This article appeared in the New York Times on Thursday. I only got to it now through the eyes of Neal Pollack over at the Maelstrom.

"A million bitter enemies will be born out of this war."

A Book at Bedtime

In case you don't go to BartCop.com on a regular basis, here is a Special Announcement courtesy of Marc Perkel:

A copy of Patriot Act 2 has been obtained. I am still reading it. For those of you interested in seeing the follow up of the raping of Americas Freedoms and Liberties, you can download a copy Here. Pass it around to as many people as you can.

120 pages of scary stuff, kids! If this is a gag, whoever wrote it is the next Stephen King... although, if BartCop and/or Perkel told me it was true, I would tend to believe them.

The page takes a looooong time to load. For me, here in cable-modem land. So this exercise is not recommended if you are one of those unfortunates who might, say, dial on to AOL, or something like that... Talk to me, and I just might be able to drop off a copy in your public square!

You’ll have to excuse me now. I think I'm having a case of déjà vu…

Autozone-A-Go-Go

It seems so much easier for me to write about actual events. At least for today:

AutoZone Inc.
P.O. Box 2198
Memphis, TN 38101
Phone (901) 495-7185
Fax (901) 495-8374
investor.relations@autozone.com

I have been privileged in the past to take advantage of your services when I needed reliable and prompt assistance in the past. However I must inform you of a serious deficiency in customer service that my girlfriend was subjected to in one of your stores.

She was having trouble with her car, and remembered hearing an advertisement for your company on the Rush Limbaugh show. She saw a sign about a ‘Promise’ on the front of the store: your business will check the electrical system, including the starter, alternator, and battery for free. When she tried to ask an employee about checking her car, he refused to take a look. He said that somebody didn’t show up for work, and that he was short staffed. My girlfriend was concerned about being able to start her car, so she bought a trickle charger to use at home.
It was at this point that I was informed of the situation. She sounded upset with her brusque treatment at the hands of your staff, and was worried that she had made a mistake in buying the charger.
I was aware of the boycott of Rush Limbaugh’s sponsors that is currently being recommended due to his hypocritical and inflammatory remarks regarding many issues impacting our society today. I feel rather strongly that his ‘entertainment’ show is causing the problems we are going through now to be more difficult to deal with.
I recommended to my girlfriend to leave the purchase unopened, and return it to your store the next day. She took my advice, and was surprised to find that a customer from the day before who had been refused service, yet still made a purchase, was not recognized by the employee who sold it to her! She said he seemed to be looking for any excuse to refuse to refund her money as per your standard customer policy. It was at that point that she told the guy the events of the day before – which he had completely forgotten. She also rationally, calmly and with regret for having to do so, informed him that she would not be returning again.
Your employee showed a complete lack of respect for the customer. Instead, he was looking at the cash he was able to extract from a disadvantaged mark. Which, oddly enough, seems to be the methodology endorsed by the show you advertise on…
I will be informing all who ask me for a place for reliable auto parts and service that there are many alternatives to your company, and advise the Better Business Bureau of this incident in order for it to be a matter of public record. I regret that I will be unable to utilize your business in the future.

Sincerely

Fun Facts for You!

Rainy Days and Mondays


I'm just getting in gear from a wonderful weekend with my baby. And of course having some Monday morning blues compounded by lots of rain last night. So it looks like blogging will be sporadic for the week.

Having said that, others are picking up the slack:

Take Back the Media's Symbolman was on the O'Reilly Factor and spanked Bill as much as you can when he controls the editing of the show. At least the PigBoy boycott has gotten on the radar of the mainstream media. I would respectfully suggest that when you get the chance, guys, go after Faux News and O'Reilly...

Overboard shows us another example of Repugnicant hypocrisy, courtesy of Orrin Hatch, as well as the definitive answer to the student who is suing a professor because he won't write a letter of recommendation...

This Modern World tells us that the authorities are strangely reluctant to issue a permit for the anti-war protest scheduled for the 15th there...

dKos and Atrios are up to their usual - fact finding and exposing the stories the Media Whores don't want you to see...

Zsu Zsu over at Print Think has shown me a number of cool things over the last few days...

You can use the links over on the LHS to get to all of these sites. And I recommend you do...

And finally, on a personal note: Tom Tomorrow has produced a sequel to an infamous cartoon he put together during PapaDoc Bush's pResidency. I have been trying for over six months now to show him what I did, based on that cartoon, and borrowing liberally from his other work:



Maybe some of you could ask him to look at this as well?

Sunday Funnies