United Airlines

United Airlines have gripped my shit with their latest flimsy excuse to rip off their customers.

They have upped their change ticket fee from $100 to $150 citing 'rising fuel costs' as the reason.

Sorry United, but exactly how does the increased cost of fuel affect your administration costs in re-processing a ticket?

Seems as if the airline industry is getting more and more ignorantly creative in its income-generating methods, refusing to simply raise ticket prices in favor of introducing more and bigger 'backdoor' fees. All of which do nothing but piss customers off making them even less likely to fly.

Pharmaceutical Industry

Almost every page of Melody Peterson's excellent book "Our Daily Meds" is managing to grip my shit.

Her expose of how the pharmaceutical industry operates - immorally, and naturally for profit before any genuine care for health - should be on everybody's reading list, as eye-opening and damning as it is.

I have to hope that the drug companies influence over government is cut-back, curtailed even, [if?/when!] Obama becomes President in November, him being the only candidate not to have taken lobbyists dirty money during the election campaigns.

In the meantime, read and recommend Peterson's book, so that the truth about the big pharma industry is spread loud and wide. Ask for it at your local library or top-up the author's deserving bank account by buying a copy from your local bookstore or online.

You'll discover that the next time you visit your doctor or healthcare professional it could become very important to ask which drug companies they are beholden to before they write you a prescription, and exactly why America is now sicker than it has ever been before.

The Shite House Pt III

Lying governmental officials like Alphonso Jackson really grip my shit.

Jackson was the (Republican, remember) government's HUD (Housing & Urban Development) Secretary, but more importantly to our lame duck Precedent Bush is a long-time friend. Fine cronyistic qualities that helped him quietly slide into a senior political position at a department which is now overseeing a housing and mortgage turmoil that is threatening to completely undermine the USA's stability.

Not that he had ANY time to deal with problems like that as they brewed. Instead, he was apparently busy giving out favors of his own, steering large governmental contracts for the post-Katrina clean-up to his own friends (Methinks he is taking the concept of "Pay It Forward" a little too far?)

Furthermore, it is alleged he used his governmental department to threaten the Philadelphia Housing Authority after they refused to transfer some valuable real estate to an individual named Kenny Gamble. That's Kenny Gamble, the music producer. One half of the famed Gamble & Huff production team recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Oh, and good friend of Alphonso Jackson.

Jackson was asked to resign months ago. Instead he refused to answer any questions (which is lying by default) at congressional hearing about his wrongdoings, and his good friend, Mr G.W. Bush, stood stoically by him.

Apparently, our Alphie has now seen some kind of 'writing on the wall' and resigned from his vaulted handed-to-him-on-a-plate position of authority stating "There are times when one must attend more diligently to personal and family matters," adding succinctly "Now is such a time for me"

His resignation was met "with sadness" by Precedent Bush who also said Jackson was a "great man" and "an American Success Story".

"Success" must be awfully close to "Suckiness" in W's private dictionary mustn't it?