Finance Tips

Brian Aitken of New Jersey Proving that justice is not only blind, but sometimes quite dumb – and I don’t mean mute – the strange and tragic story of the plight of Brian Aitken is the epitome of the insanity going on in America.

Brian Aitken is a young man of 27 who moved to Colorado from New Jersey, where he was born and raised,  several years ago. There, he met a woman who was also from New Jersey, and the two married. Shortly thereafter, the couple had a son, but the pair broke up when the boy was just an infant, and mother and son moved back to New Jersey.

Wishing to be close to his son, Aitken later decided to move back as well, and began making the preparations. Those preparations included learning how to legally transport the three handguns he purchased in Colorado back to New Jersey, a state with very strict gun laws. Starting in late 2008, Aitken made the first trip back home to New Jersey, the first of several to bring his possessions to his parents’ home in Burlington County, until he could find his own apartment.

In December of 2008, Aitken and his friend Michael Torries – who had found an apartment together in Hoboken, NJ – made the final trip out to Colorado to retrieve the last of Aitken’s belongings, including the guns. Before they left, Aitken researched and printed out New Jersey and federal gun laws to ensure that he didn’t break any laws regarding transporting firearms across state lines. He also called the New Jersey State Police prior to leaving Colorado seeking their advice on how best to proceed. He wanted to make sure he didn’t run afoul of the law. He followed all directions to the letter. It didn’t help.

Brian Aitken and Son In January of 2009, Aitken drove to his parents’ house to get the rest of his belongings. He had been having difficulties with his ex-wife, who was refusing to let him see his son. He was obviously stressed about it, and his mother, Sue, noticed. A woman who works with children who have mental health problems, Sue Aitken has been trained to call police when someone appears distraught and may pose a threat to themselves, so when her son left, that’s what she did.

Concerned about her son after he left, Sue Aitken called 911, but thought better of it and hung up. Too late, the police were at her home a short time later. Sue told the police of her concerns, and the police called Brian, who was driving to his apartment in Hoboken with his possessions in his car. The police told him to return to his mother’s home, which he did, willingly complying once again with the instructions of law enforcement.

When he arrived, police determined that Brian was not a threat to himself or anyone else, but searched his car anyway. They found his guns, which were locked, unloaded, and stowed in the trunk, just as he was instructed for transport. Police arrested him for illegal possession of a firearm.

When Brian purchased the weapons in Colorado, he had to pass FBI and CBI background checks. He owned the guns legally, and transported them legally based upon the advice he sought from every law enforcement agency he could imagine he would need to avoid any trouble. Now he was facing trial in Burlington County, New Jersey.

The trouble really began when Brian drew Superior Court Judge James Morley, who was denied re-appointment by Governor Chris Christie after his inauguration. More on that later. A key element in Brian Aitken’s defense was his right to transport legally purchased firearms between residences in New Jersey, which is precisely what he was doing.

Superior Court Judge James Morley Police deposed that their search of Aitken’s vehicle revealed many of his other belongings, which he was in the process of bringing to his new apartment in Hoboken. Judge Morley curiously forbade the jury from hearing that testimony in court. The jury expressed a clear level of discomfort in the prospect of convicting Aitken by asking the judge – on three separate occasions –  about exceptions to the law regarding the transportation of firearms. The exemptions are primarily for off-duty officers and security personnel, but also extend to hunters and those transferring weapons between residences. Morley ignored all three requests.

Judge Morley defended his decision to deny the jury of such testimony, declaring that it “wasn’t relevant”. In a subsequent telephone interview, Morley said:

“There was no evidence that Mr. Aitken was moving. He was trying to argue that the law should give him this broad window extending over several weeks to justify driving around with guns in his car. There was also some evidence that Mr. Aitken wasn’t moving at all when he was arrested, but had stored the guns in his car because his roommate was throwing a party, and he didn’t want the guns in the apartment while guests were there drinking.”

Even if that were true, all it could possibly demonstrate is yet another, deeper level of responsibility on Brian Aitken’s part, to have enough sense to remove even unloaded firearms from an apartment full of drunken revelers. No matter to the state of New Jersey, or Judge Morley, whose manipulations forced the jury to convict.

So, the man who did everything he could to stay within the boundaries of the law is now in prison, and as a result of his incarceration, has also lost all parental rights to the son he so desperately wished to be near. In August of 2010, Brian was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for a “crime” he tried valiantly not to commit, and by a judge who manipulated the trial to achieve a desired outcome. That judge, as noted earlier, was denied tenure by the state of New Jersey’s new governor for a few previous questionable decisions and their related opinions.

Judge Morley once opined after a case of a 45-year-old teacher’s aide, accused of having sexual relations with a 16-year-old student, that said aide was not a “sexual predator”. In another case, involving a former Moorestown officer charged with four counts of animal cruelty for having oral sex with cow calves, Morley ruled that there was no evidence of animal cruelty. Then the man, Robert Melia, was arrested for alleged sexual assaults of three girls, and a search of his computer revealed videos of him “allegedly” receiving oral sex from the cows. Now Melia is awaiting trial on 48 other counts.

And Brian Aitken is in prison.

If you’d like to help Brian, visit this site:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Brian-Aitken/159490174062865

Terrible things will not happen to them, is what most people seem to think. Its clich?, and you have probably heard it before. It is not even an accurate statement.

The truth is, catastrophe like tornados, earthquakes, flooding, and more, can happen all the time. And for the belongings within your home, these types of catastrophes have consequences. It’s a good start, if you already have a homeowners insurance policy. Though it is not enough.

The first thing you must do is to verify the coverage you have purchased is enough to replace your belongings in the event that you need to do so, since many people have inadequate coverage for their houses. Making a home inventory list is also totally essential. Creating a list of every item in your home and its value is what a home inventory involves. Home inventory lists are made specifically for your insurance company so they can give you the precise replacement value if your items are damaged in some sort of natural disaster covered under your policy.

Here is another hint. Simply listing your big-ticket items like expensive artwork or your entertainment system is not sufficient. If you want to receive replacement funds for it later on down the road, you need to list everything else you own, too, in addition to listing your valuables. This requires itemizing everything, from dishware to all of your clothing and shoes. The easier it will be for an insurance company to know what amount to cut you a check for if you submit an appropriate claim. You will have to start from scratch, meaning using your own money to cover your losses, without this home inventory.

Encountering the situation listed above is clearly not something you want to do. Being as detailed as you can when you itemize your possessions, then, is the best way to ensure this doesn’t happen to you. You can also take pictures of your valuables and provide receipts if you still have them, in addition to writing down costs and taking notes. If the unthinkable happens, this will go a long way in ensuring you get the largest return.

Registered and reputable companies which deal with the moving of your belongings weather small or large would usually be found having done their homework systematically and meticulously. There is not just the simple matter of taking the vehicle and transferring it to some other place. There are a thousand different details that need to be processed to make sure the whole transaction is effected smoothly and without any hitch. There is a hell lot of paper work involved in the process. Various documentation processes require special and careful attention so that there are no complications later on with the whole thing. The payment is also discussed in the governed terms of the company and the customer before the deal is struck.
All things considered, you need to take care about the regulations of the destined country in which the move is being done.  This is a very essential part because most of the complications would occur if the laws and rules of the destined country are not heeded proper attention.

It is also to be noted that when you sign in with the company and hand over the vehicles or whatever it is that you are moving, it is not essential that your load would reach the destination straight from the starting point.
Most of the regular companies would prefer to stock the collective consignments as they are signed in to date and would move them together following a specific route that would ensure the delivery of the marked consignments along the way to your delivery as per the route. According to the mapping your delivery can be earlier or it can be later as per the company’s deliver policy.  There is the matter of stringent security checks for such kind of moving vehicles in nearly every country as it is a serious issue about the safety and security of the country. The checking processes could take a lot of quality time. The delivery can be a matter of days if the truth be told. So there is no dictation on the timing for delivery as the consignment has to go through several important processes before the delivery.
The company would, in any case inform you about the date of the delivery in either estimation or a fixed dates if they see it as so. Another very important matter to be considered is the exact delivery point. Most of the moves made on such moving vehicles can be of residential nature or corporate nature. In either case, the company could be moving the two ranges combined or separate. In any case, the moving vehicles are usually of huge sizes and it is often not very feasible to provide door to door service. The company would usually decide on a pick up/ deliver point somewhere in the vicinity of your home and inform you of the time so that you can arrange to pick up your vehicles or belongings in time.

Backpacker travel insurance is a kind of travel insurance in which you can plan your any trip without taking the tensions of what you will face during your any kind of tours. While any of the insurance company covers only the little part of any trip, Backpackers Travel Insurance covers almost everything what you desire during your trip and tries to deliver the best services to their clients. Backpacker insurance is very crucial insurance that’s why it takes much time to decide whether the travel should bought in simple form or should buy backpacker travel insurance.

People hold different sort of mentalities when it comes to travelling. Some plan to go to holy place, some plan for sceneries and some plan for adventurous trip. According to me everyone should once in their life plan for the adventurous trip. The adventurous trip motivates person to take risk in his life which I believe is a very important thing for your personal as well as professional life.

Moreover it fills the person with more adventures.

To make such type of adventurous trip awesome, Backpacker Travel Insurance has taken this big responsibility on its shoulders. It provides you with all the necessary things required during the adventurous trip and the most important thing is that it makes your life insured in all its plans.

The span of the Travelling Insurance coverage is vast; it covers any or all of the coverage’s:

Lost or damage luggage: The insurance company takes the responsibility of paying the value for your lost luggage and belongings.
Medical Expenses: If any case you are hit with a hospital, doctor, or dental bill overseas, the insurance policy will pay instead of making you pay cash and seek reimbursement.
Trip cancellation and interruption: If an emergency occurs right before or during your trip, this coverage will come into play and will cover you for the losses.
Trip Delays: If due to any reason you miss the flight or fall sick etc., the insurance company pays your extra hotel and travel expenses.
Emergency Medical Transportation: Insurance Company pays for your ambulance and if you are not getting correct medical treatment then they will pay for your returning and providing treatment that you should get.

Moving house is pretty traumatic. You’ve just forked out thousands and thousands on a pile of bricks and mortar, got stressed over finer details thrown up by the survey and put up with delays caused further down the chain.
As if that wasn’t enough, you’ve now got to physically move all of your belongings from the old pad to the new. If only you could get someone else to do this for you. Well, you can.
While this may save you lots of energy and exertion, how can you ensure you are choosing a trustworthy, reputable removal company? Undoubtedly some thought and research needs to go into this decision, as you are entrusting some complete strangers to move all of your precious possessions.
Examples of removal horror stories include hiring companies who are experiencing internal issues and infighting, so don’t have their mind on the job in hand; irresponsible companies who leave a loaded truck unattended, resulting in the theft of expensive items; lateness; copious tea breaks; delays; and breakages.
One couple, who literally picked the cheapest company, said that the slack removals team didn’t finish the job according to schedule yet still clocked off at usual time, leaving a half loaded truck and the couple in limbo.
Another family mentioned how the removals company turned up and announced that they had underestimated the amount of items to move and to do so, it would cost more money. Knowing the family’s hands were tied, the unscrupulous company conned the family out of an additional 3,000.
Of course, companies like this are definitely in the minority but to ensure you choose a reliable removals firm, get quotes from several companies first, ask them about their experience, double check the contract and insurance documents and go with who you feel most comfortable with.
Another useful resource is by checking removal company reviews on a dedicated website. You can search by company name or, if you don’t have a business in mind, look them up by location. The site will rate the removals company and often include testimonials from satisfied or unsatisfied customers.
Lastly, ask around for personal recommendations. Who did your next door neighbour move with
It may take a couple of hours to carry out your research, but it could save you a lot of heartache and money in the long run.