Something's Burning...and I (Don't) Think it's Love.

In an article written last October, Darnel Tanksley wrote this, concerning Obama;
"He is our President, Barack Hussein Obama: The most loved man in the world."

I don't think Mr. Tanksley could say the same thing today......especially not in Afghanistan where rioters recently burned Obama's effigy.

From Google News:
"JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Protesters took to the streets in Afghanistan on Wednesday, burning an effigy of the US president and shouting "death to Obama" to slam civilian deaths during Western military operations.
Hundreds of university students blocked main roads in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangahar province, to protest the alleged deaths of 10 civilians, mostly school children, in a Western military operation on Saturday."

The isn't the first time the Afghans burned an effigy of Barack Obama. Rioters, this past October, burned his effigy in in reaction to rumors that U.S. troops had desecrated the Quran.

It seems a bit odd that "the most loved man in the world" should be so hated in "The Friendliest Country in the World, Possibly the Universe".

Comcast Sucks.

Readers of my blog may recall my two posts from earlier this year concerning Comcast Cable. [Seventeen Days in the Desert. and Slowly, I (re)turn.]
For those unaware of my problems with Comcast, I will give a brief synopsis.
When we moved into our house in June of this year, I contacted Comcast to have our account transferred from our apartment. To make a long story short, Comcast could not run a cable across the street where we live and we were unable to get cable service.

All the equipment was returned and we were told in June that we had no account balance.

Last week, I received a collection notice from an agency claiming that there was a $29.14 balance which we had been notified of many times but had failed to pay.

Bullfeathers.

Not only were we told that there was zero balance, but we have never received any bill from Comcast. I went to the local office and was told it was a transfer fee and I'd have to call 1-800- COMCAST to have them remove the fee.

I called the number and only received more bullfeathers.

When the person on the other end could not/ would not help me, I demanded that she connect me with her supervisor. I guess the supervisor is busy, because I was told she/he would have to call me.

I had been considering going back to Comcast and have them try once again to have me connected, but after this, I decided against that.

I'll be sure to post any updates after I speak with the next Comcast employee.

Oh, yeah. Googling comcast sux and comcast sucks, I discovered the above photo and comcastsucksballs.blogspot.com and comcastsucks.org to name just a few.

Update:
I received a phone call from a Comcast employee calling herself "Evelyn". After hearing my complaint, she assured me that the $29.14 would be removed from collections and I should be receiving a letter from the company soon.
We'll see how that works out.

Happy.........

Happy St. Stephen's Day and Merry 2nd day of Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Scroogenomics.

With his millions of listeners, I'd imagine that an author could do a lot worse than having his book mentioned on Rush Limbaugh's radio program. Normally, with that sort of exposure, you'd think that having Rush talk about you're trying to market would be a proverbial goldmine.

I don't think that will be the case with economist Joel Waldfogel's book - "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays.”

It's not that Waldfogel doesn't have any points worth considering. Waldfogel said,
“People value the items they receive as gifts 20 percent less per dollar spent than the items they purchase for themselves. These are items that are not well-suited for their tastes.”

Of course, that's true enough. It isn't easy buying gifts for someone you barely know. More than likely, the present you give won't be as well received as you'd like. It's difficult gauging someone's taste when that person isn't a close friend or relative.

The answer, however isn't becoming a "Scrooge" and abandoning Christmas gift giving. No, the obvious solution would be trying to get to know better the person you're giving the gift to.

Waldfogel tries to rationalize his positions with economic "theory". He claims that our giving gifts that aren't fully appreciated creates an "orgy of value destruction that vaporizes $25 billion per year,” From an economic standpoint, that's complete BS.

There's no question that most retailer's live or die based on Christmas sales. Jobs and profits depend on the spending that the Holiday creates. From an economic view, it matters not whether the person receiving the gift enjoys it or not. The store will make money off that blue and green polka-dotted tie you gave Uncle Louie; it doesn't matter whether Uncle Louie wears it, puts in away in the closet, or sets it aside to be used on his garden's scarecrow this coming spring.

No, Waldfogel can't destroy Christmas gift giving with his bizarre economic ideas;
And even though Amazon.com assures me that the book can be delivered in time for Christmas, Waldfogel's book will not be on my list of things to give as Christmas gifts. So, in that respect, I guess Waldfogel gets his Christmas wish.