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Perspective,

Shopping and dinning, oh the pain —“ Part II

Red Lobster

My family and I went to Red Lobster after church on Sunday.

Everyone knows how these restaurants do their little shtick when someone is having a special occasion (birthday, anniversary, etc.).

My wife’s birthday is coming up so I ask the waitress if they can bring a desert and do the song thing.

Sorry, we don’t do that anymore.
Huh?
We don’t do that, too many people complained.
Huh?
People wrote to corporate telling them that they come here to eat and not be bothered into celebrating anything. We were told to stop.

I wonder what kind of response corporate received. Did the Jehovah’s Witnesses get offended because people were celebrating an occasion and conduct a write-in campaign?

Has some vast majority of our nation decided to take offense at others celebrating an occasion publicly? Is our new motto F-you and your silly celebration too!!!?

Aren’t these types of restaurants supposed to be less formal, easier going, laid back, and family oriented? Aren’t restaurant experiences supposed to be social?

I guess not. I didn’t realize that I was eating at Chez Langoustine Rouge…

Perspective

Shopping and dinning, oh the pain —“ Part I

Two recent experiences in the realm of spending my money have left me flabbergasted.

Home Depot

We put a new deck on our house this summer. If anyone in New York’s Capital Region is looking for a very skilled and dedicated contractor —“ let me know. This guy did a great job.

Now that we have an aircraft carrier size deck we need deck furniture.

My wife and I were in no hurry to buy it. We wanted to shop around and find the right thing.

We found a very nice set on the Home Depot website. I put the items in my wishlist to save them for later.

I had some reward point gift certificates coming. I chose Home Depot as my reward so I could offset the cost of the furniture ($500 worth of offset —“ cool).

I received the certificates and guess what —“ Home Depot doesn’t accept its own gift certificates on its website (poor IT department I guess —“ can’t integrate the gift certificate database with the website —“ ooops).

So on Friday, July 28th I ventured to the nearby Home Depot (Washington Ave., Albany).

We’ve always had a lot of luck in the store. The associates were helpful and knowledgeable. We purchased a lot of major stuff for our house there.

I shopped around some and looked at what was in stock. They didn’t have the patio set we wanted but I did find a Home Depot Direct display. Big sign, catalogue, and some cards —“ fill out the card noting the SKU and description marking where you want the stuff sent, and take it to the service counter to order it. This is going to be easy.

I went up to the counter and asked a few questions.

Can your order this?
Sure, I just have to call Home Depot Direct to make sure the stuff is still in stock.
Can I pay with a Home Depot gift certificate?
Sure, no problem.

So I went home and checked the SKU’s against the website. It’s what we wanted. After devotions at church that night I stop by Home Depot to place the order (I’m wearing my black clerical clothes). Patrice is at the counter.

Hi, can you order this for me?
I don’t know what this is. I’ve never seen it.
It’s an order form for patio furniture.
No, can’t, we don’t sell patio furniture anymore —“ it’s out of season.
Ummmm, but your sign and the man I spoke to this afternoon, and ummmm.

Now note, Patrice at the service counter was the only staff member there. She was making calls to let people know that their special orders were in.

The conversation continues:

This afternoon I spoke with the service rep and he said it would be no problem.
The sign is wrong. We don’t sell patio furniture now.
It’s July. Ummmm, he said if you call Home Depot direct and the stuff was available it could be ordered.
Do you want to talk to a manager?
Sure.

Bill the manager shows up. I take him to the catalogue and sign, show him the cards, etc. He gets a phone number out of the catalogue and goes back to the counter. He tells another associate to call Home Depot Direct.

The associate calls and low-and-behold they can order everything.

The service rep is not happy. Patrice has calls to make, stuff to do.

I’ve been there a half-hour already. A line is forming behind me with all sorts of special requests and cart loads of returns. Bill the manager is standing by the door in plain sight with four or five other associates. They’re enjoying the evening.

Patrice enters all the info in her computer. As she’s doing this she explains that she works one evening a week. She’s not used to this stuff.

Patrice places the order and gives me all the papers telling me to sign an agreement. I look it over first.

Ummmm, where is the delivery information?
It will be delivered here; you have to pick it up.
Ummmm, I checked the box on the form that said I want it delivered to my house.
We can’t do that. Nothing can be delivered to your house.
But the form says…
I don’t know.
Well, I can’t pick it up. I have no means to do so and I can’t handle it physically anyway.
We can’t deliver.
Please back out the order and give me a refund, I don’t want it if it can’t be delivered.
Let me see.

She spends a long while trying to add delivery to the order. She cannot figure out how to do it nor how much to charge for delivery.

The line is about twelve people long. They are getting ticked (and slightly amused in a fatalistic sense) and we all watch the manager and the other associates milling about.

Patrice has been pounding the computer now trying to enter delivery.

I don’t know what to charge you.

Another associate wanders by. He volunteers to get involved.

We should check the website.
OK
The website says shipping is free
Huh!?!
It’s free

Patrice tells me that she can’t enter any shipping info in the current order.

Why don’t you just order on-line?
Because the on-line store doesn’t take gift certificates.
That’s why you had to come here?
Yep.

The manager and other associates are still standing by the door. They were watching a train wreck as it occurs.

An associate wanders over attempting to help the other customers in line. It’s been an hour and fifteen minutes. Patrice scolds him, telling him that he doesn’t have the appropriate customer service access levels. I bet the manager could have helped…

Patrice proceeds to cancel my order and re-enter the order. She’s now done the same keystrokes three times. The line is long and a woman begins arguing with Patrice about customer service and God.

Well then God bless you
I already have His blessing
No, God bless you, etc., etc.

I almost fell over.

I look it all over. Everything looks fine. It says that the order will be delivered on Friday, August 4th. After an hour and a half I leave the store.

Yesterday was August 7th. I called last night to see where my furniture was. They say I’ll have it today. We’ll see.

I have experienced really lousy service before. I’ve experienced people who do not know anything about what they are selling. I’ve experienced bad manners and rudeness. On July 28th I experienced it all and more, and the experience was brought to me by the shareholder-associates of Home Depot.

If I were a Home Depot executive I’d cash in those stock options and convert them to cash ASAP.

Current Events, Perspective

Union terrorism

Municipal labor unions are at it again in Buffalo, New York.

The unions, the inheritors of cushy contracts and high wages for their members (as well as plush jobs for union officials) are upset because their workers have not been granted wage increases over the past few years.

The unions met the other night and discussed staging a combined citywide strike, crippling the city and endangering the health, welfare, and safety of the city’s residents (including school children), all because they haven’t gotten what they want.

The wage freeze that is in effect in Buffalo is the result of actions by a Municipal Control Board instituted by the State of New York. The Control Board was necessary as Buffalo was so far in the red that it was about to go bankrupt. Buffalo politicians and their union supporters were so lost in the woods that someone had to come in and rescue them.

A dying rust belt city, Buffalo’s population and tax base has steadily decreased since its peak in the 1950’s. Wikipedia has an excellent article about Buffalo. The population chart shown there indicates that a city that once boasted nearly 600,000 residents now tops out at a little more than 280,000 residents.

The problem is that while the city declined, the unions grew. Their wages grew, their slots grew, and the politicians handed over more and more power and money to the unions in exchange for their support. No one had the courage to turn off the faucet.

A friend once told me that Buffalo is the perfection of communism, one-third of the people working for the government, one-third on the public dole, and one third actually working to support the other two-thirds.

The unions, and the politicians who have fed them, are the problem. They need to be reigned in and they need to be brought down. Work together for the city and improve everyone’s life, get rid of the fat, and work a full day for an honest wage. Do you really need a union if you are confident in your ability to work and succeed?

As to the strike proposition, I think there is a term for harming the innocent to get what you want —“ and I think it is called terrorism.

For more on the story, check out the Buffalo News’ series of articles on the story: Unions discussing citywide strike and Strike could hurt workers. An excerpt from the second story appears below:

Meanwhile, a Common Council member who is on leave from his job as a Buffalo public school teacher says unions have blundered by floating the strike trial balloon.

“I understand their frustration,” said North Council Member Joseph Golombek Jr. “But I represent some neighborhoods where the median income is $16,000 a year. If they’re looking for sympathy, they won’t get it in many of my neighborhoods.”

In October 2004, the control board released a study indicating that the average city worker earns 180 percent more than the typical Buffalo resident. Union leaders attacked the study for using distorted numbers and accused the control board of being obsessed with abolishing union contracts.

Current Events, Perspective

My life, my disease

As some of you may know, I have Type 1 diabetes. I have been a diabetic since the age of four, a long time now.

I am simply amazed at the incredulity of those objecting to the President’s veto of funding for embryonic stem cell research. I am really amazed when objections are raised by the medical community. They should know better.

Embryonic stem cell research has led to absolutely zero cures or treatments. As a matter of fact, in some of the trials in which they have been used, they have made the patients worse.

At the same time, research on adult stem cell lines has produced real cures. Why doesn’t the medical community focus on adult stem cell lines and other areas that have a proven track record? I’m sure I would have a cure sooner if science would focus on what works, rather than on wild money chases. Could it be the funding itself —“ doctors and scientists lining their pockets with research grants at taxpayer’s expense?

Anyway, if I had a choice between a cure and the disease, and the cure was developed from murdered children, I would choose no cure. I may die earlier, I may be sicker, I may loose a lot, but at least I would die knowing I haven’t killed.

The following is a statement from the American Diabetes Association on the recent events and the President’s veto:

Lawrence T. Smith, Chair of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the parent of a daughter who has type 1 diabetes, issued the following statement in response to today’s passage in the U.S. Senate of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 810). The ADA has been a strong supporter of the bill, which would accelerate medical advancements by easing existing restrictions and supporting research that uses embryonic stem cells, while maintaining strict ethical guidelines.

“This is a memorable day for Americans with diabetes and other debilitating diseases, and we thank the bipartisan group of Senators who voted to allow scientists to pursue the most promising avenue to find a cure and better treatments for diabetes. Unfortunately, today’s sense of hope will be shattered for the 20.8 million American children and adults with diabetes — and those who love and care for them — if President Bush vetoes this legislation.

“A veto — his first ever — would be a devastating setback for Americans who are affected by diabetes and other debilitating diseases. The President has a responsibility to the 70% of Americans who support embryonic stem cell research. This is a historic opportunity to advance scientific research and it shouldn’t be squandered,” Smith said.

I feel sorry for Mr. Smith and his daughter. Diabetes is no picnic —“ I know first hand. Still, is his daughter’s life worth more than another child’s life?

Perspective, Political

Where are the Christians?

Pat Buchanan calls the shots in Where are the Christians? An excerpt follows:

When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unleashed his navy and air force on Lebanon, accusing that tiny nation of an “act of war,” the last pillar of Bush’s Middle East policy collapsed.

…

Let it be said: Israel has a right to defend herself, a right to counter-attack against Hezbollah and Hamas, a right to clean out bases from which Katyusha or Qassam rockets are being fired and a right to occupy land from which attacks are mounted on her people.

But what Israel is doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians, collective punishment on innocent people, to force them to do something they are powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them. Such a policy violates international law and comports neither with our values nor our interests. It is un-American and un-Christian.

But where are the Christians? Why is Pope Benedict virtually alone among Christian leaders to have spoken out against what is being done to Lebanese Christians and Muslims?

When al-Qaida captured two U.S. soldiers and barbarically butchered them, the U.S. Army did not smash power plants across the Sunni Triangle. Why then is Bush not only silent but openly supportive when Israelis do this?

Democrats attack Bush for crimes of which he is not guilty, including Haditha and Abu Ghraib. Why are they, too, silent when Israel pursues a conscious policy of collective punishment of innocent peoples?

Britain’s diplomatic goal in two world wars was to bring the naive cousins in, to “pull their chestnuts out of the fire.” Israel and her paid and pro-bono agents here appear determined to expand the Iraq war into Syria and Iran, and have America fight and finish all of Israel’s enemies.

That Tel Aviv is maneuvering us to fight its wars is understandable. That Americans are ignorant of, or complicit in this, is deplorable.

Already, Bush is ranting about Syria being behind the Hezbollah capture of the Israeli soldiers. But where is the proof?

Who is whispering in his ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a “cakewalk,” that he would be Churchill, that U.S. troops would be greeted with candy and flowers, that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace?

How much must America pay for the education of this man?

For my part too much in blood and bone. Too much in credibility. Too much in values.

Perspective

Oh no —“ Catholic Zionists

The Catholic Neocon Observer notes in A Prayer for Lebanon that:

Catholic bloggers, in addition to their expected reflexive support for Israel, seem now to be saying that the Church has adopted Premillenial Dispensationalism as official doctrine…

For those unfamiliar there’s a great wiki on Dispensationalism. It states in part:

Almost all dispensationalists reject the idea that a lasting peace can be attained by human effort in the Middle East, and believe instead that “wars and rumors of wars” (cf. Matt 24:6) will increase as the end times approach. Dispensationalist beliefs often underlie the religious and political movement of Christian Zionism.

You may also wish to cross reference the wiki on Christian Zionism which begins:

Christian Zionism is the belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is in accordance with Biblical prophecy, and is a necessary prerequisite for the return of Jesus to reign on Earth. This belief is commonly, though not exclusively, associated with evangelical Protestants around the world.

…and, I guess, neocon Roman Catholics too.

For my part, the creation of a Jewish state in the Middle East accomplished two things. It somewhat appeased the guilt feeling of the European and American governments who did very little to help the Jews who suffered and were killed under the Nazi German conquests in Europe. It also removed the human reminders of that tragedy from Europe —“ Hey, send them someplace else —“ they make me sad…

I am no advocate for the destruction of Israel. Every person deserves his place in the world. Terrorism is pure evil and no one should be subjected to it. States should do all they can, in keeping with proper doctrine and morals, to stop terrorism.

The fact remains that an earthly Jerusalem is just that —“ earthly. It matters not a bit that it was rebuilt after Rome destroyed it. It matters not a bit that the Zionists chose Palestine rather than Uganda for the Jewish state. When it is safe it is a fine tourist destination. It is not our salvation – that already happened.

We await the appearance of the new and heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem where Christ reigns for eternity. Come Lord Jesus…

Current Events, Perspective

The Iron Boot*

Max Boot, Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) published an opinion piece, Let Israel Take Off the Gloves, calling on Israel to ignite the flames of war across the Middle East.

Mr. Boot relies on the over exaggerated capabilities of the Israeli Defense Forces (i.e., the cultural myth that Israel has been victorious in various wars against impossible odds). It isn’t 1967 or 1973 any longer. The U.S. is stretched a little thin and isn’t going to be able to cover Israel’s back. We have North Korea, Kosovo, Iraq, China, our own protection here at home, and many other hot spots to worry about.

His CFR bio notes that Mr. Boot has been called one of “the 500 most influential people in the United States in the field of foreign policy” which is scary.

A much more realistic analysis appears in the UPI. See: U.S., Israel face spreading war.

The UPI states:

No one appears to want a full-scale war between states to break out in the Middle East, with the possible exception of Iran’s firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Well, no, add Mr. Boot to that list.

There are people who want this. Mr. Boot and those like him will be back home armchair quarterbacking the deaths of million —“ including our own sons and daughters, all for the greater glory of themselves.

God save us from the Max Boots of the world.

* Sadly, Mr. Boot probably uses this as his regular moniker and would probably be proud of it.

Current Events, Perspective

It is all in the numbers—¦ sort of

Both the Young Fogey and Fr. Jim Tucker at Dappled Things have linked to reporting from If Americans Knew.

The site reports statistics on Israeli deaths and destruction in Israel as opposed to Palestinian deaths and destruction in the Palestinian territories.

Whenever I run across sites that comment on the Middle East I look to see who is behind them. Where do the numbers come from? How true/accurate are the numbers? Is there a political agenda? This is not an area of the world known for being the bastion of truthfulness.

I looked at If Americans Knew. At first the disparities shocked me. I was in my accountant mode, analyzing numbers, comparing columns, checking out the graphs. I was fascinated. Then the Holy Spirit gave me a kick and I said, ‘These are people.’ I was comparing who is more evil based on tallies of death and destruction. I saw the numbers, not the people.

I decided to look deeper. If Americans Knew seemed a little one-sided.

A quick Google search revealed a lot of opinions on the woman behind If Americans Knew, Alison Weir (NOT the British novelist). Most of the opinions were from campuses where she appeared and spoke. She was labeled everything from a raging anti-Semite to the bearer of all truth. No help there.

I looked at the wiki on If Americans Knew but it didn’t really analyze the credibility of the site.

I checked out The Middle East Now, The Middle East from a Secular View. Their site analysis, linked from Wikipedia, seemed pretty well balanced (albeit not perfectly so), pointing out both the truths in If Americans Knew and the wholesale and subtle distortions in their reporting.

There are subtle truths in every story. We have to move beyond the distance of a story to the truth of the matter. Evil people are deciding to kill other people on both sides. Both are being indiscriminant. They hope we won’t notice, they hope we won’t say no, never again.

Perspective, Political

Drive me away —“ with taxes

My old hometown, Buffalo, is bleeding people. The latest study published yesterday shows that upstate New York, and in particular Buffalo, is loosing people like crazy (See: Employers may have tough time replacing retiring boomers)

The reasons, as I see it, are threefold: taxes, lack of jobs, the public dole.

Donn Esmonde of the Buffalo News has been doing opinion pieces on these issues for some time. Today’s article: A few words from the expatriates places the blame pretty squarely where it lies. Check it out.

Now the only point of departure I would have with Mr. Esmonde is his constant harping on public employees. The public employees’ pay and benefits are generous in certain ways, but still lag behind the private sector, especially at the executive and managerial level.

When Erie County shut off all but basic safety and health services as a result of its budget crisis, Mr. Esmonde and others in the community were the first to decry the lack of services they were used to. Someone has to perform the services. You have to pay for what you get, although at the entry and journeyman levels of public employment pay and benefits far surpass the private sector. Public employees are not the problem —“ they are actually smart enough to go where the money and security are. It is rather their handlers (the unions) and the laws and policies that perpetuate the status quo.

I wish someone would be truthful in breaking out where the money goes. New Yorkers are taxed like crazy, the highest taxes in the nation. This certainly keeps jobs and people away. No one will bring their company to New York State so they can be taxed at far higher rates. It’s counterintuitive.

The CATO Institute does a good job of making policy recommendations to cut the biggest money wasters in New York. In Cleaning Up New York State’s Budget Mess, CATO points out that a luxury Medicaid program accounts for over 28% of the State’s budget. That coupled with disproportionate increases in education funding, debt service, welfare, and other ‘luxury’ programs, and further coupled with a needed restructuring in the State public employee workforce drive our taxes through the roof.

My recommendation is to cut and restructure, to think outside the box. How do we do what’s necessary in a leaner and smarter way?

  • Dump the luxuries —“ people can do better on their own —“ keeping their own money.
  • Pass Right to Work laws to cut the legs off powerful unions that are no longer necessary and are actually counterproductive.
  • Maintain systems of public support for the poor and needy that are consistent with other states (it will eliminate benefit shopping) and that assure care for those who are most in need.
  • Reform the insurance industry and litigation processes in New York driving down workers compensation, general business, and automobile insurance costs.
  • Reform the State workforce and focus on a lean professional/para-professional team that is hard working and effective (do we still need file clerks and clerk typists?).
  • Reform the Assembly and Senate into a once every two years citizens body eliminating the ‘professional politician’.
  • Make sure that these reforms take place at every level of government.

New York has natural resources, an educated populace, and varied beauty that makes it a top notch place to live, work, and play. Now all we need is courage and thinking leaders.

By the way, this is my 500th post to my blog —“ hurray for my insight 😉

Perspective

Sports = Politics = Church Discipline

Fr. Martin Fox commented on the fact that he had little if any interest in the World Cup. His comment generated a firestorm of comments on politics and Church discipline and only a few comments on soccer itself.

I like soccer, it is an exciting, skilled, and fast moving sport, but frankly I have little love for any particular sport. I’m really not passionate about sports. I’d rather delve into reading, cooking, wine, good conversation, even politics and churchy matters.

Anyway, I made a sports related comment and as part of that comment I mentioned that another writer, who also commented about sports, and her particular love for the German team, should not have used the phrase —Deutschland, Deutschland ueber Alles …—

Perhaps I shouldn’t have broken into politics and history, but I just get a little upset when unknowing ‘fans’ trot out this hymn. It has implications beyond —“ hey my team is great and we will win.

The writer and another writer took me to task for being all sensitive and how dare I criticize the German national anthem.

First of all, check your history. The first two stanzas of the German national anthem are never used (see Das Lied Der Deutschen for background —“ and this from a German writer on the issue).

The official German anthem begins and ends with the third verse (never heard of this happing with any other song —“ i.e., jumping right to the third verse). Why exactly? The anthem jumps to the third verse because the first two stanzas represent the horrors of Nazism in both their historical and present milieu. They were used to engender the feelings of superiority, power, imperial mandate, and alleged racial purity. They were used as part of the pretext for killing millions of innocent people. They remain shrouded in the ethos a Nazism, and no amount of historical documentation, nay saying, or revisionism will change that. As such, the German government has rejected these words and these stanzas since 1946.

The retort comes back —“ but what about the French, American, etc. etc. anthems. They express pride and are warlike. While that is certainly true, it must be remembered that on the whole they were not used as pretext for mass murder (yes and we can debate Native Americans and so on another time…). Further, I am not engaging in a historical analysis of other cultures. I’m talking about something that is personal to me, my family, and my friends.

If you want to study the basis of German complicity and active participation in the Nazi horrors read Hitler’s Willing Executioners : Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen or Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning or Backing Hitler : Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany by Robert Gellately.

I will not comment further at Father’s site because it is off topic to sports. I do urge that people who are all so happy about proclaiming —Deutschland, Deutschland ueber Alles …— study history a little more closely, perhaps visit a concentration camp, talk to survivors and former slave laborers, and understand exactly what that song means.

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