The American Consumer - Part IV - Menagerie!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/07/11/156625861/wake-up-call-to-grocery-stores-young-people-shop-around

Hey America!  Sorry 'bout the short break, I had to really reach to get some ideas this week, but I think I might have come up with a doozie or two.

Sooooooo......it was my decision that I would include one good post per night over the weekend, in emulation of a political runway, then shift into 5th gear come Monday. I'm gonna drive this one right on out there, then hammer out the next during the day tomorrow, then another for Sunday, daytime as well.  Our story today is one that I had intended to start a whole blog on...the American Consumer (and his/her little issues on and in today's world).  Once ADS kicked in and started collecting 10's of follows a day, however, then snowballed; time didn't quite allow me to add to it, so I abandoned it and wrapped it into this one.

We're gonna try something a bit different with this one though.  This one's gonna be a mini-collection of a bunch o' different beefs, probably one for just about every industry.  Like a collection of short stories in a novel.  Should be interesting at the very least!  So what're we waitin' fer?  Let's get it ON!!

NOTE:  As I finish each one, there will be an update to include the next...until all my little "mini-post-its" are finished.

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Electronics

This section does NOT cover computers or their products...those deserve their own section.  This one will be large enough, all by itself, believe that.

I don't know if you remember when TV's were only available in two types...too big and bulky, or too tiny to view from any further back than 5 feet...when the VCR was all the rage, or when clock radios and Walkmans were $40 or better.  It didn't matter what the price, the electronics department of ANY store had always held a big interest for me.  I would boldly and purposefully stride directly to it, no matter what store I intended to inhabit.  I did not tread into any store, sans that department, unless I had no choice in the matter (i.e., if I needed food, or had to get clothes; those were about the only exceptions).  My best friends were Best Buy, Office Depot, Sears, Target, Montgomery Ward, K-Mart and Wally World.

Oh, nothing's changed...or at least the fact that this is still my favorite department anyway.  No, what DID change were the products lining the shelves of these once great stores.

I'm not sure just how long it was that the tube TV was the only option you had, but it seemed like decades, easily.  They first came available in the 50's, and didn't disappear until 2000 and beyond...50 years.  The VCR lasted what, 30?  Stereos with record players (non-78's) enjoyed a very prosperous length of time in our history.  Then BAM.  All of a sudden, things that had made it a minimum of 30 years or more, were replaced with things that didn't last more than a single decade or so.  And keeping up?  Fahgetaboutit.  Not possible, by any standard.

The VCR was replaced with the DVD player.  I remember when that came out, they were a MINIMUM $200+.  CD's replaced cassettes and vinyl records.  Oh, I adapted, when I could no longer stand it, and believe me, I held out as long as I could.  Then, about the time my collections were above and beyond what I'd boasted with records and VCR tapes...it changed again.

Sure, the change had been a while in coming.  We still enjoy CD's.  They don't really put out the players like they did, but we can still play them.  In our DVD-Dual Layer Writers (If you have one in your computer that is) in the better portion of our cars, and if you're really sentimental, you've still got a boom-box with a CD player still lying around in your basement.  They're not Frisbees yet.  The one that made me mad was Blue Ray.  Not even a decade, and our DVD movie collection was worthless.  I can't sell the damn things for more than a dollar anymore.  Just as I was finishing up my desired DVD collection, out it came.  What gets me is, DVD's, if the choice is available, are still just as expensive as they were when Blue Ray's came out.  And Blue Rays, unless they're a crummy title that isn't selling, are still just as expensive as they were when THEY came out.  Most of all, the way technology is moving, in full-throttle, Blue Ray doesn't look good for longevity either.  I quit.  I no longer buy movies, or music either.  I watch the videos on Vimeo and YouTube for music, or wait for it to hit Netflix or Redbox to watch the movie.  If it's Epic, I MAY shell out the 20 bucks it costs to put a date and myself into a movie theatre seat, but it had best be something I'm dying to see, RIGHT NOW.  What's the point?  I get the collection going, and they're gonna change it right in the middle of my collectibles anyway!

But the biggest sponge of my wrath would have to be Flat Panel TV's.  This one irritates me like no other. In company with these, computers and cell phones are competing for 2nd place on my hate list.  Just as I'm re-adjusting the wiring to make it look good, and just find the perfect place in my living room for it, my TV is obsolete.  First, it was Plasma.  Then by the time I could afford that, it was LCD.  Then it was LED.  Then it moved to Smart LED.  HD LED's. Smart HDTV's.  3D LED's.  Smart 3D LED's.  Smart HD 3D LED TV's.  Some had Active 3D, some had Passive 3D.  Now, there's ULTRA HDTV's, with Smart and without Smart.  Cruising around, I found some with sticker prices that exceeded $10,000.  That's almost a CAR FOR CHRISSAKES!!  The description on that baby?  LG 84" (there was one bigger, a 90"...who has room in their living room for a 90" TV?  For real?), Cinema 3D 4K Ultra HD 240 hz. LED/LCD (huh?) HDTV w/Smart TV & 6 pairs of 3D glasses.  Wow.  $11,997.99.  Down from $14,000.

Oh, but I'm not done.  Noooooo...on that very same web page, there was one more...at (get this) $39,000.  Down from $44,000, this TV was dirt thin and on a swing of some sort...and the only differences I noted were micro-dimming (?) and Smart TV...with voice control.  The Rolls Royce of flat panels.  Who knew?  I bought a 39" LED, used, but still in the box, made by the least respected maker, and said SCREW ALL THAT!!...for $150, off of Craigslist.  I'm happy as a clam, tankyooberrymutts.  Enough of that...on to:

Furniture

Here's one that makes me want to fill the space between my ears with hot pudding.  Homemakers.  Nebraska Furniture Mart.  Lebeda Matress.  All of these places charge you millions of dollars above any value the furniture they sell, could possibly have.  These are prices I wouldn't charge for antiques!!

We had the extra money once, and bought a solid maple 4-poster bed, with almost the best mattress they had, thinking we would have it for an eternity.  We paid $2600 for the bed and the bedding for it.  A year and a half later, my home was STOLEN FROM ME...(Oh, I'll tell you that sad tale someday, rest assured)...and we had to sell the bed to survive.  I put it on Craigslist at $1600.  After a scam, (you know the one..."Ill buy it, but I'm out of state, I'll send you a check for $1000 more...deposit it in your bank immediately, then send me whatever money you don't use after you ship it"...and you get a Fed-Ex envelope, legal size, with nothing but a check in it, written to you from the account of some person in a different state...as if) then absolutely ZERO calls, I lowered the price down to $1300, $1200, $1000...then finally $800.  I sold it at $800.  $1800 less than what I paid.  Nice, eh?  Someone needs to tie a noose around the CEO's of all furniture companies.  If you made the quality of furniture you did when it was made by hand, and, maybe, after it lasts for 30 years?  I might buy another set at YOUR prices...sheesh.  Might just as well buy it at Wally World.  It lasts just about as long and is 55-75% cheaper.  Might be plain jane, but hey.  And you can't trust anything used anymore, what with the resurgence of bedbugs.  YUCKY!!  And what we have here?  OH NO IT'S...IT'S...

Cars & Trucks

EASILY my FAVORITE of all American Consumer categories, we have the massive collection of vehicular splendor that lines our streets, are parked illegally everywhere, pump more pollutants into the air than just about anything else we've created (that isn't a factory), and threaten to use up every drop of our planet's stored resources, in one fashion AND another.

It used to be that we were concerned about our environment.  I'm not sure when that ceased to BE a concern, but with the economy the way it is, everything that isn't a commodity or concerns people making more cash than they've ever dreamed of has been moved to the bottom of every list.  So, let's not worry about car-pooling or maybe taking public transportation to save our atmosphere and the very air we breath, let's just make sure to sell every person, in every household, who has a driver's license - a vehicle.  And not just a collection of steel and rubber (or plastic, computers and rubber, nowadays), no, we now have vehicles that could well carry a sticker price that rival the prices of some houses I've considered purchasing.

The price of brand new cars when I was 16 and thinking about getting my first one?  About $5,500.  The average price today, some 50 years later?  $31,500.  But with what they use to make cars these days?  I'd MUCH rather have the 50 yr. old muscle car that still runs on regular gas, and that only gets about 12 miles to the gallon, on which I can fix anything for $50 or less in about 5 minutes, with a 3/8 wrench and a flat head screwdriver.  These also had the added bonus of getting into serious wrecks and walking away with their engines laughing it off, like they'd just bumped a curb.  Oh, but wait.  The price for the same car I looked at with a $5,500 sticker price on it, back in 1976?  They want $50,000 for that car today.  SERIOUSLY??

And, if it ended there, I would be only miserable and broke.  No, even worse yet, when you crack the hoods of these vehicles, small intestines begin to look easier to navigate.  There are even car makers now that say if you do anything to your car besides pump it full of fluids or air up your tires, your warranty is null and void. This includes helping that poor 80 yr. old guy out, on the side of the road, by attempting to jump his car.

One thing I've always loved is the depreciation of today's products.  Cars?  The number one example of American gullibility.  Let's say you get that "average sticker price" on a new car, $30,000.  That new car loses 11% of its value the minute you leave the dealer's lot - over one tenth  of it's value.  Americans consider this "a fact of life".  It is NOT a fact of life!!  It's a fact of American Life, maybe!!  Then, it loses $5,500 more - in the FIRST YEAR!!  After 5 years of driving today's car, your car is now worth 63% less than the sticker price you paid in the beginning.  Absofreekin'lutelyunbelievable.  If this doesn't prove the existence of 306 million Sheeple in our country, NOTHING does!!  I want you to look me in the eye, and tell me today's Ford Focus is still going to be in the showcase window 50 years from now, selling at $50,000.  I DARE  you.

Then there's the cost of fixing them.  Even new, you pay a deductible.  If you lose your warranty (usually after 5 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first), and your transmission goes out?  You're looking at $12,000.  That's 3 1/2 brand new Dodge Chargers in 1973.  For a transmission.  Oh, but you can fix it yourself, right?  Riiiiiiiiiiight.  Let me know how that works out.  I'll call you in a month, when you finally figure out where everything is that you need to fix.

My favorite part though is the used car business.  Most states carry a lemon law...but it only applies to new cars.  Sure, a shady used car lot will eventually garner bad press and have to close its doors...but let's say I have 20 cars that I bought at auction for around $500 ea., that I now have $2500 sticker prices on.  Most of these have major mechanical issues, but with a $10 bottle of Engine Knock Cure or Radiator Leak Miracle Tonic, I can fix that, no problem.  So let's say I sell 10 of these at $2,500 ea., and they shut me down for selling damaged or unsafe cars.  I spent $10,000 and made $25,000, around $15,000 in profit, after building rental, utilities, etc.  Then, after I'm shut down, I can call the tow company and get an additional $200 per vehicle (if I don't further my deception and sell a few of them for slightly less on Craigslist), bringing my total profit to $17,000 dollars.  I don't have to refund any money (just make sure all of your stickers state "As Is" under the warranty section), I don't have to worry about court servers (I don't have a business anymore...remember?), and you have little or no recourse anyway, sans civil lawsuit, which could take as long as YEARS, then there's no guarantee that shady dealer will pay up.  While he's waiting for his court date, he can go start another lot somewhere else and screw more people out of their hard-earned money. NEXT PLEASE!!

The Pet World

Thank God!!  At least THIS category can be ridiculous and cute, all at the same time!!

So what's the average life of your average pet, usually a dog or cat?  Around 13 yrs.  Almost as long as one of your kids.  And, amazingly, almost as expensive as raising your own kids, as well!!

Let's compare the two.  Kids - you have a birthing cost.  OK, so that one is a freebie for dogs and cats. However, you could feasibly spend from $130 to $2000 depending on the breed.  Let's move on.  Kids - Diapers, shots, baby food, teething rings and toys, a crib, a highchair, a stroller, and baby powders, lotions and wipes.  Puppies and kittens - Training pads, shots, puppy chow, teething chews and ropes, balls, bells, fake mice, cat/dog beds, scratching posts, doggie and kitty food and water bowls, a leash, a collar, another collar for fleas, a harness, a coat, a rain-coat, and warm cover for cold weather, kitty litter, litter box, squeak toys and doggie poop bags.  Prices are pretty competitive between the two industries as well.

This is if you do NOT opt for these things as well:  A kitty scratching post/apartment complex, doggie kennels, Professional dog and cat kennelers, cat carriers, dog and cat groomers, shampoos, Frontline, vet visits and surgeries, pet funerals, licensing fees, dog park fees, leash law violations, doggie poop violations...and the list can go on...and on...and on.

And that's just dogs and cats....*whew*  Shall we? Move on, I mean?  Suuuuuuuuure.

Computers

I love computers.  I don't believe I've ever been all that upset with 'em.  I was good friends with the computer long before most people knew how to even turn them on.  Once upon a time, Office Depot started to kick around the idea of a salesman in the business machines department (the electronics department, in my language). I was one of those salesmen.  By the time I had finished there, I was so adept at computers, I started my own teaching business.

The computer business had started out with a lot of computers being Proprietary, meaning in order to make your current computer better, you would be forced to buy those parts from the company who had manufactured it.  Upon massive complaints from the consumer, however, computer manufacturers everywhere re-invented the PC, making it more generic and user friendly.  Now, you could buy parts cheaply and put them in yourself.

The Laptop started out pretty much the same as the PC, in that it was very proprietary.  It too took a hit and made things easier on the consumer.  Then, somewhere along they way, they managed to swing back the other way again.   Now, unless you have one built special, with a more generic user OS (like Linux), and because of the severity of viruses and ad ware, manufacturers are once again making their machines proprietary, and unable to be tampered with.  Gone now are the days when you could make your computer as bad as you wanted it to be.  You pay the money for the best, or you save money on a decidedly inferior product.  As for what you have in it, you're stuck with most all of it, with the notable exception being the amount of RAM you have inside.  Now, if your hard drive crashes, you have to either buy another identical hard drive, with the software the laptop came with on it for double the price stores charge for blank ones, or option 2, buy another laptop.  This, of course, is what the industry trusts that you'll choose.  Their bank accounts are counting on it.

So, not unlike the flat-panel TV beef, computers, alongside of cell phones (which are essentially computers themselves now, only pocket-sized) are bettering themselves very nearly weekly.  You may THINK you got it, but you don't, because they're shipping the bigger and badder model as you're ringin' yours up.  Don't try to keep up, you'll kill yourself off trying.

I suppose, what I'm trying to say America, is (like you had no idea), it's all about the mighty dollar.  No one believes in the word quality, or even knows what it means any more.  Cars, computers, cell phones, electronics in general, as well as just about EVERYTHING is expected to fall to pieces in short order anymore.  Why?  Because you don't speak up.  Like sheep, you open our wallets wider and incur larger credit card bills to have the latest and greatest thing, which, of late, really isn't all that great...it's only that the Jones, the Smith's and the Jackson's have one, so now you have to have one too.  And as you fall prey to yet another round of the latest and greatest, big business is meeting up in their boardrooms thinking of how they can make the next thing better, and have it shipped out before six months goes by.  Next thing you know, thanks to the usual rigorous ad campaign they launch, you hear about the new Samsung Galaxy IX making it's way over, and you're already reserving a spot on Craigslist for the old one, at around a fifth of what you paid for it.  It's only money...right?  Sheesh.

Employment Discrimination and Former CIA operatives

Hey America, guess who?  Yeah, it's me.  Back for round...fifty...something er other...wow.  I can't believe I'm actually to the point where I've lost track!!  And I have the lot o' you to thank for it.  Oh, yeah.   Thanks!  To the lot of you.  You know who you are, surely.

Yesterday?  Quite the exciting day for me.  An editor for CNN followed me.  I was gushing with pride.  However, it's been said that good attention can also garner you attention you don't want as well.  Enter first thing this morning.

I gotta say, the day began just a bit creepy for me today.  First thing, right out of the gate, I got followed by a guy named Dan Gabriel.  The title wording on his profile says "Fmr. Central Intelligence Agency Officer"...this is quickly followed up by the phrase "Insurgencies:  Foreign and Domestic."  In case you hadn't guessed, "Fmr." would, to me anyway, indicate that this man is a FORMER CIA Officer.  This, though, is very little consolation to me, and doesn't do one little thing to make me feel better about him being "former" at all.  I mean, just because a boxer retires, and is then known as a "former boxer", he might very well not be in fights anymore, but it doesn't mean the guy can't still kick your butt, am I right?

One of my very smart sons said to me "I'm sure you'll be fine, really.  I mean, if the CIA was really trying to spy on you, they wouldn't follow you openly in Twitter."...and I agreed, quickly.  Then, after some thought, I said...(and he agreed that this made a sordid amount of sense), wait though, what genius!  Send out an officer, label him as a FORMER CIA officer, then have him follow me openly.  I'd never suspect that!  I'd laugh it off, thinking what my son said at first.  There's subterfuge at it's finest.  The best place to hide is right in front of your nose, where you wouldn't think they'd be, right?

If you'd like, you can look him up under my followers.  I put his picture at the top of this post.  Wave at him too will ya?  Make him feel right at home.  I'd like him to know that I'm not the only one over here.  See, when strange people attach themselves to you out of the blue, for no real logical reason that you can think of, it's always best to a.) call them out in a public place (I immediately tweeted this guy publicly and said "Excuse me!  Should I worried that you're following me?"), then b.) I posted that he was following me, in the main feed on Twitter, then c.) I posted that he was following me, as well, on my page in Facebook.  And finally, d.) I told both my sons about him, and talked to several other friends as well, making sure, of course, that everyone knows...you know, just in case of strange disappearances and the like.  Best of all, thank God, I'm annoying, loud, and overbearing.  I make a lot of noise, and I do it often.  If I were ever to be silenced, it wouldn't matter if all my material were erased in a cover-up, I would most certainly be immediately missed.  A rather wide gaping hole would become disturbingly apparent.  Yup, people would say I was finally nabbed.  Not just by followers either.  Friends, family, they'd know within 24 hours that something was rotton in Iowa.  It'd take millions in hush money to quiet that roar...so I'm not concerned on that note.

Now you may think I'm being a bit paranoid...but let's be honest here, the times, they are a changin', and stranger unexplained things have happened to less notable citizens than me and who I am, that were accused of spouting off things that were even more tame than the things I say even.  Let it be known that I will never be a statistic.  I am, however, OK with being a martyr, so if I really am being followed for dire purposes, and will be taken out with even the slightest of over-doing it in my posts, remember I said all this, America, and tell my story.  With every mouth silenced, two or more shall take my place.

I am going to immediately publish this, then write the real article for the day.  Instead of it being posted separately, however, I will simply update it.  So if you read all of this, then wonder where our real post is, it's coming.  Check back.  It wont be long after I post this, I promise.

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OK, now that we're finished with all that coo-coo voo-doo, let's get it ON, let's hash out each subject like it was my last (as it might just be!!).  Today's killer sin?  Employment Discrimination!!

Now this one is beginning to be felt by me in more than one way, and is covered as well in two other articles I wrote for this blog; and they are titled:  "Your Credit...as a condition of your employment?" and "Going to Work...if you're lucky."  These two, although pretty thorough on their respective subjects, just didn't really cover the entire scope of what I want to say about the matter.

So let's just say that this is a continuation, and place all of those other posts in the loving arms of this one as it's finale.  On we go then.

Another bullet point in the realm of employment discrimination, is age.  Then there's color.  Race.  Creed.  Sex.  Origin.  Religion...the possibilities are, of course, endless.  Granted, local, state and Federal regulations have done much to cut down on these and other ways a company (or individual, of course) could feasibly discriminate; either in the hiring of you, the working of you, and, of course, concerning the end of your career as well.  I do have to ask though, ultimately, what's the sense in any of what the law says is discrimination, and what can or can't be done to deter it?

Let's say you go for an interview, and, let's face it, you smell BAD.  I don't care if you have 20 years experience in what this company wants, if they don't like you because you smell bad, you won't get hired.  Is this discrimination, due to your orafactal offensiveness?  Well, yes.  Now, let's say there's a law that was just passed, and it clearly states, in no uncertain terms, that you cannot be discriminated against because of the odor you put off.  Let's go through that interview again.  Do you think this new law is going to make a single difference in the outcome of your interview, now that you can be fined or worse for it?  Hell no.  It doesn't mean a damn thing that there's a law against it.  The hiring process happens in your HR employees head, and only there.  Oh, you can SAY there was discrimination there...you may have proof that you smelled bad...you may even sue, using this very solid offense.  But when the person who was in charge of hiring you takes the stand?  That man/woman can say just about anything else about you was the reason you weren't hired.  The position you decided to assume in your chair when interviewed, your body language didn't agree with what you were putting out there.  Your socks didn't match.   You were wearing dressy casual shoes with a dress outfit.  You had your tonsils taken out.  The tooth that should be in postion Upper 22 is missing.  You used to steal paperclips from one of your bosses...hell, they can practically sell just about any story they can dream up.

The same applies to firing you.  If they can't cut your hours, or make you mad enough that you'll quit on your own?  They can make up just about any reason for it anymore.  More messed up are the sentences I call "A manager's best friend":  The vague reason.  Now, managers, etc, are now not ALLOWED to give out detailed reasons concerning your firing.  This is classic!  Sure, it protects you when others call in about you...these pre-drawn up phrases are there to protect your new employer from hearing say, that you smelled bad, and keep your former employer, who may be massively upset with you for some silly reason in whicch he could go on for days about...at which point, the new guy goes "Oh wow...OK, thank yo....THANK YOU!!...and any chance you had at getting the job?  OUT THE WINDOW.  So thank God for that legislation, right?

Hmm, I wonder.  See, that works real well for all that stuff up there.  But now, let's say, the new guy calls into Mr. Old Job, and he says this exact phrase...one of my favorites, by the way, "Well, he just wasn't a good fit."  This, under our new legislation concerning after job conversations, is all right to say.  Oh but wait, so really...now, instead of the new guy making up his own mind, regarding what the Old Job guys said, now we have 20 or so legal things we can say ONLY...so what then is to stop employers from putting out there, in whatever way they might, a cheat sheet, saying "Well, he wasn't a good fit = Whatever they might want it to mean???  What I'm trying to say here, America, is now we've given them what I'd like to refer to as "Code Sentences."  Since it can't be said that you're an asshole, who's been known to constantly comment on the absurd outfits your female customers wear, in accordance with what shoes, we have this little hiring booklet referal sheet, and something said by Mr. Old Job,  Hmm, lemme look that up...ohhh...yeah, that's #3, "Well, we didn't feel this employee was a good fit".  That means don't hire this guy, we was probably an asshole.  Yeah, we decided that at the last HR convention in New York last year."  Get what I'm saying here??

By passing that legislation...which by the way, I'm sure they had good reason to do, what with our sue-happy nature as Americans...they've made HR's job TONS easier!  They can decide to not hire you within seconds of calling of your first previous job listing's HR department, and save themselves the trouble of having to decide based on professional references, qualifications, or the GPA you had during the course of obtaining your BA.  Nice.  All with 20 little common phrases they have to say if Mr. Old Job is called by possible Mr. New Job.

So you see America, what I'm trying to say is, all this stuff that's supposedly protected against, in case you're interviewing for a job, working IN a job, or getting fired from one?  It's not protected, and you and I both know it to be fact.  If you've been working at Microsoft 18 years, and in 2 more you're going to get a benefits package drawn up by Bill himself that's going to set you for life?  Bill can drop an order to your manager and have you fired within seconds just about anytime he deems it necessary to save the company money, trust me.  "Say Joe, could you come to my office?"...and Joe goes in, just to hear "Claudia, the accounting supervisor in section 12-D says she came by your desk the other day and heard you telling Jerry, your neighbor, a sexual joke...and I'm afraid that's against our Harrassment policy.  I'm afraid we're gonna have to let you go"...and Presto Chango, we let Joe go, we don't have to pay him that god-awful high wage anymore, we don't have to give him retirement in a couple years, and we can hire Dan, that naive 20 yr. old we interviewed the other day at half the cost to us.  YIPPEE!!  See how it all comes down in the capitalist world America?  Until Manana mi Amigos

Desensitizing Our Youth and Our Country

Hey kids, guess what??  Our little corner of the 'verse over this away?  Just got the attention of someone at CNN...oh, it's ON NOW!!  Let's knock a few out that'll slice our way to the top of Capitol Hill, shall we?

Well, today's subject is gonna be on the desensitizing of our young people, and of our nation as a whole.

Now, make no mistake, this has been going on for decades.  Remember looking at those war pictures of Vietnam, way back when?  That was fun wasn't it?  I still get little pangs in my gut when I see that crap...

Yeah, the 70's...that's about when I started noticing a big shift on what I was seeing in the world, of the world, and because of the world.  And it wasn't pretty.  Any of it.  Horror movies started out as laughable rehashments of the same four characters, over and over...Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy and the Werewolf.  The effects were a joke, and pretty soon it got so bad they had to throw in stars to keep them alive, like Frankenstein Meets Abbott and Costello...that sort of thing.  Crazy.  Then, about the time ol' Alfred Hitchcock came to town, and the Vietnam era came and went, well...things got a little weirder...and fast.

Psycho brought us up to speed a little.  Then came Rosemary's Baby...the Exorcist, A Clockwork Orange...those sort of movies started in on the delicate subjects of Devil worship, possession, murder, street gang violence, and they sure as heck weren't pulling any punches.  These made those old horror flicks funny at best.

Then, somewhere along the line, I noticed something kinda strange.  I started to notice a shift...in music, in the movies, TV...I started to notice there were a lot of heroes and role models that were starting...NOT to be heroes and role models anymore.  Oh sure, we were mortified with this stuff to begin with.  But somewhere along the line we stopped cheering for the real heroes and started idolizing the bad boys after a while.  Freddy (Nightmare on Elm Street), Jason (Mr. Hockeypucks himself), Alice Cooper...moving further on to Alien, The Terminator, Marylyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot, Predator, Insane Clown Posse..and during all this, there were conflicts, releases of war pictures, movies were getting more gruesome every year, with films like Hell-Raiser, The Ring, House of 1000 Corpses, and The Thing, just to mention a few.  Musical acts saw this, and started to emulate the horror being thrown at our youth, and pretty soon they were killing themselves on stage, and killing others (acting of course), biting heads off of bats, and dressing like the lead villian in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Nowadays?  You can't shock me anymore.  I've seen just about everything there is to see, thanks to shows on TV like Forensic Files, Jackass, 1000 Ways to Die, alongside of countless war shows and movies, reality TV shows like Fear Factor, commercials with pleas to help homeless sick and starving children around the world and to do something about those abused, beaten and bruised animals.  War, horror, death, abuse, murder, drug addiction...it's all over-done these days.  Worse yet, of course, is the fact that it's just as rampant, and based in reality as well, and if it isn't, we'll find a way to put it there, with reality TV show ideas!!  The news is so very full of it; every minute I hear about some sort of sexually related crime, animal cruelty, or murder.

Yep, you're going to have to come up with something darn gory to shock me anymore.  I've seen people's small intestines used to tie them up to a fire spit in full living color, and got to enjoy the vision of monkey brains being consumed by the Indian Elite.  It's going to take an awful lot to turn MY stomach.  I TRIPLE DOG-DARE you to show me something that'll avert MY vision.

Oh, but our youth have it better than that, even.  They've yet to know (and may never know) what the word "horrific" really means. They don't have a clue.  To them, this is the way things are, and always have been. There is no such thing as stomach-turning in a child's life these days.  You can't easily gross me out, but there's a slight chance you could, given the right stimuli.  You may just surprise me someday.  Not so with kids, I guarantee it.  No, they've actually been in battles already, and they haven't even seen their draft eligibility ages as yet.  They've killed zombies...hell, they've BEEN zombies.  I'll bet you good green money there's NO way to freak your kids out!

Is any of this going to be good for us, in any kind of way?  Well, I suppose it does have the benefit of making it easier to stomach all those war pictures Time Magazine likes to throw into our faces on occasion.  Other than this one benefit, I'm not following the logic of it.

Here's what I see as "nnnnot so good."

Meet Nikki Schizophrenia, hereafter referred to as Nikki.  This is NOT, of course, her real name.  And, as the Warning at the bottom states, Nikki can easily be found on FaceBook.  She's almost 16, and has already suffered a highly-rated trauma in her life.  Her parents are well aware of how she suffers just shy of her "sweet 16", and, to be honest?  I don't see that upcoming year as being all that sweet.  Oh, and in case you were wondering?  That picture at the top?  Yup, that's the one.  That's just one of many personas Nikki likes to exhibit.  And not just one shot of each.  No, Nikki insists on showing the world that there's an evil side to her, and is intent on letting the world experience her in a full-sized gallery of such images.

To her?  This is the norm.  What she is, what she feels.  I just happened to run into her as I was lightly skimming through the "People You Might Know" section of FaceBook.  I approached her about being in this post, and she was all for it, once I explained what I was writing about.  Since we aren't using her real name, and her profile is pretty vague, she initialed off gladly into a mini-interview I'd like to share most of with you, if you have no objection...OK, even if you DO have an objection.  It's time you realized what you've done to our children...and to our future world leaders.  Let it be known, before we begin, that it's in this writer's opinion that this is no un-intelligent girl I'm talking to.  Her answers were quick and efficient, and well-thought out and expressed accordingly.  Ready?  Let's get to it then:

NOTE:  By the way, while I wrote this, I was running it by Nikki, you know, just to make sure she was OK with my quotes...she gives YOU, America, permission to find her on Facebook and add her (Nikki Schizophrenia), if you'd like to speak to her personally about this!!

TMS:  What's the amount of TV that you watch?  What programs do you like?

NS:  I don't watch TV, I believe it's the Illuminati's way of getting into our heads.  I do love the show "Dexter", I love it because I have dreams of murder all the time...not me murdering, but of me being murdered.

TMS:  What about movies?

NS:  I love horror movies, they interest me because there are peope out there that actually do that kind of stuff and I think, in a way, it makes the mind realize that s*** like that does happen.  It happens every day, somewhere out there, and I love blood and gore.

TMS:  Tell me about the music you listen to and how it affects you.

NS:  I listen to Pink Floyd most of the time.  It's hard to explain how the music reaches out to me.  I also listen to Tech n9ne, Hopsin, Esham, ect.  I love heavy metal and horror core music. it tells a story for me.  I have been through a lot of stuff in my life and im not good at explaining my feelings, so I listen to the music that explains how I feel.

 TMS:  Tell me about the pictures where you wear face paint.  What's with all that?  Is that an emulation of Insane Clown Posse?  I noticed you have the word "Juggalo" in your Warning...

NS:  My facepaint honestly has nothing to do with ICP or anything, really.  Yes I do like their music, and I am a Juggalo, but no, my paint doesn't resemble them. I have a theory that we all have a daemon inside of us; a beast....and we should all let it show once in a while. My facepaint resembles how I feel as well.  For example, the ones I do with a smile, but there's tears too?  That's my way of saying I'm smiling but I'm crying at the same time. Another one, like my red and black facepaint with the teeth, that was more like me showing that, yes, I'm demented, I do have an evil side...I'm sweet but I'm cold blooded.  It's me letting my inner beast show. its an expression of my inner self perception.

TMS:  How about video games.  You play?

NS:  Yes I do play video games, I'm a gamer. I love all of the COD's. I play them because I have a lot of anger inside and I don't like to let people see it, I don't want to take it out on people either, so I kill people on Black Ops.  It's a much nicer way of letting it out.

TMS:  If it ever came down to brother against brother, violence in the streets, or a war that you might have to fight in, how would you feel about it?

NS:  If it came down to war or violence, I would honestly be ready to fight, but with the way America is going, who isn't? I don't like fighting, I would rather have world peace, but I will fight for what I want/love/need.

TMS:  What level of violence do you feel like you can handle, personally?

NS:  I can handle any kind of violence, and I'm not an emotional person.  I don't like violence, but if that's the way people push for s*** to get done, then that's how it'll be.

TMS:  Do you feel like what you listen to, musically, as well as what you see in the movies and video games these days, affect your view of all the violence, war and fighting we do these days?

NS:   I honestly think that what I do watch and listen to does affect all that. Some music, when I'm mad, makes me want to fight with anyone who pisses me off, but then some music takes me out of that state of mind too.

TMS:  Thinking and remembering back to when you were like 5-10 yrs. old, did violence bother you back then, when you saw it?

NS:  No, it didn't. It was pretty normal to me, thanks to (an un-revealed) trauma I experienced when I was 4.  Because of that, I have dreams about blood and gore everynight.

TMS:  Why Nikki Schizophrenia?  Why do you call yourself that?

NS:  Well my real name is *******,  but  I have always liked the name Nikki.  I'm f***ing psychotic; and no,  I'm not schitzophrenic...I just really like the word, and I know someone with schitzopherenia, and he's the s***, so that's why I call myself Nikki Schizophrenia.

TMS:  Thanks.  Finally, how much of this do your parents know about all this, and how do they feel?

NS:  My parents don't like it at all, but they accept me for who I am.  They don't like me calling myself a juggalo, but I don't wear my ICP stuff around them, or talk about it around them, out of respect, knowing they don't like it.

Do you feel it too, America?  It loomed and spread out over me, not unlike a humongous jet-black rain cloud as I spoke with, and as I wrapped up my interview with Nikki.  Then, there it was, stuck there like an un-swallowable lump in the back of my throat.  This is the end of us; and if it's not the end, it has to be the beginning of that end.  Long gone are the 50's, when all was bright and good and squeaky clean.  Gone too are the days of tightly knit families, and, along with it, any sense of morality.  Innocence and naivete in our children are out the window.  Gone.  Violence, sex and disrespect, once viewed as "Black Sheep" behavior, is now quite commonplace...and acceptable.  And those pictures of bodies stacked on top of bodies, waiting to be buried in an 8' deep trench after the war we were just in, ends?  Pffft...no biggie.  Just scrape it off.  Doesn't bother ME.  Hell no.

Really?  The Illuminati?  I hadn't even heard that word until well into my 30's, let alone did I have a clue what it meant.

'Til Next time.  Sleep tight.  Let the bedbugs bite.  :D

Animal Cruelty/Abuse

The Earth is fine...it's going to shake us off like a bad case of fleas...a surface nuisance. 

- George Carlin

I must be outta my mind, kids.  I want you to know that I could write for days, weeks and months on this subject, and I have good reason for doing so.  Because this subject connects to and conjunctions with and branches off to so many other things in life.  Not our life.  Life, defined, all by itself.  The biggest and most offended of these things, is Mother Nature.  The natural order.  The "Way of things".

What am I talking about?  Where am I going?  You know damn well where I'm going.  Think about it.

Now, for those of you that just insist on niavete, who thrive on ignorance, who love and embrace stubborness?  I suppose it could be said that I owe my life to the lot of you.  If it weren't for people like you, I wouldn't have an opinion.  My blogging days would end, and fast.  We'd be doing well, and the word "issue" wouldn't exist as a word in Merriam-Webster.  And we wouldn't be going to Hell in a handbasket.  Noting this particular sin, I'd say we booked our flights well in advance.

So the subject of the day, and all it entails, goes like this.

Imagine this.  You're sitting in your living room, playing Coin Dozer on your new Samsung Galaxy Tab, and all is just grand.  Simply Ducky.  Life couldn't possibly get any better than this.  All of a sudden, you turn to grab your Dr. Pepper, and you notice, in the background, that a popular song comes cooing over the airwaves...from the 90's...yeah, I know that one...hey, I LOVED this song...Sarah McLachlan...Angel, that's it.  Wow...I could just let that woman hum her song in my ear for the rest of my natural born days...and then you look up, and you can't grab for the remote fast enough...Now you just want to get that song as far away from you as you possibly can...but it's too late now.  It's on your mind.  Because, as you looked up to pay more attention to that song of the heavenly bound, you are instantaneously aware of scene after scene of abused, malnutritioned, badly beaten and mangy dogs, cats, horses...you name it, most abandoned by or freshly rescued from the worst possible homes or owners to ever desire to own an animal.  Some are victims of collection, others just want guard dogs, some just don't care or don't have a clue how to take care of themselves, let alone one (to as many as hundreds, believe it or not) of God's creatures.  And now Sarah MacLachlin's beautiful melody is now warped onto your hippo-campus as the song of the abused animal.  Gee thanks for that.  I never want to hear this song ever again now.

America, I can’t stress enough that, if you can’t take care of yourselves, do NOT get a puppy.  Do NOT adopt a kitten.  You’re setting yourself up for failure, and you’re dumber than you first appear.  If you find yourself on food stamps, or running every month to the food bank, then you shouldn’t probably have a dog.  Dogs are every bit as expensive as kids anymore.  If you make less than $10,000 a year DO NOT GET ANIMALS THAT WILL BE LIVING IN YOUR HOME WITH YOU.  Given a choice, poor people will starve their pets long before they let themselves starve.  Next thing you know, the police, along with Animal Control and the ASPCA will be swooping into your home to figure out why it is you can play a tune on each of your three dogs’ ribs.  If you have trouble feeding yourselves, you can’t afford to feed an animal either. Good rule of thumb.  Another one might be that, if you can’t afford to license or spay or neuter your pet, you shouldn’t have one either.

If you hate animals, either cats or dogs, but your little girl has been bugging you to death to get one, and you get one for her anyway, or don't get her one and don't tell her why, or make up some other kind of lie to tell her instead, I'm comin' after you, and it ain't gonna be pretty...because if you do get one, the likelihood that you might choke your new puppy to death for peeing on your new indoor palm tree, or kick your kitten into the next room because it wanted to show you how it killed that mouse you’ve had running through your walls of late is pretty high.  Also in this category of morons are those of you that have no clue or have no time to teach your kids how to love and take care of their new pets, any more than you, a parent have time to teach yourselves how to program a computer.  Give your animal to a more caring and happy home.  You’ll be happier, and your pet will survive the first few months of its life as well.

And, I suppose, it might be wise to teach you some common sense, 'cause lord knows you have none to little to offer.  If you have a cupboard for an apartment, don't get a great dane puppy.  If you have an apartment with no yard within walking distance, you won't want a greyhound.  If the nearest dog park is 20 miles away and you have no car, it goes without saying that you should opt against a dog.  And, if you have so much stuff, people consider you a hoarder?  If you can hear your cat meowing, but you have no clue where he is, it's likely he's lost or stuck, and, some months down the road, when you're looking for your shoes, you'll find it, dead as a doornail because it hasn't had food or water for a minimum of 2 weeks.

The final entry under common sense is this:  If it's in the zoo?  They have it there for a reason.  Which means, you shouldn't get a baby tiger cub as a guard-animal for your apartment.  It's more than likely a good idea NOT to get a boa constricter for your 5 yr. old son.  Then of course, there's the black widow spider you gave to your goth-ridden 15 yr. old girl, so that she could be cool for school.

And the dog.  Man's best friend.  Forced into slavery (hey, we had to do something, right? Abe Lincoln freed all our slaves man!!) as our personal guard dogs.  Chained into our back yards, usually right out of their mother's wombs, and who die wearing the same collar using the furthest open notch that should have last been used when they were 6 months old.  Or, because they couldn't get water or food, practicallly ripped the chain right through their necks, or chewed through the legs they were shackled with.  Looking at some of their exposed rib cages, it's a wonder they had the strength to do it at all.  And people wonder about the campaign against stupid people breeding.  No argument here.

Probably one of my favorites, where dogs, supposedly man's bestest bosom buddy is concerned, there's nothing that makes me more ill than to see policemen videos where they're abusing or beating their dogs.  With every whack of the baton, I'd love to pump the blood right out of that man's pumping heart in return.  Note to your local police force:  If the man has a propensity to violence, complaints of harrassment, etc, he probably shouldn't be handling an animal for the force.

And getting back to wild and untamed critters, let's just jump right on over to poaching animals for money.  I'd have to say the ones that shred my soul the most are taking down an entire elephant or rhino...just for it's horn or it's ivory tusk.  Wow.  Unbelievable.  Are we really selling that many pianos?  Ok, granted, nature will take these species naturally anyway someday....but I don't think she ever asked for our help.  It's ok though.  Our time here is most certain almost done, it's gotta be.  I'm next door to praying for it.  Mother nature's rearing her head, and we're rushing to our extinction with our eyes and arms open, and ripe for the taking.  Keep caging those wolves for ratings on Animal Planet.  Hey as long as the ratings are high, why not depict abusing animals using the magic of CG?  It's not like we're really hurting any, right?  Yeah, but doesn't this teach animal abuse ANYWAY???  Come on, America, come on world!!  Mother Earth's already upset.  Slow it up, before our extinction gets moved up a couple millenia.  Maybe we talk to the people who make the "See and Say" and let's get them to change the normal noises of the animals they teach you the sounds of, and get them to change it to those of squealing pigs on their way to slaughter and dogs that whine and whimper as they get their daily beatings.  Maybe then we'd truly learn what sound the cow normally makes, when we drunkenly and stupidly tip them over.

Drugs (The ones that remain illegal, of course) and Prostitution

Yup.  Drugs.  AMERICA'S DEADLY SIN.  Prostitution.  Another such sin.

Wait though...Hold the phone.  Are these actual sins America, or are they sins because we continue to illegalize them, despite our unsuccessful efforts to elmininate them both?  Before you pidgeon-hole me as a perverted drug-addict trying to vie to get these indulgences legalized, read and consider this post, and the contents thereof.  Our sin, America might just be the centuries-old war that we wage with these issues, rather than the issues themselves.

With the legalization of Marijuana for medicinal purposes here in my state, I feel its time to address this issue as a whole.  And while we're at it, let's talk about prostitution as well.  I feel it's very important that we discuss both of these things together, mostly because, not only do they tend to overlap each other in a lot of ways, but also because I believe that the same solution to both issues would work miracles.

I'd like to begin with prostitution, only because it's the oldest profession, and therefore deserves the "Pole Position".  Prostitution has been around since the dinosaurs, yet it's one of those things we continue to fight, against all reason, and the problem continues to be heavily debated, morally shunned, and yet it's as rampant as ever, regardless of the law, and how much we try to do away with it.

Let's be clear that I'm not a big fan of money for sex, play for pay, or any of the other wonderful expressions we've come to associate with this.  I don't foresee a need for a "Chicken Ranch" in every state, nor do I believe that women should ever get to the point where they feel they have to degrade themselves to pay the bills.  If we actually had a decent economy and a good number of jobs available at reasonable, as well as current pay wages for living on, I'm sure the lure of easy money from prostitution (or drugs for that matter) wouldn't nearly be as bright.

As long as we're talking about prostitution itself, let's stir in the "professions" of escorts, strippers, and massage parlor "therapists".  Oh, and let's not forget about certain dating sites; all international in nature. Sites like Russian Brides, Indonesian Cupid, and Latinamerican Cupid.  I mention these in the same breath as prostitution, because these sites seem to only serve a single purpose.  After looking around for a bit, these sites more resemble international brothels, more than international dating sites. Each of the girls portrayed in these sites look like supermodels dressed in very nice, sexually appealing clothes to boot.  Strangely enough, these women all speak English very well, and all like to start their conversations out with things like "Hey, you like to have sex?  or "Do you enjoy a woman who knows how to give oral?"  Regardless of their ages, they all appear to be perfect, and begin almost immediately (figuratively) batting their eyes and bombarding you with their sexy phrases, which sound oh so rehearsed and fake and are typed in very perfect English.

And so they CON American men into believing that they can, eseentially, "purchase", for a nominal fee, a prostitute of their very own, upon paying first to have them shipped out and over to us from over the seas and oceans.  Because of our neglect and absense of worldwide internet regulation or law, this happens on a good portion of international dating sites.  See my article on Internet Regulation, also in this Blog.

And what happens, once these perfectlly portrayed prostitutes arrive here?  Let's see if you can guess, just based on this picture:

I really like this particular sign, because if you Google the exact phrases "Russian Brides", "Oriental Brides" and "Latino Brides?"  The first words you see each time are "Mail Order Russian Brides", etc.  If this picture doesn't beat you over the head as to what happened here, or isn't very obvious to you, let me explain.

This picture actually came to me as a polaroid, where over and under it, a woman had written on it what a powerful message this was.  She felt empathy with these women, and applauded their words.

What this woman, and, I'm sure, other women don't realize, is that this is part of a very elaborate hoax, aimed at American men for the purpose of bringing them out of their poverty and joblessness over to America, where they can marry, then divorce American men and then live out their changed situations as our citizens.

Picture this scenario.  I'm sure that each of these women, all presented on the same Russian, Oriental, or Latina sites, probably are all friends, or at the very least all know about each other.  Quite possibly, the management of these sites hire these girls using the lure of such key phrases of "Our bad economy" and "lack of jobs", along with others like "Foolish/Gullible/Sex-starved American Men" and "Fat Wallets" or "Big Money", then telling them that once they get there, and play the part for a time, they can call each other, band together, and get out of the situations they're in by tricking equally gullible American women into believing that they're suffering at the hands of men who thought they were buying sex slaves.  Shame on our American men for thinking such a thing!!  C'mon ladies, the only reason they believed this is because they were beguiled into believing this was what they were getting!!

So, essentially, this is the way of things.  First, they seduce and con the men to bring them over to our country and marry them.  Then, after giving their men what they want for a while, they find or contact others of their "company" that they were shipped over with, and band together to make themselves look like victims, befriending American women and presentings themselves as wronged and abused, to gain their sympathy, and get our help to free themselves from the very thing they presented themselves to be to begin with.  Oh, and as long as they're already here, and married; therefore already American citizens per se, they get a better life HERE instead of where they were, where there was only misery and poverty, and they were forced to marry rich men who made them into their slaves; third world countries like Indonesia; South American Latino areas like Columbia; Russian economic ruins such as the Ukraine.  This is where a majority of these women come from on these sites.  They now can proceed, unfettered, as independent American citizens, to take more of our jobs, money, and welfare away from us.

Strip clubs are becoming the elite clubs of "as legal as you can ride the the line of, get as close to having sex as you are legally able, and get as much if not more money than prostitution".  The timeline of Burlesque, to Go-Go, to Strip clubs has seen the complete disappearance of ALL required clothing to work in these places.  Now, you can get NO CLOTHES, but only if the club you enter doesn't sell alcohol.  They get around that law by allowing their customers to bring in their own.  Nice.  Have you ladies heard what these women are getting for private dances and Gold card club sessions?  Even in Iowa, where I live, it costs you $300 to take these women into a non-interrupted area of the club...for 30 minutes of dancing for your men, totally nude.  After 30 minutes of the way they grind against you back in these rooms, if you didn't have sex, you sure as hell felt like you did.

Massage parlors, although not as prominent where I'm from, often take you as far as you decide to take the conversation.  Often, after the introduction of sex from the client, girls will reluctantly "give-in" and go where you want to.  If they don't, there's a ton of Craigslist ads where girls who are "message professionals" are more than plentiful, and they make house calls.

OK, that's probably more than enough.  Let's not roll over on escorts, which we all know are just very highly paid prostitutes anyway.

To flip the coin here, I do, however, emphasize with the plight of women as part of our economic instability, America.  Because of the continuing downslide of the number of jobs available, and at totally un-livable minimum wages, that $100-$300 or more dollars possible to be raked in daily can look pretty darn tempting. I realize that, given the flashy show of easy money, that women tend to believe, with the proper men giving out this kind of crap, that all they have going for them is their bodies, either as seductive dancers, or as great lays.  There are men out there that specialize in talking to these girls, not-withstanding a fair number of full grown women, into being strippers or prostitutes, willingly.

And if that doesn't work? There's always kidnapping and drugging them when they're young, making them into sexual zombies, hooked on what they're introduced to, and made to believe, through rehearsed propaganda and regular beatings, that in this life this is all they'll ever be good for.

I have also a special place in my heart for the woman that says "I gotta do what I gotta do", usually because she's a single mother with three kids...she'll take up prostitution or stripping to take care of business, or pay for her education, because she realizes that, because of the way her body looks, or because they feel about their strength in the bedroom, that this might just be the best thing they got going for them.  You've seen them.  I know I've seen a lot of them.  They look just like another one of the crowd.  The difference though, is that they either have a picture of their kids hanging on the mirror they use backstage at the club they work in, or when you really take a minute to talk to the prostitute you just picked up, she has a paperback copy of the Grapes of Wrath in her purse, and instead of talking about what sexual thing you'd like to do, talks instead about news headlines and the weather.  It's because of THESE women that I implore you, America, to consider the following.

When I was in Europe, back in the last of the 70's and the beginning of the 80's, I was impressed by not only how open the Europeans were about sex, but that they had catered to prostitution as a legal and respectable profession.  This really only makes sense.  Just like marijuana, which I feel has been long overdue to be legal, the benefits of legal prostitution long outweigh the negative implications.

Just like our budding medical marijuana business, prostitution is handled pretty much the same way in Europe.  It's government regulated, and protection used to deter VD is MANDATORY, as are regular health check-ups etc.  And, just like the marijuana business, the government makes their cut off of it.  Disease is almost non-existent because of this, and the male population is allowed, morally, to get their "ya-yas" out without condemnation.

It's been argued, (as well as statistically proven in many cases), that the legalization of prostitution cuts down massively on sex crimes of all natures:  rape, incest, child abuse, etc.  Down too goes the cost of the unbelievable amount of manpower required to suppress it in urban neighborhoods.

I believe this suppression of drug-related crime because of legalization, to be true of the marijuana industry as well...and of ALL drugs.  I say legalize 'em all.  Do a Paraguay.  The numbers over the last 10 years speak for themselves.  Offer help instead of punishment.  What's more, you take all the fun out of it for people as well, meaning less people will take it up, let alone get addicted to them.  When they adopted the law back in 2001, there were 2000 new cases of HIV every...single...year.  That figure is down 17%, a rather significant reduction, I'd say.  The number of people seeking assistance with their drug problem has more than tripled.  The use of any kind of drug among 13-15 yr. olds has decreased, as has the court load for drug-related crimes.

Crime would decrease big time.  The drug lords would no longer rely on America to make their biggest payloads, thereby cutting down on their presence here.  Users, at the least the ones that have the biggest problems and refuse to get treatment for it, would eventually die out, and a smarter generation would take their place.  I can't express enough how making all drugs legal would take all the fun out of drugs..the thrill of going against the grain would be gone.  I know that the only reason I'm as hooked on cigarettes like I am, is because smoking was rebellious...it totally went against what your parents had in mind for you, so makes it look like the thing to do if you want to show them what for.  This makes it something to put on the list when you're young...and then it hooks you in the process.  If you make these things legal, even for teens, they wouldn't be so hard-pressed to try them.  Same thing applies to all addictive substances.  And like prostitution, look at all of the money we spend on drug enforcement.  Money better spent on other things, believe that.

My stand on this is simple.  Marijuana and cocaine aren't drugs.  They're plants.  Opiates emanate from the poppy plant.  Original "trips" were taken and derived from mushrooms and peyote. These things were nature's offerings, long before we ever knew what they were or what they would do to our minds.  It's humans that turn them into, and then abuse these gifts of nature.  Then, for whatever reason, we turn them into something humiliating, all because we observe the users of these drugs having way too good of a time with them.  If, one day, we made drugs legal?  Then we made chocolate illegal?  There'd be a huge market in selling illegal chocolate that would easily equal drugs.  If you make it illegal, you're going to have a national epidemic of it in the black market and on the streets.  And everyone would be shooting up chocolate and filling up recovery units for the same stupid reasons we do drugs now.  Give everyone the option to do things freely, concerning drugs and prostitution, and it wouldn't differ greatly from the old and time-honored "kid in a candy store" theory.  They'll go crazy for a while, then it will taper off.  Like anything made with sugar, everything gets old fast if you keep the store open 24/7.  And finally, of course, think of all the revenue you bring in to the state.  If you can't surpress it or get rid of it? Choose instead to regulate it, get money from it, and get our country out of debt!!...Worked for Gambling, didn't it?  'nuff said.

The American Consumer, Part III - Company Credit/Debit Card Refunding

OK America...I was going to write a little blog on something else, but I decided that, not only was it waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over my head controversally, it was a really horrid little subject, and it's really nothing that I care to voice my opinion on at this particular time, thank you!  Heck, thanks to the fact that it caused the loss of 9 followers, I can probably confidently say that I may just never write about that subject, as well as anything like it...EVER...again!!  So tell ya what, we're just gonna chalk that one up to the ages and forget the whole thing....whaddya say?  So no, we're not going to do the something else, the something else instead, is coming over here from another blog that I've been trying clean out of late.  Heck, just to make up for the stupidity of today's from scratch blog (which, after hours of tuning and re-tuning it, just decided it was best off in the garbage can), I may just clean out the rest of that folder today, mainly so I can get my plate the rest of the way emptied and start fresh with all new American Deadly Sins that are tons lighter on the controversal scale.  :D

Oh, and, if by chance, you managed to eek in a few minutes with the stupid post of the day?  That wasn't really me that wrote it.  It was my evil twin....Carl.  Not to be confused, of course, with my other evil twin, Chuck.  Doesn't matter, you'll never be able to prove that it was even there anyway.  That is, of course, unless you printed it while I wasn't paying attention...then I'd be kinda screwed, wouldn't I?  But really, moving right along...

So the lucky subject of the day is on something slightly paltry...you know, one of those Peter Griffin deals, you remember..."You know what really grinds my gears?".  It's about purchasing things...whether on the internet, in a store, paying say, a parking ticket at the state offices...that sort of thing.  Anyway, so you pay for something, using your debit card...and then let's just say there's another bill you forgot to pay, so you say, "You know, I think we'll just cancel that sale.  I'll take the money back."  When you purchased or paid for whatever that something is, that money is GONE!!  It's not there for you to spend any longer.  No different than if you had the money and handed it to the clerk instead.  The difference, however, is that, if in that split second that you change your mind, you decide to not purchase the item, they give you your money right there where you stand.  But, however, if you use your debit card...and decide against it, it takes as much as 3 business days for that money to be available to you again!!  WHY????

This problem tends to rank right on up there with you, the customer, having to keep a ledger at a bank.  I myself, have had a bank account since 1979, yet I just recently....well, maybe not so recently, more like 4 years ago, got rid of it, then swore on my life (as well as the lives of everyone employed by this major pain in the rear corporation) that I would NOT, from this day own another banking account for as long as my heart pumped blood to my brain and kept it from making stupid mistakes (I sure wish it would have been on the fritz today...maybe it would have stopped me long ago from posting that dumb post from earlier). My point to all that drivel was, that keeping a ledger for your checking account, should, by all feasible rights, be an outdated and pain in the tushy that should have been shucked eons ago.  Come on, that's been what?  35 years ago?  You'd think we woulda come up with a way to change that stuff by now.  I mean really, why should I have to stop what I'm doing, upon doing business with someone, have to pull out my antique and dusty ol' ledger/calculator, and add, subtract, multiply and divide for?  Oh, I forgot all about the best part, trying to come up with  a pen that works!  That's my favorite.  The figures should math themselves and beam the total to my brain by now!!  No, I hate to tell you bank mongers, but for those of you that weren't quite sure, the ledger?  Still alive.  Still kickin'.  In business for over 35 years and still going strong.

Now where was I?  Oh yeah, so when you make a deposit, you have to do it before 2 o'clock in the afternoon, or it goes on the next days business.  And if you withdraw anything from anywhere but your bank, or make a purchase someplace, it can take as long as it takes the merchant to run it through, which could be days.  If you screw up your math on your ledger even a little, or forget to put a figure in it, or forget to carry the one...you could be in a world of hurt.  I know all about this one, because the last bank account I had, with WELLS FARGO...(and for those of you that didn't hear that, I'll repeat it, a little louder...WELLLLLLS FAAAAARGO!!!!), that very thing happened.  Want to know just how many times they ran one payment through in three days?  14.  At $38.00 a crack.  That's (32, down with the 2, carry the three, 4 times 3 is 12 plus the 3, that's 17, next line, add a zero, one times 8 is 8, and one times 3 is 3, that's 380 plus 172, total is zero plus two is two, 7 plus 8 is 15, so bring down the five, carry the one, 3 plus 1 plus 1 is five, total OF:  552...I'm sorry, did I figure that out outloud??...how embarrassing!)  $552...in overdraft fees for one withdrawal of $20 I made that put my account 5 dollars in the red. So I go down to my bank, and I talk to a banker I don't know...my regular one had gone to lunch...and after getting barely anywhere with her sympathy (or rather, non-sympathy), I asked for a supervisor.  She said that since I had been such a great customer for several years, that she could help me out by taking off two overdraft fees.  Yes, you heard me.  TWO.  And the kicker?  within the hour, they had added them both back on again, and added two additional as well.  I called them back up, asked for the supervisor and told her just where she could get her $628.00, cause it wouldn't be paid by this horse.  They're still trying to get that money outta me.  Unbelievable.

So, back to the debit card dealy.  Granted, there is the fact that, if someone you didn't authorize to do so is using your card to buy something...then return it so they can get money out of your account without needing the pin number (this is easy to do...you just tell the clerk you'd like to run the card as credit...and why is that???  Doesn't this essentially make it worth it for someone to just steal or find your card, then use it instead of calling you up to return it??  There, then, is something ELSE that grinds my gears...)  OK, so that won't happen.  This makes sense.  But why, if the money's there...and the bank sees this, authorizes it, then, through the miracle of computers and the internet, flags it so it won't be spent in any other fashion, can't that same flag be immediately reversed??  If you were to buy it with money (which is, in a sense, what you're doing with a debit card anyway), they would immediately just hand it back...so why is it that the same computer, which immediately flagged that money as "Non-spendable", when the sale is cancelled, and no money has transferred, can't it just "Undo" that same flag, and make the money re-available to you again?

This doesn't just happen there either.  This happens with everything now.  Let's say I go in to my home county's licence plate distribution office, and pay for my plates, WITH CASH (or with a debit card, it really doesn't matter), then my brother Joe, who's been jumping up and down with excitement for 3 days, decides he wants to buy my newly acquired vehicle, and offers me $1000 more than what I paid.  I hastily tell the clerk I'm dealing with..."My brother decided he'd like to have the car I just bought...can I get a refund on these plates I just paid for 5 seconds ago?"  They can't.  Worse yet, if you just paid IN CASH, and they ran it through the computer?  You have to 1)  Cancel the sale, then 2) you have to wait a minimum of, get this, 30 days to get a check from them for the money you paid in.  Oh, but when you bought those plates, the money was gone out of your account in 2.23 seconds if you used a card...or you just gave them cash 5 seconds ago!!  And you can't just open the drawer and give it right back to me?  Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Online purchases fare no better.  I purchased something from a major respectable firm in Canada (that I still use, by the way.  Just because they have a problem refunding my money to me doesn't mean they don't still have a great product) with a Visa Gift Card.  I didn't realize it at the time of purchase, but I purchased the product twice on the same card.  When I was done with the amount on the card, I tossed the card.  I had no intentions on refilling it, so why keep the damn thing?  Anyway, it was soon after that that I realized my error.  I called them to get my money refunded.  I even gave them the receipt (I sent it to them via email).  When they looked it up, their exact words were "Yes sir, you purchased the program twice, I can see that right here, and you have indeed provided everything we need from you...for the most part".  Then they proceeded to inform me that this, instead, was a Visa issue, and that I would a.) need to call them, with the full card number, b.) send them a copy of the receipt, as well as copies of my ID, etc., and c.) wait God knows how many days, to get the money back...on the card that I purchased it on.  This card, remember, is now in the garbage, with no possible hope of recovery.  Visa, then, has to reissue me the gift card so that I can have my $200 back, on yet another Visa Gift card that I'll never keep or use after I re-spend it.  You know what I did?  I shrugged it off and let it go.  Who wants to go through all that grief to get their money back?  And why is it that they had to refund it back to that card?  When I bought it, the bank earmarked the money for the company, then transferred the funds to the company's bank account, making that cash available to that company to spend.  Why then, can't the company refund me the money?  Why does it have to go back through the card that I purchased it on, especially at this point, several weeks after the purchase?  It doesn't.  The reason it's done this way, is because this is how their corporate offices have mandated, for whatever reason, that any refunds of sales made by debit or credit card be handled...so essentially, it's on the company you purchased the product from.  In layman's terms, "We want to be a big pain in your ass, and we figure if we make it hard for you to get the money back for the item(s) that you purchased from us, then you'll either a.) say it's too much trouble to do all this, so I might as well just keep it, or b.) say it's too much trouble to do all of this, so screw the money.  Sounds like a big "win-win" for the company selling you their product.

Either this sort of behavior is the law, company policy, bank policy, it's hard to say, but however it's covered, it's RIDICULOUS.  If you pay for it with a debit card, you're essentially paying with cash...so give the cash back.  Whether it's you, or a thief, you're responsible for it either way, right?  If your buddy George, because he's lost all sense and reason, takes your debit card off of the kitchen table and goes out and buys a 50" big screen he's wanted for a long time, then disappears off of the face of the earth, the money comes out of your account to pay the store for the the item and you're responsible for it, regardless.  Oh sure, if you can prove there was no negligence at all on your part...which it would be tough to do in this case, you could claim the card was stolen and used without your permission, then the bank might cover it via their insurance...but this is generally rare.  If George paid for the TV with green money that he stole out of your cookie jar, the same would apply.  You're just plain out of luck.  But I think I'd be truly hostile, if George stole my card...bought the TV, I catch him doing this...return the TV to the store it was purchased at...then was told I would have to wait three business days for the amount to be available again, making me late paying my rent.  Then, because I'm late paying my rent, I then incur a late fee to my landlord.  I believe I'd have to make a special trip back into the same store, pick out something comparable to the price of the late fee, then take it outside of the store and dash it onto the sidewalk.

Whether this way of doing business today is covered by law, policy...whatever...once again, Americans, in the way they're trained, just roll over and take it.  Long gone are the days of service with a smile, refunds always given (circumstances be damned, receipt or no), and quick, easy solutions to every problem or issue that may arise because of said product.  Part of this, of course, lies with us:  this is because of our initial training to be good boys and girls and roll over for government, let them pass whatever law we either don't understand or are duped into thinking is a good thing without reading the small print, whatever the case, producing economic issues in the process, which in turn dish out the makings of a poor economy, and inspire our newly hatched generation of thieves and con artists to steal things, walk right up to the courtesy counter, item in hand, demanding a cash refund.  The company loses money to theft, then produces, to make things tough for these thieves (as well as everyone else, legit or not), to get money out of the company selling these items, so easily.  Do you now understand how the lines of responsibility are drawn now?  If not, give me a buzz and I'll draw you a diagram.

Now that we've pretty much destroyed that subject....(ahhhh)...I'd like to take just a moment to say that I looked in my following circles today, and noticed that the U.S. Navy is now one of my blog followers.  I'd like to, then, thank the U.S. Navy for joining my circle and following my blog.  Bonus!  Free Advertising!  This is definitely something I can proudly brag about!  (Please see the fine print immediately following this post, please.)

NOTE:  Help!!  I didn't want to say this in the previous paragraph, because I was really nervous about why the U.S. Navy of all people, would be in my list of followers so early in the life of my blog, which I only started just 2 weeks ago.  Oh sure, if I was carrying Google AdSense or something, I could see why I would be noticed, but I have none of that.   If by chance this blog should cease it's regularity of appearance, please inform my wife that I have been abducted, interrogated, and am more than likely being tortured to find out just what my political standing in this country really is and what my intentions are, and that I am probably being blackmailed to cease and desist all opinion immediately, or I will be labeled an extreme right-winger with intentions on causing a revolution against the current establishment, and it's likely that I'll be put to death for treason.  Or, more likely, those days of doing all that acid when I was younger have probably come back to haunt me and I"m having severe paranoid dillusions...I haven;'t decided yet.  Only time will tell.

Well that's it on that subject kids.  Now you make sure and come right back now, because I'll be following this post directly up with yet another wunnerful installment.  Toodles!

Internet Regulation

Where do I start with this one??

I think we'll begin with what the internet started out as...and what it still SHOULD be.  A world-wide source of information.  A collection of data that we, instead of having to go to a library to look it up, or have to have a special program installed to have this data at our fingertips, can now search on a world scale and probably find out all that I'd like to know on the subject...and more that I didn't really need to know as well.

This is where the internet should have stopped.  I don't know about the rest of the earth, but pretty much everything that follows, I can, without question, live without.  At the very least?  Regulation on what is posted freely as well as is what is accessible to whom, should have very quickly been implemented to protect the privacy of American citizens.

Now, 1st Amendment supporters will scream out "FREEDOM OF SPEECH/EXPRESSION!!", waving their little banners, and say everything should be left as is.  No regulation whatsoever.  Oh, there's no bigger supporter of free speech than myself, trust me.  I'm the type of person who, when his mouth is open, just about anything could come out, and I could care less who's feelings I hurt in the interim.  But come on, ARDENT RIGHT DEFENDERS, do you really mean for all of this as well?  Let's be real here.

Let's start with a very obvious concern, the safety of our children.  Before the internet, your average pervert had to really work to figure out how he was going to catch that 14 yr. old girl he's had his eye on for some time now.  Once he's figured out how to accomplish this, getting her to talk to or trust him was another big job altogether.  Thank God for the internet!!  In one fell swoop, the internet has managed to make easy all the tasks previously difficult at best!  Thanks to a collection of computers stretching the globe, and no world regulation, anyone can now know everything there is to know about anyone, given the price is right, right down to the color of their panties, if so needed.  Then, when he know all their personal data, including relatives, friends, etc., he can then talk to her, via social media, and get to know even more about her!  Then meeting her is as simple as posting a picture of a gorgeous 17 yr. old male who "Would really like to get to know you", and if somehow he manages to avoid the slight possibility of a television news reporter from MSNBC who's attempting to expose perverts from being the person he's really meeting up with, he can accomplish his goal in a whole lot less time, with a lot more info than he really needs.  Now, defenders? Close your eyes...now imagine, it's YOUR 14 yr. old he's after...How's a little regulation looking now eh, dad?

Then there's scams and cons, which, previously, were limited to local phone use and snail mail, and to the occasional door to door vacuum salesman.  Thanks to the internet, no world regulation and lax foreign policy, scams and cons are now done on Americans from every corner of the universe...and beyond!!  Regulars now include Nigeria, the Philipines, anyone in the third world...the possibilities are endless!  They started in normal places...email, messenger, but have since moved on to Craigslist...Facebook...and now, they've totally infested the world of internet dating.  They pose as available attractive women or men, with pictures of normal American models (although they're now catching on to us not being fooled by that, and are now switching to more normal pictures), either for straight dating or for sex, with the intent of stealing your heart, or playing on your sympathies, then cleaning out your bank accounts.

I have a friend who, after joining a facebook group, was hit on by an Egyptian who promised to send her money...in the rather large amound of $1500, then, because he needed her bank account numbers to "wire her the money", almost had her talked into it before I very quickly intervened.  Oh, but he was good.  He backed off all of that, still promising the money, and told her he would send it to her instead, no bank account needed.  In the mail it came, a week later, in the form of a cashier's check, in an envelope 3 times too big for it, delivered by FedEx, drawn on a bank account of some average Joe in America somewhere, with a nice big fat check number on it, I'm sure, for proof of legitimacy.  They had indeed gotten a lot better with the scam.  I told her to immediately call the bank it was drawn on, and, sure enough, it was stolen.  When I had experienced a different source of a similar scam, a couple of years prior to this one, I was sent a hand-written company check from the American Bar Association.  Much stupider.  Sure.  Some guy in Washington was buying my bed, in Iowa, wanting it shipped to him, also in Washington...with a check drawn on a major U.S. establishment...in Washington D.C.  This one was a legitimate-looking, finely typed Cashier's Check.

They're getting a whole lot smarter...and will probably get smarter yet, with every passing day we don't appeal to that country's (as well as ours, of course) government to stop the madness, or find a way we can uphold a sort of world regulation.  If you won't regulate?  Then you are banned from using or being a presence on the network.  Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the government of whatever poor country we're talking about didn't dream up and implement the scam themselves!!  "We can't take care of our poor, and we're running out of funds...so let's take advantage of rich Americans!  That'll give our people hope!!  And just think of the prestige we'll enjoy when the people of the world recognize that we single-handedly scammed those naive and trusting Americans out of their wealth!"  Well defenders?  Argue this one, will ya?

Let's move right on to identity theft, shall we?  Thank the internet for this epidemic as well.  Before the internet, criminal intent to steal a person's identity had to be done in the underground black market, or with the shady guy standing in the dark corner of an alley.  The common way to handle the conversation was "I know this guy's brother's girlfriend...for $5000 and a little time, we can make you fake ID's, a social security card, passport..."  These ID's and passports often sported the picture of a man/woman who looked nothing like you, and hopefully, if the conditions were right, whoever was scoping you out didn't notice the obvious differences.

Then came the internet to the rescue.  Now, with a few minutes research and infinite possibilities right down to a man/woman who looks just like you, you can produce all of these documents yourself, right in your own home.  What's more, you can apply for numerous credit cards in just about anyone's name, steal all the money from their bank or bank accounts without even going to the bank, and transfer all their money to some bank in the Carribean or Switzerland, somewhere where it can't be touched by the already too long arm of American law.  And just in case someone gets the bright idea of tracing my computer, location, or my cell phone records, I can easily download or purchase countless masking programs that can project me as being in a farmhouse in the mountains of Arkansas, or on an Island on the Black Sea.  As for the cell phone, I can get something that'll bounce my signal off of every cell tower in a five state radius.  No problemmo muchacho.  You'd have to be pretty stupid to get caught these days, heck, we practically hand you the keys to the kingdom and give you a playful wink, while out of the other corner of our mouths we might slap you on the hand and say "Bad Hacker!"  How many people are actually caught and jailed for this?  Very few, comparatively.  A lot more get away, scott-free, believe that.  HEY DEFENDERS...YOUR OPINION....PLEASE!!!!!

I think we've taken this far enough.  You can't convince me that we haven't been practically begging for some law to cover our asses on these and other matters already.  We have, I guarantee it.  I'm afraid I have some bad news for you, however.  Left up to our Government, I can pretty much say good luck with that.  The defenders of our very outdated Constitution (and the absolute vagueness of its language) would have you believe we are trying to infringe on their rights to freedom of speech.  I guarantee the owner of the wildly popular and very lucrative teen porn site he started last year is the loudest yeller in that group.  Let me know how that works out for you.

I can honestly and truthfully say that I believe any attempt to try and get the government to implement regulation at this point would be a more than futile attempt.  Why do I say that?  Because I believe the Government...ours as well as others, plotted it out like this.  Put the internet in place, under the pretense of what it was to start with, knowing full well we'd love it and take to it; no matter for what original stated reasons it might have been sold to us, to eventually be used for what I guarantee it's being used for freely and commonly today, and for what we've feared it would be used for for some time now:  A way to keep tabs on us Americans (and/or other citizens in other countries), and to be used to take away the only right we have that's yet to be violated...those of our much-deserved and constantly infringed upon PRIVACY!!  Put in both hands, weighing them up, I'm sorry kids.  Freedom of speech vs. An Expectation of Privacy?  Gotta go with privacy here.

Why do you think it is that every laptop has a web-cam, and every phone a camera, front and rear?  And they're all hooked to, world-wide, the very thing I don't believe we Americans could, to this day, live without.  The Internet.  Pretty soon, you won't be able to say you love your wife without someone somewhere knowing about it.  Bet on it.

Who said the mark of the beast had to be physically put in place?  The invention of the digital tattoo probably isn't too far off.  'Nuff Said.  G'nite.  Sleep tight.  Let the bedbugs bite.