own signet, . . . that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel", (v. 17). From these considerations we deduce that the use of the king's seal attested both the authenticity and authority of what was sealed as proceeding from the king, as well as the unalterability of his purpose.

 

In the New Testament we read that God set the seal of His authority upon Christ, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed.” (John 6. 27). This was doubtless the seal of the Holy Spirit,authorizing and authenticating all that Christ was and did. God has likewise set the seal of His authority, in the Holy Spirit, upon us, as authenticating our witness, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.” (John. 15. 26,27), and expressing the unalterability of His purpose concerning us. Even the hireling prophet Balaam was compelled to recognise this fact in God's purpose concerning Israel: "I have received commandment to bless ... and I cannot reverse it", (Num. 23. 20).

Of the Corinthians Paul wrote that they were the epistle of Christ, “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” (2. Cor. 3. 3). We may add, with perfect propriety, that such an epistle was also sealed by the Spirit, as attesting its validity.

 

The Seal and Purchase.           In the Old Testament, the signet ring was used as a seal on legal instruments attesting the purchase of land or property. Jeremiah, who had been imprisoned by Zedekiah for prophesying that Jerusalem would fall to the Chaldeans and that the king's safety would only be secured by surrendering to the besieging enemy, was at that critical juncture told by God to buy his uncle's field in Anathoth, “Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.” (Jer 32. 7). It seemed an absurd thing for him to do, when the enemy was at the gates and Jerusalem would in­evitably fall; and when all existing rights over property would soon be extinguished by the enemy's advent and possession. That Jeremiah did so expressed his faith in God's purpose to bring back His people after seventy years' Babylonian captivity and their re-possession of their property. "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land", (v. 15). So Jeremiah "bought the field . . . that was in Anathoth, and weighed . . . the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. And . . . subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed ... the money", (vv. 9, 10). The land thereby became Jeremiah's by purchase; in due time, none would dispute his title to it.

 

We may say that God has sealed us by the Spirit in proof of His ownership by purchase, for "ye are not your own ... ye are bought with a price", (1 Cor. 6. 19,20). The price was that of redemption. Jeremiah had"the right of redemption", since it was his uncle's field, (er. 32. 7, 8). Christ, as our Kins­man Redeemer, (Ruth 3. 13) had the right of redemption, which He was both able and willing to exercise. Hugh Stowell’s words express the idea: "Every lamb is sprinkled with the blood He shed: Then on each He setteth His own secret sign. 'They that have My Spirit, These', saith He, 'are Mine'.". The "blood" is the price of redemption; the "secret sign" is that of the seal of the Holy Spirit, in token of which those sealed become Christ's property - "Mine"!

 

The Seal and Exclusive Ownership.                The seal also attests exclusive ownership  in which there can be no rival. Such is the point of the bridegroom's statement in the Song of Songs: "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed", (4. 12). None but he might refresh himself at that "fountain"; it was "sealed" for him exclusively. So P. Gerhardt wrote, as translated by John Wesley: 

 

Jesus, Thy boundless love to me No thought can reach, no tongue declare;

O knit my thankful heart to Thee, And reign without a rival there:

Thine wholly, Thine alone, I am, Be Thou alone my constant flame.

 

The Jew was circumcised as an outward sign betokening his covenant relationship with God. It began with Abraham, who "received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had", (Rom 4.11). The believer of the New Testament has no outward sign of covenant relationship with God, but the in­ward seal of the Holy Spirit, "….we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh…….. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: " (Phil. 3. 3; Col 2.11). Accordingly, Paul also wrote "he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit . . .", (Rom. 2. 28,29).

 

Ephesians 1. 13, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” amplifies Paul's statement of 2 Corinthians 1.22, "who also hath sealed us". Some have inferred from the words "after that", that the sealing of the Holy Spirit does not necessarily occur immedi­ately upon conversion, but is a subsequent experience, of the nature of a "second blessing"! It may be said that experience but rarely keeps pace with truth and it may well be that with many there is not at conversion an immediate apprehension of the implications of the sealing of the Holy Spirit. But our faulty apprehensions of truth do not invalidate truth. The Revised rendering of the phrase is better,"having also be­lieved, ye were sealed". The simple and sole condition of being sealed with the Holy Spirit is that of faith in Christ -not the measure of faith, but the fact of it!

Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan defies Allah ban

Jane Moh & Peter Sibon, reporters@theborneopost.comMUKAH: 

Adenan rejects Putrajaya's ALLAH ban; The new Chief Minister of Sarawak is a MAN indeed !!

"I will not permit such a law as long as I am CM!" - Adenan rejects Putrajaya's ALLAH ban

Nothing is permanent in POLITICS, Sarawak will slowly change as the umno power fanatics have done to P Malaysia over the 57 yrs. There is no peace with Islam since its birth,... Bombing, killing, suicide, Sharia Law, Sunni vs Shia, never ending human misery.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem told Christians here there was no law in Sarawak that prevents them from using the term ‘Allah’ to refer to God.

“There is no law in Sarawak that says you cannot use the word ‘Allah’, and I will not permit such a law in Sarawak as long as I am the Chief Minister,” he said during a meeting with the people at the Catholic Centre here yesterday.

Adenan said he believed everyone is a child of God regardless of race and religion, and that God loves everyone irrespective of their faiths.

He regarded ‘Allah’ or ‘Tuhan’ as the same God of many colours and there is no difference among his people.

Yussibnosh (right) shakes hands with Father Joseph as others look on.

Adenan greets Christians at the Catholic Centre.

“God created us differently, but at the same time we are the same because we believe in the colourful garden. It would be very dull if all the colours were all white.”

Thus, he called on the people to respect one another’s religion, beliefs and differences.
He said there were Melanau families here where the parents are Christians while their children are Muslims, but they lived under one roof.

“I don’t want that to change. I don’t want them to quarrel among themselves.”

Meanwhile, he said as chief minister he had to make sure everyone could practice their own religion in their own way without hindrance.

“Whether it is mosques, churches, or temples, I will give some grant. I will never distinguish between them.”

He told Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church Mukah parishioners that he could give 10 per cent of the things they asked for.

“I cannot give all that you asked for, but have no doubt that I will never distinguish between mosques, or churches, or temples.

“That is the way it ought to be. You are at liberty to practice your religion in your own way,” he pointed out, adding that such religious freedom is enshrined in the federal constitution.

He said Sarawakians had been living in peace for hundreds of years without quarreling over religious issues, and for that people in the peninsula had a lot to learn from Sarawakians.

Also present at the event were Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church Mukah rector Reverend Father Joseph Sebastian, Assistant Minister of Community Services Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie and BN candidate for Balingian by-election Yussibnosh Balo. -The Borneo Post