Mostly Harmless

Mostly about my amusement

Category: Just Stupid (page 3 of 12)

December 30, 2009

Well that would sure end Democracy

No matter what risk to passengers, Unions Must Be STOPPED!

DeMint said Wednesday that he is concerned that Southers would let TSA screeners join a labor union.

via GOP Senator Says Dems Trying to Rush TSA Nominee – NYTimes.com.

Laughable. It must be nice being in the Party of No, not really much to do just complain and vote no on everything. Christmas Day and after demonstrated that the TSA is flying blind and still does not have a clue.

This is a great time to hold up the nomination of a former FBI agent and police detective as head of the TSA. The objection is not about his qualifications in law enforcement, it’s about if he’ll oppose those pinko commie you-n-yuns.

November 28, 2009

These people need to get arrested

Honestly, some people do need to be made into an object lesson.

The couple’s lawyer, Paul W. Gardner of Baltimore, asserts that the Salahis had been “cleared, by the White House,” to be at the event, and so were not really “crashing.” Mr. Gardner declined a request to elaborate on his assertion.

But a Secret Service spokesman, James Mackin, said he had no idea how Mr. Gardner could make such a claim.

via Salahis, White House Dinner Crashers, Met the Obamas – NYTimes.com.

When the Balloon Boy’s dad pulled off his stunt, it was clearly because he wanted to get back onto TV. His need for publicity outweighed his need to not make a spectacle of his family. I do not know what the parents punishment will be, but I guarantee that they’ll claim the state is hurting their children. It’s just what you would expect from two people who have abdicated their own responsibility for raising their children.

Now we have these two try-outs for the Real Housewives of DC (which one is the housewife?) who sneaked into a state dinner under false pretenses. Apparently they took the Bravo film crew up to the gates of the Whitehouse.

Since I have no reason to doubt the now embarrassed Secret Service I can only conclude one thing: they lied and maneuvered their way in. They did not have an invitation, period. Whatever that comes under, trespassing, giving misleading information to a federal official, etc. these two need to spend some time in jail if only to discourage other fame wannabes.

November 4, 2009

The most important election was decided last night

This morning I heard the results of an election I was following: NY-23 went to Bill Owens.

Just to be clear, NY-23 is a district that is on the Canadian border and except for it being a special election it was no big deal. What made it a big deal is that when a moderate was selected to be the Republican candidate, prominent national Republican groups went ape. So the other Republican candidate ran on the conservative ticket and trashed Dede Scozzafava. And of course these prominent national figures played the “Purge the Party! Get rid of all the RINOs!” song.

Toss in President Obama’s name and you get people around the country weighing in just for the press (yes I do mean that Alaskan Quitter and professional public speaker).

So now Bill Owens is going to represent NY-23. The Republicans will keep going after their loyalty oath and any moderates in the national spotlight will have to change their spots or lose any hope of getting re-elected. Any chance of these geniuses getting it is out the window.

This is not a gun totting white-christian only country. Most people I know are moderates. It’s just that the radicals on both side of the aisle get most of the press. I don’t want a radical government from either side, I want one that will actually solve problems without violating the law or sacrifice the constitution for security. This name calling and purging of people in the middle is just plain stupid.

October 17, 2009

I want to believe (in FIOS that is)

Since Verizon messed up my order yesterday, they informed me that my order was set for 8 AM – 12 noon today.  That sucked but it was better than waiting till next week. And I have to dial into work around 10 AM today so what the heck, I’ll just go with it.

Before 8 AM I called and wanted to confirm that my installation was on track.  The person I spoke with was polite and professional and informed me that someone would call me back. I just got that call and my appointment is still on for today.

All day today. They can come at anytime today and screw the 12 noon thing.  Oh, but I’m not to worry since they “requested” that the install occur before noon. I informed the polite and professional lady that I’m not thrilled about being held hostage to Verizon’s schedule and that this is NOT what I was told yesterday.

This is how a solid service offering gets ruined.  I’m assuming that once I have FIOS installed it will be rainbows and sunshine but getting there is really amateurish on their part. First impressions are important because they set the customers expectations going forward. If they continue to mess up, I lose nothing by just canceling the order. As I mentioned yesterday I don’t have an axe to grind with Cablevision and the money I save with Verizon is not that significant.

I’m hoping that this afternoon I’ll be able to post how fast my new connection is and how happy I am with the service.

September 12, 2009

Thank you Adobe, but no thanks

Update: Look before you click.  The McAfee component is optional and you are given the chance to not install it on the Abobe web page.

-Original posting below.-

So I downloaded the updated Firefox 3.5.3 and when it came up it said “Hey, your Flash player is outdated. Click here to get an upgrade”. You can read about this feature here.

I keep my software up to date so this was news to me. But what the heck, Mozilla’s rep is good and Adobe Flash and Acrobat are popular attack vectors. Why not upgrade? So I ran Adobe’s download manager extension in Firefox which promptly installed the updated Flash and McAfee System scanner.

I was not asked if I wanted the McAfee software, it installed it without my permission.

I have no problem with being provided the option, but seriously, installing third party software without getting explicit approval from the end user is just plain stupid.

Keeping up your software is a responsible thing to do especially if you want to keep the use of your PC to yourself. Why rent out your PC to a zombie army? But installing software without your permission is a tactic of the “bad guys”.

I don’t care if it’s an anti-virus company or not, don’t put software on my PC without my permission. I promptly went to my control panel and removed the McAfee software.  I already have an up to date anti-virus product on my PC and don’t need unwanted code.

August 2, 2009

Health care at it’s worst

The whole debate over health care makes me shake my head. Horror stories are told on both sides but this one has to strike a cord in anyone reading it.

In a statement issued yesterday after it had approved the transplant, the company said the procedure “was outside the scope of the plan’s coverage.” “… and despite the lack of medical evidence regarding the effectiveness of such treatment, Cigna HealthCare has decided to make an exception in this rare and unusual case, and we will provide coverage should she proceed with the requested liver transplant. Our thoughts and prayers are with Nataline and her family at this time.”

via 17-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Dies After Transplant Is Finally Approved By CIGNA – cbs2.com.

Nice job Cigna, but the horses are truly gone. I don’t really believe anyone at Cigna really did this maliciously, and really, Mark Geragos is an advocate for the health insurance downtrodden? A lawsuit might get the ball rolling but the law needs to change.

Organ transplants are not an elective surgery. If the doctors were willing to perform the operation, then the most informed people on this case said go ahead and the insurance company was the road block. When people complain that the government will take out doctors from the decision making process, they need to see what insurance companies are doing today.

June 19, 2009

RIAA successfully shakes down another victim

So Jammie Thomas’s verdict went from $222,000 to $1.92 million in her re-trial.  I still think her “gremlins did it” defense was the height of stupidity but if anything, this verdict shows that the laws are seriously flawed. $80,000 per song?

We should all create some music and sign up with the recording industry since every starving artist obviously gets filthy rich from the RIAA. Pirating music and video is illegal, but there should be some sort of penalty that weighs the actual crime with the real damages. The RIAA is and remains an extortion outfit and will get more mileage from this verdict to advertise their extortion/protection racket.

Jammie Thomas made a mistake and should have come clean. How different would the outcome for her had been if her lawyer said to the RIAA “If you keep the terms private, we will pay $xx per song”. That would have likely been accepted if only because the RIAA would have avoided the bad press. Instead, she now again becomes the poster child for “Hey, I said it was not me” defense.

Now the RIAA and their extortion scheme of “Pay up now or we’ll take your family’s home and possessions” scam just got more lucrative. She will never be able to pay but they will get it all back in free press.

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Jan Dembowski

Jan Dembowski

I am a software enthusiast who is easily amused and definitely mostly harmless.

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