Back in November of 2006 I wrote about the racial paranoia behind the Tennie Pierce antics . The madness continues, and speaks towards the insanity of people trying to get a free ride out of the system because of it’s fear of saying “NO!” There were two white firefighters suspended for allowing the “racial practical joke.” Captains Chris Burton and John Tohill have sued and were awarded $1.6 million in damages . They sued for reverse discrimination because a hispanic firefighter received a lighter punishment.

This is crazy! How much money do we as taxpayers have to pay for this ridiculous prank and ignore the racial paranoia? We as a society seemingly allow people to behave stupidly and then pay them for it. If anything I believe they could have received back-pay for the days missed and perhaps interest that could have accrued, but what was awarded, is unfathomably lame.

Stanley Kubrick was an amazing talent, an artist working in the medium of moving pictures. The film Paths of Glory marked the beginning of a nearly 30 year period of continuous greatness ended only by death, not by failure of his vision or ability.

I’ve wondered from time to time what made him great at what he did. This article offers a partial answer to that question. Absolutely fascinating peek into the mind of a master.

The Government discredits itself by turning a blind eye to disobedience of the law. One of the most egregious examples of this is tolerance of both illegal immigration and tolerance of the companies that employ illegal immigrants.

When the government isn’t simply turning a blind eye toward illegal immigration, it’s crying “wolf” about it’s intention to do something, anything to address our immigration issues So I expect to be excused for being skeptical of their latest stated plans to… do something.

Seeing is believing but we need action. Our society can not tolerate blatant lawlessness and remain credible as a nation committed to the rule of law. Laws need to be adhered to by all persons resident in this nation, not compromising for convenience or for economic factors. Illegal immigrants (and their advocates) would seek to undermine what makes our country unique and, frankly, better than their native lands, for their own selfish and immediate gain. We mustn’t allow continued violation of law, regardless the cost. We’ll see if congress has the will, moral clarity and resolve to do anything about this situation before the window for action has passed. I have my doubts.

It’s amazing that Washington can’t get things done even when there’s bipartisan understanding that something is terribly broken.

Farm subsidies have been identified by liberals, conservative, humanitarians, capitalists, socialists and everybody else in between as problematic. The fact that we as a society are incapable of making any real reform happen, in spite of widespread understanding of the issues involved with the subsidies, is a significant indictment of our process.

The fact is, the people who score big with the subsidies turn a lot of that money right back around to politicians (through lobbyists). The subsidy beneficiaries haven’t gotten too greedy (they generously turn around a lot of money instead of hoarding it) so the subsidies are likely to continue.

So the secret to advancing personal interests at the expense of the public good - make sure to turn around a fair share of your benefit to the politicians who gain that benefit for you. Don’t get greedy and you’ll be set for at least a generation.

Because we all recognize the tune, but perhaps not so much all the lyrics:

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
’Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our Trust”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The Interested Clan were scheduled to fly to California today - scheduled, but we didn’t. Chicago/O’Hare was shut down by storms which have caused delays and cancellations around the country.

Weather can’t be helped, but customer service can be. United failed the customer service test so badly they could just as well have hung a shingle saying, “We would rather not have customers. Period.”

Here’s how things worked out. We arrived at Baltimore Washington at 0430, plenty of time to catch our 0600 flight. The skycap told us the flight had been canceled. Great. Talking to other passengers (people who had been brought to the airport and dropped off among them) it was clear that United had waited until people were arriving at the airport before canceling the flight. I’m assuming that, since Chicago has been flooded for the last few days, United didn’t have to wait until we were at the airport to cancel the flight.

Not a tremendous start and it got worse. It became pretty obvious, standing in the terminal, that the ticket counter personnel were more interested in making sure the customers who had been canceled weren’t getting in the way of the other passengers rather than taking care of us. In fact, for two hours the ticket counter set up to handle the several hundred of us was manned by one person while a dozen people handled the very light load of other passengers. Brilliant!

I called United on my cell phone fairly early on to see if I could do an end-around and get some better results. After waiting on hold for literally 30 minutes I was connected to United’s Indian call center. Another twenty minutes being told that there was nothing available for me, with the call center employee got me amazingly great results - United could get us to LA tomorrow evening! How could I not be satisfied with that?! I asked the call center person to use a little imagination in trying to rebook us. After being told that he just *couldn’t* get us through Chicago today, I said that I didn’t care about Chicago. I wanted to get to Southern California. I didn’t even care *where* in Southern California. I could do LA, Long Beach, Orange County, Ontario - “we’re flexible” I said. Back on hold, only to be told several minutes later that nothing was moving through Chicago. Thank you helpful Indian.

Back in BWI, a United representative kept on walking up and down the line of us cancelees, antagonizing customers. Super helpful. People would ask legit questions like, “Is there a chance that we’ll be getting anywhere today?” The responses were shrill and defensive, mostly along the lines of, “We’re doing everything we can - do we *look* like we’re standing around doing *nothing* (editor - Yes)? DON’T SHOOT THE MESSANGER! What do you want me to do, make airplanes and pilots just appear for YOU?!”

I’m a pretty easy customer. Don’t lie to me, don’t patronize me and I’m usually okay. Not this time - the frustrating thing was that, as we sat in a non-moving line with no help and no communication, other airlines were actually treating their passengers with courtesy and respect. Those other airlines, facing the same issues as United, started talking to other airlines right away in an attempt to get their customers where they needed to go. Their lines dwindled quickly - people had answers and were then free to go and do what they needed to do.

Not United. After the call center experience I stayed in line to speak with somebody at the ticket counter. Not surprisingly, after standing around for four hours it turns out that all the other options had been snapped up.

I’ve never had any sort of problem like this with Southwest or JetBlue - I’ve had dozens of flights on Southwest and probably half a dozen on JetBlue. In fact, I had food poisoning on a JetBlue flight one time (from a Baja Fresh burrito that wasn’t so fresh apparently) and that was a better experience than what I just went through this morning.

United showed disregard for the customers from the outset by delaying the flight cancellation notification. They continued their show of unconcern by not seeking to provide alternatives for their customers in a timely and efficient manner. Every United representative I talked to was either rude, disinterested. incapable or some combination thereof. The choicest quote of the day was, “I don’t care where you’ve got to be - my responsibility is to get you to Chicago and then you’re on your own.” True quote. The lady’s name was Lori.

I asked if United would cover the cost of tickets if I could get something on Southwest. They were ready to refund my ticket price. Wow, way to stretch yourselves folks. Of course such a deal isn’t going to be favorable. Buying tickets same-day is hugely expensive - that’s why we got our tickets months ago. Still, just to satisfy my curiosity, I called Southwest and asked if they had anything available. The lady who answered the phone was polite and articulate - I didn’t have to press a single button in order to talk to a real person.

Not surprisingly Southwest had at least eight options available before I interrupted the representative to ask for cost (which unfortunately was too hight). I got through the Southwest call waiting system in three minutes.

What’s the moral of the story here, beside don’t support incompetence with your business? Are we supposed to be sorry for the failing carriers like United? I don’t think we should feel sorry for them - United and their friends are failing in the face of competition not simply because their union deals are bad or gas prices are high or because of terrorism. United charges a premium over low-cost carriers like Southwest but it’s no longer clear how they justify this. In every way that matters to me, United is an utter failure. They won’t get the chance to disappoint me again.

I don’t know how lawyers do it. This panel is able to sit and discuss, with straight faces and presumably clear consciouses, the methods they use to undermine American labor and immigration laws in order to import “talent” from overseas. Just watch the video - it’s surreal.

Thanks to Giles Bowkett for bringing this to my attention.

My gut tells me that companies that engage in activities as shown above aren’t companies worth working for. Regardless, I am curious to know why companies would feel it necessary to break the spirit of the law so egregiously. It’s obvious that what’s going on is distasteful - why would a company want to risk exposing themselves to the potential negative backlash that could arise from such practices?