Land of Oz

One of the things that has been driving me crazy lately is the way stuff is priced. How often do you hear an advertisement that really tells the cost of an item. This morning on the radio, there was some company selling windows - a house full of new windows for as little as $69 a month - which means what? Is that $69 a month for a year ($828) or for the life of a 30 year mortgage ($24,840).

The other thing is gas mileage. How many times have you heard that the pickup in question will do 360 miles on one filling. What's the tank size? If it's a 10 gallon tank, I'm impressed -- if it's a 30 gallon tank, not so much. While not new, limited unlimited accounts are getting more popular. Which part of "unlimited" is in question?

un·lim·it·ed
adj.
1. Having no restrictions or controls: an unlimited travel ticket.
2. Having or seeming to have no boundaries; infinite: an unlimited horizon.
3. Without qualification or exception; absolute: unlimited self-confidence.

My Virgin Mobile account is unlimited until I reach some nebulous amount when they throttle it down. However, I can't tell when I reach that account since according to the web site, my account is unlimited, therefore VirginMobile sees no reason for me to track my web use.

We have a Macy's account that periodically sends out discount offers and cards. 10, 20, or even 30% off your purchase. However, in teeny-tiny print on the back of card is a really massive list of exceptions. I think in most cases you're left with about four items in the store you can actually use the discount on.

And I don't even want to get into the rent-to-buy and payday loan outfits. Why do you suppose they often seem related. I think the average payday loan usury is around 20-30% which is really great for those who can least afford it. And you can rent to buy a TV for something like $15.95 a month - but again they don't let you know for how many months in the ad.

Third World States

Yeah, it's been awhile, but I'm getting back on my blogging horse again.

An article in the Detroit Free Press tells that Detroit students have scored a record low in test scores. The state has the highest unemployment of the United States. More people are leaving the state than ever before (no wonder). I wonder if Detroit has a political office that isn't corrupt and stealing people's money. The whole state is based on an industry that can't seem to figure out how to build a good economical car, and is slowly dissolving into a government-backed organization that keep even keep a boss in office for more than a few months.

And it's not just Detroit. Flint has decided to just bulldoze parts of the city and turn them into parks. The houses are empty except for crack heads and meth labs and feral dogs roam the city in packs. Most of the city of Saginaw looks like a set from an end-of-the-world movie and the gangs run rampant on the east side - and they're slowing working their way into the west side. The law doesn't seem to be able to help. This summer a man rescuing a woman was literally torn to shreds by pit bulls and the dogs owners have yet to go to trial, while he spends more time in an operating room than Tiger does on a golf course. There are "after-hour clubs" in Saginaw that are sink holes of crime and the city is powerless to close them.

Michigan is rapidly becoming a third world state. And now we're sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. A country in name only where they've been fighting each other and strangers for hundreds of years. Why bother? As much as I think we need to be a truly global nation, we really need to spend some time cleaning up our own messes. And why not start with Michigan. And no, I have no idea what to do with us - I'm hoping there's smarter people out there than me who do.

Labels: government, michigan

Afghanistan

"Members of the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters serving in Afghanistan have been told their tours will be extended by 52 days from 12 months to nearly 14 months."

Can we say "tar baby"? You'd think we'd have learned something from Kennedy's Vietnam and the Soviet's Afghanistan. We and they didn't win then, and I don't see us "winning" now. As if I even knew what result a "win" might be. I don't think there is a basis for a nation to be built there. Afghanistan is a mostly a collection of tribes run by tribal leaders, not from some central location. I imagine that most Afghanistanis you talk to would state they belong to such-and-such a tribe or village instead of the country of Afghanistan.

What I find amazing is that for ten years we supported Afghanistan in its fight to rid itself of foreign invaders, then twenty years we become the foreign invaders ourselves. The Soviets, who I'm sure were a little more heavy-handed than we are, fought there for ten years and roughly 1 - 2 million dead and accomplished absolutely nothing. Does anyone really think we can do any better? I'm afraid we're in a morass that we have no chance of ever "winning" -- whatever winning is supposed to be.

Labels: government, military

Food and Drink

Wow, it's been a spell since I last posted here. This'll be a short post, just to get back into things again. I'll relay some interesting sayings I've heard over the years about eating and drinking.

• Spying an unclaimed, yet mostly full bottle of beer on a table and grabbing it: "Don't you know there are people in Africa going sober?" (rich and very smart friend)



• Upon hearing a request for a veggie pizza: "Veggies ain't food - veggies are fed to food." (manager where I work)



• "I don't have a drinking problem - I drink, I get drunk - no problem." (too many to count)



• Watching mom fry dinner: "Anything tastes good fried in enough butter - even shit would taste good in enough butter." (my dad)



• A 17 year old with a beer in his hand: "If you're old enough to get killed in 'Nam, you're old enough to drink." (heard before lowering of drinking age to 18)



• The boss and I in our Osan Korea office: "Oh my god, what is that smell!" (when the Korean cleaning ladies opened thier lunch)



• When faced with some really ugly food: "How do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?" (too many mothers to count)

Labels: food

Such a Deal

Mr. Mbnga Esq. of Nigeria sends you an e-card offering you free v/i/a/g/r/a, a Rolecks watch and a video of Paris Hilton with Michael Jackson when you open a Visa credit account at his Chinese bank that will be credited with 30% of the 2 million 4 hundred thousand dollars that Mr. John Smith, recently deceased, left in his bank account with with no will or descendents on record.

Terminator School?

I was wandering through the Detroit News web site and noticed this ad for a career site. Is it just me or does that look like one evil woman? I think she'd give T-X from Terminator 3 a run for its money. Imagine her sitting in front of a bank of monitors watching your every move. And who's that shadowy dude in the background. Gives me the shivers...

Labels: crime, government, religion

U-pay, I-pay

We all pay... It seems that today's government punishes those who try to live right. The government is vomiting money for a wide variety of bailouts and rescues but only for those who've screwed it up. Drive an old gas-guzzler and put in for government money. If you've been driving an efficient car - tough. Revamp the credit card laws to help those in over their head - while those who spend responsibly get stuck paying for those who don't. Mortgage yourself into a deep dark hole for a mcmansion and we'll help; live in an affordable home, and too bad, you don't need any help. I'm not asking for help and I don't mind helping those who really need it, but I also shouldn't be expected to foot the bill (not that we'll ever pay it off) for all those too greedy or stupid to control themselves fiscally. By the way, can you really imagine a trillion dollars of debt? If you spent $1.3 million a day since Christ died, you still wouldn't have spent a trillion dollars! Our government spent that much this year and it's only June.

Labels: government

Susan Boyle

Let me put in my two cents about Susan Boyle. She's gone into some clinic for exhaustion which pretty much covers just about anything from actual physical exhaustion to drug rehab to give my career a boost time outs. The biggest result of this is that so many are now complaining about her being exploited.

Well, jeez, of course she's been exploited. That's the whole purpose behind these reality shows. Take some relative unknown (or all-but-forgotten celeb) and exploit their foibles to the world. These shows are hoping for a train wreck. The more spectacular the fall, the better the show is going to do. If that wasn't the case why show the no-talent disasters at all. Weed them out during off-line auditions and only show the acts that are acceptable. Which would destroy the basics behind all these shows.

To get the full force behind Ms. Boyle, one had to hear her first, then see her after. I actually listened to an .mp3 of her earlier recording before I saw her image. To hear the voice, one thinks of Diana Krall or Kathleen Turner or Demi Moore -- and let's just say that when you do see her, she isn't anything like those. I know it's chauvinistic, but that's the world. Anyway, good luck Ms. Boyle in whatever happens for you.

Labels: celebs