100 hours and the first disappointment

So the Democrats sweep into office, most of them not smart enought to know that a good chunk of those votes weren’t FOR them, but AGAINST Bush, the Patriot Act, the war, runaway spending, tax cuts for the super-rich and other foot-on-a-banana peel moves by the Republicans. Then comes this list of “100 hour promises” by Speaker Pelosi, who must have learned about the political process from the Governor Moonbeam School of Populism. Raise the minimum wage? Please. Who makes $5.15 an hour? Even the much-vilified Wal-Mart’s starting wage is $7.50 an hour in Manchester. Ethics reform? Right. Eliminate travel on corporate jets? Fine, but no rule against first-class commercial travel is there? I’ve seen Swiss cheese with fewer holes than this “reform”. The Democrats have chosen to pick the lowest-hanging fruit to mollify an angry electorate into thinking they’ve done something. They promise a 5 day work week-and the VERY FIRST DAY they take off for (wait for it) a COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME! Evidently the terms “first 100 hours” and “5 day week” have different meanings inside the Beltway than the rest of the country. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

A few things that bug me to start….

First, allow me to say I’m very excited to be part of FreeKeene, and to start with please allow me to ask some rhetorical questions.

1. Why don’t people read? I recently was perusing the Dell customer forums to get an answer to a minor technical problem, and came across an interesting thread. There were many people upset that they didn’t get the 0% financing they were “promised”. A quick skim of the terms said clearly that it was available only to well-qualifed buyers, and not all accounts would qualify. Further, the terms stated the interest rates would be based on credit score and could range up to 29.9%. I then read with amazement that people were complaining about the interest rates! I have a Dell account, and the rate was clearly disclosed before I bought anything. If they don’t like the terms, why did they use the account? (more…)