Author Archives: scottsoapbox

Anti-Marketing

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Warning these are not approved or endorsed, but they can be a fun way to get back at the man…

Tips for Tele-Marketers

(1) If you don’t have a lot of time or if you’re not -uh- assertive, try this: Just say “Hold on, Please…” Say this while putting your phone down (to keep from getting hooked into a conversation) and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) will increase the Telemarketers average handle time. Longer calls mean fewer calls per worker and therefore increased costs for the Telemarketers. Then when you eventually hear the phone company’s “beep-beep-beep” tone, you know it’s time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

(2)If you DO have a lot of free time and some hutspah try this: When the telemarketer asks if you are the man/woman in charge of the house/phone bill/whatever say “yes.” Then let them go through their entire spiel until they finally give you a real chance to talk again — this is typically when they are wanting you to give the green light for whatever product they’re selling. Continue reading →

Congressional Investigations A Sham

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So the United States Congress has started an investigation into the lacking governmental response to Hurricane Katrina. Now that, on face value, seems great — until you realize who will notably be missed in such an investigation. That's right: Congress! We have heard a lot of lamenting about the error of adding FEMA to the huge bureaucracy of Homeland Security — by the very people that voted to place FEMA under HS. Who is it that created the regulations of how the various pieces of government interact? Congress. Who is it that controls the purse strings of the Federal budget? Congress. Here is a more specific example. One of the congressional panel to question Brown, the Former Head of FEMA, was Rep. William Jefferson. Jefferson used the National Guard to retrieve things from his home after Katrina hit. And it actually gets better: apparently there FBI is currently investigating Jefferson, and some surmise he may have been removing evidence from his home. Oh yeah. Let's let that guy question Brown about how he was deploying Katrina resources.

Rush vs. The Protestors

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Rush Limbaugh takes on the much-hyped but not quite delivered Mega-Anti-War-Rally at DC! Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! See the millions of pissed-off Americans devouring support for the Iraq War! I read about the dang rally on my Yahoo news feeds for over a week before the thing even happened. Speaking of which why do we still call this a "war"? The war was pretty much over when we found Saddam Hussein hiding in a spider hole. Sure, Iraq is not exactly what I would call a Mecca of Peace, but if it is a "war" who, exactly, are we at war with? There was an official surrender quite some time ago. Our government is on friendly terms with the currently elected government in Iraq. Most of the insurgents are foreign nationals from Syria and other countries, but we're not at war with any of those other countries. Oh and I don't buy the whole "war on terror" as an actual war. I just have to shake my head when I pass the signs that say "No War In Iraq" — That's right: there's no war in Iraq… what's your point? Maybe I'm nit picky, but I just wish people could be more accurate in what they believe in/are fighting for. How about a sign that said: "I don't think Iraq will directly affect me one way or the other, and I don't want ANYONE to die… so let's bring the troops home." Not exactly brief and perhaps a bit naive, but ACCURATE. And for some reason that is important to me. Continue reading →