Forging Deeds And Stealing Homes

A new scam has popped up that can make it easy for someone to steal your house! A scammer goes to your local city hall where they look up your property records. The scammer then purchases a property transfer form for $10, forges your signature and files the paperwork with the city or county recorder’s office.

In many states, the recorder’s office is not required to authenticate the identities of buyers or sellers. In states where they require IDs, the crooks are creating fake IDs.

The “new owner” of your home can sell it at a discount to a cash-paying buyer (who is also scammed) or they can use the collateral in your house to get a new loan while taking a lot of the cash value out of the house.

The scammers are targeting homes that are paid for because it’s easier to get a loan from a lender when there is no existing mortgage.

A reporter for the NY Daily News was actually able to buy the Empire State Building with doctored documents. (He immediately transferred it back, as he was just investigating the possibility of doing this.)

So…what can you do to protect yourself?

1. Occasionally check your records with your registrar’s office.

2. If you receive a new mortgage payment book, contact the company that sent it immediately.

3. Demand that your deed-recording office uses software that alerts homeowners whenever a transfer is made on their property.

4. If you discover your home was stolen, contact your local and state law enforcement officers.

(Reported AARP Bulletin)

The Importance Of Exercising As You Age Has Just Gone Up

A study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine clearly supports continuing to exercise, even for the very oldest among us.

The three-year survival rate was about three times higher for active 85-year-olds who were doing four hours of exercise a week versus the inactive ones.

Even previously sedentary 85-year-olds had a three-year survival rate, double that of inactive 85-year-olds.

As a further plus, the active oldsters also reported less depression and loneliness and a greater ability to perform daily tasks.

So the old adage of “use it or lose it” has taken on new importance for everyone. Just check with your Doc first.

(Reported by Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press)

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More Questions On Cell Phone Radiation

A panel of scientists and cancer researchers recently told a Senate appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services that more research is needed to determine whether cell phone radiation is harmful to humans, especially children.

The scientists reported that, although researchers have not been able to establish a hard link between cell phone radiation and cancer, that doesn't mean that wireless devices aren't harmful. According to Dariusz Leszczynski, a radiation expert at the University of Helsinki, deciding that cell phones are safe is premature.

Dr. Siegal Sadetzki, director of the Cancer and Radiation Epidemiology Unit of the Gertner Institute in Israel, told the committee that recent studies have suggested that people who use cell phones for 10 years or more are most at risk. Cell phones have become commonplace only in the past decade or so.

Here’s the problem most people are not aware of, according to Devra Lee Davis, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology of the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh:The FCC's standards for cell phones were set 17 years ago, when cell phones and usage patterns were much different. 

The FCC's standards are based on the effects of cell phone radiation on a "200-pound man with an 11-pound head," who talks for just six minutes a day.

This means we don’t know the effect of cell phone radiation on women, teens or children. We don’t know the impact of hours of usage every day of the week.

In effect, we are doing a high school science experiment on all the cell phone users in the world. What if, several years from now, we discover more issues with cell phone use …oops?

Very informative reading can be had with Devra Lee Davis' Book:  "Secret History of the WAR on CANCER:

Book Reviews:

• Washington Post
  “…Davis put it together in a way that illuminates the underbelly of medical research."
• O magazine
  "In her devastating, 20-years-in-the-making expose...Devra Davis... shows how cancer researchers, bankrolled by petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies, among others, collude in 'the science of doubt promotion.'...Davis diagnoses two of the most lethal diseases of modern society: secrecy and self-interest. This book is a dramatic plea for a cure."
• Discover
  “Davis’s new book, THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR ON CANCER, is a wake-up call for all those who have accepted the poisons of our age of plenty without a blink.”

Technorati Tags: dr jerry Teplitz,senate committe on labor,health and human services,cell phone radiation,FDC