Nuovo Ordinario

Gave Ordinary Netizen a bit of a face-lift. Old template was giving me grief so I opted for a Blogger template and tweaked it a bit and added my own logo. You like?

Get the Max for the Minimum (wage)

Apparently, the repugnacans want to get the maximum pork out of a simple and morally-responsible minimum wage bill. They insist on adding in additional tax cuts. On a 54-43 vote, proponents lost an effort to advance a House-passed bill that would lift the pay floor from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour without any accompanying tax cut. Those 43 knuckle-heads need to earn minimum wage for a period of time and let them feel how ridiculous their opposition to this bill really is--I say they earn minimum wage until they pass the bill!

I'm confident those 43 pork bellied, mother-f'ers were not listening when Jim Webb said,
"When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it's nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day."

Here's the problem with the repugnacan argument that without additional tax cuts the hike would hurt businesses. I seem to recall a lot of yammering in the SOTU address and other pitches about the economy being so strong, Wall Street and corporate profits at record highs....so either this is a bunch of hooey or business can withstand this modest, graduated increase.

And in case anyone missed it--that 54-43 vote was "to end debate," a euphemism for filibuster! Funny how that was such a dirty word when the repugnacans were in the majority. Remember how every bill and every court nominee deserved "an up or down vote"!?!

"If he does, we will join him. If he does not, we will be showing him the way."

This was about the best closer I've ever heard.

State of Dis-Union

My reaction to Bush's SOTU speech -- What a farce!
My reaction to Jim Webb's Democratic Response -- WOW!

Jim Webb spoke more truth in his 8 measly minutes than Bush did in his blathering 45 minutes. I expected a good little speech from Webb, but he so eloquently and succinctly described not only the economic & foreign policy Bush blunders, but a path leading us to a better America.

THIS Union is not the State of the Bush Union

Email from The Democratic Party in anticipation of the SOTU speech:

"Senator Jim Webb has the honor of giving the nationally televised response to the president's State of the Union speech tomorrow night. He'll be preparing his remarks tonight and tomorrow. Make your hopes, your dreams, and your thoughts about the state of our union part of our Democratic message. Please take a moment to make your input part of the process by sending a note to Senator Webb as he prepares his remarks -- we'll deliver your message"

The Democratic Party asked for some input to give Senator Webb prior to the
SOTU speech.

Here is my input -

Dear Senator Webb:

It is my hope and dream that the state of this union will be soon restored to what it once was--a shining beacon of opportunity, justice, and strength through equality and international cooperation. I was one of many who supported you to help turn this country back in that direction and I have confidence that you will not disappoint us. We see too plainly--as you presciently did years ago--what the Bush administration has done to these American ideals. How dare Bush quote Thomas Jefferson the other day when he is the antithesis of that great man! Please expose this president for the charlatan he is as you respond to his fictitious state of the union address and help us set a different and truer course.

Verizon on your Horizon? Think Twice Before You Proceed

The following is a letter that I have sent to Verizon's customer service department chronicling the past month-long odyssey of mishaps that have occurred since my Verizon FiOS (internet) order on 12/08/06.

Dear Sir/Madam:

In this letter I will describe the series of events that took place since my FiOS Internet order on 12/08/06 so that you may judge for yourself if this is the customer experience that Verizon wishes to promote.

Following my phone order for Internet services on 12/08/06 I received a letter from Verizon informing me of the anticipated pre-installation visit, PA One Call utility marking, and to expect a Verizon contractor to place a buried inner-duct to my home. To ensure that my underground gutter drain was not in the way, I called the provided contractor, WTW to inform them of this and marked the path of the drain with paint.

A few days later I noticed that dirt had been dug up on either side of my driveway and along the stretch of grass between the side walk and road. It was a bit of a mess, but I accepted this as an unfortunate but necessary part of the installation.

My installation date of 12/26/06 arrived; the installation window was 1--5 pm. The installer arrived at approximately 11:30 am. I was not prepared for his arrival an hour and half earlier than the window, but I juggled some tasks and made arrangements to commence with the installation appointment. I will say that the installer was friendly and knowledgeable and I was looking forward to having him do the intended work to install the FiOS service. However, after about 10 minutes of preliminary discussion, the installer was pacing around outside with a puzzled look on his face and talking on his cell phone. This didn't look good. He came back into the house a couple minutes later to inform me that the conduit hadn't been buried, so he could not run the fiber optic to my house. He then called into his supervisor and was told that the contractor had marked the job as having been completed. The installer was then dispatched elsewhere and so I would have to wait until another day. This of course would entail setting aside the better part of another day for the installation to occur. Disappointed, I rescheduled for 1/06/07.

On 12/28/06 I arrived home from work to see what appeared to be a much larger excavation project than I had intended [photos available]. There was a similar, but somewhat less extensive, mess on either side of my neighbor's driveway. Needless to say, my neighbor was not pleased.

At this point, still trying to stay optimistic, I had several trenches in my front yard, a miffed neighbor and a re-scheduled installation date, but I figured it might be worth it eventually. First, however, I wanted to see if something could be done about the unsightly mess [photos available] in my front yard (as well as my neighbor's), so I called Verizon and waded once again through their phone system--giving my phone number, address and even the approximate amount of my phone bill, for what seemed like the tenth time. Verizon said that their contractor would be in touch with me regarding the damage claim, and he was. I spoke with a Lane Walker from WTW, Verizon's authorized contractor. He heard my complaint, but clearly tried to present the situation as just fine--going on at length about the type of grass seed that was hurriedly thrown down on the surface (much of which got washed away in heavy rains on subsequent days). We settled on waiting to see what sprouted up in the spring, although the unevenness and rockiness of the excavated and backfilled area--along with the surface-only and now diminished grass seed--will not be near the original condition even if some grass grows in the spring.

The second installation date of Saturday, 1/06/07 arrived; this time I chose the 8 am--12 pm window as I had some commitments that afternoon. I should note here that the day prior I had in fact received an automated reminder of this installation date AND I also called to clarify a small portion of the address and spoke to a live person, just to be absolutely sure that the installer would have no problem finding the house and so the installation--the second try--would proceed without a hitch. NO INSTALLER SHOWED. So, at this point you can imagine that I am beside myself. I called Verizon at 12:15 pm, and again waded through the verification process and informed the representative "Shena" that no installer had yet arrived. After a minute or two she informed me that their system had it indicated that the conduit--what she referred to as "the drop"--had not been completed, so that was why no installer was sent out. Shena stated that she would "bump up" this concern and have someone get back to me in what I presumed would be a prompt return call. Well, three hours later and still no call from Verizon in reference to the "bumped up" concern, and I had to leave to take care of other matters. I subsequently returned home to an unidentified voicemail--remember, this was a "bumped up" concern, yet the caller didn't bother to leave his name--that stated that it was now (3 and 1/2 hours later) too late to have someone come out and install today, or even reschedule for Monday.

So here I am, a month and a great deal of aggravation later, a mess in my front yard, an unhappy neighbor, no FiOS Internet, no third installation appointment scheduled and no one at Verizon apparently willing to take responsibility for this debacle and attempt to make the situation suitable to proceed. Comcast never looked so good.