J's Cafe Nette

Archive for May 15th, 2008

Maybe I should have titled this Rambling Thoughts because that’s the way my brain works.

I was thinking about the post Sue made here in which she quotes one of my favorite blogging friends The Anchoress.

The Anchoress is spot on with her quote. How many sites have I seen that are dim-viewing this entire election? Too many to count.

One blog seems to have at least one very confused blogger who is supposed to be a psychology graduate. She writes a post saying she has no choice but to support John McCain because he would be better than Obama or Clinton, but then lets herself get talked out of it in an online discussion between her and the blog owner.

The excuse is a quote from the Bible: “We are in the world but not of the world.” Yes, as Christians our world is really the one to come, but the Bible also tells us explicitely to pray for our elected leaders that our lives might be easier. That tells me while we are in this world we should do our best to follow God’s will and vote for the person we feel, through His guidance, is the right candidate running at this time.

I am convinced that candidate is John McCain and not Obama, Clinton, Barr or Ron Paul. Too many Americans have shed blood and given their lives for us to just have the right to vote, and I take my responsibility seriously. Yes, I once thought of not voting, but the idea was too revolting to me.

I guess the ones who are using God for cover should buy bumper stickers for after the election that read: “Don’t blame me. I didn’t vote.”

No, John McCain is not an economist, but neither were either President Bush or President Clinton. Surprisingly enough, President Reagan had a degree in economics and it worked. Lower taxes brought more money into the treasury because more people were working.

I don’t care if you vote for Charlie Brown as long as you vote. It’s a right that can be taken away if we don’t protect it and we protect it by participating in our electoral process.

Oh, they say, vote for the down ballot candidates and leave the presidential spot blank. Who, in a presidential year, is going to vote only for the down ballot candidates? If they don’t care about the presidential contest they won’t go to the polls. Simple as that.

Another thing that goes through my mind is the difficulty I have when calling a support line for many online companies. You are given your instructions to press whatever number for whatever problem you have by a person with an American accent, only to find yourself talking to Patrick or Joseph in India or the Philippines.

They are so scripted that if you ask them a question not in the script they don’t answer you. Case in point: Yesterday I received a notice in my email that my anti-spam program was set to expire and automatically renew on June 13. Since the expiration date of my credit card has changed I called to give them the new information so there would be no interruption in service.

“Patrick” asked me three times for my email address (I guess he can’t understand me any better than I can understand him), asked for my order number several times, refused my offer to give him my customer number and then asked for my credit card number.

When I asked why he needed my credit card number since he didn’t have my account he told me it was so he could look up my account by credit card number. I asked if there were any Americans there that I could speak to. I must have been delirious to have asked the question. Never mind, as “Patrick” just ignored me until I asked the third time and then he told me no.

I gave the credit card number and he began to repeat it to me. No, I’ll give it to you again, but don’t repeat it in a roomful of strangers, thank you. Voilá! he found the account and told me I had two subscriptions. I remember having to buy the product again when the first one stopped working and I didn’t have extended download protection. So he got the one upcoming in June cancelled, but it seems the automatic renewal system is also cancelled. I guess I’ll get an email before February telling me it’s time to renew.

Isn’t it about time we start to bombard the offices of Microsoft and any other large companies who have contracted to offshore countries to give customer support and can’t be understood by us or they can’t understand us? Do you think the public consumer has any voice in these matters?

I’d like to call Bill Gates and tell him to pretend to be a customer in need of customer assistance and try to understand what his representatives are saying?

And have you ever had them take over your computer? Bad idea. When they get finished you still have the same problem and more.

Finally, if you go to so-called human rights sites you just see talking and hand-wringing about things but no actual action being taken.

One site I have visited thinks it’s more horrible to skin an animal alive (and it is horrible) than to abort a f–king fetus. Then the same site talks of the horrors of the poor orphans in Romania. One person says she would love to kill all people because they are mean to animals. I don’t know about you, but I have never skinned an animal, dead or alive.

We had a big cyclone hit Burma and the junta won’t allow anyone in to give humanitarian aid. They only allow a trickle to help and then put their names on it. Who cares where it came from and who gets the credit? These people are living in disease-infested land and need help two weeks ago. There is talk another cyclone may hit the same place.

So many governments and organizations are just waiting to get visas and permission to get in there with life-saving equipment. It would be nice if doctors and other medical personnel were allowed in also.

There was a horrific earthquake in China the other day, killing untold thousands of people. Not one word on the human rights site. Just jokes about Jesus being lazy and kick boxing or machine gunning people because they are not as good as animals.

I give up. I can’t understand that thinking, the thinking of the true-blue “conservatives” or the thinking of the corporations that farm out customer service to countries that speak English with such an accent we can’t understand what they say and hang up the phone in frustration. And they think I’m the crazy one. Maybe they’re right. ?

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Tuesday evening when I read that the GOP had lost another House seat in a traditionally Republican district in Mississippi, it set me to wondering how in the world the party digs themselves out of the hole they have created.

Karl Rove has a few ideas in this article published in the Wall Street Journal:

Why is it tough sledding for Republicans? Public revulsion at GOP scandals was a large factor in the party’s 2006 congressional defeat. Some brand damage remains, as does the downward pull of the president’s approval ratings. But the principal elements are the Iraq war and a struggling economy.

Gallup’s 2007 report found that fewer voters identify themselves as Republicans now than at any point in the past 20 years – despite the fact that less than a fifth of Americans agree with Mr. Obama’s call to rapidly withdraw from Iraq. And while many Americans are concerned about the economy, most are satisfied with their own finances.

As Republican ranks declined, the number of independents and Democrats grew. Has the bottom been reached? It’s too early to know. But Americans are acknowledging progress in Iraq, economists are suggesting the economy will be in better shape this fall, and a recent ABC/Washington Post poll found GOP identification rising.

What is clear is that John McCain and Republicans will prevail only if they convince voters that there are profound consequences at stake in Iraq, and that more and better jobs will follow from the GOP’s approach of lowering taxes, opening trade, and ending earmarks and other pro-growth policies.

Mr. Rove may have been adept in pointing out the areas on which candidates on the Right should focus, but I see a larger problem.

I am wondering if anyone is even listening..or is the electorate in one of those “throw the bums out” mindsets so that anyone with an (R) following their name will have an uphill climb?

What say you?

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