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Friday, November 21, 2008

The word for today is ARROGANCE...

Those of you who know me know that I think, and have thought for quite some time... the Philadelphia Eagles are chock full of individuals who think arrogance and being arrogant are part of their job description.

But today, I'm not just gonna tell you about more Eagles effrontery... but also of two other stories from the "real" world that take arrogance, chutzpah and flat out balls, to a whole new level.

First, the latest from The Gold Standard Squad...
From the team that brought you "Hoagie-Gate" comes the new blockbuster smash "8 Million Reasons More To Hate Us"...

I could go off on a rant and half on this one kids, but... I will merely direct you to an Op-Ed piece that appeared on Philly.com yesterday which is so right on the money and to the point that I could not have written it better myself.

Here's the link...

Now, we move along the arrogance scale from the sublime to the ridiculous...
Here's an actual headline that appeared for this next story:

Attleboro, Mass. threatens blind woman over 1-cent water bill

Yeah, you read write. A town in Attleboro, Massachusetts (where?) decided that they had the answer to their budget shortfall. No Wall St. bailout needed here. No sir, we'll just threaten a 74-year old blind woman living by herself with a lien against her home.

Why? Because Eileen Wilbur, that dastardly doer had failed to pay part of a water bill from the preceding year.

How much was this "part" she failed to pay?

One penny. One freaking cent. Or just slightly less than what the government paid to bailout Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and anyone else with their finely manicured hand out.

The letter Miss Wilbur received stated that unless she paid by December 10th, she could face a $48 penalty, in addition to court proceedings.

In addition to court proceedings!

We're talking about a 74-year old blind woman for chrissakes!

Plus we're talking about one penny here. And the cost to send the penny in to pay the bill? 42 cents for a first class stamp... Yeah, that makes sense.

And the arrogance part?

When confronted with this situation, Attleboro City Collector Debra Marcoccio responded by pointing out that Attleboro's billing is completely automated, and is not audited by human beings. She went on to defensively ask why Ms. Wilbur didn't pay the one cent the year before, when it was first due.

This is the sort of thing that any human being (or even a bureaucrat) with a fully-functioning cerebral cortex could probably have handled with a minimum of fuss.

Our next stop along the Arrogance Trail is Washington, D.C...
Seems the CEOs of the Big 3 automakers wanted to get in on the government "cheese" and flew to the nation's capital to try and get $25 billion dollars of OUR money in an effort to avoid bankruptcy.

Hey, if the government can bail out people who handed out loans like they were Halloween candy, surely they would fork over some bread to people who make cars that for some reason don't sell despite the fact that they get 7 miles to the gallon.

So all three CEOs - Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler went to Washington. And you're thinking, these are 3 smart guys, right? To show lawmakers just how serious their respective companies' finances are, they would fly in on a commercial airline, you know, to save money and to show the lawmakers they too can be fiscally responsible.

Um, no...

ALL 3 CEO's flew to Washington in private luxurious, company-owned jets.

I think this line speaks for all of us...

"This is a slap in the face of taxpayers. To come to Washington on a corporate jet, and asking for a hand out is outrageous."

It was said by Tom Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste, whom I'm guessing probably has a strong case here should the government in fact decide to bailout the auto giants.

For more here's the ABC News Story:



So let's recap here, shall we...

We have a football team that reeks of arrogance, trying to once again throw it back in the face of its "constituency" AKA their fans.

We have a small town in God-only-knows Massachuetts that employs people who lack such basic skills as compassion, a heart and a brain. It's more than ironic that I just watched The Wizard of Oz with my kids.

Attleboro City Collector Debra Marcoccio, one question if I may... What would you do with a brain if you had one?

And finally we have yet another example of corporate greed, arrogance and pomposity and its finest.

Man, do I love this country.

'Til next time.

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1 comment:

Dennis Bakay said...

Great points all around. And, to think there are people who may lose their pensions because of the sheer idiocy of these CEO's yet they have the guts to show up in private jets!