Editor,
Has America become the land of the special interest and home of the double standard?
Lets see: if we lie to the Congress, it’s a felony and if the Congress lies to us its just politics; if we dislike a black person, we’re racist and if a black dislikes whites, it’s their 1st Amendment right; the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; in public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the word God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it’s wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don’t burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we got rid of the communist and socialist threat by renaming them progressives; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; if you protest against President Obama’s policies you’re a terrorist, but if you burned an American flag or George Bush in effigy it was your 1st Amendment right.
You can have pornography on TV or the internet, but you better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they are now called sick people; we can use a human fetus for medical research, but it wrong to use an animal.
We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don’t want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the lad of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the gulf oil spill is that neither president did anything to help.
And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who’s at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes, tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their re-election campaign.
What has happened to the land of the free and home of the brave?

It is a slow day in the small Saskatchewan
town of Pumphandle and streets are deserted.

Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and
everybody is living on credit.

A tourist visiting the area drives through town,
stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the
desk saying he wants to inspect the
rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.

As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner
grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt
to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down
the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads
off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op.

The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and
runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute,
who has also been facing hard times and has had to
offer her “services” on credit.

The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays
off her room bill with the hotel owner.
The hotel proprietor then places the $100
back on the counter so the traveler will
not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down
the stairs, states that the rooms are not
satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves.

No one produced anything.

No one earned anything…

However, the whole town is now out of debt
and now looks to the future with a lot more
optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a
“stimulus package” works.

(Reprinted from an email with no credit available to the author. Please let me know who you are so I can thank you!)

I came across an article while doing some research. I found this paragraph of interest. Click the title for the full article.

“About the U.S. Postal Service”
A Very “Business-like” Semi-governmental Agency
By Robert Longley, About.com Guide

“Under federal law, only the Postal Service can handle or charge postage for handling letters. Despite this virtual monopoly worth some $45 billion a year, the law does not require that the Postal Service make a profit — only break even. Still, the US Postal Service has averaged a profit of over $1 billion per year in each of the last five years. Yet, Postal Service officials argue that they must continue to raise postage at regular intervals in order make up for the increased use of email.”

AMAZING!

Here’s the background info to my latest aggravating episode: My grandmother an absolutely wonderful woman passed away at 93 years old in 1999. She was an incredible person, full of life and so much fun to be around. And, she would regularly “mimic with her tongue”, (for lack of a better description), the song “Turkey in the Straw.” It’s a song etched forever in the minds of anyone who knew her.

A couple years ago, my sister’s husband surprised her with an the Animated Animation Cell Steamboat Willie. It’s this adorable animated rendition which also plays the song. A few years later my other sister found one and purchased one on the internet. Each time we are together, we gather in front of this wonderful reminder of grandma, play the song and reminisce; complete with tears and emotion. It’s a touching reminder of a person that will remain forever in our hearts.

My dilemma: I want one. There were 275 pieces made. It’s a collector’s item and they are nowhere to be found. I regularly search the internet via Google and Ebay and any other means available. In the last few years I have come across two for sale. The first was $400 which I did not have at the time. The second was on Ebay this past week with a starting bid of $149.99.

Normally, when I actually search for something on Ebay, I only search the “Buy It Now” category. I never liked bidding on items. When I want to buy something, I would prefer not to play games. A direct purchase suits me fine. Unfortunately, in the case of “Steamboat Willie,” I had no other option than to bid. My plan was to continue to watch the item and sign on and bid at the last minute, not wanting to drive the price up. I decided that the highest amount I would pay would be $200 knowing that I would be negotiating with myself at the last minute to go higher. It would have been nice if I had gotten the opportunity to do that.

With two minutes left on the auction, I place my first bid at $155. From here on in Ebay’s practice is a joke. For anyone that is unfamiliar with the way their auctions actually work, I’ll tell you. When deciding that you’d like to bid on an item, you can enter the maximum amount that you are willing to pay. You place your first bid. During the auction, each time someone bids higher than your bid, Ebay automatically enters additional bids on your behalf. They continue to do this throughout the auction.

My participation in the auction went as follows: As I stated I placed by first bid at $155. I was immediately (automatically) outbid. I was notified and it was stated that I should place my next bid at $157.50 or higher. I entered $157.50 and was immediately (automatically) outbid. I next bid $165.00 and the bidding jumped to $239.00. HUH? As I was ready to bid just above that, the auction ended with an automatic winning bid of $249.39.

Now, maybe I do not understand the concept of an auction. Wouldn’t you think that if you’re bidding on an item and the highest bid is already set at $249.39, that all participants should be apprised of that information? I had no chance what-so-ever of knowing the highest bid and no chance to win the auction. Unless, of course I wanted to play the game and enter an exorbitant amount to secure the item.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s just another scam for another company to cash in. Obviously, the higher the selling price the more Ebay makes. I had wanted that item, as I stated for sentimental reasons and was upset from that perspective because I lost. However, I found myself more upset by the fact that I got played. I can assure you that I for one will never bid on another item on Ebay.

The synopsis:  My internet was down on Thursday night.  Now, this is not an odd thing when it comes to the service from AT &T and since it was late my assumption was that it would be back up Friday morning.  I’m still not sure why I even make assumptions when it comes to their service, but I was wrong.
Upon further investigation I realized that my modem power light was solid red rather than green.  Being down this road before I went through the usual steps, unplugging, resetting and powering back up.  Still red so I called AT &T.   In order to avoid the whole process again, I informed the internet service tech that I had already gone through all the steps to see if I could get my modem up and running.  He told me that he would run a series of tests from his end to see if it was a problem with the modem.
To give you some background information; the modem is just over a year old and just out of warranty.  The tech came back on the line and told me that he ran his tests and that there was a problem with the modem and that it needed to be replaced.  He said that he would arrange to have one sent out at which time I told him that I work online and couldn’t afford to be down.  He gave me the nearest AT&T store to pick one up and informed me that it would cost $60.  I responded that I spend way too much money with AT&T and that if they are going to charge me for the modem I am going elsewhere with my business.  He wouldn’t budge so I asked for a manager.
When the manager came on the line she told me that she understood the situation and that since they didn’t want to lose me as a customer, she would send out a modem free of charge.  When I again explained that I could not be without the internet and that I would prefer to pick it up she explained that the only thing she could do in that case was to issue me a credit after I purchased it at a store.  Since my trust in AT&T is so unwavering,  I chose not to believe that I would be issued a credit and she told me that it would be shipped overnight to me at no cost.
That was Friday morning, now Monday afternoon, still waiting.
Now the question I pose.  As I previously stated, my modem is just out of warranty.  Also, I’ve explained that the AT&T service tech was running tests to see whether or not my modem was bad.  I ask you, if they have the capabilities to run tests on my modem from who knows where, wouldn’t they also have the capability to screw up my modem so that it isn’t working correctly and of course requiring me to buy a new modem at my cost?
It’s difficult not to wonder how all that works.  Anybody have any answers?