Will the Democrats Create Viet Nam II?

#hhrs #tcot #redco #gwot
As we begin to see troops withdraw and Iraqi's celebrate, remember that Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durban, Harry Reid and other prominent Democrats now in charge all said the surge would not work. Reid and Durban said the "war was lost". ...just remember that. John Kerry said our troops were terrorizing people in the night, John Murtha accused marines of cold blooded murder....all untrue, and all charges aquitted.

These are the men and women now running the war.

Thanks to the fortitude of the previous administration the surge worked, the streets are safe (less people are killed in Iraq than many major US cities) but is it too soon? The troops sure want to come home...they always do, the job for the most part sucks. But if we withdraw too quickly, the Iraqi's will suffer. Even today, the terrorists celebrated our leaving too...by killing 27 people.

Pray that Obama will have more wisdom than Richard Nixon and the Democrat controlled house and senate did in 1972.

Politicians did a similar thing in Viet Nam, our brave soldiers won nearly every battle and pushed the enemy back, but in the end the politicians withdrew allowing the enemy to overun the innocents in the country. We wrung our hands..and watched millions massacred...just so we could feel good that we finally got out.

Obama, the media's little darling

#tcot #rnc #msm #media
Great video by the RNC, even if (especially if) you are an Obama supporter you must see this. Even liberals should worry that the media is no longer objective and they don't even hide it.

Sotomayor guilty of “poor performance” in her ruling

#tcot #gop #redco
We are all seeing the consequences of America being fooled by a leftist into the highest office once again. It is happening much quicker than even those of us who warned you about Obama thought possible.

It seems that in extreme blind hatred for George Bush and anything Republican (fueled by the Democrat run media) the American people have elected a far left socialist candidate bent on taking over society, overwhelming the system (see ACORN manifesto) to make life "fair" for all people.... using your tax dollars of course.

Of course Obama didn't run as a leftist,because America is still conservative, but his record showed he was the farthest left member in the senate, his radical associations showed he would hang out with Marxists and America haters. He counted on ignorance...and he got it...especially from young people, and from the "minority" community.

Millions chose to elect him based on what he "said" rather than what his record showed. Many in the minority community and some in the Anglo chose to elect Obama because of his color...and proved themselves to be racists (people who judge the worth of someone based on race rather than content of character.)

Which brings us to Obama's first nominee to the supreme Court. A woman who admittedly believes white men can't judge as well as her because she is Latino. What if a white judge said he was better suited to judge because he was not a minority, black, Latino or whatever? That the black's experiences would make him or her unable to render sound judgment? They would RIGHTLY be called a racist. We have proof now from the supreme court that Sonya Sotomayor is a racist.

COLORADO JUDICIAL NETWORK

For Immediate Release: June 29, 2009

Contact: Jim Pfaff, jim@iresearchanddata.com. 303-957-8600

Not one Supreme Court Justice Approved Sotomayor ruling in Ricci Case

Sotomayor guilty of “poor performance” in her ruling

DENVER, CO: The United States Supreme Court today ruled that Frank Ricci and his fellow New Haven, CT firefighters should not be subject to “reverse discrimination.” In a 5-4 decision, the court overturned the summary judgment ruling in the 2^nd Circuit of New York by Judge Sonia Sontomayor and her fellow panelists. And all nine Supreme Court Justices determined that the Sotomayor panel was in error in ruling on the case without considering its constitutionality.

“Frank Ricci finally got his day in court, despite the judging of Sonia Sotomayor, which all nine Justices of U.S. Supreme Court have now confirmed was in error,” said Wendy Long, Chief Counsel for the Judicial Confirmation Network and a former U.S. Supreme Court Clerk.

The case, decided by Judge Sotomayor, raised significant questions regarding race and merit-based promotion in America’s workplaces. In Ricci, a group of fire fighters challenged the City of New Haven's refusal to certify test results for promotion within the fire department. According to test results and department protocol, only white and Hispanic fire fighters would be eligible for promotion. None of the black test takers placed high enough to claim any of the available positions. Fearing a lawsuit by minority applicants, New Haven refused to certify the exam results and no one was promoted. The City's decision was allegedly based upon a desire to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was despite the substantial efforts taken to ensure a race-neutral examination.

“No case can give us a better view of Judge Sotomayor’s judicial philosophy than her decision in Ricci vs. DiStefano,” said Colorado Judicial Network spokesperson, Jim Pfaff, “This case strikes at the heart of advancement in our society.”

"Usually, poor performance in any profession is not rewarded with the highest job offer in the entire profession,” said Wendy Long. "What Judge Sotomayor did in Ricci was the equivalent of a pilot error resulting in a bad plane crash. And now the pilot is being offered to fly Air Force One.”

Long continued, "The firefighters in New Haven who protect the public safety and worked hard for their promotions did not deserve to become victims of racial quotas, and the Supreme Court has now confirmed that they did not deserve to have their claims buried and thrown out by Judge Sotomayor."

One hundred-eighteen people took the promotional exams administered by the New Haven Fire Department. One exam was for promotion to Lieutenant, and the other to the rank of Captain. The racial breakdown of test takers included 68 white, 27 black and 23 Hispanic applicants. The breakdown of those who passed the tests included 41 whites, 9 blacks and 6 Hispanics.

Eighteen white fire fighters and one Hispanic fire fighter brought suit for discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and the very same Civil Rights protections cited by the City.

“The impact of this decision on workplaces is staggering,” said Pfaff, “If merit-based opportunity is not the best standard for promotion, what is? Should promotion be based on racial quotas? Could an otherwise qualified applicant be denied advancement because there are too many of his race already promoted? How will these decisions impact the workplace?”

“Judge Sotomayor's logic was clearly flawed as it runs counter to the American system that has made us the greatest country in the world,” said Pfaff, “The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold or reverse Judge Sotomayor’s decision will have an important impact on employment law in the United States. It puts a bright light on the necessity of have judges who follow the U.S. Constitution and the stated law instead of personal opinion or 'empathy.' The Court’s decision may also very well determine the fate of Judge Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court.”

The Colorado Judicial Network is a coalition of citizens joined together to educate Coloradans on the Federal Courts and its nominees. In partnership with the Judicial Confirmation Network (www.judicialnetwork.com), Colorado Judicial Network works to ensure that the confirmation process for all judicial nominees is fair and that every nominee sent to the full Senate receives an up or down vote.

Colorado Judicial Network Members are as follows:

• John Andrews, President, Backbone America. Former Colorado Senate President.
• Jon Caldara, President, Independence Institute.
• Mark Hillman, former State Treasurer.
• Jeff Crank, State Director, Americans for Prosperity.
• Jim Pfaff, Judicial Confirmation Network Colorado coordinator. former State Director, Americans for Prosperity and former President/CEO, Colorado Family Institute.
• Kevin Lundberg, Colorado State Senator

For additional information about Sotomayor, visit www.aboutsoniasotomayor.com

Conservative Democrats bribed "name your price" to get Cap and Trade passed

#tcot #capandtrade #stimulus
I am not a big Michael Savage fan he's way too emotional for me, though I do listen from time to time. However on this day he had a guest. Listen in as Jeff Kuhner, Columnist/Editor of the Washington Times, and he remarks about Obama's Cap and Trade Bill. A must hear.




and here's a nice jingle about cap and trade to help us understand how it all works.

The Communist Party Loves the Energy Bill

#tcot #gop #energy
Why would that be? Read their view yourself and see.

Must Read of the Decade

#greed #goldmansachs #finance #tcot

and believe it or not it comes from Rolling Stone. How Goldman Sachs, Robert Rubin and short term greed killed the economy for regular folk. Let me know what you think.

I say get a rope.
The Great American Bubble Machine

Blow by Blow of the Cap & Trade Freight Train

#capandtrade #tcot

Malkin is reporting on the ramrodding of Cap and Trade with a live blog

Here's a good quote from Rep Pence

"Last night at 3:00am, House Dems filed 309-page amendment and denied 224 GOP amendments. Three hours, 1 amendment filed. What’s the hurry? What are we hiding - that we can’t afford more time for Americans to examine what’s in the bill?"

an even better quote from Michelle Malkin;

"Members of Congress don’t have enough time to read through the 1,200-page cap-and-trade (truth in advertising: cap-and-TAX) monstrosity that will radically alter the economy in the name of the environment…
…but they have time to pause for a moment of silence to mark the death of Hollyweirdo Michael Jackson."

For the simplest way to find your representative's phone number, if you see him or her on this list, is to click on this link and enter your zip code. Don't wait--the vote is coming today or tomorrow and the Dems are now making noises like they think they have the votes. Turn back that tide!

Cap and Trade idea based on debatable science..but the left won't debate it

#tcot #hhrs #climate #capandtrade #socialism

Call your congressman and urge them to read it before they sign it...NO ONE has read it yet, just like the so called "stimulus" package.

Done and settled, it’s a fact said scientist Democrat Politician Albert Gore. However as most people who read this blog know since they read other things than what Al Gore and Dem politicians say, man-made Global warming is quite debatable and is debated among people much smarter than me…or Al Gore for that matter.

Don’t confuse the situation with facts say the Dem politicians (or the "scientists" who receive grants to study how bad humans are for the planet) they wont’ even debate it. Global warming is here (in spite of the last two winters being the coldest in recent GLOBAL history) but just in case people are confused because global temps are down the last few years let's change the rhetoric to “climate change”…It's just vague enough to cause confusion.

It’s all about control my friends. The Democratic party (and some on the so-called right as well) just want to control all business, all commerce and you. They can’t do that when we are free to buy whatever is cheapest, whatever is easiest to get, that is just too much freedom for them, so they latch on to anything (whether it is based in fact or not) to gather control of sections of the “free” market. Don’t let them do it.

The way C&T works to make "green, clean" energy more competitive is by making traditional energy sources so expensive, the "green' ones can compete. Sound like a good plan for a hurting economy to you?

READ Waxman-Markey: Death Knell for U.S. Jobs, Low-Cost Energy

READ TROJAN HEARSE

Go here and call your Congressman right now.

Tell your Congressman to vote against H.R. 2454., the Waxman-Markey legislation.

We don't have a moment to delay.

Congress is going to vote on Cap and Trade legislation, which even Democrat John Dingell (D-MI) says is "a tax and it's a great big one."

Democrat Charlie Melancon (D-LA) says, "I believe this bill would create an undue burden on families who are already paying too much in energy bills."

Democrat Mike Ross (D-AR) says of Cap and Trade, "'If you don't like $4-a-gallon gasoline, you're really not going to like your electric bill sometime between now and 2030."

Go here, put in your zip-code, and call now.

Cap & Trade - largest tax increase in history

#tcot #hhrs #redco #taxes #energy

The way C&T works to make "green, clean" energy more competitive is by making traditional energy sources so expensive, the "green' ones can compete. Sound like a good plan for a hurting economy to you?

Go here and call your Congressman right now.

Tell your Congressman to vote against H.R. 2454., the Waxman-Markey legislation.

We don't have a moment to delay.

Congress is going to vote on Cap and Trade legislation, which even Democrat John Dingell (D-MI) says is "a tax and it's a great big one."

Democrat Charlie Melancon (D-LA) says, "I believe this bill would create an undue burden on families who are already paying too much in energy bills."

Democrat Mike Ross (D-AR) says of Cap and Trade, "'If you don't like $4-a-gallon gasoline, you're really not going to like your electric bill sometime between now and 2030."

Go here, put in your zip-code, and call now.

More info on Pelosi's push to get this passed by TOMORROW here at Gateway Pundit.

Colorado - here comes higher taxes on drivers, what happened to Ref C?

#redco #tcot
Bill Ritter's Car Taxes which will hit all of us, poor, middle class and rich...making life more expensive in Colorado (DURING A RECESSION).. Ritter and the Democrats just don't get it.

The new car registration tax (which is being called a FEE in hopes you don't notice) goes into effect on the first of July.

The increased taxes/penalties for late registration are already in place hitting poorer Coloradans the hardest. Middle and lower class citizens have to budget registration fees out of their monthly grocery bills and don't always have hundreds of dollars in reserve lying around.

Democrats don't care, the only way they believe revenue can successfully be raised is to get more from you. Lowering taxes to increase productivity to help the hurting economy is apparently beyond their grasp.

Apparently the governor believes he needs the money more than you do, you can always take the bus.

Why is this tax increase even needed? Whatever happened to the Referendum C revenues?!?!?!?!? Nobody is talking about that. Ref C alone should have prevented the state government from going broke (instead, it was blown on Democrat pork and blown on pet projects AGAIN).

134 billion dollar bond smuggling story full of inconsistencies

If you've been following this story (and you should be) the lack of good journalism on it is quite alarming. We've been told the bonds were fakes, but as you will see, it's hard to know what to believe right now.

Inconsistencies

(1) Although the smugglers have been identified in the press as “Japanese nationals”, there has yet to be any third party confirmations, formal charges made or a release of the culprit’s identities. Asian and Japanese press outlets are reporting the suspects were released shortly after they were detained.

(2) A Bloomberg article regarding this story, the seized bearer bonds allegedly were dated as of 1934. Since bearer bonds in denominations of $500 million did not exist in 1934, the bonds were deduced as fake. The police are still waiting for a declaration regarding the bonds’ authenticity from the SEC. and the populous is speculation how to spend their 40% windfall. Something smells about this declaration. How can the quality of the forged bearer bonds be so meticulous that they “are indistinguishable from the real ones”, yet the counterfeiters are so ill-informed as to not date the bearer bonds appropriately?

(3) Bloomberg reported that there is no known existence of the alleged Billion-dollar Kennedy bonds. This defies any logical explanation. The expert counterfeiters would have made more of the $500 million denomination, indistinguishable from the real thing, instead of making 10 bonds in denominations of $1 billion a piece in a bearer bond never existed?

(4) On March 30, 2009, the US Treasury Department announced that USD $134.5 billion remained in its Troubled Asset Relief Program [TARP]. The same amount as the seized bearer bonds was $134.5 billion.

(5) The two well-dressed Japanese men traveled a well known financial smuggling route where them would stick out like sore thumbs, defies logic.

(6) Then we have this June 18 article from the Financial Times, that questions whether the men are really Japanese, as their passports declared, and it is may be the work of the Mafia.

(7) Officials in Tokyo were nonplussed. Takeshi Akamatsu, a Japanese foreign ministry press secretary, said Italian authorities had confirmed that two men carrying Japanese passports had been questioned in the bond case but Tokyo had not been informed of their names or whereabouts. “We don’t know where they are now,” READ THE REST

Interview with YouTube about Iranian Violence

#tcot #cnn #iran #iranelection #gr88
Good story about how Youtube is helping people communicate to the world about what is happening in Iran.

Update on Suitcase with 134 billion

#tcot #bonds #hhrs

Mob Counterfeit.

The Financial Times

Whether the men are really Japanese, as their passports declare, is unclear but Italian and US secret services working together soon concluded that the bills and accompanying bank documents were most probably counterfeit, the latest handiwork of the Italian Mafia.

Few details have been revealed beyond a June 4 statement by the Italian finance police announcing the seizure of 249 US Treasury bills, each of $500m, and 10 “Kennedy” bonds, used as intergovernment payments, of $1bn each. The men were apparently tailed by the Italian authorities.

The mystery deepened on Thursday as an Italian blog quoted Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Como provincial finance police as saying the two men had been released. The colonel and police headquarters in Rome both declined to respond to questions from the Financial Times.

“They are all fraudulent, it’s obvious. We don’t even have paper securities outstanding for that value,’’ said Mckayla Braden, senior adviser for public affairs at the Bureau of Public Debt at the US Treasury department. “This type of scam has been going on for years.’’

The Treasury has not issued physical Treasury bonds since the 1980s – they are handled electronically – though they still issue savings bonds in paper format.

READ THE REST

Dripping Narcissism, Queen Senator Babs Shows Contempt and Ingnorance to General

#tcot #boxer #military #hhrs

I am sure you've heard the story by now, but to get the full effect...watch the video.


Walsh surely meant no disrespect, as military protocol advises that officers may use "sir" or "ma'am" when addressing anybody higher than them on the chain of command.

"Military personnel including Generals would call them 'sir' or 'ma'am' or 'senator such-and-such'," Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nathan Banks said. Any of those terms would be "appropriate" when addressing a senator.

Just not Babs. Mizz Boxer will never win any prize for being the smartest person in Washington, but you can see from this that she earned her nicknames honestly...particularly dumber than a box of rocks Boxer....and yes that is disrespectful.

Steven Crowder Weekly Comedic Take

Crazy Pete is back, and this time he's slashing prices on Embryonic Stem Cells.

Iran communicates with the world

#iran #tcot

Iran is a country with a repressive regime but access to all the modern technologies. Although the government tries to control them...it can't. Here are some good resources coming out of Iran.

Tehran Broadcast aims to bridge the gap between English and Persian news makers, media, bloggers, twitters, etc. In particular, we try to bring first-hand news from Iran and present them in English. The entries of this website are written by people from Iran and translated by some 300 translators. Please send Persian news material for translation to "submit [at] balatarin [dot] com".

The liberal online newspaper The Nation has a list of bloggers from Iran today...good stuff.

Good pictures of protest HERE

Obama 40-50 somethings and Generation Jones

#hhrs #tcot #boomer #jones
I always knew I was not a boomer and way too old to be an X-er, but people kept lumping me in with them. Now we have a name...Generation Jones. I feel so much more complete now that I can be labeled more correctly and pandered to more effectively.

Here is a whole page dedicated to Generation Jones.

Colorado Democrats have retreat using taxpayer dollars

Arrogance? Show an attitude?..you bet.

Link to story HERE at RMR and at Mt Virtus HERE

Now that they've been caught it was of course "a mistake."

Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge

#tcot #gop #japan #market #hhrs

UNBELIEVABLE story. Write your congressman, We must find out why these two Japanese "Businessmen" were carrying the equivalent of the gross domestic product of a medium sized country in their suitcases!

UPDATED BELOW

Here are some excerpts from Bloomberg;

Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland.

The implications of the securities being legitimate would be bigger than investors may realize. At a minimum, it would suggest that the U.S. risks losing control over its monetary supply on a massive scale.

Think about it: These two guys were carrying the gross domestic product of New Zealand or enough for three Beijing Olympics. If economies were for sale, the men could buy Slovakia and Croatia and have plenty left over for Mongolia or Cambodia.

Let’s assume for a moment that these U.S. bonds are real. That would make a mockery of Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano’s “absolutely unshakable” confidence in the credibility of the U.S. dollar.

Counterfeit $100 bills are one thing; two guys with undeclared bonds including 249 certificates worth $500 million and 10 “Kennedy bonds” of $1 billion each is quite another.

In the absence of clear explanations coming from the Treasury, conspiracy theories are filling the void.

On his blog, the Market Ticker, Karl Denninger wonders if the Treasury “has been surreptitiously issuing bonds to, say, Japan, as a means of financing deficits that someone didn’t want reported over the last, oh, say 10 or 20 years.” Adds Denninger: “Let’s hope we get those answers, and this isn’t one of those ‘funny things’ that just disappears into the night.”

This is still a story with far more questions than answers. It’s odd, though, that it’s not garnering more media attention. Interest is likely to grow.

duh..yes, interest is likely to grow READ THE REPORT AT BLOOMBERG.

UPDATED - Bills are counterfeit - see Financial Times

Five Ways to Help the People of Iran

#tcot #hhrs

Hat tip to CollegeRepublicans.com

Written by Zach Howell on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 12:20pm

With the Iranian protests in their fifth day, the Iranian regime cracking down, and the protesters showing no intention of giving up - now is the time to stand with the Iranian people in solidarity as they strive for freedom.

As a great deal of the resistance online is taking place on the micro-blogging site Twitter, a lot of ways you can help are there. But even you if you're not on Twitter - you can be active!

Here are five ways you can immediately take action to help the Iranian protesters as they fight for freedom.

1. Follow the latest news from Iran live on Twitter by tracking the hashtags #IranElection and #gr88.

2. Help conceal Iranian activists on Twitter by changing your location to "Tehran, Iran," your timezone to Tehran (GMT +3:30) and making your bio something related to the protests.

3. Show solidarity with the protesters by changing your Facebook and Twitter profiles to green. Here are simple instructions on how to do so.

4. Make a monetary donation to support the efforts of a non-profit actively training and working with the protesters in Iran.

5. For the tech-savvy activist: you can create a proxy server so that Iranian protesters can gain unrestricted access to the Internet. Instructions on how to set one up here.

Hugh Hewitt's Impressive Coverage of Iranian Uprising Podcasted

#iran #podcast #hhrs #tcot
I just recently unlocked an iPhone and am using it on an alternate cellular network..and I love it. What I am really enjoying is the ease at which iTunes and the phone download podcasts...among a thousand other cool things. I've been able to listen to Hewitt again, which is great.

He comes on during the busiest time of day for me so I usually dont' get a chance to really pay attention, even if I have it on in the background.

Hugh's podcasts concering the Iranian revolution are PACKED with extremely good information and it is must listen for all freedom loving people...especially if you are Persian.

I get a lot of news from Google Reader http://www.google.com/reader/view/ , from twitter and other sources but don't have much time for radio these days, the podcasts are a great way to catch up.

I highly recommend everything from Tuesday's show even though its a couple days old now.
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=5

Ted Nugent on Gun Control

#tcot #guns #guncontrol

Sometimes you wish Ted would just tell us how he feels and stop beating around the bush.

Get a room

#tcot #abc #mediaPriceless.
click on picture for full size view

Obama in campaign mode for government option on Health Care

#gop #hhrs #tcot
Obama sending out campaign style letters to raise money for his health care plan.

here is the letter he is sending to folks who have sent him money before;

Last year, millions of Americans came together for a great purpose.

Folks like you assembled a grassroots movement that shocked the political establishment and changed the course of our nation. When Washington insiders counted us out, we put it all on the line and changed our democracy from the bottom up. But that's not why we did it.

The pundits told us it was impossible -- that the donations working people could afford and the hours volunteers could give would never loosen the vise grip of big money and powerful special interests. We proved them wrong. But as important as that was, that's not why we did it.

Today, spiraling health care costs are pushing our families and businesses to the brink of ruin, while millions of Americans go without the care they desperately need. Fixing this broken system will be enormously difficult. But we can succeed. The chance to make fundamental change like this in people's daily lives -- that is why we did it.

The campaign to pass real health care reform in 2009 is the biggest test of our movement since the election. Once again, victory is far from certain. Our opposition will be fierce, and they have been down this road before. To prevail, we must once more build a coast-to-coast operation ready to knock on doors, deploy volunteers, get out the facts, and show the world how real change happens in America.

And just like before, I cannot do it without your support.

So I'm asking you to remember all that you gave over the last two years to get us here -- all the time, resources, and faith you invested as a down payment to earn us our place at this crossroads in history. All that you've done has led up to this -- and whether or not our country takes the next crucial step depends on what you do right now.

Will you donate whatever you can afford to support the campaign for real health care reform in 2009?

It doesn't matter how much you can give, as long as you give what you can. Millions of families on the brink are counting on us to do just that. I know we can deliver.

Thank you, so much, for getting us this far. And thank you for standing up once again to take us the rest of the way.

Sincerely,

President Barack Obama
___________________

Quote of the day;

We would spend a trillion dollars to achieve a net result of solving a third of the uninsured problem. We could have exceeded that by simply paying for private insurance. Assuming an annual cost of $5,000 for basic catastrophic and wellness coverage, we could purchase 20 million plans for the ten years, without overhauling the rest of the American health-care system. Ed Morrissey

Colbert and the Thundercats...er Thunderbirds

Stephen "two bags" Colbert

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Operation Iraqi Stephen - Fallback Position - Air Force Thunderbirds
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

American Airlines...the ugly American

**update. I have been forced to fly AA several times since I wrote this commentary and have been treated with respect and a bend over backwards for the customer attitude. SO I have changed my mind. The commentary below was written in disgust for how I was treated one time I myself made a mistake and ordered the wrong ticket and tried to change it within a few minutes of making the mistake.

#tcot, #airlines #americanairlines #customerservice

Why I will never fly American Airlines again, the short version, very bad customer service on the ground and they obviously don't care.

UPDATE to story, flew them again (not my choice) and had a great experience.

First let me introduce the subject by admitting a mistake. The mistake I (the paying customer) was in no way the fault of American Airlines. However as you will see when I respectfully asked for help from them, they refused unless I was willing to pay $150 (which would double the price of my ticket). Any appeals to common sense were rejected. “Don’t you know we nickel and dime you now?” I was told with a smirk…TWICE!

My Mistake; I was shopping for a ticket to LA from Denver to leave on a Saturday and return on Sunday evening for a very special occasion; so I could see my daughter graduate from college. I did not really have the money really but I knew I could not, or should not miss it. I bought it about 6 weeks out to get a good deal.

I shopped for nearly 2 hours on and off checking various sites, and flights, including CheapTickets.com and the Airline websites directly. I found the prices were all very competitive so because I once had a good experience with American a few years ago (I watched them offer uniformed military personnel the opportunity to sit in first class for no charge) I chose them.

I closed the deal, put in my credit card information and bought the tickets. About 3 minutes later after I had printed out my itinerary, I realized I had made a mistake. Looking down at the printed sheets I saw that I had bought the wrong ticket for my trip home, way too early in the day. I had lost track of which one I was looking at and bought the wrong ticket. Yes my fault, a dumb mistake, I should have been more careful. I would not have been able to attend all of my daughter’s graduation so it had to be changed! Should be no problem if I call right away and explain what I did.

So within 5 minutes of buying the ticket I called AA explained my mistake and asked for help changing my ticket. I figured they would probably change it for me, but I might have to beg.

I was willing to pay a charge for their trouble. I figured 5 minutes of their time to change the ticket for another time the same day (this was 50 days out) was not unreasonable, perhaps they’d charge me a fee…and I was ok with that, I made the mistake

AA informed me they would be happy to change my ticket for $150. The ticket itself was $165. I explained the situation politely again. Their answer was NO, no, no, no no no no, no no and they did not budge. I did not yell or get angry but they didn’t care. They apparently did not even care if I ever flew them again, since I said they were losing a customer. But they did not care period. American Airlines does not care about customer service, they don’t go the extra mile, they don’t go 6 inches.

Angry but still hopeful I felt for sure once I got to the airport and explained my situation they could not refuse to help me when we were face to face. I was respectful, just like before, but …the “customer service” rep did not care. I could fly standby (on an already overbooked flight) said the uncaring “customer service” person. He also mentioned I’d probably have to buy another ticket and that flying standby was a long shot at best.

Now come time to fly;

Day of flight out, I get a call early in the morning from American saying the flight has been delayed by 90 minutes. However, our plane actually left Denver 150 minutes late (2 and half hours) after the scheduled departure time, no bad weather to speak of, and no reason for it I could tell or was explained….the strong feeling that they don’t care just deepens with each event.

The plane; At this point I feel like I am whining about small things and perhaps I should just leave it, but it was the straws piling up that got to me, one thing after another after my initial experience with the lack of customer care that got me mad enough to write this. It was all very revealing. American Airlines employees do not care for their customers, and they apparently don’t care if they lose them…so I recommend letting it die. The once great carrier American Airlines has now become the personification of ‘the ugly American.’ loud, rude unkempt and uncaring.

My saga continued on the flight out of Denver; Once seated I noticed that my seat did not, would not recline. This makes it very difficult to type, watch a movie or be comfortable especially if the person in front of you is reclining. The flight was full, so I could not move to another seat that worked properly. I didn’t even ask for help, I already knew they would not care.

My window seat looked over the port side wing and I began to stare at another symbol of a company who quite apparently does not care what people think about it - peeling paint and rusty bolts (see pictures). Not to mention violently shuddering brakes.

I don’t pretend to know anything about aircraft structural mechanics nor do I really think these items are anything but aesthetics (although rusty bolts and shuddering brakes are a bit disturbing) but peeling paint on the wings of an aircraft I am riding in says a lot about the Airline. It says they don’t care. It says they don’t go the extra mile. The shuddering brakes shook the entire air craft each time they were applied again, continuing the impression, we are low budget, and now feeling uneasy about how well kept the planes are!

The flight finally made it out of Denver with great piloting, and the service from the crew was above average. But by now, I had already made up my mind, AA would be my last choice when choosing an Airline next time. Had they helped me in the beginning all the other annoyances would have been just that…annoying but not deal breakers. Together however they painted a bad picture, especially because you have so many choices when you fly.

The return flight was fairly uneventful with a couple of exceptions; I called American that morning and explained the situation again, they said my only option was either to pay the difference for first class or go stand by on an already overbooked flight. Again the rep reiterated that chances were slim to none, and I would do better by buying a first class seat, but I was determined not to use money I did not have. I worried all day that I would end up having to miss work, stay an extra day and all that, or spend another couple hundred bucks I didn’t have.

I arrived at the airport two hours early, 4^th person in line. The counter was manned by 3 people. 35 long minutes later I was helped by a nice customer service representative who assured me there were going to be seats available and that I would get on…This was very surprising considering I was told several times chances were slim to none with urgings to purchase another ticket. …Why did they tell me that? Were they trying to get me to purchase a first class ticket? At this point I can only assume that was why! I easily got a stand-by ticket and there were empty seats on the plane!

The flight was uneventful although once again late, this time by only an hour though. They didn’t even announce the delay until after we were scheduled to board.

I however made it home and didn’t miss work…whew. This trip could have been completely stress free but because of my mistake and AA’s refusal to help, a lot of stressful energy was spent and a once great company lost a customer, perhaps a few customers.

The reason I write this scathing review is because I want it to serve as a lesson for all businesses. Customer service will make you or break you, unless of course there is no competition and everyone HAS to buy from you. AA acts as if there is no competition…that I don’t have a choice. I’ve flown a lot, and have had Airlines (even recently) go the extra mile for me..perhaps I am behind the times, expect too much…perhaps but I won’t fly AA again if I have a choice.

It wasn’t in the rules to help me fix my mistake, but American Airlines ridiculous stubbornness and tone deaf attitude cost them thousands of dollars in future revenue from me, and perhaps more if this gets legs and come up on enough Google searches.

After doing some searching myself, I found that I was of course not alone.

AmericanAirlinessucks.com

Why American Airlines Sucks

American Airlines Sucks

AA Overbooks flights without concern for passengers...
Rescheduled and cancelled flights
American Airlines headed for a crash...
First class blues...
There's a pattern here....

Flag Day Tea Party to Pressure Betsy Markey on Obama's Healthcare Plan

#redco #tcot #hhrs #teaparty
FORT COLLINS, CO – Ft. Collins' second Tea Party rally, scheduled for noon Saturday at Washington Park behind the Fort Collins City Hall building, will focus on pressuring Congresswoman Betsy Markey to vote against President Obama's announced proposal for a socialist government-owned healthcare system, local organizers say.

Fort Collins Tea Party co-organizer Ray Harvey Thursday said if Markey supports Obama's proposal to increase the federal government's control of medical care, "it will result ultimately in rationing healthcare for our senior citizens, and also in long delays in receiving treatment that will threaten our own lives and the lives of our family members."

"No government possesses legitimate authority over the life and labor of any individual, including the life and labor of doctors," Harvey said. "These men and women devote astronomical hours to the science of medicine; they do it not because they are forced to but by choice. No one -- not Betsy Markey, not Nancy Pelosi, not Barack Obama, not anyone -- has the right to tell these people how they must live their lives."

"Doctors and patients who practice and live in socialized healthcare systems throughout the world, such as Canada, can always flee to the United States, and they do. If Betsy Markey votes to let the Obama Administration take control of our system and do away with our freedom of choice here, where do we flee? Answer: nowhere."

The Obama Administration has announced its plan to push its disastrous policy through by the end of this summer. According to CNS NEWS,

"Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod said on CBS's "Face the Nation" (Sunday) that President Obama intends to promote a health-care reform plan that will include creating a government-owned health-care company and predicted that Congress will enact such a plan by the end of the summer." http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49243

Harvey said that Tea Party activists will respond this summer by pressuring Rep. Betsy Markey to vote against government-controlled healthcare "over the phone, by mail, at her district offices, or on her front doorstep, if necessary, starting this Saturday."

###

For more information, please visit http://fortcollinsteaparty.com.

Enough to make a grown man cry

#tcot #army
How he kept this a secret, I don't know.

CLICK HERE

Crowder Thursdays

Crowder comedy! good stuff.

Justice Department has quietly ordered FBI agents to read Miranda rights to terrorists

#tcot #gwot #stupid #hhrs
Miranda rights for terrorists? Aren't these rights reserved for American citizens? WTH? My second thought is that once you give these rights to non-citizens (who are trying to kill us) it will be nearly impossible to take them away later when smarter people are in charge.

.the Obama Justice Department has quietly ordered FBI agents to read Miranda rights to high value detainees captured and held at U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan, according a senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. “The administration has decided to change the focus to law enforcement. Here’s the problem. You have foreign fighters who are targeting US troops today – foreign fighters who go to another country to kill Americans. We capture them…and they’re reading them their rights – Mirandizing these foreign fighters,” says Representative Mike Rogers, who recently met with military, intelligence and law enforcement officials on a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan.

Rogers, a former FBI special agent and U.S. Army officer, says the Obama administration has not briefed Congress on the new policy. “I was a little surprised to find it taking place when I showed up because we hadn’t been briefed on it, I didn’t know about it. We’re still trying to get to the bottom of it, but it is clearly a part of this new global justice initiative.”

To say this complicates things for soldiers looking down the barrel of a gun deciding whether someone lives or dies in the heat of battle is an understatement. When I told everyone here on this blog so long ago what I was tired of in this war, I said that treating this conflict like a law enforcement problem and conducting the equivalent of SWAT raids and "collecting evidence" was the camel's nose in the tent and now we are seeing the result of the this policy.

I know that if Representative Mike Rogers, who has a house on both sides of this fence, thinks this is a bad idea, then maybe the oxygen thieves over at Justice ought to have a listen. I think this is such a horrible idea that I don't know if I can find the words to describe how bad it is. I know that having read Miranda rights to suspects in my life, I know that there is a universe of difference between some drunk wife beater cuffed in the back of my patrol car and an IED maker that I have captured and have the barrel of my M-4 nestled in the base of his skull.

Our court system was never designed to deal with bad actors of this nature. READ THE REST AT BLACKFIVE

I agree with Gingrich, we are crippling our intelligence services with this stuff.

Swine Flu Hysteria continues in spite of evidence

Weird news..#tcot #swine #hhrs #redco

Ben at Mount Virtus has a great story WITH graphs about this supposed Epidemic. Stay informed, don't be fooled...read it. For some reason the WHO is calling this an epidemic when it has turned out to be something way down further on the scale.

Doing nothing would have been better than "stimulus"

#tcot #stimulus #tax #
Remember the mantra, repeated over an over until the media and half the country believed it? We MUST DO SOMETHING! Turns out that doing nothing would have helped the economy better than the something they did. Click here to read about why This is now OBAMA's RECESSION (click on link for full size graph

Weather weirdness, Colorado

#redco

I heard the tornado warnings out east of Denver yesterday but we saw NONE of it in Arvada, not even really any rain! Sounds like it may happen again today. Batten down the hatches.

I have to laugh when they say in the warnings if you live in a trailer, find the lowest spot in the nearest field, lie down and cover your head. They leave out the last part...and kiss your arse goodbye but I digress.

For someone who like to ride his bike at least partway to work, this morning was COOOOOLD...where is the global warming?

Pictures of tornadoes from yesterday here, here, here , here and here.

Is America a Christian Nation? or was it?

I have little to add to this. #tcot



Congressman Forbes asks the questions "Did America ever consider itself a Judeo-Christian nation?" and "If America was once a Judeo-Christian nation, when did it cease to be?"

Friday Funny - Steven Crowder and Keith Olbermann

#tcot #hhrs #pjtv #gop #olbermann
priceless must see PJTV.

Happy Tienanmen square day

#marxism #china #tcot

China celebrates the massacre at Tienanmen square this week by making Twitter illegal. (no free expression for citizens) And by tightening down security using plain clothes officers.

As America runs headlong down the path to socialism (state controlled everything) and fascism
(government controlled business), I am reminded of my favorite quote by Gary North.

Buy this T-shirt and others like it HERE