WTF: Another Week, Another Bitch or Five

What can I tell ya? Some stupidity just makes you "Hulk Out". Here's a short list of bitches that have me a little fired up lately...

The ECONOMY.

As you saw in my last post The Economy has me bitching, but I'm still doing a little research on that so you lucky readers here won't be subjected to that little slice of heaven just yet. Still mad, but still prepping. Onward...

GM AND SATURN.

Because of their money troubles, GM is making plans to dump or sell off the Saturn brand name. Who the boneheaded idiot up in the big silver tower in Detroit came up with that wonderful idea ought to be either fired for being an asshole idiot, or at best have their year end bonus (corporate bonuses will from now on be refer ed to as "boned-us")taken away and given to the Saturn marketing department. wait, actually, honestly both that idiot AND the Saturn marketing department deserve to go, and go quickly.
Saturn is one of the few bright spots out there in the GM stable, it's just that SO few folks realize this (apparently even their corporate heads refuse to realize this as well). Saturn, though they have had their defective design problems, and sad auto lines, was able to do one or two things totally right: 1) they stayed making the same car (the SL-1) for many, many years until they refined it and made it a quality product, and 2) Since they stupidly stopped making the SL-1 they have designed as good, or better products at a lower than average price structure, especially for a GM product.

Ask anyone who owned, or still owns an SL-1, you still see them on the road, they are quality cars, and frankly my little SL-1 is a TANK. I don't know of anyone who's owned one within the last three years of it's manufacture that does not love their car. A good portion of those people have actually gone on to purchase another Saturn based solely upon their love of the SL-1, and they will probably be faithful to the brand for a few more years to come. My second car is an Ion, and it is NOT designed nearly as well as the SL-1, I have had to pour a grand into it's upkeep within the last six months and need to take it into the shop again in fact, but I am already looking at buying an Astra as soon as a few more of my debts are gone.

Saturn's problem is that they stopped making the SL-1, PLUS they have yet to successfully market ANY of their cars to the public. Their marketing STINKS. I honestly cannot remember a single TV ad for Saturn that I liked- NONE. I bought my first SL-1 because a friend of mine swore by them. I bought it and have ran it into the found over a period of seven years now and have yet to do any kind of serious maintenance on it. It was a showroom sampler when I bought it, and loaded with options, easily affordable, and I think the only major thing that ever went wrong on the sucker so far is the electronic window switch went bad (but that was from me playing with it too much I'm sure). My Ion, on the other hand has had front wheel structural problems, a plastic window clip bust and have to be replaced, a circuit switch in the steering column replaced, my windshield wiper assembly totally replaced, and one or two other things done to it, all with about half the actual millage that my SL-1 has had. Still, it's been almost 5 years owned and I has not spoiled my taste for the Saturn brand a wit.

So, if you ask me, DON'T sell off the brand, REDEFINE it with the rep it;s earned from it's drivers who LOVE it. It fits a market (low end, practical users and first time buyers) and needs to be catered to it. There are SO many other makes and models you can trim before shitcanning the entire company. Oh, and you can stop making the Vue if you have to, either that or make it look a hell of a lot cooler. that MIGHT get me to buy one if it looked cooler. i would have bought the Astra by now if it looked a little sleeker. The wife likes it at least.

McSCREWED.

That double cheeseburger DID get jacked up around here, it only took them a couple of days to do it. McD's entire menu has been jacked up, all this AFTER the price of transporting their products has dropped, AND the fact that they've received a sales jump due to the economy and folks wanting to eat out and not spend- well, if they hit the McD's they'll be spending a little more than they did last week. Now all the other fast food chains are expected to follow, AGAIN after the cost of moving their products have hit a new low. For once i kind of agree with the sad Wal-Mart philosophy of keeping the price structure manageable- pound the supplier to pound their supplier to give them a cheaper price. McD's is officially the LAST place I'm buying fast food from now on. They join Wal-Mart and Circuit City for places I'd rather be dead than to walk into. McScew 'em!

COMICS.

There's an entire blog's weight in problems from this shoe sized industry that I just don't want to approach right now, but eventually will. There hasn't been any good reading out there in months, but on the plus side I have found a few books well worth my time. I'll tell you all about those as soon as possible.



MY BITCHY BLOG

Hey, sorry if you think I should 'lighten up" here in my blog. I speak my opinionated mind and TRY to have my opinions backed up by a little fact every once in awhile. I KNOW some of you would rather I speak about comics 24/7, and for that I have to admit that I write about what I give a shit about, and more and more lately it just doesn't include today's funny books. I stopped buying most of that crap, even though I love the art form, there's only so much shit you can put in the barn before you drive out the animals. I'm still trying to get up the energy to tell you about the Heroes I Miss, but I'll TRY to get more comic commentary here asap.

This whole political thing has had me in a tizzy, followed by our bungled economy and the fact that we as Middle Class Americans have been the primary ones screwed out of all this just pisses me off a lot, and as more and more of the Obama administration is revealed as the old Clinton administration my thought about my country and my livelihood are dimming in their cheeriness.

I hope Obama at least tries to live up to his promise of "change" without screwing us any more. After looking around this area I honestly don't know how much more we can take.

On the plus side my interest rates on my credit card(s) and the evil equity loan has dropped considerably, allowing me to keep paying the same and yet pay off more of the principle. I want to say it helps me see the light at the end of the debt tunnel a little clearer, but I'm a cynical monkey and know that that exit has a tendency to move farther away at times. Enough bitching I have work to do. More here when I can- till then...

WAKE UP!

11/04/08: The Day The Earth Stood Still

I find it strangely ironic that the day before the election (yesterday) that the 2 most major events to happen in each other's political camp were really the obvious themes to me throughout the entire campaign.

First off Obama's Grandmother, a woman VERY close to this man's heart, so much so that he suspended his campaigning a few weeks ago to go visit, passed away. To mark the event, only a day before the election, Obama did what any responsible, presidential candidate so close to winning the election, and yet knowing that so much was riding on HIM, would do: he kept going. Not only did he keep going, but he only mentioned his grandmother's death in passing, swearing not to dwell on it for very long. In all truth, from most of what I've been able to glean from all the reading and research, and trying to sift out from all the hype and shitslinging- he acted presidential about it all. Time to grieve later, right now there's business to do.

On the other hand, again to emphasize and amplify the quality of the difference between the two camps, Sarah Palin was acquitted of wrongdoing for her role in the so-called "troopergate" scandal by a bipartisan commission yesterday. If you weren't looking you might have missed that out of the mainstream media- from what I saw it's just hitting the main news desks now and only a few late night pundits mentioned it last night that I saw. As a PRIME example, again of the quality and tone that this campaign has been waged in, this decision is probably rushed out to try to make some effect IN the media, and admittedly probably ignored by most media, in the hopes of swaying a voter or two in favor of the "pitbull with lipstick". A "pitbull" who swears she ain't goin' nowhere and will probably make a stab at the presidential post in the year 2012. I am taking the UNDER on that bet- it probably ain't gonna happen and I'll tell you why in a sec. Right now I want to finish my analogy on this campaign...

Ok, Palin was found "innocent" on Troopergate, but wait, just a few weeks before she was found by the state of Alaska's judicial board to have definitely broken at least one ethics violation in this mess, so, you ask- "WTF?". Well, the non-partisan board that cleared her yesterday was entirely appointed by HER, and she KNEW they were going to make a ruling on her case, and I'm sure she was hoping they would have made that announcement a few days earlier, but low and behold- SOMETHING held that decision up until it couldn't be used to back up her Vice Presidential run. THERE'S a coincidence in a world where most believe that there are no coincidences. Now, if all the polls are any indication she's probably heading back to Alaska to live, at least for the next four years, right? On a final note, this was a commission that she herself 'lawyered up" on, on the VERY day she wagged the dog on her "Bristol's Pregnant- please give my family some privacy" memo to the press.

To sum it all up, as I see it, Obama, business as usual- business in the face of tragedy, but business as usual. For Palin- Thank you lawyers for getting me cleared, but God Damn it, why couldn't I have used this to have an effect on how I look in the polls and the voting booth!". To me this "Professionalism VS. Legalese Sleeze" honestly sums up the way I see both of these campaigns running. One can still do what he has to even in the face of losing loved ones, while the other props up her loved ones in front of the media in order to divert attention from the real problems and their legal manipulations to fix them. By now, you have no doubt of who I just went and voted for- and this from a staunch Ron Paul supporter to boot.

On Palin and her running wherever; This is the real rub to all of this. Her record is open for anyone to uncover. All it takes is a reading of her entry in Wikipedia, a little "between the lines" reading and some media watching, with full "spin filter" on on any media show you watch and/or listen to. Palin was a FLAWED candidate from the get-go. Just a pair of legs connected to a record that was far from "pitbullish" as much as it was corporate ass-kissing. Any person naive enough to believe that Palin was THE choice for McCain has honestly got to re-educate themselves on just how our "wonderful" political parties work. Seriously. If it was McCain's choice to make he would have chosen Lieberman, ran on his more liberal record and told the neo-cons to goosestep in line. Instead he flip flopped over the last four years, backing Bush's policies, just to get the RNC nod for Presidential Hopeful, was TOLD who his running mate was by the RNC (It's already public knowledge that McCain had only met with Palin one or two times before he announced her as VP choice), in order for this train wreck to move forward to its' inevitable conclusion. One that if the polls are dead on or close to accurate will leave McCain AND Palin impotent for the rest of their political lives, what little there will be left of them. "Mr. McCain, I'm sure you know Mr. Kerry (who?), and Ms. Palin, I'm sure you know of Mr. Quayle...those are both of their footsteps you will more than likely be following, and those are their footnotes in political history that will not only be slightly above yours, but will likely be slightly longer".

I tell folks that Palin was mayor of Wasilla (a town literally 5/8 the size of Flushing Michigan), she took their budget from a surplus to a 25 million dollar hole over a sports complex built by the construction company that built their house (for next to free- again "coincidence"?), and the residents in Flint Michigan just signed a recall petition on their mayor- forcing another election- and He's only dealing with a NINE million dollar hole-in a citer that is lierally FIVE times bigger than Wasilla- go figure. Palin served on the gas and regulatory board where she met a LOT for big oil execs, and preceded a republican incumbent into the Governor's chair using not only those connection but also help from her mentor, the newly indicted Senator from Alaska, Mr. Stevens (who is up one what, SEVEN counts of perjury). Plus, she used the money originally earmarked for that "bridge to nowhere" to cut property taxes in Alaska a whopping SIXTY percent- an advantage that not only bumped her approval rating but made some big land owner oil coprporations REALLY HAPPY. Not only that, but she literally stepped on the republican graves of the mayor, oil commissioner, and Governor that proceeded her, playing this hardball "slit your throat" tactics that seem to stem more from a "woman scorned" perspective more than anyone looking to play the political party game. To me that doesn't make her a "Maverick" by ANY measure- just a back stabbing bitch. Am I the only one who thinks that her entire VP run was a set-up by the RNC? Literally a "win-win" situation for them and played upon her thirst of power to make her totally political impotent. Face it, if she won the VP spot- she's got no real power, and if she losses, she's branded a loser in everyone in the party's mind- "allowed" to finish her term as Governor in SHAME and all the while one scandal after the next will continue to plague her until she retires (she's still got a lot of Wasilla 'splainin' to do) . I think the RNC HATED her, they HATED McCain (who to me was a solid pussy to kiss RNC ass for four years just to get a spot that seems to be taking him nowhere), and they LET him run a down and dirty, shitslinging campaign because that's all that was really left for him to do. What?, he was going to run on message, with a solid by-the-book, full of solutions plan? GET REAL! He couldn't run on his record (and all those flip-flops), he couldn't run on his reputation (knowing full well that if Hillary was his opponent all we would be hearing in the media would have been "Keating 5" over and over again), so he ran the only campaign he could, one of negativity, shitslinging, fear mongering, and hatred. I not only hope he loses, but that he loses BIG!! Again, all this not only from a staunch Ron Paul supporter, but one who voted for Regan, and both Bush's (one time apeaice- I DID vote for Kerry last election).

I, like all of you who give half a shit, await the outcome of this election with baited breath. Either way, not only is history made, but the shape of the world will shift, ideologically, thematically, and even economically. The way we are looked at from outside our borders will be reassessed and we will turn in one direction or the other but things won't be exactly the same as they are today. In the immortal words of the immortal Bill Hicks, "We have a choice, right now, right here, between fear and love, right now, make a choice."



WAKE UP! please.

Sheep Are Not People: Jeffery is Happy!

According to the Detroit News Michigan courts rule that a Jeffery has escaped having to put his name on the sex offender's list because the sheep he sodomized was not a person. For that story either go to the address below or click the headline (it should be linked!):

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080924/METRO/809240435/1361

So, if you rape an animal you're safe from having your neighbors warned that you are a sexual deviant, But if you're 18 and you make love to a girl a few years younger, you're branded a sex offender for the rest of your life?!? Kinda makes that "I didn't know she was 16" defense seem a little mute. How about next time trying the "I thought she was a sheep" defense instead?

Our system works SO well!

WAKE UP!