Crap That I'm Sick Of...
Because there's crap...then there's crap that I'm sick of
This week's list
1. Feel good ad of the season: Anyone catch that Wal-Mart ad in which a high school class buys a bunch of stuff at Wal-Mart to give to needy kids? The ad is designed to make Wal-Mart look like a happy, feel good company, but, in the ad Wal-Mart does nothing but sell products to these kids who did all the work to raise the money. It's not exactly like Wal-Mart offers a discount to these kids who do all the work to help others. All Wal-Mart does is use underpaid employees to stock the shelves and ring up the items, and for that we are supposed to believe that Wal-Mart is a benevolent force of good?
2. We're off to see the wizard: the discovery of Saddam Hussein in a spider hole seems anticlimactic. Imagine ruling for so long by the methods of fear and tyranny, only to finally be caught cowering in a hole after a negative impact image makeover (Verbal Jazz refuses to classify this makeover as appearing "homeless). Saddam is kind of like the Wizard of Oz in creating a grand illusion that he was all-powerful. But then, that gets to the whole point of "The Wizard of Oz:" people create illusions about who they are to themselves and others, and in the end, the Wizard is just an image.
3. "And a partridge in a pear tree": since the "12 Days of Christmas" is so old, I won't run the risk of copyright infringement. However, I don't think the Missus Jazz would want the "lords a leaping" or even the "five golden rings," but she may request the "maids a milking." In shopping for the Missus, I did order something for her that I know she wants only to be charged more than double for it and have the item switched between the purchase and the email confirmation of my purchase. When I described this as a "Bait and switch tactic" to a customer service representative, she got defensive. In fact she did not even believe that I had placed the correct order. The company has since resolved the issue (and confirmed that there was a mix up in the ordering process for this item), which would make this a good time to rant about the commercialism of the Holidays that lead to stress for both gift purchasers and those on the retail end, but I'll skip it for now.
4. The guilty don't need this so-called "due process:" While the administration was busy celebrating its capture of the Wonderful Wizard of Iraq, a federal appeals court issued a smackdown over its detention policy for "enemy combatants" who also happen to be US citizens. Then, in another smackdown, another federal appeals court said that non-US citizens held as "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay can challenge their indefinite detention. Without due process these enemy combatants are living the life of Joseph K. in Franz Kafka's The Trial (K. gets arrested and put on trial for a crime that is never revealed to him). If these "enemy combatants" are guilty of some crime, let them go to trial to face conviction for their alleged crimes. It might help to begin by alleging a crime, first.
5. Secret Agent Veep (think "Secret Agent Man," the song): Our Secret Agent Veep's old company (Halliburton) has been bilking tax payers and overcharging the government for their (no bid) services. The Pres says Halliburton will have to pay that money back. Now the Supremes will decide on whether the Super Secret Agent Veep has to release details about his super secret League of Energy (otherwise known as the Energy Commission). Verbal Jazz would not be so crass as to accuse Cheney of knowing that Halliburton was ripping us off (a bit like the present I bought for the Missus Jazz, but was overcharged for), but he sure knows who is in the League of Energy, which may explain why he is working so hard to keep it a secret. If, as is suspected, the League is made up of oil companies, what does that say about the administration's commitment to renewable resources: wind, solar, my ass. Seriously, my ass could supply all the heat for my frozen barn of a house, just ask the Missus Jazz. Hmmm...I wonder what kind of secret handshake the League of Energy has or if they have to wear League of Energy insignia or uniforms to their meetings in the Secret Agent Veep's underground lair.
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Because there's crap...then there's crap that I'm sick of
This week's list
1. Feel good ad of the season: Anyone catch that Wal-Mart ad in which a high school class buys a bunch of stuff at Wal-Mart to give to needy kids? The ad is designed to make Wal-Mart look like a happy, feel good company, but, in the ad Wal-Mart does nothing but sell products to these kids who did all the work to raise the money. It's not exactly like Wal-Mart offers a discount to these kids who do all the work to help others. All Wal-Mart does is use underpaid employees to stock the shelves and ring up the items, and for that we are supposed to believe that Wal-Mart is a benevolent force of good?
2. We're off to see the wizard: the discovery of Saddam Hussein in a spider hole seems anticlimactic. Imagine ruling for so long by the methods of fear and tyranny, only to finally be caught cowering in a hole after a negative impact image makeover (Verbal Jazz refuses to classify this makeover as appearing "homeless). Saddam is kind of like the Wizard of Oz in creating a grand illusion that he was all-powerful. But then, that gets to the whole point of "The Wizard of Oz:" people create illusions about who they are to themselves and others, and in the end, the Wizard is just an image.
3. "And a partridge in a pear tree": since the "12 Days of Christmas" is so old, I won't run the risk of copyright infringement. However, I don't think the Missus Jazz would want the "lords a leaping" or even the "five golden rings," but she may request the "maids a milking." In shopping for the Missus, I did order something for her that I know she wants only to be charged more than double for it and have the item switched between the purchase and the email confirmation of my purchase. When I described this as a "Bait and switch tactic" to a customer service representative, she got defensive. In fact she did not even believe that I had placed the correct order. The company has since resolved the issue (and confirmed that there was a mix up in the ordering process for this item), which would make this a good time to rant about the commercialism of the Holidays that lead to stress for both gift purchasers and those on the retail end, but I'll skip it for now.
4. The guilty don't need this so-called "due process:" While the administration was busy celebrating its capture of the Wonderful Wizard of Iraq, a federal appeals court issued a smackdown over its detention policy for "enemy combatants" who also happen to be US citizens. Then, in another smackdown, another federal appeals court said that non-US citizens held as "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay can challenge their indefinite detention. Without due process these enemy combatants are living the life of Joseph K. in Franz Kafka's The Trial (K. gets arrested and put on trial for a crime that is never revealed to him). If these "enemy combatants" are guilty of some crime, let them go to trial to face conviction for their alleged crimes. It might help to begin by alleging a crime, first.
5. Secret Agent Veep (think "Secret Agent Man," the song): Our Secret Agent Veep's old company (Halliburton) has been bilking tax payers and overcharging the government for their (no bid) services. The Pres says Halliburton will have to pay that money back. Now the Supremes will decide on whether the Super Secret Agent Veep has to release details about his super secret League of Energy (otherwise known as the Energy Commission). Verbal Jazz would not be so crass as to accuse Cheney of knowing that Halliburton was ripping us off (a bit like the present I bought for the Missus Jazz, but was overcharged for), but he sure knows who is in the League of Energy, which may explain why he is working so hard to keep it a secret. If, as is suspected, the League is made up of oil companies, what does that say about the administration's commitment to renewable resources: wind, solar, my ass. Seriously, my ass could supply all the heat for my frozen barn of a house, just ask the Missus Jazz. Hmmm...I wonder what kind of secret handshake the League of Energy has or if they have to wear League of Energy insignia or uniforms to their meetings in the Secret Agent Veep's underground lair.
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