Thursday, May 31, 2007
The war on terror is like the cold war...long and hard and worth all the effort in the long run
People in America need to understand that the war on terror is a long and hard war just like the cold war was. Obviously the difference is that the war on Terror is on many fronts. Iraq and Afghanistan are only two of the fronts. Home land security is another front, the border with Mexico is another front in this war. I find it hard to believe that the general population of Iraq wants to be under the thumb of Islam extremists and that is exactly what happens if the good people of this world leave Iraq one second sooner than is right. Liberals that grew up in the 60's seem hell bent to have another Vietnam and have only bad things to say about America and our efforts to free the people of Iraq. Wake up people, citizens of Iraq were tortured, gassed, shot, arrested without any form of due process, and suffered without many of the freedoms and comforts that all Americans enjoy. Why is it so many Americans are convinced that people are getting hurt because we are in Iraq. People were getting hurt and suffering a long time before we got there. In fact I think we waited to long to go help the people of Iraq that had no clean water, food shortages, no electricity, mis-treatment of women and people out of power, lack of medicines, while those in power partied and built palaces to their glory. Before you decide we need a time table for with drawl you should really read what was happening before we got there. I have read many of the transcripts from the trials that have been going on over there and what those people have to say tears at my heart more than what the insurgents are doing now. God bless our troops and the military leaders in their efforts to keep a people free from tyranny. And liberals stop having such a short sighted view of this war.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Microsoft Customer Service has lost a loyal customer
As most of you know I am a pretty big fan of Microsoft and their products. This includes my love for the Xbox 360. Well my loyalty to Microsoft has been shattered by a horrible customer experience. My 3rd Xbox 360 died on the 17th of April with the now famous red ring of death. This was too much, I was really pissed from having two refurb units die on me after only 6 months of use on each. I called the Microsoft support line, went throught the required troubleshooting and then told the guy I wanted them to send me a NEW unit and I would return my unit in the same box. I am tired of the long turn around times to replace the damn thing when people with Best Buy contracts just walk in and swap. I was told they could do this but another department handled that so my case was escalated to this 2nd level department. I was told I would hear back in 24 -48 hours. Forty-Eight hours later I call them again, this time I am told I am scheduled for a call back between 7 and 9 pm that night.
Now who can guess what happened between 7 & 9 pm? uh come on say, NADA, absolutely f*&^%_$# nothing. So I call back which was useless but I did and NOW I am told I will get a call back on the 22nd of April, a Sunday. I do keep trying to get connected to whomever these 2nd level people are but the supervisor just keeps telling me they have no way to cal l them. Of course the truth is if the outsourced partner calls Microsoft then the outsources partner pays a penalty to Microsoft.
Now who can guess what happened on Sunday? You people are all so quick today, your right abolutely no fuc%$^& phone call from anybody at Microsoft.
I decide to go around these people and right to Microsoft directly. This is not an easy task, their contact phone numbers are hidden better than Jimmy Hoffa, but I do find the number and manage to conince the auotomated operator to connect me to a human operator, again no easy trick but I am smaaaaaarrrrter than the average bear. This very nice lady, who speaks perfect American English, explains to me there is not "Customer complaint department" that she can connect me to. Microsoft ONLY takes customer complaints through email. At this point I am wondering and I say this with all respect for the victums but I am wondering if the Virginia Tech murderer was an Xbox 360 owner because my stress level with this situation is now way over the top.
I relent and send an email to the person, I do not wish to name, that the nice lady gave me. The email address appears to just be a dumping box to some customer complaint team. The email address is vpesc@microsoft.com. I was actually contacted within hours of sending that email. I sent the email on April 23rd at 11:40am ET and heard from the person assigned to me by 6pm ET that night.
On the downside this person explained that Microsoft is unable to ship me a new unit first. I even offered to provide a credit card in case I ripped them off but MS is not setup to process things this way. That is sad. On the upside the person said he can in fact replace mine with a new unit fresh off the production line. The unit won't be "retail" since it is not in a retail box but it will be a newly manufactured unit. So now I sit here waiting for the empty box that will arrive next Monday to my house.
From start of this to getting my empty return box will be a total of 13 days, I should have just had them send me an empty box on day 1 :(
At this point I have lost all respect for Microsoft customer service and my loyalty has been shattered which means I will no longer promote them or their products to friends and family.
Now who can guess what happened between 7 & 9 pm? uh come on say, NADA, absolutely f*&^%_$# nothing. So I call back which was useless but I did and NOW I am told I will get a call back on the 22nd of April, a Sunday. I do keep trying to get connected to whomever these 2nd level people are but the supervisor just keeps telling me they have no way to cal l them. Of course the truth is if the outsourced partner calls Microsoft then the outsources partner pays a penalty to Microsoft.
Now who can guess what happened on Sunday? You people are all so quick today, your right abolutely no fuc%$^& phone call from anybody at Microsoft.
I decide to go around these people and right to Microsoft directly. This is not an easy task, their contact phone numbers are hidden better than Jimmy Hoffa, but I do find the number and manage to conince the auotomated operator to connect me to a human operator, again no easy trick but I am smaaaaaarrrrter than the average bear. This very nice lady, who speaks perfect American English, explains to me there is not "Customer complaint department" that she can connect me to. Microsoft ONLY takes customer complaints through email. At this point I am wondering and I say this with all respect for the victums but I am wondering if the Virginia Tech murderer was an Xbox 360 owner because my stress level with this situation is now way over the top.
I relent and send an email to the person, I do not wish to name, that the nice lady gave me. The email address appears to just be a dumping box to some customer complaint team. The email address is vpesc@microsoft.com. I was actually contacted within hours of sending that email. I sent the email on April 23rd at 11:40am ET and heard from the person assigned to me by 6pm ET that night.
On the downside this person explained that Microsoft is unable to ship me a new unit first. I even offered to provide a credit card in case I ripped them off but MS is not setup to process things this way. That is sad. On the upside the person said he can in fact replace mine with a new unit fresh off the production line. The unit won't be "retail" since it is not in a retail box but it will be a newly manufactured unit. So now I sit here waiting for the empty box that will arrive next Monday to my house.
From start of this to getting my empty return box will be a total of 13 days, I should have just had them send me an empty box on day 1 :(
At this point I have lost all respect for Microsoft customer service and my loyalty has been shattered which means I will no longer promote them or their products to friends and family.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Do anti-war protestors really understand what is at stake?
In an article from A.P. about anti-war and pro-war protesters I found what I considered to be a very enlightening quote from an anti-war protester.
"Too many people have died and it doesn't solve anything," said Ann Bonner, who drove through snow with her husband, Tom O'Grady, and two children, 13 and 10, from Athens, Ohio. "I feel bad carrying out my daily activities while people are suffering, Americans and Iraqis."
"Too many people have died", of course too many have died, even one dieing is too many but here is the problem. You can not resolve issues with those that seek only your destruction and do not seek negotiation. This has been true through out time and only when a group that does evil is put under enough pressure do they begin to accept the concept of negotiation. Remember that most of these terrorists are religious zealots that only seek the complete and total destruction of "the western world"
"and it doesn't solve anything," Really, perhaps we should examine what has been accomplished in Iraq as a result of the allies efforts to fight terrorism. Women have a right to education, more people have clean water and electricity than ever before. Please notice we did not fix, secure, and protect the oil fields. We have been fixing infrastructure that was dilapidated under the palace building dictatorship of Saddam and the beneficiaries of our efforts are the free people of Iraq. We have stopped an entire society, the Kurds, from being slaughtered for having the audacity to disagree with the previous government.
"I feel bad carrying out my daily activities while people are suffering, Americans and Iraqis." If this person is going to "feel bad" then feel for the true suffering that was endured by these people when no one would help them to become free. Kurdish families and indeed whole towns were attacked with poison gas. These butchered defenseless people are who we should have felt bad for a long time ago.
The problem as I see it is that this war protester like so many others does not examine the facts but instead only reacts emotionally to vague statements like "Bush lied to us" or "this was is over oil". By the way if oil was all we really wanted we would have ignored the U.N. sanctions and happily traded with Iraq for oil. Here Saddam we only care about the oil so how about we guarantee to buy 5 million barrels a day, cash, and you guarantee us $30 a barrel oil for the next 10 years? Deal? cool and good luck with those pesky Kurds and women who want equal rights.
Check your facts and then think about this stuff people, quit dragging your family across country for an anti-war rally because you "feel bad". None of us feels good but those of us that seek out a few facts very quickly realize the price we are paying today will do more for humanity over that long term than anything else we could have AND DID try.
ARTICLE CITATION:
Title: War Protesters, Supporters Rally in D.C.
By LARRY MARGASAK and MATTHEW BARAKAT (Associated Press Writers)
From Associated PressMarch 18, 2007 1:05 AM EDT
"Too many people have died and it doesn't solve anything," said Ann Bonner, who drove through snow with her husband, Tom O'Grady, and two children, 13 and 10, from Athens, Ohio. "I feel bad carrying out my daily activities while people are suffering, Americans and Iraqis."
"Too many people have died", of course too many have died, even one dieing is too many but here is the problem. You can not resolve issues with those that seek only your destruction and do not seek negotiation. This has been true through out time and only when a group that does evil is put under enough pressure do they begin to accept the concept of negotiation. Remember that most of these terrorists are religious zealots that only seek the complete and total destruction of "the western world"
"and it doesn't solve anything," Really, perhaps we should examine what has been accomplished in Iraq as a result of the allies efforts to fight terrorism. Women have a right to education, more people have clean water and electricity than ever before. Please notice we did not fix, secure, and protect the oil fields. We have been fixing infrastructure that was dilapidated under the palace building dictatorship of Saddam and the beneficiaries of our efforts are the free people of Iraq. We have stopped an entire society, the Kurds, from being slaughtered for having the audacity to disagree with the previous government.
"I feel bad carrying out my daily activities while people are suffering, Americans and Iraqis." If this person is going to "feel bad" then feel for the true suffering that was endured by these people when no one would help them to become free. Kurdish families and indeed whole towns were attacked with poison gas. These butchered defenseless people are who we should have felt bad for a long time ago.
The problem as I see it is that this war protester like so many others does not examine the facts but instead only reacts emotionally to vague statements like "Bush lied to us" or "this was is over oil". By the way if oil was all we really wanted we would have ignored the U.N. sanctions and happily traded with Iraq for oil. Here Saddam we only care about the oil so how about we guarantee to buy 5 million barrels a day, cash, and you guarantee us $30 a barrel oil for the next 10 years? Deal? cool and good luck with those pesky Kurds and women who want equal rights.
Check your facts and then think about this stuff people, quit dragging your family across country for an anti-war rally because you "feel bad". None of us feels good but those of us that seek out a few facts very quickly realize the price we are paying today will do more for humanity over that long term than anything else we could have AND DID try.
ARTICLE CITATION:
Title: War Protesters, Supporters Rally in D.C.
By LARRY MARGASAK and MATTHEW BARAKAT (Associated Press Writers)
From Associated PressMarch 18, 2007 1:05 AM EDT
Monday, February 12, 2007
WOW am I behind in blogging
I have been disappointed in my blog. The primary issue is no one ever finds my blog to read and comment about. I used Google to search EXACT phrases on my blog and Google never even finds my blog. Unless I can completely correct this issue I see no value in blogging, hence my long abscence.
I know I need to look into this more but for now I am just sulking :(
I know I need to look into this more but for now I am just sulking :(
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Bill O'Reilly - Culture Warrior
First let me set the foundation here and say that I am not for or against Mr. O'Reilly and to tell you the truth I knew very little about him when I picked up his new book "Culture Warrior". I had not read anything by Bill O'Reilley in the past and I have watched his show "The O'Reilly Factor" only a few times in the past. The reason I need to set this foundation is because of how many people I have run across lately that are rabidly opposed to this man and yet have not read his writings or watched his tv show either. People see me reading this book and immediately indicate disgust and ask me how I can believe the trash this man spews. This has happened more than once and from strangers as well as people I know. I politely explain this is my first exposure to him and then I ask what they thought about the book, the answer is always the same, they never read this book or any other by Bill O'Reilly. OK, then what was it about his TV show that turned you off? The general response boil down to "Fox news is a bunch of lies and I wouldn't watch his show to save my life"
These people are the mindless sheep of our country that will in fact sell us down the river because they will believe any feel good dribble the seculiar progressives espouse. If you are going to dislike Bill O'Reilly then do so based on facts and read his books so you know where you disagree.
I found the book to be well written with facts, that I could confirm, very well presented. Perhaps the real problem for people is understanding what is at stake takes too much effort and just going along with what "feels good" is easier. What is right and best for us is not always what feels good.
While I do not agree with every position Bill takes in the book I do agree completely with this"
"it is simply better public policy for the United States to stay close to the vision of the Founders, which includes independance from big government, hard work, personal responsibility, and looking out for your neighbor" p174, Culture Warrior
Tell me this, do you think this [read next paragraph] should be allowed for anyone that feels like having this done?
" I stood at the doctor's side and watched him perform a partial-birth abortion on a woman who was six months pregnant. The baby's heartbeat was clearly visible on the ultrasound screen. The doctor delivered the baby's body and arms, everything but his little head. The baby's body was moving. His little fingers were clasping together. He was kicking his feet. The doctor took a pair of scissors and inserted them into the back of the baby's head, and the baby's arms jerked out in a flinch, a startle reaction, like a baby does when he thinks that he might fall. Then the doctor opened the scissors up. Then he stuck the high-powered suction tube into the hole and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby was completely limp." http://www.abortioninfo.net/facts/pba.shtml
Apparently if it feels good to us it does not matter how it feels to the baby.
This is the sort of thing that is allowed to go on as seculiar progressives try to eliminate personal responsibility and looking out for your neighbor as concepts in America.
If you disagree with me then read the book and post comments of substance. If you haven't read the book then we have nothing to discuss.
These people are the mindless sheep of our country that will in fact sell us down the river because they will believe any feel good dribble the seculiar progressives espouse. If you are going to dislike Bill O'Reilly then do so based on facts and read his books so you know where you disagree.
I found the book to be well written with facts, that I could confirm, very well presented. Perhaps the real problem for people is understanding what is at stake takes too much effort and just going along with what "feels good" is easier. What is right and best for us is not always what feels good.
While I do not agree with every position Bill takes in the book I do agree completely with this"
"it is simply better public policy for the United States to stay close to the vision of the Founders, which includes independance from big government, hard work, personal responsibility, and looking out for your neighbor" p174, Culture Warrior
Tell me this, do you think this [read next paragraph] should be allowed for anyone that feels like having this done?
" I stood at the doctor's side and watched him perform a partial-birth abortion on a woman who was six months pregnant. The baby's heartbeat was clearly visible on the ultrasound screen. The doctor delivered the baby's body and arms, everything but his little head. The baby's body was moving. His little fingers were clasping together. He was kicking his feet. The doctor took a pair of scissors and inserted them into the back of the baby's head, and the baby's arms jerked out in a flinch, a startle reaction, like a baby does when he thinks that he might fall. Then the doctor opened the scissors up. Then he stuck the high-powered suction tube into the hole and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby was completely limp." http://www.abortioninfo.net/facts/pba.shtml
Apparently if it feels good to us it does not matter how it feels to the baby.
This is the sort of thing that is allowed to go on as seculiar progressives try to eliminate personal responsibility and looking out for your neighbor as concepts in America.
If you disagree with me then read the book and post comments of substance. If you haven't read the book then we have nothing to discuss.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Gears of War Player Review
Gears of War for the Xbox 360 has been a great deal of fun to play. The AI is pretty good, the graphics really are 2nd generation quality on the 360, and the story line is well supported with great cut scenes. One down side is the single player is very short. There are three difficulty levels: Casual, Hardcore and Insane. I played through the whole game in under 9 hours on the casual level and on Hardcore I have gotten through about 1/2 of the game in 5 hours.
My recommendation is folks rent this game and if you enjoy it enough and want to continue to play online then it might be worth purchasing. Honestly you can play through the single player a few times in a one week rental.
My recommendation is folks rent this game and if you enjoy it enough and want to continue to play online then it might be worth purchasing. Honestly you can play through the single player a few times in a one week rental.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Marie Antoinette Movie was horrible
This past weekend my son and I went to see the movie Marie Antoinette for extra credit in his French class. This movie was horrible almost from the start. The story was very disjointed, the transitions between scenes were too slow and almost incomprehensible. We were dragged through this movie and never were able to connect with any of the characters. The characters were flat and two dimensional with no story to even play with in most scenes.
Take my advice and rent the 1938 version of this movie.
Take my advice and rent the 1938 version of this movie.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
How does a closet beta tester become official
My friend Sparky has me hooked on Microsoft OneNote and helped me to get a beta installed that I currently use. As you know my friend Sparky is looking for employment elsewhere. While I do plan on staying in touch with Sparky I do wonder what the process is to let MS know "Hey I like this and want to be an official Beta tester for you, how I do dat?"
I am going to try and promote OneNote to my team and user our sharepoint server to store notebooks that we can share, this should be fun.
I am going to try and promote OneNote to my team and user our sharepoint server to store notebooks that we can share, this should be fun.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Oh My God! I might leave Xbox for PS3!
Ok, many of you know I am an avid Xbox 360 and XboxLive gamer. I really love playing online games and video games in general. So much so that I also travel with my Xbox 360 and play from my motorhome over wifi and from hotels on business trips. Here is where the problem comes in. Many wifi providers require IE browser to authenticate into the wifi network. THE XBOX 360 HAS NO WEB BROWSER! So I get stuck offline about 90% of the time. Well according to this writeup the PS3 will have that browser I need.
Unlike the Xbox 360, the PlayStation will incorporate a browser so that gamers can surf the web via their console.
If I can surf the web then I can get access to those browser login pages I need to use to gain wifi network access.
Please Microsoft, please, please, add browser support so I can use IE on the Xbox 360 to log into wifi networks and then play my heart out.
Unlike the Xbox 360, the PlayStation will incorporate a browser so that gamers can surf the web via their console.
If I can surf the web then I can get access to those browser login pages I need to use to gain wifi network access.
Please Microsoft, please, please, add browser support so I can use IE on the Xbox 360 to log into wifi networks and then play my heart out.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Starbucks is really going to crap!
For many years Starbucks would change the flavor of their coffee multiple times a week. Bold, Mild and Decaf move around and let us both explore and enjoy a variety of coffees. Then a couple years ago they flavors went to changing weekly. This was not as good but it was ok, 104 flavors a year seemed pretty good (I do not drink decaf). Now my Starbucks has stopped changing the flavor. They have had House Blend as the mild flavor for WEEKS and they tell me it will stay that way until the end of the year! If I wanted the same flavor coffee every week I would go to one of the Bread Company places.
Another thing that made Starbucks interesting is they would re-arrange their furniture from time to time. Reminded me of coming home from school and finding my Mom had moved everything around. Well it seems the district manager does not like this and has insisted that the furniture remain one way to facilitate getting more customers through more quickly. Excuse me but it is this kind of attitude, worrying about revenue above everything else, that has caused me to leave other businesses. And they have stopped changing their music selection as much too, instead of each Starbucks having a variety of cd's to play they all now must use that crappy Hear music service.
Certainly I want them to be profitable and I know moving customers through quick helps, having a consolidate music service reduces costs etc. but I go there for the atmosphere as much as anything and they have killed the atmosphere.
Another thing that made Starbucks interesting is they would re-arrange their furniture from time to time. Reminded me of coming home from school and finding my Mom had moved everything around. Well it seems the district manager does not like this and has insisted that the furniture remain one way to facilitate getting more customers through more quickly. Excuse me but it is this kind of attitude, worrying about revenue above everything else, that has caused me to leave other businesses. And they have stopped changing their music selection as much too, instead of each Starbucks having a variety of cd's to play they all now must use that crappy Hear music service.
Certainly I want them to be profitable and I know moving customers through quick helps, having a consolidate music service reduces costs etc. but I go there for the atmosphere as much as anything and they have killed the atmosphere.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Layoffs suck all around
A very good friend of mine has been laid off from the company we both work for. He is actually the friend who introduced me to blogging and opened my eyes to many other internet technologies. To be sure the layoff sucks most for him and his family during this time of uncertainty. At the same time it also sucks for those of us left behind who keep looking over our shoulders and wonder when the layoff bullet will finally hit us.
My friend, we will call him Sparky, has a valuable skill set that I think is really needed in the company so why then did the layoff hammer hit him? Like so many it is all about where you are in the company and not about your skills or value to the company. If you organization can save the company tons of money by shipping labor over seas to China or India or Costa Rica or even Canada then your organization will do that. Corporate America does not care that the average family income continues to drop year after year, they only care about cutting out the cost of labor as much as possible. Of course this does not extend to off-shoring our CEO's or Vice-Presidents.
I want to ask Sparky how the job hunt is going but I also don't want to rub salt in the wound since I am still employed. I want to tell him how much his friendship means to me but guys usually don't speak about such things. I want to apologize for not being a very good friend most of the time. Most of all though I want him to know how much I have appreciated his willingness to put up with me and open my eyes to so much in the world of technology.
I hope we can still see each other at Starbucks once in awhile Sparky.
Sincerely,
Eric
My friend, we will call him Sparky, has a valuable skill set that I think is really needed in the company so why then did the layoff hammer hit him? Like so many it is all about where you are in the company and not about your skills or value to the company. If you organization can save the company tons of money by shipping labor over seas to China or India or Costa Rica or even Canada then your organization will do that. Corporate America does not care that the average family income continues to drop year after year, they only care about cutting out the cost of labor as much as possible. Of course this does not extend to off-shoring our CEO's or Vice-Presidents.
I want to ask Sparky how the job hunt is going but I also don't want to rub salt in the wound since I am still employed. I want to tell him how much his friendship means to me but guys usually don't speak about such things. I want to apologize for not being a very good friend most of the time. Most of all though I want him to know how much I have appreciated his willingness to put up with me and open my eyes to so much in the world of technology.
I hope we can still see each other at Starbucks once in awhile Sparky.
Sincerely,
Eric
Monday, July 10, 2006
Don't take your eye off the immigration ball
With all of the recent news about North Korea launching missiles and Iran refining weapons grade uranium it is easy to forget about other major issues. Illegal immigration is one of those issues and this issue is impacting every working American on a daily basis. Total employment is about 144 million right now. If illegal immigrants are anywhere between 11 and 15 million then those people are artificially diluting the labor force by as much as 10% and that is reflected in lower competition for labor which translates to lower wages for everyone.
Don't take your eye off the ball because anyone in this country that earns an average income is losing ground because of this issue.
Don't take your eye off the ball because anyone in this country that earns an average income is losing ground because of this issue.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Why do we owe illegal immigrants anything?
I here a lot about it being impossible to remove 12 million illegal immigrants from the country and therefore we need to make them "legal" overnight and provide a path to earned citizenship. Excuse me but this country has never shied away from doing the impossible. Employers that employ illegal aliens must be severely punished and when the jobs dry up for the illegals then those illegals will go home. Every foreign citizen that wants to work in America or become an American citizen must do so according to the laws of this country. Illegal immigrants negatively impact everybody from an economic stand point and they prevent our capitalist system from working as designed. The only thing businesses are worried about is their profits. Capitalism does not guarantee any business a profit and hiring illegal immigrants to avoid raising labor rates to what legal citizens are willing to work for is unethical business at best.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Hiring illegal immigrants is an unethical business practice
The mantra of industries that hire a large number of illegal immigrants is that the work they need done is not something Americans are willing to do. Product and Service pricing is set by many factors that most economists would boil down into supply and demand. What no one in these industries will admit is that labor rates are set by a very similar set of factors that also boils down to supply and demand. If you demand labor (employees) and you do not get enough candidates then you must increase the compensation offered or make other changes to attract more potential employees. The same way you lower or raise prices to create demand for products or services.
A representative of the landscaping industry was on WGST Atlanta the other morning with Tom Hughes and explained that American children are not raised to do this kind of work. He also explained that the average wage in his industry was good at $9.50 an hour. And from his perspective, with unemployment at 5% there just are not enough workers available.
First lest talk about American Children and how they are "raised".
In 1999 (the latest year I could find data on)
62.9% of high school graduates enrolled in a college.
70.6% of the 17 year old population was high school graduates.
46.6$ of students completed a 4 year BA/BS degree
(Data on college completion rates is for the prior period, BA degree complete in 1995-1996)
The available labor pool for industries like landscaping would seem to be fairly significant.
For every 100 seventeen year olds in 1999 there were
30 without a high school diploma
26 with high school diploma that did not go on to college
I looked at over a dozen landscape labor job postings and almost none listed any qualifications required. Here are the requirements for one landscaping job listed on the web
Job Requirements
Required Qualifications:
Skills Requirements:
GENERAL LABOR, landscape
Note that a high school diploma does not seem to be required and so the labor pool of 56 out of every 100 seventeen year olds would be available for these jobs. The Landscaping industry must now compete for these employees with other companies and industries. This is where supply and demand starts to set labor rates for an industry like landscaping.
"Wal-Mart claims an hourly wage of $9.68 an hour is its national average" While some independent research indicates this amount is lower I will use both what Wal-Mart claims and what the landscaping industry representative have said as fact for this discussion.
It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that the average 18 year old would rather work in a low stress air conditioned Wal-Mart then doing the more grueling work involved with landscaping, FOR THE SAME WAGE. So what does a landscaping company need to do if it is going to run an ethical business? They need to increase their compensation to attract employees away from employers like Wal-Mart. This is the capitalist system. Yes this will raise their costs and prices and will lead to a thinning of the heard as far as landscaping companies go but that is legal, ethical, and natural business in a capitalist system.
Employing illegal immigrants artificially manipulates the labor side of supply and demand. It brings in a labor pool that under legal circumstances would be just as happy to work for Wal-Mart but cannot do so easily. The advantage to the landscaping industry is lower wages, reduced costs and increased profits. If this industry played by the rules it would create higher paying jobs that folks from Wal-Mart could move to in order to improve their situations. Because illegal immigrants are so heavily used this opportunity has been eliminated for citizens of America.
Consider that a fulltime worker at $9.50 an hour is ending up with about $15,000 in their pocket (80% of gross income). If the industry played by the rules the compensation they provide would have to increase to attract enough laborers. To keep costs down the industry would have to become more efficient in other ways. This is how our system is supposed to work.
Keeping costs and prices down is not a valid justification for employing illegal immigrants and so the industry tries to hide behind the fallacy that "this is work Americans are unwilling to do". Shame on any industry that wants the sales side to play by the rules of supply and demand but refuses to allow the labor side of business to play by those same rules, unethical business practices are never justifiable. Remember the goal of a capitalist system is NOT to keep you in business.
Final note: Tom Hughes indicated his wife hires a couple women to do their landscaping on a regular basis while the person across the street has a crew of potentially illegal immigrants show up and do his landscaping. Tom is paying more money for his service and lamented that he is a fool for paying more. I strongly disagree and I applaud Tom for playing by the rules and insisting his contractor do the same when it comes to employment.
A representative of the landscaping industry was on WGST Atlanta the other morning with Tom Hughes and explained that American children are not raised to do this kind of work. He also explained that the average wage in his industry was good at $9.50 an hour. And from his perspective, with unemployment at 5% there just are not enough workers available.
First lest talk about American Children and how they are "raised".
In 1999 (the latest year I could find data on)
62.9% of high school graduates enrolled in a college.
70.6% of the 17 year old population was high school graduates.
46.6$ of students completed a 4 year BA/BS degree
(Data on college completion rates is for the prior period, BA degree complete in 1995-1996)
The available labor pool for industries like landscaping would seem to be fairly significant.
For every 100 seventeen year olds in 1999 there were
30 without a high school diploma
26 with high school diploma that did not go on to college
I looked at over a dozen landscape labor job postings and almost none listed any qualifications required. Here are the requirements for one landscaping job listed on the web
Job Requirements
Required Qualifications:
Skills Requirements:
GENERAL LABOR, landscape
Note that a high school diploma does not seem to be required and so the labor pool of 56 out of every 100 seventeen year olds would be available for these jobs. The Landscaping industry must now compete for these employees with other companies and industries. This is where supply and demand starts to set labor rates for an industry like landscaping.
"Wal-Mart claims an hourly wage of $9.68 an hour is its national average" While some independent research indicates this amount is lower I will use both what Wal-Mart claims and what the landscaping industry representative have said as fact for this discussion.
It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that the average 18 year old would rather work in a low stress air conditioned Wal-Mart then doing the more grueling work involved with landscaping, FOR THE SAME WAGE. So what does a landscaping company need to do if it is going to run an ethical business? They need to increase their compensation to attract employees away from employers like Wal-Mart. This is the capitalist system. Yes this will raise their costs and prices and will lead to a thinning of the heard as far as landscaping companies go but that is legal, ethical, and natural business in a capitalist system.
Employing illegal immigrants artificially manipulates the labor side of supply and demand. It brings in a labor pool that under legal circumstances would be just as happy to work for Wal-Mart but cannot do so easily. The advantage to the landscaping industry is lower wages, reduced costs and increased profits. If this industry played by the rules it would create higher paying jobs that folks from Wal-Mart could move to in order to improve their situations. Because illegal immigrants are so heavily used this opportunity has been eliminated for citizens of America.
Consider that a fulltime worker at $9.50 an hour is ending up with about $15,000 in their pocket (80% of gross income). If the industry played by the rules the compensation they provide would have to increase to attract enough laborers. To keep costs down the industry would have to become more efficient in other ways. This is how our system is supposed to work.
Keeping costs and prices down is not a valid justification for employing illegal immigrants and so the industry tries to hide behind the fallacy that "this is work Americans are unwilling to do". Shame on any industry that wants the sales side to play by the rules of supply and demand but refuses to allow the labor side of business to play by those same rules, unethical business practices are never justifiable. Remember the goal of a capitalist system is NOT to keep you in business.
Final note: Tom Hughes indicated his wife hires a couple women to do their landscaping on a regular basis while the person across the street has a crew of potentially illegal immigrants show up and do his landscaping. Tom is paying more money for his service and lamented that he is a fool for paying more. I strongly disagree and I applaud Tom for playing by the rules and insisting his contractor do the same when it comes to employment.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Protecting my Xbox 360 investment
Well it happened to me, my Xbox 360 died a horrible "internal software error" death. The unit was still under warranty so it is being repaired/replaced for free. This experience has me thinking more about protecting my huge investment in this system and the associated games. I plan on being on this platform for at least the next four years and really don't want to run into more trouble.
Let me say here and now that the unit has run perfectly until this event and I have no complaints about the unit at all.
So what am I to do if I want to protect my investment. Well I am going to do three things to protect this investment.
1. I will purchase the extended warranty, the price is reasonable for two years and gives me peace of mind.
2. I have not had any indication of heat problems BUT you can never keep technology like the Xbox 360 too cool, and the cooler you keep high tech devices the longer their life in my opinion. I am buying an accessory to help keep the unit cooler. The cooler I have chosen is the Nyko Intercooler 360. The unit was only $20 and every review I could find from users were very positive.
3. Because the 360 allows the covers to be removed (for replacing with cool skins) I will be diligently blowing the unit clean with compressed air on a quarterly basis to avoid a dust build up.
I believe this combination of things will help to avoid any problems related to heat as well as give me a comfortable back stop if the unit should up and die again on me.
Let me say here and now that the unit has run perfectly until this event and I have no complaints about the unit at all.
So what am I to do if I want to protect my investment. Well I am going to do three things to protect this investment.
1. I will purchase the extended warranty, the price is reasonable for two years and gives me peace of mind.
2. I have not had any indication of heat problems BUT you can never keep technology like the Xbox 360 too cool, and the cooler you keep high tech devices the longer their life in my opinion. I am buying an accessory to help keep the unit cooler. The cooler I have chosen is the Nyko Intercooler 360. The unit was only $20 and every review I could find from users were very positive.
3. Because the 360 allows the covers to be removed (for replacing with cool skins) I will be diligently blowing the unit clean with compressed air on a quarterly basis to avoid a dust build up.
I believe this combination of things will help to avoid any problems related to heat as well as give me a comfortable back stop if the unit should up and die again on me.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Illegal immigration is just that ILLEGAL!
I believe we should strengthen our borders, and punish employers seriously for hiring illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants would not come into this country if there was no employment. Employers that higher illegal immigrants are do it to contribute to our economy. They are hiring these folks to take advantage of people that are willing to work for wages far below the value of the work. Consumers want low cost but I do not believe consumers want low cost at the expense of other people being taken advantage. That is EXACTLY what employers that hire illegal immigrants are doing. They are taking advantage of people to line their own pockets with more cash. Market forces should set the wage rate and price of goods. That relationship should not be manipulated by keeping people poor.
Perhaps some of these jobs are not filled by legal immigrants and citizens because the wages do not fir the work. Employers should raise the wages and the prices to be able to provide these products, they should not take advantage of the poor from other countries so we can have cheap apples and low cost landscaping.
Perhaps some of these jobs are not filled by legal immigrants and citizens because the wages do not fir the work. Employers should raise the wages and the prices to be able to provide these products, they should not take advantage of the poor from other countries so we can have cheap apples and low cost landscaping.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
President Bush is too polite at press conferences
I find it amazing that liberal biased media journalists keep asking the President why he "wanted to go to war". Not only did he not want to go to war but once war was upon us it is the Congress that approved going to war. Why then did these Congress men and women approve going to war. For many obvious reasons that are as true today as they were then. Terrorists brought the war to us and we took our response to them where they live, train, and recruit. The major media outlets seem to want to ignore everything that is true about this situation and only concentrate on the clarity of things brought by hind sight. Journalists that documented the use of WMD's against Kurds in Iraq are suddenly indignant that intelligence reports before the war were not 100% accurate about WMD's. Excuse me, if Saddam used them once, he would certainly be willing to use them again and you can only use the best intelligence you have to make the best decision you can. That goes for Congress as well as the President.
I still believe that we are in Iraq and Afghanistan for all the correct reasons. Eliminating terrorist strong holds, bringing freedom to millions that yearn for it, and trying to create some stability in an area of the world that is historically instable. Perhaps if we had been as pre-emptive in 1939 then millions of people would not have been exterminated by the Nazi regime across Europe and Russia.
I still believe that we are in Iraq and Afghanistan for all the correct reasons. Eliminating terrorist strong holds, bringing freedom to millions that yearn for it, and trying to create some stability in an area of the world that is historically instable. Perhaps if we had been as pre-emptive in 1939 then millions of people would not have been exterminated by the Nazi regime across Europe and Russia.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
I am part of the BlogOsphere and I support the President
Starting with Rush Limbaugh there seems to be a growing opinion that the BlogOSphere is comprised of extreme liberal nut jobs. Today I heard Tom Hughes, on WGST 640am radio in Atlanta, connect the term extreme left democrats and blogosphere. I realize that organizations like moveon.org are out there on the extreme but not all bloggers are liberals. I am a conservative but rather than preaching fear and half truths on my blog about the President I choose to blog about life in general. Apparently conservative bloggers need to start dedicating some of their blogging to supporting the conservative values we agree with.
According to Tom Hughes, the blogosphere is very angry over the war in Iraq. I am always amazed at how selfish and self-centered liberals can be. Here we are a country that millions around the world have come to for the sole purpose of having freedom and yet we are suppose to ignore regimes like Saddams and NOT help others to have the simple freedom of choosing their own destiny. OH! That's right, liberals know better what is good for us, we should sit down, shutup, and do as they see fit. I do not think so.
I know that bringing freedom to Afghanistan and Iraq has cost us and is costing us American lives. This is not a sacrifice that I or any of us should commit to easily. When we do commit to this sacrifice it must be for something as important and critical to human beings as freedom. We can argue over how Iraq got to where it was for ever and never agree to what should or should not have been done, etc. I do not shy away from that debate I only point out that the current objective of bringing freedom to an enslaved, downtrodden, and abused populace is of such high importance to humanity that at this point it does not really matter how we got here. What matters is the smiling faces of millions of purple fingered people in Iraq that have tasted true freedom and are hungry for more.
As estimated 8 million people, 60 percent of eligible voters braved violence and calls for a boycott to vote in Iraq. A string of homicide bombings and mortar volleys killed at least 44 people, including nine attackers.
Americans suffer no such threats at 99% of polling places and yet we do not vote in such enthusiastic numbers, that is the power of people that are hungry for freedom, we take our freedom for granted.
99% of Iraqis's are praying America does not abandon them until they can truly stand on their own against the 1% ooppressorsrs that wish to return to the good old days of the powerful few dominating and controlling the lives of the many. Hey, wait a minute, isn't that what liberals want to do to us? Hmmm, maybe their anger with the war in Iraq is making sense now.
Liberals seem to forget or perhaps refuse to understand that conservatives do not "support war" but rather that we understand that in the course of history it is sometimenecessaryry to go to war in order to bring freedom and stability to an enslaved nation. War is NOT the first course of action but it is a course that once chosen cannot be abandoned for selfish reasons leaving other people to suffer once again under the yoke of oppression.
Were liberals so self-centered that the ONLY reason they approved the war in Iraq was because of weapons of mass destruction? Did the suffering oIraqis's, the documented brutaatrocitieses of Saddam's regime, and the DOCUMENTED use of weapons of mass destruction against the Kurds have nothing to do with their decision to support the war? If liberals reasons for supporting getting into the war were in fact so self-centered and narrow then it makes perfect sense that liberals now want out. The war serves no purpose for them and they could care less about what it means to humanity, the future of millions of people in the middle east, or the fact that turning tail and running would reduce our ability to help others in the future.
Let me close by saying that I appreciate the sacrifices that our military men, women, and families have made since 1776 to protect the freedoms we all enjoy and to bring freedom to others. The Germans, the FrenchIsraelis's, and countless others have the freedoms they enjoy as a direct result of our country putting the importance of freedom above the preservation of our own lives. Well maybe the liberals don't but I think the majority of Americans do, and if we don't we are doomed to losing our freedoms very soon.
Thanks for reading, Eric
The following words are designed to help search engines find this article
blogosphere blog-o-sphere blog o sphere
According to Tom Hughes, the blogosphere is very angry over the war in Iraq. I am always amazed at how selfish and self-centered liberals can be. Here we are a country that millions around the world have come to for the sole purpose of having freedom and yet we are suppose to ignore regimes like Saddams and NOT help others to have the simple freedom of choosing their own destiny. OH! That's right, liberals know better what is good for us, we should sit down, shutup, and do as they see fit. I do not think so.
I know that bringing freedom to Afghanistan and Iraq has cost us and is costing us American lives. This is not a sacrifice that I or any of us should commit to easily. When we do commit to this sacrifice it must be for something as important and critical to human beings as freedom. We can argue over how Iraq got to where it was for ever and never agree to what should or should not have been done, etc. I do not shy away from that debate I only point out that the current objective of bringing freedom to an enslaved, downtrodden, and abused populace is of such high importance to humanity that at this point it does not really matter how we got here. What matters is the smiling faces of millions of purple fingered people in Iraq that have tasted true freedom and are hungry for more.
As estimated 8 million people, 60 percent of eligible voters braved violence and calls for a boycott to vote in Iraq. A string of homicide bombings and mortar volleys killed at least 44 people, including nine attackers.
Americans suffer no such threats at 99% of polling places and yet we do not vote in such enthusiastic numbers, that is the power of people that are hungry for freedom, we take our freedom for granted.
99% of Iraqis's are praying America does not abandon them until they can truly stand on their own against the 1% ooppressorsrs that wish to return to the good old days of the powerful few dominating and controlling the lives of the many. Hey, wait a minute, isn't that what liberals want to do to us? Hmmm, maybe their anger with the war in Iraq is making sense now.
Liberals seem to forget or perhaps refuse to understand that conservatives do not "support war" but rather that we understand that in the course of history it is sometimenecessaryry to go to war in order to bring freedom and stability to an enslaved nation. War is NOT the first course of action but it is a course that once chosen cannot be abandoned for selfish reasons leaving other people to suffer once again under the yoke of oppression.
Were liberals so self-centered that the ONLY reason they approved the war in Iraq was because of weapons of mass destruction? Did the suffering oIraqis's, the documented brutaatrocitieses of Saddam's regime, and the DOCUMENTED use of weapons of mass destruction against the Kurds have nothing to do with their decision to support the war? If liberals reasons for supporting getting into the war were in fact so self-centered and narrow then it makes perfect sense that liberals now want out. The war serves no purpose for them and they could care less about what it means to humanity, the future of millions of people in the middle east, or the fact that turning tail and running would reduce our ability to help others in the future.
Let me close by saying that I appreciate the sacrifices that our military men, women, and families have made since 1776 to protect the freedoms we all enjoy and to bring freedom to others. The Germans, the FrenchIsraelis's, and countless others have the freedoms they enjoy as a direct result of our country putting the importance of freedom above the preservation of our own lives. Well maybe the liberals don't but I think the majority of Americans do, and if we don't we are doomed to losing our freedoms very soon.
Thanks for reading, Eric
The following words are designed to help search engines find this article
blogosphere blog-o-sphere blog o sphere
Monday, March 20, 2006
Call of Duty 2 needs an upgrade!
I have been playing Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and this game has the kind of lobby system for online play that I wish COD2 had. GRAW is first of all as awesome of a game as COD2, killer graphics, fun game play, and for people like me that love playing but suck we can kill bots in the online game.
I really want COD2 to do a major upgrade and give us a great lobby system. Another problem might be achievements, GRAW gives achievement points for online play while COD2 does not.
On a side note, I believe it would be best if all 360 games(that are xbox live enabled) provided 1000 achievement points for campaign and another 1000 points for online play, or 500 each at a minimum. Today it is a mixed bag where some games divide points and others do all points for the campaign
I really want COD2 to do a major upgrade and give us a great lobby system. Another problem might be achievements, GRAW gives achievement points for online play while COD2 does not.
On a side note, I believe it would be best if all 360 games(that are xbox live enabled) provided 1000 achievement points for campaign and another 1000 points for online play, or 500 each at a minimum. Today it is a mixed bag where some games divide points and others do all points for the campaign
Call of Duty 2 needs an upgrade!
I have been playing Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and this game has the kind of lobby system for online play that I wish COD2 had. GRAW is first of all as awesome of a game as COD2, killer graphics, fun game play, and for people like me that love playing but suck we can kill bots in the online game.
I really want COD2 to do a major upgrade and give us a great lobby system. Another problem might be achievements, GRAW gives achievement points for online play while COD2 does not.
On a side note, I believe it would be best if all 360 games(that are xbox live enabled) provided 1000 achievement points for campaign and another 1000 points for online play, or 500 each at a minimum. Today it is a mixed bag where some games divide points and others do all points for the campaign
I really want COD2 to do a major upgrade and give us a great lobby system. Another problem might be achievements, GRAW gives achievement points for online play while COD2 does not.
On a side note, I believe it would be best if all 360 games(that are xbox live enabled) provided 1000 achievement points for campaign and another 1000 points for online play, or 500 each at a minimum. Today it is a mixed bag where some games divide points and others do all points for the campaign
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