Airline Rant

Why Are We Even Considering Bailing Out The Big 3?

Here's the latest from my new favourite ranter (language warning) :

Weekend Reflections

This is an abridged version of an e-mail I sent to a blog reader of mine.

Yesterday was one of reflection for me. My mom & I spent the day with Sandy, the mother of a longtime friend of mine. She is the realtor I described here. The three of us drove up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, though first stopping off in Racine to visit the magnificent S.C. Johnson headquarters, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. No pictures were allowed, but here's one from their website:

Sandy is a Democrat through & through. She has never voted otherwise and never will. But she is bright, reads a lot, and keeps herself informed - albeit from the extremely liberal arms of the Democrat Party: The NY Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and CNN. All of these "news" sources continuously reinforce her predetermined belief system, which essentially boils down to this:

• Republicans - Are completely corrupt, are fully of dummies, and only support the ultra-rich.
  
  
• Democrats - Are less corrupt, are filled with and supported by brilliant people, and at least leave a little something more for the vast majority of Americans.
  

Of course, none of this narrative in her head is true but it's what gets her and tens of millions of other Americans through each day. She mixed up statements & facts, all of which I corrected, but she didn't want to hear. Oh, she "heard" me, but she wasn't listening. She's oblivious to the fact that Obama will raise taxes on her own business, perhaps substantially. Mayor Daley here in Chicago (aka "the most politically corrupt city in America") has dramatically raised the costs for all realtors yet she'll keep on voting for him too.

She hates Sarah Palin with a fiery passion. She thinks that Palin is an absolute hick with an IQ less than 50. She can't stand her accent, even though it's not a whole lot different than those of the people of Illinois. On the experience issue she can't see the irony of tarring Palin with one hand and then simultaneously excusing Obama on every single similar point. "But Obama has run the largest presidential campaign in history so clearly he's suitable to be president." It's said with absolute sincerity and conviction. It's also absolutely NUTS!

She ignored everything I had to say about ACORN, excusing it with "voter fraud happens everywhere". She ignored everything I said about William Ayers, excusing him with "was he ever actually convicted" and "even if he was guilty, hasn't he paid the price already". I'm convinced that even if it was revealed that Barack Obama had been associating with Jew hating pedophiles, she would still vote for him. And so would hundreds of millions of other Americans.

So facts alone mean nothing to these people. Instead of listening and thinking about even one fact, instead they want to focus on the fact that I just used the term "these people" . . . and somehow twist that to imply that I'm a racist! Calling someone a racist is very "nouveau" for liberals in 2008.

Now let's look at McCain. He signed that $700 Billion bailout, even though people were pleading with him not to, in the order of 50 to 1. And notice that it did nothing to stop the free fall on Wall Street! In the 2nd Pres. debate he offered up $300 Billion more. Yesterday he told everyone that Obama wouldn't be scary as president. On the surface, is he really all that different from Obama? Not to Democrat leaning voters, he isn't.

To use a sports analogy, John McCain is like the coach of a football team at the Superbowl. Before the game, instead of doing everything he can to rally his players, instead he wants to focus first & foremost on Good Sportsmanship, even though the other team clearly is playing some very dirty tricks ... and has paid off most of the referees (the media). This is why Obama will win.


Then from back home, I learn that Stephen Harper's majority prospects are slipping and he may now get even less of a minority government than before. Even when a story like this comes to the public attention, even when Stephane Dion makes a complete fool of himself, it still doesn't seem to sway the majority of voters away from voting for the short-sighted, destructive policies of the left. I've long since been convinced that the majority of people around the world are sheep but Canada seems to have the honour of having the highest percentage of closed minds anywhere. Makes one so proud to be from Canuckistan, doesn't it?!

To top it off, I've received some especially hateful personal comments on my blog. One even came from a guy who started off by saying that he was exceedingly drunk! Full moderation is on now though and I will not publish anything that more clearly resembles graffiti than any intelligible, factual thought.

I'm not defeated but am just realistic in the appraisal that I'm a duck, like you're a duck, in the very wrong pond. Like many so-called conservative voters (I'm really only conservative on a few key issues), perhaps it's time for me to give up focusing on politics altogether and instead just focus on making money in my businesses. In my case, family concerns aside, I have the ability and flexibility to move pretty much wherever I want. Maybe there is a place in the world where the majority of people believe in truth, facts, justice, and a real sense of right & wrong. It would sure be better than living in North America right now, where the politics are completely consumed with B.S., corruption, political correctness, permanent victimhood, and absolutely no sense of right & wrong and personal responsibility.

One disillusioned voter.

Dear Microsoft

Dear Microsoft,

Against the advice of all of my colleagues, I decided to install Vista on a new computer I just assembled. I spent a lot of money on it and a lot of my time to assemble it. I made sure that every single component was Vista compatible, even spending $200 on a video card instead of a $30 one that would have worked fine with XP.

Yet, I kept on getting the same blue screen of death during installation; one which provides no real information about what the problem is.

So finally I turned to your company to get some help. And on the first screen of your website I'm prompted to enter the "Product Identification Number". I entered the number found on the yellow sticker on the product box but am informed that this is not the what's required.

So I looked up on your site to find out where I should locate the "Product Identification Number". Lo and behold, it says to look on the Help - About screen of Vista.

Isn't that just brilliant!!! I can't install Vista and you demand that I enter a number that is displayed once Vista is installed. Is this some kind of elaborate psychological experiment and I'm the guinea pig?

Please send me some competent professional help. And just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm talking about the technical type, though I may soon need the psychological variety as well!!!

Cel-Phone Manners Rant

Amy Alkon has a brilliant rant that will inspire anyone who has been annoyed by cel phone maniacs. Here's one part of it:

A woman at the Rose Café shouted her eyeglass order into her cell -- going into detail about her family’s medical plan (they have flexible spending, they’ll pay after the first of the year). After I blogged her conversation, including her phone number, she got calls from around the world: “Eva, your glasses are ready!” I’m guessing she has newfound respect for others’ profound disinterest in her life.

Crappy Customer Service in Canada

Do you have stories - funny or just plain rants - about poor customer service you've received in Canada? David Berner wants to hear them, possibly to be added to a future book. Post your stories here.

Dennis Miller, At His Politically Incorrect Best!