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.
United Airlines
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?
Marvin Richardson
Not content with having to put up with the hypocritical Larry Craig as their Senator for several years (he was the high-ranking government officer who allegedly* propositioned a fellow homosexual in an airport toilet stall, despite publicly promoting an anti-homosexuality agenda), the state of Idaho now has a brand new 'crazy' in their midst.
Marvin Richardson has changed his legal name to "Marvin Pro-Life Richardson" JUST so that he can get on the ballot for Craig's empty seat whilst simultaneously promoting his holier-than-thou viewpoint on abortion issues.
He's such a crazy messed-up guy that he actually wants to advocate murder charges for not just any doctors who perform abortions but also for women who obtain the procedure.
The abortion issue is such a ridiculous religiously-led political hot potato in America. Let me state my own viewpoint here on IGMS... people who are so adamantly pro-life grip my shit. Abortion exists to allow women the right to choose their futures and to live in 'free will'. I have no doubt that further hypocrisy would reign, and that losers like this Marvin Richardson and his ilk would line up at the clinic if their 11,12, 13 or 14 year old daughter came home one day and announced she'd been knocked up by the village idiot.
*I feel as if I have to say "allegedly", but only because Craig has asked his lawyer to vacate his previous guilty plea, and he is now maintaining he was doing nothing wrong. However, the very fact that he was a Senator in "that situation" does suggest some element of wrongdoing, don't you think?
Flu & Illness
Flu grips my shit
That's why I haven't been here much lately.
Normal-ish service will be resumed as soon as possible.
Believe me when I say there have been several days when it was impossible to grip my shit. You could not have even saved any in a colander
Andrea Bailey
Andrea Bailey grips my shit.
This clueless mother, from Ashland, KY, complained to Wal-Mart because she bought a set of 'fun straws' for her three year old daughter, and when she got them home she thought a couple of them looked 'disgusting'
She called the local news channel to tell them that she thought the straws - I kid you not, dear reader - "looked like a penis"
She has a child. Andrea Bailey MUST know what a real penis looks like? If her husband's/boyfriend's/one-night-stand's penis actually looked like this straw, he must have been injured in some kind of a bizarre boating accident, or he earns his living as a circus freak.
Nothing like totally humiliating yourself and your child on television for that brief 15 minutes of fame though. Well done on making Ashlynn and yourself a total laughing stock in the eyes of sane people everywhere else in the world. You really must be so prude proud.
Reckitt Benckiser
Despite apparent proof that it effectively ripped off the British government to the tune of millions of pounds, drug maker Reckitt Benckiser tries to say that it is "a responsible firm which behaved honestly and ethically"
An executive from Reckitt wrote this in an e-mail: "Should we not drag it out as long as possible... nine million pounds of business is at stake"
Furthermore, it is alleged (no smoke without fire) that Reckitt misled doctors and had behaved unethically in some of its dealings with them. Its response to that accusation?... "this was an unfortunate one-off incident"
Presumably, this one-off incident excuse also applies to the fact that Reckitt delayed the introduction of a generic for Gaviscon in 2000.
In 2003.
In 2006.
Oh, and again in 2006.
Generic copies of the drug could have saved the NHS, and UK taxpayers, over £40 million. A parliamentary select committee is now all set to investigate the fact that there is STILL no generic equivalent when Reckitt has an 88% hold on the market for this kind of medicine.
Reckitt Benckiser says that "patient care and safety has driven all its actions"
So, not good old-fashioned greed and profiteering then? The stuff that shit is gripped by.
In the USA Gaviscon is made and marketed by pharmaceutical behemoth GlaxoSmithKline. Not that I am suggesting for one minute that USA drug companies act in anyway as unethically as Reckitt Bencksier seems to have done. Perish the very thought.
U-Haul
Just like the airlines with their totally bogus "fuel surcharges", this fee is a massive crock of gripped shit. The disposal and treatment of hazardous waste items are entirely the company's responsibility, and, as such, the costs associated with them are all part of U-Haul's regular operating procedures, therefore those costs should be swallowed up in the fees they charge consumers. Not tacked on like a third testicle.
BUT, I guess, a "$19.99 rental" is nowhere near as attractive to advertise as a "$24.99 rental", so u-Haul instead use fuzzy math to rip its customers off, additionally adopting the familiar - and apparently well-loved - "American" bait and switch method of doing business.
There's nothing like misappropriating a genuine global concern to try and up your profits is there? Company officials, management, shareholders and workers should all feel embarrassed by the introduction of this fake fee, and I REALLY hope people start abandoning U-Haul in their droves as a result.
Doing Taxes
I'm sure I am not the only one who is angrily gripping their shit whilst doing their 2007 tax return.
What a fucked up, complicated piece of work it is. I'm sure the "tax preparation" and "accountancy" lobbyists won't like me saying this, but the system is LONG overdue for a complete revamp.
When I have to complete this form before I can complete that form, but that form needs figures from this form first - resulting in utter confusion and potential inconsistencies - is it really any wonder that many people just fill in a few numbers, don't bother to declare everything they've made, and then just send their incorrect sums off to expedite their refund?
Why not do a complete reform of the tax code to make it a million times simpler and easier to comprehend for us 'normal folk'? Where we don't have to pay and/or rely on "H & R Cockblock & Co" to get it wrong for us.
I suspect this would ensure more taxes would get paid by more people, thus allowing us to at least cling onto the rim of the toilet this country is financially being flushed down.
American Airlines
I have deleted my original post (dated 2/25/08) about American Airlines, and the case of the woman who died on one of their flights from New York to Hawaii.
It was originally alleged that two oxygen tanks and a defibrillator - all from the plane's galley - were all faulty and could not be used, something which could easily have contributed to her demise.
However, later reports suggested this was not the case, so I am happy to withdraw my shit-gripping remarks about A.A.
Unless of course it is later proved the airline cut corners with its safety check procedures, and thus failed in its duty to protect this unfortunate passenger.
Public Hypocrisy
So, another teenage gunman goes on the rampage in Illinois, killing 5 people.
Meanwhile, actress Jane Fonda gets lambasted for uttering the word "c**t" on live television.
As these two stories continue to develop over the next few weeks/months, do you want to hazard at a guess as to which of them will receive the most discussion and comment?
Yes, according to many blinkered right-wing people & politicos in America, guns don't kill people, words do.
It's another shit-gripper
American Healthcare I
Barbara Antonelli, a 76-year old woman was unlucky enough to suffer a heart attack whilst she was at her doctor's surgery for a routine visit.
An ambulance was summoned, she had breathing tubes attached to her, and she was gently placed on a gurney to be wheeled outside.
As she was being pushed out the door of the Staten Island Physician Practise, a receptionist rushed to her side and demanded she handed over her $5 co-pay for her office visit, "before the ambulance could leave the clinic"
If I gave out shit-gripping awards, this clinic would be the first recipient.
The MUCH bigger picture though is that this helps prove that (so-called) healthcare in America is more about the money than it is about healthcare.
Cemetery Thieves
In something of a personal shit-gripping comment, I wish to lambast people who steal from cemeteries.
I visited my mother's grave-site yesterday to sadly discover someone had illegally taken the wreath my father had (positively secured &) placed there around Christmas. He saw it a week ago and deemed it in good healthy shape, certainly worthy of remaining for a few more weeks.
Now gone. Stolen. By people who apparently steal these things to retrieve the wire framing to build their own wreaths for the following season, some for profitable means.
I hope these people die very slow, very painful, very horrible deaths. They're no more than utter scum of the earth, who should simply die to leave more air for the rest of us decent folk.
Aetna Inc
Once again profit being more important than a customer's health grips my shit
Aetna Inc - a major health insurer - wants to stop a group of gastroenterologists in New Jersey from using a proven anesthesia, propofol, during their colonoscopy examination of patients.
Aetna says there are other sedation options. Options that, conveniently, don't require the presence of an anesthesiologist. An anesthesiologist that might cost the insurer an extra $200-1000 per procedure covered.
Options that cause the patient more discomfort too. But that doesn't seem to matter. Neither does the FACT that colecterol cancer is the second cause of cancer death in America and that proper prevention now may actually save Aetna even MORE money further down the line.
Short-sighted greedy fucks.
Federal Trade Commission
In 2006, over 69,000 consumers complained to the FTC regarding deceptive & illegal practises carried out by debt collectors.
- The FTC received more complaints against debt collectors than against any other industry
- 40.3%, 27,929 consumers, complained of debt collectors attempting to collect more than they were owed
- 3.4%, 2,387 consumers, complained that collectors were attempting to collect interest, fees, or expenses that were not owed, such as collection fees, late fees and court costs
- 21.2% or 14,656 consumers complained of harassment from repeated or continuous calls
- 22.1% or 15,314 consumers complained of debt collectors making calls to employers, friends and family repeatedly in an attempt to allegedly gather information to assist them in collecting the debt
- 11.5% or 7,967 consumers complained of being harassed with collectors using obscene, profane or otherwise abusive language
- 11.4% or 7,913 consumers complained that they were threatened with a lawsuit or some other legal action that the debt collector could not or did not intend to take, such as seizure of property or arrest.
Consumers were exercising their rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, brought in to presumably control this otherwise historically scummy industry.
How many cases from 69,000 did the 'mighty' FTC take to court?
One.
(The FTC tried three cases, two settled before reaching the benches)
One out of 69,000 - in percentage terms that's 0.0000144%
Good to know the FTC have our backs in protecting us from this kind of financial scum eh?
Seems like everyone in this business - except the consumers who get shafted - is capable of coersion, something in government which always grips my shit.
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This little dude on the toilet was created by lego artist