High End Hotel Suites

In today's update from the Huffington Post, there was a super article from the Wall Street Journal (not my favorite) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125129933050760795.html about the economy and the price of luxury hotel suites. The most expensive room on earth is stated to be $65,000 per night but you'd be delighted to know that there are lots available around the world for merely half that price. I have this horrible thought of the cost of a bottle of Pepsi from the frig.

It seems that owing to the economy, this is good time to bargain for your hotel room. Why, one dude stayed in a ocean front room for only $300 a night where the regular price was so much more. If you watch TV, you probably saw Captain Kirk negotiate these things.

I hark back to years ago when Fernando Marcos was the dictator in the Philippines, and I stayed at an American hotel in Manila. I booked a standard room, but they were all filled and they gave me the Presidential Suite on the top floor. Yes kids, the penthouse floor. I had to whisper whether or not this was a mistake, but they said that I was a VIP.

The penthouse floor was rich in carpeting, wall art, and a table full of delicacies such as chocolates (things to kill for) and there was a young, perhaps 19 year old drop dead beautiful attendant to see to any special needs. Several thoughts went through my mind from the cost of special needs to the fact that Marcos could take a dim view of any misbehavior or Imelda would kick me with one of her 10,000 pair of shoes.

My point is that what keeps these prices up are the willingness of world dignitaries to pay such prices as well as rock stars and other celebrities. I can understand the celebs but some of the highest priced accommodations are very close to the U.N. in Geneva. If you remember your history, Fidel Castro wouldn't hear of it (also not my fav), but I just guess that if you were the Grand PooPah of, say, your average 3rd world country, you may want to set a good example in the use of public funds unless you feel that you need to live it up while you can.

As to me, I ask for my AAA discount and think I'm such a shrewd negotiator.

Bo Hoo Hoo Mark McGwire, Bwaaaaaaaa

Many moons ago, I sat glued to my TV seeing Mark McGwire in front of Congress. Do you remember the stonewalling, the arrogance the macho body language and mega evasion of answers?

Yesterday, he is choked up in tears saying that his children, his family all find out he used 'roids. He said yesterday was the worst day in his life. He reminded me a little of elected officials when they get caught with their fly in another zip code. Oh how disingenuous is the apology to family, to constituency to their fans, to their supporters!

I disagree with McGwire, in that I think that it was not yesterday, but that infamous day in front of Congress. That was the worst day in his life. Like most perps, they are arrogant until they get caught. They are innocent until they get caught. In front of Congress, he could have confessed, he could have manned-up but, he wasn't caught yet, so he spent the worst day of his evading the truth in front of the world.

Personally, we should stop looking up to athletes and many elected officials as role models; at lest not when they are alive. Give it 25 years postmortem to stand the test of biographers and history. Someone like Thomas Jefferson, giving us the Declaration and having interracial love (what a man!), and honest Abe teaching us that a score is not a waitress but is 20 years. Not McGwire, a role model no more.

Thinking about all this, I need to take a long shower.

Harry Reid, Black People, and Poliics

Well, I tuned into Larry King's show and Soledad O'brien was covering a remark by Reid, the Democratic Senator from Nevada about what I think was about light skinned black people and Negro dialect. Three of the panel of three black and one white agreed that the statement was inappropriate but apology was accepted and one panelist seemed to want to hammer a nail into Reed's political coffin. Of course, she was black, and, of course she was a conservative. Now, when Ms. Obrien brought in other people, the lines of politics mainly determined whether Reid's remark was either an unfortunate comment that was later apologized to, or to draw and quarter the Senator in the Capitol courtyard.

Personally, I think all racial comments should be avoided. There is no question that black people, historically in this country, should be given wide consideration, but what remains is that everyone really does not like comments that are derogatory to their own race, their own people, their own brethren, their own gender. Most are much more liberal when the nasty comment is about someone who doesn't look like us, doesn't speak like us, and who have different preferences than we do.

I think too many Black people are as much prejudiced toward others as others are toward them. I can say the same for Hispanics, Asians, American and East Indians. When white people say some crap, everyone hates it. Also, I think too many people in a specific religion are, in more hushed tones, as discriminatory as can be. I also believe that many Americans not only think most individuals outside their own circle really suck, but they are also pretty rough on their own. Many dislike or demean their own, but dislike outsiders saying the same thing.

I have two cats. One white, one orange striped. They play together both rough and gentle, clean each other, and sleep near each other and don't steal too often from each other's bowls. We can learn a life lesson from my cats. We need more than dialogue, we need to teach children to act and speak about each other using my cats as the poster boys. So Harry Reid, come visit and observe my Gatitos. Meow.

Revisiting Gay Marriage in California

WE LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES

Over a short span, California has seen the voters deny gay marriage, then the California Supreme court overthrew that denial, then the voters again on the notorious Proposition 8 denied what the Supreme Court ruled on. This time the Supreme Court did not overthrow the voters.

On Prop. 8, I followed the news, the advertisements, the mailings, the Emails, and was disgusted at the blatant outright lies, the bending of the truth, the innuendo, and the millions spent by right wing organizations, religious groups, and in particular, the Mormon Church who, in my opinion, has shown a degree of shame and discrimination beyond the pale. This doesn't let the Evangelists, Catholics, Jews, Baptists, etc. off the hook. The hierarchy of these organizations are just as culpable, just as prejudice, just as shameful.

Well, I see no harm in Gay Marriage. I see harm in calling it Gay Unions as to call it a different name is to discriminate and relegate to a lesser citizenship, to having lesser rights. I did see the happiness, the laughter the faces of the people Mayor Newsome married. This joy just CANNOT be wrong. Our moral compass is useless when we discriminate against love.

The very people who destroy any sanctity in marriage are too often the ones who want to deny it to gays. I still believe we as Americans love our country, we are just intolerant and uncaring of our fellow Americans if they are not in our religion, are not our family, are not like us. If we have good medical care, I mean, why do we give a damn if they don't. If thousands die each year, so what, but if one dumb ass sneaks into a airplane with a bomb and threatens the homeland, it is on the news day and night. Gays and Lesbians are our neighbors, our brethren, our children, our relatives our neighbors. I see zero rationale that marriage need be between a man an woman?

The super attorneys, Ted Olsen and David Bois who appeared against each other at the Supreme Court regarding the Florida fiasco during Gore vs. Bush, have gotten together to fight for the rights of Gays to marry in California and on January 11 on the 17th floor of the District Federal Court in San Francisco, they will start to plead the case. They are asking for it to be televised. The people against gay marriage do not want TV in the Court. Read what you want into this.

As a side note; many many months ago, I wrote to the President of the Equal Opportunity Campaign and suggested they get Attorney David Bois. I almost fell off my chair when I read that he and Olsen teamed up. Maybe I'll start reading palms. I'll become a seer a soothsayer. How's this: Beware Mormon Church, Beware the Ides of March.

The 2002 Movie Secretary

This movie is a classic treatment of the Dominant/Submissive relationship. I could write a novella discussing each scene, the nuances, the body language between the characters, the dialogue, the supporting cast the costumes as well as the set and music, They were all brilliantly brought together not only to show the dominant and submissive behaviors, but of equal interest to me was the totally statistical improbability that two people with really different natures, of opposite ends of the personality spectrum, and past history of failures, do ultimately find each other in a perfect loving match, if not harmonious.

What is amazing is that Secretary is 180 degrees opposite of a chick flick and I doubt if even a few ladies would give the movie an ovation. Yet, it is a love story almost in its purest form. I saw it on the IFC Movie Channel and then rented it from Netflix. and each of the six times I viewed it, like most movies, I discovered more and more.

You can log into IMDB - The Internet Movie Data Base via Google, Yahoo or Bing it and you can search on Sectretary, 202, see the comments, ratings, complete cast and other work by the artists.

Was there life before Netflix? I don't remember. I don't think I need a secretary but have been told that a Nymphomaniac with Tourette Syndrome provides interesting diversion from writing blogs.

Paying Ones Debt To Society

Let us say that a guy named Huey did some five finger purchasing or some other asocial offense, was soon nabbed for jaywalking, and then convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony for the non jaywalking offense, sent up the river (if that expression is still in current use) and did hard time while maintaining a clean jailhouse record and not abused too much to satisfy the romantic needs of his 2,000 fellow inmates. He might have disagreed with the "too much" statement but that was the judgment of the officers. Huey was ultimately released, found out his wife divorced him, took his kids and blew town. Huey re-entered society on a greyhound bus to nowhere.

The question looms: As society, are we even? Did the penalty fit the crime or should society extract a penalty way larger than the crime? Do we take an eye for an eye, or because it is someone else and not us, not our family, do we take a life for an eye and a life for a tooth?

We know that the "perp" is an ex con for life. He is in the computers forever, and will probably be discovered given a background check, he has no second amendment rights, may not vote as I understand it, is on other lists forever, is eliminated from an overwhelming number of jobs, often loses his family. If this person was an illegal alien, he probably would never get a green card. In some cases, he would be hounded out of his residence. He may be rounded up with the usual suspects for like crimes, and who knows what would happen if just pulled over for being 10 miles over the speed limit.

In our country, a person who made a mistake will often pay 100 times greater than the mistake they made and it is no wonder they often find their way back in the slammer. It seems so unfair, even if understandable. And what if Huey is innocent? Unfair by a factor of ten.

Tell me different, O reader, tell me different.

Bank of America Credit Card Cancellation

Every once in a while I receive an "Important Information Inside" self mailer from a financial company such as a bank, credit card firm, insurance company, investment firm and it normally is a bunch of changes to the agreement they have with me and other customers. It is sometimes unclear if the other customers are all of their customers or just those with certain attributes or account conditions,.

I never use to read these. Always found that these type of fine print boiler plate agreements were prepared by lawyers who work for the financial institution. That in itself signals to me that it is probably never account changes that will benefit me and that the changes will enrich and/or protect the issuing company. In the past, I felt that my government would protect me from said screwing on one hand and that the screwing would not be a total pounding because the issuing firm has some thought that they would want to keep me as a customer.

There are, however, recent developments that many of these same above mentioned companies poorly handled mortgages, refused to renegotiate loans, make wholesale foreclosures, and all at the expense of their own customers. I am well aware that the customer was mostly dense above-the-neck and that the economy, the unemployment, the bankruptcies were, in a large measure, the consequence of not reading and understanding the fine print put together by lawyers.

So now, to my great chagrin, I read these boring mailers. One was from Bank of America in the latter part of 2009 stating that because of how I used their issued credit card, I now would have to pay a yearly fee or I could cancel by calling a toll free number and if I canceled, the card would be void.

Well, for at least 20-25 years, I have paid all credit card debt prior to its being due, so it became obvious that the bank did not like clients who paid their whole debt on time and avoid finance charges. To them, I gathered that customers who can afford to pay the whole bill and are probably more credit worthy are not worth given the same consideration as those who pay interest.

So, I wrote to a whole bunch of places to complain including the Better Business Bureau, state and federal agencies, elected officials, and so forth, and received a phone call from someone who represented high office at Bank of America. It verified that the reason they wanted me to pay an annual fee was my clean credit account's profitability.

Ultimately, I called the toll free number, canceled the card, and now I read all the boiler plates and recommend that anyone out their in cyberspace crazy enough to read my writing, do the same.

If you think this was a rarity, I just received one from the bank that handles Orchard Supply Hardware credit cards and they want to charge $1 for every statement they mail forcing me to either cancel the card or get on-line statements. What I hate about this is that I have to spend time thinking about it instead of thinking about Michelle Pfeiffer.