Wednesday Bonus Cartoon Fun Bonus: What A Complete Asshole Edition

Wednesday Bonus Cartoon Fun: What A Total Asshole Edition

Wednesday Cartoon Fun: What An Asshole Edition

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Here's a guy who doesn't get enough credit for ruining America. I just thought I would give my California brothers and sisters a little reminder.

Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa Is A Complete Douche

Mayor Anthony Villagairosa and family, sans his mistress.

Remarks as Prepared for Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa - PPIC "California's Future" Conference - Education Keynote, December 7, 2010

Thank you for that kind introduction. It is a true honor to address such an esteemed audience. I would like to thank the Public Policy Institute of California for organizing this conference and bringing us together. And I would like to congratulate Mark Baldassre and the entire staff at PPIC for the thoughtful and influential work they continue to produce every year.

It is more than fitting that we begin the day on the topic of education reform, because there are few issues more pressing than ensuring that all Californians have equal access to a world-class education. When most of us went to school in the 1950s and 1960s, we were blessed that California public schools were synonymous with excellence. We were the gold standard, a national model that complemented our State's image as a land of opportunity.

But somewhere along the way, the schools in which we invested so much time, thought, and capital, slowly began to crumble - figuratively and literally - and we were left with what we have today:

Schools that consistently rank in the bottom third among all states. Schools that spend, on average, $2,400 less per pupil than most other states. Schools that are, in too many instances, more segregated than they were in the 1950s. And schools that are viewed as so ineffective and irrelevant, that one in every four students drops out, believing their time would be better spent elsewhere.

Education may be the most important issue of our time. It is an economic issue, it is a civil rights issue, and it is the foundation for the common values that bind us as Americans: the belief in a democratic and free society. A quality education should not hinge on your ZIP code, or your parents' tax bracket, or the color of your skin. Our public schools should be the true embodiment of the American Dream, a place where people are judged on achievement and rewarded on merit.

But when you consider that California's so-called "drop-out factories" are comprised of predominately Latino and African American students, one has to ask whether we are actively creating a second class of citizens among a demographic that now represents the majority of our students.

Even within our storied UC and Cal State systems, long heralded for their excellence and diversity, we have made few gains and in some cases, lost ground over the past 25 years. In 1989, African-American students represented over 5% of the student body at our UC schools. Today, they are just 3%. And even though Latinos represent nearly 40% of the population of California, and over 50% of our public school population, they make up just 20% of our UC students. This is the stark reality.

Sadly, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know to be true. The question isn't whether we have reached a crisis point or arrived at a critical crossroads, the question we must ask ourselves today is:

What is stopping us from changing direction?

Why, for so long, have we allowed denial and indifference to defeat action? I do not raise this question lightly, and I do not come to my conclusion from a lack of experience. I was a legislative advocate for the California Teachers Association, and I was a union organizer for United Teachers of Los Angeles. From the time I entered the California State Assembly and became Speaker, to my tenure as Mayor of Los Angeles, I have fought to fund and reform California's public schools.

Over the past five years, while partnering with students, parents and non-profits, business groups, higher education, charter organizations, school district leadership, elected board members and teachers, there has been one, unwavering roadblock to reform: UTLA union leadership.

While not the biggest problem facing our schools, they have consistently been the most powerful defenders of the status quo. I do not say this because of any animus towards unions. I deeply believe that teachers' unions can and must be part of our efforts to transform our schools. Regrettably, they have yet to join us as we have forged ahead with a reform agenda.

By partnering with the Los Angeles School Board, we created the Public School Choice program that is now allowing non-profits, charters, teacher groups - anyone with a proven track record of success - to compete to run new or failing schools. By 2012, over 50 low-performing schools will be under new leadership, with a new chance for success.

UTLA leadership fought against this reform.

Dear Comcast

Comcast uses nasty marketing and sales techniques. I called today to try to get my bill lowered and was surprised to learn about my DVR-cable-box.  This letter was sent right after my conversation with the rep:

Dear Comcast,

I called today to see if Comcast could match or beat AT&T's offer made to me a week ago.

In the course of my conversation with the Comcast representitive it was made apparent that the DVR I currently rent from Comcast is an Hd-DVR that costs $5/month more than I thought.

I do not have an Hd television. Never have. Indeed, when Comcast came to begin my service in 2004 they hooked the cable up to my old non-Hd televisions (2 of them, still hooked up).  When I went in a year later to upgrade to DVR, there were no choices of Hd or non-Hd DVRs, and it was to cost $9.95/month.

Your representative said that because I did not specifically ask for a non-Hd-DVR when I went into your service center in 2005 to upgrade from cable box to DVR cable box, I got what "the majority of customers want" which, according to the representitive, was an Hd-DVR.  I was not asked what kind of DVR I might want.  I was not informed there were two different kinds of DVR (I still am not clear, actually).  I was told upgrading to DVR would be $9.95, not the $15.95 it is now (I didn't know the price went up because I went paperless and it gets paid automatically).

After accidentally (unknowingly?, un-informedly?) upgrading to an "Hd-DVR" in 2005, when all I wanted was DVR, I understandably asked the representative on the phone today if there was a non-Hd peice of equipment that was cheaper that should have been offered to me, as I have no need for Hd and I shouldn't be charged for unnecessary equipment given to me by Comcast due to an omission on Comcast's part.  She said they are all Hd and all $15.95 now.  Then she said, after I asked many questions based on previous statements made by her, there was a crappy one that was cheaper and not Hd, but nobody wants that one.  And on and on she went, trying to save herself from the misdirection, misdirection which is undoubtedly made at the behest of management.  Not offering the cheaper alternative is one way to make money!

What the majority of people want doesn't matter to me, your customer. Let me instead ask how could I possibly know there was a non-Hd-DVR if I was never told in the first place?

Your representitive told me on the phone that if I had wanted to know what kind of DVR I had I could look at my bill. I had no reason to think there were different types of DVRs, so her suggestion was ill-posed, to say the least.  But, I looked. The September 2009 bill (earlier too?  they are not available for download) shows an item listed as only "DVR". This month's bill has "Hd-DVR".  I think the fact that in 2009, and most likely all the way back to 2005 when I upgraded, the item was listed as only DVR when there existed different types, allowing for all the fudging your representative engaged in on the phone today.

So, for five years I have had a piece of equipment that is more than I can use, and I have been charged roughly $5/month during that time for the privilege.

How is a customer to know there are different pieces of equipment at different prices unless Comcast shares that information? Clearly customers can't ask for what they do not know exists, but you are suggesting I should have asked.  I sure never asked for an Hd-DVR!

I was sold (rented) an Hd-DVR because Comcast neglected to offer me the cheaper, less robust one. Your position, that your representative reluctantly had to agree with, is Comcast expects that a customer should know to ask for things that are not known by the customer to exist in this, or any other universe, and if they don't ask, they will be sold the more expensive version, even if they don't need it.

That sucks.

I think you owe me, and probably many others, a refund.

Thank you for lowering my bill though! Competition in business really works!  

Wednesday Bonus Cartoon Fun: MOSQUE!! Edition

Congress Approves Reducing Food For Poor People

Well it looks like the bill to fund teachers, police and firefighters has passed, but at the expense of food stamps.  Did you know that nearly half (50%) of American kids will find themselves on food stamps at some point in their childhood?

Crappy schools are a symptom of the disease called poverty.

We need universal health care, free, high-quality early childhood education, progressive taxes, corporate non-person-hood and better school funding.

The rich and powerful are more rich and powerful than they have been in many, many years.  Why should we little guys help them?  They certainly don't help the little guys!

Eat the rich.  It may come to that for some.

I Would Like To Cash This Check

I have a check sitting in my wallet. It is from the PTA, a reimbursement for a field trip totaling about $160. I simply had not gotten around to depositing it.

Since I am leaving for Oregon in the morning, and I was going right past the bank from which the check was drawn today, I decided to go in and cash it, knowing that I didn't have an account at Bank of America, but the check originated from that very BofA branch, so I could just cash it there! Cool!

I went into the nearly empty bank, walked up to a teller, handed her the check, and said "I would like to cash this check."

She told me to "swipe" my BofA card, and I said I don't have an account, but the check is from here.

She told me to sign the roster on the round table and a banker would verify the signature.

Twenty minutes later, after a conversation with a wonderful guy who was also waiting for something, the signature was verified and I was told to go back to a teller to get the check cashed.

Almost there...

The teller took the check and started entering keystrokes into her computer. Seven million keystrokes later she said, "There is a $5 service charge for cashing a check."

I took the check from her hand and walked out.

Now the check is back in my wallet, I guess where it belongs.

Oregon, mom, here we come. Blogging will be light, if at all, for the next week or so....

AKMuckraker (Mudflats) Gets Outed By Jerk

Mike Doogan (pictured above) just outed blogger AKMuckraker, author of Mudflats. Lets hope AKMuckraker doesn't have any enemies!

Why don't you send Mike a note letting him know what a jerk he is!