Gifts that Give Twice

As we get ready to blow the budgets this year, we can use our gift giving to support causes we care about while giving great gifts.

The Greater Good Store has tabs for different causes. Your purchases generate funds for the cause.

I see quite a few items that people I know would love, so will definitely be doing some of my shopping here this year.

How about you?

Time to Buy Myself Some Wrangler Jeans

After a tornado took out their plant in Alabama, instead of using it as an “opportunity” to move production, they’re not only rebuilding the plant, they’re adding to it and creating more jobs. And they’ve continued paying their workers.

Thank you Wrangler Jeans, for showing what a company should be and demonstrating the business values I was taught in a basic business class in school in the 70s…. that businesses are not just there to take money out of the pockets of customers, that a good business also serves the communities in which they do business, and is loyal to their workers…… I applaud you, and will be buying your jeans in appreciation — and wearing them very, VERY proudly.

Wrangler to Rebuild

Too often companies give us reason to complain — I love it when one gives us reason to cheer.

HSN’s response to my e-mail — bribery?

No, HSN, I’m not going to lose my ethics on this for ANY amount of money. $6.95 in my “Ka$h” account? — are the majority your customers really pathetic enough that they can be bought off for that?

I am truly sorry that you found selling the “Commemorative Coins” offensive. HSN’s intentions were certainly not to offend you with this ‘Today’s Special’ offer.

I apologize that you were not happy with our choice for the “Commemorative Coins” as a ‘Today’s Special’ on Sunday, September 11, 2011. I have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate department. I appreciate your taking the time out of your busy day to write to us in regard to your feelings about the ‘Today’s Special’ yesterday.

Ms. …, I see that you are a very good customer of HSN. I am truly sorry that you were offended and that HSN’s intentions were not to offend anyone in regard to our ‘Today’s Special’ yesterday.

I have taken the liberty of adding $6.95 into your Spendable Ka$h (in store credit) account, as a form of an apology for offending you. Please use this Ka$h on your next order, perhaps to take care of the shipping and handling charges. This Ka$h will expire in 60 days, (November 11, 2011) so be sure to use it before it expires. I hope this helps you decide to stay with HSN, you are a valued customer and we would hate to loose you as a customer, Ms. ……

I truly appreciate your understanding in this matter and I hope you allow us another opportunity to serve you in the future.

I’ve blocked HSN on my cable box, unsubscribed from their emails, and won’t shop from them again. I’ve had a slightly “better” response from them since the above. Here is my response to the above:

You can take the $6.95 blood money out of the account — I’m not shopping with you again after the attempt to profit off of 9/11. I am not the only one offended by this, I’m getting feed back from many people who are incensed by this — hopefully sales were lousy on those items. It is unbelievable to me that someone had such poor judgment to choose to offer such an item — whoever made that wholly disrespectful decision should be fired.

I’ve already removed myself from your promotional e-mails, have “unliked” your facebook page, and am blocking HSN on my cable box.

I am not just “offended”, I am repulsed and disgusted.

As someone who lived in Manhattan at that time, had the dust from the towers come through my windows and volunteered at the 26th St Armory in the following days and saw the faces of the family members bringing in anything they could find that might have DNA on it for matching — the thought that they would be subjected to seeing someone try to profit from “memorabilia” of those events is truly inhumane, unethical and soulless.

Again — shame on HSN for doing that.

Short of pulling the product off the site, firing whatever soulless moron decided profiting on that was okay, and issuing a public apology for bad judgment — there is not one thing HSN could do to get me back as a customer.

Then there’s the ironic “icing” on the cake of bad judgment — those “commemorative” coins and medals are all made in China…. an added insult to US workers that an item supposedly “patriotic” in nature isn’t even an American product, it’s a foreign-made “replica”. Bad form all the way around.

And their response to mine — at least they didn’t insult me this time by trying to offer me a store credit as a buy-off…

Let me begin by offering a sincere apology the Today Special coins were so very upsetting. My name is Pam and I will be happy to forward your dissatisfaction.

I certainly understand how you feel and do not blame you for being so upset. I have forwarded an e-mail with your information to our management.

It was a horrible day and I cannot imagine living right there and watching it all go on right in front of you!

We take our customer’s concerns seriously and I appreciate your taking the time to let us know this was a truly negative experience.

It has been my pleasure to assist you tonight.

Thank you for shopping online with us.

Not sure what “Pam” thinks she’s done that qualified as “assist[ing]” me. And considering the fact that the coins are still for sale on the site, and in fact they appear to have MORE VARIETIES of them…. I have to come to the conclusion that my objections have effectively fallen on deaf ears. So perhaps it’s time to start a facebook page to boycott them until they remove the items from sale…. or give ALL of the profits from them (the $10 they were offering on one of them is just an insult on a $400 item) to the fund for medical care for the emergency workers and rescuers who are becoming ill after dealing with the dust from the buildings…. then, MAYBE, I’d think selling such had a reasonable purpose…. as it is, it’s just profiteering on other people’s pain.

Trying to Profit from 9/11? SHAME ON YOU!

In the last 2 days, I’ve been the recipient of emails from vendors reminding me that it’s 9/11 — of course with links to their services.

An email from a hair salon (one which I was considering going back to, since I’d actually gotten a decent haircut — guess again now), with links to their site, etc..

An email from a drug store chain telling me to stop by for my free small flag to mark the day (no doubt made in China, and why not shop while you’re there), with links to their weekly circular, etc.

Do these vendors really think anyone needs them to remind us of the day? Of course not — it’s a marketing ploy, and it’s repulsive.

HSN is marketing “commemorative” coins and medals — one of which is $500 and, to add insult to injury, made in China…. I will NEVER buy anything from them again EVER….. and would love to see their sales fall dramatically in the wake of such horrific judgment and complete lack of ethics on this one. Whatever executive made the decision to market such items should be fired — what an awful example of business operating out of bounds and putting profits before basic core humanity.     Coin

Then there’s that “medal”     Medal

There is also a jewelry pendant and other items on their site — how bad does a company’s judgment have to be to not see how wholly inappropriate, insensitive and unethical this is?

I am appalled, and no longer willing to do business with any of the companies involved. It’s bad enough that the media are chewing it over like it’s the rib bone with it’s last bit of sauce that they’re determined to get out… but now companies are using it as a sales tactic too? How repugnant.

Yes, Mr. Christie, if Gail is a NJ Voter it IS her “business”

Very much so. ANYTHING that influences your policy decisions and your agenda while in office is the business of every voter in your State — whether you like it, or not.

Your agenda of gutting the public schools, while trying to institute vouchers so that the State can help pay for your own childrens’ educations is the business of every single voter in your State.

That you want voters to watch the degradation of education for THEIR OWN kids, but help support the education of YOUR kids — is the business of every single voter in your State.

That you want the tax dollars of people who can’t afford to send THEIR OWN kids to private schools to be used to help send the children of wealthier people to private schools — is the business of every single voter in your State.

That you want to gut the teachers’ pension fund, a contractual obligation, helping to drive the teachers smart enough to get jobs elsewhere out of the teacher pool — is the business of every single voter in your State. That the teachers’ pension fund is fully funded by teachers’ own contributions, and not the State — is the business of every single voter in your State. Trying to gut a fund that is built on the contributions of those it is meant to support after retirement is nothing less than wholesale theft — and that too is the business of every single voter in your State.

Video at Politico.com

Add in the fact that you didn’t even respond to Gail’s question — she didn’t ask where your kids go to school, she asked how you thought it was fair to cut funding to public schools — particularly in the context of you sending your own kids to private schools.

Nobody gives a rat’s ass how important you think a religious education is — nice distractor tactic though.

Nobody gives a rat’s ass what private school your kids are in.

And nobody would give a rat’s ass that you were sending your kids to private school if you weren’t trying to gut the public education system in the State while doing so.

Gail’s question, WHICH YOU HAVE YET TO ANSWER is essentially “how can you support the gutting of public education while sending your own children to private schools?”…. it’s not a query on where to find your kids, it’s not even a question asking you to justify sending your own kids to private school — that in and of itself is a matter of personal choice. What is is a question of ethics, morals, hypocrisy and your own class warfare on the middle and lower classes — nice job skirting and ignoring the question though… “nice” bully tactics with the pseudo-self-righteous bullshit factor you tossed in too. The REAL question Mr. Christie — is how can you justify destroying the public school system, while not only sending your own kids to private school, but also trying to get those who’s children’s educations are being destroy to subsidize it with their tax dollars? How can you with anything resembling good faith, reason, honesty, anything resembling a sense of decency and fair play in ANY manner justify your stance on public education, while at the same time trying to allow tax dollars to be used to subsidize private education? THAT, Mr. Christie, is the question. Clear yet?

Now how about you try answering the original question…. or are you truly incapable of doing something that requires rational thought, rather than puffery, bullying, bullshit, bombast and abusive behavior?

By the way — all those teachers who voted for you because you lied and claimed you were on their side when you were campaigning?…. they’re waking up to the reality of you… and they won’t likely be duped by you a second time.

I’m betting the police and firefighters you tried to screw over won’t make that mistake a second time either.

After the next round of elections, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Well, Weiner has stepped down

Not a surprise considering recent events. Now what will the stalkers on the far wrong find to whine about? I hope anyone in the public eye is taking this as “fair warning”…. or even “unfair warning”… you cannot afford to be that kind of stupid — at all. That kind of stupid will end up making you a liability to anyone who associates with you, and you’ll end up out in the cold on your own.

Do I have any sympathy for him on this? Not really. Not only were his actions a gross insult to his wife, they were stupid at a level that we cannot afford in government. Just the fact that he knew he was being watched very carefully, looking for ANYTHING the far-wrong could use against him…. and he HANDED them their “issue” on a silver plate… well, that speaks for itself.

Well, Rep. Weiner now says it’s him….

Says he oopsed sending it via Twitter, deleted it as soon as he realized his mistake…… I STILL don’t think it looks like a real “unit”….. so even if he meant to send it to someone, he was faking at that level too.

Good grief. What kind of level of stupid is it to do that anyway….. seriously….. it would have been bad enough (stupid) before he got married, but once he got married he should have stopped even considering doing anything that stupid.

To all you guys out there who think doing something like that is “fun” — you’re being an idiot if you do.

The internet has changed the World — once something is out there, you can NEVER really get it back — EVER, and it WILL come back to bite you in the ass…. especially if you’re in the public eye.

I just lost respect for the guy.

Going to be interesting to see what John Stewart has to say though…….

For all you doubters……

Let’s make sure this is perfectly clear…..

The original photo:

A microphone:

Obvious microphone parts pointed out:

It appears to me that the mid-section was wrapped in fabric, tissues, or something else to make it less obvious that it was a microphone handle… but even that is odd, since it’s narrower at the edges of the wrapping and then fatter in the middle — not shaped like any anatomical protuberance I’ve ever seen (but then again I’m no expert).

This entire story is frightening for many reasons.   Many of them not what someone might expect.

1.  That someone would do this in the first place….  the amount of time and effort put into trying to wreck another human being’s life and reputation is truly scary and obscene — and I hope whoever is responsible for sending the photo gets nailed, and nailed HARD (sorry, couldn’t resist).  If there are criminal charges that could lead to jail time — good.  If he can sue and wipe them out financially — also good.  If both happen — even better.

2.  How many people looked at that photo and saw what they were TOLD was there, instead of what was there?  I took one glance at that photo and immediately thought “why the heck would someone stick a microphone in their shorts and take a picture of it? ”   Are we really so far gone into assumptions about anything that we knee-jerk respond to thinking we SEE something based on what we were pre-told it was, instead of what is actually there?   If that’s true, then we’re screwed.  We’re screwed beyond all belief if the vast majority of us are truly so easily manipulated at this point that they “look” at and react to things without even seeing them.

3. How many media people (who damn well should recognize a freaking MICROPHONE when they see one), also only “saw” what they had heard was there? Aren’t reporters supposed to have better skills of observation than that? Aren’t they supposed to have some analytical skills? Aren’t they supposed to be smarter than that? Are these REALLY the people we’re getting our “information” from? People who because they’re told something is something don’t even bother to LOOK and see if that’s really what’s there before passing it on? If we’re supposed to be depending on these people to inform us — we’re screwed.

4.  With all that’s REAL in this World:   We’re at war in 2 countries.  We have politicians in this country who’ve declared war on this country while at the same time shouting how “patriotic and God-fearing” they are.  We have legislators in various parts of the country trying to impede citizens ability to vote, and basic human rights for women and a bunch of lunatics who even though every indicator is that we’re crawling out of that hole we’ve been in are still screaming that things are worse.   There’s that whole believing what you’re told something is, instead of actually LOOKING at it thing again.

5.  A series of natural disasters has left millions of people in dire circumstances both in this country and abroad.

All that actually MATTERS in this World, and in this country — and we’re focused on THIS?….. THIS?!?!?!?!   Good grief, the whole situation isn’t even real… maybe that’s why it’s so easy to focus on it, instead of all the truly scary things that ARE in fact real.   Is it that we’re too wimpy to seriously look at the other stuff, or that we’re too lazy to — because if we acknowledge all the other stuff, we might have to get off our asses and DO something about them?

There’s nothing to “do” with this, other than sit in our armchairs, bitch, moan, argue and spew stupidity…. hell of a lot easier than looking for ways to send food, clothing, etc. to tornado victims, campaign for women’s rights, or do anything else that’s truly substantial.

Then again — I’m doing WHAT right at this moment?   So I need to get off the chaise and sort through my clothes and find someone to donate them to so that people who lost everything they had can have what I don’t need anyway at least……   maybe if enough others do the same, for them at least, it might just make a difference.

In the meantime, here’s a google link to a search for donating supplies to storm victims — if anyone is interested.

Google: donate supplies to storm victims

Weiner “scandal”…. seriously?

Am I seriously the only person who’s looked at that photo and realized that there’s no “weiner” in it?   Some idiot put a microphone in their underwear…. seriously, that’s no weiner.   What do I base this on?

Well, here’s the photo:

and here’s a microphone:

Am I SERIOUSLY the only person out there who can tell the difference between a penis and a microphone?    Seriously?  Not that I’m some great expert in penises, but last time I checked (and it’s admittedly been a while), they didn’t get progressively larger as you got further from the body, and they didn’t have a perfect ridge around the end, and they weren’t perfectly rounded on top.

So not only is this whole “scandal” likely a fake (see http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2011/05/was-congressman-weiner-smeared-yes.html), it’s not even a real “weiner”, much less Weiner’s weiner….   good grief people!

I’ll never look at a microphone the same way again  ….. avert the eyes!  avert, Averrrrrrrrrrrt!

While I realize that we’re all so accustomed to “sex” scandals these days that it’s easy to jump to conclusions — but NOBODY ELSE noticed this?  NOBODY?   Maybe I shouldn’t be stunned by that, but I am.

Recycle your old cell phones and send money to Haiti in the process!

http://www.phonesforhaiti.com/index.html

There are an estimated 130 million phones retired in the United States every year. If even a small percentage of them are sent to Phones for Haiti, it would contribute millions of dollars towards relief from the devastating earthquake. ReCellular will give 100% of the phone value as a contribution to the American Red Cross; charities like the March of Dimes and Susan G. Komen for the Cure have already earned more than $10 million dollars in contributions through their partnerships with ReCellular.

With rescue and repair missions already underway, it is critical that funds get to the region quickly. By using the postage paid label, supporters can have their used phones sent to ReCellular within just a few days, allowing for the rapid distribution of funds. All phones are accepted, though newer phones will provide the most value to the charity – in some cases $100 or more.

A win/win IMO…. keep those old phones out of landfills, and help the victims of the earthquake.

I’m sending mine in and will be asking at the front office of my apartment complex tomorrow if I can put a drop box there and signs up in the mail gazebos to try to collect more phones from the complex. Simple to do, will cost me nothing other than a recycled cardboard box, and could do some good.

Maybe that’s really a win/win/win…… how often does THAT happen?

Yes, I’m repeating this in more than one place…. I think it’s worthy of that…..