Searching public records used to mean reading books like this, now services like ZabaSearch do it for you. Image from Flickr.

Personal information and privacy on the internet can be a sticky issue – and ZabaSearch is just one of many public-records search engines available online. Some worry that ZabaSearch may be used to share information they don’t want shared. ZabaSearch results aren’t ‘t always accurate, however.

How ZabaSearch works

ZabaSearch operates much like Spokeo or other public-records search programs. ZabaSearch uses a computer program to scour and compile publicly available information. When you enter a name into ZabaSearch, it returns the information it has compiled. Basic search results are provided for free, and extended search results are available for a fee.

What information does ZabaSearch provide?

The basic ZabaSearch search result provides an address and phone number, as well as a Google Maps view of the address. A paid ZabaSearch report includes current and former addresses, average home value, a credit report, tax resolution records, a criminal check, and information about possible neighbors and relatives. The paid ZabaSearch result is paid for through Intelius, a background-check and public information business.

Can I opt-out of ZabaSearch?

Seeing a lot of your information made easily found on ZabaSearch can be scary. While information such as this has been public for years, the fact it is so easy to find is relatively new. ZabaSearch is known for getting results wrong as often as right. The program does not use a human element to “connect the dots”. So if your name is listed as “Mary A. Rice” in one place, and “Mary Rice” in another, ZabaSearch will see it as two different people. Opting-out of ZabaSearch is not necessarily easy, because the service relies on publicly available information. While ZabaSearch does allow you to “opt-out” by faxing them your proof of identity, there are other search engines that do the same thing. If you have a “compelling privacy or security issue” it may be worth it to contact the custodians of public records such as land records offices, phone company, county tax office, etc., to ask for your records to be sealed.

If you can't complete your tax return, or pay your taxes, by April 15, you will need to file a tax extension form. Image from Picasa.

Tax day is quickly approaching, and if you need extra time to complete your 2009 federal taxes, you will need to submit a tax extension form 2010 to the IRS. There are two types of an IRS extension form – one that extends your filing deadline, and one that extends your tax resolution deadline. Make sure you file the right tax extension form with the IRS by Midnight on Thursday, April 15.

IRS extension form 4868 – extend your tax deadline

If you, for almost any reason, need extra time to complete your taxes, then you will need IRS extension form 4868. The IRS extension form generally gives you an additional six months to file your taxes. However, IRS extension form 4868 still requires taxpayers to pay their estimated tax debt. If you file IRS extension form 4868 without paying what you estimate you will owe in taxes, you can still be charged interest and penalties on the amount. If you file tax extension form by April 15, you will automatically have until Oct. 15 to file a completed tax return.

Special rules for tax extension form 4868

If you are living outside the U.S., are filing a married-filing-jointly return, or are serving in a combat zone, tax extension form 4868 has special rules. Specifically, an automatic two-month tax extension is allowed for U.S. citizens or residents who are living outside of the U.S. or Puerto Rico. Married couples who are filing a joint return only need to file one tax extension form 4868. Members of the military have up to 180 days after they leave a combat zone to file their taxes.

Filing a tax extension form to extend payment time

IRS Extension form 4868 can be used only if you will be paying what you estimate in taxes by April 15. If you are not able to pay all of your taxes at the time you file your return, you need to file a very different type of tax extension form. One of the four tax extension form types might be used. Unlike tax extension form 4868, the IRS tax extension forms that extend your time to pay are very closely scrutinized and not automatically granted.

Tax extension forms to extend payments

There are four types of IRS tax extension forms that will help you extend the time you have to pay the IRS before they charge you penalties that may require you to get a personal loan.

• Use IRS tax extension form 1127 if you are asking the IRS to postpone payment of the full amount of your tax debt. If you can pay the full amount in one chunk, just not by April 15, file this tax extension form.
• Use IRS tax extension form 4768 to apply for a tax extension on filing or paying estate taxes
• IRS tax extension form 9465 is the form to file if you need to request an installment agreement from the IRS. You do not need to file this form if you set up a payment plan through the IRS website. If you can pay your full tax debt in 120 days or less, call 1-800-829-1040 – they may be able to help you avoid the fees of setting up a payment plan.
• There is no official tax extension form if you do not qualify for a tax installment agreement or tax postponement. However, IRS Publication 594 outlines the IRS collection process and your rights and responsibilities during that process.

Roast leg of lamb is one of the most traditional Easter dinner recipes. Image from Flickr.

If your family gets together for Easter dinner, or if you choose to celebrate the spring holiday on your own, having great Easter recipes makes the day that much better. Springtime holiday food has a flavor all its own. Too early in the year for the hearty vegetables and grains of harvest, Easter recipes focus instead on meats, nuts, stored grains, young greens and preserved fruits. When you are putting together your recipes for Easter, include these elements for a traditionally tasty meal that won’t take payday loans to afford.

Easter dinner recipes – Leg of Lamb

Easter dinner recipes usually focus on one of two types of meat – lamb or ham. In many cultures, Easter dinner recipes began with the Jewish Passover Seder meal. Roasted lamb is the basis of most Seder meals, and quickly became a traditional Easter dish as well. Lamb is a very delicate meat, and is best seared (cooked with high heat) and then roasted (cooked at low heat). This method seals in flavor and moisture without drying out the meat.
This Easter dinner roast leg of lamb recipe is very flexible, easy, and flavorful. Try this if you prefer rack of lamb instead

Easter dinner recipes – Ham

Easter dinner recipes, especially in the United States, have long been moving away from expensive lamb to the more easily available ham. Celebrating tax resolution season with an expensive meal just doesn’t seem logical, after all. In early colonial America, ham that had been slaughtered the fall before was usually just ready come Easter time – so it made the perfect Easter dinner recipe. Ham roasts are usually smoked or cured, and can be roasted in a variety of ways. This basic ham roasting primer will get you started. Once you know the basics, you can try Cider-glazed ham or honey-glazed ham for your Easter dinner recipes.

Easter Dessert Recipes

No matter what your Easter dinner recipes may be, Easter Dessert recipes are the best place to have fun. Honey, nuts, and fruits are all fair game in the spring season, and the desserts you can make are out of this world. This Apple-Honey dessert pizza is very tasty, and easy. If you would like to spend a bit more time, this Honey Nut Easter Cake Recipe is wonderful. Fruit cobblers are a good way to show off last season’s fruits with all their flavor.

The Bill of Rights may play a role in the "War of Constitutionality" for health care reform. (Photo: Picasa)

President Obama has signed the overhauled health care reform bill into law, but not everyone is happy. Thirteen state Attorneys General (12 Republicans and one Democrat) are now in the process of suing the federal government in order to stop the health care reform wave, claiming that it is unconstitutional in its current form. They wonder what kind of tax resolution the Fed will devise to pay for it all, among other things. Their suit targets U.S. Departments of Health, Human Services, Treasury and Labor, according to the Associated Press.

Florida AG Bill McCollum leading charge against health care reform

Other state Attorneys General against health care reform include those from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Utah, Pennsylvania, Alabama, South Dakota, Louisiana, Idaho, Washington and Colorado. More states are expected to follow suit, including Virginia, whose AG Ken Cuccinelli said he will file suit “as soon as the ink is dry” from President Obama’s signature on the bill. Various sources speculate that as many as 37 states will also sue the federal government over this health care bill (now health care law).

Why they consider new health care reform unconstitutional

There are several reasons — with the linchpin being whether the 14^th Amendment conflicts with the 10^th Amendment — that the AGs are saying the new law may actually be unconstitutional. However, constitutional experts don’t completely agree on this. Here’s an interesting blueprint for just how health care reform may be contested, as presented by one informed reader on a Yahoo! Answers board.

1. Thirty-seven states (the two-thirds required to call for a Constitutional Convention) would have to utilize the rights granted by Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution. Three-quarters of those involved would be necessary to approve a new Constitutional amendment.
2. Use the Recall Amendment (http://lugar.senate.gov/services/pdf_crs/Recall_of_Legislators_and_the_Removal_of_Members_of_Congress_from_Office.pdf) to “recall any member of the House of Representatives or the Senate according to rules however that state’s legislature deems fit.” Citizens can enact their own recall petitions, too.
3. Look to impose term limits against more than just the president. The 22^nd Amendment only applies to the Commander-in-Chief.
4. Is enacting health care reform a specific power outlined in Article 1 section 8 of the Constitution? If not, the argument is that it would be an implied power, and that a majority of states must agree. Here’s where the 10th Amendment comes in with a “largely ignored” provision: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
5. Does the Incorporation clause of the 14^th Amendment violate the States’ rights provision granted by the 10^th Amendment? If so, the U.S. Constitution couldn’t be “used by the Federal Government to usurp power from the States.” Anything that is not a specifically stated power would be more of a “culture wars” issue – a state issue.

Personal Money Market is not your Constitutional Law source

In actuality, Personal Money Market is your source for easy cash loans, not lawyers or Constitutional scholars. But interesting arguments exist that the 13 states suing the federal government – as well as others that join – could use to justify their stance against health care reform.

Related Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbpq0HH_i28

Image from Flickr.

The internetverse is still buzzing about Google Buzz, and it appears Google has purchased a company that will give its social network something special. Aardvark developed a type of search engine that allows you to do keyword searches on your social networks rather than the World Wide Web.

I am, of course, assuming that Google will actually be using this product on Google Buzz after it spent $50 million, according to TechCrunch, to acquire it. Seems logical to me, but that’s not an official statement, just the opinion of one blogger who still needs tax resolution

Official statements on Google and Aardvark

What we do know is that Google and Aardvark signed the acquisition deal today — that’s pretty much it. However, as Google goes about buying $50 million bells and whistles to add to Google Buzz, there are a few things we should consider before jumping on the Buzz bandwagon.

When you signed up for Facebook, you knew that all of your friends would be able to see all of your other friends. Of course, you can hide your friends list now. However, when you entered e-mails into your gmail account, did you count on the fact that everyone would be able to see those contacts? That is a risk of Google Buzz.

All together now, Googlers

MSNBC reports that on Google Buzz, you create a “Google profile that will primarily be seen by other Google users.” Other Google users? Isn’t that, like, everybody? You can dial up the privacy knob a bit by telling it not to display your last name. For me, this would be of great use. However, I don’t think it will hide my friend Shadra’s identity very well.

Because your Gmail or Google account username is your e-mail address, everyone will know your e-mail address. Thank goodness for those spam filters, eh? But what about non-spammers who you’d rather not have e-mailing you and disrupting your world? And what if you don’t want your coworkers to be on the chat list of your personal e-mail account, where you write all of your special, private status messages?

Get informed about Google Buzz

MSNBC does a really good job of summarizing the privacy concerns surrounding Google Buzz here:  www.msnbc.msn.com. I can only imagine that being able to do keyword searches involving social contacts through Aardvark will add to these concerns. Google Buzz will probably work very well for a lot of people, but make sure you read up before you sign up.

Image from Flickr.

Regardless of the outcome of the debate over a new lethal injection method, the results of the Kenneth Biros execution will remain the same. Convicted murderer Kenneth Biros was executed this morning in Ohio by lethal injection. After 18 years in prison, Biros, 51, told his siblings “Now I am paroled to my father in heaven.”

The family of the woman Biros killed in 1991 made it clear they supported the execution. “We’ve been ready for 18 years,” said a member of Tami Engstrom’s family. Tami was 22 when Biros murdered her. Many people have taken a hard stance as being for or against the death penalty. However, ask most people what they think of the death penalty, and they’ll answer “it depends.”

Arguments regarding the death penalty

A few people look at the death penalty from a financial standpoint. Some say execution is too expensive, while others argue that keeping inmates alive and in jail is more expensive. Some ask whether Americans who are morally opposed to the death penalty should get tax resolution.

A large group of people say that whether the death penalty is warranted depends on the nature of the crime. They believe that if the crime is heinous enough, putting the prisoner to death is acceptable. However, the main debate surrounding the Kenneth Biros execution doesn’t have to do with money or circumstance; it’s about a new method of lethal injection.

Previous problems with lethal injection

A new method of one-drug lethal injection was used on Kenneth Biros, though his lawyers tried to halt his execution by saying that using this new drug amounted to experimentation. The United States Supreme Court refused to intervene. Ohio decided to switch to the one-drug injection after an incident in Ohio a few months ago, when an inmate’s execution was halted after executioners stuck him with needles 18 times trying to find a usable vein.

Death penalty opponents are both praising the one-drug method because it is reportedly less painful and arguing against it because it hasn’t been properly vetted. However, I can imagine it would be difficult to find willing human test subjects for experimenting lethal injections.

Execution is over, case is far from closed

The Kenneth Biros execution, the first execution using the one-drug method, went as planned. Biros died 11 minutes after recieving the injection, roughly the amount of time the three-drug cocktail took to work. Now that the Kenneth Biros execution is over, opponents of changing to a one-drug injection can no longer argue that it hasn’t been tested on humans.

Richard C. Dieter, from the Death Penalty Information Center, says that the key to whether a method of execution is acceptable depends on due process and that the Ohio Legislature should have examined this method more carefully before using it for the Kenneth Biros execution. “In this case, however, everyone has taken the Ohio Department of Corrections at their word, without an adversarial debate,” Dieter said.

A few different groups are looking into whether Ohio’s switch to the one-drug method was constitutional or whether further review is needed before the state can continue using the method.

Image from Flikr.

After AT&T delayed the launch of the iPhone multimedia messaging service (iPhone MMS) multiple times, the new, free feature will finally be available on iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. If you have an iPhone 2G or iPhone 1G, the wait is not over for you. There’s no word on when iPhone MMS will be available for those models. It might take as long as reaching tax resolution or longer.

PC World reports that AT&T, the exclusive iPhone carrier, would not allow iPhone MMS to launch until the network was ready to handle the additional traffic. PC World also thinks that this was an unnecessary precaution because “the service in question has been out for years on other handsets and hasn’t exactly taken the mobile world by storm.”

What is iPhone MMS?

The new iPhone MMS feature allows users to send photos, audio recordings, video clips or contact information and has a short messaging service. AT&T expects iPhone MMS to create record traffic volumes. In June, when Apple announce the iPhone MMS was ready, AT&T was concerned that it would crash the network.

While the same service on other phones has not generated groundbreaking levels of traffic, in my experience iPhone users have a tendency to take advantage of every feature they can, whether they need to or not.

Analyzing iPhone owners

Why do I think that iPhone users will take advantage of iPhone MMS more often than others have used multimedia messaging services? Well, let’s start with the fact that I at any given moment, in any place, I can tell you which of the people who I know in the room have an iPhone.

I do not know what type of phone anyone else has. I’m not even sure what type of phone my boyfriend has. But I know who has an iPhone. That is because iPhone users are constantly pulling out their phones to play games, look at pictures and most often to show people something after saying “Hey, check out how cool this is.” So my guess is that AT&T traffic will indeed spike because iPhone users will want to use iPhone MMS just because they can.

The whole truth

Is it fair for me to stereotype iPhone users? Maybe not. But any iPhone users reading this already know the truth: I taunt because I am jealous. I can’t tell you how many times I have been sitting on a bus or in a waiting room or some other situation where I really wished I could listen to music or play a game or surf the Internet on my phone.

If I had an iPhone, I would probably use iPhone MMS. As it is, I often send my friends songs through instant messaging services online. I am not much of a picture-taker, but I think if I had a device that could both take photos and send them to people that would probably change. I would probably use it on a daily basis, just to send my friends photos with messages attached that said things like “Look at this cute puppy!” or “Get a load of this guy’s hat.”

I am aware of the fact that this is what I would use my iPhone for, which is why I haven’t sprang for one yet. Someday, though, I’m sure I’ll realize I cannot live without being connected to the internet at all time. I’m already pretty close.