Speaking of which, I never really intended to become a consumer products advocate with this blog. Somethings just sort of happen. (If the world being full of scams and my being a resident of the world qualifies as a happening.) Why just the other morning I reached into my mailbox and pulled out this rather official looking piece of bad printing:
As frequent readers of this blog will know, this is what we call a “color of law” approach—and it will get you time in the pokey if you get caught. Essentially it is illegal to pretend to be a court or a lawyer or a government agency when you are not. Beyond factual misrepresentation (saying you are something that you ain’t) it is illegal to dress up your correspondence in any such manner that may make a reasonable person think that you are a representative of the court or any official body. There is no skirting the lines with this: it is incumbent upon all commercial users of the mails to make it patently obvious that they are not official government sanctioned entities. These laws were passed because everyone who was prone to using the “color of law” communication approach turned out to be up to no good. The majority of them were collection agencies. This one is from a firm called United Repair Programs, which is neither a government agency nor a bill dunner.
Actually I am a little unsure as to what United Repair Programs is, since it copiously fails to mention the words “insurance” or “warranty” anywhere in its missive. As you can see, the missive itself seems to be official notice that my car’s service contract has expired. Except for the one time, non sequitur placement of the word “Offer”, I would have no idea that this was an attempt to sell me extended SOMETHING for my car. I say ‘Something’ because it is fairly clear that United Repair Programs is not in the insurance nor warranty business. What the protection plan, which a box informs me ‘transfers’, amounts to is beyond me. All I know is that this is notice that my service plans have expired (or are about to expire) and that I should call them.
Oddly, United Repair Programs did not issue whatever service contract my car may or may not be covered by so it’s downright psychic of them to know when it’s about to run out. Or they bought my name from the state’s auto testing labs. It is flat out deceptive that they seem to be in a position to notify, cancel or extend contracts to which they have never been a party. It’s not flat out fraud, nor is it psychic*, but it is psychotic. I don’t know much about United Repair Programs, but I am willing to venture a less than psychic guess that they don’t have a legal department. In any case, I would steer clear of whatever United Repair Programs is attempting to sell.
On this, as in all topics, I am willing to admit error and stand corrected if I have in anyway misinformed against someone’s legitimate interest or defamed a well meaning person or entity. I say this not so much as a matter of pride, but rather as a point of law. If I am wrong and I screw someone over, I am liable. That’s life in the real world. The least I can do is say ‘I was wrong’ and ‘I am sorry’ and hope that’s the end of it. I also don’t know everything, which is why I invite comments, either via the blog comment section or via email at Wunker2000(at)yahoo(dotcom).
Given that most of this blog is dedicated to historical topics and that no two historians agree about anything, I have occasionally been called a twit head and still stuck to my guns. In other cases, I have thanked the person, admitted error and then revised my work. On two items I have not backed off: the general origins of Centaur Comics** and my conclusion and tone on the Anthony Norvell piece. To be short, my evaluation of Norvell is that he was a con man. This is backed up by the record of his actions and my overall conclusion that all psychics are con men because the paranormal does not exist. A recent bit of return flak reads:
The occult has been in existence since ancient Egypt and before. Top business men, politicians and celebrities have always used occult methods in America. See the pyramid on the dollar bill. See the Egyptian obelisk or so called Washington Monument. Get the facts. W. Clement Stone, Napoleon Hill, even Norman Vincent Peale practiced the occult and got results I might add.
Obviously, reasonable people can agree to disagree on some subjects. And at some point I am willing to say that I am 100% certain that the world may be larger than what my philosophy accommodates. But our poster is full of beans. And I think he knows it.
Top business men, politicians and celebrities HAVE NOT ALWAYS used occult methods in America. In fact, it’s an aberration and something of a red flag when ‘occult methods’ (usually astrology) get mentioned as a determining factor in any rational choice. No politician nor business man worth his pin stripes would go on record saying that they weigh ‘occult methods’ into their decision making process. That would be a really good way of becoming an ex politician or ex business man. In fact, associations with astrologers have been used as evidence of a person’s poor mental state, as was the case with Hitler and Nancy Reagan. That said, on occasion you do have the investment tout (always a gold bug) who will claim that they factor in a little astrology.
90% of the people in the United States think Astrology and Psychics are frauds. And they’re right. Our poster’s mention of the Washington Monument and other known Masonic icons just strays us into Glenn Beck territory. As for his three mentions-- W. Clement Stone, Napoleon Hill and Norman Vincent Peale—all three are advocates of Positive Mental Attitude, which is not occult or psychic. (Oddly they are all students of each other. Stone is a student of Hill. Peale is a student of Stone. It’s no mystery why they are all teaching the same thing.) Only in the modern tense has Positive Mental Attitude been grafted onto the Law of Attraction. In PMA you have to take action—do something and not let set backs get you down. In Law of Attraction, which is occult, you just have to want something a lot and you will get it. To say PMA is subordinate to the Law of Attraction is just intellectual hijacking.
By the way, PMA itself has been scientifically examined and found to be a bit wanting. Thus explaining for the rest of us all of the successful people who have really crappy attitudes.
I am old enough to remember when PMA was the rage, a businessman’s ‘must have’. That was before they started firing us en masse every time a quarterly threw up a burp. I chanced across this bitch point in the business press the other day:
As with most business phrases in our society, they soon tire from over usage. Such is the term "new normal." While fitting to describe any period of drastic change, this observer fears it is a very scary place because it can change too many rules of acceptable behavior, decency, accountability and reverence.
I am not sure how he got that from the “new normal”, a phrase which dates back to the Depression. From the Depression on, it has essentially meant “don’t count on being employed.” As for his other extrapolations, I am afraid he may have something more than the new normal on his mind. My own candidate for tiresome phrases is:
“It is what it is.”
I have promised everyone I know that I will jump down the throat of the next person I hear utter this. If I am not imagining things, the modern parlance seems to mean “I know better than you. The premise of my argument is not worth examining” or, at best “the premise of my argument is a settled consensus.” I will be the freaking judge of that, you presumptuous know nothing. Ok, maybe I am just mad because I have to impose so much on it in order for the phrase to have any meaning at all. Not being a PMA kind of guy (sort of the PMA antichrist, really) I have imposed my negativity on an otherwise meaningless verbalized ‘um’ moment. But I do so very much want to kill and feel justified in killing the next person I hear utter “It is what it is.” Maybe if I want it bad enough (assuming the Law of Attraction works) someone who says it will explode publicly.
Speaking of which:
The interim prime minister offered a tale of "crossfire" to explain the fallen strongman's death after he was dragged, very much alive, from a highway drainage culvert. But with footage showing him being beaten, while demanding legal rights, to the sound of gunfire, many assume he was simply summarily shot.
Gaddafi's wife, Aisha, who found refuge in neighboring Algeria while her husband and several sons kept their word to fight to the death, demanded an inquiry from the United Nations. Its human rights arm said one was merited.
I do not support the death penalty, at all, under any circumstance. Part of this is because I think it is barbaric. Part of it is because I live in a state (Illinois) where a large percentage of the people who were once on our death row were proven to be innocent of the crimes for which they were charged. If I have a political cause, it is to resurrect the Court of Last Resort as a formal entity. However… I am willing to make what I would call the Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini Memorial exception to this rule. To wit, if you have declared yourself dictator for life of a country, it should be an international human right for the people of that country to drag your sorry naked ass to death in the street. I know that sounds harsh, but it is an easy fate to avoid.
Speaking of easy to avoid fates, it appears as if Conrad Black has finally gotten down to rendering judgment on fellow soon to be ex newspaper mogul Rupert Murdock. Conrad, who is a great writer but a terrible newspaper publisher (and just the type of person I imagine saying ‘It is what it is’ at least three times a day to his servants) has just come off a spell of cooling his heels in the pokey. This is what my favorite excon took the time to write:
When the extent of his skullduggery finally oozed out, sluggish and filthy, including the details of the British government's dotage on him, this summer, Murdoch's old possum routine didn't play as convincingly as it had in its many previous auditions, when he purported to be contrite over the shortcomings of errant employees. Bumbling into a parliamentary hearing in London, supported on each arm like a centenarian semi-cadaver, mumbling about humility, trying to represent News Corporation's board as independent when it is public corporate America's most docile board of directors and is composed entirely of hacks, retainers, and ex-employees; scrambling and whimpering and paying millions to victims of his outrages; putting his name on a Journal op-ed piece about education last Saturday; it's all of a piece and none of it resonates anymore. In bygone days, he somehow carried off sprawling in a black costume on a bed in a glossy and ruminating about being an "ambassador to Joe Six Pack," a champion of the little guy, and a spiritual person contemplating the consolations of Catholicism. At its most imaginative, it was a passably imaginative imposture.
My admiration for his boldness and acumen and our previous 25 years of more than civil relations make it unpleasant, despite his unspeakable assault on me, to have to conclude that he is, in my personal belief, a psychopath.
So there. I am not the only non credentialed person calling folks psychos.
Next: The Parade of Fear that is “Looking For a New Place To Live”
*NADA, the auto trade association, estimates that the average car on US roads is eight years old. That makes the average car two years out of warranty, in most cases.
**Are the comics I have presented Centaur Comics? They could be. A comprehensive guide to Centaur will be posted in the future. Because I love being called a Twit Head.
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