Is this the party to whom I am speaking?

Last year, AT&T recorded $12.8 billion in profits. This year they’re planning the layoffs of 10s of thousands of employees. Their struggle not to remain profitable, but to remain obscenely so at the expense of workers who built the company, and the economy on which it depends, should come as no surprise to anyone. These are the people after all, who plead before Congress that if they were to be held accountable for breaking the law and helping w spy on American citizens BEFORE the Patriot Act was signed, BEFORE 9/11/2001, that surely they would go bankrupt. Immunity, they claimed, was essential in preserving the most fundamental of infrastructures in the U.S. – The Phone Company.
So how obscene is $13 billion in profits? It’s more money than the porn industry generated in whole (pun intended) last year - $11billion – which turns out interestingly enough to be more than Hollywood generated last year in both box office receipts and rentals combined.
It’s enough to keep GM afloat for another year.
Or the War in Iraq going for another 2 weeks.
Or enough to pay for 10s of thousands of employees to keep their jobs – and then some.

Buddy can you spare a trillion

I love this. Geithner and Obama have decided to finally call bull on corporate handouts.

By capping exec wages, and ousting corrupt and ineffective ceos, obama has made it crystal clear - dont put your hand out for money unless you really need it -

A number of buisnesses who've witnessed the control Geithner and Obama are exerting on those taking the handouts are re-thinking their 'need for emergency capital'...

The message seems to be getting through. Already, a number of those with their hands stretched out have suddenly realized they don’t really need the money afterall. They’ll get by.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/05/national/w094622D23.DTL&tsp=1

The Chairman at Chase has even said he’ll write a check right now to pay back what was given, with interest, to avoid the strings the Obama Administration is attaching.

Imagine that. Guess Chase didn’t really need those 10s of billions of taxpayer dollars afterall.

Good work Barry!

Picture, if you will...

The queen of england...an anachronism indulged by far too may people..has, on the eve of an economic summit as important as any since Yalta, somehow, beyond the realm of all that is rational in heaven and on earth, decided to give the POTUS, leader not only of the Free World, but leader of all economies in the world (sorry China, you really are nothing more than a bit player) a signed portrait.
How nice for Her.
How nice for Him.
How nice for Everybody!!!

And yet, here at home, the 'loyal opposition', - that is, the republican party and their lapdog pundits, choose to focus on his gift to her - an ipod.

The duly and democratically elected leader of the most technologically advanced and most powerful economy in the world, has chosen to to offer unto an anachronism, an emblematic token of both the 21st century and of the ingenuity of 'American can doism'.
And for this, he is chided.
And for her arrogance, she is lauded.
And for all of this, I offer, FUCK YOU!
Not since the Beatles offered a sing-song approach to world affairs has the British Empire been relevant. And yet, for some strange and inexplicable reason, an anachronism from an empire long since past its due date, somehow believes that an autographed picture of herself, should be received with the kind of swooning gratitude a groupie would offer their favorite rock star for the same.
No.
Not in this world.
Not in the 2st century.
Not in a world where little tin soldiers no longer line up on a battlefield to be cut down like overgrown grass.
Please refer to an earlier post referrencing 1215!

The ipod-gate is a stark and refreshing reminder not only of WHY Obama won, but of what his winning means.
I'll leave you to think about that, and to comment accordingly.
And in the interim, I suspect your ipod will entertain you far more than a moldy portrait of a moldy anachronism.

Re-writing contracts - Priceless!

All the big boys from AIG to Detroit are bleating in unified agony that the socialist Obama is exerting too much control over their respective fiefdoms. Re-writing one contract after another, they warn that this kind of oversight and responsibility will surely doom America.
And they know a lot about dooming America.
They're the ones who, at will, unilaterally change the terms of your credit card agreement.
Call your mortgage due if they feel your home isnt kept up appropriately or is worth less than the market could sustain.
Tell you that the problem with your car isnt covered under that bumper to bumper warranty you paid extra for.
Refuse to pay your medical costs because it throws off their actuarials.
Tap into YOUR pension to pay for THEIR private jets.

Yeah, these titans of knowing and doing what's good for America are in one exemplary position to be crying foul.

The Divine Right of Kings died in 1215.

Kinda gives ya half a stalk don't it?

Snuggie Crawl

Just saw this - Snuggie Crawls are sweeping the nation. If I'd known they were available at Walgreens, I wouldnt have wasted $120 on 'shipping and handling'!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/29/LVTI16LG23.DTL&tsp=1

Those zanny kids!!!

Life's a beach

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. So I packed up my stuff and spent it at the beach. Now sadly, the beaches in northern California aren’t as hospitable as the ones in southern California..but they are still beaches just the same.

Nothing so soul-enriching as the beach.

A sign warned that smoking on the beach now carries a $200 fine. Well, smoking cigarrettes anyway. Just to be safe, I’ll opt for brownies next time. With my favorite music playing, the sun warming my skin and the sand and waves warming my soul, I spent the day embracing my blessings.

What luck. What good fortune. Only last week, my doctor gave me a clean bill of health. I live in a city where the only concern people have about my private life is whether or not I smoke. I have the good fortune of family that I love and that I find to be the most interesting and entertaining people I know. I have friends who are, 2nd only to my family, the most intelligent and interesting people I know. It doesn’t snow where I live, and when it rains, it’s moody and romantic, not dark and dreary. I have a job (for the moment anyway) that aside from some petty micromangement by tiny little caesars, is a dream job – a few blocks walk from my home, affords me the opportunity to be out of the office all day, learning about other businesses and helping them STAY in business – and the pay is fine.

I spread my blanket on the beach not far from a guy who was tapping away on a laptop. How great to sit on the beach and tap tap tap away, whether for work or play. I don’t think I’ll take mine to the beach next time, but it seemed like a possiblity that would do well poolside anyway.
Sometimes it’s good to just ignore the troubles in the world and all the gloom and doom people want to burden you with. And for those times, there’s no better place than at the beach. Kinda makes living close to one worth the high cost of living. Because it is living, and damn, what a life!

That'd be in the butt Bob

As the noose of depression tightens around our necks everyday, and the media gleefully straps on sandwhich boards heralding “the end is near”, there are occasions that ellicit simultaneous guffaws and reassurance all at once.

Taken from inter-office communications between a sales rep trying to straighten out a billing problem, and our ESL crew in Houston who, not having mastered the language, somehow believes they’ve mastered book-keeping:

"Darien,
We understand the invoices do not match because that is what they explained to us. That is why we contacted you to resolve. We can not resolve any discrepancies. Only you can resolve a discrepancy. This department does not enter ads. That is done through the sales office. It was always believe that we bill in the rears because of the delivery. I’m just as surprised as you are why it was billed early. Any idea who did that? "

Yes, you read that right. Darien, among the most capable of account executives, attempting to reconcile her client’s account, was kind enough to share this gem.
And so, if the ESL wizard in accounting has a job, really, are you all that concerned about keeping/finding one yourself??

I mean, I know w’s fuzzy math has had us ALL taking it in the rears for sometime now. But after reading this, the answer to his seminal question ‘is our children being edumacated’ is finally answered once and for all. There are not only school children being left behind, there are entire corporations being left behind. Sadly, they’ll blame everyone but the minimum wage book-keeper who finds accounting to be acceptably a pain in the ass. And they’ll hand them billions. And then they’ll hand them billions more. And when they’ve stashed that in Bimini and Dubai, they’ll hand them billions more.

THAT, however, is fodder for a future rant.

Stay tuned.