Time Wasted Talking

I spoke recently with someone who said they had questions about something. Then while I’m trying to answer the questions they ask me to put the response in writing because they’re “better with paper.” Then why not just give me the questions on paper as well?

BS Identified

Whenever you hear the phrase “I know that I know that I know” it is most likely coming from someone who doesn’t know.

3-Figure Brains, 6-Figure Incomes

A Washington, DC, airport ticket agent offers some examples of why our country is in trouble!

1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn’t get messed up by being near the window. (On an airplane!)
2. I got a call from a candidate’s staffer, who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information, then she interrupted me with, “I’m not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts.” Without trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained, “Cape Cod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa.” Her response - click.
3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that’s not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, “Don’t lie to me, I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state!” (OMG)
4. I got a call from a lawmaker’s wife who asked, “Is it possible to see England from Canada?” I said, “No.” She said, “But they look so close on the map.” (OMG, again!)
5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had only a 1-hour layover in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, “I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time.” (Aghhhh)
6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 AM got to Chicago at 8:33 AM. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn’t understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.
7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, “Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?” I said, “No, why do you ask?” She replied, “Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I’m overweight. I think that’s very rude!” After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it (I was laughing). I came back and explained the city code for Fresno, CA is (FAT - Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.
8. A Senator’s aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, “Would it be cheaper to fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii?”
9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, “How do I know which plane to get on?” I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, “I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them.”
10. A lady Senator called and said, “I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola , Florida. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?” I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola, Fl. On a commuter plane. She said, “Yeah, whatever, smarty!”
11. A senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. “Oh, no I don’t. I’ve been to China many times and never had to have one of those.” I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, “Look, I’ve been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express!”
12. A New Mexico Congress woman called to make reservations, “I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York .” I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, “Are you sure that’s the name of the town?” “Yes, what flights do you have?” replied the lady. After some searching, I came back with, “I’m sorry, ma’am, I’ve looked up e very airport code in the country and can’t find a Rhino anywhere. “The lady retorted, “Oh, don’t be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!” So I scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, “You don’t mean Buffalo, do you?” The reply? “Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.”

Now you know why the Government is in the shape that it’s in.

Hey O’Reilly, Factor THIS!

And I don’t want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there’s evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that’s how she really feels — that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever — then that’s legit. We’ll track it down.

Okay so O’Reilly says that at the end of a discussion about some alleged attitude issue with Michelle Obama having to do with her being angry. Whatever Mrs. Obama is or isn’t angry about does not matter. This is about language and appropriateness. What I’d like to know is if she were of any other ethnicity would O’Reilly have used the word lynch? Somehow I don’t think so. This is not funny. This is not tongue-in-cheek. There is no “good faith” dodge you can apply. This is the same foolishness we heard from Kelly Tighlmann a few weeks ago. I know Woods forgave her and says it is a non issue. That is between them. It’s no less excusable than the supervisor in New York who put a noose over the cage where his employees came to get their supplies last year. In the case of both these talking heads, if a black colleague talked about riding down the street and firing a MAK-11 at either of their houses he or she would probably have been fired before the show was over. Yeah, okay it’s a stupid thing to say. But he’s a broadcast journalist. They had to have said something about minding your audience and being careful about what effect the things you say have on a listener. If he’s one of those loquacious idiots who just talks and talks and talks, pays no attention to what comes out of his mouth and then expects other people to let him know when he has crossed the line, well that’s what I’m doing here! Supposedly we’re not allowed to shout fire in a theatre. Then why should talking about killing someone in a broadcast come under protection? Freedom of speech? I don’t know. I’m sure that wasn’t what the framers of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution had in mind either. Not that anyone’s necessarily listening to them.

See we don’t need to hold white people accountable for things their ancestors did 100 years ago. There are too many of them doing much the same things today. I’m not sure what I want him to do…shut up? apologize? retire? go to Syria and draw caricatures of Mohammed? harass a tiger at the zoo? I can’t decide.

H/T: Daily Kos and Media Matters

Offended Parishoner

For a short while in the early 1980s I attended the Church of Religious Science. During one of the sermons the minister said, “…that doesn’t do a DAMN bit of good when a person is hurting.” He was referring to common platitudes uttered by the seemingly well meaning, which do nothing but exacerbate the pain of others. While I agreed with what he said I was surprised that he said it. I wasn’t offended, but I didn’t have much of a church upbringing. I was talking with him a few weeks later and he mentioned that a woman had come up to him after the service to inform him that she would not be returning to the services. She said that she could not believe that a minister would curse from the pulpit. He seemed to not understand why she was offended. While the content was correct. Hearing things like that doesn’t do a damn bit of good for anyone except maybe the speaker. He didn’t consider how his language was being perceived and as a result he lost a churchmember.

I thought I had heard it all

when a caller to CoastToCoastAM asked if the people who lived before the time of Christ counted the years backwards until his birth.

I thought I had heard it all.

Then today I heard about someone who said that dinosaurs were Satanic genetic mutations.

Angels and ministers of grace defend us…

One of the quieter voices of the time spoke volumes

Even if it were desirable, America is not strong enough to police the world by military force. If that attempt is made, the blessings of liberty will be replaced by coercion and tyranny at home. Our Christian ideals cannot be exported to other lands by dollars and guns.—Howard Buffett

This quote is from the father of Warren Buffett. His words were true then and now.

Qualification by Association: Caveat Auditor

In a news conference Deanna Favre announced she will be the starting QB for the Packers this coming Sunday.

Deanna asserts that she is qualified to be starting QB because she has spent the past 16 years married to Brett while he played QB for the Packers. During this period of time she became familiar with the definition of a corner blitz, and is now completely comfortable with other terminology of the Packers offense. A survey of Packers fans shows that 50% of those polled supported the move.

Does this sounds idiotic and unbelievable to you?

Well, Hillary Clinton makes the same claims as to why she is qualified to be President and 50% of democrats polled agreed. She has never run a City, County, or State.

When told Hillary Clinton has experience because she has 8 years in the white house, Dick Morris stated “so has the pastry chef”

This is the same BS reasoning Giuliani is supposedly using to say he is qualified. He’s an “expert” on Terrorism because he was mayor when 911 happened. Qualification by Association is a ridiculous proposition. Every pregnant woman on the planet could claim to be an expert on sex. I mean she was present. Every dishwasher could apply for sous chef because they were there when the food was being prepped and cooked. Do you want the medical assistant writing prescriptions?

Verbal Mine Field

About 13 years ago an acquaintance of mine went into a grocery store to get some hair products. The GM department manager came and asked if he could help her. She told him what she was looking for. He asked her to come with him down the aisle. The conversation went a little like this:

Her: I checked the next aisle
Him: Oh that’s our products for regular hair.
Her: Are you sayin’ my hair’s not regular?
Him: Um I mean for ordinary hair.
Her: What are you trying to say, that my hair’s not ordinary.
Him: Er, I mean straight hair.
Her: I’ve got straight hair. I had the perm done this week.
Him: Um, ma’am
Her: Look just forget it.

If he had just said, those aren’t ethnic hair or African style hair products on that aisle, he could have diffused the situation. Now he just lost a customer for the whole store.