The Modern, Efficient, Automated Approach to Customer Service.

The icemaker has stopped working on our two-year-old refrigerator-freezer. (We had to replace our old fridge because it repeatedly broke down.) From past experience, I can tell you exactly what happens next.   

*  I will call Sears Appliance Repair.

* I will be put on hold and listen to Sears commercials for several minutes.

* A woman will come on the line -- she is in South Carolina -- and will schedule an appointment for a repair man to come to the house. 

* The appointment will be in 10 days.

* The repairman will determine that (a) the icemaker has stopped working on our refrigerator-freezer, and (b) a new part will have to be ordered.

* The new part will arrive in 10 days.

* I will call Sears Repair, speak to another lady in South Carolina, who will schedule another appointment with another repairman.

* The appointment will be in 10 days.

* On the appointed day, the repairman will arrive at 3:40, install the new part, and depart at 3:55.

* The charges will be $250 for the new part and $197 for labor. Plus tax.

* Five weeks later, a puddle will appear on the kitchen floor. The gasket on the freezer door has come off.   Again.

The GOP: Paying the Price for Ignoring the Lessons of History

Back when things were starting to go bad during the Vietnam War, an unfortunate Army officer was being interviewed about the latest operation and uttered the infamous words: "We had to burn the village in order to save it."  An old friend of mine points out -- astutely -- that today's Republican Party has taken on the same strategy. And the GOP, just like that village, is going up in flames.

.

Well, They Got THAT Right!

Had Enough?

.

Walmart Pay Scale: What's Wrong with This Picture?

Walmart’s CEO, Mike Duke, says the company's employees “are a great source of pride and personal inspiration to me.”

According to Ibis World, an international market research firm, the average Walmart employee is paid $8.81 per hour. Evidently, it doesn't take a helluva lot to inspire Mike.

Anyway, assuming they’re working a 40-hour week, that pay rate projects to a bit more than $18, 300 a year. Of course, as we well know, a great many Walmart employees are held to working part time and, as a result, they are ineligible for benefits such as health insurance.

By the way, in 2010, Mike Duke was paid $18.7 million. Now that's what I call inspiring!


.

Tea Party Contestant in Spelling Bee

I never get enough of these! Fortunately, there is an almost unlimited supply.


.

More Words of Wisdom.

.

It's Called 'Doing Well by Doing Good'

He Got the Living Crap Beat Out of Him … and He Still Has No Idea Why.

In a call to some of his biggest donors, Mitt Romney says the reason he lost was that President Obama gave a lot of “stuff” to African Americans, Latinos and single women.

I guess he’s talking about the 47 percent of the country who are the deadbeat bums and moochers.

We should probably feel sorry for the guy. But, clearly, he’s just too clueless to be president.

.

One Final Glimpse Into the Romney Way of Doing Business.

Over the years, I’ve been on the inside of quite a few major political campaigns. For months you live, eat, breathe and sleep it … and then, sometimes, you lose. Often it happens in the split second you get a look at the first printout of returns. It’s crushing. It’s just awful.

And so I was amazed to read that on election night, after President Obama had been declared the winner, a number of top Romney aides discovered that their campaign credit cards had already been cancelled when they tried to pay for the cabs that took them back to their Boston hotels.

“Fiscally conservative”, one staffer ruefully commented to a TV reporter.

What a shabby way to treat the people who have fought and bled for you.

.

Yep ... that pretty well sums it up.

Words of Wisdom ... and Isn't it Pathetic!

This Pretty Much Says It All, Doesn't It!

.

How's THIS for a Record of Public Service!

And, of course, they still have the gall to attack Obama for a lack of accomplishment. It's astonishing that anyone swallows their B.S.

.

How About Closing THIS Loophole, Mitt??

.

How Do We Know Who Won the VP Debate?

Democrats are up beat and excited. Republicans are complaining that Joltin' Joe Biden was rude to poor ol' Paul Ryan. Awwww! But that pretty much answers the question, doesn't it!

.

Does anyone -- seriously and in their heart of hearts -- actually believe this theory works in practice?

.

Say what you will about this awful campaign ...

you have to admit it's providing a wealth of wonderful material!

.

Might As Well Laugh About This, Eh?

For the record, Romney was (once again) wrong. Federal tax dollars do NOT go to PBS. Rather, they go to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and, from there, to individual member stations such as our own KHET here in Hawaii.

And to put this non-issue into perspective, those federal dollars are less than 1/100th of one percent of the federal budget. And this is how Romney is going to tackle the federal deficit?

.

Coal Miners ABSOLUTELY THRILLED to Appear in Romney TV Ad

A new TV commercial for Mitt Romney is on the air. It features coal miners and Himself, claiming that President Obama is killing the coal industry, presumably with all those pesky regulations.

Someone in the media thought to ask the mine owner, Murray Energy, if the miners were all there voluntarily.

“Attendance at the Romney event was mandatory,” said Rob Moore, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, “but no one was forced to attend.”

OK … good. Glad we cleared that up.

A Fifty Year Summary of the U.S. Economy

Gee ... And all this time I thought the Republicans were supposed to be the ones with all the answers when it comes to prosperity, the economy, the deficit, etc ...

.

Just the Latest Outrage from the GOP. More to Come, of Course.

Labor Day is, apparently, no longer observed in order to recognize and honor working men and women ... the people who build the cars and dig the holes and do the paperwork and fetch the coffee for the boss ... in other words, the people who labor.

Labor Day -- at least according to that arrogant twit, Eric Cantor -- is now being celebrated to honor the entrepreneurs who hire the people who build the cars and dig the holes.

There seems to be no limit to the arrogance of the Republican leadership.

.