@Randem

I happened upon an article today in The Daily Evergreen that sums up exactly why I'm confident the Republican control of Washington is over.

Rumsfeld will not be removed even though it is the wish of those who worked with him. McClellan was fired for improbable reasons, meaning that the whole truth is not likely disclosed. A woman ended her compliance to cover for the White House and will be tried for it. Multiple other investigations are underway including the “Scooter” Libby leak and the issue of Bush’s authorization to tap phone lines without warrant.

Isn’t it ironic that when a government employee provides truth to the public, they are fired and tried for it?

If our leadership doesn’t begin to listen to and start to work for the people – including the media – then how can we call our land democratic?

Labels: politics

I recently received an email from a good friend asking me to boycott a particular gasoline company. He read it and thought it made sense and was just passing it along, but when I read it I didn't think it made so much sense to me.

Let's begin.

GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work !

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's worth your consideration.

Okay, so if we toss out the names of a couple of large corporations people will think this is more legitimate. It's called name-dropping.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down?

Of course you want gasoline prices to come down. You're a consumer. Higher gas prices cost you money and lower gas prices save you money.

This is a simple sales technique... one used daily by used car salesmen everywhere. You get the target saying “yes” over and over, to the end that they start finding “yes” easy to say.

We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us!

It's better, you say? Oh, then it must work! Say... am I the only person who noticed that the first sentence in this paragraph names Phillip Hollsworth as the source, and then the last sentence says whoever thought of this, as if they'd already forgotten? And if Phillip Hollsworth (or whoever) had the idea, why didn't he send the email? Incidentally, a Google search for Phillip Hollsworth turns up hundreds of sites debunking this email, but no useful information about anyone by that name.

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $3.11 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

Once again, we get people saying yes so they feel like they can relate. We get you agreeing that there is a problem, and then associate turn that problem with oil companies and OPEC nations. The rub is that oil companies and OPEC nations do not set the prices. The price of petroleum is set by commodity traders, speculating on how much crude will be available, and how difficult it will be to obtain. The owners of the pumps we use at filling stations are already controlled by the consumer! Gas stations make more money by charging less, because if you're charging less, more people will buy from you. And furthermore, when you boycott these stations, the only pocketbook you're hitting is the owner of that station — the oil companies will just sell their products to someone else.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war. Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do!

Flawed logic, that is. If they are not selling any gas, why would they lower prices? It's not as if it has a short shelf life. Eventually, it will sell — probably when the other stations have run out of gas to sell because of all the former Exxon-Mobil customers coming to them now.

Now, don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

Oh, that's good. First I make you my friend by getting you to agree with me, and using words like “we” to imply that we're in this together. Then, I challenge you by saying “don't wimp out on me”.

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers.

But, since the population of the USA is more like three hundred million, you're still only affecting 1% of the population, and that's if we assume 100% effectiveness. A realist knows, however, that you're going to have those who don't send it to 10 people, those who just delete it, those who send it to people outside of the US, and let's not forget about those who see through this bullshit! In other words, this is never going to make a difference.

If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all! (If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am . so trust me on this one.) :-)

Certainly you see that this is a good idea... if not, then you're just stupid. But if you're stupid, you can trust me because I'm smart. Right, friend?

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.

That's right! We can make a difference in the in boxes and spam filters of people everywhere!

If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

That seems like a very arbitrary number to me. Why stop there? Why not do it until the price is practically free? Let's just boycott everybody until they're forced to give gasoline away? But wait, maybe that would work for other things too! Let's boycott televisions, and DVDs, and movie theaters... they're all too expensive in my opinion. And what about cell phones? I think iPods should only cost $40, and I don't want to pay more than $300 for the latest laptop computer. Boycott everybody!

Now, how about a dose of reality? Rather than an impotent boycott of an insignificant business at the bottom of the food chain in the oil business, I suggest you beat the system. Don't let rising gas prices cost you money... let them make you money!

I purchased stock in Exxon-Mobile (XOM) one month ago, and have already seen a 5.5% return on my money — more than I would have gotten after one year in today's best CD or a high-yield savings account. That's an awesome return, but wait! Why stop there? I invested in BP (BP) three weeks ago and have already realized a 9.6% return — more in three week than I could have earned after two years in any traditional savings method! At that rate, my money could double in one year. Imagine doing that with hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars!

My friends, this is just the beginning. If you took the time to read that spam, you're probably as aware as I am that gas will only continue to get more expensive. So rather than complaining about the rising cost of fuel, why not give yourself a reason to rejoice about it? If you're not putting every spare penny you have into energy stocks, you're missing the boat. I recommend Exxon-Mobil, BP, Amerada-Hess (AHC), Neufield Exploration (NFX), Schlumberger (SLB), Halliburton (HAL), and Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM).

Labels: email, politics, propaganda

“You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” -Anne Lamott, author

Labels: qotd, religion

I'm sure you've all seen the commercials for FreeCreditReport.com, with the irritating guy who says "I'm thinking of a number between 350 and 850... it's my credit score, and mine happens to be 720." Blah blah blah.

I've maintained the opinion that it can't just be a free report, because the ad spots cost money and they're everywhere. This week, I decided to find out what the catch is. It's a service for $12.95 per month that gives you your Experian credit report. The only thing that's free is the first month, and you have to sign up in order to get the free report. By the time you've gotten your "free" credit report, you're locked into a $150/yr service.

But wait! Experian is only one of three credit reporting agencies. What if you want all three? Well, then you have to upgrade to their premium service, which costs $24.95. Wow! Can you imagine how many people must go there hoping for a free credit report, only to get locked into a ridiculously overpriced information service for $300.00 per year?

The site is littered with advertisements for credit cards, home loans, and debt consolidation services, which — in my opion — reveals the true nature of the people behind freecreditreport.com. It may not be illegal, but it's awfully immoral.

When you decide to cancel, you'll find no hints at how. That's because they don't let you cancel from the web site — even though you can join there. The only place you'll even find the word "cancel" on their site is one time, hidden in the middle of the FAQs (thank you for text search, Firefox) that says you have to call them to cancel. At least it's a toll-free number.

When you call, you'll likely get the message informing you that they're only available from 6am to 6pm, Monday through Friday, Pacific Standard Time. The touch-tone menu offers cancellations as the first option, which apparently directs you to their sales staff.

After indicating that you want to cancel, they first try to talk you into staying for the benefits they offer. Next, they offer to add additional (and mostly useless) services to your account. Then, if you still want to cancel, they actually try to bribe you! I was offered $30.00 if I would agree to keep the account open for two more months.

Only then — after you turn down their bribe — will they finally cancel your account. The whole thing makes me very nervous, honestly. I wonder if something weird is going to suddenly appear on my credit now that I'm not paying them to monitor it.

If you want a real free credit report, go to AnnualCreditReport.com, where you get reports from all three agencies, and they really are free.