PIED TYPE
Money
Romney and Bain Capital — ugh!
I’ve known for some time that disliking Mitt Romney because of his social awkwardness, general cluelessness, and tying his dog on top of his car were not necessarily valid reasons for discounting his candidacy, although they certainly don’t help. Nor does his Etch-s-Sketch flip-flopping and general tendency to sidestep tough questions about important issues. I … Continue reading
Just a matter of time
It’s been almost two years since BP oil’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig burned and sank into the Gulf of Mexico, thanks to human error, corporate negligence, and political cronyism. The oil spewed into gulf waters for three months while an ill-prepared, ill-equipped oil company struggled to find a way to cap a well so deep … Continue reading
NYT raises paywall, reduces free access
The online New York Times has a problem, as does virtually every other print publication that has been forced by the advance of technology to develop an online presence. The problem is how to make readers pay to see content. Subscribers and newsstand sales have been a significant chunk of income for print publications, although … Continue reading
Cartier airs glitzy 3.5 minute commercial
(Updated March 11 at 3:00 pm) Holy commercial, Batman! I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. And I didn’t believe it while I was watching it. A Cartier commercial that ran 3.5 minutes. Too long by half, in my opinion. Or maybe I’ve just developed an extremely short attention span. The appropriately … Continue reading
Hey, GM, no bonuses until the bailout is repaid
General Motors is reporting record profits for 2011 and has announced it will reward employees with $7,000 bonuses. ‘Scuse me? Bad enough the execs got huge bonuses for doing nothing more than accept a massive taxpayer-funded bailout. Now they’re giving bonuses to all the employees? Hey, pay back the damn taxpayers first! The employees should … Continue reading
Don’t mess with America’s Ellen DeGeneres
I adore Ellen DeGeneres. She’s gentle, kind, funny, cute, authentic, honest. I can’t think of a single negative thing to say about her. As you might imagine then, I was just a wee bit pissed off when One Million Moms (all 40,000 of them) made a big stink last week about JC Penney hiring Ellen … Continue reading
Try this on for size
We’ve heard a lot of discussion in recent weeks about copyright and trademark law on the Internet, but I’m not going there again, at least not this time. No, this is about a different trademark infringement issue which you might or might not have heard about. Shoes. Or rather, their soles. Specifically, red soles. At … Continue reading
Another Comcast complaint
They say you get what you pay for. So when Comcast gives you something for free — say, a router for your wireless network — you probably shouldn’t expect much from it. In my case, the router in question lasted not quite six months. It failed a few days ago, which is why I’ve been … Continue reading
Are you listening, Washington?
I rarely listen to music. Too many memories and associations. Too much of it makes me cry. I listen to country music even less. It just isn’t “my genre.” Or at least that’s what I’ve always said. And yet there are country artists (eg, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers) I’ve been very fond of, … Continue reading
FTC slaps Facebook
The Federal Trade Commission has finally taken Facebook to task. Now, because of previous violations of its users’ privacy, the social network’s privacy policies will be subject to scrutiny by third-party auditors every two years for the next 20 years. And from now on Facebook must obtain approval from its users before making any changes … Continue reading
My advice to Americans regarding Congress
To make sure Congress hears you, write them (Congress.org). And remember your outrage when you go to the polls next November. These irresponsible elected “representatives” have put party before country and before you. They have refused to do the job they were elected to do. Fire them.
Super committee, super failure
The Joint Select Committee on Debt Reduction, aka the super committee, apparently has failed to reach an agreement on how to reduce the nation’s debt. No surprise, really. Did anyone seriously think a mini-Congress would do any better than the entire Congress? I’m bouncing-off-the-walls furious. I’m disgusted and fed up. I’d vote them all out … Continue reading
Targeting Thanksgiving
Change.org. Ever heard of it? It’s a website where anyone can start a petition about anything. I was drawn there looking for the petition that a Target employee started to protest employees having to report to work on Thanksgiving instead of enjoying the day with their families. Despite some really nasty comments here and there … Continue reading
OWS: Focus or fail
Yesterday was declared “Bank Transfer Day” by the Occupy Wall Street folks. Everyone was supposed to move their money from the giant, greedy national banks to small, local banks and credit unions. Great idea, but not particularly original. Arianna Huffington, back in 2009, helped launch the Move Your Money campaign, and I wrote about it … Continue reading
Perhaps airline passengers are too compliant
I wish I could say I was surprised to hear that once again, airline passengers have been stranded and basically held prisoner inside a grounded plane for eight hours. But I can’t. Thanks to the big snowstorm that blasted the Northeast U.S. yesterday, some JetBlue passengers had to endure such treatment. Never mind that previous … Continue reading
Surprise! 9-9-9 not so simple after all
GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan has been taking a lot of heat lately. Justifiably so. Obviously a flat 9% tax across the board means higher taxes for those currently paying less than 9%, and less tax for those currently paying more. And according to the Washington Post, 4 of 5 Americans would … Continue reading
You can petition against that BofA debit card fee
Interested in telling Bank of America what they can do with their $5 debit card charge? One woman, 22-year-old Molly Katchpole, has started a petition that you can sign here. She has gathered more than 220,000 signatures and a phone call from Andrew Plepler, Bank of America’s social responsibility and consumer policy executive (don’t you … Continue reading
The enigma of Occupy Wall Street
The Occupiers are those people clustered in the streets of New York and elsewhere claiming to represent the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. And although they’ve been there for a number of weeks, I’m still not sure what they want or how they expect to get it. When I said as much over on the Huffington … Continue reading
Friedman spreads gloom
Today on CNN, Thomas Friedman said of the economy: “We’re either going to have a hard decade or a bad century.” Do I have to choose?
Insperity?
INSPERITY — Now there’s a “coined” corporate name I could do without. Inspire + prosperity? Doesn’t work for me.
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