I haven't bothered to comment to date on the train wreck that calls itself John Edwards. But seeing as how I'm on a soapbox tonight about the ways in which girls and young women in our culture are getting stuck in the crud, I might as well go on and add little Frances Quinn Hunter to the list.
Little "Quinn" as she's called, is the illegitimate child of Train Wreck and his campaign videographer Rielle Hunter. For more than a year, he's denied being the baby's father. Actually, early on, he denied the affair with Hunter all together.
In my opinion, the only thing worse than having a father who's a crap-filled silver-tongued politician is having a father who's all that AND a denier of his relationship and obligation to you.
Now that the baby's paternity is out in the open, no doubt we'll see Wreck slowly ease back into the spotlight as a caring and sincere father to little Quinn.
Trouble is, we'll always wonder whether he's doing it because he wants to or because it's what's expected of him.
Wordly discourse on everything from the sad state of public education, politics and world peace to vegetarianism, breast vs. bottle, religious persecution, bad media, and all manner of life's vagaries.
February 3, 2010
The ways we ruin our daughters
It's hard to know where to begin. Fresh off the heels of my rant about White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and his incredibly poor choice of words, I have to comment on a series of news articles that clustered together in the span of about 24 hours and all have to do with our culture and its regard for girls.
First, the darling of the Massachusetts conservative crowd, the One who some claim has the power to bring the Democrat-led Congress to its knees -- Scott Brown.
Brown, in his more youthful days, posed semi-nude for Cosmopolitan magazine -- that bastion of journalism that so keenly enriches the minds of young women ages 18-25. The more mature Brown, the one headed to Washington to slay the evil health care dragon, has been quoted in an interview with Barbara Walters as saying he'd leave it up to their discretion if his own daughters decided to pose nude for public consumption.
Nice. Always nice to hear a father support the potential objectification of his children. One has to wonder why the thought of millions of men ogling his girls -- and they would ogle -- doesn't send Brown screaming through the roof.
I hope the Brown girls have more sense than to follow in Daddy's footsteps on this one.
I'll move on.
Next, we have Hollywood actress and FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD Dakota Fanning starring as the cocaine-snorting lover of 1980's rocker Joan Jett in the film "Runaways." Popular actress Kristin Stewart (Twilight et al) plays Jett. There's lots of drugs, sex, profanity -- the usual things that give a movie an R rating and a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Wonder how many Fanning fans, too young to fully appreciate what a hard life Jett and her girlfriend Cherie Currie lived, will think this film is great. Wonder how many mothers will take their daughters to see it.
Lastly, we have a new online video game that lets girls as young as FIVE try out different fashions and, er, career choices. Yeah, their avatar can flirt, shop, build a wardrobe, pick up clients at cocktail parties, and earn points to buy condoms and nipple tassels.
I am not making this up.
All a child needs to access this game is a little bit of know-how and a computer.
Makers of the game -- the name of which I don't even want to mention because they don't deserve any publicity -- say they are targeting girls in the 19-20 year-old range.
Like that's supposed to make parents feel better?
Do you really want your 19 or 20-year-old daughter role playing as a whore?
Mmm. Didn't think so.
And so it goes, dear reader.
The culture will supply whatever the culture demands. Collectively, it's time to demand something better for our daughters, something that encourages them in right paths, that builds their minds, that preserves their bodies and their health.
And something that leaves the drivel of Sundance, slutty video games, and freaky weird politicians far, far behind.
First, the darling of the Massachusetts conservative crowd, the One who some claim has the power to bring the Democrat-led Congress to its knees -- Scott Brown.
Brown, in his more youthful days, posed semi-nude for Cosmopolitan magazine -- that bastion of journalism that so keenly enriches the minds of young women ages 18-25. The more mature Brown, the one headed to Washington to slay the evil health care dragon, has been quoted in an interview with Barbara Walters as saying he'd leave it up to their discretion if his own daughters decided to pose nude for public consumption.
Nice. Always nice to hear a father support the potential objectification of his children. One has to wonder why the thought of millions of men ogling his girls -- and they would ogle -- doesn't send Brown screaming through the roof.
I hope the Brown girls have more sense than to follow in Daddy's footsteps on this one.
I'll move on.
Next, we have Hollywood actress and FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD Dakota Fanning starring as the cocaine-snorting lover of 1980's rocker Joan Jett in the film "Runaways." Popular actress Kristin Stewart (Twilight et al) plays Jett. There's lots of drugs, sex, profanity -- the usual things that give a movie an R rating and a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Wonder how many Fanning fans, too young to fully appreciate what a hard life Jett and her girlfriend Cherie Currie lived, will think this film is great. Wonder how many mothers will take their daughters to see it.
Lastly, we have a new online video game that lets girls as young as FIVE try out different fashions and, er, career choices. Yeah, their avatar can flirt, shop, build a wardrobe, pick up clients at cocktail parties, and earn points to buy condoms and nipple tassels.
I am not making this up.
All a child needs to access this game is a little bit of know-how and a computer.
Makers of the game -- the name of which I don't even want to mention because they don't deserve any publicity -- say they are targeting girls in the 19-20 year-old range.
Like that's supposed to make parents feel better?
Do you really want your 19 or 20-year-old daughter role playing as a whore?
Mmm. Didn't think so.
And so it goes, dear reader.
The culture will supply whatever the culture demands. Collectively, it's time to demand something better for our daughters, something that encourages them in right paths, that builds their minds, that preserves their bodies and their health.
And something that leaves the drivel of Sundance, slutty video games, and freaky weird politicians far, far behind.
February 2, 2010
Rahm Emanuel is the one who's retarded
Ah, another shining example from President Obama's cadre of chuckleheads.
Rahm Emanuel, a D.C. insider who first worked for Bill Clinton and was somehow deemed so fabulous that he got called back for another go 'round as Obama's chief of staff has stuck his big fat foot in his only slightly smaller mouth.
Turns out that Emanuel, known for his liberal use of profanity, is apparently not shy about throwing around the word "retarded," as in "mentally retarded." Some plan proposed to him last week garnered his disdainful reply, "That's f***ing retarded."
Word got out, the GOP's Sarah Palin -- whose son has Down Syndrome -- got wind of it, and Emanuel managed to cough up an apology to. . .? The president of the Special Olympics organization.
Nice.
Where is the apology to the entire American population, to the many families who struggle in relative silence, often cash-strapped or prey to crappy social services to raise, educate, and provide lifelong care for their loved ones who, for whatever reason, have a developmental disability or delay?
I don't have a child with mental retardation (an archaic descriptor, by the way, that many would like to phase out), nor does anyone in my family. I do have friends, though, who have personal experience with this most challenging of situations, and on their behalf Mr. Emanuel embarrasses me.
Like so many of the clowns-posing-as-confidantes to the president, Rahm Emanuel is an idiot. He's crude, stupid, unkind, and apologetic only because he got found out.
Until the word "retarded" leaves our common vocabulary, I reserve the right to use it -- not in reference to the many beautiful, kind, innocent children who are born with developmental delays, but in reference to moronic politicians like Mr. Emanuel whose common sense is, apparently, not only uncommon but absent altogether.
Hey, Rahm. You, sir, are f***ing retarded.
Rahm Emanuel, a D.C. insider who first worked for Bill Clinton and was somehow deemed so fabulous that he got called back for another go 'round as Obama's chief of staff has stuck his big fat foot in his only slightly smaller mouth.
Turns out that Emanuel, known for his liberal use of profanity, is apparently not shy about throwing around the word "retarded," as in "mentally retarded." Some plan proposed to him last week garnered his disdainful reply, "That's f***ing retarded."
Word got out, the GOP's Sarah Palin -- whose son has Down Syndrome -- got wind of it, and Emanuel managed to cough up an apology to. . .? The president of the Special Olympics organization.
Nice.
Where is the apology to the entire American population, to the many families who struggle in relative silence, often cash-strapped or prey to crappy social services to raise, educate, and provide lifelong care for their loved ones who, for whatever reason, have a developmental disability or delay?
I don't have a child with mental retardation (an archaic descriptor, by the way, that many would like to phase out), nor does anyone in my family. I do have friends, though, who have personal experience with this most challenging of situations, and on their behalf Mr. Emanuel embarrasses me.
Like so many of the clowns-posing-as-confidantes to the president, Rahm Emanuel is an idiot. He's crude, stupid, unkind, and apologetic only because he got found out.
Until the word "retarded" leaves our common vocabulary, I reserve the right to use it -- not in reference to the many beautiful, kind, innocent children who are born with developmental delays, but in reference to moronic politicians like Mr. Emanuel whose common sense is, apparently, not only uncommon but absent altogether.
Hey, Rahm. You, sir, are f***ing retarded.
February 1, 2010
Pottery Barn Kids -- an awesome company
What a difference a customer service-oriented attitude makes.
Last summer I ordered two touch-lamp bases for my daughters' room only to have them stop working about six months later. When I contacted Pottery Barn Kids to let them know their "no cheap" lamps had failed us, they quickly agreed to replace them at absolutely no cost or hassle to us. All I've got to do is mail back the faulty lamps in the boxes in which the new ones arrive.
Let me repeat -- this entire process from the time I called PBK until the time I hung up took exactly 10 minutes. The customer service rep was polite, efficient, and did not give me a hard time about why I was returning something six months (rather than, say, 90 days) after it was purchased.
PBK says in its catalog it stands behind everything it sells and, my friends, you can take to the bank. They really do!
Glad to see that customer service, while endangered, isn't extinct.
Last summer I ordered two touch-lamp bases for my daughters' room only to have them stop working about six months later. When I contacted Pottery Barn Kids to let them know their "no cheap" lamps had failed us, they quickly agreed to replace them at absolutely no cost or hassle to us. All I've got to do is mail back the faulty lamps in the boxes in which the new ones arrive.
Let me repeat -- this entire process from the time I called PBK until the time I hung up took exactly 10 minutes. The customer service rep was polite, efficient, and did not give me a hard time about why I was returning something six months (rather than, say, 90 days) after it was purchased.
PBK says in its catalog it stands behind everything it sells and, my friends, you can take to the bank. They really do!
Glad to see that customer service, while endangered, isn't extinct.
January 28, 2010
HP printer the last straw
Hewlett Packard printers are crap.
I took a huge, expensive leap of faith and bought a top of the line HP printer about a month ago and I've had nothing but trouble with it since.
First, it usually doesn't detect the fact that there really is paper in the paper tray. Because of this, my command to print from my computer is often interrupted, and I have to get up and go over to jiggle or reposition the stack of paper so the damn machine will notice its presence.
Then, it likes to tell me it's "off line," effectively ending any printing job I attempt.
I can plug, unplug, replug, shut off, turn on -- and nothing changes.
Today was the last straw. I called HP's customer service and naturally I got a guy whose accent was so thick I could barely understand him. Setting aside this minor irritation, I proceeded to try to explain my problems. He interrupted me to insist that before he could help me, I'd have to set up an account and "register" my printer. So I gave him my name, my contact, information and the printer model number.
Then he asked me for the printer's serial number.
I told him I wasn't where I could see that number at the moment, and couldn't he just listen to my problem and tell me what to do.
Nooooooo.
Had to have that *%$4%^&#&* serial number.
Fine, I said. If that's the way it was gonna be, I'd just take the printer back to the store where I bought it and get my substantial investment back.
The guy didn't blink. He didn't offer a workaround, he didn't offer to transfer me to his supervisor.
He just let me go.
Customer service has all but died, folks. American companies are making money hand over fist and they DO NOT GIVE A GOOD DAMN about the customer at the bottom of the heap. It's profits, image, more profit and if that means outsourcing to foreign countries where we get crappy customer service for crappy products made in other rat-hole countries, then so be it.
I've got other recent examples of bad customer service so while I"m on a roll I'm gonna share:
A good friend of mine bought the wrong workbook for her daughter at a local school supply store. Within 30 minutes of her purchase she realized her mistake and called the store to let them know she was on her way back to exchange or return it. They reminded her of their "no refund" policy on workbooks (fear of someone buying a book, photocopying the whole thing and then returning the original for $$ back) and also refused to allow her to exchange for either another item or store credit.
My friend has spent literally hundreds of dollars at this store over the course of her homeschooling career, as have I. The store's refusal to be reasonable has cost it future business as neither of us will ever shop there again.
Then there's a neighborhood pizza place that from time to time makes crappy pizza when its owner doesn't time the food just right and it emerges from the oven either nearly raw or burnt black.
In general, the food has been good and we've rarely had a problem, but the other night pizzas my husband picked up were just this side of raw and I had to fire up my own oven to finish cooking them. Having to do this after spending $28 for what should have been done right the first time sorta bothered me so I called the shop to let the owner know. I expected an apology, an offer of credit back, maybe a discount or freebie the next time we came in. We've been going there for five years and they know our family. We've done a lot of business with them, so I guess I expected them to actually care.
I know now that although they are idiots for refusing to put a timer on their pizza oven, I am a bigger idiot for thinking they valued our business.
The owner's wife rudely informed me on the phone that night that if we wanted pizza cooked according to a timer, then we ought to start going somewhere else where they use a timer. In short, "we don't care if you never come back."
Nice to know. And we won't go back. Ever.
Within 48 hours of this jaw-dropping experience (aren't we supposed to be in a recession where every customer's dollar counts?) my aforementioned friend had a similar experience at a nearby office supply store. Hey, I'll name names here. It was STAPLES.
My friend went in with a giftcard she'd received and wanted to buy some binders. She found some that sported stickers saying "instant rebate and savings," so she got several and headed to the checkout. When she asked about the "instant" savings, she was told she'd have to go online to fill out a bunch of blah, blah and then she'd get a rebate. "But this says, 'instant,'" she protested. Having to go home and go online and fill out some sort of form is anything but, she noted.
The clerk called the manager over and when my friend pointed out the misleading and frustrating advertisement, the manager essentially told her to go shop the competitor if she didn't like the way Staples did business.
So my friend has vowed to do just that. She'll never set foot in Staples again.
I could also share my story that is the nightmare of Comcast Communications, but I, too, grow weary of ineptitude, stupidity, and downright apathy that has become part and parcel of American retail.
The bottom line is this: The only way major companies are going to break and actually care about what we think is if we simply stop doing business with them. But this has to happen in droves, and they need to know why.
Wish the TEA partiers could figure out a way to persecute corporate America as part of their targeted efforts against government foolishness. That would be the ultimate example of feeding two birds with one crumb -- or obliterating two morons in one fell swoop.
I took a huge, expensive leap of faith and bought a top of the line HP printer about a month ago and I've had nothing but trouble with it since.
First, it usually doesn't detect the fact that there really is paper in the paper tray. Because of this, my command to print from my computer is often interrupted, and I have to get up and go over to jiggle or reposition the stack of paper so the damn machine will notice its presence.
Then, it likes to tell me it's "off line," effectively ending any printing job I attempt.
I can plug, unplug, replug, shut off, turn on -- and nothing changes.
Today was the last straw. I called HP's customer service and naturally I got a guy whose accent was so thick I could barely understand him. Setting aside this minor irritation, I proceeded to try to explain my problems. He interrupted me to insist that before he could help me, I'd have to set up an account and "register" my printer. So I gave him my name, my contact, information and the printer model number.
Then he asked me for the printer's serial number.
I told him I wasn't where I could see that number at the moment, and couldn't he just listen to my problem and tell me what to do.
Nooooooo.
Had to have that *%$4%^&#&* serial number.
Fine, I said. If that's the way it was gonna be, I'd just take the printer back to the store where I bought it and get my substantial investment back.
The guy didn't blink. He didn't offer a workaround, he didn't offer to transfer me to his supervisor.
He just let me go.
Customer service has all but died, folks. American companies are making money hand over fist and they DO NOT GIVE A GOOD DAMN about the customer at the bottom of the heap. It's profits, image, more profit and if that means outsourcing to foreign countries where we get crappy customer service for crappy products made in other rat-hole countries, then so be it.
I've got other recent examples of bad customer service so while I"m on a roll I'm gonna share:
A good friend of mine bought the wrong workbook for her daughter at a local school supply store. Within 30 minutes of her purchase she realized her mistake and called the store to let them know she was on her way back to exchange or return it. They reminded her of their "no refund" policy on workbooks (fear of someone buying a book, photocopying the whole thing and then returning the original for $$ back) and also refused to allow her to exchange for either another item or store credit.
My friend has spent literally hundreds of dollars at this store over the course of her homeschooling career, as have I. The store's refusal to be reasonable has cost it future business as neither of us will ever shop there again.
Then there's a neighborhood pizza place that from time to time makes crappy pizza when its owner doesn't time the food just right and it emerges from the oven either nearly raw or burnt black.
In general, the food has been good and we've rarely had a problem, but the other night pizzas my husband picked up were just this side of raw and I had to fire up my own oven to finish cooking them. Having to do this after spending $28 for what should have been done right the first time sorta bothered me so I called the shop to let the owner know. I expected an apology, an offer of credit back, maybe a discount or freebie the next time we came in. We've been going there for five years and they know our family. We've done a lot of business with them, so I guess I expected them to actually care.
I know now that although they are idiots for refusing to put a timer on their pizza oven, I am a bigger idiot for thinking they valued our business.
The owner's wife rudely informed me on the phone that night that if we wanted pizza cooked according to a timer, then we ought to start going somewhere else where they use a timer. In short, "we don't care if you never come back."
Nice to know. And we won't go back. Ever.
Within 48 hours of this jaw-dropping experience (aren't we supposed to be in a recession where every customer's dollar counts?) my aforementioned friend had a similar experience at a nearby office supply store. Hey, I'll name names here. It was STAPLES.
My friend went in with a giftcard she'd received and wanted to buy some binders. She found some that sported stickers saying "instant rebate and savings," so she got several and headed to the checkout. When she asked about the "instant" savings, she was told she'd have to go online to fill out a bunch of blah, blah and then she'd get a rebate. "But this says, 'instant,'" she protested. Having to go home and go online and fill out some sort of form is anything but, she noted.
The clerk called the manager over and when my friend pointed out the misleading and frustrating advertisement, the manager essentially told her to go shop the competitor if she didn't like the way Staples did business.
So my friend has vowed to do just that. She'll never set foot in Staples again.
I could also share my story that is the nightmare of Comcast Communications, but I, too, grow weary of ineptitude, stupidity, and downright apathy that has become part and parcel of American retail.
The bottom line is this: The only way major companies are going to break and actually care about what we think is if we simply stop doing business with them. But this has to happen in droves, and they need to know why.
Wish the TEA partiers could figure out a way to persecute corporate America as part of their targeted efforts against government foolishness. That would be the ultimate example of feeding two birds with one crumb -- or obliterating two morons in one fell swoop.
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