Faster, better…

Heads are rolling at NPR.

The publicly-funded news outlet just announced that its CEO, Vivian Schiller, has resigned. However, as news trickles out it appears more that she was ousted.

via Developing: NPR CEO ‘Forced Out’ Amid Undercover Video Scandal | The Blaze.

When news surfaced that radical UK cleric Anjem Choudary was going to stage a Shariah4America rally at the White House on Thursday, it’s fair to say many expected some explosive video to surface. Especially considering counter protesters planned rallies, too. Choudary canceled his rally. The counter protesters did not. At least one shocking video still surfaced.

via Liberal Site Tries to Tie Shocking Muslim-Taunting Video to Respected Conservative | The Blaze.

(This is REAL CHRISTIAN HATE.  So-called believers taunting a prayerful Muslim. This particular Muslim visits the White House a few times a week and prays.  He hurts no one.

Along comes a group of religious zealots of another faith and taunts the man by throwing crosses at his feet. Do you think for one minute that after everything Jesus endured on Earth that he would condone or approve of the kind of behavior exhibited yesterday in Washington D.C?

Perhaps you call yourself a Christian. Examine the tenants of your faith and the behaviors your church leaders ask you to emulate to promulgate your faith. Do those behaviors make sense?

As a Catholic, I have been on the receiving end of religious hate. Tracts from an intractable Christian sect placed Catholic hate literature on my car, that was parked in a parking lot where I worked. No one else’s car had the pamphlet. Just my car.  I tore up the pamphlet and called the State Police and discussed the personal insult with my Priest.

In case the hater’s missed it, in the United States of America, the country  was created with the understanding that citizens could worship as they pleased. Whether I believe in your faith or not does not give me the right to treat you badly because of my disagreement.

A suggestion is that whoever these “Christians” were that they refrain from publicly humiliating others and confine their hate to their private prayer.)

But that temporary solution will not stop some politicians from using federal and state budget cuts as a wedge to divide public employees from collective bargaining, said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Mechanicsville.

via Maryland’s Hill Democrats Join Federal Workers’ Rally – Southern Maryland Headline News.

(Steny Hoyer does NOT speak for the conservatives of Southern Maryland. This aggressive behavior of Hoyer’s, of stirring up Federal workers as a way to divide the people of the USA is reprehensible.

Even Hoyer’s hero, FDR, understood that collective bargaining by any government employee was fraught with potential abuse and corruption.

Federal employees already have a Constitutional guarantee of employment that the pubic work force does not enjoy. Their salaries are now far above those salaries in the public sector. The public they “support” according to the progressive laborer in the article has benefits that far transcend most in the private sector and those BENEFITS are paid by you and me – all the while we try to survive in this recession. They will want more while we get less. That’s not support.

Progressives are on the march and at the head of the line is Mr. Hoyer. The progressives in Maryland, through GERRYMANDERED districts again elected this progressive into office.

Marching federal workers pretend I’m on the street corner as you shout your venomous hateful rhetoric. I am turning my back to you.)

It should shock no one that Democrats in Massachusetts were leading a rally for union members, but the language from one elected official slid into questionable territory as told the cheering crowd: Congressman Capuano

“I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an email to get you going. Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.”

via Dem Rep Tells Union Members: ‘You Need to Get a Little Bloody When Necessary’ | The Blaze.

(Where is the call against hateful rhetoric. Oh the humanity! Read about it at The BLAZE. This Congressman owes his constituents and the people of this country an apology for his tasteless, violent, and hateful rhetoric. I’m just saying… )

Wisconsin state senators who miss two or more session days will no longer get paid through direct deposit. They’ll have to pick up their checks in person on the Senate floor during a session.

via Hey MIA WI Senators, Want to Get Paid? Just Pick Up Your Check at the Office… | The Blaze.

(This is a good thing. Now voters in Michigan are you going to hold these “law makers” accountable?)

I received an email from our Tax and Spend State Controller trying to justify a strange and new “minimal cost to the taxpayer” financial-literacy initiative up for consideration in Annapolis. Apparently Peter Franchot and the Democrats believe students should be taught financial literacy in the schools.

Isn’t that a lot like asking the fox to teach hen-house security to the chickens?

“Predictably, opponents of a financial literacy course have tried to defeat this bill by inflating the “fiscal note” — or the estimated costs of implementation. As Maryland’s Chief Fiscal Officer, I fully understand that every dollar counts in these tough fiscal and economic times, and would not be supporting an initiative that would place a heavy burden on Maryland taxpayers who are already struggling in the aftermath of our economic crisis. That is why I want to assure you that a statewide financial literacy course can and will be implemented at a minimal cost to the taxpayers.”

The progressives in Annapolis brought the state financial crisis down upon us by failing to mind their spending habits. Franchot presided over it all the while claiming everything was OK and he was on the job! All of his self-aggrandizing emails pretty much are of the same tone.

Parents are responsible for sending their children into the real world with good financial habits. The state has NO SUCH MANDATE. Most conservatives like myself probably read Mr. Franchot’s progressive sell on these inititives and reacted as he would indeed predict:

“What we as a state cannot afford are the fiscal and social costs of sending our children into the real world without the tools they need to make responsible financial decisions. “

I’m thinking that any financial-literacy course work should be directed toward our teachers, school boards, school administrators, and last but not least our law makers. Perhaps even the State Controller? Mr. Franchot, the State is not the cradle-to-grave, omnipotent purveyor of knowledge. Historically our families have relied upon teaching PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY to get these messages across, something we now lack because progressives have created an entitlement state!

Colleges have courses in personal finance as ELECTIVES. Perhaps the kids can make their own selection then. Why would any financially savvy lawmaker try to sell his constituents on new school spending when our schools are already at financial TILT.  Minimal expense to taxpayers? Excuse me?

How many homeowners in Maryland have seen their PROPERTY TAXES DOUBLE with schools already taking over one-half of the total tax bill? Mr. Franchot are you kidding? You are completely and utterly financially unaware of the pressure your progressive Maryland government has put on the taxpayer of this state. Our heating fuel rates are the highest ever and show no signs of going down. Electricity rates have skyrocketed. Food prices are going up. Despite all of these issues local school districts are building palatial new schools. Calvert County is a prime example.

Mr. Franchot you are financially clueless and completely irresponsible. Why you were reelected is beyond all comprehension.  According to you there is bi-partisan support:

“We’ve had great bipartisan backing for our financial literacy legislation, but we need your support to make sure we pass the final hurdle. It is so important that you make your support heard by contacting your legislators to encourage them to support Senate Bill 262 and House Bill 127.”

Excuse me all you new Republicans in Annapolis. Voters did not put you there to spend more money. Were you listening during the elections? What you should be doing is sharing with all of your constituents why new spending is bad for Maryland and why progressives like Franchot are serving their elite best interest and not ours. Franchot believes Marylanders are sheep and he is the sheep herder.  Conservatives understand that man can govern and be responsible for himself.

Parents where are you on this? have you ever thought to involve your young people in after-school activities that teach financial responsibility? I’d bet your church may even have a free course.  You are responsible for your children NOT the State of Maryland.

Here’s another form of Internet fraud that combines a variety of other common scams—social engineering, fake security software, and phishing.Cybercriminals have started calling people on the telephone, claiming to be from Microsoft, and offering to help solve their computer problems. Once cybercriminals have gained a victim’s trust, they can do one or more of the following:- Trick people into installing malicious software on their computer.- Take control of a victim’s computer remotely and adjust settings in order to leave the computer vulnerable.- Request credit card information so that cybercriminals can bill for the phony services.Microsoft will not make unsolicited phone calls to help you with your computer. If you receive a phone call like this, hang up.

via Please read: Don’t fall for phony phone tech support.

I received one of these calls.

The caller has an off-shore accent, possibly Indian. He identifies himself as calling from Microsoft Corporation. He claims that your computer has been sending Microsoft virus-laden messages and that if you go immediately to your computer he can help you fix it. The guy is real strong on immediacy because he doesn’t want you to think about it.

The call is from a CYBERCRIMINAL and not Microsoft. Hang up on the caller.  Do NOT provide him with ANY information. The paragraph above the link is from the Microsoft website.  Microsoft does not make these kind of calls. The caller is trying to rip you off.

Noel reached out to me. Had it not been for the ADS and Noel Valerio I would have very little knowledge bout the disease that changed my life in 2009. Not every doctor is qualified to make these botox injections. The first doctor I encountered actually made the first year with the disease much worse than it had to be by making injections in the front of the neck and by using too much of the drug. Only by finally assuming responsibility for the way I was feeling was I able to have the courage to terminate my relationship with that government clinic and begin a search for another neurologist. To the first doctors I was a novelty to be videotaped and laughed at. Their lack of understanding caused dysphonia, muscle atrophy, confusion, and real pain.

The real sad part about dystonia is that some doctors pretend to understand what they are doing. The honest ones will say it is out of their field of study. The pretenders are making life even worse for their patients.

The ADS is bringing dystonians together and that will create a group of rare disease patients that understand treatments better than their physicians so we can no longer be misdiagnosed or taken advantage of.

It took eight months for the government clinic to begin billing properly. It wasn’t until then that I knew my cost out of pocket was $280 to over $300 per visit even after insurance. The insurance company paid over $2500 a visit to a government “research/learning” hospital where there was no standard of care or treatment plan. The doctors there would not even return the calls made by my personal physician. I suggested to a neuro-psychiatrist at the government clinic that it was like being in a bad Dr. House episode. i began to see dystonia as a money-making opportunity for clinics rather than as a disease where a cure was in my future.

Awareness is everything. Every dystonia patient is different. The treatments are not the same. the pain and muscle issues are from mild to extreme. The SSDI folks make their “determinations” using psychologists and mystery doctors that read the reports of doctors that really have no idea what they are confronted with. The result is a group of severely handicapped patients that are misdiagnosed, misunderstood, and financially unable to get treatments even with insurance. There is story after story, including mine, dealing with the inability of doctors to correctly diagnose this motion disorder. In the beginning of this disease it is not uncommon for patients to be in extreme pain and discomfort for months or years until they stumble across a doctor that understands.

I went for two months believing that I might have had brain cancer. It cost me a new job and prevented me from looking for a new one for over a year. The old emploter looks at me like I’m a mental case or contagious. It’s much harder finding work when your head and eyes move differently than everyone else.s The uneducated among us treat dystonians as though we are indeed contagious or might be unpredictable mental cases. (You know, bad for business.)

No one knows why I have dystonia. That’s the hard thing to understand. I didn’t break anything, It just happened.

Don’t count on disability either. That SSDI money has already been wasted away. Like social security it is a false promise the politicians never intended to fulfill. The government makes it extremely difficult to get the help you need and it’s even worse when you have doctors employed by the state in which you live. In one year’s time my doctor may have seen me a total of one and one half hour’s time across four brief visits. When i wanted to ask questions i was told. “Hurry up i have other patients to see.” Botox can’t wait once the bottle is opened. The tv lawyers that claim they are there for you when you need it are really only after easy money and open and shut cases. When your government doctors won’t tell the state SSDI folks they think you have a disability you’re screwed.

Most everyone is alone in their misery these days but especially when your medical crisis is unknown and painful. That’s why I’m thankful for Noel, the ADS, and for Oprah WInfrey’s network for airing this segment.

I have always held the belief that if a company must brag bodaciously about their customer service, or sidle up to your TV screen with a cowboy hat and smile, or insist that the blankity blank service gratification associations in their industry rate them platinum plus, that you probably will never see great product or service – or even find someone in the company that cares about you. Your money yes. You no.

Take The (blank)er Store for example. Now The (blank)er Store has an immense television presence. Top-of-the-line marketing. Their founder and big guy warms right up to you – you know, all warm-and-fuzzy like. Heck he could be your grandpa.

Want to talk to anyone but their sales force? Not in your lifetime. What are the clues that make my claim? Why am I just another (blanker)er?

1. When you call the telephone number listed on their website you are subjected to a commercial and wait two to five minutes – for a human if you’re lucky.

2. When you ask to speak to a “marketing manager” a script-fed maven on the phone asks you, :”Well did you want to be removed from our mailing list?” You say “No, I just wanted to talk to a manager in marketing.” You would think she would have no idea why I am calling. But the question she asked probably gives my query away – even to you. Maybe she does know why I’m calling. I’ll get to my reason later. At this point in a big happy, high-rated, best-in-its-class, highly-successful and service-oriented business it should not make a difference. I mean really, I just want to speak with a marketing manager, please.

3. The receptionist feigned not knowing who to transfer me to.

I say that because I waited another three minutes. She came back on the line and said she was transferring me to Stephanie Stevenson. (Hmmm, perhaps Larry Lawrence, Bill Williams, or Carly Carleton instead, but I digress.) I was connected to an audible black hole, only silence.

Yet I am a patient man in search of the truth so I continue to hold. Suddenly I get Julie’s voice mail. Her last name is unrelated to her first name. She has that manager quality tonality but I’m wondering. There was only one ring and then the voice mail announcement.

Well I leave a polite message with my home phone number since it is lunch time in Texas where Julie’s office is. When I’m eating rattle snake I would also rather not be interrupted.

“Julie, I was transferred to your voice mail, though I hope not intentionally. I have a concern that I hoped you might help me with. It took quite some time just to reach your voice mail. I would appreciate a return call at your earliest convenience. Thanks very much.”

4. Not one manager or executive is listed with a telephone number on their website. There are no email addresses either. It appears you have to go through Miss Call Screener aka Miss Justify Taking TheirCallFirst.)

5. The Maryland office is a distribution center with INSTANT voice mail.

6. An analysis of the website leads to few clues other than they have no desire to talk to you unless they have apparently met you first, want to talk to you on their terms, you know Miss Screener, or you have access to Texas telephone number records.

7. The website sends you a popup so a sales consultant can begin the assimilation process. While you are frustrated and searching for information the popup covers up the page and follows you around.

8. Executive names had to be found using Google.

The (blank)er Store has isolated itself from everyone EXCEPT the sale.

That should be a red flag to anyone actually interested in taking their television advertisements seriously. Perhaps it was my naivety. I had actually hoped the marketing person at a c0mpany that sells (blank)ers would find my story interesting and have some empathy for the situation in which their marketing efforts had placed me. They might have even been willing to help me get to the bottom it because as I would have told the marketing manager, “It probably isn’t your fault.” But, alas, I am unable to speak with Stephanie or Julie or even the big guy, old what’s-his-name. (I did forget it. Bad branding perhaps?)

When I am older, I will definitely look into competitive (blank)ers.

At this point I’m just going to throw the marketing correspondence this company sent to my home in the fireplace. It is addressed to my now deceased father. (It’s been awhile.) Some sleazoid at some “sales-lead” firm probably sold the name to The (blank)er Store, but I will never know who. I had it in my mind that I might be able to stop these letters because it isn’t the first. It is (blank)er’s first. As a customer-service professional it angers me that companies buy poorly vetted lists and in turn haven’t the courage to take a phone call.

So when The (blank)er Store or (blank)er and (blank)er tell you (yes I have an issue with them too) that their businesses are the best or the most successful at what they do, it may be because they choose their customer very carefully using aggressive marketing techniques. As a customer you should concern yourself with more than the company’s version of their success.

When they need to qualify you, establish your eligibility, or find out first if you are calling about their email list their (blank)ing product or service may not be exactly as they they claim.

The Southern California Young Communist League YCL, a branch of the Communist Party USA CPUSA, announced on its website that it’s launching a “National Red School-Bus Tour.” The YCL calls each stop on the tour “weekend long schools” for “young activists.” So what exactly is this tour all about?

via Young Communists Launch National ‘Red School-Bus Tour’ | The Blaze.

(As a kid I learned that Communism was bad.  Supporters of these hateful dictatorships were responsible for the worst mass murders in all of modern history, Mao, Che, Stalin ad nauseum.  So what is different now? WHy the celebration? Parents you need to keep an eye out for the sake of your children.)

The Tuscon massacre ghouls who are now trying to criminalize conservatism have forced our hand.

Read it. Understand it. Please.

via Michelle Malkin » The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010.

(Thank you Michelle.)

This season our family wanted to replace an old, inefficient refrigerator. The Nice Purchase Company (name changed to protect the innocent) had a nice LG refrigerator at a good price so we made the commitment. The delivery, water line, and old refrigerator pick up were scheduled for the same day, December 13, 2010. This was my understanding at the store as we ordered our appliance. We waited three weeks for the big day!

On Sunday, December 12 at about 0930 a voice mail message is left by the automated voice of the Optimum Purchase Company asking me to call 888-OptPurchase and ask for the Appliance Install department to verify someone over the age of 18 will be home during the “installation.”

Now I had been expecting a call from the May B. Blunt Delivery Company based on an email I received from Optimum Purchase. The delivery company was to deliver the refrigerator after having called me to set up a time. Well we assumed the telephone message we received on Sunday was made to do just that.

Now on Sunday I very anxiously returned the telephone call from the Optimum Purchase Company but reached a nice lady that said that office was closed until Monday at 7:00 AM. That being the case I dug out the ice cooler we use at the beach and a few boxes to temporarily hold food anticipating the refrigerator would go in as planned on the thirteenth.

On the morning of the thirteenth at about 7:15 AM we received a telephone from a cell phone. The caller was the old-refrigerator-haul-away guy. He said he would arrive in forty-five minutes. I thought, “Wow, they are really moving on this. Great.” They arrived when they said they would and hauled the old refrigerator away. As we had no room in the upstairs frig I put the frozen foods on the back porch. It was snowing. Lucky us.

A call was placed to the Optimum Purchase Company and I asked for the Appliance Install folks. Patricia, the operator transferred me after asking a few questions and connected me to the Appliance Install gal, Tawanda. I told Tawanda I was expecting my refrigerator to arrive and water line to be installed today and that the old-refrigerator-hail-away guy had just left with the old frig. Tawanda said that I did not need to speak with her, but that I needed to speak with a delivery person. She transferred me yet again.

A nice lady picked up after about two minutes. She checked my information and verified that the May B. Blunt Delivery Company was going to deliver my refrigerator but that would call first. The call I received on Sunday was probably to install the water line. She explained that she should cancel the water line install because they water-line installer would not install the water line unless the refrigerator was there. She also gave me the number of the May B. Blunt Delivery Company that I had yet to hear from.

While I was on the telephone with the delivery lady my caller ID indicated a call was coming through from the Optimum Purchase Company. When I hung up I used my caller ID to retrieve the number. Gosh, I was hopeful that this was information from May B. Blunt.

Alas, there was no area code for the telephone number. I tried a couple of local area codes but never connected to Optimum Purchase. As luck would have it, or at least I thought so at the time, I received a call from a Georgia area code from the Optimum Purchase Company. The rep was very kind. She wanted to confirm that the water line installation would be done between 0900-1300 hours. I told her I had not received the refrigerator from May B. Blunt yet. She said she would cancel the installation for today and gave me a telephone number to call when the refrigerator was delivered so I could schedule the water-line installation.

So here we are with a cooler and box full of frozen and other food items sitting on the back porch. The refrigerator isn’t here and probably will not be here today because I have not heard from May. B. Blunt even though I received an email indicating the refrigerator was due anytime but that I would get a call.

Having worked in customer service management occupations most of my career I was a bit aghast at the lack of coordination, confusion as to who does what to and for whom, and the number of disconnected people that appeared to be involved in the delivery and installation of our refrigerator. I understand now that this is going to be complicated.

The point is that customers have a choice. When a retailer makes a promise and it is not kept or only partially kept the retailer suffers a reputation hit. One would think that in tough economic times the retailer would take great care to coordinate and fulfill promises made to customers. It was painfully obvious to me that a manager of this retailer had not called his own numbers to verify their processes actually work or at least no one had called in a long time.

Former House Majority Leader, and newly-elected minority whip, Steny Hoyer D-MD said today that President Obama’s just-announced pay freeze for 2 million civilian government employees should also be extended to military personnel.

via New Dem. Whip Hoyer Says Pay Freeze Should Include Military | The Blaze.

(I voted for Charles Lollar. Did you?

Our military members are already woefully underpaid, something the Maryland Senator just doesn’t seem to understand.)

Wait a minute. Someone tell Pelosi there is a lefty wearing a na-i uniform at a rally and see what she says. Do as I say not as I do. Hmmmmmmm.

The left tried to shut down the Pledge and then the debate.

I heard Mr. Lollar speak at the Solomons Tea party event. He impressed me then as the man could

A new Day for Maryland - Charles Lollar for Congress

put Steny Hoyer behind us. Hoyer showed his true colors when he blindly followed the rest of his party down the road of reckless spending and economic endangerment. Charles Lollar will return honor to the Fifth Congressional District. He is an honorable man. Charles Lollar has MY vote this November.

Charles Lollar understand military issues so he will more than adequately represent Southern Maryland’s interest in the jobs the military brings to our area. The incumbent’s media blitz is focused on keeping Maryland’s military related jobs.  Charles Lollar served our country in the United States marines. He can do the job far better than the incumbent ever has.

Before you even think about a “safe” vote for the incumbent take the time to get to know Charles Lollar. Visit his website. Talk to others about him.  The incumbent and his party drove us to recession over many years. Hoyer cannot talk about anything else because bragging about how you have endangered the country probably isn’t a good idea.

I recommend a vote for Charles Lollar to restore Maryland and our Congress.

Resisting the Green Dragon full promo from Cornwall Alliance on Vimeo.

Stink bugs are harmless to people and their possessions. They don’t bite. They don’t sting. They’re not known to transmit disease. But their population has grown so tremendously that they are vexing homeowners and, for the first time, damaging fruit and vegetable crops, from peaches and apples to soybeans and corn and ornamental shrubs and trees.

via Home & Garden | Mid-Atlantic invaded by stink bugs | Seattle Times Newspaper.

(Just when we thought it was safe to go outside after the storm.)

WordPress plugin updates, an Akismet IP address, and updates to WP-Touch Pro have been blocked/broken at my Network Solutions hosted blogs for over a week. Is it just me or is anyone else experiencing this issue?