Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The government is on a roll

And it's not a good one.

Let's recap what tidbits caught my attention on the radio this morning, shall we?

(and yes, I took notes while driving)

Obama signs a service bill in honor of Ted Kennedy

Now, what, my friends, is wrong with that statement?

That's right. The phrase "in honor of Ted Kennedy."

Should we be doing ANYTHING in his honor? Seriously? What has he done for the good of society that was out of the goodness of his heart? Driving a woman off a bridge doesn't count.

It's amazing to me to see a politician who can murder someone, treat others like shit, and generally show his ass on a regular basis: And his political career is still tickin' - to the point where people NAME SHIT AFTER HIM.

Come on, people. He's not even dead yet. Can't you treat him like a martyr at that point?

Judge blocks investors from taking Madoff's personal funds

I suppose since Madoff has pleaded guilty, the judge feels sorry for the low life piece of shit, and told investors that they can't go after Madoff's FORTUNE.

He'll be in PRISON. Why does he need any money? Instead, he's allowing the government to take it.

Wait... which is worse?!

Great, now the a Judicial Branch has lost their minds, too.

Gov. Paterson and Bloomberg mock a reporter in a wheelchair

Wow.

More proof that money doesn't buy class. After that incident, Paterson proceeded to mock the disabled reporter in a charity event.

Ah, irony.

I heard on the radio that Spitzer was beating Paterson in the polls today.

Senator Feinstein and her husband guarantee they'll be FINE during this crisis.

Senator Feinstein introduced legislation to allow the FDIC to hire her HUSBAND'S COMPANY to handle foreclosures at a rate slightly higher than previously.

No investigation needed, apparently.

And this is okay, apparently.

Is your head spinning yet? If it's not, it should be.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Isn't America Great?

Okay, as you may or may not know, I haven't had the best of luck recently.
The latest:
I just got my 12th phone call from an Auto Loan/Health Insurance/Personal Loan company, saying that I've been 100% approved and qualified "based upon my online application."
The kicker: I haven't submitted an online application.
After the 4th phone call I got yesterday morning, I called Experian and placed a Fraud Alert on my credit report. They'll disiminate the info to the other 2 credit bureaus.
Each company that has called me has my correct name (well, maiden name), address, and cell phone number.
Just now, I finally talked one lady at Auto Loan place into giving me the last 4 digits of the social security number and the birthdate that was listed on the application. Neither are close to mine.
As an aside, I'm amazed that I can be "100% approved" for ANYTHING when it's obvious they didn't have a SSN or birthdate to match credit records. Isn't America great?
Do any of you readers know if I need to do anything further than a Fraud Alert? I'm really tired of getting these phone calls. I'm answering each of them to tell them that this was a fraudulent filing, and to please flag it as being reported to the proper authorities. I've assured each of them that I'm not interested in an auto loan right now.
I'm sure it's gotta be a crime somehow... identity theft attempt of some sort (although, knock on wood, I'm hoping no one has gotten credit under my name). But I also know that since it was done on a computer, I can't exactly look the person up, find out where they live, and go slash their car tires (and yes, I acknowledge that this act would be, without a doubt, a crime).
And yes - I shred all junk mail/credit apps. I'm anal about that kind of stuff. I have no clue how someone got this info.
I'm just concerned 'cause my husband and I are trying to move soon, and I don't want someone messing with my credit while I try to buy a house.
Any thoughts?

Wind breaking

And I'm not talking about my husband.

Yesterday morning at work, the wind was so bad that the power flickered on and off for a couple of hours. I eventually told the people in the front office to just turn off their computers for a bit.
The wind whipped around the building, and you felt like a tree was about to come through the window. That's the thing - there aren't really any trees around the building.

The metal and brick building creaked and creaked.

I got an email from a fellow Board member in my neighborhood. It was sent from her Blackberry, so the grammar and spelling wasn't exactly perfect, but it amounted to: "The neighborhood looks like a freakin' war zone. Shingles and siding everywhere."

I live in a townhouse subdivision, and because I'm an end unit with no barrier of other homes around me, I knew I'd be one to suffer.

I cut work at 10:45am, after the wind had died down, to assess the damage.

After taking a few detours, I finally found that there was a bunch of shingles off my roof, and my beautiful terra cotta windchimes that had withstood hurricane winds before, were shattered and in pieces at my front door. A leland cyprus chillin' by my front door is now at a 30 degree angle.
I called my insurance company, and the secretary gave me the name and number of her husband's company. She suggested that if the damage was less than my deductible, I may not have to worry about submitting a claim. I liked the way she thought.

I called her husband, who said he could come out first thing the next morning. There was no plywood showing, so I figured I was safe.

I drove back to work, thinking, "how the in the world am I going to pay for this?!"

We were saving for a house, and it just seemed that things kept getting more expensive, even while our income stayed the same. Groceries, gas, day-to-day stuff.

I emailed the neighborhood as a courtesy, attaching files listing each unit's siding color and roof color, should they need to replace anything. The majority of people were appreciative for the head's up. One person asked why I didn't assess damage to all 125 units to tell her if her house was damaged. Let me tell you - I went OFF on the bitch. Stupid liberal.

Anyways.

I went back to work 'til about 4:30pm, then headed back to the 'hood.

Walking around with a couple other Board members, we answered people's questions and took pictures of trees that the HOA would be responsible for having removed.

All the while, I wondered: "How the heck am I gonna pay for this?"

Ironically enough, there were several roofing companies in the neighborhood. They were like vultures.

Funny, one of 'em was the insurance company's secretary's husband's company. The same guy I had talked to.

Thankfully, they were great. They were repairing some people's minor damage for no charge. People were very appreciative.

They got to my house, and made a face. They said, "Yeah... this may run you about $400.00."

I half-shrugged. It was less than my deductible and I wouldn't have to deal with my insurance company. Perhaps that wasn't bad.

Again, I thought, "Where am I going to dig up $400?"

Then I checked my mail.

There was my tax return.

I pretty much just handed the check over to the roofing company.

Problem solved.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Captain Rescued

No thanks to Obama, of course.

By the way - did he even know that an American was being held hostage while he gave his press conference about Federal Housing or whatever? Hm.

Anyways, as an aside -

This guy is AWESOME.

As another aside:

Let's stop giving aid to Africa. Seriously.

Why bother? People want the U.S. out of other countries business, anyways. It's time for the Iraqis to take responsibility of their own country, I hear.

I think it's time for Kenya to do the same.

Why put our people in any more danger? We have enough shit going on at home.

I am beginning to think that the U.S. isn't the World Police after all, and that we would do best to isolate ourselves for a while. Rather that than be the pansies that Obama is setting us out to be.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Poll determines that people think Obama improves the U.S.'s image overseas

Interesting. I had figured it made us look weaker. Like Europe.

Maybe that's why the world likes us now.

That, and the fact that since everyone hated G.W. so much, anything was a step up.

Funny how so much is relative.

Nasty weather

After a beautiful 70 degree weather weekend, I awoke to 40 degrees, clouds, and wind.

I just got a call about 30 minutes ago from my husband, who is taking a half day off from work for a dentist appointment.

He sat on the couch, watching TV and listening to the wind, when... WHAM!

The awesome porch furniture on the back deck shattered.

The umbrella we have on the table must have shattered the glass top to the table. Shards everywhere. I should have asked Matt to take a picture. I mean, the good of it could have been a photo, right?

So, for now, the table frame (that is wrought iron, I think), and the umbrella will go in storage. The chairs may sit out there for the time being. We're trying to sell our house, so this will look awkward for a bit.

Anyone have any ideas on where to get a piece of glass cut for the table? It won't happen 'til we move, but I'm searching for idears ahead of time.

So sad. Obviously I hadn't sat out there in a while, being as we just got over winter.
But it still makes me sad.

I just cleaned the pollen off that sucker.

Pentagon decides to ax the F-22 Raptor program

If you've been tracking this story at all, this decision shouldn't surprise you.

What does floor me, though, is how the decision was made:

"While the aircraft is stealthy and can cruise at supersonic speeds, its high cost has raised questions about whether it’s the proper allocation of increasingly limited government resources, especially in a recession."

Meanwhile, there have been no questions asked about blowing money in "stimulus" packages forced by a socialist government.