What's wrong with America today?

So what is wrong with America in 2010? Extremism. And I don't just mean the far right. The far left is as dangerous to everything this nation stood for as is the far right.

Yesterday I was driving and I had on the AM radio. What the hell happened to AM radio over the years? I used to listen to talk radio and they used to talk about many different topics; sometimes politics, sometimes sports, sometimes comedy. The callers were the main focus of discussion and the hosts just guided the show along. I'm going back to the mid-1970s when talk radio hosts included Bob Grant, Leon Lewis, Barry Gray, Barry Farber, Alan Colmes and Long John Nebel. And this was during the turbulent years of Watergate. Sure, some of the hosts were opinionated, but they didn't preach. The didn't sit on a throne and tell the listeners what to think and say.

I can only speak about the New York talk radio market. I do not profess to be an expert in radio markets throughout the United States. But I have been a fan of radio since the 1960s. These days, the entire radio day is filed with hate and propaganda, directed by the hosts. Nearly every caller is a clone of the host (or as Limbaugh fans are called "ditto heads.") The hosts are more than just the voice of the far right or far left, but they seem to actually run the party. Talking points made through the tongues of these hosts are then parroted by the politicians on the Sunday morning discussion shows.

I listened to some of the SS Stormtrooper, Glen Beck's show. That was followed by the Emperor himself, Rush Limbaugh. I noticed some things about these guys.

First of all, on this particular day, it was clear to me that the agenda of the day was to make the masses of sheep listeners vote for Bristol Paylin on "Dances With The Stars" just to send a message to America. (Thank God they were unsuccessful in their attempt). Really? It is that important to these brainwashers that they skew the results of a TV show to get their point across. They even admitted that Paylin wasn't as good as the others but the others "were professional entertainers" and didn't deserve to win.

Secondly, have you heard the commercials that play on these shows? I know it is very expensive to advertise on New York radio. So you have to assume that before a company drops a wad of money on a radio ad, they are going to do research to make sure their customers are listening. And who are the customers they are trying to attract with their ads? People who have failed to pay their taxes and are in trouble with the IRS. The ads proudly claim that they can get that $20,000 debt you owe to the IRS reduced to just $600. I thought the Republican party always claimed that they were the "law and order" party. That they were squeaky clean Americans. So I guess they also condone cheating the IRS. Friggin' two-faces assholes!

Then I hear an ad for one of those get rich quick schemes... you can work from home and earn thousands weekly. It reminded me of those ads that used to be in the back of the Enquirer stated how you can "get rich quick stuffing envelopes."

And I also noticed how the Emperor always referred to Obama as "the regime." I think the last time I heard that phrase was in reference to Idi Amin and his cronies in Uganda. It's a subtle point but if you say it every day, for hours at a time, the sheep are going to believe that Obama is truly a dictator. You know, if Obama came up with a cure for cancer, these assholes would be running around complaining how he put all these cancer clinics and researchers out of business. It sickens me.

How about just having a mind of your own? There are some things on the far right that I agree with and there are some things on the far left that I agree with. Just because the liberals say it's so doesn't necessarily mean that it is gospel. Just because the words came from Emperor Limbaugh's lips, doesn't necessarily mean it's true.

Can't we all just use common sense when it comes to our political views. Can't we stop being a bunch of cattle being led to slaughter by the hosts of talk radio.

It's all very sad.

I received this photo in an email from a friend who wanted me to forward this to every American who loved his country. This was during the heart of the Health Care initiative that President Obama was trying to pass. The following was my response to his email...




I have seen so many of these kind of emails that have claims that are so outrageous, that if true, we should dismantle our present two-party system of government, toss out the constitution, and start all over again to build our country. But almost every one of them was started by an extremist that makes up a lie, does a little Photoshop magic, and all of a sudden, everyone in the world is receiving an email purporting the "truth."  My basic feeling on forwarding these emails, Jim, is if it has the words "I hope this one makes it around the world repeatedly!!!!," it's a fake.

As far as its authenticity, I usually check first with scopes.com and see if they have any info on it. If not, I try to do the research myself. In this case, I searched for the House bill number, then searched for a PDF with the entire bill, downloaded the PDF, then went to page 144 and found nothing. So if that van in the photo actually did exist, the person who owned it was a liar who had an agenda or someone who knows Photoshop took a picture of a van with no writing on the side and typed in their propaganda.

And honestly, Jim, if I found that provision on page 144, line 22, I would have forwarded that email to a ton of people, because I think it would be outrageous for politicians to pass a bill that everyone has to abide by except themselves. But just like the photo of Obama holding an upside down telephone, or a similar photo of Bush holding a phone upside down, or the picture of Obama at an early Black Panthers' rally, or Bush holding a book upside down... there are people that are so blinded by their "party affiliation" that they are willing to doctor photographs and make up stories and rely on the internet rumor mills to turn it into reality. We will be a far better nation when people stop lying and spreading lies and use their own brains to make independent decisions rather than taking as gospel everything they read on the internet, see on TV, read in the newspapers, or hear on talk radio.

For God sakes, DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ and please don't forward it to your friends unless you know it is true.

The DirectTV Scam

I was a cable customer for nearly 20 years. When I made the jump from "rabbit ears" to cable, I couldn't believe the quality of the picture. In retrospect, I should not have been so enthusiastic about an image that included ghosts on many of the channels. But shortly after the new millennium began, I decided I was going to make the jump to the next level... satellite.

There were two choices for satellite: DirecTV and Dish Network. They both offered similar packages but the main difference was that with Dish Network, you leased the equipment from them and with DirecTV, you bought your equipment. Leasing equipment seems like such a waste of money to me so I chose DirecTV for my service.

I originally contracted with DirecTV in June of 2002. At that time, they required a 12 month annual programming agreement. There was an early termination fee if I canceled service before June of 2003. This was explained to me and I agreed to the early termination fee. This was the only commitment I ever had with DirecTV. It is important that you note this now since this becomes much more relevant later. My commitment to remain with DirectTV ended in 2003.

I Loved DirecTV (past tense)

When I first saw the picture quality of DirecTV, I loved it. I had switched over from Time Warner Cable's analog service that featured ghosted images on most channels. But I was used to it so you can imagine how thrilled I was to see a TV picture that was clean and free of ghosts. Their program offering were better than Time Warner as well. During my six years of having DirecTV, I had nothing but praise for their service and I recommended them to countless friends, co-workers and family.

The Party's Over...

In 2008, after a long wait, Verizon's FIOS was finally available in my area. On March 5, 2008, I canceled the DirecTV service. At that time, the representative told me that there would be a $12 penalty for early cancellation. Clearly, she was mistaken. I started the service back in 2002. When I disputed the charge, she told me there was nothing that she could do. I asked for her supervisor and she told me that her supervisor could not reverse the charge. Over the next few days, I inquired about this charge with other people from DirectTV both by telephone and by email several times after that and was told each time that the $12 fee could not be lifted and that I needed to write to the corporate headquarters to resolve this issue.

I was told that this new "commitment" stemmed from a replacement receiver box that I received in May of 2007. At that time, my Hughes receiver did not recognize some of the new DirecTV stations that they offered. I called their service department to see if there was something I was doing wrong and the representative explained that the Hughes receiver was not capable of receiving some of the new channels offered. The person I spoke with said that if I paid $19.95 for shipping, she would send me a new box that could receive the new channels. She did not tell me that I was entering into a new agreement or that I would be committing to any additional months, simply that I needed to pay for the shipping.

Once again, I need to reiterate that I did not agree to another year of programming commitment when I spoke with their representative in 2007. That information should have been told to me at that time, when the woman offered to send me a new box.

The Legality of Their Actions

For two parties to enter into an agreement, there must be a meeting of the minds between both parties. Since this "new contract" was kept secret by DirecTV and never told to me, we had no meeting of the minds and therefore... NO CONTRACT.

I might also add that at that time, the representative never told me that there would also be a subtle change on my bill. The $4.99 charge that I had been paying for "Additional Receiver" was changed to a $4.99 charge for "Leased Receiver." I didn't even notice this switch until many months later when I was looking over my bill. If there is to be such a substantial change in the terms of service, it is something that should be explained to the customer BEFORE the fact, not after the fact.


After a quick search of the internet, I have discovered dozens of other consumers who have had very similar experiences with this company withholding money, charging credit cards without authorization, and fraudulently imposing a contract where there never was one. It appears that this is their standard practice and they must be held accountable for their actions.

Since then, I have received countless offers in the mail to get me to come back. Really? Let's sum that up with four simple words... "not in this lifetime."