Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Dysfunctionality As A Way of Life

Dysfunctionality as a Lifestyle

I have just returned from a modest bike ride to the post office and several other errands, and as I so often am, I am just overwhelmed with how much of life around me can be summed up with the single word – dysfunctional.

I have used the same accounting firm since before Nixon was President, and they are routinely good and helpful and affordable (one bill was for a hamburger and a pitcher of beer, so that was over 35 years ago), and yet I got a package in the mail TODAY saying they were unable to do my returns unless I did such and so. [Required a quick phone call to ascertain the returns are, in fact, filed and accepted]. Oh, and the postmark was March 30th.

In comments to various posters here, I have often said or hinted that my Credit Union is second to none in providing customer service tailored to my own lifestyle, and again with monthly charges about zero. And yet they, for reasons which they certainly cannot explain, decided on their own to begin mailing my monthly statements to an address which I don’t even know how they had, as it has been invalid for close to two decades. In mailing me replacements for the missing statements, they sent me one for Jan 07 rather than January 09. Dysfunctional.

The roads over which I rode my bicycle in the highest taxed area of the highest taxed state (I think) were so potholed that at some points I had to walk the bike or risk bending a wheel.

I stopped at an electronics repair and supply place who affirmed that today, manufacturers produce and sell “disposable” electronics, which is to say that any electronic device older than the warrantee will probably not have support for parts. This leaves me with two non-working television sets, but as BA has proved, who needs ‘em. Point is, that the use it and throw it away philosophy is one of the biggest causes for the mess this country is in, and it is, which brings me to my final point of the rant.

Yesterday, some bright light in the Pentagon decided it would be a good idea to do a photo op within a few miles of the WTC attack and deliberately NOT tell the people or the media. Not surprisingly, the FAA, another PosterChild for dysfunctionality was also involved.

This total idiot has now ‘apologized’ but not the way the Japanese do, which I would really prefer him do instead of hanging himself, which he should. Hizzonner was understandably furious and the Prez pretended to be, but why this man is not fired and billed for the cost to the taxpayers for this lunacy [which could have been accomplished by any fool with photoshop] eludes me. Or maybe not.

One prob seems to be that the idiot in charge is a protected minority and hence either assumed to be too stupid to know better or in any event unfireable. It represents the poster child for the DYSFUNCTIONAL government under which we suffer. It is not hard to feel a large amount of despair at our future.

9 comments:

Fijufic said...

That was an idiot stunt. I don't think we got the real story however.

I was ready to revolt,you haven't posted in ages.

Hope you are well brother. I have missed you.

Bobby

Maggsworld said...

The photo "op" got copverage over here and because of the plane involved noone was able to be warned. Typical. Maggs

John0 Juanderlust said...

None of the fly-by official story adds up. One thing I'm curious about is, who were the photographers, and where were they? The jet was in the position assumed if a plane is an intruder more than serving as wing man protection, or so it seemed. It is so unlikely that Obama, who flies around the country for earth day and every other non-event had no idea that one of the company cars was out for a low level spin around NYC. There have already been so many cover-ups in this admin, it could keep top notch investigative reporters busy for years. Of course there are none of those except to attack the enemies of the ones now calling the shots.
Photo op sounds like a lame excuse dreamt up by someone on the inside. Very curious and frustrating times.

Fin said...

Maggs - how stupid do you have to be to think that a 747 flying 1500 feet over NY harbor is going to be a "secret"? The land of the free.

Harpo is right - where are Woodward and Bernstein now that we could use them? And God help me, why do I think of Robt Redford and Dustin Hoffman when I think of them?????

Itiswell said...

I thought that was stupid too. Who in their right mind would authorize that??? Those poor people who evacuated were probably scared to death.

Wizardress said...

Makes you really wonder about people doesn't it? Not that I already didn't wonder about some.

BenB said...

The plane trick is a given: moronic.
The road statement, however, got me fired up. Many of the roads around this area are in horrible condition. We pay some of the highest registration fees in the entire nation, yet we cannot seem to be able to fix the friggin' roads. Instead, they are constantly tearing them up and installing whatever they're doing undeground, under the road surface. Then, when they "fix" the road, the fix job is worse than if they would have just left the holes, grooves and bumps in it the way it was before!
The throw-away society is - apparently - what keeps these companies in business. Cheap electronics are a way of life at this point - but so are cheap cars, extremely poorly built houses and a host of other things that society deems as acceptable.
Good post.
ben

Fin said...

Ben, it is sobering to know the Italians built roads still in use after two thousand years.

Not too long ago I drove on an interstate that was less than ten years old that looked like it had come under mortar fire.

Anonymous said...

The worst part is the sheer amount of money that is dumped into these roads - considering they are brand new, many times it just pure trash. I was driving down a new road that had just been constructed - driving over it was akin to a roller coaster ride.
ben