The Bain of Romney

At Bain, Romney showed us all his rigged version of capitalism: perfectly legal, but utterly immoral. Perhaps that should be his bumper sticker…

“Lookatmevangelicals”: God’s Own Peacocks

Rick Perry, Rick Santorum (what is it about “Ricks”?), Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and now Tim Tebow: religious peacocks all, compelled to shout their prayers for all to hear. Whatever happened to quiet faith?

Fox News and North Korea: More alike than you think

This article reminds me of the brilliant quip by Mark Twain: It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble, its what you’re sure you know that just ain’t so. I imagine a similar survey in North Korea would yield similar results: a population that has for over 50 years been indoctrina­ted by the single radio and TV station they are permitted to watch, spouting endless propaganda and magical thinking. If North Korea were liberated tomorrow, the entire population would be like Neandertha­ls stepping out of a time machine in 21st Century Silicon Valley. So it is with the GOP and its propaganda arm, Fox: an ignorant electorate is a conservati­ve’s dream. Perhaps not too outrageous to imagine that this has been the plan all along…

Mitt Romney: No Convictions, No Direction

It all comes down to this: a man without conviction­s is a man without direction. Romney simply has no idea where to lead this country. “Being President” is just something on the bucket list of this wealthy, privileged, colorless man

Tears for Jobs, Jeers for Wall Street

When Steve Jobs died, it seemed that the whole world mourned, saddened by the passing of a passionate, creative business leader who gave birth to some of the coolest technology on the planet and delivered real value to consumers. Can anyone imagine a similar outpouring of public grief on the passing of any one of the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street? I don’t think so. Wall Streeters should think long and hard about why that is…

A Conversation with AT&T (that did not go well)

My opening gambit, on upgrading my iPhone:

“I just upgraded to new iPhone4s, and was angered to discover that ATT charges an $18 “upgrade” fee. Please tell me what work ATT did, what assets were deployed, how many staff hours were required to enable the 5 minute process, in the Apple store, to upgrade my phone. This is truly outrageous, extortionate behavior. How can you treat your customers like this?”

AT&T’s Customer Service Response:
“Thank you for taking the time to e-mail AT&T regarding the upgrade fees. I apologize for any confusion or misunderstanding this may have caused. My name is Terri Grissom, and I am happy to help you with your inquiry.

After reviewing your email and account, I understand that you are concerned about being charged a one-time fee of $18.00 for an equipment upgrade. An Upgrade Processing Fee in the amount of $18.00 per line is applied to all AT&T customers who upgrade their equipment. This fee is assessed on the billing statement immediately following the date of your upgrade. Our new customers pay a $36 Activation Fee, but we discount this amount for existing customers.

The $18 fee is to allow us to assist customers with recommending new equipment, offering special offers and discounts, providing assistance with the upgrade process if needed, and supporting the returns process within 30 days. These specialized processes help us to ensure you are satisfied with your new equipment, and are ready to use it the day you receive it. The upgrade fee allows us to defray some of these additional service costs.

Mr. XXXXXXX, I hope that the information provided has been helpful and has resolved all of your questions. Should you have additional concerns or questions about this issue please reply to this email. If you need to contact us again regarding a new issue please send us another email via the contact link through your online account. Again, my name is Terri Grissom, and I thank you for being a valued AT&T customer for several years. We will do our best to ensure that your wireless experience is a success.

I encourage you to visit our web site (www.att.com/wireless) often to view current and previous monthly statements, make payments and to shop for new product and service offerings.

Sincerely,

Terri Grissom
AT&T
Online Customer Care Professional”

And My Retort:
“Ms. Grissom
The “upgrade” process took less than 10 minutes, performed by an Apple employee, in the Apple store. There was no engagement, other than a nano-second electronic handshake to identify the new phone’s serial number, by ATT, no assets of ATT deployed, no advice or counsel from ATT employees regarding equipment, rate plans, etc. This fee is pure exploitation by ATT of a customer who has, over the past decade, spent tens of thousands of dollars on service fees with your company (if I include the technology companies I started, which also used ATT, it would be well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars). ATT saw an opportunity to pick the pocket of a customer, and it took the opportunity.

Small wonder that wireless operators, especially ATT, are held in even lower esteem by the public than Congress, Airlines, or Wall Street bankers. Color me disgusted.

Cain and the Stench of Rove

Gee, that has an almost biblical sound to it. Indeed, the stench of Karl Rove is all over this issue. Cain may be a jerk, but Rove is evil incarnate. Perry is too stupid to have orchestrat­ed this, and it would be just like Romney the Weasel to use Rove to do his dirty work. It will be really interestin­g to see this all unravel.

Cain’s Pain is Romney/Perry’s Gain

$10 says the scoop on Cain’s sexual harassment schtick was dug up by operatives of the Romney or Perry camps. Oh, the spectacle of intra-party cannibalism in the GOP is just too delicious!

GOP’s Best

Sarah’s gone packin’
Newt’s off the table
Mitt’s a clear phony
And Cain is not able
Bachmann’s a goner
And Perry’s a clown
No hope for the right-wing
In Washington town

Making Merry of Perry

All my vexes come from Texas: George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, Karl Rove, and now Rick Perry – God’s own peacock. A bulb so dim he could not enlighten the inside of a matchbox. Perfect candidate for the GOP!