Burn in hell Best Buy…
…and take your Product Replacement Plan with you.
I just recorded the end of a conversation I had with Best buy Product Replacement Services in their corporate office. When I bought Amy’s cell phone I paid $40 extra for the Best Buy “guaranteed” Product Replacement Plan which will “cover any damage no questions asked”. Well, Amy damaged the phone and took it to Best Buy where the customer service employees regurgitated something about the PRP (Product Replacement Plan) not covering physical phone damage, “only software”. Well, they sold it to me as “cover any damage no questions asked” didn’t they? “Software only” is simply the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard for a smart phone warranty.
So I called the administrators of the product replacement plan at the Best Buy corporate contact number. They informed me the plan did, in fact cover replacement on this phone and said they would call the store on my behalf for an explanation. Store number 1492 in Knightdale, NC. After 20 minutes all customer service and management ignored the call of the corporate rep from PRP services until she had no choice but to hang up. That’s right, the store employees, including the manager ignored a call from the corporate office regarding a customer service issue and product plan they were wrong to dishonor. I will be selling any future gift cards I receive for these losers at a bargain basement price. I have lapsed in the past but my resolve is firm now: I will never make another purchase from this company again.
Betting On A Government Shutdown
No, seriously. I made an on-line bet 3 days ago the government would shut down at midnight tonight. The divide is just too broad to cross so perhaps the government should shut down. Just not for the reasons supported by the Tea Party.
We should not bow to ideological, strong arm tactics from either side. If the Republicans want more cuts they can come from sources beholden to them as easily as they can come from Planned Parenthood or Medicare. Say, defense contracts and oil subsidies. If the Democrats are truly interested in compromise they should be prepared to give up funding for a many of their pet programs as well. The dollar amount cut from one sides program should be given up by a program supported by the other side.
The idea that one side alone is going to get to dictate how much the cuts should be and where they should come from is ludicrous. That is where the Tea Party fails: unwillingness to accept any loss for pet projects on their side or engage in compromise. I may vote for a moderate Republican in some upcoming election. Never a Tea Party candidate. They’ve shown what they’re made of just when we thought Washington couldn’t smell any worse.
NY Times Highlight Comment
This is one of the best summaries of the current political devistation occurring based on hard right ideologies I’ve ever read. From the comment section of the NY Times article Obama Rejects Further Budget Stopgaps:
You have to grudgingly admire the Republicans’ sheer chutzpah, even as you despise it. They create a financial catastrophe by doubling the national debt in 8 years under Bush and by deregulating the financial services industry over the past 30 years so that it ran amok and brought the whole economy to its needs.
Having caused the mess — aided, to be sure, by a spineless opposition afraid of its own shadow — the Republicans then use it to enact a strictly ideological agenda that serves only the interests of their core constituents: the wealthy and corporations. The middle class, the needy, and the poor are thrown to the wolves.
Why the middle class, the needy and the poor continue to vote for these people, whose heartless agenda is so obvious and blatant, and so adverse to the interests of those constituents, is the single greatest mystery of modern American politics.
The “trickle down” ideas proclaimed in this budget proposal have been tried for the past 30 years, and the jury is in. We’ve seen the results. It is very, very clear that when you give rich people and corporations tax breaks, it only serves to make them richer. They do not invest in America or create American jobs. They invest in China and great Mexican jobs. They hoard their increased earnings in foreign tax havens, buy more yachts and houses and cars. And they also back the careers of Republican politicians, who continue to feed them tax breaks and privileges at the expense of the rest of us.
I honestly feel that unless the average American does not wake up and smell the coffee soon, if the Democrats and the President do not find their spines and offer real alternatives to this corporatization of the nation, then America as we know it is done. The country is bought and paid for by what George Carlin called “The Ownership” of America. Real change is becoming almost impossible, as conservative ideologues are stuffed into positions of influence and on the benches of the judiciary, so that desctructive conservative policies can be unchallenged in any venue.
The process is almost complete. Either we act, or we sink into the Darwinian social jungle the Republicans want to see replace any semblance of fair society. This proposal is one more step toward the undergrowth.
Gfagan – 4-5-2011
ping.fm
Ping.fm and the WordPress plugin will enable me to keep all my blog and social posts in one location. Now if I can only figure out how to post to multiple ping.fm groups at one time.
Social networking is killing my blog.
So many posts on facebook and a few on twitter. No entries in the ‘ol blog for over a month.
I think I’m being socialed out. My new word…”socialed”. Facebook is where all the photos live and an occasional rant. The blog was once a place for me to vent frustrations. Now it’s just a lonely space that few visit except for updates on tired, old issues that aren’t going anywhere.
Work is outrageously busy. Amy inherited a little money from her Grandmother who passed away on Nov. 21, 2010. We’re trying to sit on. Possibly some home improvements. I bought a Lieca D-LUX 5 camera (I might return) and Amy got a new phone. We all got a new TV for the living room. Other than that we’re trying to stay humble. Going to invest and save most of it. A few home renovations are definitely in order.
Connor learned to ride his bike and tie his shoes during Christmas break and Logan has started preschool. Zach is a full blown toddler now. He’s a walker and cute as can be.
Scary words from Wendell Potter, health insurance whistle blower.
We are in a period of time when I think this puts our democracy in jeopardy. We are seeing newsrooms having smaller staffs. Mainstream media is diminishing and along with that, investigative reporting is diminishing. So, there are fewer watchdogs, journalism watchdogs, than there used to be. We don’t have a Walter Cronkite anymore. People can self select. They can go to Fox News if they’re conservative and have their world view reinforced, or MSNBC on the other side of the political-ideological spectrum. So you don’t have as much of a middle as you used to. At the same time as you’re seeing newsrooms shrink, you’re seeing corporate power increase. You see a lot of reporters who used to work for newspapers go into PR. I did that several years ago. There are far, far, far more PR in America than there are newspaper reporters or reporters of any kind. So, you’re seeing a shift that troubles me. You’re seeing a rise of corporate power when there are far fewer watchdogs watching over what’s going on. – The Hartford Courant
Wendell Potter was a top PR rep for the Cigna and Humana insurance companies until he realized the error of his ways.
Brought to you by the United Corporations of America: Of the money, by the money, for the money.
Republicans are Protectionists
Protect the status quot…protect the wealth. That is pretty much the mantra of the real Republican party. They are being challenged on the premise of “core Republican values” by the Teabaggers. From what I can tell the Teabaggers and lock-step Republicans disagree on what those values are.
Teabaggers want to “control fiscal spending” to “reduce the deficit” and claim ending entitlements and lower taxes will achieve this goal. Aside from the Dept. of Education I’ve never heard of another entitlement program they would move to end. Instead their answer is a politically vague end to “government waste”. Then they go on to use some comically undereducated talking points such as running the government like a responsible household budget. I thank a Teabagger’s God my family budget isn’t as complicated as the federal governments.
A real lock-step Republican knows only one thing: protect the wealth. This doesn’t mean tax increases or decreases specifically. It means using any legislative method available to undermine and remove regulations on business and industry, including the banking industry.
Real Republicans like having the fox watch the hen house. Their rallying point is limited government and big business. The argument Americans are having right now is over who they want in charge of the country: the US Government or multinational corporations.
I like to believe that an honest government should incur responsible costs while they work to protect Americans from all threats, including those posed by industries chasing profit at any cost, even if the price is human life. That ideal vision of America may be gone soon if it’s not already. Corporate America has purchased the US political system. If lock-step Republicans take control of the executive and legislative branches the poor will be slaves to the 21st century Robber Barons. The middle class will simply be gone. So the question Republican, industry supporters need to ask themselves is: can America survive without a middle class?
RTPinbox.com
I’ve got this domain, rtpinbox.com and I really want to do something with it but I haven’t figured out what. I was thinking of a technology project blog but don’t know if I have time to post about a lot of things I’m working on. Web based mail is already available from gmail…. I really don’t have any ideas but open to suggestions.
NC State Fair Time
It will cost about $50 in advanced ride coupons, $16 in advanced admission tickets and $60 for games and food. So I’m projecting $126 this year for the NC State Fair. It will be amazing if that works out.
I think we’re going to catch the CAT bus at the intersection of Six Forks and Wake Forest Rd. and get dropped off at the main gate. It would probably save on parking. If not I’m going to try to get into Chuck Booth and Mike Franklin’s lot where Stay-Right Tank company used to be. I don’t want to pay and walk forever. If I pay to park I want to be close.