Yesterday was one of those days in which driving made sense.  Drop the dogs at the sitter around 10:00 AM and headed to Albertville.  The first store we visited is Polo Ralph Loren.  For the first time we found boxes with six white t-shirts.  Picked up a couple.  We added some other items and got in line at the cashier.  While our items were being scanned, the attendant made the comment that the 30% discount would be applied to all items after ringing them.  A lady at the cashier next to us turned around and handed us a coupon she had printed on her computer.  The page has a Polo Store additional 20% discount on all items.  The coupon was only valid on purchases totaling over $100.00.  Her total just made it up to $80.00 so she was kind enough to pass it on.  We handed the coupon and the attendant obliged by giving us an additional 20% off.  That was great, we picked up items marked down 30% off and we gout an additional 20% off.  My wife and I were happy to receive 30% + 20% == 50% off.  We paid and moved on to the next store.

I decided to walk to the car and drop the bags.  On my way back to join my wife I pulled out from my pocket the receipt and briefly checked the numbers.  Given that the first item was listed for $49.99 it was obvious that the discounts would be as if the prices was $50.00.  In other words the discounts would be $15.00 for the 30% and $10.00 of the additional 20%.  That was NOT the case.  The second discount was $7.00 (not $10.00).  Obviously going back to the store to discuss this with the clerk or store manager would be a complete waste of time.  I am willing to bet that they are not the ones that program the point of sales machines.  The discount comes from the actual owners of the store or possibly from the corporate headquarters which set pricing all over the country.

I am sending a link of this post to the Polo Store to see if I get some feedback.  Chances are that somewhere in the store there is a sign or brochure with some very small (almost illegible) font size disclaimer that actually states (justifies) the policy (scam).  Just the need of having a disclaimer is an indication that what is advertise is most of the times some form of deception.  This appears to be the way business is conducted by most companies in our country.

There is a furniture store a few miles away from the Albertville outlet.  They have periodic sales.  The ads on TV state that all items are reduced by 50%.  A disclaimer then starts listing the most desirable brands that are not included.  If one watches the TV commercial not paying attention to the fine print and make your way to one of the few stores in the area, then given the time spent in getting to the store and looking for the item(s) of interest might convince you that given the investment of time and fuel that a lesser discount is acceptable.  This is a technique used by professional negotiators.  In other words, many companies use their resources (lawyers and marketers) to take advantage of Naïve Americans.

The advice from the Naïve American, before you spend time looking at something that is too good to be true, make sure you read the fine print in the ads and drop the idea of purchasing an item that appears to be very discounted.  That way the amount of time you have invested is minimal and you feel comfortable walking away from the deal.

The Naïve American

A few weeks ago I stopped by a gun shop in Lakeville, MN (closest to home) to order a S&W M&P 15T rifle.  I have not fired a rifle in the last forty years or so.  I am looking forward for the weekend to stop by a handgun and rifle range in Burnsville, MN to take the new rifle for a spin.

Getting back to the day I ordered the rifle, I had to present my permit to purchase handguns.  The attendant at the shop checked my permit and ID and ordered the rifle after I made a $500 deposit.  The attendant had me sign the permit because I had forgotten to do so when I received it from the Apple Valley police department.  The rifle would take about a week to be delivered.  I had nothing else that I could do but wait.

The week goes by and I called the gun shop.  My order had not arrived yet.  I had to wait for an additional week.  After the second week was over I called the shop.  The rifle had arrived.  I drove to Lakeville and the shop was closed.  Apparently they close early on Wednesdays because during spring and summer due to the fact that the gun shop runs some kind of sports club.  I had to go back the next day.

On Thursday evening I showed up at the gun shop and there it was.  The rifle looks quite nice.  I had to fill some additional paperwork, get some magazines and ammo and pay the difference.  One of the attendants bothered looking at the date on the permit and it had expired a few weeks ago.  It appeared that I was never going to get the rifle.  My wife and I drove to the police department in Apple Valley arriving five minutes before closing.  Filled the application form and had to wait for about two weeks for the new permit to arrive.  Permits to purchase expire every year.  The police officer suggested getting a concealed permit to carry.  Those last five years.

That weekend I stopped by the gun shop and asked about training to get a permit to carry.  I first had to attend a class.  I attended the four-hour class for another $125.  It was during the class that I found so many things I did not know about Naïve Americans that carry a concealed weapon in Minnesota.

The Mall of America (MOA) boasts signs on all access doors stating they ban guns in their premises.  Well, the signs are useless and only intended to appease Naïve Americans that do not know or understand the law.  Given that the MOA is a public place the ban cannot be enforced.  To be enforced individual stores need to:  post similar signs on all their access doors, personally notify any individual that is carrying a gun and then request the permit holder to leave their store.  If the person leaves, then no harm done, it is all over for the incident.  If for some odd reason the person holding the permit decides to stay and the Bloomington police gets called, the gun holder might get a $25 ticket and will be asked to leave the store.  So next time you go shopping to the MOA, keep in mind that there could be several people packing their six-shooters sitting next to you and your children in the court food enjoying an ice cream cone.

Apparently most people that carry a concealed weapon do it every single day.  I am having a hard time coming to terms with the idea of having to deal with all the additional issues associated with carrying a weapon when going into a restaurant, driving around the cities running errands on weekends, going to the MOA, etc, etc, etc.  The only time I might pack it would be when walking the dogs around a pond in a city park whose paths during summer are quite isolated and concealed (no pun intended) from the view from distant homes.  Have been walking the trails for a few years and have never encountered an issue or situation.  The most exciting event is running into other dog owners.  We also appear to share some weak links when compared to NRA members.

My wife and I live a happy yet simple life.  We typically get up early (at least I do) and work on average three hours before waking up the dogs (a couple of miniature pinchers) for their first walk of the day.  Towards the end of the evening, I typically work until around 07:00 PM, watch TV for a couple hours (most of the time fall asleep) and then between 09:00 PM and 09:30 PM take the dogs out for their last opportunity to relieve themselves without getting shouted at and go to bed.

When driving due to road rage and to the state of the economy it is relatively easy to be involved in some type of word exchange.  Not sure if a party might pull a gun.  Chances of this happening are quite small due to the fact that permit holders are law-abiding citizens.  Perhaps the issue is with criminals that cannot and do not apply for permits but have guns.  If that is the case then Naïve Americans do not need to worry.  The more guns in hands of good guys may serve as a deterrent for the bad guys.  They do not know if assaulting a nice couple strolling in the park with their dogs (e.g., two min pins) might have an unexpected outcome for the “bad guys”.

My instructor is a member of the NRA.  He served in a military branch.  He is a mature individual that resides in northern Minnesota.  He used to leave in the Lakeville area but his wife (also a permit holder); him and dog are now up north.  The instructor mentioned that some time ago he was interested in purchasing a high-end photo camera.  Apparently he and some friends stopped by a store that had posted a sign banning guns.  As a law-abiding citizen he went to his truck (actually a SUV), stored his gun and locked the vehicle.  He went back to the store and spent in excess of half hour dealing with a store clerk who was very pleasant and informative.  When asked if he was going to purchase the camera, he politely informed the store attendant that he was delighted with the product and service but since the store did not allowed guns, he was going to go to a different establishment to purchase the camera.  He turned around and left the store.  Later that same day he purchased the same camera model from a different retailer.

This story called my attention.  Apparently most people holding permits are somehow linked by this unstated (at least as far as I could tell) camaraderie that is strong enough to quietly boycott any and all establishments that post that gun holders are not welcomed.  If most Naïve Americans would behave in the same manner towards immoral politicians and companies that move jobs overseas, the USA would be a completely different place.  Apparently the NRA has a strong group of members that have passed police and sheriff background tests.  After giving a little thought to the story, I felt quite good about the whole idea of getting a permit.

By the way, there are about 50,000 registered Naïve Americans in the state of Minnesota that are authorized to carry a concealed firearm.  Most of them appear to have had some military training.  They all have passed the scrutiny by law enforcement.  Overall a good set of law abiding Naïve Americans.

Another interesting fact brought up in class was the number of children killed by firearms every year in the USA.  Apparently statistics involve any type of death by people less than 25 years of age.  Not sure why anyone over 21 or 18 is considered a child.  People murdered by criminals, people killed by jealous spouses, are all included in the statistics.  Of course the results are significantly smaller that the number of Naïve Americans killed on roads in our country or people who drown in swimming pools.  Perhaps after adjusting the numbers politicians might consider banning automobiles and swimming pools.

After the class was over we headed to the pistol range in Burnsville, MN.  Fired a few rounds according to the guidelines and passed the test.  The next step was the same background check conducted by the Apple Valley police department, but this time it had to be done by the Dakota County Sheriff office.  Another form to fill and an associated $100 fee for the background check (this exercise is starting to get somewhat expensive).  The attendant at the Sheriffs office was quite pleasant.  She asked if my wife and I both wanted to apply for a permit.  We responded that at the time it was just I.  My wife might her permit during summer.  We would like for her to get the class and practice.

After spending a few hours in class and experiencing a roller coaster of emotions, this Naïve American has come to the conclusion that it should not be a problem for law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms.  That said; you would probably not see me running errands on weekend packing my 9 mm pistol around my waist.

The Naïve American

Allow me to start with teachers.  As we all know the governor of Wisconsin is in a pickle.  His state, as well as all other states in the Union, is experiencing a windfall in revenues.  Most are quite broke.  Wisconsin has suggested to allow teachers in their state to just get their cost of living raise but the teachers union is up in arms.  I ask Naïve Americans to stop for a few seconds (minutes are not required) and think about what is going on.  As you might already know and probably do not wish to accept, the US is in the lower tier in K-12 education.  The decay started in the 1950’s.  This means that for at least the past two (2) generations of educators (30 years per generation) K-12 teachers have done a very poor job, yet the costs in education top what any other country ahead of the US is spending.  We have a serious problem and the teachers and unions that are responsible DEMAND a pay increase!!!  Dear fellow Naïve Americans we are living in La La Land.  What should be done is ban all unions in the USA.  Labor laws have superseded the need for unions and the problems they cause in our country.

In a previous blob I made a comment on General Aviation (GA).  The comment is still valid but as always there are very few exceptions.  My comment was that airplane manufacturers are importing planes and assembling and selling them in our country.  The fact that slowly the USA is loosing its engineering and manufacturing capabilities is not acceptable.  It is bad for the millions of Naïve Americans that have and will continue to be affected by the lack of sustainable good paying jobs and bas for national security.  During the Second World War most manufacturing plants were converted to produce the much needed war equipment from guns and ammunition to airplanes and ships.  As our manufacturing capability disappears, we will be left at the mercy of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) China to allow us to defend our land.

The exception to the trend in GA is the Kestrel airplane.  This is a relatively new company whose founder Alan Klapmeier started Cirrus in Duluth, MN a few decades ago.  Today Klapmeier is putting together his new company to start manufacturing the Kestrel in a new plant in Brunswick, Maine.  I do not blame him for fleeing the political and economical chaos in Minnesota led by the new Democratic governor Mark Dayton.  Dayton is planning on raising taxes to the few companies and people that produce to be able to raise the wages of K-12 teachers among other union members.  Good luck Alan Klapmeier in your new business venture.  Naïve Americans wish you the best !!!

The last item from the title is food.  While K-12 educators and union representatives are fighting to continue to receive pay raises for extremely poor performance, in the real world the prices of food are going up.  This is a very serious issue, which sooner or later directly or indirectly will affect us in America.  We can go around beating the bushes like the teachers are doing in Wisconsin proclaiming that it is the principle and not their pockets that will be affected by eliminating some of their perks.  It is the opinion of the Naïve American that unions in general should be disbanded.  Labor laws in this country protect workers.  Unions just take more that what they deserve.  Sooner or later the unions in our country will have to go.

The main issue with food prices going up worldwide is the USA.  The issue has to do with the Democratic government of Obama that somehow believes that the US Mint can print money as it pleases to pay bureaucrats that do not produce.  The problem is that the US currency is devaluating and it reflects on the prices of food and oil.  Not sure if you have checked lately the prices at the pump, but they are going up and will not go down due to the devaluation of the Dollar.  One of these days the rest of the world might consider changing the Dollar as the main currency for worldwide transactions.  When that occurs our country will enter a recession that the world has not seen yet.

Dear American Royalty and union members.  You both are pulling the US in opposite directions.  One of these days, in the not distant future all Naïve Americans are going to experience the results of your actions.  We will all be affected.  Perhaps we can start making changes to prevent the US falling into the abyss once and forever.

The Naïve American

The idea appears to be quite simple.  Black people will vote for a black president no matter what a failure his administration has been so far.  Go to churches, barbershops and beauty shops.  Not sure about the audience at those places.  No though out plan that might produce results.  This type of speech appears to promote segregation and racism (you are black so you must vote black).

Last week in a small town in Minnesota the editor of a small newspaper decided to include some jokes to fill in a section.  Apparently the jokes were copied verbatim from the Internet.  One of them made the TV news in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

I did not bother looking up the exact joke.  I believe it is not important.  Apparent, as the joke goes, someone bought some shinning robots to be used as cadies at a golf course.  In order to avoid unwanted reflections which might bother the players, the new owner painted the robots black.  The result was a disaster.  Of the set of robots, some called in sick, some decided to collect unemployment, and one of them though he was the president.

The joke itself might be funny but that was not the point.  During the news broadcast several people from the town which is 98% white were interviewed for comments.  Some did not wish to comment.  Some thought it was poor taste (very politically correct) but one spoke the truth.  He stated that the joke should not have been printed.  That type of joke is to be told in private to friends.  This statement meant that discrimination is here (has not gone away) and is building up.  Naïve Americans just want to be politically correct (hypocrites) who think and act differently to what they say in public.  Sounds to me like politicians.

Earlier this summer my wife and I were walking the dog.  We ran into a neighbor and stopped to chat.  She make a racial remark / joke about a black poodle.

I do not have black friends.  I have some African American acquaintances.  Some appear to be color blind, at least while the crowd is mixed.  Some like to crack racial jokes making fun of whites.

Racial discrimination will be gone the day that Naïve Americans stop thinking about skin color related issues and jokes just disappear.  An analogy is something my sister and I were talking about last week on Skype.  We were talking about the good educational programs in public television, the Science Channel, and Discovery Channel among others.  She does not watch too much TV, perhaps a couple hours a week.  My wife and I watch about fourteen most of which are educational programs.  The point my sister was making is that she could not understand how people could watch the type of programs shown on prime time on ABC, CBS, and Fox.  Logic does not appear to work well with individual behavior.  People behave differently based on their origin, background and education.  This is why the masses like to watch programs like Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, and CSI, as opposed to Through the Wormhole on the Science Channel.

Discrimination was, is and will be an issue in the USA until people are motivated (by interested politicians) by laws to integrate and see past the country of origin and skin color.

The Naïve American.

During life you are prone to encounter people with different religious believes.  Few Naïve Americans are willing and able to logically discuss their believes.  Most people are assigned a religion based on the origin of their parents.  Some decide to switch religions later in life under the pretext that whatever they believe is not fulfilling them.  No mater what religion one professes in the US you have the right to do so.

Given that Naïve Americans have the right to choose whatever religion they please then on the other side of the token we need to be fair and accept all other people that for some reason or other did not make the same choice.

Reverend Terry Jones in Gainesville, Florida has decided that Muslims are a threat to the USA.  And for some reason he has concluded that he has to conduct a Quran-Burning event on September 11, 2010.  As I said, religion is not logical.  No one can discuss or prove that some believe is correct or better than other.  So Terry Jones flawed / irrational believes make him arrive to the conclusion that he should burn the Quran which is a sacred book to Muslims.  Revered Jones does not appear to comprehend the implications of his behavior for the rest of Naïve Americans.  I am a believer that the US has no business in Afghanistan or Iraq.  Our troops are there because it is good for business.  That said; the fact still remains that there are thousands of Naïve American soldiers whose life might be at additional risk due to the behavior of Terry Jones.  Something needs to be done.

The Naïve American suggests sending a team to discuss his actions and suggest that the event is canceled.  It might not be a bad idea if Terry Jones apologizes for his actions to Muslims.  I am sure that a country with Special Forces that have been trained to eliminate potential issues before they become problems should be able to handle this irrational reverend.

I know some Naïve Americans would not like such approach because of the laws in our country.  I have to remind them that this country was founded by a group of wealthy people that did not want to pay taxes to the British.  Back then black people were slaves and continued to be slaves for many decades.  On occasions we need to get of our white horses and shining armors and smell the roses.  We cannot allow an irrational individual cause additional loss of lives and property.

The Naïve American

This entry was motivated by the events at Fort Hood Army Base in Texas early this month by Army Major Kidal Malik Hasan.

It appears that Army Major (not a recent low ranking recruit) Kidal Malik Hasan decided to embark in a killing spree a few weeks before being assigned to go to the Middle East and help eliminate al Qaeda.  It is understood by most Naive Americans that an Army Major should be a US citizen.  This makes Kidal Malik Hasan a Naive American just like you and me, or does it?

On November 09, 2009 ABC News published on the web an article “Officials: U.S. Army Told of Hasan’s Contacts with al Qaeda” (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fort-hood-shooter-contact-al-qaeda-terrorists-officials/story?id=9030873&nwltr=WN_topstory_more).  A simple question that should come up to mind is:  Are we FIRST Naive Americans and THEN members of a religious group?

By default most Naive Americans (with the possible exception of some bigots, and there are millions of them out there) will incorrectly believe that patriotism is above any thing on an individual with the only possible exception of immediate family.  This is reasonable given the fact that the ONLY Americans in the USA are the Native (NOT Naive) Americans.  Some of us were not born in the US, but at some point in time made a decision to become Naive Americans.  Some of us are FIRST generation born in America.  Some TIME AGO our parents made the decision of coming to the US and by default we were born in the political geographical part of the world called the USA.  Others of us are second generation born in the US.  We could continue a few generations back and for most Naive Americans our relatives were born and pledge allegiance to a different country.  At some point in time, our not so distant ancestors, or we decided to move to the USA to build a new and better life.  All of this is great blue sky and apple pie.

The problem is that at least in the past few decades politicians have been passing laws that allow people to come to the USA that have no interest in being here, less becoming Naive Americans.  I have heard people express such opinion regarding this subject in conversations in public places.  Why is the US government not only allowing such people to enter the country but also bring and give them aid to hate our country and our way of life?  Just look as some immigration laws.  Then look at the politicians that signed them into law.   As usual they are completely non accountable for their actions.  In the case of Army Major Kidal Malik Hasan, not accountable for the death and injury of several dozen Naive Americans at Fort Hood.

Of course we cannot point fingers to people who where born in a specific country (or set of countries) as a problem.  The country of origin in general is not the issue.  The issue is with the ideology (specifically religious believes) that people have BEFORE entering our country.  Most believes are not associated with their previous nationality or the official (if such a thing exists) religious believes.  Allow me to clarify the issue of the misguided religious believes.

I was born into a Catholic family (obviously not by my own will).  Not much can be said about Catholics in the past few decades with the exception of just continuing to amass huge wealth and ignore the needs of their followers worldwide.  If you are looking for a simple example of what I am talking about, just visit the Vatican City and see how the head of the Catholic Church lives.  The pope is not Mother Teresa.  Apparently the pope does not walk the talk.  That same church about five hundred years ago ran the Inquisition in the name of God.  Back then if you did not agree with the ideas of the church torture and death were a definitely option.  A few centuries before that, the same Catholic Church conducted the Crusades also in the name of God.  Is this religion above citizenship / patriotism?

One way or another the people that served the church knew and respected the fact that before the business of the church came the business of the country.  In the USA we appear to have (at least in paper) separation of God and Country.  If the goals (and they should not) do not cross paths, then all is well, but if they do, which one takes precedence?  Not an easy question to answer!

Allow me to answer this question.  For MOST Naive Americans patriotism comes first.  For example, if our country is under a REAL threat (not one created by politicians to start a war to consume weapons) most of us will, if needed, enlist in the armed forces to defend our country.  We did this during World War I and World War II.  After that the rest of the conflicts are of dubious origins and needs (political and financial interest) including the ones we currently have in Afghanistan and Iraq.

When a group of people puts the religious believes above the needs of their country, things not only do not work, but most Naive Americans are not prepared to deal with such reality.  We just do not comprehend it until the religious believes of Army Major Kidal Malik Hasan come to play by putting them above being a US citizen.

Our country needs to understand the religious threats of having individuals living in our country that with a blink of an eye would put their own religious agendas before the ones of the USA.  I am not just taking about a few disturbed minds.  I am talking about different religious groups with different agendas that have millions of followers in the US and other countries around the world.  Stop for a few minutes and think if you know people that belong to such group?  Chances are that you might.

If unattended, this will become a serious issue in the not so distant future.  Such people are APPARENTLY integrating into the US but they will put their believes above the duties of a US citizen any day.  They act like sleeper agents waiting for the right moment to strike.

Hopefully readers of this blog will meditate on this, clearly identify the threat and hopefully come up with ideas that can be implemented to reduce this threat.  The approach is not simple.  Remember that the best asset we have is our people and our people are or were immigrants not too long ago.  It is not a simple task!

Yesterday I changed channels to the local CBS station just before 06:00 PM EDT.  “60 Minutes” was scheduled to start at that time but given what I have observed in the past, I was expecting as usual some delay.  CBS was showing a game between The New England Patriots and the Tennessee Titans.  The Patriots won the game 59 – 0.  I do not care for watching football games.  As a matter of fact I do not care for watching sports at all.  I have a hard time watching people play a game and getting paid millions of Dollars for something that should just be done for entertainment and health.  During my life I have done that and had a good time.

The game went on and on and on.  Finally as soon as it finished CBS decided to switch to the game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills.  In that match The Bills defeated the Jets by 16 – 13 in overtime.  This game was also as boring as they come.

When the games were done, CBS broadcasted “60 Minutes” (no Andy Rooney) and then “Amazing Race”.  “60 Minutes” interesting as usual.  “Amazing Race” entertaining as expected.

Getting back to the football games, if CBS is willing to delay other shows and cancel one of them (whatever followed Three Rivers) it is obvious that they do it for economic reasons.  More people (fans) must watch football than the program that was canceled last evening.

A few weeks ago I was watching the local news and they mentioned that the Metrodome in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul was packed with fans watching the Twins (local professional baseball team).  Apparently the Twins won that particular game.  After that they were flying to New York City for the next set of games.  The newscaster mentioned that for the next local game seats were priced between $45 to $500 US Dollars (not Monopoly money).  What is wrong with Naive Americans?  Our economy is in shambles and the future for the US is extremely dim.  Yet we are willing to pay up to $500 per seat to watch a game of baseball.

Who are the fans cheering for?  It appears they cheer the players and the team.  The players who make millions of dollars a season and they are willing to change teams as soon as their contracts expire going to play for the team that offers the most money.  Given this fact, do you honestly believe that any player cares about their team or fans?  They only are in it for the money.  That is OK is you are a player, but were does it leave the fans?  I would say in need of some psychiatric evaluation.

In the past couple weeks it has been in the news that the contusions incurred by most football players eventually lead to different mental illness being the most common dementia.  Again, as a Naive American fan, are we routing to see how people injure themselves for our amusement and pleasure?  Please take a few moments and get acquainted with the events at the Coliseum in Rome about 2,000 years ago.  Are we in the same boat today?  Are sports events, specially football, an indicator of where our society and country is going?  I can bet that if we could travel back in time and ask any fan that attended the events in Rome 2,000 years ago about the decline of the Roman Empire, they would at least have laugh at us (probably would throw us into the arena to be slaughter).  Are we in the SAME boat and we do not realize it?

Most of us have also watched on TV the Intel advertisement (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-8GVi2Fdi4) that portrays computer scientist Ajay Bhatt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajay_Bhatt) co inventor of the USB bus.  I would bet that Mr. Bhatt has NOT been able to collect over one billion US Dollars for his invention.

If one puts in perspective the changes and improvements that have been brought about by the USB bus as compared to what has been contributed by hitting a ball with a club on a golf course one must wonder what is going on with our values.  Our society is promoting all the wrong behaviors.

One of the last two contributors to Mr. Woods’s purse are General Motors (GM) and Federal Express.  Lets pause for a moment and figure out what these companies have done to come up with millions of Dollars to have Mr. Woods as a spokesperson or endorse their products and services.  GM is bankrupt and has let go thousands of employees but yet had enough left to give away money for no return.  The same holds true for Federal Express.  They have laid off thousands of workers and closed several facilities, yet they are able to contribute millions of Dollars for a golf tournament.  Not sure about the common Naive American, but unless there are some extreme changes at GM, I will not purchase an automobile from them.  Regarding FedEx, I use them when electronic means and regular mail are not feasible.  I would not use their services more or less based on their wasted ten million Dollars on a golf tournament purse.

This same week three Naive American scientists won a Nobel price in medicine.  Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak were named winners of the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine for research that has implications for cancer and aging research.  The award was 1.4 million US dollars.  We need to stop and think how the contributions of these scientists match to whatever Mr. Woods was / is / will be able to provide for society.

What are the executives of FedEx and GM thinking?  What are Naive Americans thinking?  We are in desperate need of CHANGE and let me tell you the change is not going to come from Mr. Obama.  The needed changes must come from all Naive Americans.

It is interesting how most (not all) divorced women want and in most cases make a business of getting pregnant, married, in most cases having a second child and then divorcing.  After that they want to be taken care by the ex for about twenty years.  The best excuse is the welfare of the children.  Women do not care for their children and they only want money in the form of child support and if possible alimony.  Men end up resenting their children because they pay and they seldom have something to say.  This is a serious issue that has been eroding the family values in our country for decades.  No accountability whatsoever.

In the case of my son, the ex wife has over 50% of the time with her.  This was thanks to the recommendation of a “Parenting Consultant”.  Not sure what the qualifications are to become a parenting consultant.  Their actions do not appear to be logical or based on any science.  It appears to be the common case of inept people given some power.  Most airport security personnel show this syndrome.  They know they are in a position of power while at work.

The reason I am writing this blog is because last weekend their mother took my grand daughters to visit relatives in Iowa.  The trip is over four hours long from the Twin Cities.  They left Saturday returning Sunday.  Not much thought on the mother side but what can you say.  Common sense is not the most common of the senses.

Four people occupied the car.  My two granddaughters, their uncle and their mother were heading down to Iowa.  The mother was at the wheel.  Most of the trip was on interstate highways.  The mother was using her phone texting friends.  Not sure where you live but in Minnesota and Iowa it is not legal to text which driving.  She completely disregarded the law (no one was watching) and kept on texting, driving and swerving on the road.  Things got so bad that her brother took the phone from her hands and put it in his pocket.  He showed some common sense because he felt that he might be involved in a car accident caused by a woman (his sister) breaking the law.

It appears that after having to get off the car and receive verbal abuse was not enough to make him return the phone.  The girls told me that finally on Sunday he returned the phone.

So who was in danger in this situation?  Who is accountable for having my granddaughters spent time with an unfit parent?  No one.  The parenting consultant, the lawyers and judge are completely unaccountable in our society for any thing they do.  If the car would have crashed and injured someone our legal system would have blamed the mother.  That is a good start, but what happens to the parenting consultant, lawyers and judges?  Nothing!

The reason for writing about it is to have something written on the web that is fully accessible to anyone with Internet access.  This way the facts would be out there for public consumption.

At this time I will not disclose the names of the players to protect the innocent.  Who knows, time might prove me wrong.

The story goes as follows.  About twenty years ago my wife and I started a software development business.  We had good and not so good times as most small businesses do.  Three years ago a group approach our company with the idea of helping us get to the next level.  The group was not of investors but of managers.  Later we found out that the company had no more than three people.  One was the president that allegedly was very well connected but had little time to spend with us.  The second individual was a marketing person also well connected who spent most of his time on and off with us.  The last person was an accountant.

After a little over a year into the relationship with things not going well at all, the decision by the management group was to sell the assets of the company.  They were sold early this year.  Some of the employees moved to the new company.  Working at the new company has been great for all of us.

Interesting to note is the fact that the web site of our old company is still up with all the products that have been acquired / transferred to the new company.

Now to the reason of this entry in the blog.  Yesterday I get a phone call from the principals of the new company telling me that somehow someone was contacted from the old company.  The person on the phone gave a name of an old employee who chose to leave the old company shortly after the management firm came on board.  She claimed that the offices are still in the same city as our old company was.  What was quite interesting is that she mentioned that the old president was no longer with the company and that my family was paying for the expenses of the old company.  Of course my family has no connection with the old company whatsoever.

It is interesting that someone is paying for the toll free number (888.xxx.xxxx) and for the services of this person to answer the phone.  What is also interesting is that for products and services she is referring callers (at least that is what she stated) to the new company.

Several things are not right.  For me the most important is the claim that my family is paying for expenses from the old company.

I am going to see what the new company is going to do about this.  One way or the other I will contact local and possibly federal authorities so at least they also have a precedent on what is going on.  We do not wish to be liable for any problems that the old company and whoever is paying for the expenses might incur.  Given that only the assets were sold the record should be clean indicating that my family has not been involved with the old company since the assets were sold.

More to follow in the next few days as the drama unfolds!

A few days have elapsed since I first wrote the first part of this blog.  A group of people, including me, from the new company called the toll free number of the old company.  After taking with the person that answered the phone we spoke with her supervisor.  It appears that the phone line is being manned by an answering service paid by the new company.  All a false alarm.

We need to look at this example as a learning experience.  What is initially perceived might not be correct.  This appears to be the case with many cases in our judicial system.  If you are ever in a position of being part of a jury please make sure that your peer sitting in the defendant chair might be innocent regardless of what is being said.