THIS JUST IN!

Breaking News on the Sports Front:

In a surprise move today the New York Mets announced they will be unloading their star pitcher Matt Harvey to the Yankees in exchange for 5 draft choices, a player to be named later and $17.50 to cover their subway fare.
While full details are not yet available this reporter has learned that the player to be named later is in fact just that as he is not yet born!
However the team is confident he will grow into a fine player and become an integral part of the organization as the Yankees insist he will be from good stock.
The surrogate mom will be impregnated later this year in a private ceremony attended only by close family members and a group from Shake Shack.
Fred Wilpon, NY Met owner and long time friend of Bernie Madoff had been hoping to acquire the rights to Lou Gherig until someone pointed out the former Yankee great had passed away several years ago.
This utterance caused Hal Steinbrenner to storm out of the room muttering that some people should "keep their God damn #*@$& mouths shut!"
Met ownership used the break in talks to sign a different first baseman to a 5 year deal.
Jeff Wilpon was not completely convinced his father had made the right move but he admitted he felt inclined to defer to the experience of age.
"My dad assures me Marvelous Marv Throneberry will be a great asset to the team."
Although they had wanted the former Met to take over for slugging star Ike Davis at 1st base Mr. Throneberry insisted that he was a touch old for that and the team would be far better served if he used as adviser and coach for the youngsters on the team.
Said Fred Wilpon, "With his guidance we are certain the New York Mets can return to the glory days of 1962 and '63."
For those of you too young to remember Marv Throneberry let me set the record straight on a bit of unfair publicity.
As the story goes Marv was so bad that after striking out he got angry, threw his bat down, and missed the ground.
The story is an insult and as false as it is ridiculous. He never threw his bat!
It was his helmet!
After learning who their crosstown rivals had signed the Yankee contingent returned with huge grins and renewed expectations of finishing a great trade.
"I think we can now get this steal, I mean deal, deal done," said young Mr. Steinbrenner fighting back tears of laughter.
A few minutes later the proud Wilpon family emerged from the locked room holding up a signed agreement between the two organizations.
"Some of you have asked why we made this deal.  Well all I can say is we have seen what our team does with so-called stars like (Jose) Reyes, (R A) Dickey and (Nolan) Ryan in the past and we do not wish to keep making the same mistake over and over expecting great things.  That's the definition of stupid you know!  So today we have made a giant step toward fielding a team of 'no names' who will want desperately to succeed as though they were exceptional.
This should make the team far more interesting while endearing ourselves to our loyal fan base.  These fans need to feel good about themselves and what better way to help them do that than fielding a team that they are actually better than?"
Asked about the future of his current star 3rd baseman Mr. Wilpon added, "We signed David (Wright) to a long term contract and until we can find a team willing to take him off our hands we're stuck with him.  Next question?"
Silence ensued and there were no next questions as reporters were stunned by the response and the meeting ended.

BWC is Now The Law of the Land!

While Congress and our so-called leaders debate who caused what or who spied on whom or who can we blame for whatever we don't agree with corporations are continuing to rape American consumer any way they see fit!  And while this goes on the charade that is the Republican Majority in the House of Congress will once again try to repeal the health care bill aimed at helping the average citizen!
A perfect example came today in my cell phone bill from AT&T which included a slight increase, as always!
I decided to have an on-line chat with an AT&T agent about this latest slap at a long time moron, I mean customer.
What appears below is that chat.  Please read it and see if it rings true with your experience dealing with impersonal corporations these days.

Thank you for your patience!

Your AT&T Representative will be with you shortly.

Welcome! You are now chatting with 'I removed the name lest the person be fired for possible honesty' 

BRUCE M RESCH: Hi AT&T Person

AT&T Person: Hi Bruce, I can help you with the charges on your account.

BRUCE M RESCH: My bill has been $197.82 for ages and while it's way too high for the actual service provided at least it was a constant.  Now the bill is over $200 and it looks as though the rise was merely a BWC increase.  Is that true?

AT&T Person: I can have that check for you. Let me review your bill.

BRUCE M RESCH: ok

AT&T Person: Please give me 2-3 minutes to run through your bill.

BRUCE M RESCH: sure

AT&T Person: Thank you for waiting.  Upon reviewing your account, I found out that your monthly bill is always $197.99.

AT&T Person: The reason why your bill went up to $200.70 is because of the additional fee that was being charged to each of your line.

BRUCE M RESCH: An additional fee for what may I ask?

AT&T Person: If you will take a look on your bill, each line has a corresponding surcharges and other fees.

BRUCE M RESCH: yes I see that

AT&T Person: The additional fee that was added on each line was the Administrative fee which costs $0.61.

BRUCE M RESCH: So I was right, It's a BWC

AT&T Person: What is BWC?

BRUCE M RESCH: BWC stands for "Because We Can!" It's a fee charged by all large impersonal anti-human corporations to make even more money for doing nothing and causing those of us who must go along with their greed to suffer. In other words, bullshit!

AT&T Person: I understand you. But the the Administrative fee covers a small portion of certain expenses AT&T incurs, including but not limited to: Charges AT&T or its agents pay to interconnect with other carriers to deliver calls from AT&T customer to their customers Costs and charges associated with cell site rents and maintenance

BRUCE M RESCH: Did you actually type that with a straight face? Forget it - I cannot beat you guys. But when I decide to leave because your inane unfair extra fees are too much you will NEVER get me back no matter what you do.

BRUCE M RESCH: It's truly a crock of shit! The small increase of which you speak in AT&T costs could easily be covered by the unbelievably high rate you charge for nothing! I am speaking of texts etc. which cost you zero! In fact you had to invent a way to keep track of texts just so you could charge for them! But as I said I can not win & I realize it is not you personally who is at fault so I'm done here - Have a nice life.

AT&T Person: I understand where you're coming from. That's the initial reaction of most of our customers when they learned about this fee.

BRUCE M RESCH: I wonder why!

BRUCE M RESCH: Most Americans have not gotten a raise in years but AT&T & others like you continue to raise fees and make more profits and hand over our hard earned money to a bunch of useless shits at the top of the corporation who think only of how to make even more money on the backs of the customer. As I said - This is not personal but THEY are criminals!

AT&T Person: I understand you. We all work hard to earn money and who does like to have their money wasted? No one. I understand how you feel.
BRUCE M RESCH: enjoy the weekend - I'm out of here - Have to think about this situation further. Thanks

Note the line about having to pay increased costs due to connecting with other carriers.  Of course those carriers are using that same bull shit line to collect their own BWCs.

The collusion is on all sides of the equation and the only ones being hurt are the customers!

If anyone cares to add all the bills they pay and track the changes in each of them since we handed control of the country over to the large corporations who now own Congress I believe they will notice the same trend toward new BWCs.

Can we stem the tide of corporate greed?

Can we get Congress on the side of the people who actually vote them into office?

Can we make it through a month without House Republicans attempting to repeal the ACA aka Obamacare?

Sadly I feel the answer is a definitive NO WAY!

But still I rant and still I complain and at least in a small way I am a thorn in the side of corporate hypocrisy.

Never turn your back on these criminals and do not let them get away with what they do without at least complaining.  Who knows, maybe one day the meek really will inherit the Earth.

And by the way, when we do I'm going to hit all the bastards of the former corporate world with so many BWCs they heads'll fall off!

A MARRIAGE Contract for America

The furor over same sex marriage or as it is known by some for various reasons gay marriage is a misdirection argument in true ‘forest for trees’ fashion.

Simply put the government, no government this side of the Vatican or other state run religious countries should be involved in a decision involving whether or not two people, any two people should get married.  Marriages are made on Earth!

Some may argue for or against marriage using economic reasons while others claim marriages of which they disapprove affect the sanctity of their own union.  There is a further argument clearly of religious beginnings that a marriage is union made to produce children.

First I submit that if your marriage is affected and or ruined because two other consenting adults wed then your marriage wasn't too strong in the first place and probably should never have happened.  It was bound to fail sooner or later.  I guess that other couple did you a favor by speeding along the imminent demise of a bad union.

As for a marriage being consummated solely for the purpose of having children it should be nobody’s business whether or not any couple produces offspring lest they are intimately involved.  If one or both of the individuals in a marriage is infertile or incapable of producing offspring should we as a society demand they divorce and seek out a more fertile partner?

And once we remove the tax benefit or liability for a married couple those who think only of the economic implications of marriage lose their argument as well.

Clearly the US Congress as well as the individual State Houses has no consensus on how to handle all the issues of marriage.  They should welcome the chance to relinquish the control of marriage licenses and cede that truly personal decision to the individuals involved.  If those couples wish to seek out the permission of their religious leaders so be it.  If they have no religious affiliation there should be a civil union option available at every level of government.

The rights of any legally joined couple should not be infringed by anyone.

Should a loved one be hospitalized or worse the partner must not be excluded in any way from the proceedings before during or after what ever befalls the injured party.

It is clear that the best solution to a non-issue no-problem problem concerning the marriage of two people is to take government completely out of the equation.  The IRS should have no need to know the marital status of anyone filing a tax return because there should be no difference between a single or married return.

Any and all entities (human or corporation) that reside in America and earn money as a result of their enterprise should be taxed as the law sees fit and passed by our government in order to provide for the services and well being of our citizenry.

Then maybe Congress can get back to fighting over other more important issues.

The bottom line is simply if two people wish to live their lives together for whatever reason we should celebrate their union and not vilify it!