Don't Neglect The Humble Check

Internet commerce is an instantaneous purchase medium. A customer sees the product he or she likes; enters credit or debit card details; the product gets shipped. Simple. No messing
around with mailing out checks, no waiting for the merchant to cash the check.

For online merchants, too, the process is straightfoward and convenient. There's no waiting for a
check to arrive; no worrying about whether the check is good and no delays in shipping the product.

Consequently, it is easy for online merchants to assume that there is no value in offering check payments
as a purchase option. Indeed, in competitive industries where margins are tight, the sheer time cost and
risk involved in accepting checks makes it an unprofitable choice. And, anyway, everyone uses credit or
debit cards these days. Right ? Wrong.

Here's some facts for all you ecommerce entrepreneurs to consider:

The 2004 Federal Reserve Payments Study ( http://www.frbservices.org/Retail/pdf/2004PaymentResearchReport.pdf ) shows that checks
are still the most popular non-cash payment method, with a total dollar volume over 20 times that of credit
and debit cards added together. Further, a recent publication by the Minnesota Attorney General's office indicates that 11% of Americans
have no credit card at all. That figure doesn't even include the millions more people who are maxed out on their cards.

Can you REALLY afford to neglect the 30 million plus Americans that don't have credit cards and the millions more that prefer to use
checks over any other form of payment ? After all, these are your potential customers too !

ACCEPTING CHECKS ONLINE

Even being aware of the huge numbers of new potential customers, accepting check payments can still appear problematic to ecommerce
based merchants. The possibility of bad checks, the delay in receiving payments, the additional paperwork - all these things increase costs
and reduce profits. However, the recent Check 21 legislation and the increased availability of electronic check solutions to businesses of all
sizes menas that ecommerce merchants can now accept check payments online, by phone and fax easily and virtually risk free.

HOW ELECTRONIC CHECK PROCESSING WORKS

Accepting electronic check payments is a simple process. The merchant simply transmits the customers' check information to a transaction
processing company. The processor then moves that information from the customer's bank account and that of the merchant. It's easy, convenient
and, most importantly, means that the clearing process is much faster than traditional paper check transactions. Best of all, there is no delay in
receiving payment, it's inexpensive and will increase your clicks to sales ratio dramatically.

CHOOSING A CHECK TRANSACTION PROCESSOR

There are a number of transaction processors who will compete aggressively for your business. Many of them offer easy integration
into your current shopping cart or a standalone solution. One click export to your current accounts software is also a standard feature.
The main points online merchants should consider when selecting a company to handle check payments are as follows:

i) No Application Fee - Some payment processors charge a fee just to apply to use their services. For obvious reasons, these are best avoided.

ii) No Monthly Minimums - Smaller ecommerce companies should be looking for check payment processors that do not have a set monthly minimum
number of transactions.

iii) Flat Fees or Percentage of Check Value - Some payment processing companies charge a percentage of the value of each check processed, while
others offer a flat fee per check. While the flat fee option makes it easier to predict costs and is the best choice for many, it is worth doing the math to
decide whether this is the best route for your company.

iv) Check Verification - In order to reduce the risk of bad checks, real time check verification is a must have service. The best of these is the SpeedChex
ATMVerify system, which has access to over 170 million accounts. This allows users to determine whether an account is currently overdrawn, frozen or closed thus determining whether a check is likely to be returned.
Offering electronic check payments as a purchase option is the only effective way that online merchants can tap into the consumers preferred payment option and still reduce risk, receive funds fast and ship goods quickly. So, don't neglect the humble check.
around with mailing out checks, no waiting for the merchant to cash the check.

For online merchants, too, the process is straightfoward and convenient. There's no waiting for a
check to arrive; no worrying about whether the check is good and no delays in shipping the product.

Consequently, it is easy for online merchants to assume that there is no value in offering check payments
as a purchase option. Indeed, in competitive industries where margins are tight, the sheer time cost and
risk involved in accepting checks makes it an unprofitable choice. And, anyway, everyone uses credit or
debit cards these days. Right ? Wrong.

Here's some facts for all you ecommerce entrepreneurs to consider:

The 2004 Federal Reserve Payments Study ( http://www.frbservices.org/Retail/pdf/2004PaymentResearchReport.pdf ) shows that checks
are still the most popular non-cash payment method, with a total dollar volume over 20 times that of credit
and debit cards added together. Further, a recent publication by the Minnesota Attorney General's office indicates that 11% of Americans
have no credit card at all. That figure doesn't even include the millions more people who are maxed out on their cards.

Can you REALLY afford to neglect the 30 million plus Americans that don't have credit cards and the millions more that prefer to use
checks over any other form of payment ? After all, these are your potential customers too !

ACCEPTING CHECKS ONLINE

Even being aware of the huge numbers of new potential customers, accepting check payments can still appear problematic to ecommerce
based merchants. The possibility of bad checks, the delay in receiving payments, the additional paperwork - all these things increase costs
and reduce profits. However, the recent Check 21 legislation and the increased availability of electronic check solutions to businesses of all
sizes menas that ecommerce merchants can now accept check payments online, by phone and fax easily and virtually risk free.

HOW ELECTRONIC CHECK PROCESSING WORKS

Accepting electronic check payments is a simple process. The merchant simply transmits the customers' check information to a transaction
processing company. The processor then moves that information from the customer's bank account and that of the merchant. It's easy, convenient
and, most importantly, means that the clearing process is much faster than traditional paper check transactions. Best of all, there is no delay in
receiving payment, it's inexpensive and will increase your clicks to sales ratio dramatically.

CHOOSING A CHECK TRANSACTION PROCESSOR

There are a number of transaction processors who will compete aggressively for your business. Many of them offer easy integration
into your current shopping cart or a standalone solution. One click export to your current accounts software is also a standard feature.
The main points online merchants should consider when selecting a company to handle check payments are as follows:

i) No Application Fee - Some payment processors charge a fee just to apply to use their services. For obvious reasons, these are best avoided.

ii) No Monthly Minimums - Smaller ecommerce companies should be looking for check payment processors that do not have a set monthly minimum
number of transactions.

iii) Flat Fees or Percentage of Check Value - Some payment processing companies charge a percentage of the value of each check processed, while
others offer a flat fee per check. While the flat fee option makes it easier to predict costs and is the best choice for many, it is worth doing the math to
decide whether this is the best route for your company.

iv) Check Verification - In order to reduce the risk of bad checks, real time check verification is a must have service. The best of these is the SpeedChex
ATMVerify system, which has access to over 170 million accounts. This allows users to determine whether an account is currently overdrawn, frozen or closed thus determining whether a check is likely to be returned.
Offering electronic check payments as a purchase option is the only effective way that online merchants can tap into the consumers preferred payment option and still reduce risk, receive funds fast and ship goods quickly. So, don't neglect the humble check.

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FW:

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Illinois Prison Murders - An Open Letter to Illinois Leadership

Subject: Prisoner Health Care

Illinois prisoners are being murdered with impunity by means of medical neglect and abuse. The legal liabilities the state has created over twenty years by the unsupervised use of private contracting for medical care, is enough to bankrupt fifty states. Yet, your focus is fixed upon costs and cost containment. Until quality of care becomes your focus, your legal liabilities for negligent homicides will skyrocket until a class action lawsuit ends the murders and injuries.

Start with the examination of individual prisoner lawsuits based on medical complaints, over the past twenty years. How many were filed twenty years ago? How many last year? What was the nature of complaints? What was the disposition of these suits? How many plaintiffs died before their suits were settled? How many suits were dismissed due to legal and technical issues? How many of you care about the answers to these questions?

Your problem is fairly simple to see, define and solve. It begins with definitions. Health Care: The PREVENTION of disease. Medicine: The treatment of symptoms and diseases caused by the lack of health care. There is little institutional health care available in America at any price. Only medicine. Medicine which treats, seldom cures and often multiplies illness in ways no one observes, including the patient. Where does the name patient come from? It applies to all citizens awaiting medical help. If you want any help at all, you must be patient.

When cost containment of medical care is your primary objective, you must shift focus from medicine to health care. An ounce of prevention is worth ten to one hundred pounds of cure. Prisoners require pounds of prevention, due to a high stress lifestyle forced upon them 365 days, without a break.

Stress destroys immune function. The more continuous and prolonged the stress, the greater the immune destruction. Every prisoner has depressed immune function within six months of entry into your disease mills. You are creating the problem by the nature of imprisonment itself. You have three good solutions to your problem and there may well be more. If you apply them, you can learn more about true health care in two years, than the medical establishment has learned in the past century. This can be passed along to your free citizens in inexpensive health care programs. You have a golden opportunity with a captive population to create health care as an alternative to the medicine no one can afford or really wants. You can quickly create a health care model for the world.

1.Feed your prison population better than you feed your family. You have the choice not to eat as you should, but as you like. You pay for poor choices in sickness and disease, over time. Prisoners have no option but to eat what is provided. Super nutrition has been shown to substantially boost human immune function. Super nutrition can most simply be defined as double the recommended dietary allowances of fresh fruits, vegetables, and high quality protein, along with access to a wide range of dietary supplements. Supplements such as those commonly found in prison commissaries, but not limited to those.

Dietary supplement costs should be heavily subsidized by the state to encourage prisoners to use them. Outlaw all processed foods in the dining halls. Cakes, breads, pasta, meats, sugar, etc.. Whole grain products only, preferably organically grown, which will also support a growing segment of the Illinois economy, organic agriculture. Fifty per cent or more of the diet must be fresh and raw. Temperatures above 118 degrees F. destroy life giving enzymes. Dead food creates dead people and live food, vibrant health. Between life and death, the condition is health or dis ease.

2.The greatest nutrition at the lowest cost is obtained from raw, live sprouts. Sprouts are grown indoors, without soil or light. From soak to harvest, crops typically require 1 to 7 days. All nuts, seeds and grains sprout to create a new plant. Almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, are rich sources of protein and dietary oils. Pound for pound, fresh, live sprouts have greater nutritional value than the seed they come from or the plants they become. Pure water and a few days of regular rinsing is the cost of production, plus the vertical cabinets or trays required. Sprouts like temperatures between sixty and eighty degrees. Perfect for indoor production. Four square feet of floor space can produce a half ton of super food in one week.

3. With the assistance of Illinois Master Gardeners, state lands near prisons can be made into organic orchards, gardens and vineyards which produce a wide variety of foods and natural medicines, year round. These slash costs of health care and medicine alike. They require a fair initial investment to begin producing and save more money every year thereafter, as they expand. The initial costs of superior sprouts are much lower and the best reason to start there. Inmate labor can produce further cost savings and many would love to learn the basic life skill of feeding their selves and others with health producing foods. Sick people often cost more than they can produce.

4.Apply measures to reduce stress in the prisons. Ear or headphones for TVs and radios. Ear protectors or plugs to reduce the constant din of daytime living. Encourage prisoner suggestions for reducing stress. Adopt the most reasonable.

5.Employ health and medical professionals who are well versed in alternative, natural and integrative medicine and health care. This will quickly reduce medical costs in conjunction with super nutrition. Pay them well and give bonuses for medical cost reductions each year they produce them for you.

6.Totally separate prison health and medical care from the IDOC. If the health care professionals do not have complete autonomy, administrators will forever create obstacles for them because their functions are initially in opposition. Administrators are forever under pressure to cut costs, which has led to the prison murders now widely practiced for the sake of profit and cost cutting. The moral issue is many times greater than the cost issue.

7.Reduce prison populations by making punishments fit the crimes. This creates immediate cost savings. More than half your prison population never deserved to be locked in a cage and should be released. The correct punishment for theft is restitution, double, or triple restitution. For example: Misdemeanor theft is single restitution. Felony theft is double restitution to the victim. Armed robbery is triple restitution.

Those who refuse to restore their victims go to low security work houses that produce more food than required by prison and work house populations. The surplus is sold on the retail market to offset corrections expenses. Regardless of global economic conditions, there will always be a market for good food. A thief who learns the value of intensive organic agriculture need never steal again. Every crime that creates a victim must compensate the victim(s) first and foremost, inside or outside state supervision or custody. This is justice. Compare it to what you are calling justice, where all the costs of crime are laid on victims and taxpayers. Small wonder you are focused on costs.

Victimless crimes can be punished by fines and fines alone. This adds low cost state revenue and lots of it. Habitual offenders go to the state work facilities where they earn their keep and produce a profit, six days per week. A percentage of all prisoner production is paid to victims, prisoner dependents, prisoner savings and monthly prisoner allowance. When prisoners release, they have a small bankroll and new skills to help them re integrate with society. When crime is seen as the best option after release, crime is what you create.

8.For more than thirty years, health care and alternative medical breakthroughs have been suppressed by a professional medical monopoly. Every year, conscientious and compassionate doctors are leaving the monopoly to learn and teach the principles of health care and preventive medicine. More than a half dozen of them are becoming wealthy by simply passing along what they are learning to newsletter subscribers and book buyers. They are educating the public about the difference between health care and bad medicine.

The best of these doctors are selling monthly, eight page newsletters in language ordinary people can easily understand. The typical annual subscription price for these newsletters is $40 per year. They are worth many times their cost. Multi year subscriptions are discounted or accompanied by a dozen or more reports on specific medical and health care issues. Years of back issues are also available.

Most of these alternative doctors would probably allow unlimited newsletter reproduction rights for prisons. As prisoner health improves with health care and alternative medicine, more and more inmates will want to know all about personal health care, instead of lawsuits. If the prison library also stocked a hundred recent books on the subject, some percentage of the prison population would know more about health care than the typical MD., in less than a year. They would gladly assist the state staff in identifying health problems in the population and will learn much that can be applied to any citizen health care program upon release.

You could be training health care professionals in your prisons that will not require college degrees to be extremely useful to Illinois society. There is a lot to learn and newsletters, more than books, report all the very latest breakthroughs.

Your prison population could create health care plans every state in America could use to improve citizen health and dramatically reduce personal medical expenses. Publish the results of this experiment on the Internet and create a positive model for global health care.

The health care industry is in its infancy and growing faster than most every other industry, save prison building and government. Your only alternative to reform is to impoverish your citizens until you are economically and psychologically worse off than Alabama. Not much of a goal, do you think?

9.When government becomes all about cost/ benefit ratios, it becomes critical to compare short term versus long term benefits. I know of few states with that much vision, perhaps because our educations do not teach vision but destroy reason and imagination, the two major components of vision. I have focused my attention on Illinois because Illinois has been executing a prisoner I know and love, at Stateville and Menard, over more than three years. I have sought the Governor's help to stop the execution. I have enclosed Jimmy's story of his own execution so you can have a better idea of what goes on in Illinois behind closed doors. I am publishing all I know about Illinois Prison Murders on the Internet in hopes of finding legal assistance to end this criminal behavior.

It seemed good to me to point out an opportunity for the State of Illinois to become the first and most progressive model in the world for compassionate government, in a very few years. Thank you for your time, attention and consideration. I will happily correspond with any who might wish to further discuss this crisis.

Very Sincerely Yours,

Ed Howes

Freelance writer published on websites and in newspapers.
Jimmy's Execution in His Words - Part 3JIMMY KINSLOW AS TOLD TO ED HOWES PART OF PRISON REFORM SERIES

I was sent back to UIC for a follow up on August 26, 2003, in order for the specialist to review my lab results from the blood drawn July 30, 2003. Dr. Ghosh and Nurse Viscum refused to send the lab results with me to the consult. Without these results the specialist would be unable to recommend the restarting of my HCV treatments. The specialist ordered new blood tests and that I be returned to have an ultrasound done of my liver for the very first time, along with an Upper Endoscopy exam of my stomach and biopsy of the stomach lining.

I was returned to UIC on September 10, 2003. Once again the staff from ADDUS Healthcare refused to send my latest lab results again preventing the UIC specialist from recommending the restarting of my HCV treatments. They did the Ultrasound of my liver and the Endoscopy exam to my stomach with a biopsy, and ordered new blood tests.

Blood was drawn on September 16, 2003 on the U.I.C. specialist's orders. I was not sent back to UIC until October 14, 2003. Once again Dr. Ghosh, Nurse Viscum and the ADDUS Healthcare staff refused to send my lab results with me from the blood tests. Specialist is unable to recommend the restarting of my HCV treatments for the third time. This despite the fact all my blood levels had been back into the "safe" range for months. The specialist ordered new blood tests and that I be returned so he could perform a biopsy of my liver for the first time in more than three years of treatment. Treatment that was designed to be completed in one year. Rate of success from proper treatment was just sixty per cent. Malpractice had reduced my chances of success dramatically. The liver biopsy was done on October 22, 2003.

November 11, 2003, I was returned to U.I.C. ADDUS Healthcare again refused to send my lab results with me from the blood tests. The specialist was only able to give me the results from the liver biopsy and schedule me for a Colonoscopy, trying to find what was causing my daily diarrhea and severe intestinal pains. Beginning the first week in September, the prison doctors refused to treat me for this problem.

The results from my liver biopsy were very sobering. Due to the sabotage of the two previous courses of HCV treatments, the virus mutated into a more virulent and aggressive form. It came back with a vengeance and almost completely destroyed my liver. Cirrhosis/ fibrosis is now extremely advanced. I am near what they call End Stage Liver Failure. A fancy way of saying I will die soon. Re treatment may not be possible due to the toxicity of the medications. He wanted to study the biopsy result some more, get the Colonoscopy done to rid me of the persistent intestinal infection, then we would sit down and discuss possible treatments, weighing out the risks and dangers.

As of this date, the IDOC, Agency Medical Director, Dr. Willard Elyea, S.C.C, Medical Director Dr. P. Ghosh and the corporate officers of ADDUS Healthcare are refusing to return me to U.I.C to get the required Colonoscopy done to cure me of the infection and daily diarrhea I have endured since September of last year. Also to get a new treatment plan worked out with the U.I.C. specialist which could possibly prevent me dying from liver failure. I am in daily pain. The medical staff at Stateville C.C. will not see me at Sick Call as I have requested daily since November 11, 2003. They are leaving me to rot untreated in this cell, until I die, which they figure will solve this problem. I desperately need help and fast. I have typed this letter to send to anyone and everyone for whom I can find an address.

Our form of Government is claimed to be one of the people, that all public officials are directly accountable to "we the people". Anything they do, they do in our names. The crimes I have documented in this letter, they continue doing IN YOUR NAME. Would you physically torture another human being? Would you stoically watch another human cry out daily in severe pain from a terrible untreated disease, slowly killing him while withholding the needed treatments? Taunting; in his face just out of his reach, until he dies. They are doing this in your name.

If we as a society of an enlightened and evolved beings, take upon ourselves the moral authority and "right" to cage our fellow beings for what we have deemed to be unacceptable behavior; we must, at the same time, assume the unquestionable duty and responsibility to provide the basic human necessities for those we choose to incarcerate within our prisons. This includes proper food, shelter and medical care. It is a fact the deprival of any one need for a helplessly caged human being, constitutes cruel and sadistic physical torture.

We seem to have forgotten a basic, and fundamental truth underlying the American penal system. We send fellow human beings to prison AS THE PUNISHMENT for wrongdoing, NOT TO BE PUNISHED in addition to the social isolation. Somewhere along the line we have allowed our fundamental concepts and basic understanding of just punishment of fellow humans to be corrupted by pandering politicians. Turning punishment into the intentional infliction of physical pain, suffering and murder. Justice becomes criminal itself. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. We don't need any two faced, paid political whore to tell US what a proper form of punishment should be. Don't get caught up in the carefully choreographed emotional propaganda put out daily by the massive multibillion dollar prison industrial complex and the self appointed governmental elites. Don't allow them to sadistically torture fellow people by withholding needed medical care to prisoners IN YOUR NAME, under your moral authority. There can be NO legitimate excuse for it. We are NOT supposed to be a nation of sadists and torturers, or else, what the hell are we doing in Iraq?

Without your help and assistance in casting the spotlight of public attention upon these prison officials, I will die from deliberate medical malpractice. They thrive on the darkness of anonymity and will only respond to outside scrutiny and public pressure to save their jobs and not embarrass their political masters. Please do not allow my voice to fade into the darkness unheard, with my death.

I am only 44 years old. They are seizing the opportunity to change my prison sentence into a death sentence, executing me. If I were to be given a lethal injection, it would be more humane than being left in severe physical pain from this untreated and mistreated, deadly liver disease and additional serious medical conditions as a result of malpractice. The slow rotting of my internal organs.

Please help me if you can. Attorneys, please take up my case. If you know of an attorney who might, please forward this to him/her or anyone else who might help. Write letters to these IDOC officials on my behalf and many others enduring medical torture and execution. Write the elected public officials, print this letter on your Websites. E mail it, FAX it, anything you can think of. Without treatment soon, the odds that I will be here this time next year are very slim. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any help you may be able to provide. I would love to hear from each of you and will try to respond to all letters, health permitting.

Jimmy Kinslow

Jimmy Kinslow #B 67033
Stateville CC
P.O. Box 112
Joliet, IL 60434 0112
)

Freelance writer published on websites and
newspapers.
Jimmys Execution - in His Words Part 1JIMMY KINSLOW AS TOLD TO ED HOWES PART OF PRISON REFORM SERIES
January 1, 2004

RE: Denial of essential medical care by the State of Illinois, the Illinois Department of Corrections and the sabotage of Hepatitis C Virus medical treatment by state contracted medical care providers.

Hello, my name is Jimmy Kinslow, I am a forty - four year old man who made a terrible mistake when I was an impressionable teenager in 1978. Under the influence of a thirty two year old biker, affiliated with the Banditos Motorcycle Club in Southwest Texas, some innocent people lost their lives. I have never denied my participation in these terrible crimes, and have sought some method of atonement since the beginning, without much measurable success, given my long imprisonment.

I was incarcerated in New Mexico when I was sent to Illinois in 1995. In the summer of 2000 I became deathly ill with the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) from knee surgery I had when I was sixteen. It was my good fortune the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) had a Dr. Joseph Smith, employed as the Medical Director for the Stateville Correction Center, a very kind and compassionate physician. On his authority, I started my HCV medical treatments with Interferon/Rebetol (Ribivarin), before IDOC officials knew what he was doing. Dr. Smith hospitalized me on July 6, 2000. I began treatments on July 7, 2000. I was placed under a medical hold and my treatments were expensive. I was extremely grateful for the blessing. This disease was killing me.

Within four days, on July 10, 2000, I was summoned from my hospital bed to be interrogated by the IDOC Deputy Director, George DeTella, concerning my treatments. This was followed two days later with an interrogation by Deputy Director District 1, Lamark Carter and Stateville C.C. Warden, Kenneth Briley, concerning my hospitalization for treatment.

These three IDOC officials approached Dr. Joseph Smith and Barbara Miller, the Health Care Unit (HCU) Administrator and tried to convince them to stop my medical treatments by showing them my file. That I was a very bad person, totally undeserving of medical treatment and they should simply wash their hands of me. Dr. Smith and Ms. Miller refused this unethical request and refused to read the proffered file. I remained inside the HCU and my treatments continued.

The minute my HCV medical treatments began to work, clearly shown by blood tests, these three IDOC officials began a series of events which resulted in my transfer to another prison facility on the other side of the State. It was a surprise announcement on December 6, 2000, just five months into my year long HCV medical treatments. Since I was under a medical hold and in the middle of treatments, the Medical Director, Dr. Joseph Smith, called the Warden and the Agency Medical Director, Dr. Willard Elyea, to stop my transfer before the HCV treatments were completed. In a stunning development, Dr. Smith was told to "shut up and sit down, it's an administrative decision" and he had nothing to say in the matter. He was told this in front of me on December 6, 2000.

I was transferred to the Menard Correction Center on December 7, 2000, just five months into my HCV medical treatments. The HCV treatments were working perfectly, as documented in my blood tests.

Within thirty five days of my transfer to Menard C.C., Dr. Adrian Feinerman, the M.C.C. Medical Director, sabotaged my treatments by interruption of the medication schedule and changing the brands of medications in the middle of the treatments. This was done despite the clear medical warnings to never do so. Dr. Feinerman canceled the prescribed medical diet and canceled the prescribed sleeping medications that counter the Interferon induced insomnia. My previously successful HCV medical treatments began to rapidly reverse and fail, until they reached a point where Dr. Feinerman terminated my medical treatments, against my will and without my permission April 26, 2001, two months short of the prescribed course of treatments.

I was left to rot in my prison cell after this, in extreme physical pain, with no medical treatment for the later documented severe stomach/ intestinal infection with the H. Pylori bacteria. Nor were there any treatments to ease the documented side effects stemming from the Hepatitis infection itself.

We are double celled with other prisoners here in Illinois. During this period I received as my cell mate, a man just newly released from the infamous Illinois Death Row. He had a lovely lady from London visiting him, who he later married. She heard about my situation, what had transpired, how I was bedridden in my cell, physically exhausted and drained from both the disease and the chemotherapy. She was horrified at what I had been put through by Dr. Feinerman and the prison HMO group "Health Professionals, Ltd." (HPL). This group is paid almost $7,000,000 per year to provide medical care to the prisoners at the Menard C.C..

She resolved to do something about it out of the deep kindness of her heart, even though she had no experience in fighting this type of state sanctioned medical mistreatment of a prisoner. Mrs. Julie Ehlers launched a letter and Internet campaign, creating a Website for me to call attention to my plight and to seek help from other concerned people to force the IDOC to provide me with proper medical treatment for this deadly liver disease. See http://www.justice4jimmykinslow.homestead.com/index.html.

Another group heard her plea for assistance, called Surviving The System, picked up my story and also printed it on their Website at: http://www.survivingthesystem.com/kinslow jimmy.htm. Another lovely lady responded. C.J.Codega from the group Reaching Beyond The Walls. Along with some others; (LesleY581Aaol.com; Jeff Dicks Medical Coalition). Their aim was to pressure the IDOC and let them know they would NOT be allowed to deny medical treatment to me outside of public scrutiny.

Bowing to the pressure from these people, the IDOC relented and transferred me back to the Stateville C.C. on December 13, 2001, where I could be sent for an evaluation by a proper specialist at the University of Illinois - Chicago, Liver/ Hematology Clinic.

The IDOC and another prison HMO group, ADDUS Healthcare Inc., had by this time hired a new, more compliant and obedient Medical Director at the Stateville C.C.. Dr. Kevin Smith only grudgingly agreed to arrange my outside medical evaluation, delaying three months until March 14, 2002. I was seen by Dr. Wiley, a liver disease specialist. She recommended immediate re treatment with the newly approved PEG Interferon/Rebetol (Ribivarin) and further asked that a pretreatment ultrasound and liver biopsy be performed. Also a CT scan of my entire abdominal area, prior to beginning new treatments.

Dr. Kevin Smith delayed seeing me in connection with the U.I.C. visit and medical recommendations until April 24, 2002. At this time he denied the pre treatment ultrasound, liver biopsy and CT Scan of my abdomen (because of the persistent stomach/intestinal infection I was suffering from, untreated to that point). He grudgingly approved the recommended re treatment with PEG Interferon/REBETOL. Dr. Smith made it clear he was personally offended by the outside pressure I had brought to bear, thanks to my outside help. He said that I would be put on a waiting list to receive the medications when they could get them - that I did not deserve special treatment. Special life threatening treatment was in fact what I was about to endure for the next year and beyond.

They did not have the medications until November. HCV medical treatments with I:IEG Interferon/Rebetol started on November 4, 2002. At the start of the treatments, my HCV viral load levels were over 7,000,000 I U/ml, and Liver Function (AST/ALT) Levels were abnormal, indicating ongoing destruction of liver cells.

The treatments began really great, with a surprisingly mild level of side effects from the chemotherapy (cancer fighting) medication, PEG Interferon. Within eight weeks my liver function levels had stabilized back into normal. My HCV viral load levels had fallen to 53,800 IU/ml. By April 23, 2003, levels had fallen to an amazing 154 IU/ml. I was close to possibly being cured from this terrible and insidious liver/blood disease, having this treacherous virus eliminated from my blood and internal organs.

Then a horrific series of events began to unfold in a malicious and deliberate manner, resulting in the obvious sabotage of the amazingly successful HCV treatments. This required the early termination of the treatments before the virus was completely eliminated, allowing the HCV time to mutate and return in a more virulent, aggressive, destructive form.

This series of events began November 25, 2002, when I requested Nurse Susie Viscum, the RN overseeing my weekly injections of PEG Interferon, call the Medical Director, Dr. Smith. He was supposed to be personally supervising my treatments so I could report severe side effects and/or drug interactions I was having after taking the antihistamine medication Periactin. He had prescribed this for me in response to the severe itching I was experiencing as a side effect of the HCV medications. (Continued as Part 2.)

(1500 words)

Freelance writer published on websites and newspapers.
Jimmys Execution in his words Part 2JIMMY KINSLOW AS TOLD TO ED HOWES PART OF PRISON REFORM SERIES

Nurse Viscum must have been angry at the world because she snapped a refusal to call Dr. Smith so I could speak to him. I asked several times more. Each request was refused. I told Nurse Viscum if she continued to misuse her role as a medical gatekeeper, refusing to relay my serious medical problems to Dr. Smith, I would file an institutional grievance against her. She exploded in anger and ordered me from the HCU under threats of having me walked to segregation and thrown in the "hole". I left and filed the grievance.

The next week I reported to the HCU to receive my weekly injection of PEG Interferon. I discovered Nurse Viscum had refused to reorder my dosage of PEG Interferon. I was unable to receive my injection of PEG Interferon until Thursday, December 5, 2002, four days behind schedule. I asked to speak with the temporary acting Medical Director, Dr. Jovita Anyanwu. Nurse Viscum said he refused to see me. I wanted to discuss any possible medical complications due to this delay in the medication schedule and make sure that I was now on a Thursday weekly injection schedule to receive the PEG Interferon. Nurse Viscum sarcastically replied, "yeah, you're on a Thursday schedule."

Four days later I was summoned to the HCU Monday, December 9, 2002 and ordered to take another full strength injection of PEG Interferon. I refused at first, taking out the "Medication Guidelines" enclosed with the box that the PEG-Interferon came in. It states that I was to NEVER, EVER take more than one single injection per week, and that it is supposed to be taken at the same time and day each week, whenever possible. Nurse Viscum took the "Medication Guidelines" and left the ER, saying she was going to show them to Dr. Anyanwu. She came back in minutes, saying that Dr. Anyanwu said I was to take the injection. It wouldn't hurt me and they wanted me back on a Monday injection schedule for their convenience.

Again I refused, saying I wanted to speak to Dr. Anyanwu in person. Nurse Viscum got on the phone in front of me and called someone she said was Dr. Anyanwu. She hung up and said I either take the injection as ordered, or my medical treatments would be terminated. Under this threat to stop my treatments, and against my better judgment, I submitted. I took the early injection of PEG Interferon which overdosed me.

Big, big mistake. It hit me with the force of a sledgehammer, putting me in a near coma for the next week. It immediately began destroying my red blood cells at a rapid pace. I repeatedly requested to see a doctor over the frightening effects this was having on me. They steadfastly refused to see me. I filed grievances, wrote letters, spoke to officials in person. I was ignored. No doctor or other ADDUS Healthcare staff would see me until Dr. Kevin Smith reluctantly saw me January 9, 2003. His first words were to confront me over naming him in a lawsuit I filed over the first sabotage of my HCV treatments; under Kinslow v. Snyder, Jr., et al., No.01 466 DRH. In a very hostile manner, Dr. Smith refused to listen or treat the lingering, painful drug reaction I had to the Periactin he had prescribed for me. He then dismissed my crashing red blood cell levels and refused to treat with Procrit or Neuprogen to stabilize the red/ white blood cells. He refused to prescribe vitamins or a medical diet recommended in order allowing me to take the Rebetol medications. These improve the absorption and efficiency of the anti viral medication up to 70% ; a very significant improvement which could mean the success or failure of the treatments.

He refused to treat the uncured stomach/intestinal infection I still had. He adamantly refused to send me to the specialist Dr. Wiley at the U.I.C Liver/Hematology Clinic over these medical problems and to generally monitor my treatments like they said they would when I began the HCV treatments. This refusal to provide needed medical treatment for these serious conditions was clearly in retaliation for naming him in a lawsuit and filed grievances.

Between January and May 2003, all my repeated requests to treat my steadily falling red blood cell levels were refused. All my pleas to be sent to an outside specialist were refused. The required medical diet was repeatedly refused, along with any type of effective medical treatments or required diagnostic testing for my continued serious intestinal infection.

On May 4, 2003, the nurses refused to deliver my morning dose of Rebetol and Nurse Viscum later refused to let me go to the HCU to receive my scheduled dose. She falsified the Medication Log by saying I refused my medications. On May 5, 2003, Nurse Viscum again "forgot" to reorder my PEG Interferon from the previous week. My prescribed dosage of 60 mcg. was not available. Dr. Smith, over the phone, had Nurse Viscum order me to take another prisoner's vial of 80 mcg. of PEG-Interferon under the continued threat to stop my medical treatments. This overdosed me again. My treatments were working at eradicating the virus. I gritted my teeth and took the deliberate overdose.

On May 12, 2003, my prescribed dosage of 60 mcg. of PEG Interferon still had not been reordered by the ADDUS Healthcare staff and I was ordered to take another prisoner's vial containing 120 mcg.. While I tried to only take half, it was still too much and overdosed me for the third time.

On May 25, 2003, the nurses (Heather & Sheri) again refused to deliver my morning dose of Rebetol. They refused to let me go to the HCU later to get it and lied by telling the Correctional Staff I had refused my medications. This again interfered with my medication schedule. No Medical Refusal Form exists with my signature. I filed a grievance over this too.

Superintendent Nancy Pounovich called me into her office on May 29, 2003 and asked me to drop my grievance over the refusal to deliver my meds. I refused to drop my grievance. She retaliated the next day on May 30, 2003 by firing me from my cellhouse help job for no reason. She had me locked up in my cell 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I was given no opportunity to protest this unjust firing, or given a misconduct report.

Between May and June 29, 2003, all needed medical treatments to reverse my rapidly falling blood levels were refused, and all of my requests to be sent to an outside specialist were refused. Then we got a new Medical Director. Dr. P. Ghosh, in response to my grievances and letters, agreed to send me to see an outside specialist, since he said that only a specialist could prescribe the medications Procrit and Neuprogen. I was seen by Dr. Wiley at the U.I.C. Liver/Hematology Clinic on June 30, 2003. The ADDUS Healthcare Staff deliberately failed to send my lab work with me so the specialist could make a medical recommendation. Fortunately, she was able to get the results by telephone, after being refused several times by the Medical Records Supervisor, Karen Reed.

Treatment with the medication Procrit was too late, since the medication takes from 4 8 weeks to stimulate the bone marrow into producing more red blood cells. My current blood levels were so dangerously low I did not have 4 8 weeks to wait for the medication to work. The only option left was for her to recommend the temporary suspension of my medications for 3 6 weeks to allow my blood levels time to rise back into safe levels. Then restart my PEG Interferon/Rebetol HCV treatments. (Continued as Part 3)

Freelance writer published on websites and
newspapers.

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Web Conferencing Services - Types

You may already have recognized the need for web conferencing within your organization. You have heard all about the many benefits and have decided it is the way forward for your company. Now all you have to do is decide which type of web conferencing would best suit your company's needs.

A quick investigation into the types of web conferencing available will result in a myriad of information. For the uninitiated, unraveling what is available can be confusing and time-consuming.

Below you will find a quick guide to the types of web conferencing currently out there. Each organization will have its own individual requirements and it is important to be clear about what you hope to gain from web conferencing. For example, is it a fully interactive virtual meeting place that your organization needs, or do you require a document sharing system that will allow employees in different geographical locations to work together on projects? Once you understand how you want web conferencing to work for you, analyzing the types of web conferencing and how they could work for your organization will become much easier.

Web Meeting
With growths in international business and a growing trend towards home working, the need for a virtual meeting place is increasing. A web meeting is just what it says - a meeting that takes place over the Internet. This facility has the capabilities to hold real-time conversations and share documents. Web meetings can be fully interactive, allowing participants to converse in real time and for information to be exchanged between delegates.

Web meeting set-ups vary in terms of sophistication and a very rudimentary system can be set up using just a digital camera and a broadband connection.

The Webcast
As the name would suggest, a webcast is a type of broadcast similar in nature to a television broadcast except, of course, a webcast takes place over the Internet. The broadcasting nature of this facility means that there is little opportunity for the presenter and delegates to interact with each other and therefore its function is primarily as a presenting tool. The other main feature of a webcast is that it can be broadcast simultaneously to hundreds of recipients.

If your requirement is for a presenting tool that also offers the interactive features of a web meeting, then you should consider a webinar.

The Webinar
As the name suggests, the webinar is a facility that allows you to conduct a seminar over the web. Allowing a greater level of interaction than the webcast, a webinar enables the presenter to conduct question and answer-type sessions with delegates. However, you should remember that a webinar does not afford the same degree of interaction as a web meeting.

Other Uses For Web Conferencing

Online Presenting
Web conferencing can also be used for conduction online presentations. Online presenting is ideal for sales pitches, performance reporting or providing training for other members of your organization. Add on features include slide shows, web based conversing and audio/video streaming.

Online Collaboration
This is by far the most commonly used type of web conferencing and is the ideal solution for organizations who have multi-location sites yet require collaboration between their employees on projects and documents. Online collaboration has file sharing capabilities that updates changes and alterations to documents in real-time to avoid errors.

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Finding Your Niche: What do you want to be known for?

In my experience, there are two kinds of small business owners: one that knows whom their market niche is and utilize it, and another who tends to waiver or not want to set in stone their target market. With the latter group, I always probe for more information: Why dont you want to choose a specific target for your product/service? Time and time again, the response is the same I dont want to limit my profits by only catering to a few.

In all reality, youre not limiting any profits at all! When playing horseshoes, you have one horseshoe with one stake. Try playing horseshoes with 5 stakes and one LARGE horseshoe how successful do you think youll be then? My guess is not very. The same is true with marketing: the more stakes youre trying to ring the more difficult it is to accomplish that goal. By clarifying which stake youre going after, your success rate is going to be that much higher; and because youre targeting a specific group of people you can speak to them using their own words and make yourself an expert in their field!

Expertise = more business!

I know that personally, I would much rather do business with someone who caters directly to my needs. There are a million widgets out there; why would I buy a large red widget when I need a small green one? If Im aware of the small green ones, I would definitely buy one! The same goes for your product/service. The more you know about your market, the more people of that market are going to want to buy from you!

Determining your Niche

Where do I find my target market?

Take a good look at your services. What are your three favorite things in the array of services you sell, the ones that you enjoy most? List them on paper, define them clearly, and there you will find your starting point.


Who can use these services?

You need to figure out who can use ALL of these services. Not just one, but all three of the services you chose. No easy route here: answering small business owners just doesnt count (The Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov) estimated there were 23.7 million small businesses in 2003). There may very well be more than one group of people who can use your services; but you must approach these groups one at a time for the most success out of your marketing dollar. Once you find that specific group, narrow it down even further. For example, for many years I worked exclusively with bankruptcy attorneys, and was considered an expert (see that word again) in assisting with bankruptcies. My services were actively sought out (once the word was out about who I am and what I did) without me having to market extensively. Why? Because I was the one to go to regarding bankruptcy assistance. I even trained quite a few personnel in businesses I just didnt have time to assist. These people needed my services, and they needed my unique characteristics.

Who exactly are you speaking to?

You must do some research (yes, the dreaded r word) to figure out the demographics/psychographics of your ideal client. Who are they? Where do they live? How much money do they make annually? Where do they shop? What do they do in their spare time? Where do they congregate? The list goes on and on. You need to know as much about the specific types of people to whom youre marketing. An easy and cost-effective method on the internet is finding discussion groups directed at those people, and listening very carefully. Knowing the exact demographics just isnt enough you must get into their heads and find out what makes them tick. When you know what makes them tick, you know how to speak to them; therefore, making it a lot easier to position yourself as an expert.

Market research doesnt have to be costly or difficult; use your imagination to find where your ideal client congregates and the websites/books they visit/read, and youll get a good starting point. Seek out people individually, and probe their needs. They will tell you what you want to hear regarding this, and more often then not, they will also direct you to places to find more information. Get an insider in the industry, and use them to their fullest potential.

What makes you different?

Now is the time to take a look at your competition for this niche. What services are you offering that differ from the services of your competition? What characteristics are they looking for in you? Do you need to be professional, but upbeat and personal? Do they need someone who specializes in their business with a focus in marketing or project management? This is the time to make yourself shine! You need to stand out from the competition, and add your own personal flare. You need to know what makes you different and highlight it every chance you get! This not only helps define your market, but this is another way your customer will actively seek you when they are in need.

Marking your Territory

Once youve figured out this vital information about your ideal client, you can begin actively marketing and advertising your services. You will know to whom you are speaking, so make sure that you are always speaking to them! This is the time for you to announce to your market who you are and what you do! Add it in any signature line you can make, in any direct or email marketing pieces, brochures, articles, letters, everywhere you can! Make sure your networking groups know who you are targeting: they will be another tool to use to your advantage. Be the expert you are: show it to all. Niche marketing is not only a powerful tool, but a very BIG rule in my book. Combined with your branding techniques, this will give your marketing the most bang for your buck. And dont worry: You can always choose a new niche!

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Real Estate, How Much Should I Pay For This House?

We probably answer this question for someone a couple times every week. The problem is that they dont have a good formula for determining the most they can pay and still make a profit so theyre scared to make any offer. Heres what we use for single family homes:

The (MAO) Maximum Allowable Offer is calculated by first determining what the house will be worth after renovation - the ARV (After Repaired Value); less the rehab dollars required; less the Buy/Sell/Hold (B/S/H) costs; less profit margins.

MAO = ARV Rehab B/S/H Profit

So lets break that down a little further. To determine the ARV, study comparable sales data. Comparable sales are those properties which sold in the last 6 months to 1 year, and within to 1 mile from the subject house. But other factors must be considered as well. The more characteristics between the properties that are similar, the more valid the data. Make sure that the house itself is similar in square footage, bedrooms and baths, age, style, and architecture. Dont worry about condition except as it will affect the amount of rehab dollars required. Next, look at the neighborhood and the individual street. Do they look the same? Or is the comparable property on a beautiful street while the subject property is on a street riddled with empty littered lots and boarded up houses? The point is to view the potential investment as your end homeowner occupant will. If they could buy your completed investment on the bad street, or a house on the beautiful street either for $150,000 which would they choose? The other house of course. Which means your house is not worth the same it must sell for less to attract a buyer.

Rehab dollars differ from renovator to renovator depending whether they do the work themselves, or use cheap subs, or use an expensive general contractor. The scope of the work should be the same it is whatever is required to make the investment look like the comparable houses (unless the plan is to sell well under market value). We do not attempt to obtain all of the various contractor bids when we are making offers. All the real deals would be sold before wed ever have an offer together! Instead weve developed ranges of rehab dollars based on the overall condition of the home. Is it an exact science? No, but neither are the bids there will always be something missed. So why not work with a guide that is probably 90% accurate and allows for quick offers?

Buy/Sell/Hold costs include expenses such as appraisals, attorney fees, title search & title insurance, loan origination fees, debt service, utilities, insurance, taxes, real estate commissions, and closing fees paid on behalf of the end buyer. Again, these costs vary depending on each investors individual situation. In the Atlanta area, 15% of the ARV seems to be a good average allocation for B/S/H costs. If you are the renovator, calculate your specific B/S/H costs, then utilize that percentage for future offers.

Profit margins are the fun part of the equation. How much do you want to make? If youre wholesaling the property, you also want to consider how much you should leave in the deal for the investor buyer to make the deal attractive.

Thats it. Thats how you calculate the most youll pay for a property. But thats not what you SHOULD pay. It is the maximum youll pay. It is the deal-breaker. You will not pay one penny over the MAO. Your negotiations should lead you as far below the MAO as possible. The difference in amounts is additional profit in your pocket. What you SHOULD pay is the minimum price below the MAO that the seller will accept.

We call this the MIN-O.

Have a rich week,

Lou

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