586 States' Rights
We're heading back to the era of the civil war. Texas is threatening to secede. No one much takes that seriously. But it's a grating noise on the blackboard of who we are as a country.
About five years ago, a little state's rights battle started in Europe, and got almost no attention here.
This is what happened: A guy in Germany, separated or divorced, wanted the right to visit his pre-teen kid. There was a dispute between the mother and father about which language was to be spoken at the visits. As many a couple in a kid battle, this ended up in a German court, which ruled against the father.
He then appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which reversed the German court's decision. Then comes the German Constitutional Court which says "hey, wait a minute, Germany is a sovereign nation and thee Euro Human Rights Courts decisions are guidelines and not binding."
Well... that sure sounds like battles that have been going on here in the states for the last 150 years or so.
It's a battle that may soon heat up over here.... with conflicts about who sets abortion rights... marriage rights.... and educational rights.
Over there, it's different.
OUR states existed as affiliated but largely separate mini countries for about an eye blink.
The countries of Europe have a far longer tradition... one that's not going to break down anytime soon.
Yes... the map of Europe has been redrawn dozens of times in that same 150 years. And the unifications of Germany and Italy, for example, do not go back all that far.
But shared traditions among various sections in Europe go back to tribal roots.
And while the European court was formed in 1959... the overarching European union is new.
So, yeah, member countries of the EU are -- for the most part -- sharing currency and dropping a lot of border restrictions.... but the EU is NOT the United States of Europe.
Many of our states are bigger than countries.
Many of Europe's countries are smaller than American states.
But it's too soon for the Europeans to start acting like, say, Alabama or Texas.
We know what Europe is. It's a bunch of countries that share a continent.
We SHOULD be now know what the USA is -- here's a hint: it's a country, NOT a bunch of countries that share a continent.
And sure, states have rights. and sure there are restrictions on Washington.
But it may be time for some of OUR states to stop acting as if the federal government here were some kind of voluntary association.
That was settled by 1870... and many people thought it had been settled by 1776.
Shrapnel:
-Ignorant of world affairs that aren't crises or natural disasters? You are not alone. Who here knew about the Shanghai Expo-2010, which is expecting exhibits from 200 countries and figures on 70 million visitors between May first and October 31st?
--Time to give a little spanking to the GEICO gecko. He's so busy with TV appearances that he's getting late in sending out the auto insurance bills. Or he's mimicking MasterCard.
--Does any driver remember how to signal a turn by hand? Probably not. No one bothers with them, anymore. And way too many don't bother with the automatic ones, either.
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
585 We Want Our America Back?
585 We Want Our America Back?
This is the catcall we hear from the people who travel around from town to town like tinkers and highway robbers and snake oil salesmen and circuit riding preachers who think they're still living or ought to be living in the mid to late 1700s.
Just what America do they want back? The America with only 13 states and endless land and unlimited resources? The America where women couldn't vote? African slaves? A life expectancy 30% lower than it is now? Is this the America they want back? If so, let them have it -- just not here.
These cockroaches who infest the town hall meetings, trying to infect us with their disease of shrieking, their, shrill shilling for insurance companies and for what remains of the Republican Party and who get off their brightly painted luxury tour buses depositing larvae or eggs or whatever it is this kind of insect deposits are the real air pollution. It is their hot air and the germs they carry that are killing the country, if not the planet.
When the damage is done -- and it's always done -- they get back on the buses and head for the next town. They're the same people who opposed busing for desegregation, but they're perfectly happy to bus themselves, especially when they're not paying for the ride.
Some of them are home grown. How many? How dedicated? Hard to tell.
"We want America back!"
What America? The one where the President is a drunk? Or a crook? These insects and circuit preachers will trade a drunk or a crook for (shudder!) a black man any day.
Do these people really believe the dreamworld America they say they lust for actually existed?
Do they really believe the president is a Kenyan Communist out to destroy the country (the white part of the country, really.)
Do they really believe an ivy educated legal scholar, judge and now a Supreme Court Justice who happens to be a Latina will bend the law any more than the others in that job have done and will continue to do?
Do they really believe unions, now a shadow of their prime time selves can "rule" the workforce?
Or are they just having fun as luxury bus riding cockroaches.
Shrapnel:
- Saucer-y update after reading a seemingly scholarly book about pilots who've spotted UFOs. The space pilots must be pretty smart, rarely if ever going nearLaGuardia or LAX and confining their antics to mostly rural locales. You'd stay away from New York, Chicago, Washington, Miami and Southern California, too.
--Let's hear it for Larry Langford, mayor of Birmingham, Alabama who pardoned thousands of civil rights demonstrators for acts committed in the 1960s, even though those still living likely will reject his largess. Badges of honor, those convictions. Maybe he should pardon the wielders of fire hoses and the dogs, too.
--Kennedys in the news: RIP, Eunice Shriver, dead at 88. Unfortunately we also will soon be saying that about brother Ted, now with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in hand.
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
This is the catcall we hear from the people who travel around from town to town like tinkers and highway robbers and snake oil salesmen and circuit riding preachers who think they're still living or ought to be living in the mid to late 1700s.
Just what America do they want back? The America with only 13 states and endless land and unlimited resources? The America where women couldn't vote? African slaves? A life expectancy 30% lower than it is now? Is this the America they want back? If so, let them have it -- just not here.
These cockroaches who infest the town hall meetings, trying to infect us with their disease of shrieking, their, shrill shilling for insurance companies and for what remains of the Republican Party and who get off their brightly painted luxury tour buses depositing larvae or eggs or whatever it is this kind of insect deposits are the real air pollution. It is their hot air and the germs they carry that are killing the country, if not the planet.
When the damage is done -- and it's always done -- they get back on the buses and head for the next town. They're the same people who opposed busing for desegregation, but they're perfectly happy to bus themselves, especially when they're not paying for the ride.
Some of them are home grown. How many? How dedicated? Hard to tell.
"We want America back!"
What America? The one where the President is a drunk? Or a crook? These insects and circuit preachers will trade a drunk or a crook for (shudder!) a black man any day.
Do these people really believe the dreamworld America they say they lust for actually existed?
Do they really believe the president is a Kenyan Communist out to destroy the country (the white part of the country, really.)
Do they really believe an ivy educated legal scholar, judge and now a Supreme Court Justice who happens to be a Latina will bend the law any more than the others in that job have done and will continue to do?
Do they really believe unions, now a shadow of their prime time selves can "rule" the workforce?
Or are they just having fun as luxury bus riding cockroaches.
Shrapnel:
- Saucer-y update after reading a seemingly scholarly book about pilots who've spotted UFOs. The space pilots must be pretty smart, rarely if ever going nearLaGuardia or LAX and confining their antics to mostly rural locales. You'd stay away from New York, Chicago, Washington, Miami and Southern California, too.
--Let's hear it for Larry Langford, mayor of Birmingham, Alabama who pardoned thousands of civil rights demonstrators for acts committed in the 1960s, even though those still living likely will reject his largess. Badges of honor, those convictions. Maybe he should pardon the wielders of fire hoses and the dogs, too.
--Kennedys in the news: RIP, Eunice Shriver, dead at 88. Unfortunately we also will soon be saying that about brother Ted, now with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in hand.
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
584 I Am A Union Thug
584 I Am A Union Thug.
The right wing wingnuts are telling us that "union thugs" are silencing their grass roots out-speakers against President Obama's "...plan for socialized medicine." Absolutely correct.
We are only there, of course, because the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers and the WWE Wrestlemania types were busy elsewhere. They'll all be aboard soon enough, but while we're waiting, we do what we can.
As a fully accredited Union Thug, I'm a guy who depends on all my years of thuggishness for my present, rare and inadequate Union Thug defined benefit pension, money I would never have seen were it not for my life in the militancy of the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (AFL-CIO) The Writers Guild of America, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, the Wire Service Guild, the Workman's Circle.
Man Am I a Union Thug. Hulking. Snarling. Intimidating. Fat! Better watch out you capitalist wimps.
So was my mom. Early member of the United Federation of Teachers of New York City. And my uncle Sol, a shop steward in the Retail Employees Union. Goons, all of them. Barely able to walk on their hind legs.
Just wait until the Panthers, the NOI and the WWE get on board. You ain't seen nuthin' yet.
The AFL-CIO has not yet contacted me and asked me to attend a meeting on health care reform. But I'm ready when they do. I'm sure the invitation was lost in the mail. My buddy, G the cop, a loyal member of the NYPD Patrolman's Benevolent Association, even has volunteered to lend me her lead pellet sap, purely defensive, of course.
"Don't you need that, G?" "Nah, I have the lead gloves and the brass knuckles, plus we don't get a lot of action in Midtown South." Another PBA member, Tony V, has volunteered his services. Tony is 6'9" and as wide as a boxcar. No one has asked him to meetings yet, either. Maybe if Hulk Hogan can't make it.
Meantime, we thugs will trail around the country, making sure those Great Patriots who want to discriminate against the sick and the elderly don't get out of hand.
Shrapnel:
--The major broadcast news outfits all prohibit use of the title of "Dr." for anyone whose doctorate is not an MD. They say it's to avoid confusion. But it also neatly sticks pins in pompous academics and others with doctorates in non-subjects.
--Other titles flow like water over Niagara. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal unfailingly use "Mr." or "Ms." before anyone's name. Used to be they dropped the courtesy title when someone was convicted of a crime, though today it's still "Mr. Madoff."
--What's in your wallet, as Capital One likes to ask? Not a Capital One credit card after decades. Triple my interest rate, will ya, after never missing a payment or late with one?
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
The right wing wingnuts are telling us that "union thugs" are silencing their grass roots out-speakers against President Obama's "...plan for socialized medicine." Absolutely correct.
We are only there, of course, because the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers and the WWE Wrestlemania types were busy elsewhere. They'll all be aboard soon enough, but while we're waiting, we do what we can.
As a fully accredited Union Thug, I'm a guy who depends on all my years of thuggishness for my present, rare and inadequate Union Thug defined benefit pension, money I would never have seen were it not for my life in the militancy of the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (AFL-CIO) The Writers Guild of America, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, the Wire Service Guild, the Workman's Circle.
Man Am I a Union Thug. Hulking. Snarling. Intimidating. Fat! Better watch out you capitalist wimps.
So was my mom. Early member of the United Federation of Teachers of New York City. And my uncle Sol, a shop steward in the Retail Employees Union. Goons, all of them. Barely able to walk on their hind legs.
Just wait until the Panthers, the NOI and the WWE get on board. You ain't seen nuthin' yet.
The AFL-CIO has not yet contacted me and asked me to attend a meeting on health care reform. But I'm ready when they do. I'm sure the invitation was lost in the mail. My buddy, G the cop, a loyal member of the NYPD Patrolman's Benevolent Association, even has volunteered to lend me her lead pellet sap, purely defensive, of course.
"Don't you need that, G?" "Nah, I have the lead gloves and the brass knuckles, plus we don't get a lot of action in Midtown South." Another PBA member, Tony V, has volunteered his services. Tony is 6'9" and as wide as a boxcar. No one has asked him to meetings yet, either. Maybe if Hulk Hogan can't make it.
Meantime, we thugs will trail around the country, making sure those Great Patriots who want to discriminate against the sick and the elderly don't get out of hand.
Shrapnel:
--The major broadcast news outfits all prohibit use of the title of "Dr." for anyone whose doctorate is not an MD. They say it's to avoid confusion. But it also neatly sticks pins in pompous academics and others with doctorates in non-subjects.
--Other titles flow like water over Niagara. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal unfailingly use "Mr." or "Ms." before anyone's name. Used to be they dropped the courtesy title when someone was convicted of a crime, though today it's still "Mr. Madoff."
--What's in your wallet, as Capital One likes to ask? Not a Capital One credit card after decades. Triple my interest rate, will ya, after never missing a payment or late with one?
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
583 Number Pads
583 Number Pads
Would it help if the numbers on the telephone and the numbers on the calculator were in the same order? The phone starts with "1" and goes to "0" and the calculator starts goes "7-8-9-4-5-6-1-2-3-0." This is confusing. Especially if you regularly use both implements.
If you add the first two numbers on the calculator, the sum is 15. If you add the first two numbers on the telephone, the sum is three. Math isn't tough enough without this contortion?
There's no preference here for either system. Either will do. But both?
The original Personal Digital Assistants had the letters in alphabetical order. That was a pain in the brain for those of us who touch type. Now, they're standardized "qwerty" just like the typewriter was and the computer keyboard is. But there's restlessness in this department. The Pentagon has come up with a further "simplified" keyboard that is neither alphabetical nor qwerty. It says this is more intuitive, faster and more efficient. When the Pentagon calls something "efficient," forget about it.
What's non-intuitive about qwerty, anyway? Fortunately, the Pentagon keyboard has gained about the same level of acceptance as the metric system. Maybe even less.
But the phone and the computer are in wide use all over the world. And switching back and forth between them is often like when you first drive in the UK. It takes getting used to. A LOT of getting used to, especially if you don't look at the keypads.
There's really one solution. Pick your oppressor. The phone company or Texas Instruments. Someone has to win this war, eventually.
The problem is how do decide.
Probably the safest, slowest way is to leave it up to the US Senate. they can debate, filibuster and wrangle and eventually will come up with a solution. Unfortunately, the solution probably will take decades to "hammer out," as they say in the news business. Or they'll come up with a "third way." Something like having the numbers go in no particular order. say "2-5-8-0-1-4-7-9-6-3."
This will have us all learning new skills and it will give the accountants yet another new excuse for cooked books: "My fingers slipped on the new calculator format."
Shrapnel:
--Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice. Got it out your system now -- heard it enough? Great, now let theHfHJ get to work without that encumbrance.
--The HfHJ was sworn in over the weekend. They treat her like she's some kind of combination of the Virgin Mary and Godzilla. She is neither.
--The right wingers who decry "activist judges" (except their own,) are worried sick. Behind their "worries" are two things, (1) a need to think of the US as if it were the original 13 colonies and (2) racism. Thesecond's pretty funny since Hispanic ain't a race.
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
Would it help if the numbers on the telephone and the numbers on the calculator were in the same order? The phone starts with "1" and goes to "0" and the calculator starts goes "7-8-9-4-5-6-1-2-3-0." This is confusing. Especially if you regularly use both implements.
If you add the first two numbers on the calculator, the sum is 15. If you add the first two numbers on the telephone, the sum is three. Math isn't tough enough without this contortion?
There's no preference here for either system. Either will do. But both?
The original Personal Digital Assistants had the letters in alphabetical order. That was a pain in the brain for those of us who touch type. Now, they're standardized "qwerty" just like the typewriter was and the computer keyboard is. But there's restlessness in this department. The Pentagon has come up with a further "simplified" keyboard that is neither alphabetical nor qwerty. It says this is more intuitive, faster and more efficient. When the Pentagon calls something "efficient," forget about it.
What's non-intuitive about qwerty, anyway? Fortunately, the Pentagon keyboard has gained about the same level of acceptance as the metric system. Maybe even less.
But the phone and the computer are in wide use all over the world. And switching back and forth between them is often like when you first drive in the UK. It takes getting used to. A LOT of getting used to, especially if you don't look at the keypads.
There's really one solution. Pick your oppressor. The phone company or Texas Instruments. Someone has to win this war, eventually.
The problem is how do decide.
Probably the safest, slowest way is to leave it up to the US Senate. they can debate, filibuster and wrangle and eventually will come up with a solution. Unfortunately, the solution probably will take decades to "hammer out," as they say in the news business. Or they'll come up with a "third way." Something like having the numbers go in no particular order. say "2-5-8-0-1-4-7-9-6-3."
This will have us all learning new skills and it will give the accountants yet another new excuse for cooked books: "My fingers slipped on the new calculator format."
Shrapnel:
--Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice, Historic first Hispanic Justice. Got it out your system now -- heard it enough? Great, now let theHfHJ get to work without that encumbrance.
--The HfHJ was sworn in over the weekend. They treat her like she's some kind of combination of the Virgin Mary and Godzilla. She is neither.
--The right wingers who decry "activist judges" (except their own,) are worried sick. Behind their "worries" are two things, (1) a need to think of the US as if it were the original 13 colonies and (2) racism. Thesecond's pretty funny since Hispanic ain't a race.
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
Friday, August 07, 2009
582 Meeting Madness
582 Meeting Madness
Would it surprise you to learn that someone has started a George Sodini marksmanship scholarship fund? George is the guy who waltzed into a Pittsburgh area aerobics class and shot the place up. He killed several women and wounded several others before killing himself.
Way to go, Georgie. Save us a lot of time, effort and energy and showed us how to disrupt a meeting.
The only difference between Sodini and the roving bands of drunk-on-conspiracy theory nut jobs who are preventing others' free expression at meetings on health care and other topics is they don't carry guns.
Yet.
But if they continue on their present path, the next thing we're going to see is someone from the Sodini school of meeting disruption whip out a 9mm and start firing. The difference today is only one of degree. The difference tomorrow? These people get fired up enough and they'll start firing.
You don't like proposed changes in health care? You've read the various bills (those of you who can actually read?) You disagree with what's in it? You stand at public comment time and you say your piece. Peacefully.
Are these demonstrators paid workers? Probably not. that's the shame of it. You could understand in today's economic climate that they need to make a buck, like their soul mates in Iraq and Afghanistan who go around killing people for the "cause," while actually just trying to make a living.
Their intellectual leadership, of course, IS paid. You get people stirring up the crowds in behalf of the people who stand to lose most when "Obamacare" becomes law. But the foot soldiers are true believers, and that's more dangerous than mercenaries. They're on a crusade as mindless as there has ever been.
So Sodini brought actual and instant mayhem to a gym class full of women, representing to him all the women (including, probably, his own mother,) who rejected him. The meeting disruptors are like a time release aspirin. Their mayhem takes time. But so far it's working.
And we can't let that continue.
The only way to get rid of this kind of demonstration is to outnumber the demonstrators. And until and unless that happens, they will continue and probably will continue to grow in number and in force.
And who benefits? The insurance companies, for one. With no government competition, they're primed to continue romping all over us and looting the collective treasury.
If you look at these disruptions you see people who are mostly of Medicare age or Medicaid disposition. They seem not to realize they're already on the dole they don't want you on.
Maybe we need our own Sodinis.
Anyone have an application form for that scholarship?
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
Would it surprise you to learn that someone has started a George Sodini marksmanship scholarship fund? George is the guy who waltzed into a Pittsburgh area aerobics class and shot the place up. He killed several women and wounded several others before killing himself.
Way to go, Georgie. Save us a lot of time, effort and energy and showed us how to disrupt a meeting.
The only difference between Sodini and the roving bands of drunk-on-conspiracy theory nut jobs who are preventing others' free expression at meetings on health care and other topics is they don't carry guns.
Yet.
But if they continue on their present path, the next thing we're going to see is someone from the Sodini school of meeting disruption whip out a 9mm and start firing. The difference today is only one of degree. The difference tomorrow? These people get fired up enough and they'll start firing.
You don't like proposed changes in health care? You've read the various bills (those of you who can actually read?) You disagree with what's in it? You stand at public comment time and you say your piece. Peacefully.
Are these demonstrators paid workers? Probably not. that's the shame of it. You could understand in today's economic climate that they need to make a buck, like their soul mates in Iraq and Afghanistan who go around killing people for the "cause," while actually just trying to make a living.
Their intellectual leadership, of course, IS paid. You get people stirring up the crowds in behalf of the people who stand to lose most when "Obamacare" becomes law. But the foot soldiers are true believers, and that's more dangerous than mercenaries. They're on a crusade as mindless as there has ever been.
So Sodini brought actual and instant mayhem to a gym class full of women, representing to him all the women (including, probably, his own mother,) who rejected him. The meeting disruptors are like a time release aspirin. Their mayhem takes time. But so far it's working.
And we can't let that continue.
The only way to get rid of this kind of demonstration is to outnumber the demonstrators. And until and unless that happens, they will continue and probably will continue to grow in number and in force.
And who benefits? The insurance companies, for one. With no government competition, they're primed to continue romping all over us and looting the collective treasury.
If you look at these disruptions you see people who are mostly of Medicare age or Medicaid disposition. They seem not to realize they're already on the dole they don't want you on.
Maybe we need our own Sodinis.
Anyone have an application form for that scholarship?
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
581 Grand Theft, Dairy
581 Grand Theft, Dairy
It wasn't intentional. It really really was an accident. But shoplifting is shoplifting.
In the supermarket parking lot, lifting the bags of groceries into the trunk of the car, there it was.
A package of cheese.
And while not the exotically and sometimes criminally expensive gourmet stuff, the stealing of which might be considered grand theft dairy, not one of the cheapies, either.
How did this happen? How did a scrupulously honest long time resident of the neighborhood whose lawyer surely would ask for no bail because of deep ties to the community, manage to sneak out an item priced at something between seven and eight dollars?
Well... how about blaming those deep ties to the community, which in this case meant chatting with the cashier who is a near neighbor, with neither of us paying close enough attention to the checkout to notice the small, flat package sitting in the cart.
What to do.
There were alternatives.
Return the thing.
Take a chance and just make off with it? That's not right.
Go back and stand on line again for half an hour to pay for it? That's unbearable.
Buy a postal money order and send it to the store's headquarters anonymously?
Ah, but where IS the main office? It could be in East Islip, New York, or Montvale, New Jersey... or Melheim, Germany... in which case we'd have to buy the money order in euros.
How about donating the package to a food kitchen. A noble thought, relative to the other thoughts that you are hearing. But that doesn't answer the ethical dilemma which, by the time you read or hear this, is more than a week old.
The guilt is overwhelming.
How can a thief like this show his face back at the store?
Who or what to blame!
The lateness of the hour... the laxity of the staff?
Sure the cashier should have eyed the cart.
But it was near closing time and very busy.
No, really. It was just carelessness.
The nightmares begin: guilty with an explanation, your honor.
Wait, how about this for a solution. After all, what they don't know won't hurt them.
Next time before heading for the market, slip the loot from the heist into a shopping bag.... sneak it into the store... and when checking out, pay for it.
Unless, of course, store security discovers the theft and views the checkout videotape first.
In which case you shall hear the next broadcast version of these reports over a cell phone...
meaning a pay phone in a real cell.
Shrapnel:
--Semi reformed smokers unite! Slam your window shut, making it loud as possible. Maybe that'll teach the yutz next door when he smokes his two packs a day, others dislike the stink.
--There's going to be a federal summit on distracted driving. So, attendees, get behind the wheel, start the trip, put on your makeup, turn on the radio, and if you can't make a phone call, at least text someone. And please do it in that order.
--You gotta love the Iranian National Travel Agency. So welcoming are they that when you visit, they'll provide you with free accommodations. Tehran has more five star prisons than anywhere else in the middle east.
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
It wasn't intentional. It really really was an accident. But shoplifting is shoplifting.
In the supermarket parking lot, lifting the bags of groceries into the trunk of the car, there it was.
A package of cheese.
And while not the exotically and sometimes criminally expensive gourmet stuff, the stealing of which might be considered grand theft dairy, not one of the cheapies, either.
How did this happen? How did a scrupulously honest long time resident of the neighborhood whose lawyer surely would ask for no bail because of deep ties to the community, manage to sneak out an item priced at something between seven and eight dollars?
Well... how about blaming those deep ties to the community, which in this case meant chatting with the cashier who is a near neighbor, with neither of us paying close enough attention to the checkout to notice the small, flat package sitting in the cart.
What to do.
There were alternatives.
Return the thing.
Take a chance and just make off with it? That's not right.
Go back and stand on line again for half an hour to pay for it? That's unbearable.
Buy a postal money order and send it to the store's headquarters anonymously?
Ah, but where IS the main office? It could be in East Islip, New York, or Montvale, New Jersey... or Melheim, Germany... in which case we'd have to buy the money order in euros.
How about donating the package to a food kitchen. A noble thought, relative to the other thoughts that you are hearing. But that doesn't answer the ethical dilemma which, by the time you read or hear this, is more than a week old.
The guilt is overwhelming.
How can a thief like this show his face back at the store?
Who or what to blame!
The lateness of the hour... the laxity of the staff?
Sure the cashier should have eyed the cart.
But it was near closing time and very busy.
No, really. It was just carelessness.
The nightmares begin: guilty with an explanation, your honor.
Wait, how about this for a solution. After all, what they don't know won't hurt them.
Next time before heading for the market, slip the loot from the heist into a shopping bag.... sneak it into the store... and when checking out, pay for it.
Unless, of course, store security discovers the theft and views the checkout videotape first.
In which case you shall hear the next broadcast version of these reports over a cell phone...
meaning a pay phone in a real cell.
Shrapnel:
--Semi reformed smokers unite! Slam your window shut, making it loud as possible. Maybe that'll teach the yutz next door when he smokes his two packs a day, others dislike the stink.
--There's going to be a federal summit on distracted driving. So, attendees, get behind the wheel, start the trip, put on your makeup, turn on the radio, and if you can't make a phone call, at least text someone. And please do it in that order.
--You gotta love the Iranian National Travel Agency. So welcoming are they that when you visit, they'll provide you with free accommodations. Tehran has more five star prisons than anywhere else in the middle east.
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
Monday, August 03, 2009
580 Workplace Bullies
580 Workplace Bullies
Is there a school where they teach bosses to bully workers and co-workers to bully others? Or does it just come naturally?
An item in the Sunday paper detailed the case of a woman of late middle age who was all but forced out of her job, as a health professional and who tried to sue her employer. The story goes on to describe the toll it took on her, on her family and on her surroundings. And it gave some statistics that while hard to verify show a troubling trend.
It said 37 percent of Americans believe they are being or have been bullied at work. The figure seems low. The question should not be "have you been bullied at work," but "have you managed to avoid it?"
It's not that every workplace is a lower east side sweatshop. But almost every place has the potential for it.
There are companies famous for this kind of behavior. And non-profits can be even worse: churches, hospitals, schools. The non-profits hide behind a "good works" excuse to justify brutalizing the people on their payrolls. Governments, too.
Sometimes, the bully is one person -- someone whose life is fear driven. Sometimes it's an institutional mindset.
So what do you do? Roar back? Shrink down? Walk out?
That depends on the case -- and on you. But no matter the solution you choose, this advice might come in handy. It comes not from an expert on labor relations, a gravely pontificating scholar, a pipe smoking psychologist or a union organizer. It comes from a reformed streetwalker named Mikki.
Mikki says you get bullied because you identify with the bully. You give him enough rope to hang you. You want to make peace and to make peace, you start thinking like he does.
If there's anyone who should know about bullies it's women with pimps.
Shrapnel:
--The administration says taxes may go up to pay for health care. Oops. George H.W. Bush must be smiling about this one.
--Ford, the only solvent American car company is a little less solvent now, and it has nothing to do with today's automotive climate. They've settled an old suit charging one of their SUVS was more prone to rollovers than they admitted at the time. Some said they were so unstable, they sometimes turned over while standing still and empty, but that's not true... right?
--We're learning more and more each day about the habits of our neighbors, now that the AC is busted and the windows remain open. It's not stuff we want to know or in which we have any interest. But it also proves that the windows, when closed, block a lot of extraneous sound.
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
Is there a school where they teach bosses to bully workers and co-workers to bully others? Or does it just come naturally?
An item in the Sunday paper detailed the case of a woman of late middle age who was all but forced out of her job, as a health professional and who tried to sue her employer. The story goes on to describe the toll it took on her, on her family and on her surroundings. And it gave some statistics that while hard to verify show a troubling trend.
It said 37 percent of Americans believe they are being or have been bullied at work. The figure seems low. The question should not be "have you been bullied at work," but "have you managed to avoid it?"
It's not that every workplace is a lower east side sweatshop. But almost every place has the potential for it.
There are companies famous for this kind of behavior. And non-profits can be even worse: churches, hospitals, schools. The non-profits hide behind a "good works" excuse to justify brutalizing the people on their payrolls. Governments, too.
Sometimes, the bully is one person -- someone whose life is fear driven. Sometimes it's an institutional mindset.
So what do you do? Roar back? Shrink down? Walk out?
That depends on the case -- and on you. But no matter the solution you choose, this advice might come in handy. It comes not from an expert on labor relations, a gravely pontificating scholar, a pipe smoking psychologist or a union organizer. It comes from a reformed streetwalker named Mikki.
Mikki says you get bullied because you identify with the bully. You give him enough rope to hang you. You want to make peace and to make peace, you start thinking like he does.
If there's anyone who should know about bullies it's women with pimps.
Shrapnel:
--The administration says taxes may go up to pay for health care. Oops. George H.W. Bush must be smiling about this one.
--Ford, the only solvent American car company is a little less solvent now, and it has nothing to do with today's automotive climate. They've settled an old suit charging one of their SUVS was more prone to rollovers than they admitted at the time. Some said they were so unstable, they sometimes turned over while standing still and empty, but that's not true... right?
--We're learning more and more each day about the habits of our neighbors, now that the AC is busted and the windows remain open. It's not stuff we want to know or in which we have any interest. But it also proves that the windows, when closed, block a lot of extraneous sound.
I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2009
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4759 The Supreme Court
C’mon, guys, we all know what you’re doing. You’re hiding behind nonsense so a black woman is not the next Associate Justice of the U.S....
