Category: Orphans

Excitement has been bountiful during the last week or so over Texas playing a part in picking a president. Of course, Texans always play some part in picking a president. It elected a Texan during the past two presidential elections, but forgive us of that trespass.

Lost in the hubub over Hillary v. Barack is the bigger picture come January 2009. That will be when the new president steps in and Gee Dubya will load up his U-Haul for Crawford or Highland Park or wherever it is he plans to live after the White House. For that — the words “Bush” and “after the White House” — I will be so grateful. But regardless whether President Obama takes that sacred oath or President Hillary Clinton or President John McCain we will still have to deal with that little group of men and women on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue known as Congress.

Unless change happens, meaning one party or the other elects more members in order to achieve a passable majority, we will be figuratively living in Deadlock City, U.S.A. If the present Democratic majority doesn’t increase sufficiently to do a little overriding and such, and if either Obama or Hillary is elected, I predict you will find the most do-nothing Congress in American history. That will especially be the case if we have another President Clinton. She’s the Anti-Christ to the GOPs, don’t you know?

So if Texas, Ohio and the other states voting today put Obama over the top, or put Hillary in a position where she may be finally sitting pretty, just remember it’s a long time from now until November. And it’s an even longer time until January. Then, we will have both a new president and Congress. Let’s just hope for the best, whatever that might be.

My lackluster start to this year in what I still consider to be my primary occupation, that of a freelance writer, has hit yet another bump in the road after a very unhappy few months with Sprint as my wireless Internet provider.

The problem started when I purchased their so-called “Broadband” aircard only to discover the company didn’t provide Broadband service in my home area. Thus, I was paying almost twice the amount for what a good dialup service (an oxymoron as far as I can tell) would cost yet I was receiving speeds which were slower than or as slow as most dialups.

I decided at some point that, even though I knew I was getting the shaft, I really should deal with the situation so I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau outlining a case of what I considered deceptive trade practices. Although I have not had a lot of luck filing complaints with the “triple Bees” this one got someone’s attention at Sprint.

As a result I ultimately was able to sever my wireless Internet service without having to pay an early termination fee and ended up not paying for the last two months during which I used that service. I should point out that the company asked me to consider giving their service a chance and I ultimately went past their 30-day window when one may avoid an early termination fee for breaking a contract as well as receiving a refund.

The last straw came when I went to pay Sprint what I owed them. The customer service person I talked to said they had not yet received information that I had successfully returned their aircard so I would have to pay the early termination fee until they made sure the card had been returned. I told them in no uncertain terms that they could screw themselves, that if I paid the extra amount I would probably die of old age before I had that amount refunded. Not long after this conversation, I got a letter from Sprint threatening to turn me over to a collection agency. This was after I had offered to pay them.

Luckily, I eventually came across a young lady with Sprint with a modicum of sense who was able to have the amount I owed discharged as paid. I thus ended up having had two months’ of service — albeit crappy service — for free. I would like to thank Sprint for doing the right thing, but this and many other of life’s experiences have left me a wee bit cynical. Okay, a whole hell of a lot cynical.

But there is a lesson here. It is easy to just let these large companies jack you around and it can be frustrating trying to exact justice from corporations who don’t know you, don’t want to know you and just wish the heck you would go away. But sometimes you do win. And it is those times which let you smell the sweet fragrance of success and satisfaction.

In short, if you are getting screwed by a large company and have a legitimate beef, don’t get mad. Well, yes, DO get mad and do something about it. Venting can be mighty therapeutic and just think about what might happen if you win.

It seems Bill Clinton is coming back to our fair town — Beaumont, Texas — sometime this weekend. His visit comes about a week or so after he stopped here to campaign for Hillary at a Mexican restaurant as well as hold a rally downtown. I suspect he’s coming back for more Mexican food although I could be wrong.

Of course, Barack Obama, or as I like to say, that famous Irish tenor Barack O’Bama of County Cork, was here yesterday holding a town meeting.

It is unusual for us here in Southeast Texas and Texas in general to get the attention of national presidential candidates. Someone said the last time a presidential candidate of any magnitude visited here was almost 30 years ago. I don’t know if that’s a fact or who it was if so. But after years of Texas being a rubber stamp for GOP presidential candidates (whose names are Bush), it feels good being appreciated.

Speaking of appreciate, I am off this afternoon and plan to do nothing more strenuous than lift and turn pages of a book. I hope all who sees this, both of you, have a great weekend.

A thousand people — give or take one or two — form a line around a city block in downtown Beaumont, Texas, as they wait to see Sen. Barack Obama.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is probably speaking or answering questions five or six miles from where I sit as I write this. If one notes the crowd photo above that I took about one hour ago, it is obvious that quite a few folks would have been ahead of me in line had I decided to attempt to see Obama. I said attempt because there was no guarantee that those in line would actually get inside the Julie Rogers Theatre for what was billed as a town hall meeting. The Obamaistas, or volunteers, said that Barack would be holding a rally outside after the meeting took place. That would probably be a good idea because seating inside the city’s performing arts center is somewhere around 1,600 and a report filed about 2 1/2 hours ago by the local daily Beaumont Enterprise indicated police had already estimated the lines for Obama to hold around 1,000 folks.

I would have liked to have seen Barack speak, not that I particularly support him, or Hillary and certainly not John McCain. But I think it must be a rarity to see a presidential candidate in person even though you see one ten thousand times a day on TV. I have never seen a serious presidential candidate during my entire 52 years. I say “serious” because I once interviewed for a newspaper story, a lawyer and Ace hardware store owner in the small East Texas town of Center who was running for the Democratic nomination against Bill Clinton. I also have only seen three presidents of the United States and only one — my pal Gee Dubya — when he actually served in office. When I was full time in the news biz I saw Dubya and his pappy several times. And last week I saw Bill Clinton, who was in town campaigning for Billary.

No matter how you feel about a candidate for president, I think it is an honor to see someone who is or has a real shot at becoming our head of state. It’s kind of like the office of president itself. I think George W. Bush is an a**hole — in his words “big time” — but if I were to ever to meet him again (I interviewed him one-on-one before he was Texas governor)I would give him all the respect due the president of the U.S. Like, “Mr. President, it is an honor to speak with you. With all due respect you are a big-time a**hole, sir.” No, I am only joking. I would be respectful and, yes, probably a little in awe.

Speaking of Bushie, I caught a little of his press conference on the tube this morning. He said we weren’t in a recession, just a little bump in the road or something to that effect. Obama, speaking in Austin this morning, said:

“We are not standing on the brink of recession because of forces beyond our control. This was not an inevitable part of the business cycle. It was a failure of leadership in Washington — a Washington where George Bush hands out billions of tax cuts to the wealthiest few for eight long years, and John McCain promises to make those same tax cuts permanent, embracing the central principle of the Bush economic program.”

Obama then produced an armadillo — the official small mammal of Texas — and ate it whole to emphasize the dire straits of the nation’s economy. Or maybe he didn’t, but I would definitely have waited in line downtown if I knew he was going to do that.

So far I am not terrified at the prospect of John McCain becoming president. I hope he isn’t elected as our head of state because, as I have noted here before, he supports continuing the lunacy which was started under false pretenses by our CinC, Gee Dubya of Crawford, Texas, U.S.A. But McCain and I share opinions on other issues although to reiterate the war is a deal-breaker.

McCain said today that he thinks the war will be over soon “for all intents and purposes.” But I am not so sure that what he meant was “all infants and porpoises,” which doesn’t make a lot of sense I admit. After all, he is the straight talk guy, right?

My contention that I am not yet scared of McCain is conditional. He hasn’t been nominated yet and he hasn’t picked a Veep. In the interest of merely winning the election McCain could pick some real, scary f**kwad like Ann Coulter or Tom Tancredo or Oliver North.

Should McCain be the nominee as expected the Veep pick will be of more importance than in years past. Well, at least pre-Dick Cheney. Who knew he would really run things? But the import is obvious because McCain is a geezer and one who suffered mightily for his country in a stinking place known as the Hanoi Hilton. Thus, the vice presidential candidate under McCain as the nominee would need to be someone who wouldn’t screw up things and start zipping off nukes toward our imaginary enemies at the drop of a hat in the event McCain punches out that one last time while in office.

So, if McCain indeed is the GOP candidate I will wait to see who the pick for understudy will be before counting Big John as “relatively safe.” But make no mistake about it, I hope he isn’t elected. What I really hope is that I will wake up tomorrow and realize that this is all a big dream, that McCain, Obama and Hillary are not really running for president, and that all the picks on both sides who are running are benign. Fat chance of that, however, if Obama shows up in my town tomorrow as expected.