Ugly American, Day 6: She had to have been a little chilly

Now just in case you haven't been paying attention over the past few years or just in case you have just joined us, you should know that I am a bonifide, card carrying Redneck. I was born in the wilds of LA (Lower Alabama of course) raised on a farm and spent about 80% of my younger life working and playing outdoors. This, of course, earned me the trade mark farmers tan that inspired the term Redneck in the first place.

Because of this upbringing I am much more comfortable in jeans and a tee shirt (or flannel shirt in the winter) than a suit and tie. As a matter of fact, before we moved to Virginia, I could count the number of times I wore a tie on one hand and have a finger left over to pick my nose. Jeans, T-shirt and a comfy pair of sneakers are all I need to feel comfortable.

Now having said this little biography, I wish to state that even before this move, I was well aware of what “Dressing Business Professional” meant even though I had never had much need to do so. So when I received an invitation for a job interview with a prominent Supermarket chain and was told to dress business professional, I showered, shaved and put on my best suit. Silly me, I expected that when I got the Open House Interview that everyone there would be dressing in like fashions. Boy was I wrong!

So I walk into the waiting area where about twenty people were sitting waiting for their turn with an Interviewer. The first person I saw was a young lady (Term used loosely) who was dressed rather “interestingly.” She was wearing a very tight blouse, a extremely Mini Skirt, high black boots with fuzzy fringes and some sort of dark animal print leotards.

Now folks, I am not criticizing her for her tastes in clothing. No slut shaming or name calling involved. I do admit to a passing thought about exactly what kind of job she was applying for that counted that as business professional, but that is just my warped mind at work. She is free to wear whatever clothing she feels comfortable in where ever she wants.

On the other hand, IF she was applying for any of the management positions being interviewed for ( I am guessing this is the case since all they were interviewing for were high/mid level management positions.) then her dress was highly inappropriate. Most businesses don't want their grunt labor wearing that sort of clothing and certainly don't want their managers dressing that way. It is simply a matter of projecting a proper professional appearance that customers expect. She is free to dress any way she likes when not working, but most companies have pretty strict dress codes.

I ponder all of this because I have seen way to many cases where people dress like crap and then complain unfair treatment when Businesses will not hire them. As management myself, I have oftentimes had to deal with angry employees who came to work dressed like they just came out a strip club from the work entrance. As I grow older and people I work with get younger and younger, I see more of this happening all the time and it boggles my mind.

“Dress for success” and “Dress for the kind of job you want” are old sayings but still seem true to me. If your only goal is to be a fry tender at Wendy's for the rest of your life, then you can probably get away with dressing ever the heck you want. If you want to have a job with any sort of respect or future, you prolly wanna leave the vinyl mini skirt and animal print hose at home.

Ugly American, Day Five: Perceived Insults

Use yer nose instead.

So there is a really popular poster running around social media sites right now that starts its long numerical rant about what's wrong with Merrica (Bacon Guns GOD!) with the line “We have to press one for English” or something along those lines. The list goes on and on after that, but every time I see that first line, I am struck with the notion of just how impossibly sensitive people in the country have become to perceived slights or insults about them and their beliefs. It has become almost some sort of mania. “OH MY GAWD, THEM THERE FOLKS ARE ATTACKING THE MERRICAN WAY!”

I reminded of something I heard someone talking about last year. She ranted on and on because a website she visited had the US of A all the way down at the bottom of the list where you pick the country you live in. She ranted about how the US should be at the top of the list. She completely ignored the fact that it was an international website AND the list was in alphabetical order. She was to busy being insulted than to actually think about the subject.

Along the same lines is this moronic thing going around that makes the assumption that people saying “Happy Holidays” is somehow an attack against Christmas. The rants go on and on about how this is some new attack on the Sanctity of Christmas by them there other people who hate Santa and Trees. Never mind that saying Happy Holidays is nothing even remotely new and never mind that there are quite a few holidays right around that same time. (Hanukkah, Kwanza, Yule...any I left out?) This idea that this time of the year is devoted to Christmas is silly especially considering most scholars believe that if Christ lived he was more than likely born in the Spring not Winter?

People have become so insanely sensitive to any perceived threat to what they believe that they instantly go up in arms the moment they think that anyone might be working against them. They take their extremely narrow minded views and make them gospel. They take recent ideas and events and devoutly believe that what they feel is the way the things have always been.

People need to grow up and maybe just maybe get a little bit of maturity. They need to stop automatically feeling offended just because people express beliefs that don't agree with theirs. Despite what so many people seem to believe, America is not and never has been a nation of one single belief, culture or religion. From the very earliest days, America has been made up of dozens of cultures and many races with their own beliefs. “Americans” don't all speak English as their primary language. “Americans” aren't all Christians. Christians don't get to pick and chose the practices and traditions that everyone has to abide by.

America is a rich cultural garden with a wide variety of faiths, beliefs and cultures. It is high time we stopped being offended and started enjoying all of it. If nothing else, be danged happy that English is #1 when you press buttons. Could be 5^th behind French and Swahili.

End of Rant

The Ugly American, Day Four: The customer ain't always right.

Not a happy camper.

     So this little rant comes to you courtesy of my wonderful Wife's premier Black Friday encounter.  For those who do not live in the US, Black Friday is the ceremonial day after Thanksgiving where thousands of Americans attempt to kill each other to get "discount" prices on various and sundry items.  She had travelled to a specific store to buy a specific item and while she was there she encountered the ugly side to the Ugly American Practice.
     America has a saying that goes, "The customer is always right."  The idea of course is that a business' employees should do everything within their power to keep a customer happy so that said customer will return and do business with them once again.  On the surface, this is actually a decent little concept.  Even if the customer has made a mistake or is outright wrong, it is generally better to give into their belief in order to keep them happy.  However, there are instances where, no matter how much you may want to or even how reasonable the customer's demands are that you simply cannot give them what they want.

This is not my happy face.

 

      So in this instance as my wife is attempting to self checkout two very large and heavy items, one lane over a very irate customer is berating a cashier because she has told him that he can only buy two of the item (Oddly enough the same item my wife was buying, go figure) because the item was a Black Friday item with a limit of two.  The customer was very angry and demanded to buy as many as he wanted to.  He told the cashier that he had not known the item was a BF item.  (Note here:  The store only had like 4 items that were specifically BF items so the odds were kind of against this last statement being true) and even offered to pay full price for the other items over the limit of two.
     On the face of it, this seems like a reasonable offer.  Buy two at the discount price and then purchase the rest at a normal price.  The only problem is that most BF sales items are purchased by the store in limited numbers, say lot of 500.  This lot is specifically offered at the discount price and generally that lot is all there is in the store for the day of the sale.  That is generally why BF sales have very strict purchasing limits (1, 2 etc).  So if the Cashier and later manager had allowed the customer to purchase all of the item he wanted, that would have meant that later shoppers coming in to get the sales item would have be unable to do so.

Dunno why, just thought it looked funny.

      So in this case, there was no easy way out for the Store.  The manager politely refused to sell the gentleman the extra items no matter how irate he became because it would have been unfair to people who came later.  According to my wife, the shopper was later gently escorted from the building when he refused to accept the reasons for the refusal.  The Cashier and Manager did everything they could to defuse the situation and, from what my wife says, remained calm and polite even as the customer got angrier.
     The very crux of Assdom is to demand satisfaction when you are wronged.  If you get bad service, complain.  If a product you bought sucks, complain.  Never be afraid to voice your concerns when you feel you are in the right.  However, the flipside to that is to know and acknowledge when you are in the wrong and be big enough to admit it and move on.  In this case, the customer was in the wrong and should have accepted it, bought the two items he was allowed to and moved on.  Instead, since he was a jerk, he wound up with nothing.  I sense a life lesson in there somewhere.

End of Rant

SMOKING!

I'm grumpy because my mouth is on fire.

(Let me start this little rant by stating that I have nothing against people who smoke. Everyone has their own addictions and vices that make their lives complete and it yours is sticking a burning roll of paper and plant matter into your mouth and breathing toxic smoke into your lungs, more power to you. My own personal vices include Caffeine and Chocolate so who am I to judge? Now having said that bit of nice nice, onwards with the rant!)

So as most of the people who read my blogs (all four of you) know, I recently started a seasonal job working in retail. Since it is my first job of any kind in five years, I am very happy with this turn of events especially with the holidays coming up. For the most part, the two weeks I have worked so far have been very enjoyable and more than a little amusing. However, Friday Morning (Black Friday) I had to work from 1am to 7am alongside a young lady and found myself getting more and more annoyed.

Now before I go any further, I have to state that this young lady is a very hard working individual. She works a full time job and two part time jobs while attending law classes and raising an 8 year old daughter. For the most part, her work ethic seems to be exceptional. However, her actions last night reminded me of one of my most intense pet peeves when it comes to Smokers. During the 6 hours we worked together, she left the kiosk area no less than 8 times for at least 10 minutes at a time to go outside “for a smoke.”

Folks I have news for your smokers out there who seem to think that the world has to pause so that you can feed your addiction. Stepping outside to fill your lungs with smoke is not a right. It isn't a Federally Mandated Break. You don't have the right to stop working and leave just because you need a nicotine fix. You either need to wait till it is time for your break (if you get one) or wait till you get off work. It is that simple. The few times I have been management or owned my own business with employees, if I caught them skipping work to puff up, they would have been disciplined.

I like smoking because it makes me feel pretty.

Smokers who seem to think they deserve smoke breaks would be highly put out if I said, “Whups, my caffeine levels are dangerously low. I need to find a coffee machine and brew myself an espresso. I'll be back in 15 minutes.” Hell, I actually had a smoker complain during my last seasonal job when I had to stop and check my blood sugar levels because I was feeling horribly ill. Keep in mind he had already stopped for three smoke breaks in the four hours we had been working.

Duct tape optional

This is a free country, folks and you have the right to ruin your health with whatever vice or addiction that you chose. Go for it! If you want to mainline Drano, then more power to you. If you want to shove gerbils up your bum, have fun. However, don't expect the rest of the world to give a flying flick about it or your fellow employees to compensate while you go do it. Most organizations give a half hour to hour lunch and at least one fifteen minute break for full time employees. Wait till one of those breaks to go indulge your addictions. If you don't get breaks, then suck it up and wait till your shift is over. Your withdrawal is not my problem or concern.

End of Rant

I really gotta ask, WTF?

http://gma.yahoo.com/minivan-stop-turns-wild-chase-mom-kids-233648112--abc-news-topstories.html

Now folks, I am not even going to begin to comment on Some of the actions of the Police involved in the almost ludicrous series of events listed in the above article. Some of the actions that occurred were a little off and the idea that a Cop opened fire on the rear of a van filled with children strikes me as downright stupid. However as I read the article and watched the video, one thought kept dancing through my Caffeine addled headparts.

WHAT THE FUGG WAS THE MOTHER THINKING!?

So this lady on a drive with her children, presumably going on some sort of vacation, is pulled over on a routine traffic stop because she was apparently speeding quite a bit over the posted speed limit. Now in any ordinary situation, the cops would have spoken to her, given her a ticket and she would have moved on with her life. Cops would have gotten back in their car and went out for donuts. End of story.

Instead, the woman leads the cops on a chase that wouldn't have been to out of place in SpeedyNCranky 3. (Get it?) The chase winds up including even more cops and the aforementioned gun discharge. The mother winds up getting arrested and charged with multiple counts including child endangerment (Wonder if the cop who fired the shots will get that charge too?) A couple of Weed Pipes were also found in the car, but no mention is made of actual drugs.

Like I said, I am not trying to defend some of the actions done by the police, but you do have to wonder exactly what made the woman go so berserk? It sure as hades couldn't been the fear of getting a ticket. The Mother's actions smack of either some form of guilty conscience or serious mental issues. The fact that she would willingly place her kids in danger makes me question her maternal instincts.

As always I don't have any answers, just a whole bunch of questions that I will probably never know the answers to. I just cannot grasp what happened and what made it happen.

End of Rant

On Football, Pyschology and Bullying from the Blog of my Brother.

http://porkbrainsandmilkgravy.blogspot.com/2013/11/so-tell-me-what-you-want-what-you.html

     Well worth the read.  You may not agree with what he says, but he will make you think about it.

The Ugly American: Day Three: The price of the Ass.

http://news.yahoo.com/woman-gets--3-500-fine-and-bad-credit-score-for-writing-negative-review-of-business-233833012.html

The story behind the above article is wrong on so many levels that it is hard to cover them all. Every aspect of this story points out both the importance and danger of speaking out against bad service and dishonesty.

So according to the link a couple ordered a large amount of gifts from a company website. The website failed to deliver the merchandise and canceled the order while giving no explanation for the cancellation. Later, the couple left a less than complimentary review of the company. The company then fined the couple $3500.00 AND fed bad reports to the three national credit rating services. The rational was that the couple violated a very hidden clause that prevents negative reviews on the company website.

Now, on the face of this, the Company's actions were completely legal. The clause they invoked is in the Terms and Conditions section of their site and by using the site, it is understood that you have read the terms and conditions and agreed to them. By posting the negative review, they violated the agreement and were subject to punishment because of it. Like I said, completely legal.

However, legal doesn't mean right. First of all, the idea that a company refuses to allow negative reviews on their website automatically raises some serious red flags. How much does your business have to suck to make you ban any negative comments? How often does what happened to the couple in the article happen to other people? If you are afraid of people venting their dissatisfaction, then more than likely you are doing things to earn their ire.

On the other hand, what happened to the couple is a definite cautionary tale for those who wish to walk the Path of the Ass. More and more these days, people and corporations are trying to infringe on the most basic tenets of the 1^st Amendment. Besides the company listed in the article, places like Ebay actively discourage people from writing uncomplimentary reviews of people who use their service. Amazon has similar rules. Now neither of those two actually ban them, but do suggest reaching other methods such as working with the companies involved to resolve the issue.

It seems like more places and people are trying to legally or even illegally suppress any negative reactions to them. They put restrictions on their websites or on their store walls to keep them safe. And if someone dares to speak out, then they are made to look bad instead of the offenders. People are being actively discouraged from complaining when they are treated badly.

I was raised by a man who firmly believed in speaking his mind. If someone ripped him off, he complained about it and if someone treated him right he complimented them. He taught me to never be afraid to say what I feel and to speak out against ill treatment. Even then, there were perils and pitfalls to doing this. The Path of the Ass has never been an easy one and the actions of many today are just making it more difficult.

Like I said in the beginning, the Company's actions are legal at least on the surface because of an understood contract between them and the customers. I am not even sure there is a legal recourse for the couple to escape from the harm that has been done to them.

The 1^st Amendment rights of all Americans are under attack on so many different fronts. Certain corporations are doing their best to prevent people from speaking out against them. Certain organizations are doing the same thing. Even certain aspects of our government are trying to keep people from speaking out. Fear and intimidation are keeping people from speaking their minds. A special type of courage is needed now and I pray that more people are up to the test.

End of Rant

Does this purse make my Rant look big?

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/boy-reportedly-suspended-for-bringing-purse-to-school-192403545.html

A good friend of mine is always ranting about media bias and selective reporting. (Waves at TC) Course his rants usually focus on what he lovingly calls, “Leftist Liberal Media Bias.” He tends to ignore the fact that Conservative Media is just as biased and outspoken (Fox News Cough Cough) as Liberal Media (CNN Wheeze wheeze). Ahem sorry I have a nasty cold. But he does raise valid points that the monster that is modern News Reporting oftentimes edits or ignores news items that don't serve their personal agenda. The above article is an excellent example of this.

Now on the surface, this story is yet another example of some innocent person being punished for being different or unusual. A young boy has been suspended from school because he chooses to carry a very stylish woman's handbag with him to school. The boy, his parents and many others are crying foul and stating this is yet another example of the MAN cracking down on those who are not mainstream enough. Raise the protest signs and get marching folks to prove that the evil rulers cannot impose restrictions on individual expression!! CHARGE!

Whups, hold up on that charge for a second. Seems that the writer of the above article left out one teensy weensy detail that might shed a bit more light on the situation. Surprisingly enough this data came from the comments section. (I also confirmed it from other sources.) I say surprisingly because usually the comments section is filled with tons of name calling and horrible spelling. And I quote,

“Anderson County School District Superintendent Don Blome said Thursday that he could not discuss the specific case because of privacy concerns. However, he said all students, whether female or male, are prevented from having bags, purses, satchels and backpacks in the core classrooms like English and math. The bags must be stored in lockers during class time, he said. "We strive to make sure we treat every kid alike and there are classroom rules we expect kids to follow," he told KCTV5 on Thursday. "They can bring (bags and purses) to school. There's no policy against that. But the classroom rules are that they can't bring it to the classroom."

The boy in question attempted to wear his stylish accessory in areas and situations expressly forbidden by school rules. I am guessing these rules are in place for a reason, probably to discourage cheating or distractions during said classes. The articles quoted in the comments section stated and I confirmed that there is absolutely no ban on boys carrying a girl's purse or even dressing up as a girl. Well as long as your clothes meet school dress code that is.

So essentially, the kid broke a rule that he had to have known existed. He got caught for it and was punished with a one day suspension which is a very light punishment. The rule was not in place to discriminate against anyone since the rule applies to everyone. The right thing to do would have been just to suck it up, admit you made a boo boo and moved on, BUT of course a fuss has to be made because that is pretty much where our culture has devolved down to. The fault isn't with the kid who broke the rules. The fault has to lie with the SYSTEM that is trying to keep the kid down. Thus we have selectively edited articles that leave out the little details that don't support their arguments.

What we need is more sources who report all of the facts in a story and then let the people decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. This heavily edited and altered pablum most sources are scooping out these days is about as far from real news as I am from China. Still, I guess if people actually started reporting real news, people like me would be out of a job.

End of Rant

Chickens don't have nuggets!

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/how-saying-no-to-mcdonald-s-might-lead-to-dad-losing-custody-165611460.html

Let me preface this rant by stating that I don't know the entire story behind this article. I have no idea if other factors besides the one mentioned in the above article are in play with the divorce case. I do know from personal experience with a friend of mine long passed that divorces can get extremely ugly especially when children are involved. Children are often used as weapons against the opposing parent either directly or indirectly as part of the horrific battles that divorces can become. All I can go by at this point is the subject and information portrayed in the above article and my own opinions about all of it.

So a Father refuses to allow his young son to eat at McDonalds because he feels the child has been eating too much fast food. He tells the kid that he can eat Anywhere he wishes as long as it is not McDonalds. Kid objects loudly and defiantly so the Father does the 21st Century version of going to bed without his supper. Now, a pyscologist and the Mother are using this bit of parenting to limit if not curtail the Father's time with the child because they view it as a form of child abuse.

Now on the surface, this seems like an utterly stupid argument. The kid was exhibiting very bratty behavior that in my day would have earned him a few swats on the bottom. The father was apparently trying to help the kid eat a little better, which in this day and age of childhood obesity should be viewed as good as a good thing. It seems obvious that the mother and the doctor are trying to turn what should have been a non-event into something way more serious.

Course, on the flip, an argument can be made that...well it was just one trip to McDonalds and that the child's bad behavior only occurred after his request to go there was refused. I know a woman who's son would only eat chicken nuggets (any nuggets from a chicken would do, not just the Mckind.) for a very long time. Kid was well behaved and very active besides this odd little fioble, so his mother allowed his odd dietary fetish. As fat as I know, the boy turned out healthy and happy and the last time I heard had started eating other types of food. With the strain of the divorce ongoing, one could argue that putting even more stress on the child could be bad for him. Time enough for parental discipline once the mess was over.

In truth, I have no real answer to this one even as my own opinion. Are the lawyer and Mother over reacting, maybe even exaggerating the situation to gain advantages in the divorce case. Most certainly. Could the Father have handled the situation better and avoided the mess all together? Prolly could have. I think my own personal reaction to the son's demands would have been based off the kid's previous behavior. If the son had been a “good” boy up until that point and behaved himself regularly, I would have probably allowed him to eat at McDonalds. On the other hand, if the kid had been a true brat on previous ocassions and constantly fighting and whining, then I would have probably not allowed him to eat there.

On the other hand, I would not have allowed him to go without eating either. I have found from many years of dealing with young children that if you put food in front of them, they will oftentimes eat it even it is not what they wanted. Sure the kid wanted MacDs, but I am betting if you had taken him to another place and put similar food down, he would have prolly scarfed it up in no time.

But all of these musings do not take away from the sheer silliness of trying to portray the Father as a poor parent because he refused to cave into his cranky kid's desire. I seriously doubt that any kid has been permanently scarred because his parent refused to feed him chicken nuggets. The scarring IMNSHO comes from two parents who can't make nice with each other even long enough to get unhitched. Come on, guys. You are supposed to be the adults here!

End of Rant

The following is a public service announcement. Please standby.

This message is brought to you by the “Get a Grip on Reality Society.”

To all of the people out there who truly believe or at least wonder if 9/11 was some secret plot by the US government. To all of people who think that Sandy Hook was some massive hoax created by the Democrats to have an excuse to take away all our guns. To the many people out there who think that the Boston Marathon Bombing was done by security forces in order to further their plans of imposing martial law. To everyone who is convinced that the US Government is secretly using bug drones to implant RFID chips under our skin so they can track us where ever we go. To everyone who is sure that Barack Obama is a closet Muslim Hell bent on installing Sharia law in the US. Essentially to pretty much everyone who really believes that their ordinary little lives are even remotely interesting enough to warrant attention. This message is for you. Please stand by.

You're Wrong!

Thank you for your time and we now return you to your regularly scheduled programs.

Lying like a cheap rug hit by a steamroller

So as I mentioned in the rather colorful blog a couple of days ago, I finally have found employment after nearly 5 years of being jobless. Admittedly it is only temporary seasonal work, but it is 8 weeks of solid, good paying work that will go a long way to keeping us afloat till something more permanent comes along. Today, I went to finalize the paperwork and was informed that I might not get as many hours as initially promised because my new boss had received an e-mail from the Corporate Office that informed her all hours would be cut to less than 30 per week. The reason given for this cut was, of course, blamed on the ACA and the Employer Mandate that requires all companies with 50 or more full time employees to offer insurance. Great, just great!

Once again, the evil that is Obamacare has cost people hours and income. Only one teensy weensy little problem with this idea. The Employer Mandate which would require said insurance has been delayed by the Feds for a year. No employer of any number of people will be required to over insurance until at least 2015. See the problem with the “Obamacare stole our jobs?” excuse? Quite simply put the company (Which shall remain nameless because I need the job.) used a LIE to cover the fact they are being a bunch of Dicks. (“On July 2, 2013, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it was postponing the effective date of the employer mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“ACA”) from January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2015.” Just FYI in case you were curious.)

Course this should come as no surprise to anyone. The past year especially has been ripe with Companies using the ACA to screw people over. I mean who can forget Pappa Johns announcing that it would have to cut employees hours because to over them insurance would raise the price of a pizza by 50 cents. Notice Papa doesn't have any problems raising the prices of pizza whenever the heck he wishes. Papa's rant was that Obamacare was “forcing” them to do this even though the Employer Mandate was nowhere near in danger of being activated yet.

Companies have been blaming the ACA for “Making” them do things even though all of the aspects of Obamacare that effect them didn't go into effect till Oct. 1 and the biggie, the JOB KILLER (Echo chamber effect) was delayed for a year. In other words, they are being jerks and blaming something else. The sad part is people bought into the lie and lapped up every single bit of the poop like it was an chocolate Sundae. I guess that means you may not be able to fool all of people all of the time, but you can fool most of the people most of the time.

I honestly no opinion about the ACA right now besides the “Really? Millions upon millions spent and you can't even get a website that works?” I think that, for whatever reasons, the system set in place is too deeply flawed to work the way it is supposed to. I do feel that there is a chance, albeit slight, that enough corrections can be made to let it work. However, I am sick and tired of Corporations and Politicians spreading all of this BullShift that is at best poorly disguised propaganda and at worst outright lies. I am also tired of all of these Sheeple who swallow the lies with gusto and regurgitate it back on command. Learn the facts, folks. Then you can rant.

End of Rant

The Ugly American Syndrome, Day 2: Religious Freedom, except for my religion!

http://minutemennews.com/2013/11/barack-obamas-dhs-advisor-mohamed-elibiary-america-islamic-country/

So a friend of mine on FB posted the above link the other day as part of my ongoing urge to disprove Interwebz Hoax, Pranks and Lies. (Yeah I know it is a wasted effort but everyone needs a hobby right?) I did research and found that the above individual did indeed post a Tweet that indicated that America was a Islamic Country following Islamic Values. I cannot speak to what the individual in question actually meant by his post, but I will point out that Twitter is a very bad place to get any in depth idea across because, lets face it, it is hard to get your point across in 256 characters or less. So the man may have been trying to speak of America's cultural and racial diversity or he may have indeed been indicating that Islamic Faith is conquering the US. I can't say one way or the other.

But that is not what this little rant is about. Nope not even close. This little rant is about all of the people out there who are...well ranting about Islam and Sharia Law or whatever the Hate Topic Du Sour Grapes is for the month. They rage on and on about Mosques being built in their neighborhoods or being forced to press #1 for English and fret themselves into conniption fits over the idea that evil forces are threatening the Merrican Way. You don't have to look far for them. Trust me when I say they are everywhere and will start protesting at the drop of a turban.

Now here is a very simple way to shut most of them up. As they go on and on about how wrong it is that Muslims are trying to “force” Americans to follow Sharia Law, tap them on the shoulder and tell them you agree 110%. Then say something along the lines of “And Gee, isn't it just as horrible that powerful figures in the US are trying to force the people of the US to obey laws based off of Christian Beliefs?” Trust me, that will shut them up for about 30 seconds as their brains reboot, then you will probably get a “Well, that is different!” or something like it.

See people seem to be under the mistaken impression that America is a Christian Nation based off of Christian tenets and commandments. They believe that it is all fine and dandy to base the Nations laws off the teachings of whatever version of the Holy Bible they like to not read. Well, here is a newsflash for a bunch of people. America is not nor has it ever been a Christian Nation. The US has not State Religion and our government was specifically set up to prevent laws and such being made specifically from Christian Tenets. In fact the only mentions of anything of a religious nature in the original documents are “Creator” in the Declaration of Independence (Not not God, Yahweh, Allah or any other specific religion.) and “in the year of our Lord” in the Constitution. (Arguable not even a direct reference to any sort of religion since this was a fairly common line for that time when speaking of the date.).

Still, we have people ranging from high ranking politicians down city councilmen insisting that America is a Christian State and that is perfectly alright to create laws based of of those believes even though such ideas directly contradict the whole idea of the US. They pass laws about abortion because it is supposedly against Christian Values to perform such acts. (Note that one is up in the air.) They push teaching Creationism (Intelligent Design) in Schools as long as the Creation Mythos being taught is the Christian one. They rage on and on when someone says a Prayer in School toward Allah, but are all happy eyes and smiles when a School Leader stands up and leads the School in a Christian Prayer.

Essentially So-called American Christians are completely and utterly opposed to any sort of religion being used to guide their country except when it is the Christian Religion then it is okay. They get peeved off when they are being “oppressed” but are fine and dandy with oppressing other faiths simply because they don't like them. I will leave you with a few examples how hypocritical this mind set is.

1. Bugshuck, AZ bans the building of a new Baptist Church because the Westboro Baptist Church shows that all Baptists are bigoted, inbred idiots who like waving badly spelled signs. (You can bet that Christians who happily oppose the building of new Mosques because all Muslims are terrorists or terrorist sympathizers would be outraged over this bigotry.)
2. A Group organizes a Zillion Person Walk to protest that under Sharia Law, women are treated as little more than slaves with no control over their lives or property. (Betcha these same people are all over laws that restrict birth control and abortions because women don't have the right to regulate their own bodies.)
   America has been from the day it was first imagined, a land of Freedom where each and every person has the right to believe the way they feel is right. Our nation was set up so that no one religion could dominate and control the fates of everyone. No matter what most extremists desire, we should never move away from that because nothing good can ever come of it. Course, in the end, this is just my opinion.
   End of Rant

A brief interlude in the rants for this important message

     We now return you to your regularly scheduled Rants.  Thank you for your support.

Numbers are just numbers, till they come back and bite you in the butt.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/obama-overlooked-10-million-americans-could-lose-health-185034418.html

“It’s a different story in the market for individual policies, which are typically purchased by the self-employed, people who work for small companies that don’t offer insurance and others who don’t work. This is a small portion of the health-insurance market, which might explain why Obama and his advisers didn’t give it much thought at the outset. Only about 15 million Americans are insured through an individual policy, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, while 10 times as many — 150 million people — get health insurance through an employer. (Most other Americans either get coverage through a government program or go without.) White House spokesman Jay Carney has tried to downplay the cancellation flap by pointing out repeatedly that the individual market represents just 5% of Americans. “

Earlier this month when the ACA creakily rolled out, I pointed out that at least finally we would have actual hard data and facts about the whole thing instead of the greatly exaggerated and misused statistics that both sides of the coin have been trotting out for years. I made the point that despite what people love to think, statistics are just numbers and depending on them can lead to all sorts of problems. I was greatly derided by a lot of people who depend on those numbers as the “facts” they need to prove their argument. Well, Santa cam early and gave me a present that completely illustrates exactly what I meant when I said that.

So the big flap over past week or so is that 100s of thousands of people are receiving notices from their insurers that their policies are being canceled. Of course the large chunk of these policies are essentially Trash Policies that are little better than having no insurance at all. (Case in point one woman who had a policy where she paid $50.00 a month and her insurance paid $50.00 towards her doctors visits and $11.00 towards her medications and she paid everything else. Unless she was visiting the doctor more than one time a month, she was being ripped off.) Still the whys and wherefores of the insurance quality isn't the source of this little rant.

The WH and its advisers were well aware that there was a possibility that people could lose their insurance once the plan rolled out due to many plans not meeting minimum requirements under the ACA. They looked at the statistical data and saw that a mere 5% (Potentially 10% according to some sources.) could lose their insurance and be forced to buy much more expensive policies. They pondered it and decided that 5% out of 100% was pretty good odds and rolled on.

(As an aside here, I'd like to point out that the 5% represented here is the total number of Americans insured under individual policies, not the actual number who will lose coverage.)

Statistically speaking, the move makes sense. Your actions only affect 5% of a group so the idea seems solid enough to work. The overall numbers support your actions. Until you stop and look at the facts behind the numbers. Estimates by independent analysis sources show that as many as 10 million people could and probably will lose their insurance coverage under the ACA. Whether the policies they have are great policies or not, they can still lose them. Considering we are talking about an idea that was supposed to gather more people under the insurance banner, this seems a little bit dumb.

The WH and Democrats looked at the Statistics and went with the odds. On paper, the numbers supported their actions. Hells, from a purely statistical POV they still do. 95 out of a hundred isn't too bad a score. However, the Facts show that more thoughts and more planning was desperately needed for this to have any hope of working. 5% of people losing their insurance doesn't sound horrible, but 10 Million people losing their insurance sounds grim. Statistics are clean and neat, but the real world isn't anywhere near clean or neat. Numbers don't show the pain and suffering. Real people living real lives do.

End of Rant

The Ugly American Syndrome, Day 1: Say what you mean or suck it up!

Now everyone has heard stories of “The Ugly American.” Some ignorant Hick goes to some foreign country with absolutely no clue about the local customs, traditions and laws. He then proceeds to make a complete and utter Ass out of himself while managing to insult pretty much everyone he meets. An excellent example of this is a section of Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad book where he and his traveling companions drive a poor guide crazy with questions. Read the book because it is well worth the read.

Course, much like everything else in my rather odd life, my definition of the Ugly American is slightly different. For as long as I can remember, I have called it my “Ugly American” routine every time I had to break out a can of Whup Ass when people and places do not perform the services that they are supposed to perform. My Wife hates it because I have no shame in arguing and disputing people in public when I feel that someone isn't doing their durned jobs. I have actually been known to yell if the situation warranted it.

So for the next few days or so, I am going to go over some of the examples of when I whipped out the UA stick and why I felt it was justified. Hopefully it will give all of you a rare insight into exactly how my mind works (or doesn't work depending on your point of view.) Hope you guys enjoy the ride.

My first example is actually a recent one and is a prime example of how things can escalate when people don't want to admit their mistakes or try to correct them. I am a Diabetic and dependent on Insulin on a daily basis to help balance and manage my Blood Sugar levels. A few days before this event (2 days to be precise), I had gone to our new Pharmacy to get the disposable needle tips that fit on the end of my insulin pens. The Pharmacy misunderstood what I needed and filled the prescription for the insulin pens themselves. No big deal, simple mistake and didn't even rate a blip on the complaint radar (Complaindar?). The cashier rang up the order before I realized the mistake and gave me a price of $70.00. I told them the mistake and they corrected it and we moved on. Everything was both hunky and dorry.

So 2 days later, I go to purchase the actual insulin because my Wife's payday had arrived and we had the money to buy the insulin. Barely anyway because our money situation is really tight right now. I ask the Pharmacist to fill the prescription. Hitch one occurs when she informs me that I had already had the prescription filled and that no more refills were left. It turned out that they hadn't taken the “purchase” from two days before out of the system so it showed I had already gotten the medications. However, she fixed the hitch and they proceeded to fill the prescription while I picked up other much needed supplies.

So along comes Hitch the second. Once I have finished buying our other supplies, I return to pick up the insulin. When the cashier rings up the meds, I am told it will be $120.00, almost TWICE the price I was quoted before. I pointed out that the price was a lot more than what I was told a mere two days before and that I simply didn't have the extra cash. Now at this point the UA was still on a short leash. All I was looking for was an an apology for the mistake and some way to fix the problem of me being out of insulin. I wasn't looking for freebies or anything else except perhaps purchasing one of the three boxes of Pens until such time as we had the cash to buy the rest.

Instead of offering any apology for their mistake, both the cashier and the Pharmacist proceeded to essentially tell me that they hadn't quoted the earlier price and that I was basically lying about it all. That is when the UA broke loose on them. With strained civility, I informed them that they had indeed quoted me a price of $70.00 two days before and they had done it in front of a Witness (My Wife). I informed them that I was dangerously short on insulin and had to have the pens to keep my blood sugar under control. I was not so politely informed once again that I was basically lying and that there was nothing they could do.

(As an aside here, I want to add that most of the pharmacies I have done business with in the past were more than willing to sell me a third of the overall prescription to tide me over till such time as I had the money for the rest of it. While it would have annoyed me to pay $40.00 for a third of a prescription that was supposed to cost $70.00, I would have still paid it, grumbled a little and went on with my life.)

So I left the store without Insulin feeling extremely grumpy to put it mildly. When I got home, I fired off a letter to the Store Website informing them of what had happened AND that my wife and were contemplating taking both our grocery and pharmacy business elsewhere. I told them in great detail how rude and accusatory the employees were and how angry I was. We actually had the insulin prescription transferred to another store and filled the next day.

Three days later, I received a phone call from the Head Pharmacist of the store who profusely apologized for the behavior of his employees and informed me that there had been at least three different ways the problem could have been handled. He then offered a very kind deal that will save me a lot of money on my next 6 refills on Insulin, but he had won me over simply by saying, “We messed up. We should have handled it better and we apologize.” That was all I had been looking for when all of this started.

Being a Ugly American isn't about being unnecessarily rude or mean. It isn't about expecting something for nothing. It is about expecting people and places to do the jobs given to them. It is about getting, at the very least, the minimum amount of service from where ever you are. Somehow, a large number of places seem to have forgotten the concept that they are there to serve the public. Whether it is slinging burgers or selling food, they are dependent on the Public for their lively hood. Despite what a lot of people like to think, the customer ain't always right. However when they Are right and you are wrong, you have to step up and admit it.

End of Rant

Opinions are kind of like...nah I'm not gonna say it but everyone has one.

One of the things that I find annoying and funny at the same time is all of these people on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter who seem to think they are experts on a subject just because they can parrot back all of the excrement being shoveled at them through various sources. I am disturbed by all of the so-called Citizen Reporters funneling through the sewers of the Web who think that they are being objective when all they do is seek out like minded websites and sources that agree with their narrow ideas and then regurgitate it back to the public. Even more disturbing to me and indicative of exactly what is wrong with our country is the millions of people that read this tripe and consider it to be news.

Pick a subject you don't like. Anything from Obamacare to Llama Farming in Detroit will do. Then do a web search for “news” about your chosen dislike. I promise you that you will find dozens or more so called news pieces on the subject that support your viewpoint because odds are you are not the only one enraged over Llama poo in the Motor City. Odds are also pretty good that most of the sites you find are no more done by real reporters than I am a talented Tango Dancer. Still people latch onto these jokes instead of actually finding sites that carry facts and information because they agree with them.

And to me that is the main problem facing us today. No one wants the actual facts. Hardly anyone wants real hard data that can prove or disprove any controversial subject. They just want to hear things that reassure them that they are right and everyone else is wrong. When they discover any sort of data that can disprove what they believe, they promptly dismiss it as misinformation or even a conspiracy of some kind.

I have lost count of how many times I have seen people post crap on Facebook and other places that is supposedly news, but has no actual facts or data to back any of it up. Sorry folks but if you or the site you are quoting cannot or will not give corroborating evidence to support its claims then it isn't even remotely news. At best it is an opinion piece from a loud mouth with a blog (Points at self) and at worst it is regurgitated propaganda.

I always tell people to like or dislike any durned thing you want. Hells, you don't even have to have a logical reason for it. That is your right and Gods knows it is one I exercise on a fairly regular basis. However, your opinions are not facts and quoting the opinions of other people who agree with you doesn't make them facts. Quoting half truths and distortions over and over again does not make them facts, it just makes you look stupid.

Of course, this is still a free country (Well at least for the time being) so if you don't mind looking like a micro brained moron, please feel free to keep posting “News” stories about how Al Gore is using orbiting heat rays to fool people into believing Global Warming is real or How Ted Cruz is secretly the love child of Tickle Me Elmo and Miss Piggy. I need all the laughs I can get.

End of Rant