This may sound weird coming from me if you've read any of my previous blogs. I am an American, Christian, Right Wing, Conservative, Republican, Pro-life, Heterosexual and pretty much stick to those titles. So you wouldn't think I would know a damn thing about being a hippy. We all start as a blank in the beginning of our lives. Some people stay that way for a long time. Others begin to suck up whatever comes in front of them, and before long they are able to claim at least one title. We are all heads full of mush waiting to be molded, and depending upon who or what we expose ourselves to we will take on characteristics of each experience. Deciding to claim a title based on those experiences is our own choice.
Before I was all of the above, I was the opposite of almost each one. I've always thought of myself as an American patriot and despite the titles I've claimed over time I remain an American patriot. These days though there is no exact definition of an American patriot. You can be anyone else as far as politics go and the same stands for religious or "spiritual" belief. (I emphasize "spiritual" because I think a lot of people are simply too politically correct to identify themselves as believing in God and going so far as to say they are Christians. So in their own chicken hearted way they claim to be "spiritual" so they don't ruffle any feathers.) So regardless of the other stands you take you can claim to be a patriot even if you are not whatever the mainstream thinks you should be.
So here I am, the conservative that most people will simply hate for saying I am, writing about being an old hippy. I have started a video blog to try and explain what being a hippy was back in the late 60's and early 70's. I did this because some people saw a video response I had made as a reply to another video about hippy slang. Apparently my response caught the eye of a lot of young people wanting to know what it was like being a hippy or even wanting to be hippies themselves. I was asked by several of these young people to tell them about my experiences. So I went to Youtube and started the, "Chronicles of an Old Hippy".
When I started to tell the story, I was thinking I would be able to do so in about 5 or 6 episodes. As I began to gather my thoughts though, it opened a door in the back of my brain and all kinds of memories started to come forward. Every time I would start a new epidsode I would think of about 20 other things that would have led up to the point I was trying to make. It was overwhelming. I thought I would be talking about the '68 Democrat National Convention by the third episode, but as I would begin to gather my thoughts, something else that made a point would jump into my head and I kept putting the DNC away until those points could be made. There was so much that I had experienced that it almost made me overload. I just can't seem to tell this story in a few episodes. So with this blog, I am hoping to start putting it into words so I can put it all on the proper timeline. It might end up being a book if these crazy memories keep jumping out at me. Whatever it takes, I want to tell this story.
This will dissappoint a lot of young people. Even if I spelled everything out to you on what it was like being a hippy, you can never experience it for yourself. It is impossible to compare what was going on back then to anything that is happening now. So many people think the war in Iraq parallels the war in Vietnam, and it just isn't the same. There is no way to compare one to another. I see protests popping up and people trying to relive the hippy days and thiking they are the same as the old hippies were. Sorry, but it isn't the same thing. You can maybe be neo-hip or whatever, but the days of the hippies has come and gone. The old hppies are well into their 50's and 60's and ironically, most of them have probably turned into the very people they were trying to rebel against in the old days. Some have become college professors in the hope of keeping their past alive, but they will find that today's youth are nothing like who they used to be. There can never be another 60's and 70's experience. I'l be happy to tell you what I used to be, but you'll never be able to be who I was. So follow the chronicles and learn about history, but if you are doing so to try and relive the era, it can never happen. You are in your own journey right now and maybe some day a kid will ask you what it was like to be you. You can tell them, but your era will come and go as well and they will never be able to be the person you were.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Monday, August 06, 2007
Be Nice To The Collection Agency Person
I just got done dealing with a lady from a collection agency. I was mad as hell that this company (1&1 Internet) had sent a single bill to collections, but as I was just about to go off on the lady it dawned on me that my argument wasn't with her. She is just an employee of a collection agency and really has nothing to do with your problems with the company that put you in for collection. She is just trying to make it through an 8 hour day. Most people however lose their cool and put the blame on that poor soul working at the agency. You know they take a huge pile of crap in place of the company that you owe the money to.
I worked for the Post Office for 22 years. I had been hurt on the job (dog attack) and was on limited duty. The job they made for me was to field all of the inquiries and complaints from customers. It was usually some jerk who ordered the penis enlarger from late night TV who wasn't happy with the productwho somehow figured it became the blame of the postal service since we after all were the people who delivered the item. Whatever the product was, since we delivered it it automatically was our responsibility to take it back and make sure the company got it back. Why should the angry customer wth the small penis have to pay to return it? It didn't work, it wasn't what he expected, it was too small, it was the wrong color, or what ever. The bottom line - it wasn't my fault that you weren't happy, but you decided that I was mean or uncooperative because I didn't take your enlarger back to send it to the seller for you.
Well, just as I was about to go off on the lady from the agency, I thought about the man with the small weiner. Just like it wasn't my fault that he didn't like his enlarger, it wasn't Tina's fault that 1 & 1 Internet hadn't billed me properly. I took a deep breath and said I was sorry that I was about to blame her and that I knew none of this was her fault and that she must hate it when people tee off on her. She sounded pretty happy and relieved. She responded that she hated to be the person stuck in the middle and that it is a terrible job when that happen. I would guess it's like being a punching bag. The customer, who is mad at the company, forgets the agency worker is just a person stuck with a horrible job, and goes off like a mad dog.
What ever it takes, just contact the company you are having problems with directly. They send bills for collections because they are cowards who don't want to do any "customer service" because they might get yelled at or called an a--hole. When you deal with the collection agency remember that they are just people stuck with a really crappy job that almost always ends up with them having to take a lot of grief from you because you're angry. I sure hope they get paid well because it is a lot of stress to have people blowing up and calling you names and threatening your job because their uncle is a lawyer or they know a senator. Sure you'll feel better after you unload your anger on this person, but then think about how they feel at the end of the day with all of that bad energy shouted into their ear. What a stressful job! I wonder why we never hear about a collection agency employee shooting up the office. They must have a very strong constitution to put up with all the crap they take every day.
My hat is off to you collection agency employee. I'm sorry for any other times I've used a middle man for a punching bag. And as for the guy with the little weiner that went off on me, I hope you finally found your cure. If not, I'm retired now so at least I won't have to take any more of your crap. Thank your mailman for delivering what ever it is you ordered and remember that when you are off of work because of that deep snow or howling wind, your mailman is still out there delivering. And that lady on the phone at the collection agency - she's just trying to make it through each 8 hour day without having to endure the wrath of every person who "forgot to sign the check", "called and told them the correct account number", or "was sure I made that payment".
I worked for the Post Office for 22 years. I had been hurt on the job (dog attack) and was on limited duty. The job they made for me was to field all of the inquiries and complaints from customers. It was usually some jerk who ordered the penis enlarger from late night TV who wasn't happy with the productwho somehow figured it became the blame of the postal service since we after all were the people who delivered the item. Whatever the product was, since we delivered it it automatically was our responsibility to take it back and make sure the company got it back. Why should the angry customer wth the small penis have to pay to return it? It didn't work, it wasn't what he expected, it was too small, it was the wrong color, or what ever. The bottom line - it wasn't my fault that you weren't happy, but you decided that I was mean or uncooperative because I didn't take your enlarger back to send it to the seller for you.
Well, just as I was about to go off on the lady from the agency, I thought about the man with the small weiner. Just like it wasn't my fault that he didn't like his enlarger, it wasn't Tina's fault that 1 & 1 Internet hadn't billed me properly. I took a deep breath and said I was sorry that I was about to blame her and that I knew none of this was her fault and that she must hate it when people tee off on her. She sounded pretty happy and relieved. She responded that she hated to be the person stuck in the middle and that it is a terrible job when that happen. I would guess it's like being a punching bag. The customer, who is mad at the company, forgets the agency worker is just a person stuck with a horrible job, and goes off like a mad dog.
What ever it takes, just contact the company you are having problems with directly. They send bills for collections because they are cowards who don't want to do any "customer service" because they might get yelled at or called an a--hole. When you deal with the collection agency remember that they are just people stuck with a really crappy job that almost always ends up with them having to take a lot of grief from you because you're angry. I sure hope they get paid well because it is a lot of stress to have people blowing up and calling you names and threatening your job because their uncle is a lawyer or they know a senator. Sure you'll feel better after you unload your anger on this person, but then think about how they feel at the end of the day with all of that bad energy shouted into their ear. What a stressful job! I wonder why we never hear about a collection agency employee shooting up the office. They must have a very strong constitution to put up with all the crap they take every day.
My hat is off to you collection agency employee. I'm sorry for any other times I've used a middle man for a punching bag. And as for the guy with the little weiner that went off on me, I hope you finally found your cure. If not, I'm retired now so at least I won't have to take any more of your crap. Thank your mailman for delivering what ever it is you ordered and remember that when you are off of work because of that deep snow or howling wind, your mailman is still out there delivering. And that lady on the phone at the collection agency - she's just trying to make it through each 8 hour day without having to endure the wrath of every person who "forgot to sign the check", "called and told them the correct account number", or "was sure I made that payment".
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Is eBay Ruined !?!?
How stupid are eBay sellers these days? Have they become so damn greedy that they allow it to effect their thinking? I'm afraid the answer is yes.
I've been looking on eBay to buy a PS3 console lately. I expected that since the price of a BRAND NEW PS3 has been reduced to $499 that maybe I could get a used one for under $400. Doesn't that sound reasonable to assume? But hell no! The starting prices of items are usually set by what the average selling price turns out to be on auctions of like items. Because stupid people see the Nigerian Bidder Scams driving the selling prices into the thousands of dollars, their greed gets them all fired up and instead of pricing their PS3 consoles or Xbox 360 consoles at a reasonable price, they jack the starting price up beyond what a BRAND NEW console costs! How stupid are these greedy bastards!? In the end, these brain dead idiots deserve it when their final price is bid way up by one of these scammers. I hope they are also stupid enough to fall for the scam and lose their asses. It'll pay them for their greed and stupidity.
Last week I saw a guy put a starting price of his PS3 60 GB console at $900. I emailed him and asked him if he was maybe making a typographical error since BRAND NEW PS3's are selling for $499. His response was, "Hell no dude! Last night I saw one gor for $6,000 and I don't mean $600! If people are paying $6,000 for a PS3 then I'm getting in on that." I emailed him back and told him to go to Google and look up Nigerian Bidder. I then told him that any PS3 that goes up over $500 without including extra controllers or games is undoubtedly being bid up by one of these scammers. I'm sorry I didn't track his auction to see if he was a victim or not, but if he was stupid enough to start his price so high, then the scammers surely gave him exactly what he deserved. What a total idiot!
Are there still people out there who haven't heard of this scam yet? I am going to include an article I wrote for a website about this scam. If you aren't aware of it and you are a seller on eBay or craigslist then you better pay attention.
“Nigerian Bidder” Scams
Let me start out by saying that it is unfortunate that any one country or any one group of people should end up with this title hung on them. There is a scam on internet auction sites such as eBay that involve fraud and the origin and destination of this fraud just happens to be Nigeria.
Imagine being the seller of an item that only sells retail for $100 originally and ending up with a final bid of $1,000! It seems too good to be true. Well, every nerve in your body should be ringing alarm bells when something sounds too good to be true. Why? We all know that 99 times out of 100 it will be too good to be true.
This is what is happening at an alarming rate for some sellers of high tech and high end items such as laptop computers, digital camcorders, gaming consoles, and the like. When an item that should only sell for perhaps a little bit over retail price goes as high as ten times retail, the seller should immediately realize that rather than having made the sale of the century they have been scammed. It just doesn’t make good sense to believe that your item should be selling for such a high price. Maybe when PS3 or Xbox 360 consoles were brand new and hot on the holiday wish lists they would have gone this high, but when your every day run of the mill used laptop suddenly sells for triple what you paid for it new you should be mindful. So what’s the catch?
Here is what happens next. This is a statement made by a seller on eBay who was sent some notices telling him his money was as good as in the bank. “In the last 3 weeks I have completed almost 25 auctions selling new or refurbished laptops of various brands. Every one of these auctions were won by someone wanting me to ship to Nigeria! They all sent fraudulent "PayPal payment response" e-mails claiming to have transferred funds to PayPal.com These e-mails in various forms said that PayPal was holding my payments and would only release the money after I click on the link the e-mail provided and sent PayPal a shipment tracking number.” Unfortunately, the greed got the best of him and he clicked on the link before investigating things. Needless to say, he shipped out a $1,100 laptop and never received any funds nor was he ever able to retrieve the laptop. The phony buyer had gotten him to send the laptop off without ever verifying the payment was actually made. He assumed that the email he had gotten was real and sent the laptop to the address in Nigeria only to find out later that no funds were ever applied to his Paypal account. He went on to say that upon contacting Paypal, he was told that they never held funds pending tracking number confirmations.
A second scam informs you by email that the buyer will send you a bank certified check. Sometimes they will sweeten the deal by adding that if you will deposit it into your bank account he will add a few hundred extra dollars for your trouble. Now the greed really gets the best of you. Triple the value of the item plus a few hundred extra. It may take a few extra days for the check to arrive, but as soon as you deposit that “certified bank check” into your account, you wrap up the high priced item and ship it off to the “buyer” in Nigeria. 8-10 days later you get a notice from your bank informing you that the check you deposited is fake and that you will need to pay the bank $80-150 for handling and processing costs of the “certified” fake check. By law YOU are also responsible for the amount of the fake check! Now you are out the $1,100 laptop, and the fees your bank is charging you to process a phony check plus whatever amount the check was for. But it doesn’t end here either!
Scam number three goes like this. The buyer sends you an email from a company that acts as a third party who will handle the entire transaction. (This scam usually involves a company called T.N.T. and is centered on a sale going to the U.K.) Supposedly this company will receive the final selling price from the buyer and will hold it at their shop in the form of a wire transfer through Western Union. You will wrap up and send your item to them. They will examine your item to assure the buyer that it is as advertised and in good working order. You will receive a claim number for a wire transfer from Western Union and you will be informed that your buyer will receive a claim number to pick up the shipped item from the shop. Your buyer will of course have your laptop in his home and when you go to Western Union after the transaction has been completed, your claim number will be totally worthless. You will have sent the laptop directly to the buyer and the email you received, as well as the wire transfer claim number will be totally fake. You might have even been careful to check out the URL of the third person company the buyer has emailed to you by clicking on the very official looking link provided in your email from the buyer. Unfortunately the link on the email will go to an elaborately fashioned fake website that will look very real to you. It will include bar codes, and disclaimers, and photographs, and everything else a legitimate website has, but it will be a total phony. So what if this scammer has paid a few bucks to make the website. He just scammed you and probably another 100 sellers out of thousands of dollars in a single day. The end result is – you get nothing – the “buyer” gets your laptop. (This scam also works in reverse if you are a buyer. You send a wire transfer to the third party and you never see anything on your end.)
So this is why you have to be careful for the “Nigerian Bidders” when you sell on internet auctions. You will notice many sellers adding “No Nigerian Bidders” on the title of their auctions. You are able to specify countries you will or will not allow bids from in your auction to prevent this from happening, but these scammers are able to obtain U.S. addresses with which they continue the scam. In the end, it is up to you to be diligent when you sell items online. If you see a gaming console sell for $5,000 and think that you need to hurry up and get yours on the next auction, BEWARE. That greed that will make you jack the starting bid up to double what the console is worth will draw the scammers right back to you. They’ll happily bid your console up to $5,000 - and then they will also happily relieve you of your console and teach you an expensive lesson about your greed.
It should be painfully obvious that these scams have ruined any legitimate uses of ebay for people like me looking to find a deal. The greed and stupidity of sellers who set their starting prices so high make such a deal impossible. The fear of being caught up in one of these scams has also made buying and selling risky business. I hate to admit this since I've been calling people stupid, but I fell for one of these scams when I thought I was buying a digital video camcorder from craigslist. I should have known better when the seller who was supposedly in Colorado Springs responded to my emails from England. They told me they were in the military and had just gotten transferred and that was part of the reason they were selling their camcorder. Since Colorado SPrings is a military town (Army, Air Force, Space Command, Air Force Academy) I figured this was possible. I got that email from the seller telling me that this escrow company called T.N.T. would act as a third party in the sale. When I went to send off the $300 via Western Union, the guy at the shop even warned me that most of these things were scams and that I should think very carefully about sending the money. I assured him that a third party escrow company was handling things and that I had checked them out by visiting their website (using that fake link) and that everything looked good. I lost my $300 and of course never saw the camcorder. Only then did I take a closer look at the emails I had received. All of the links were fake. T.N.T. apparently does exist in the U.K. but the tracking numbers came up as "tracking number does not appear in our records". I had relied on the seller's email link to this escrow company until now, so when I typed the URL in for this company and found it was for real and tried to find my purchase, it wasn't there. I had falen for the scam.
So who am I to be complaining now? I'm the guy who realizes that these scams have ruined eBay. I know I'll probably never get that deal on my PS3, partly because these scammers have no problem bidding them up to thousands of dollars, but also because sellers see this and let greed drive the prices up. I can only hope that everyone will soon be made aware of the Nigerian Bidder Scams and that prices will once again fall down to the "deal" levels. In the meantime I will probably end up going to one of the local electronic superstores to buy my PS3. I'll politely listen to why I should buy the extended warranty programs that the employees are forced to push (but that's another story) and I'll decline their sales pitch. I'll get to choose 5 free Bluray movies that I would never choose if they weren't free. I'll pay for the extra controller, games, HDMI cables, and whatever, but at least I know that I won't be getting scammed by some very rich guy in Nigeria.
(I have been a seller on eBay for over 7 years. I have also been a buyer of about 100 items over that time and save for one VCR full of cockroaches, I have never been the victim of a bad sale. It's unfortunate that these scams can ruin such a good thing, but until these online auction sites can put some safeguards into their systems, then it just isn't safe to buy or sell high end items from the sites. I'm not saying that every sale is subject to a scam, but high end items and electronics are the top targets of these scammers. Putting something like "No Nigerian Bidders" in the title or body of your sale isn't going to work either. These guys are smart enough to phish accounts and find ways to take over a sellers account long enough to buy up a few high priced items and then once they have their money, dissappear into the ethernet never to be heard from again, until they get someone else's account. Right now it's "buyer beware" and until that changes, it's ruined.)
I've been looking on eBay to buy a PS3 console lately. I expected that since the price of a BRAND NEW PS3 has been reduced to $499 that maybe I could get a used one for under $400. Doesn't that sound reasonable to assume? But hell no! The starting prices of items are usually set by what the average selling price turns out to be on auctions of like items. Because stupid people see the Nigerian Bidder Scams driving the selling prices into the thousands of dollars, their greed gets them all fired up and instead of pricing their PS3 consoles or Xbox 360 consoles at a reasonable price, they jack the starting price up beyond what a BRAND NEW console costs! How stupid are these greedy bastards!? In the end, these brain dead idiots deserve it when their final price is bid way up by one of these scammers. I hope they are also stupid enough to fall for the scam and lose their asses. It'll pay them for their greed and stupidity.
Last week I saw a guy put a starting price of his PS3 60 GB console at $900. I emailed him and asked him if he was maybe making a typographical error since BRAND NEW PS3's are selling for $499. His response was, "Hell no dude! Last night I saw one gor for $6,000 and I don't mean $600! If people are paying $6,000 for a PS3 then I'm getting in on that." I emailed him back and told him to go to Google and look up Nigerian Bidder. I then told him that any PS3 that goes up over $500 without including extra controllers or games is undoubtedly being bid up by one of these scammers. I'm sorry I didn't track his auction to see if he was a victim or not, but if he was stupid enough to start his price so high, then the scammers surely gave him exactly what he deserved. What a total idiot!
Are there still people out there who haven't heard of this scam yet? I am going to include an article I wrote for a website about this scam. If you aren't aware of it and you are a seller on eBay or craigslist then you better pay attention.
“Nigerian Bidder” Scams
Let me start out by saying that it is unfortunate that any one country or any one group of people should end up with this title hung on them. There is a scam on internet auction sites such as eBay that involve fraud and the origin and destination of this fraud just happens to be Nigeria.
Imagine being the seller of an item that only sells retail for $100 originally and ending up with a final bid of $1,000! It seems too good to be true. Well, every nerve in your body should be ringing alarm bells when something sounds too good to be true. Why? We all know that 99 times out of 100 it will be too good to be true.
This is what is happening at an alarming rate for some sellers of high tech and high end items such as laptop computers, digital camcorders, gaming consoles, and the like. When an item that should only sell for perhaps a little bit over retail price goes as high as ten times retail, the seller should immediately realize that rather than having made the sale of the century they have been scammed. It just doesn’t make good sense to believe that your item should be selling for such a high price. Maybe when PS3 or Xbox 360 consoles were brand new and hot on the holiday wish lists they would have gone this high, but when your every day run of the mill used laptop suddenly sells for triple what you paid for it new you should be mindful. So what’s the catch?
Here is what happens next. This is a statement made by a seller on eBay who was sent some notices telling him his money was as good as in the bank. “In the last 3 weeks I have completed almost 25 auctions selling new or refurbished laptops of various brands. Every one of these auctions were won by someone wanting me to ship to Nigeria! They all sent fraudulent "PayPal payment response" e-mails claiming to have transferred funds to PayPal.com These e-mails in various forms said that PayPal was holding my payments and would only release the money after I click on the link the e-mail provided and sent PayPal a shipment tracking number.” Unfortunately, the greed got the best of him and he clicked on the link before investigating things. Needless to say, he shipped out a $1,100 laptop and never received any funds nor was he ever able to retrieve the laptop. The phony buyer had gotten him to send the laptop off without ever verifying the payment was actually made. He assumed that the email he had gotten was real and sent the laptop to the address in Nigeria only to find out later that no funds were ever applied to his Paypal account. He went on to say that upon contacting Paypal, he was told that they never held funds pending tracking number confirmations.
A second scam informs you by email that the buyer will send you a bank certified check. Sometimes they will sweeten the deal by adding that if you will deposit it into your bank account he will add a few hundred extra dollars for your trouble. Now the greed really gets the best of you. Triple the value of the item plus a few hundred extra. It may take a few extra days for the check to arrive, but as soon as you deposit that “certified bank check” into your account, you wrap up the high priced item and ship it off to the “buyer” in Nigeria. 8-10 days later you get a notice from your bank informing you that the check you deposited is fake and that you will need to pay the bank $80-150 for handling and processing costs of the “certified” fake check. By law YOU are also responsible for the amount of the fake check! Now you are out the $1,100 laptop, and the fees your bank is charging you to process a phony check plus whatever amount the check was for. But it doesn’t end here either!
Scam number three goes like this. The buyer sends you an email from a company that acts as a third party who will handle the entire transaction. (This scam usually involves a company called T.N.T. and is centered on a sale going to the U.K.) Supposedly this company will receive the final selling price from the buyer and will hold it at their shop in the form of a wire transfer through Western Union. You will wrap up and send your item to them. They will examine your item to assure the buyer that it is as advertised and in good working order. You will receive a claim number for a wire transfer from Western Union and you will be informed that your buyer will receive a claim number to pick up the shipped item from the shop. Your buyer will of course have your laptop in his home and when you go to Western Union after the transaction has been completed, your claim number will be totally worthless. You will have sent the laptop directly to the buyer and the email you received, as well as the wire transfer claim number will be totally fake. You might have even been careful to check out the URL of the third person company the buyer has emailed to you by clicking on the very official looking link provided in your email from the buyer. Unfortunately the link on the email will go to an elaborately fashioned fake website that will look very real to you. It will include bar codes, and disclaimers, and photographs, and everything else a legitimate website has, but it will be a total phony. So what if this scammer has paid a few bucks to make the website. He just scammed you and probably another 100 sellers out of thousands of dollars in a single day. The end result is – you get nothing – the “buyer” gets your laptop. (This scam also works in reverse if you are a buyer. You send a wire transfer to the third party and you never see anything on your end.)
So this is why you have to be careful for the “Nigerian Bidders” when you sell on internet auctions. You will notice many sellers adding “No Nigerian Bidders” on the title of their auctions. You are able to specify countries you will or will not allow bids from in your auction to prevent this from happening, but these scammers are able to obtain U.S. addresses with which they continue the scam. In the end, it is up to you to be diligent when you sell items online. If you see a gaming console sell for $5,000 and think that you need to hurry up and get yours on the next auction, BEWARE. That greed that will make you jack the starting bid up to double what the console is worth will draw the scammers right back to you. They’ll happily bid your console up to $5,000 - and then they will also happily relieve you of your console and teach you an expensive lesson about your greed.
It should be painfully obvious that these scams have ruined any legitimate uses of ebay for people like me looking to find a deal. The greed and stupidity of sellers who set their starting prices so high make such a deal impossible. The fear of being caught up in one of these scams has also made buying and selling risky business. I hate to admit this since I've been calling people stupid, but I fell for one of these scams when I thought I was buying a digital video camcorder from craigslist. I should have known better when the seller who was supposedly in Colorado Springs responded to my emails from England. They told me they were in the military and had just gotten transferred and that was part of the reason they were selling their camcorder. Since Colorado SPrings is a military town (Army, Air Force, Space Command, Air Force Academy) I figured this was possible. I got that email from the seller telling me that this escrow company called T.N.T. would act as a third party in the sale. When I went to send off the $300 via Western Union, the guy at the shop even warned me that most of these things were scams and that I should think very carefully about sending the money. I assured him that a third party escrow company was handling things and that I had checked them out by visiting their website (using that fake link) and that everything looked good. I lost my $300 and of course never saw the camcorder. Only then did I take a closer look at the emails I had received. All of the links were fake. T.N.T. apparently does exist in the U.K. but the tracking numbers came up as "tracking number does not appear in our records". I had relied on the seller's email link to this escrow company until now, so when I typed the URL in for this company and found it was for real and tried to find my purchase, it wasn't there. I had falen for the scam.
So who am I to be complaining now? I'm the guy who realizes that these scams have ruined eBay. I know I'll probably never get that deal on my PS3, partly because these scammers have no problem bidding them up to thousands of dollars, but also because sellers see this and let greed drive the prices up. I can only hope that everyone will soon be made aware of the Nigerian Bidder Scams and that prices will once again fall down to the "deal" levels. In the meantime I will probably end up going to one of the local electronic superstores to buy my PS3. I'll politely listen to why I should buy the extended warranty programs that the employees are forced to push (but that's another story) and I'll decline their sales pitch. I'll get to choose 5 free Bluray movies that I would never choose if they weren't free. I'll pay for the extra controller, games, HDMI cables, and whatever, but at least I know that I won't be getting scammed by some very rich guy in Nigeria.
(I have been a seller on eBay for over 7 years. I have also been a buyer of about 100 items over that time and save for one VCR full of cockroaches, I have never been the victim of a bad sale. It's unfortunate that these scams can ruin such a good thing, but until these online auction sites can put some safeguards into their systems, then it just isn't safe to buy or sell high end items from the sites. I'm not saying that every sale is subject to a scam, but high end items and electronics are the top targets of these scammers. Putting something like "No Nigerian Bidders" in the title or body of your sale isn't going to work either. These guys are smart enough to phish accounts and find ways to take over a sellers account long enough to buy up a few high priced items and then once they have their money, dissappear into the ethernet never to be heard from again, until they get someone else's account. Right now it's "buyer beware" and until that changes, it's ruined.)
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Is Al Gore's Movie Scientific Nonsense?
What can I say? I have always been a good steward over the land that we live upon. I support anti-pollution legislation when it is needed. I also would love to see more fuel efficient motor vehicles or even vehicles that could run without ever having to use any fossil fuels. Burning of coal to produce electricity could be a thing of the past if we would support valuable scientific research. I’m afraid however that many scientists are caught up in the nonsense that is global warming right now and don’t seem to have any time for such things as fuel efficiency or our ability to find replacements for our fossil fuel dependency. Maybe I’m wrong, but apparently global warming has become so important that our very lives are endangered and New York, Florida, California, and other coastal states are about to be swallowed up by the sea. If this is indeed imminent, then I would understand our scientists having no time for such silliness as mentioned.
I have recently been involved in a back and forth online “discussion” concerning global warming and the movie that Al Gore has “invented”. (I don’t know whether invented is correct here or not and I’m sure that someone will remind me that the word invented was “invented” by Al Gore, but that he didn’t directly invent it but was only involved in it’s inception and that he won awards and the love of many as he “invented” it. Pun certainly intended.) Anyway, On June 27th two articles appeared in the news. One declared that scientist gave Al Gore’s movie 5 stars for accuracy. The second story basically debunks the claims of the other article. The first story goes on to say that 100 scientists were contacted either by phone or email. That is a very leading sentence. It doesn’t say that all 100 responded to this contact and as a matter of fact the article only cites 19 scientists actually making any comment.
One of the “scientists” was apparently a good friend of Al Gore’s and for no other reason I have to believe his statements might be a bit jaded at best. The article included the following lines: “Robert Corell, chairman of the worldwide Arctic Climate Impact Assessment group of scientists, read the book and saw Gore give the slideshow presentation that is woven throughout the documentary. "I sat there and I'm amazed at how thorough and accurate," Corell said. "After the presentation I said, 'Al, I'm absolutely blown away. There's a lot of details you could get wrong.' ... I could find no error."
Let me dissect this statement just a little. The first part of the quote says, “I sat there and I'm amazed at how thorough and accurate,”. That’s it! Does anyone see exactly what is so thorough and accurate and what Al’s old buddy was so amazed about? What did the rest of this statement really say? How about, “….. those craftsmen were who built this wonderful chair.” So the full sentence would look like this. “I sat there and I'm amazed at how thorough and accurate those craftsmen were who built this wonderful chair.” Maybe that sounds totally stupid to you if you are an Al Gore fanboy, but if an author leaves an open ended statement like this in their article, then they have to expect the reader to fill in the blanks. You’ll no doubt argue that what he was talking about was the accuracy of Al Gore’s facts in the movie. Why would you be right to assume that and I would be wrong to assume he was referring to the chairs and their craftsmen? This type of open ended statement fits perfectly into an article about global warming. Since there are no genuine “facts” to base this whole argument upon, the open ended statement fits right in.
The second part of the statement ends with another open ended statement. “There's a lot of details you could get wrong.' ... I could find no error." Note that between the word wrong’ and I there is a lot of ……. before he says, “I could find no error.” That means there is something missing within that space. What if the blanks should have included the words, “As far as the way you spelled your name in the credits,”. That would say nothing about any “facts” pertaining to global warming or anything else. The complete statement would then say, “There's a lot of details you could get wrong. As far as the way you spelled your name in the credits, I could find no error." Once again, leaving an open ended statement in any article completely ends any credibility the article could have had. This article says nothing and all because the author left these blanks in the middle of “quotations”. Quotations are supposed to be exact words that the person being quoted has said. This article, being ambiguous at best, provides no ammunition for those on the side of Al Gore and the “science” of his global warming movie. As a matter of fact, it gives the opposition reason to doubt the movie represented any “facts” at all.
The articles referred to are at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/06/27/gore.science.ap/index.html
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=34&idsub=127&id=4208&t=AP+wrongly+claims+scientists+praise+Gore's+movie
Saturday, June 24, 2006
OPINIONS ARE LIKE........
This blog presents my opinions. If you do not agree with those opinions that does not make mine wrong and yours right. Same goes for your opinions. They are yours and if I don't agree with them that doesn't make you wrong and me right. Get it? We simply don't agree. That doesn't make me a dickhead, an asshole, or any other name you may feel like calling me. It simply means that our opinions do not match. If my opinions get your dander up and you feel like venting about it, then start your own blog and make your opinions known. Please don't harass me, threaten me, or post your hatred to my blog. There will never be a world where every human agrees with every other human until we get to heaven. So until we get to heaven don't expect that your angry responses to my posts will change anything. If we can't agree, then we'll just have to live with disagreement.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
RALLY BEHIND THIS GREAT NATION - OR ELSE!
(ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 4, 2005)
I AM REALLY ANGRY. I TOOK 25 MINUTES PUTTING TOGETHER A HEARTFELT BLOG THAT SAID IT ALL AND THE ELECTRICITY WENT OUT AND IT WAS LOST. I'LL NEVER HAVE THE SAME FURY, BUT HERE GOES.
SHAME ON US AMERICA! WE HAVE GOTTEN SO FAR AWAY FROM BEING ONE NATION UNDER GOD. WE ARE RIGHT NOW A NATION WITH THE PARTY OF THE DEMOCRATS DOING AND SAYING WHATEVER THEY HAVE TO FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN TO MAKE OUR PRESIDENT LOOK BAD. THEY CALL HIM A LIAR, A WEAKLING, A CLOWN, AND WHATEVER ELSE, BUT THE ONLY REASON THEY ARE DOING THAT IS TO MAKE THIS PRESIDENT FAIL IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD AT ANY COST. WHY? BECAUSE THEY WANT A BETTER SHOT AT THE PRSIDENCY IN 2008 AND THEY DON'T CARE WHO GETS HURT IN THE MEANTIME AS LONG AS THEY REACH THAT GOAL!
I GREW UP IN THE 50'S AND HEARD ALL ABOUT WWII AND KOREA AND HOW WE ALL STOOD TOGETHER PROUDLY AS ONE PEOPLE REGARDLESS OF THE AFFILIATION OF THE PRESIDENT. WE SHOWED OUR COUNTRY TO BE A PROUD, STRONG, AND RESOLVED NATION OF PEOPLE THAT WEREN'T GOING TO BE MESSED WITH.
HOW DO YOU SUPPOSE OUR ENEMIES SEE US RIGHT NOW? THEY SEE US FIGHTING AMONGST OURSELVES AS IF WE WERE ABOUT TO BREAK INTO ANOTHER CIVIL WAR. THEY SEE US AS WEAK AND PROBABLY TOO CONFUSED TO BE ABLE TO DEFEND OURSELVES BECAUSE WE ARE TOO BUSY BEATING EACH OTHER DOWN. HOW STUPID! ARE YOU DEMOCRATS REALLY SO DESPARATE TO GET INTO THE WHITE HOUSE THAT YOU WOULD SURRENDER THE WAR WE ARE IN AND THEN USE IT AS A REASON TO DISGRACE OUR PRESIDENT JUST SO YOU COULD SNEAK INTO THE OVAL OFFICE? THAT IS PITIFUL. IT'S TIME FOR US TO STAND TOGETHER AS ONE OR WE WILL ALL FALL APART. WE NEED TO RETURN TO BEING A PROUD PEOPLE IN A PROUD NATION REGARDLESS OF OUR PARTY AFFILIATION. IF THE 2 PARTY SYSTEM DOESN'T GET IT ALL TOGETHER, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO FORM A THIRD PARTY OF PEOPLE WHO WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO KEEP THIS NATION GREAT. I'M TIRED OF DIRTY POLITICS AND ALL OF THE MUDSLINGING THAT GOES WITH IT. I HATE TV DURING ELECTIONS BECAUSE I GET OFFENDED WHEN PEOPLE OPENLY LIE ON TV. QUIT LIENG! IF YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT GOOD YOU ARE GOING TO DO FOR MY NATION, THEN DON'T BOTHER TALKING AT ALL. LET'S ALL QUIT VOTING FOR MUDSLINGERS AND LIARS. LETS GET IT TOGETHER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
I AM REALLY ANGRY. I TOOK 25 MINUTES PUTTING TOGETHER A HEARTFELT BLOG THAT SAID IT ALL AND THE ELECTRICITY WENT OUT AND IT WAS LOST. I'LL NEVER HAVE THE SAME FURY, BUT HERE GOES.
SHAME ON US AMERICA! WE HAVE GOTTEN SO FAR AWAY FROM BEING ONE NATION UNDER GOD. WE ARE RIGHT NOW A NATION WITH THE PARTY OF THE DEMOCRATS DOING AND SAYING WHATEVER THEY HAVE TO FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN TO MAKE OUR PRESIDENT LOOK BAD. THEY CALL HIM A LIAR, A WEAKLING, A CLOWN, AND WHATEVER ELSE, BUT THE ONLY REASON THEY ARE DOING THAT IS TO MAKE THIS PRESIDENT FAIL IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD AT ANY COST. WHY? BECAUSE THEY WANT A BETTER SHOT AT THE PRSIDENCY IN 2008 AND THEY DON'T CARE WHO GETS HURT IN THE MEANTIME AS LONG AS THEY REACH THAT GOAL!
I GREW UP IN THE 50'S AND HEARD ALL ABOUT WWII AND KOREA AND HOW WE ALL STOOD TOGETHER PROUDLY AS ONE PEOPLE REGARDLESS OF THE AFFILIATION OF THE PRESIDENT. WE SHOWED OUR COUNTRY TO BE A PROUD, STRONG, AND RESOLVED NATION OF PEOPLE THAT WEREN'T GOING TO BE MESSED WITH.
HOW DO YOU SUPPOSE OUR ENEMIES SEE US RIGHT NOW? THEY SEE US FIGHTING AMONGST OURSELVES AS IF WE WERE ABOUT TO BREAK INTO ANOTHER CIVIL WAR. THEY SEE US AS WEAK AND PROBABLY TOO CONFUSED TO BE ABLE TO DEFEND OURSELVES BECAUSE WE ARE TOO BUSY BEATING EACH OTHER DOWN. HOW STUPID! ARE YOU DEMOCRATS REALLY SO DESPARATE TO GET INTO THE WHITE HOUSE THAT YOU WOULD SURRENDER THE WAR WE ARE IN AND THEN USE IT AS A REASON TO DISGRACE OUR PRESIDENT JUST SO YOU COULD SNEAK INTO THE OVAL OFFICE? THAT IS PITIFUL. IT'S TIME FOR US TO STAND TOGETHER AS ONE OR WE WILL ALL FALL APART. WE NEED TO RETURN TO BEING A PROUD PEOPLE IN A PROUD NATION REGARDLESS OF OUR PARTY AFFILIATION. IF THE 2 PARTY SYSTEM DOESN'T GET IT ALL TOGETHER, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO FORM A THIRD PARTY OF PEOPLE WHO WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO KEEP THIS NATION GREAT. I'M TIRED OF DIRTY POLITICS AND ALL OF THE MUDSLINGING THAT GOES WITH IT. I HATE TV DURING ELECTIONS BECAUSE I GET OFFENDED WHEN PEOPLE OPENLY LIE ON TV. QUIT LIENG! IF YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT GOOD YOU ARE GOING TO DO FOR MY NATION, THEN DON'T BOTHER TALKING AT ALL. LET'S ALL QUIT VOTING FOR MUDSLINGERS AND LIARS. LETS GET IT TOGETHER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
JUST LIKE THE OLD DAYS
(ORIGINALLY POSTED AUGUST 29, 2005)
I am watching the news in the background tonight and I hear headlines saying something stupid like, "Most Americans now feel that the war in Iraq is wrong". The newscaster says the growing number of anti-war gatherings is proof of this! What in the hell is going on here? Of course this is on CBS News, and as far as I am concerned they are probably one of the largest clearing houses of liberal bullshit in the USA. But for them to say that growing anti war protests is proof tht most of Americans feel the war was/is wrong is really stretching it. Why does every single action that includes the military get compared to Viet Nam anyway? Maybe it's because there isn't any news unless they make it into news and everything that went on TV during Viet Nam made for big news. New Orleans is about to get hit by a devastating hurricane with calculated deaths reaching 50,000, and that takes number 2 to the story about Americans feeling the war is wrong.
I've said before that I was an A-1 war protestor in the old days, but that was after a war had been going on for over ten years and there was no end in sight with the USA walking away with a victory in any sense of the word. There had been 50,000 American deaths by then in Viet Nam and it really was time to turn around and walk away, even though we were trying to keep the advance of communism and tyranny at bay. What's going on in Iraq is truly a noble venture. Saddam killed hundreds of thousands of people and dumped them in holes in the desert. He made women hide behind veils or they would be physically punished. Females were not allowed to go to school or hold jobs. This was serious inhumanity taking place and even though some people don't think it is any of our business, it is. Then there's the weapons of mass destruction argument. Would you rather have waited until there was a dirty bomb exploded in one of our major cities before you would be convinced tha they were there? The UN had given Saddam plenty of time to move, hide, or do whatever else he wanted to do with those things, but you can damn sure believe they were there, unless you are ignorant enough to believe what NBC has told you that they were never there in the first place. Having seen the proof numerous times, you'd have to be a real idiot to believe there was never anything there. Don't you remember the UN inspection teams that reported the WMD over and over?
So what reason do you have for suddenly wanting to take part in anti war protests? Do you want to be cool like the hippies were in the old days? Are you so bored that there isn't something else you could be doing with your time? Are you moved by the one mother who denied her son the honor of serving his country to a point that suddenly every soldier is a fool and you know what's good for them while they don't? I just don't get it. We could withdraw our troops immediately and watch Iraq fall right back into the same mess it was in before. Why the hell should we care anyway? Who cares if they have a bunch of uneducated stupid women with veils over their faces? Who cares if thousands are kiled because they aren't from the same sect as the people in power? Why should we lose men and women so that other country in the sand can get away with things like that? Bring all of our service members back here and let's all just sit back and wait for the terrorist attacks to start up. Let's wait for the dirty bombs to explode in New York or Chicago or where ever else they want to take them. Let's quit wasting the time of these people who are going to war and let's just close the military. Let someone else worry about that simple crap. Then you won't have to spend your busy day tearing apart our country from within.
Do you realize that all across the world the news is showing the USA as a country divided? They see that "most of Americans feel the war..is wrong" and watch as what looks like millions of us going to military bases and on street corners everywhere protesting our government because the news says so. So what if they see us as a weak nation full of people who don't trust their government? I just feel good that I'm not one of those morons on the TV screen. I wouldn't want a bunch of terrorists watching me doing something like that and feeling like they are making headway in their war against the infidels. When they do decide to attack our nation, I hope you realize that they won't make any distinction between you who are protesting and those who aren't. To them, we are all the enemy. If we leave ourselves unprotected, then we all die together. Is that your goal?
I am watching the news in the background tonight and I hear headlines saying something stupid like, "Most Americans now feel that the war in Iraq is wrong". The newscaster says the growing number of anti-war gatherings is proof of this! What in the hell is going on here? Of course this is on CBS News, and as far as I am concerned they are probably one of the largest clearing houses of liberal bullshit in the USA. But for them to say that growing anti war protests is proof tht most of Americans feel the war was/is wrong is really stretching it. Why does every single action that includes the military get compared to Viet Nam anyway? Maybe it's because there isn't any news unless they make it into news and everything that went on TV during Viet Nam made for big news. New Orleans is about to get hit by a devastating hurricane with calculated deaths reaching 50,000, and that takes number 2 to the story about Americans feeling the war is wrong.
I've said before that I was an A-1 war protestor in the old days, but that was after a war had been going on for over ten years and there was no end in sight with the USA walking away with a victory in any sense of the word. There had been 50,000 American deaths by then in Viet Nam and it really was time to turn around and walk away, even though we were trying to keep the advance of communism and tyranny at bay. What's going on in Iraq is truly a noble venture. Saddam killed hundreds of thousands of people and dumped them in holes in the desert. He made women hide behind veils or they would be physically punished. Females were not allowed to go to school or hold jobs. This was serious inhumanity taking place and even though some people don't think it is any of our business, it is. Then there's the weapons of mass destruction argument. Would you rather have waited until there was a dirty bomb exploded in one of our major cities before you would be convinced tha they were there? The UN had given Saddam plenty of time to move, hide, or do whatever else he wanted to do with those things, but you can damn sure believe they were there, unless you are ignorant enough to believe what NBC has told you that they were never there in the first place. Having seen the proof numerous times, you'd have to be a real idiot to believe there was never anything there. Don't you remember the UN inspection teams that reported the WMD over and over?
So what reason do you have for suddenly wanting to take part in anti war protests? Do you want to be cool like the hippies were in the old days? Are you so bored that there isn't something else you could be doing with your time? Are you moved by the one mother who denied her son the honor of serving his country to a point that suddenly every soldier is a fool and you know what's good for them while they don't? I just don't get it. We could withdraw our troops immediately and watch Iraq fall right back into the same mess it was in before. Why the hell should we care anyway? Who cares if they have a bunch of uneducated stupid women with veils over their faces? Who cares if thousands are kiled because they aren't from the same sect as the people in power? Why should we lose men and women so that other country in the sand can get away with things like that? Bring all of our service members back here and let's all just sit back and wait for the terrorist attacks to start up. Let's wait for the dirty bombs to explode in New York or Chicago or where ever else they want to take them. Let's quit wasting the time of these people who are going to war and let's just close the military. Let someone else worry about that simple crap. Then you won't have to spend your busy day tearing apart our country from within.
Do you realize that all across the world the news is showing the USA as a country divided? They see that "most of Americans feel the war..is wrong" and watch as what looks like millions of us going to military bases and on street corners everywhere protesting our government because the news says so. So what if they see us as a weak nation full of people who don't trust their government? I just feel good that I'm not one of those morons on the TV screen. I wouldn't want a bunch of terrorists watching me doing something like that and feeling like they are making headway in their war against the infidels. When they do decide to attack our nation, I hope you realize that they won't make any distinction between you who are protesting and those who aren't. To them, we are all the enemy. If we leave ourselves unprotected, then we all die together. Is that your goal?
Old Hippies - New Wannabe Hippies Converge On Crawford
(ORIGINALLY POSTED ON AUGUST 19, 2005)
Hey! I'm just on vacation so leave me alone! Why in the world should President Bush stop whatever he is doing to answer rhetorical questions posed by a grieving mom? Why should her nonsensical story get 22,000 news hits in a couple of days? Where did all of these hippies come from?
I am a former hippy. I was a war protestor in the late '60's and early '70's. I protested a war in Viet Nam that was over a decade old and was getting nowhere. We did some good over there, but the time had come for things to end in Viet Nam. The humanitarian efforts made by soldiers serving in Viet Nam were rarely if ever recognized. That wasn't sensational enough for the news of the day. So what makes one woman in a sorrowful situation big news now? Well, I think there are too many leftover hippies and new wannabe hippy emulators with nothing better to do than copy what had been done by Viet Nam war protestors over thirty years ago. They don't know the facts. They haven't been there to see what is or isn't going on, but they will damn sure tell you it's time for this thing in Iraq to end. Ask them why and most won't have a clue. It's just something they've heard and then decided to believe in the "cause du jour" because they haven't anything better to do.
I think I may have paid the price for my protesting back in the '70's. I was drafted in the very last draft. I had felt that it was my government's way of getting the last laugh on a dirty hippy. I got a phone call one day from a girl who had been in my brother's classes at school who saw my name and felt she should warn me that I was about to be drafted. It may have been an easy choice for some hippies to turn and run straight north to Canada. It pisses me off to this day to think that all of those people got pardons for doing just that while others served and died. I however , despite my strong anti-war convictions was and am a patriotic American and regardless of my beliefs at the time had one more powerful belief. That is that if called upon, I will defend the honor and glory of my country at any cost. So not only did I go into the Army, I enlisted for an extra year.
Why would somebody do something like that? Simple answer, I was told about a way to stay out of Viet Nam while still answering my call to duty. The USA was ending the draft right after this "final "draft in late 1972. Everyone who entered the Army after that was going to be part of the all new VOLAR, the VOLunteer ARmy. That's right, every person who entered active duty after November of 1972 was a volunteer. THAT MEANS THAT NOBODY WHO HAS SERVED SINCE THEN HAS BEEN "FORCED" TO DO ANYTHING!
Every person entering the service does so as a volunteer. There are many reasons people join up. Some try to work toward that all too expensive education, a benefit that has been given to service members and veterans for years under the GI Bill. Some go to avoid jail. I had 7 guys in Basic Training with me that faced the ultimatum of joining the service or going to jail. Some go because they need to become part of a disciplined society. It has usually been decided by a parent that they haven't been able to make anything of their lives on their own. But way too many Americans forget that some people do join the military because they are patriotic Americans who feel a duty to serve their nation. Every single person in the military right now is there with the possibility facing them that they will be going to a foreign nation to defend our way of life. It may not make sense that they are doing it thousands of miles from home, but if those priciples are trampled "over there", then eventually we will have to face it over here. We defend a way of life that protects freedom. We defend a way of life that allows us to say whatever we want to say in public. This does not give us the right to be right though. Sometimes saying what we think is the right thing is ill conceived or just plain wrong. This is the case in Crawford, Texas and where ever else in this country that people have gathered to support a lady's protected freedom of speech, even if that speech spits in the face of every soldier who has given their life protecting those rights.
The honor of a mother's son is being swept aside and now old hippies and some wannabe new hippies have something to protest. That son joined the service of his own free will. He joined, hopefully, because he felt a patriotic duty. He maybe wanted to keep our way of life free. He paid the ultimate sacrifice by giving his life in the defense and honor of his country. Now his mother has taken away that dignity by discounting the death of her own son and trivializing it by making it her own "personal problem". It's no longer about her son giving his life. It's all about what the president and this country "owe" her. How selfish. I feel her pain. I can easily empathize and I truly do sympatize, but this isn't really about her and what she thinks we as a country owe her. It seems to me that like many people in the beginning of a grief process who have a need to blame somebody, this woman has chosen the president to blame. Now we have to hear the most ridiculous rhetorical question of, "Why aren't your daughters over in Iraq Mr. President?"! It's very simple folks. They didn't volunteer to join the service. It doesn't make them any less patriotic. It certainly doesn't qualify the president as being the right person to blame for the loss of a soldier's life. That soldier joined the service knowing full well that he may one day face combat in defense of this country and the principles for which this country stand. He was not killed because the Bush girls did not accompany him to Iraq!
There are too many problems in this world right now, and taking a stand behind a grieving mother who in her pain asked a stupid rhetorical question of the president just isn't going to solve any of those problems. It won't bring back the life of the soldiers who died in combat. It will not make any senators or congressmen feel so bad that they will go home and force their children to join the service. It will not end this poor woman's grief. It's just something to occupy the minds and time of a bunch of otherwise purposeless people who apparently have way too much tinme on their hands. Leave the president in peace in Crawford, Texas. You wouldn't want people bothering you on your vacation to ask you a question that really has no "right" answer would you? If you really want to be upset about something, go ask the oil companies why gas has risen in price by over 50 cents in the last ten days. If you really want to make a difference, then go volunteer a few hours at the hospital in your community. Go give a pint of blood. Go read at your local school. Just go do something that might have an outcome that is real. If all you are really after is trying to make my president and my country look weak and uncaring, then go the hell to Canada where the rest of the protestors who didn't really want to make a difference in our country went last time protesting a war was cool.
AND IT'S ONE, TWO, THREE WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR. - DON'T ASK ME I DON'T GIVE A DAMN.....I JUST WANTED TO HANG OUT AND BE COOL.
Hey! I'm just on vacation so leave me alone! Why in the world should President Bush stop whatever he is doing to answer rhetorical questions posed by a grieving mom? Why should her nonsensical story get 22,000 news hits in a couple of days? Where did all of these hippies come from?
I am a former hippy. I was a war protestor in the late '60's and early '70's. I protested a war in Viet Nam that was over a decade old and was getting nowhere. We did some good over there, but the time had come for things to end in Viet Nam. The humanitarian efforts made by soldiers serving in Viet Nam were rarely if ever recognized. That wasn't sensational enough for the news of the day. So what makes one woman in a sorrowful situation big news now? Well, I think there are too many leftover hippies and new wannabe hippy emulators with nothing better to do than copy what had been done by Viet Nam war protestors over thirty years ago. They don't know the facts. They haven't been there to see what is or isn't going on, but they will damn sure tell you it's time for this thing in Iraq to end. Ask them why and most won't have a clue. It's just something they've heard and then decided to believe in the "cause du jour" because they haven't anything better to do.
I think I may have paid the price for my protesting back in the '70's. I was drafted in the very last draft. I had felt that it was my government's way of getting the last laugh on a dirty hippy. I got a phone call one day from a girl who had been in my brother's classes at school who saw my name and felt she should warn me that I was about to be drafted. It may have been an easy choice for some hippies to turn and run straight north to Canada. It pisses me off to this day to think that all of those people got pardons for doing just that while others served and died. I however , despite my strong anti-war convictions was and am a patriotic American and regardless of my beliefs at the time had one more powerful belief. That is that if called upon, I will defend the honor and glory of my country at any cost. So not only did I go into the Army, I enlisted for an extra year.
Why would somebody do something like that? Simple answer, I was told about a way to stay out of Viet Nam while still answering my call to duty. The USA was ending the draft right after this "final "draft in late 1972. Everyone who entered the Army after that was going to be part of the all new VOLAR, the VOLunteer ARmy. That's right, every person who entered active duty after November of 1972 was a volunteer. THAT MEANS THAT NOBODY WHO HAS SERVED SINCE THEN HAS BEEN "FORCED" TO DO ANYTHING!
Every person entering the service does so as a volunteer. There are many reasons people join up. Some try to work toward that all too expensive education, a benefit that has been given to service members and veterans for years under the GI Bill. Some go to avoid jail. I had 7 guys in Basic Training with me that faced the ultimatum of joining the service or going to jail. Some go because they need to become part of a disciplined society. It has usually been decided by a parent that they haven't been able to make anything of their lives on their own. But way too many Americans forget that some people do join the military because they are patriotic Americans who feel a duty to serve their nation. Every single person in the military right now is there with the possibility facing them that they will be going to a foreign nation to defend our way of life. It may not make sense that they are doing it thousands of miles from home, but if those priciples are trampled "over there", then eventually we will have to face it over here. We defend a way of life that protects freedom. We defend a way of life that allows us to say whatever we want to say in public. This does not give us the right to be right though. Sometimes saying what we think is the right thing is ill conceived or just plain wrong. This is the case in Crawford, Texas and where ever else in this country that people have gathered to support a lady's protected freedom of speech, even if that speech spits in the face of every soldier who has given their life protecting those rights.
The honor of a mother's son is being swept aside and now old hippies and some wannabe new hippies have something to protest. That son joined the service of his own free will. He joined, hopefully, because he felt a patriotic duty. He maybe wanted to keep our way of life free. He paid the ultimate sacrifice by giving his life in the defense and honor of his country. Now his mother has taken away that dignity by discounting the death of her own son and trivializing it by making it her own "personal problem". It's no longer about her son giving his life. It's all about what the president and this country "owe" her. How selfish. I feel her pain. I can easily empathize and I truly do sympatize, but this isn't really about her and what she thinks we as a country owe her. It seems to me that like many people in the beginning of a grief process who have a need to blame somebody, this woman has chosen the president to blame. Now we have to hear the most ridiculous rhetorical question of, "Why aren't your daughters over in Iraq Mr. President?"! It's very simple folks. They didn't volunteer to join the service. It doesn't make them any less patriotic. It certainly doesn't qualify the president as being the right person to blame for the loss of a soldier's life. That soldier joined the service knowing full well that he may one day face combat in defense of this country and the principles for which this country stand. He was not killed because the Bush girls did not accompany him to Iraq!
There are too many problems in this world right now, and taking a stand behind a grieving mother who in her pain asked a stupid rhetorical question of the president just isn't going to solve any of those problems. It won't bring back the life of the soldiers who died in combat. It will not make any senators or congressmen feel so bad that they will go home and force their children to join the service. It will not end this poor woman's grief. It's just something to occupy the minds and time of a bunch of otherwise purposeless people who apparently have way too much tinme on their hands. Leave the president in peace in Crawford, Texas. You wouldn't want people bothering you on your vacation to ask you a question that really has no "right" answer would you? If you really want to be upset about something, go ask the oil companies why gas has risen in price by over 50 cents in the last ten days. If you really want to make a difference, then go volunteer a few hours at the hospital in your community. Go give a pint of blood. Go read at your local school. Just go do something that might have an outcome that is real. If all you are really after is trying to make my president and my country look weak and uncaring, then go the hell to Canada where the rest of the protestors who didn't really want to make a difference in our country went last time protesting a war was cool.
AND IT'S ONE, TWO, THREE WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR. - DON'T ASK ME I DON'T GIVE A DAMN.....I JUST WANTED TO HANG OUT AND BE COOL.
Bush Was Right - The Video
Check out this video on YouTube.com. It's called "Bush Was Right" and it's by the band "The Right Brothers". I'm so disgusted by all of the negativity going on in the news media these days that it's refreshing to see that someone else thinks the same way as I do. Support the Right Brothers by visiting their website at: therightbothers.com
Here is the link to the video:
Bush Was Right
Here is the link to the video:
Bush Was Right
Monday, June 05, 2006
GEORGE W. BUSH DID IT!
I heard about a major fuss being raised by a woman on the radio today who went and got herself pregnant. Then she wasn’t able to get a speedy birth control pill to force a period and terminate the pregnancy. Then she apparently couldn’t find any abortion doctors anywhere and she said it was making her crazy. What a terrible thing to happen to a person. It made me so sad to hear her gripping story, especially when she revealed the reasons for her accumulated problems. It was all George W. Bush’s fault!
I couldn’t believe my ears. This woman was blaming George Bush for all of these problems that would have very simply never even happened if she just kept her pants on. She said she and her husband had a little alone time and since it happened so quickly she just didn’t have time to think about these things. Of course that makes it the president’s fault. When a person isn’t able to think quickly, there must be some sort of a protection clause in the constitution that makes all of your problems the fault of the current president. This woman was dead serious, and felt she had a right to complain publicly about her plight. One of the larger news services even provided her with an online forum to discuss her awful story.
Much to the surprise of this bitter woman, many if not most of the respondents were telling her she could have simply gone to Planned Parenthood to get everything she needed to solve her problem in any of the stages of her panic. What she was blaming the president for not providing for her was readily available to her right in her own neighborhood. There never was any reason for her to panic or blame anyone other than herself. Of course the president had nothing to do with any of this mess. It was the simple mind of this woman that caused all of her problems. If any thoughtful person took one minute to think through each step of this nonsense, they would see that each step had a simple solution. So why was this even a news story in the first place?
If you look at any newspaper, news program on TV, or any online news service, you will see that basically everything that is happening in the world today is somehow George W. Bush’s fault. What’s even sadder is that so many people are taking this seriously. I can see where some folks might want to blame the current administration when any political issue that relates to them goes wrong. They probably feel that if their guy had been elected instead that this thing would never had happened. This seems to go along with most political arguments, but forgetting to use proper birth control methods, doing poorly in school, not finding the highest paying job when you are looking for employment, a neighbor painting their house bright pink, and problems that go on ad nauseum somehow being the fault of the current administration or heaven forbid one single man – it’s ridiculous. But this is where our nation and perhaps the entire world stands right now. Everybody is blaming George W. Bush for everything.
There is a very simple explanation for this phenomenon. President Bush is a Republican. The Democrat Party wants to be in the Whitehouse in 2008. There is an old quote that says, “If you can’t say something good about yourself to get people on your side, then say something bad about the other guy”. Say something bad enough about someone often enough, and then even if it isn’t true you’ll convince enough people to believe it is true. President Thomas Jefferson said basically the same thing over 200 years ago. He said something like, “There is nothing so ridiculous, that if repeated often enough, does not begin to sound like the truth”. This is exactly what is happening. The push is to make everything sound as if though the president and his administration are directly responsible for every single thing in this world that is going wrong. The popularity numbers of the president back that all up right now. People are actually falling for this nonsense and are blaming Mr. Bush for whatever is going wrong in their life. This woman’s pregnancy issue is a sad testimony as to how far this thing has gone.
Allow me to remind everyone that both the Congress and the Senate need to vote on just about everything that happens as a result of a government. The president does not have an absolute power in this country and certainly not in the entire world. He does represent an entire mighty nation, but the way many of you people are beginning to think, it’s a shame that you represent the people of that nation. We vote to elect our government. We have the choice to retain those officials at each election. Will we continue to blame one person for all of our woes from now on? I sure hope not. Maybe the Democrats will succeed in this next election and get the Republicans out of the Whitehouse, but will we still be a nation of proud Americans or have we become a nation of people who know little more than blame and hate?
Start thinking for yourselves. Quit blaming someone else for the results of your actions. If you get pregnant, waste too many days to act in time for a magic birth control pill, and then panic and can’t find an abortion doctor, take a breath and work it out. George W. Bush didn’t have anything to do with it honey.
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