Snooty Talk

Maybe it's just me, but I swear there are buzzwords circulating out there that drive me absolutely insane, and whenever I hear them, it's like nails on a blackboard; mainly because their overuse renders an effect just the opposite of their intent- "I am ED-U-CATED, I know whereof I speak" -so they come across as trite, are too oft-repeated, and, well -- yes --'hackneyed as hell'.



Some time ago in my other blog, I complained about the first word that had that effect on me--- "notion".

Listen to any NPR interview and you will hear the word used repeatedly in place of the more usual "idea". Ideas are not ideas anymore....they're not good enough....they are notions to those in the know.

'Notion' is the bar that's raised between a mere 'high school education'... and... 'college... and beyond'.

(I swear, once you become aware of it, it's EVERYWHERE, and yes, it will drive you nuts as well. LOL!!)

Lately I've become aware of an even more irritating repetition. What makes this one truly galling, is that its use is superfluous in any sentence where it appears because it's never needed! It can be omitted entirely everywhere it's used ...(and used, and used.)

Anyone guess it yet?

You'll hear it most often in political interviews, in those question and answer sessions. (I suppose it's fallout from the opacity of the Bush years, and our race to distance ourselves from anything cloaked and murky.) Guess it yet?

Oh, Lord....(groan)....here it is: "clearly". You will hear the word 'clearly' over and over again, often in the same paragraph! You'll hear-- "Clearly, our objective in Iraq has been..." or-- "That seems to be the present conception, but clearly (pause...comma) there is need for..." over and over, that hideous, unnecessary word whose very ommission from a statement would be the best choice.

People.........if it's clear...... you don't need to say it!

O.K. Rant done. It's just one of those festering things bothering me without my realizing it....

until it did.

Today.


NPR.

On the way home in the car.

When I finally started screaming.

Pilgrim Ken, The Father of American Political Assassination

It must be 'heritage'.

It's gotta be our long social and political hangover from our forebears as they set foot on this 'godless' land, and brought with them all the stiffened trappings of Puritanism....




and it trails right over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house, and right up to the foot of Capital Hill.

However austere and lovely this well-known George Broughton painting, or how beloved - let's face it: those folks are formidably self-righteousness with no shyness whatsoever about condemning others, and especially about sexual misconduct. That's the American Achilles heel.

It explains a lot.

So when you want a person booted, that's the particular arrow you choose from your quiver and let fly, and you don't even need reporters...Twitter and Facebook (et al) will find it as fast as dogs will find ground beef left on the counter, and before you know it, we're knee deep in bloody meat.

Remember this guy?

Remember the Summer of Shame... 1998?


I've been thinking a lot about that period in our history since yesterday when the Sanford scandal broke, and how enraged I was at that time by Kenneth Starr's behavior.....MUCH more so than President Clinton's. That bulldog Starr was bound and determined to bring down the presidency and by damned, if it took a lurid scandal to do it, one that would make us appear utterly ridiculous in the eyes of the rest of the world as we greedily gobbled up every crumb of semen-stained detail, then by god that's what he'd do because he knew....... THAT'S WHAT WORKS!

I still bristle at the image of that man, and at the memory of his rabid witch-hunt that began with the failed Whitewater that came to naught, right up to the successful 'National Enquirer story' that brought what he wanted: a vanquished president. And Bill Clinton was a great president -- well-liked and intelligent to boot. Something the Republican machine could not stand.

But the difference is that America (for once) was able to bypass his personal life and elect him anyway. We knew all about his infidelities - and so did his wife- no hypocrisy there- and the man got elected... WONDER OF WONDERS!

The Old Guard was incensed! It put Ken into action, and we did the rest.

And the whole world laughed at our 'Pilgrim sticking out'- and rightfully so.

These two newest sexual scandals do not shock me, only the hypocrisy shown by both men. (Yes, Clinton lied once cornered, but he was asked to answer a question nobody had any business asking in the first place- and after two long years of constant pounding and picking and improper scrutiny. Hell ... I would've lied at that point myself.)

Just as John Edward's became hideous MOST OF ALL because of the image he put out there of faithful husband and guardian of family values while he was busy sleeping with (and possibly impregnating) that glory-hound of a 'campaign consultant'...it's the LIES, GUYS. Not the act itself. Make 'fidelity and family values' the mainstay of your political message, and it will devour you if you are not who you profess to be: if that's your message, you'd better be prepared to live it.

In this country, the ACT ITSELF is all that's needed to strip the paint off the car and send it to the pound. Lawyers know that.

Politicians know that.

Why don't we?

I submit it's because we've been programmed this way from the time the Mayflower docked. We're lascivious, judgmental, gossip-spreading pilgrims at heart, and sometimes we make the horrifying mistake of giving all our power and attention to old Rodger Chillingsworth up there....

I re-read an excellent article from 'Salon' today, written at the end of the Lewinsky business just before the impeachment proceedings. (That's what this current posting sprang from... along with the idea of Kenneth Starr as henchman-prototype.) This quote stood out:

"And so the Clinton/Starr drama came full circle.... Kenneth Starr was finally able to get his man. Like Roger Chillingworth, the vengeful moralist who relentlessly pursued the adulterous Hester Prynne and her lover, the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter," Starr branded Clinton with the scarlet "I" -- for impeachment."

Absolutely. Read it. It's part of our past that's spilled over into these present messes, and we continue to trail it like a string of tin cans because Starr showed us how...

he was the first.

A House Divided (or two men): The Saga of Sanford and Ensign

Ever notice how two halves of a person's face taken separately will often show more of the truth than the whole of it together?

Lookie here at Governor Mark Sanford...(yep. That one.) The one who disappeared into the Appalachian Trail and ended up in Chile Brazil Argentina (via Appalachia)- on Father's Day. The strange disappearance that ended up being pretty damn cliché if you ask me. Another 'son of righteousness' found in his own fouled mess. And here's the sad side. The penitent



and I do believe he is sad. Deeply sad.

It's the motivation for the sadness I might call into question. Dashed hopes for a presidential bid....public embarrassment....humiliation of self, wife, sons....(the almost certain call for resignation from his governor's post??)

The man is sad, there is no doubt.

But look at the other half of this two-faced fella'....



THERE'S OUR BOY!

Savvy, practiced, confident. (Doubtless a very good liar.) Here's a quote about what this governor has said in the past: "...Governor Sanford also talks about faith in the public square and the virtues related to spending restraint."

(Sexual restraint is obviously not on the table here.) Those cards are well-hidden. Do I really give a crap if South Carolina's Governor Sanford cheated?

No. I couldn't care less.

But what DOES tick me off is that both he and another high-profile Republican senator were both loudly condemning of Clinton during his White House debacle, and they both spout the Bible whenever and wherever possible, and they were both 'outted' in the same week! (Don't for a minute think these public announcements came merely from troubled conscience. We know better than that. When the evidence was there or the blackmail got too scary, up they jumped like two choirboys caught smoking behind the church.)


Governor Sanford in a recent interview:

"The Bible talks about the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. There ought to be certain things that are clearly observable by your actions."

{{{{{{{sigh}}}}}}}

Haven't we all had enough of public servants in high positions glibly quoting scripture, only to have it revealed they live an entirely different sort of private life from what their public pronouncements would suggest?

Republican Senator Ensign of Nevada is more typical in his boyish, prematurely white styled hair and GQ appearance. (Let's face it. That guy LOOKS like a 'player')...one can easily imagine him embroiled in some seedy long-term secret affair with a co-worker.

But his Christian credentials 'appear' to be impeccable....

"Ensign is an evangelical Christian... He has participated in mass rallies conducted by the Promise Keepers, a men-only Christian group, and during his four years as a congressman had a 100 percent voter approval record from the Christian Coalition."

How many more are going to surface? This has to be a new record...this is a 'twofer'- two in a week!

Mark my words.......when the cork is too tight, somethin's gonna blow!"... every time.....same modus operandi. Same profiles. Same split personas.


They would have been better served by paying attention to Matthew 7.

7:13 -Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat

7:14 -Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

7:15 -Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.


(Maybe they were sleeping during that particular reading.)

Update: Cogs In The Machine

As to the water meter debacle, the 'system' won out. I did hear back from the PUC (Pennsylvania Utilities Commission) and received a xeroxed copy of a list of statutes that basically say: water companies can damn well do as they please and yes...they can terminate service if you don't comply.

So I called to schedule a day for the water company to come out- (had to argue with the surly girl on the line because she had an old phone number for my account)-took the day off work and yes, the fella showed up and replaced the meter.

He tested it first. Said the "wheels are turning, so it's working"- but still swapped it out for a spanking new one. I'll let you know if I see any difference in my next bill. Other than a surcharge for 'new equipment'- I don't see how anything will read differently. Much ado about nothing.

No one however, can convince me those notices weren't triggered by a sudden drop in water consumption, and much lower bills. All the xeroxed lists in the world won't do that. (And no--- THERE WAS NOTHING ON THERE about a '20 year mandate to change meters'.) I guess that would fall under, 'the water service can, at any time, for any reason, request entry into the home to service their equipment'. Yah. That'd cover it.

(And yes, my work piled up on Wednesday when I stayed home to wait for their service man.... Horribly.) As reward to myself for all the aggravation -and since I was already behind anyway- I took Friday off as well for a day trip. Fukkit. I was already behind the eight ball due to the greedy, bullying utility company. Nuthin' to lose...





UPDATE: The first bill paid after the new meter. Total? $9.10 LOL!!! (I think they shoulda left well enough alone) .... but there are NO NEW EQUIPMENT CHARGES. That's a relief. Seems I did a lot of barking for no good reason.....so far. If things change, I'll let ya know.

Pennsylvania American Water Company Threatens SHUT OFF

Do you have a dripping faucet? Did you know that a faucet that leaks 60 drops per minute can add up to 192 gallons per month?


What about a toilet that runs CONSTANTLY....what about a hot water heater that had been leaking onto the basement floor for two years? That was me... last year.

Each month it crept up a bit: 60... then 80 dollars... then the whopper bill in November.

That was the night I decided the running commode had to be fixed. I managed to 'break the whole flush-mechanism, turned off the water to the toilet-- and since that time, I've resorted to 'bucket flushes'. (It's proven to be marvelously econonmical.)

Then in December, my long term leak from the hotwater heater in the basement became a tank break on Christmas Eve, so I replaced it. ... dry basement. No more leakage.

Now......with all that as background...how about a water bill back in November and before these changes, that totaled $106.00 for ONE MONTH for one person who works outside the HOME five days a week!!!

After 'bucket flushes' and a new hotwater tank, my bills began to drop....dramatically, and most are now under 20.00 per month! SO WHAT HAPPENED??? Why am I complaining? DOESN'T THIS STORY HAVE A HAPPY ENDING??? AM I NOT LEAVING A MORE REASONABLE AND SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT ON THIS PLANET??

(Of course not.)

Starting in March 2009, I received a notice from my water utility company: Pennsylvania American Water Company. "We are required to change water meters every twenty (20) years. Please call our customer service center within the next five days..." blah, blah. That made no sense to me--- unless....AH HAH!! my dramatic cutback in usage led them to believe someone had tampered with my meter, or that it wasn't functioning properly. (In common terms, "THEY WEREN'T GETTING EXHORBITANT PAYOLA ANYMORE")-- and I believe my account was flagged. I've never heard of a 20 year rule in regard to water meter replacement, and no, I never called them.

The first week of May, a second notice. Today, a FINAL NOTICE demanding I call their office within 5 days or "if you do not respond to this request within 5 days we will be forced to take action to discontinue your service." I ask you- does this sound Kosher to you?

I just this evening filed a complaint through their customer service department online. I also filed a complaint with the PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION reiterating all I've said above. My bills have always been paid on time. There were no 'alarms raised' when my usage went UP...no, no flags raised there. Only when usage dropped like a stone-- and with it, their revenue from this account.

PLEASE, PLEASE....IF ANYONE, AND IN PARTICULAR, ANYONE FROM PENNSYLVANIA WITH PENNSYLVANIA AMERICAN WATER COMPANY as their provider, and you've received these notices after a huge drop in consumption as well --please email me at the email given here under my profile for Blogger. I'd like to see how widespread this problem might be.....

To my mind, it's downright criminal to threaten to turn off water on a fully paid account simply because the customer does not want (or NEED) to take time off from work to allow a perfectly functional meter to be swapped out.

OUTRAGEOUS. I'd like to get a class action thing going if possible, so comment here or email. I've grown tired of their harassment- and now.. a threat to cut off service.

As they say, "There oughta be a law." I'll let you know how this thing plays out. Mad as hell, I am.





NOTE: Just had another thought.....and it's about the cost of a new water meter. Now who pays for that I wonder???


New water meters run about $2,000.00 and it's a cost passed on to the consumer- (even though in every other business when it becomes necessary to replace equipment, the company assumes that financial burden because it's part of doing business) -but with the water company, that cost is prorated each month as part of a customer's bill. Here in Pennsylvania, I believe that's about 3.4% each billing cycle. Pretty sweet, right???

Tell me what's wrong with this picture? Anything suspicious going on to your mind? I think this raises all kinds of red flags.

Take this as an analogy: if you'd take your car for an inspection and it's functioning fine, but the dealer insists you need new brakes simply because they have a rule somewhere that everyone HAS TO get new brakes at your particular milage, would that not piss you off? This is the same thing. Unnecessary replacement. And the consumer bears the cost.